Sad to report that I didn't get any writing done today BUT I did reread thru the chapter. Idk today has been bad time for writing brain. Too sleepy. Maybe tomorrow will work better

"What Should It Look Like?" Part IV: Special Operations Forces (OLD ESSAY)

This essay was originally posted on May 24th, 2023, is my most recent "old" essay which means we are fully up to speed over here on my content!

This essay is the latest entry in the "What Should It Look Like?" series - which I may still have a few to do on but we'll see. In this one, I unleash a rant against special operations forces that I've mostly held in for years and finally let out full force. This is another one that got a very specific type of guy on Twitter annoyed.

(Full essay below the cut).

Oh boy here I go ranting again.

Fair warning, this is a dense one. For real. But that’s because this is one I’ve wanted to cover for a long time and have a lot of thoughts about. A lot.

Yes my guys, gals, and non-binary pals, we’re finally talking about the United States’ Special Operations Forces (SOF), those tacticool, high-speed, low-drag, routinely accused of war crimes special snowflakes that have destroyed the minds of so many middle and high school ages boys that ever owned an Xbox and played a single Call of Duty game after 2007.

I’m not going to waste a lot of time here in the intro because, as I’ve already said, I have a lot of thoughts on SOF both in terms of what they’ve become today and what role they play in the scenario we’ve thought of for this series of essays. Suffice to say up front, I think SOF are useful and necessary in a military context, but they have a myriad of problems of varying kinds. I’m going to outline some of those problems, and things I’d try to do differently in building a force for the mildly better future we envision and then employing them in said future.

First, we’re going to talk about the issue of “bloat” and uncontrolled growth in the SOF community. After that, we’ll talk about SOF being directed to missions that are out of the scope of what they should be doing (and also may just be straight up unwinnable). Finally, I’ll talk about the big elephant in the room, which is the toxic culture that is evident inside of SOF units and the SOF community as a whole. As usual, I’ll try to tie it all together in the conclusion and leave you with some closing thoughts for both today and for a (hopefully) better future.

Without further adieu then, let’s dive right into this!

A bad case of the bloats I struggled with which of the issues with the SOF community I wanted to address first, because the more I thought about them, the more I realized it was a never ending loop of each of them feeding into one another to keep this disaster factory going. Ultimately, I decided I just had to pick one to start with, and I decided the issue of bloat would be the best point – not just because of how it feeds and is fed by the other issues (and I will call back to this throughout the essay), but because of the effect it then has on the rest of the Joint Force outside of SOF.

Before we get any further, I really want to drive home the scale of the bloat that the SOF community has experience over the past two decades or so in change. According to the IISS Military Balance for 2001, at the start of that year – prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11th and a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the United States Armed Forces consisted of 2,568,300 total personnel (1,367,700 active and another 1,200,600 reserve and National Guard).

Of those 2,568,300 troops, the collective SOF forces of the United States – under the auspices of United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or just SOCOM – yes, like the video game), made up 42,920 of those troops across all branches of the military (28,620 active and another 14,300 in the reserves and National Guard – yes, there are National Guard special forces; and they’re based in Utah; be very afraid). I’ll apologize now for throwing a bunch of numbers at you – trust me, I’m not a numbers guy either – but there’s a point to this.

Jumping forward to the present, this year’s Military Balance has the total US Armed Forces pegged at active duty US Armed Forces at 2,177,050 personnel (1,359,600 active – just about 8,000 personnel fewer than it was in 2001, and 817,450 reserve and National Guard – over 395,000 fewer than it was in 2001). This amount is just over 391,000 troops smaller than it was in 2001 with the Cold War and the Persian Gulf War in the rear-view mirror and the Global War on Terror not yet initiated.

However, while the military as a whole has shrunk, the SOF community has grown – and by no small amount. In 2023, SOCOM clocks in with 65,800 total troops (which is larger than a good portion of the other armed forces in the globe). The Military Balance unfortunately stopped breaking down between active and National Guard/reserve forces in SOCOM at some point, so I don’t know what the exact proportions are (you can assume the majority of them are active), but even with that breakdown we can see how much each branch of the military’s special group of very special boys who are special has grown over the past twenty years. Compared to 25,900 total active and National Guard/reserve troops in 2001, Army SOF now have 35,000 – about 9,000 more; Navy SOF have almost doubled, going from 5,400 active and reserve in 2001 to 10,500 today; Air Force SOF have grown by over 5,000 troops, going from 11,620 in 2001 to 16,800 today; and finally, the Marines – who didn’t even technically have a SOF component in 2001, now have 3,500 Marine Special Operations Command (MARSOC) troops at their disposal.

So, by the numbers, while the military has shrunk overall since its GWOT era peak, and now that the active force is closer to the size it was when the GWOT started – and the reserve and National Guard even smaller – SOF forces have grown larger and remain larger.

This growth hasn’t been limited to personnel either. The SOF slice of the budget pie has also increased dramatically over the course of the GWOT. In 2001, prior to the beginning of the GWOT and prior to the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, the budget for SOCOM was $2.3 billion USD. By about twenty years later, in 2020, that budget had ballooned to $13.7 billion USD – an almost six fold increase in funding. But again, its not just about the number itself, but the percentage. In 2001, the US defense budget was just shy of $332 billion USD, making SOCOM’s budget about .07% of the entire defense budget. By 2020, the defense budget had risen to $778.4 billion – having risen to new heights, fallen, and then rising again in the late 2010s going into the 2020s to even greater heights. SOCOM’s budget had increased to be close to 1.8% of the entire defense budget – and increase of well over a full percentage point.

Now, I don’t want you to get it twisted and think me saying the military as a whole not being bloated and enormous with both people and money is a good thing. I think it was right for the military to shrink back down as we backed away from things we shouldn’t have even been doing to begin with. The problem now is that while the military has shrunk, SOF hasn’t shrunk with them after the growth they experienced during the GWOT. Proportionally, they’re taking up way more billets (and funding) than they were at the start of the GWOT, prior to 9/11.

But you might ask, “ok War Takes, but why does this matter?” That’s not a stupid question to ask for those with only passing familiarity with the military. It matters because SOF is not only not as relevant to the threats that the United States and others primarily face, but at the same time are taking up resources that could be directed to forces and capabilities that are better suited to deter and if necessary combat those threats. This is especially true as long as they remain optimized for and stuck in the mindset of low intensity conflict, COIN, and CT being their lodestars (as I will get to in more depth in the next section).

SOF are what the military wanted more of when the main thing it was worried about – to the detriment of almost all other issues – was running around in the “Sandbox” for long periods of time, humping through the hills and doing Zero Dark Thirty shit while wearing far too many pouches and overpriced sunglasses – and again, I cannot stress this enough – they were being central to a mission that I don’t think we should have been doing in the first place and was a massive waste of time, money, lives, with consequences we will be grappling with forever. Today – and in our theoretical scenario – the primary threat is from large, peer and near-peer adversaries with significant conventional military forces.

Again, while SOF still have a role to play in conflicts against these kinds of adversaries, the bigger and more consequential role is going to be played by other forces. Every troop, dollar, moment of attention, and ounce of effort that is applied to SOF over what it should be, is one one that could (and should) be applied to more effective areas. This includes not only combat arms such as air-and-missile defenses, long-range artillery – including both tube and missile, maneuver forces like infantry and armor, and etc., but also the capacity needed for the critical work of the rear echelon in logistics, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, transportation, and more. It doesn’t help that a by-product of SOF’s rampant expansion over the past two decades is a great deal of redundancy and overlap between missions as their unique capabilities fade away and they all basically turn into pale imitations of one another running around in the Middle East spitting dip and comparing beards. SOF still have a role to play today and in the future – just as they did in the past – but that role is different and I would argue doesn’t necessitate the numbers they still maintain. At the same time, they remain largely stove-piped off from one another and in competition with one another (which can be made even worse by toxic culture, which I will get to in the third section).

We don’t need theoretical cases to understand the effects that a bloated SOF force can have on the rest of the Joint Force, a we’ve had them from watching it pivot from counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency to preparing for the potential of great power conflict. Numerous capabilities were divested of during the GWOT in the interest of being able to continue feeding meat into the grinder in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere. After 2005, the Army had only two active-duty short-range air defense (SHORAD) battalions on hand, with the rest being in the National Guard; the Army not only didn’t keep pace with the development in air and missile threats growing throughout the world, but then had to work rapidly to reconstitute its SHORAD capabilities following the initial Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014. Likewise, the Army also divested itself of reconnaissance helicopters during this period after several failed attempts at replacing the aging OH-58 Kiowa Warrior, believing the job could be done by a mix of drones and AH-64D Apache Longbows (spoiler alert: they were wrong, and now they’re having to spend time, money, and effort, on belatedly finding an OH-58 replacement).

Now, admittedly, it is unfair to put these examples squarely at the feet of SOF and only SOF. SOF just happens to be the most obvious one to blame in this case – out of many who share blame – for the questionable allocation of resources that resulted from poor decisions that were made in the interest of unwinnable wars that we shouldn’t have embarked upon to begin with. SOF, by virtue of its bloat – or lack thereof – is the ideal example of how overcompensating in one area can hurts others, and how those poor choices can come back to haunt you and cost you more blood, sweat, and tears later. That is something we’ll need to keep in mind for our own scenario and hypothetical force.

At the end of the day, SOF, by premise, are meant to be elite. There’s not meant to be many of them, because they’re selected to be the best of the best – not only physically, but mentally, intellectually, and so on. So, I posit to you, in that case: if that’s supposed to be so, why are there so fucking many of them? I mean sure, they’re still a small fraction of the entire joint force, but I can hardly look at 65,000 people and think that each and every one of them are a special snowflake. I see someone on Twitter with 65,000 followers, I don’t think that each and every one of those followers is a fucking savant. That was neither here nor there, I admit, but just something I wanted to get off my chest before we wrapped up talking about bloat (strap yourself in because there’s more rants there that one came from).

“Hey, what’s my mission again?”

Another question you may be asking yourself at this point is, “War Takes, why did SOF get so big to begin with?” Well, the short answer is: “9/11.” The long answer is still “9/11” but with more detail. However, 9/11 and the GWOT didn’t just make SOF grow to its current bloated size, but it also twisted the mission of SOF away from its original purpose (and the purpose it would be best suited for in our scenario) – which was both fed by and fed into the bloat I just described (like I said, all this stuff has been working in one big feedback loop or series of loops).

Once again we’ll need to start from basics because before I can talk about SOF getting away from what it was designed to do, we need to talk about what that even was.

US SOF can point to a number of various ad hoc units through military history as being part of their lineage, such as various units and organizations from World War II like the Office of Strategic Services, the joint US-Canadian First Special Service Force, US Navy Underwater Demolition Teams, and more. But as the units we know today like the Green Berets and the Navy SEALs were officially founded in the 1950s and 1960s against the backdrop of the Cold War, their primary purpose from the beginning was to engage in unconventional warfare (UW).

Much has been written on UW – some of it good, some of it bad; some of it about right, some of it very wrong. By the Department of Defense’s own definition, UW is “activities conducted to enable a resistance movement or insurgency to coerce, disrupt or overthrow a government or occupying power by operating through or with an underground, auxiliary, and guerrilla force in a denied area.” More simply put: UW is support to guerrillas, insurgents, or resistance fighters (however you prefer to style them). Those fighters are meant to be the core focus of UW, according to US. Army Special Operations Command’s own UW Pocket Guide from 2016. With that in mind, the platonic ideal of UW is a covert campaign to enable local peoples under hostile occupation or a tyrannical regime to have the means to fight back against that occupier or tyrant and free themselves. This very concept is reflected in the Green Beret’s Latin motto: De oppresso liber (“to free from oppression” or “to liberate the oppressed.”)

For those of you who are students of history and are familiar with some of the regimes supported by – or governments toppled by – the United States over the course of the Cold War, I’m sure you’re making a face right now after having read that last paragraph. Completely understandable. I’m asking you to bear with me some, because I think this concept of UW is one of those ones that isn’t necessarily flawed in its own right but has been twisted and misused or just paid lip service to or just ignored. Like so many things I study in this field – like the very concept of the military itself – while coming from a Left perspective and considering concepts like UW and others, I often think of the apocryphal quote attributed to Gandhi when he was asked what he thought of ‘Western Civilization’ – the answer being: “I think it would be a good idea.”

Indeed, early US SOF themselves immediately strayed from their supposed doctrinal mission with the advent of the Vietnam War in the 1960s. The use of SOF in Vietnam would largely be characterized by engaging in counter-insurgency (COIN) activity, rather than actual UW. There was an attempt made early on, at least, to stick to doctrine. One of the earliest missions of the Navy SEALs in Vietnam were attempting to undertake true UW in North Vietnam, working to train locals to rise up against the government in Hanoi (this, of course, failed – and we proceeded to learn nothing from it, nor think hard on maybe whether those whole ‘Vietnam’ thing was worth the effort if it was that hard to recruit people to fight against the North Vietnamese government). Use of SOF in Vietnam quickly descended into direct-action missions attempting to take out specific targets such as arms caches, senior leadership of the Vietcong, enemy bases or outposts, and etc. I’m sure these all things that I’m sure won’t sound familiar at all to any veteran of Iraq or Afghanistan – and consequently, it may surprise any of them to realize that we did not, in fact, win the Vietnam War.

SOF very early on fell into the COIN trap. As I’ve elaborated on at length before, I see COIN as losing game over 90% of the time. Fighting an insurgency is a recipe for either defeat, or eternal war with no end – never victory. When their initial attempts at UW in Vietnam failed, the US military seemed to fall back on the old standby of just trying to kill its way out of a problem. SOF were not really acting as they were supposed to, but instead were largely just doing covert, highly specialized versions of the missions that a conventional force would do: close with and destroy the enemy. Now, that’s one thing against a conventional force. I should make it clear that some of these direct action missions – as well as other missions like intelligence gathering and recon, that were also undertaken by SOF in Vietnam – are perfectly valid missions for SOF in the UW context. But, in the grand scheme of things with COIN – where you’re already essentially fighting a losing war, it’s just pissing in the wind. That may win you battles in COIN, but when you’re fighting “the birthrate of a nation” (as journalist David Halberstam put it in regards to Vietnam), it will never win you the war.

With the American withdrawal from Vietnam in the 1970s and the eventual unification of the country under the North, the US military – and the SOF community – decided collectively to put that whole ugly mess behind them and go back to what they had been doing beforehand: preparing for the possibility of fighting World War III in Central Europe (or barring that, a smaller, regional conventional conflict, somewhere else in the world). This meant a return to form for US SOF in the 1970s and 80s. A prime example of this is the US Army’s 10th Special Forces Group. In the event of war in Europe, the group’s primary mission would have been to organize partisan and resistance activity either in territory occupied by advancing Warsaw Pact forces, or within the territories of Warsaw Pact nations themselves, and conduct “stay-behind” direct action against occupying forces as they pushed into NATO territory. If this had all come to pass (and assuming the war didn’t go nuclear, which was not guaranteed per say, but still way more likely than you want it to be), it would have been a UW mission in the truest sense. This was also when counter-terrorism (CT) started to become a mission-set, with the rise of political terrorism of various stripes in the 1970s. But at this point, terrorism was still a niche issue that necessitated a niche response, and not something that the entirety of SOF was notional geared towards, being left to specialized CT units like the Army’s secretive 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (AKA: Delta Force) and the now infamous Navy SEAL Team Six (now known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group or DEVGRU).

That’s not to say there weren’t some backsliding to old, bad habits. SOF relapsed back into its old Vietnam way of doing things – and gave us a glimpse of the future – under the Reagan administration when the Green Berets were deployed to El Salvador while it was in the midst of its civil war. While there, SOF once again where in the business of anti-communist COIN, and in doing so helped to facilitate right-wing government death squads that visited horrific carnage and slaughter on El Salvador’s citizens – including the infamous El Mozote massacre, in which the US-backed Salvadorian Army killed almost 1,000 civilians in and around the village of El Mozote, and which the US government then shamelessly lied through its teeth about. More than 75,000 Salvadorians were killed over twelve years of civil war, most of them by the military. Thirty years later, the country isn’t much better, off, sliding back into authoritarian rule under its feckless and petty tech-bro President and probable future dictator Nayib Bukele. As for the Green Berets and other US advisors that were there, these atrocities were so bad, that not the official publication of everyone’s favorite right-wing coffee company – Black Rifle Coffee – can bring itself to gloss over the fact that it all actually happened under US watch and can’t disguise feeling vaguely uncomfortable about it (though their cop out answer is that the advisors “hands were tied” – you know, you guys didn’t have to be there right?).

Ironically, the same war that would see SOF get back into its true wheelhouse would also be the one that spark the beginning of SOF’s second and more drastic straying away from its core purpose. That of course, was the War in Afghanistan and the GWOT in general, which actually started with a true UW mission. As popularized by the film “Twelve Strong”, the beginning of the US military involvement in Afghanistan was the deployment of Green Berets – alongside CIA operatives – into Afghanistan in 2001 to support the Northern Alliance and other Afghan resistance fighters in their fight against the Taliban government. In this sense, it may be the one real success story of the entire Afghan War. It’s easy to forget that – unlike in Iraq – US conventional forces did not do the brunt of the initial fighting on the ground when the war first started. When Kabul fell (the 2001 version not the 2021 remix), it fell to Northern Alliance fighters (fighting with Green Berets). In many ways, this initial success could be seen as the post-Cold War high point for the Green Berets in undertaking the traditional SOF mission of UW, a high that hasn’t been reached again since.

If you know me and have read my work by now, you know I have decidedly mixed feelings on the legacy of the War in Afghanistan. I ultimately think we shouldn’t have been there (and in fact, didn’t have to be there, as the Taliban were prepared to hand over Bin Laden, our main reason for going in). But if we had to go in, it would have better to have left on a high note after this point (and after it became obvious Bin Laden was no longer there) and then let Afghanistan figure out its own affairs internally. To put it more simply: we should have left as soon as the UW mission was accomplished and the circumstances changed. The Taliban was – and still is – an objectively evil and terrible government and supporting forces to overthrow was a moral move in my book. But what would proceed to happen in Afghanistan – and soon, in Iraq – over the next twenty years would very quickly taint anything moral and just that we had initially accomplished. It would also very quickly and drastically stray from the standard UW mission for SOF and lead us to the issues we now have.

As mission creep quickly set in with Afghanistan and an anti-terrorism focused UW mission quickly grew and morphed into occupation and state building, the mission of SOF quickly got away from UW as, well, there wasn’t a UW conflict to fight. We had become the occupiers that the populace very quickly got sick of within a few years and wanted to get rid of. Like wise, as the GWOT continued to ramp up from 2001 on, hunting down terrorists and attempting to dismantle terrorist groups and cells also became the primary concern of the military and of SOF, with CT and COIN melding into one unholy combination where they were basically the same thing to the military.

Once again confronted with COIN and unable to accept my thesis that it is – most of the time – unwinnable, SOF fell back on the same reaction as they did in Vietnam: trying to kill the problem away. SOF were once again essentially doing the same tasks infantry would do, only more special, more sneaky, with better toys, and etc. No matter how you dress it up though, they were doing the same job as any other grunt stuck in a pointless COIN war: killing insurgents with the hope eventually there will be no more; destroying their weapons caches with the hope they’ll stop getting new ones; destroying their outposts while hoping they wont’ just set up a new one a few miles away; etc. When that didn’t win the war immediately, the reaction was often just to throw even more SOF at the problem – leading to the bloat mentioned before. In all fairness, not all of this was SOF’s fault – when you’re a command or policymaker and have these really cool looking hammer that everyone thinks is great and special, you’ll want to smash every nail you can think of with it. This constant operational tempo, in addition to putting SOF up on a pedestal as the most special boys in the COIN fight, and with other factors, would also contribute to developing a rancid internal culture with horrific results both for those SOF interacted with and for its own members (which I will be addressing in the next section).

I could spend a long time going on about the use of SOF in Afghanistan – as I always say: “that could be an article in and of itself.” But there’s other things I want to cover, so what I want to talk about now is the cautionary tale of getting sucked into circumstances like that and pushing SOF into missions they shouldn’t be doing (or that no one should really be doing). This is especially relevant as the US military is now working to reorient its SOF back towards the missions they were founded to do in the first place, as great power competition increases and the possibility of war with a peer or near peer adversary becomes something that is actually plausible. Because of those twenty years of baggage, it’s not an easy job. After twenty years of GWOT, SOF operators are literally struggling to understand or feel comfortable performing the very mission that was their original justification and purpose and pining for the door-kicking they’ve been doing the past twenty years, feeling like that if they aren’t kicking down a door or clearing a room every few hours they aren’t doing their jobs right. God only knows how long it will take them to get over this – if they’re even capable of doing so in their current form (I would argue they can’t and would go further but I’ll save that for the conclusion). But don’t feel too sympathetic to a lot of them, however, because we’re going to use those institutional issues as a segway into the third main pillar of the issues of modern US SOF – which is their toxic culture and the depths to which it goes.

The Men Who Just Really Love Doing Crimes. I should clarify from the start of this section, that I am well aware that US SOF have always had issues with culture and professionalism. One need only look at some of the stories from the Vietnam War to realize that SOF has long had issues. But even then, I would argue those were not as widespread, deep seated, and batshit insane as what we have seen and are still seeing in the SOF community in terms of legal, ethical, and moral violations after twenty years of COIN and CT as part of the GWOT in the Middle East and around the globe.

All of this goes hand-in-hand with the bloat SOF experience after the start of the GWOT. As discussed earlier, in the effort to show progress in the GWOT, SOF became the go-to weapon of choice for the US government in tracking down and capturing or killing high-value terrorist targets. They increasingly became the most lionized, hyped up, and obsessed over part of the US military in an era where the average troop was already put up on a pedestal, seen as the solution to any possible problem a policymaker may encounter in national security. At the same time, as the US was pulled deeper into the quagmire of Afghanistan and Iraq and key terrorist leaders like Bin Laden remained elusive, pressure mounted to show results in all of the various “forever wars” America had found itself entangled in.

All these factors combined – and more – no doubt went to the heads of numerous SOF operators and leeched throughout the community. This was seen especially in Afghanistan, where by the 2010s US SOF had developed a reputation for a “shoot first, ask later” attitude towards their mission – at the expense of Afghan civilian lives. But this attitude went beyond simply having an itchy trigger finger, to allegations of outright unlawful killings (i.e. murder) and torture. Having been put on a pedestal and told how important they were, results being expected of them, and being told that they were doing God’s work, SOF seemed to take an attitude that the ends justified the means and that they were right in going to extreme ends outside of the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) to accomplish their mission. According to one SOF expose by Rolling Stone, a Green Beret writing to the author from federal prison (where he was incarcerated for smuggling 50 kilos of coke into Florida onboard a military aircraft), as long as the mission they were assigned was accomplished and everything was kept hush hush, SOF seemed to have free reign to go to whatever lengths necessary in the course of their duties.

This mindset was no doubt fueled by a sense of impunity, seeing that US SOF have only seldom faced any consequences for allegations of abuses and war crimes. In the rare occasions that investigations have been mounted or charges have been filed by the military, its even rarer that anyone actually is convicted or faces consequences for their actions. An extensive investigation of the ethics and culture of US SOF that was undertaken in 2020 found “no systemic ethics problems.” When Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher was put on trial for murdering a captured ISIS fighter, he was acquitted; and after being convicted of a lesser crime of posing with a dead body in violation of the laws of armed conflict, he was pardoned by then-President Donald Trump. In the few cases where punishments are doled out and actually stick, they’re usually relatively minor and done extraordinarily quietly, with the military and the government not wanting to draw any extra attention to the matter. In other cases, the government and the military have straight-up attempted to cover up any acts of wrongdoing. The standard that has been set for SOF over the past twenty years of Forever War is that you’ll likely never be punished for egregious acts, and if you are punished it’ll probably be a slap on the wrist at the most.

The impunity doesn’t just end with acts against civilians and enemy combatants in foreign countries, however. SOF have also developed a culture of violence and heavy handedness against other service members. The past two decades of GWOT are littered with stories of other US service members being sexually assaulted, hazed, and murdered, with the accused or suspected perpetrators being SOF operators – the previously linked article from Rolling Stone just barely scratches the surface of some of these instances on just one post, Fort Bragg (home of Joint Special Operations Command). This violence isn’t limited to being against those outside the SOF community, but occurs within it as well. A famous recent case is the murder of a Green Beret while deployed to Africa, having been killed by Navy SEALs and MARSOC operators during a hazing gone wrong (oh by the way the Navy SEAL sentenced for involuntary manslaughter in that case got his conviction thrown out). In some cases, SOF operators just decide to randomly visit acts of violence on people they don’t even know. The culture of impunity and superiority has developed to the point that its not just that SOF think they’re better than the rest of the military, but that the rest of the military is either an obstacle or a threat that must be dealt with – especially when their privileges and impunity are threatened by them. Despite their notional image as the best of the best, defending America’s values and interests, they seem to have little qualms about harming other Americans when push comes to shove. Even when they’re not murdering and torturing, SOF’s culture of impunity has led them to a point where they can’t stop committing crimes in general. Whether its smuggling drugs or embezzling official funds, SOF operators have been socialized to think they are entitled to it all.

In many ways, the culture of SOF operators has become akin to that of modern law enforcement in America – in that they act more like a cult or an organized crime group or gang (or all of the above) rather than as a professional military unit with good order and discipline. Strict group-think is enforced, with new ideas that break the mold or challenge the status quo are quickly shot down and those who suggested them are ostracized or punished. An “us versus them” mentality is imposed where those not in the cult or the gang are at best disdained or at worst outright hated or targeted. When the cult is under threat, all its members are expected to close ranks to defend it and any members who may be under attack – and God help you if you speak out. And even if you aren’t party to whatever transgressions that have been visited on someone else by the gang, and you largely go about your business trying to do no harm, you’re still part of the problem simply by not speaking out and doing anything about or taking part in a code of silence to cover for other’s wrongdoings. (By the way, this is not to say that these problems don’t exist anywhere else in the US military, but that they are particularity potent in the SOF community. You could really envision the SOF community as being a concentrate – if you will – of all the problems the military as a whole experiences, heightened to their logical extreme).

How do you even begin to tackle this problem? Well, I think as things stand now you can’t. Part of this is there being too much damage to SOF as it exists now to “save” it (and I will talk about this momentarily in the conclusion, like I said earlier), but also needs other issues to be fixed. You need stronger and more consistent oversight of the military in general and SOF in particular from elected officials who are actually going to dig deep, ask probing questions, and demand results – and will need to have a strong moral compass on the issues at hand. You’ll need a top brass in the military that will also have zero tolerance for such behavior and other shitty behavior in general, won’t be afraid of the military getting a black eye or bad press for calling attention to bad behavior, and will rigorously act to deal with bad behavior and crimes of various kinds and dole out actual punishments. Finally, you’ll need a military justice system that actually delivers – well, justice, for the accused and isn’t biased or rigged to produce certain results or simply to protect the interests and appearance of the military. I just mentioned three things that could all be essays in their own right (and likely will be at some point if I can ever get around to them – I’m very tired ok), so clearly this is an issue that goes beyond just SOF and requires sea changes in how our country works, not just how our military or SOF works (something I have pointed out as being necessary in the past). If SOF in our hypothetical better future and scenario are to function without descending back into a toxic culture of murder and cruelty, than these issues will all need to be fixed alongside one another going forward.

De Oppresso Liber (but for real this time)

Ok, so, this is the part where I remember that I’m supposed to be writing about how I would do things differently in this hypothetical future and scenario we’ve crafted for this series. But before I get into that, I want to speak about the here and now – knowing that what I say here and now will make little difference but I want to get it off my chest anyway.

As things stand now, I think that SOF as currently constituted in the US military are essentially un-reformable (and this is not a new opinion of mine). I think the rot has gone on for too long and goes too deep for it to be salvaged. This – again – is similar to my views on law enforcement; I am a police abolitionist in that I think some form of law enforcement or public safety needs to exist in society, but that I think the current system is beyond fixing and needs to be knocked down and started fresh from a completely blank slate with new ideas and new people in order to work. In that sense, I am a SOF-abolitionist in that while I think SOF should exist in the military – both as it exists now and as I’d like it to exist – the slate has to be wiped clean and it has to be started over fresh and new with new people and concepts and rules and oversight.

But ok, if we did wipe that slate clean and started over, how would we want them to be? As I said earlier, a lot of changes need to happen alongside one another – both in the military and in our society. But if we’re assuming the political changes we’d like to see have already happened in the United States and we’re focused more on the military problem now, the answers to the main problems I’ve outlined are self-evident (to an extent) in the problems themselves.

First, we need to have discussions need to be had about how many SOF is enough, and how much funding is really needed, without just letting the community bloat to an extreme size and throwing money at it with no accountability. There also need to be questions asked about how many different types of units we need – does every single branch of the military need to have its own unique SOF unit? My inclination is to say “no” and there would need to be studies done on what types of units we really do need to avoid not only a redo of bloat, but to avoid redundancy and overlap. If a new SOF unit needs to be justified, it needs to have a truly unique argument as to why it uniquely needs to exist. If there’s any of the things I’m listing I think could actually happen under the current system, its at least this one – as there seems to be conversations going in the halls of power regarding potential significant cuts to SOF as I finish writing this essay. So, there’s that I guess (though I imagine this will quickly turn into a political culture war issue in Congress and elsewhere with a revolving door of retired generals making their way to hearings to defend their special snowflake boys to Greg Steube and a similar coterie of very big dumb Republican guys, so don’t hold your breath).

Second, the missions SOF are assigned need to be ones that are actually militarily relevant and useful to the grand strategy we’re adhering to (and also are actually militarily achievable – unlike COIN and CT). Over all of this, thirdly, the SOF community also needs to be subject to oversight with actual teeth to it and those who violate rules, procedures, and established laws (both US military law and the LOAC), need to held accountable for their actions in a meaningful way. This is by no means an all-inclusive list, but just the major issues that come to mind reflecting on everything I’ve dumped on you for the past then pages or so in change.

While all of these issues are important, as a defense analysts I am most interested in the missions angle – not simply because I want to make sure its addressed how SOF fit in to the scenario we’ve established before, but because it also ties in to the other issues in that circular feedback loop I described from the onset. In our scenario of coming to the aid of an ally that is under attack by a strong conventional adversary and is being invaded, what would SOF be doing?

In our scenario, SOF would likely be the first troops of ours on the ground to assist our ally, before any substantial conventional ground forces are able to arrive in strength. To that end, their initial goal would be the same as any and naval firepower that is being directed to the region as the invasion is underway: to slow down and hopefully stall the enemy advance until those aforementioned conventional ground forces can arrive and concentrate and counter-attack. This would be in close conjunction with allied forces on the ground – likely including their own SOF, if they have any. Much like US SOF planned to do in Central Europe if the balloon went up during the Cold War, they’d blow bridges, collapse tunnels, and undertake harassing actions to slow the enemy down as their forces moved forward onto allied soil.

While our forces prepared for a counter-offensive to liberate occupied allied territory, that’s when SOF would really go to work, undertaking the mission that was always meant to be their primary responsibility: unconventional warfare. SOF would infiltrate behind enemy lines and work to establish an insurgency against the occupying forces – or support ones that have already cropped up. SOF would train and advise these forces, directing them on where and how to strike in order to make the biggest impact on the occupation, fighting alongside them in the process. It would be a return to form for SOF, fighting in support of insurgents fighting for their rights and freedoms, rather than engaging in a COIN campaign (and forcing the enemy to engage in such an ultimately hopeless endeavor themselves). The goal here is to continue weakening the enemy, drawing away forces and effort to fight the insurgents and lowering enemy morale and effectiveness, while making the coming conventional counter-offensive more effective and faster from having worn down and worn out the enemy internally. Once conventional forces press forward and link up with the insurgents, they may be able to link up with those conventional forces to press on and assist them – following Mao’s own theories on insurgency and guerrilla warfare, with the guerrillas gradually growing into the final phase of conventional warfare.

Additionally, aside from shooting people or even training other people to shoot people, SOF would play a critical role as eyes and ears quietly observing enemy movements and activities. In an age of satellites, drones, and other technical means of intelligence gathering, you often still can’t beat a soldier on the ground to give you an eyes-on account of what’s going on and to catch nuance that a long-range camera just can’t get you. To get back to the shooting while still staying in the intel gathering mold, SOF could also embark on moire aggressive intelligence gathering or snatching operations to get key info that not even satellites or drones can get eyes on, further demonstrating their importance in a highly technical age of warfare.

All in all, SOF would play an important role in the scenario we’re thinking of. That’s something that anyone on the Left that still thinks that armed conflict is sometimes sadly necessary will have to get comfortable with. This is a big assumption on my part, based mostly on vibes and what I see in discussions online, but I get the impression that among a Left that already has a dim view of the military, the dimmest and darkest possible view is that of SOF and its operators. Again, given the transgressions I outlined earlier in this essay, I don’t’ think that’s a view without reason by any means. But that’s why I wanted to talk about all the systemic issues with SOF to show its just one thing that’s led them to what they currently are, and to demonstrate just how far they’ve strayed from the purpose they were meant to have originally. If reoriented on that original purpose, and utilized in service of ideology and motives that were not inherently imperialistic, SOF do have an important role to play. This is especially true if in this better world we imagine that we still wish to support those seeking their own liberation (I should surely hope so or I wouldn’t even bother writing this shit), without getting drawn into the moral and military deathtrap of regime change and occupation and COIN. Deploying SOF to train, advise, and equip insurgents fighting for better lives in their homeland is the way to avoid stumbling into our own versions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Basically, we always want to make sure that the only role we play in any insurgent, is being on the side of the insurgents than as the COIN practitioners (assuming the insurgents aren’t pieces of shit and genuinely want a better future for their people and aren’t just batshit insane).

On that note, I think I’ve said just about all I can think to say on this subject for now and my brain is starting to run on empty. Out of all the essays in the series, I think that this one was the one I was both most excited for and the most dreading to write for a long time because of how intellectually and emotionally dense a subject it is. In all honesty, for how much I’m glad I’ve broached this subject, I’m happy to put this one in my rear-view mirror and move on to greener pastures now that I’ve said my piece. As with everything I write, I hope it at least promotes some introspection and some useful discussions and debate.

I’ll be honest, I don’t know if this is the end of the “What Should It Look Like” series or not. I think I was maybe planning on doing another one at some point specifically on the Reserves and National Guard and the role that they should play and how they should be different, so I’ll probably get to that at some point. I may switch things up for the next essay though and do something different, depending on what strikes my fancy at the time or what’s in the news by the end of the Summer. Now that I’m doing fewer of these a year, I don’t want to make every single one a “What Should It Look Like” until its all done, so I want to try and keep it fresh for you all. For now though, thanks for your patience as I move to a new schedule and space these further out. I’m juggling a lot in my life and not having to do these every month has made it a lot easier, so I appreciate all of your understanding.

Until next time, as always, stay safe out there and keep on keeping on. I’m going to go enjoy Memorial Day weekend and stuff my face with burgers and beer. Peace.

And I always will - Tom Holland

❄️ FANFICmas 2020 ❄️

Read more about FANFICmas here!

week 3 babies! it’s been so long since i last wrote for Tom and this story just screamed for him when I made up the plot. so here is some cute friends to lovers christmas edition! updated the fanficmas post with next week’s fic and added another one for the 24th, check it out if you are interested!

word count: 4.2k

masterlist

It’s not a date, it’s not a date, it’s not a date!

That’s your mantra for the evening and the closer the time is coming when Tom is picking you up, the louder you’re shouting it in your mind. Well, while it was sure he was nowhere near your apartment you physically kept telling yourself, heart pounding in your chest with each passing moment, but when he texted you that he’d be there in five you shut yourself up.

Stepping to the mirror you take one last look at yourself in your simple black dress and red blazer, a simple but fitting look for the annual Christmas party of the company you’re working for. You tug your hair behind your ears to make your earrings more apparent, they are like little red Christmas ornaments, the perfect touch up for the occasion and you also happen to know Tom loves how you wear them around the holidays every year.

This whole thing started a week ago when he was over for a movie night, something you often did when he was in town and you whined about having to go to the company party alone again and listen to your boss comment on how she was already married at your age. She is a very old school woman with strong beliefs that a woman should be able to catch herself a man at an early age if she doesn’t want to end up alone for the rest of her life.

You were only twenty three, not at all in rush to settle down, but you hated the teasing and commenting every year. It happened all through the year, but it was the worst at the Christmas party, because then she had the time to talk to you without the distraction of work, so she was able to touch on more personal topics as well.

Tom listened to you patiently, letting you rage about the irritation even the thought brings to you every year before proposing his idea.

“I could go with you and pretend to be your boyfriend.”

The words rolled off his tongue so easily, like it was nothing at all, when in reality it put your stomach into a knot immediately. It might have not mean anything to him other than just a friendly request but it meant so much more to you, being in love with the man for years.

Cliché, right? Falling for your best friend and keeping your emotions bottled up because you’re too afraid to come clear and possibly ruin your friendship. It sounds like a horrible teen movie, but this is the truth. It’s not something you can just blurt out without having to overthink about all the possible outcomes that would send you into a rabbit hole of the worst case scenarios until you are scared to talk about your feelings for life.

You were hesitant about his idea, but like every time, he managed to talk your ears off and convince that it would be a great idea.

“Lots are already thinking we are a couple, it would be easy!” he assured you, and he gave you a sly, cocky smirk, one you can never resist. So naturally, you said yes at the end and that brings you to this evening, when you’re nervously waiting for him to arrive to pick you up so the two of you could go to that stupid party together, pretending to be a couple.

You keep pacing back and forth in the small hallway as you wait for him to arrive and when you hear the knock on the door you jump.

It’s not a date, Y/N! Just pretentious!

You keep telling yourself your little mantra as you stride over to the door and open it for him. And there he is, handsome as ever, wearing black dress pants and a nice, crispy looking white shirt under his wool coat, the top buttons of the shirt left undone to let your greedy eyes a little hint of his toned chest underneath the fabric. You need to stop yourself from sucking on your breath, he looks so great, not just now, but all the damn time, making you feel lightheaded with just a simple smile.

“You look beautiful, girlfriend,” he tells you, putting a teasing tone into the last word and though it was just a joke, it made your heart flutter for sure.

“Thank you, boyfriend,” you shyly smile, the word tastes so sweet on your tongue, but there’s some hidden pain behind it.

“Ready to go?” You nod and grab your coat and purse before shutting the door behind you and locking the door.

The ride is short, but feels like forever. You’re anxiously chewing on your bottom lip, heart pounding in your chest and you fear that Tom might hear it and question you about it. This is so nerve-wrecking, and so not how you imagined to be his girlfriend for the first time.

Though it’s the closest you’ll get to the title, probably, you tell yourself, stomach churning at the thought.

“Hey,” Tom’s soft voice grabs your attention when he stops at a red light. “Nervous?”

“Just a little,” you nod shortly. “I just… want to my boss to take me seriously for once,” you lie, because there’s absolutely no way you are telling him it’s him that makes you shit your panties.

“I’ll be right there with you and we’ll charm the shit out of that woman,” he smirks making you laugh at his words.

“Hope so,” you mumble with a sigh, turning back to stare out the window.

Tom parks down in an empty spot near the venue that holds the part and he helps you out of the car giving you a hand, but he doesn’t let go of it once you are standing on your feet, holding your hand and even lacing your fingers together. When he gives it a gentle squeeze you peek up at him and notice that he is looking down at your with a warm smile as if he is trying to tell you that it’s gonna be alright without words. You try to swallow your anxious thoughts and hope he doesn’t find your hand too sweaty as the two of you head inside.

You work for a huge marketing company, one of the biggest ones in London. You landed an assistant job two years ago, fresh out of college and worked yourself up to be a fulltime graphic designer, mostly working on visuals for smaller campaigns running in the company, but you were proud of your work and enjoyed it to the fullest. One of the lead designers is rumored to retire sometime next year and you were hoping to be considered for his spot, thought there are quite a lot who has been working there for a longer time, but you felt like you have proven yourself to be suitable for the job. Tonight you are praying to charm your boss so she would move your name forward in the process and earn you a few good points at the admission, but this meant that you have to make her believe you are the definition of couple goals so she would get off your back and finally see that you are trying your best to move forward in life.

The venue is one big ball room, several tables set on the sides with the department’s name on the table to let people know where to sit, the luxurious decoration making the whole place appear like Winter Wonderland straight out of a fairytale. There’s a stage at the very back with a DJ already playing and a dancefloor in the middle, some guests are busting their best dance moves there, while others are enjoying the open buffet that runs along the two sides, tables filled with the most delicious looking meals.

A waiter greets you both, offering you champagne and you gladly take a glass while Tom shakes his head with a soft “I’m driving, thank you”.

Looking around you see some familiar faces but there are a lot new ones. The company has a whole office building with five floors and one usually stays on their own floor throughout the working days, you don’t interact much, so it’s hard to tell who you are working with on a wider level.

“Do you know where we are sitting?” Tom asks leaning closer to your ear so you hear what he is saying over the music and as his hot breath hits your neck it sends a shiver down your spine.

He is so close and his hand feels so warm on mine, you think to yourself while your eyes scan the place, trying to find your colleagues. When you spot them you pull Tom in their direction, plastering a nervous smile on your lips.

“Hi everyone!” you greet them arriving to the big, circular table. You work with a team of ten designers, some of them are older, but there are two around your age. Sally is twenty-five, her desk is right across yours and you’ve become closer, eating lunch together almost every day, and then there’s Owen, who is basically the office’s gossip source, always knows what happened to who and he makes sure to give the word away to the right people. Your older colleagues find him nosy, but you think it’s funny how he can still get any information from anyone even though he is known to have a big mouth. There’s just something about a tall, gay dude who approaches you with a sly smile, it’s like he puts a spell on people and they magically start talking. He often joins you and Sally for lunch, the three of you forming a club of young, ambitious people, holding each other up so you don’t get crushed by the judgy thirties.

When Owen looks up from his cocktail he almost spits it out seeing Tom standing next to you, holding your hand firmly.

“Little miss Y/N?! What is this supposed to be?” he gasps dramatically and you just chuckle shaking your head at him.

“This, is my uhh—This is my boyfriend, Tom,” you nervously introduce him and he waves around politely.

“Hi, nice to meet you all,” he calls out and most just acknowledge him with a nod and a hello, but Owen is over the roof that you just appeared with Tom Holland by your side.

“Why haven’t you tell me you were fucking Spider-Man himself?” he continues to rage and you almost choke on your own saliva hearing his words. Your cheeks start to heat up, but seemingly Tom doesn’t feel as uncomfortable as you, he just chuckles lightly, before pulling out your seat to help you sit before he takes the seat next to you.

Sally, who is sitting between you and Owen just slaps his chest in a warning manner.

“Control yourself!” she scolds him, but it only earns her an eye-roll.

“I’m sorry, but I feel offended I didn’t know about this,” he explains pointing at you and Tom.

“I hope you understand that I like to keep my private life, well, private. So it’s my fault Y/N hasn’t been bragging about us.” Tom rescues you from making up some stupid lie and you’re happy you didn’t have to say a word, so you just chug down half of your champagne in hopes it would ease your nerves a little.

Surprisingly, Owen backs off immediately, giving you a knowing look, as if he understood so well the life of a well-known actor even though he was far from being one.

“Oh, totally. I get it, don’t worry about it, Tom. Though I’m sure she’s been dying to talk about you all along.”

“Has she?” Tom teasingly looks down at you and you just let out an awkward chuckle nodding.

“Yeah. Exactly,” you mumble finishing off your champagne and putting it to the table. Tom can easily tell how nervous you are, so he puts a hand to your knee under the table and gives it a gentle squeeze, leaving it there afterwards, but it just rises your anxiety level. You are highly aware of every touch and look, as if your senses became hypersensitive all of a sudden, but only to Tom.

“So how long you two have been together?” Sally asks with a warm smile, trying her best to steal the opportunity from Owen to talk so he doesn’t say anything inappropriate and you are endlessly thankful to her for that.

“Um, couple of months,” you say the first thing that comes to your mind and from the corner of your eye you see Tom just nod along your words.

“And how do you know each other if I might ask?”

“We’ve been friends for a long time, actually,” Tom speaks up this time. “Y/N’s dad used to work with my dad when we were younger and we sort of became friends. I was always in love with her, though it took me a long time to grow the balls to ask her out.” You are stunned at how easily he is talking about something that’s not real, as if he has been building up this story in his mind for a while, but that can’t be the case of it.

“Oh, this is so cute! And did you feel the same way?” Sally asks you. Licking your lips you glance over at Tom.

“Yeah. Loved him all along,” you softly say and it’s the truth, however he will probably never know about it.

“It’s like in the movies!” Sally gasps, holding her hand to her chest.

Tom’s eyes still hold yours and he gives your knee another squeeze that makes you take a deep breath before you tear your gaze away from him, feeling giddy and lightheaded.

You stay at the table a little longer before the two of you head to fill your plates before everything is fully gone. It’s kind of a relief to get away from Owen and Sally, you hated lying to them, but you had no choice.

“Everything alright?” Tom asks, brushing a hand against the small of your back as the two of you stand at the buffet, looking at the food.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” you nod with a weak smile. “Just a little nervous,” you admit.

“Don’t be, we are doing just fine,” he smirks and leaning down he kisses your forehead gently. It’s nothing new, he often does this and the gesture always manages to pull you out of your boiling thoughts and it has the same effect this time as well. You feel like you can breathe again after holding it in for a long time.

You carelessly glance over your shoulder as you wait for Tom to finish packing his plate up with veggies when you spot your boss talking to a guy who you recall works as an accountant on a higher level. Her eyes move just enough to meet yours and you suck on your breath when she spots Tom next to you, right when he reaches out mindlessly sliding a hand to your waist.

“Oh God, she saw us,” you mumble under your breath as you watch her excuse herself from the guy and head in your way.

“Hm? What?” Tom lifts his head and his eyes quickly find the tall, lean woman walking towards you with ambitious and confident steps. Mrs. Winston is the kind of woman that could easily intimidate any high power man in the industry, and she worked hard to be where she is now. However, you don’t necessarily always share her beliefs of the world and life, for instance her vision of a woman marrying a man as young as possible.

“Y/N? Who is this handsome man you brought tonight?” she asks right away, eyes landing on Tom who has put his plate to the table behind him and circled an arm around your waist. Before you could even get a word out, Tom extends his other hand out for her, with a charming smile.

“Tom Holland. It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Winston. I’m Y/N’s boyfriend.”

Oh God, you’ll never get used to hearing him say that and you’re amazed he remembered her name even though you just mentioned it earlier.

“Nice to meet you too. Call me Carol,” she smiles, seemingly already loving Tom and honestly, you can’t blame her. “I saw that you were bringing a plus one, but I was expecting a relative,” she comments finally paying you a glance and you can feel the sharpness in it, how she partially meant it as an insult, but you just smile at her widely.

“Oh, no. Hope you don’t mind it.”

“Not at all. So tell me, why do you look so familiar, Tom?”

“I’m an actor, you might have seen me in movies.” It takes Mrs. Winston to put the picture together, but when she eventually does, she gives you a highly approving look.

“Well yes! Now I remember! I think my son in law is a big fan.”

“Give him my best wishes,” Tom nods with a warm smile.

“You know, I’m happy to see Y/N finally with a worthy man by her side. I always told her to grab herself a good one before she runs out of time,” Mrs. Winston starts her usual sermon.

“Oh, I think Y/N is perfect on her own, I think she is an amazing individual,” Tom replies and your and Mrs. Winston’s eyebrows rise at the same time. “I don’t think a woman needs a man by her side to make her complete and I admire her strength as a person on her own, not just in a relationship.”

“Don’t you think a woman needs the support of a man to succeed in this man dominated world we live in?”

“Not at all,” he shakes his head confidently and you feel him pull you closer to his side while you listen to his words curiously. “I think women deserve the recognition of them and their work and not to have it overshadowed by any men. I’m proud to be Y/N’s boyfriend and I’ll support her through everything, but I would never let anyone think of her as just a part of our relationship, or the person connected to me, because she is so much more than that and I want everyone to recognize that.”

You are at a loss of words, you knew Tom was a feminist, supporting women’s rights passionately, but you never heard him talk about it in a close relation with you. His words twisted your heart in the best possible way and though tonight is all about faking, something is telling you that these are his genuine thoughts, except the part about your relationship, but he could easily mean just your friendship under that.

Mrs. Winston seems stunned at the honest and forward answer, though you can tell it surprised her that someone went against her beliefs. However, it doesn’t seem like she is upset about it, more like she appreciates the balls that someone spoke up.

Her eyes fall back on you and there’s a small smile tugging at her red lips.

“He is a keeper, Y/N,” she simply tells you before walking away.

“Holy shit,” you breathe out when she is far away. Tom gives your waist another squeeze as he glances down at you with a smirk. “It’s like you put a spell on her!”

“I’m a charming bastard,” he shrugs smugly before grabbing his plate from the table and the two of you make your way back to the table.

Following the little talk with your boss you feel a lot more relaxed, knowing that Tom charmed the shit out of the woman. Now you are starting to enjoy the party, laughing with Sally and Owen and you’re happy to see that Tom is getting along with them pretty well too.

When the DJ starts playing All I Want For Christmas, the whole room cheers as one and most guests rush to the dance floor, that includes you and Tom as well.

He keeps you close, twirling you and moving around with you to the song, even singing it just like most people around you. Looking around you spot Mrs. Winston dancing as well, a lot more reserved than you, but she looks like she’s genuinely having a good time. She winks at you when your eyes meet and she sees Tom wrap an arm around your waist. You feel yourself blushing and you turn back to him, earning a sweet smile from him as he is enjoying the party.

When the song ends, the DJ slows it down a few knots playing Christmas Lights by Coldplay, people start to leave the dancefloor, only couple staying to slow dance to the song. Your eyes meet Tom and you thought he might want to go back to the table, but instead, his arms wrap around your waist and he pulls you to his chest, starting to sway to the rhythm.

You try to ignore the butterflies in your stomach as you feel his body pressed against yours, his hands holding your waist firmly, and you cheek is next to his, occasionally brushing in the motions. You run your hands up his broad shoulders and rest them behind his neck, a shiver running down your spine when you hear him sing the lines into your ear:

“Like some drunken Elvis singing, I go singing out of tune, saying how I always loved you darling and I always will.”

You lean back just enough to look into his eyes, feeling like the words he sang were a message addressed straight to you and you needed to see it in his look. When your gazes meet your heart skips a beat when they validate your thoughts. He sang those lines on purpose and he wanted you to hear them, but still, you can’t bring yourself to say or do something. You just stand there, wrapped in his arms, eyes lost in his, swaying gently to the song.

He brings a hand up to your face and tugs your hair behind your ears, his yes fall to your earring and he can’t help the smile that tugs on his lips.

“I don’t know if this is the right time, but I feel like it is,” he softly starts, seemingly having a hard time to find his words. “Y/N?”

“Yeah?” you breathe out faintly.

“I love you.”

The words almost push you out of your balance, and you feel like you are falling down in a deep, endless hole. He said the words you’ve been aching to hear from him for so long, he really said them and he is looking at you with eyes you’ve only seen in the mirror when you were thinking about telling him about your feelings. But this time the look belongs to him and he is breathlessly waiting for you to say something in return.

“I love you too,” you softly tell him, brushing your fingers gently along his jawline. He breaks a relieved smile, but then furrows his eyebrows in a serious expression.

“Just to make it sure, you are not talking about a friendly love, right?”

You can’t help but let out a chuckle, shaking your head at him.

“No. Not friendly,” you assure him and he sighs in relief again.

“Great, because it would have been really awkward.”

You bite into your bottom lip, shyly staring up at him, a little lost about what should be said or done next, when you hear Owen call out from behind you.

“You guys are standing under the mistletoe! Kiss!”

First you turn to look at him and then you follow the direction where he is pointing and you see that you are in fact standing under a little mistletoe, hanging from the ceiling. Turning to face Tom you shyly smile at him, while he looks way more confident in himself.

“We can’t break the rule,” he chuckles teasingly, making you laugh as well before leaning down he captures your lips in a sweet, breathtaking kiss.

You feel like a teenager again, the butterflies are going wild in your stomach and you’re pretty sure your hands are shaking, but you couldn’t care less. All you could think about is Tom and that you were finally kissing him. Teenage you would lose her mind knowing you finally got to kiss him, after all those years of secretly dreaming about it.

Tom kisses you again and again until you both are breathing heavily, so he pulls back a little, resting his forehead against yours, his hands keeping you close to him.

“Wanna get out of here?” he breathes out and you nod your head eagerly.

“Fuck yes,” you chuckle making him laugh as well before he grabs your hand and pulls you back to the table to grab your stuff and then head out.

You don’t bother to say goodbye, or tell anyone you’ve left, you were busy feeling Tom’s hands touching you wherever he could, his lips finding yours every other minute. You both are a hot mess in the car on the way home and when you finally reach your apartment, you turn on the Christmas lights in your room, before Tom pulls you down to the bed and makes love to you all through the night.

-

general/forever taglist for Tom Holland

i do separate taglists for different people, but not for different works of mine! if you ask to be on my Tom taglist, you’ll be tagged in all of my Tom fics!

@zaahidahhh @shawn-youth  @wildflower-cth @imaginashawnns @haute-shawn  @learning-howto-be-myselfx3 @cutepenguin1 @madatmendes @harrysleftchelseaboot  @sarcasticallywitty15 @dontworrysunflower​

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Just How Does Family Members Mediation Work?

How Does Arbitration Work?

We're a charity assistance network and advocate leading the fight to remove being homeless within Staffordshire and also bordering locations. If you would love to participate in either of these sessions please really feel guaranteed that our trained and expert personnel will certainly look after the health and wellbeing of both you and your kid. We continue to be completely functional however a number of our team continue to work remotely. Please make an appointment prior to going to at the workplace and to organize video clip conferencing or telephone conferences. According to the recommendations of the Federal government and Public Wellness England, we are shutting the doors to our office at 32 Friar Lane Leicester from Tuesday 5th January 2021. This will stay subject to evaluate and also dependent upon the circumstances. You need to be aged 13 years or older - if you're younger, ask somebody with parental obligation to send the feedback for you.

Can you refuse mediation?

Or they are the respondent, who is being lead unwittingly toward the court. By trying mediation, a couple has nothing to lose and everything to gain, starting with their self-respect. The answer of course, is yes, you can refuse.

This Plan Paper would ask the FLC whether any type of adjustments are needed to Sheriff Court Ordinary Cause Rule 33.22 to set that recommendations to arbitration ought to not occur when there has actually been domestic misuse. 11.06 ADR is not meant to replace going to courts in all situations, but it can have advantages over litigating. The major benefits are that it can be extra adaptable, address the issue faster, be much less stressful, supply a much longer enduring solution and also be less costly than participating in court. This appointment seeks sights on reforming Part 1 of the Children Act 1995 to guarantee the kid's best interests are at the centre of any decision made regarding them.

Just How Does Divorce Mediation Job?

Nevertheless, we are aware that ADR would certainly not be appropriate in all situations for example where there has actually been residential abuse. 11.24 The Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament in their article legislative analysis of the Family Legislation Act recommended that cases would certainly benefit from boosted use of mediation. 11.23 We are seeking your sights on whether we should be doing even more to encourage ADR as a choice to visit court. Operation of the plan is examined as well as if needed further meetings are organized. 11.16 In the light of Write-up 48 of the Istanbul Convention, the Scottish Government are considering whether to prepare a Plan Paper for the FLC.

They are normally advised by a lawyer in support of a person involved in a court case to manage the hearings, and also sometimes to advise on exactly how solid your instance is or what steps should be taken. Barristers can in some cases be instructed directly without you paying for a lawyer as well, and this is called public gain access to. Solicitors and also legal executives can handle your instance throughout, including figuring out lawful aid and also taking care of paperwork, as well as some may perform the advocacy themselves.

If Youre Concerned About The Cost Of A Solicitor.

We on a regular basis check that the call details depend on date yet in some cases there may be changes to regional authority team or policy we are not warned of. Enquire can take no duty for the web content of various other sites. If you want to come as well as speak to me, please let your mum recognize and she will arrange a day as well as time for us to satisfy. Your mum and dad have actually asked me to write to you becuase they would like you to have the choice to speak with me also, if that is something you wish to do. I am below to pay attention to how you feel about the time you invest with your mum and your dad and any suggestions you have for the future.

You may have various ideas, dreams as well as sensations about your care and also therapy than your household/ carers or the experts entailed. Or you might feel the same as they do yet believe you're not being listened to. Or you might remain in a scenario where differences are taking place around you which you are discovering upsetting. If you are a child or young adult with significant health and wellness or treatment needs, it is truly essential to have your wishes as well as feelings listened to. The SEND Tribunal is an independent first-tier tribunal that listen to as well as decide charms versus decisions we have actually made concerning your youngster's EHC strategy or our decision not to analyze your kid's requirements. You do not have to go after mediation, you only have to consider it if you feel it would be practical for you. If you do not want to mediate, your right of appeal will certainly not be influenced yet, you will still be required to obtain an arbitration certification prior to making sure allures.

Stowe Household Law Blog Site.

Household Mediation is confidential as well as the meetings are executed in a personal setup. The court may provide various names to such acting hearings, relying on what type of process you are entailed with. Consequently, 'directions' or 'acting hearings' will certainly be held before the primary or 'final hearing' so the Judge can be clear what the problems are and also what evidence is needed to enable him or her to make the right decision. You are really not likely to be asked to provide evidence at such acting hearings as they are usually concerning choosing what proof is required and in what kind. More solicitors as well as lawful execs also function as advocates however if they are active with an additional case or if it needs a specific competence they might need to instruct barrister to manage a certain hearing. Particular barristers may have developed a specialism in a certain location, so it makes sense for a lawyer to refer those kinds of situations to a professional barrister that can supply suggestions in composing.

Patriarch Al-Rai resumes mediation between Aoun and Hariri to form government - Arab News

Patriarch Al-Rai resumes mediation between Aoun and Hariri to form government.

Posted: Thu, 07 Jan 2021 18:42:31 GMT [source]

Your mediation certification will certainly after that be provided to you within 3 days of your mediation session having happened. If you choose not to go to arbitration, after that CHILDREN will send you a mediation certification within 3 days of you informing them your decision.

Just How Does Family Mediation Job?

We'll offer you our reasons for not agreeing to an EHC requires assessment in composing and you can request a conference with your SEN named policeman to review your options. It's day 3 of Family members Arbitration Week (20th - 24th January 2020), a week long campaign where we encourage conversations concerning arbitration and also increase awareness of arbitration and also its benefits for dividing households. There are normally around four sessions yet there may be essentially, relying on the complexity and also variety of concerns controversial. Mediation will certainly reinforce communication and avoid the hostility created by court proceedings. The conciliator will certainly collaborate with you both, allowing you to find useful remedies.

If you are requesting a residential violence order (non-molestation order or profession order) there is no charge payable. Courteous handy service maintaining you educated at every phase/ Would absolutely recommend. familymediationservice was really amazed with the solution I obtained which was friendly, individual and expert. I was happy with the method things were performed on my part, and also would certainly not be reluctant to suggest Winstons to my buddies as well as family. I was very pleased with the solution received by Winstons Solicitors LLP - we got good assistance, clear communication and a speedy resolution.

Please note, if your enquiry is made outdoors office hrs, we aim to contact you on the next organization functioning day. The procedure whereby you differ a Child Arrangement Order resembles just how you made an application for it in the first place as well as you might need to attend an additional Mediation Details as well as Evaluation Fulfilling. If you do make a decision to apply to the Court to vary an existing Youngster Plan Order, it is very important to remember that, although the Court will reassess the truths, their vital consideration is still the kid's welfare. For initial suggestions connect with our Family members and Youngster Regulation Solicitors. Moderators are sensitive and have actually experienced in a wide-range of family disputes. If you have any concerns or require even more details then please do not think twice to contact us.

Can mediation save a sharing settlement over Nazi-looted Pissarro? - Art Newspaper

Can mediation save a sharing settlement over Nazi-looted Pissarro?.

Posted: Thu, 17 Dec 2020 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Applications in the Family members Court comply with a standard operating procedure, although it can be adjusted to suit the needs of the case you should not expect your situation to be resolved instantly or perhaps at the initial hearing. In urgent situations the court may be able to skip certain components of the treatment or make short-term holding orders to safeguard your setting also without the various other person being at court. But you must read leaflet CB2 to see what the court thinks about as an urgent issue. You have to pay a cost to begin most lawsuit however if you are on a low income you may get approved for "fee remission". You can get help with court and tribunal costs online on the.gov.uk internet site here.

This is no one's mistake-- it's simple to focus on various other concerns such as cash, home and so forth. With our assistance we'll aid you to start constructing a life that's devoid of abuse. With a full-circle method, Glow looks for to attend to the concerns from every angle, guaranteeing that no member of the community is susceptible to an abusive connection. We're a charity on an objective to end connection abuse, marketing for adjustment as well as offering support throughout Staffordshire as well as its surrounding locations. Chatterbox is an internet site produced especially to help people across North Staffordshire to take advantage of their money to aid with budgeting. Regardless of what you've been via, our team is right here to sustain you through thick and also slim.

Spinney completes earthwork; mediation yields planned settlement - Wiscasset Newspaper

Spinney completes earthwork; mediation yields planned settlement.

Posted: Tue, 05 Jan 2021 19:07:02 GMT [source]

Mediation is personal although any kind of details passed from one celebration to the mediator must be disclosed to the various other event. The conciliator is not entitled to share any info connecting to your case to any 3rd party, to include your corresponding Solicitors. Discretion can be forgoed by both celebrations if details is needed to be provided to your Lawyers. Only the terms of any contract will certainly be made a note of as well as recorded in the treatment notes. At MMF we will always make sure we inquire about how your sights can be heard and will do our ideal to sustain you anyhow you want. Our function is to make sure that everyone's voice is heard in whatever way that is feasible.

Customer experience of our service can be found on our comments web page. These are made use of to compile records for us on just how individuals use this site. You will certainly be released an arbitration certificate within 3 working days, so that if you make a decision to, you have 1 month to attract Tribunal if you want. All celebrations will certainly get to discuss their sights, and if an agreement is gotten to which is acceptable to all, the essential activities will be formally documented and also signed by all events. If you are not delighted with area I of the EHCP - the named college - you do not require to have considered arbitration to attract Tribunal. If you accept arbitration, YOUNGSTERS will have 1 month to set up a day for mediation.

However, as court orders regarding youngsters are very difficult to apply anyway, coming to agreements that work for everyone entailed is most likely still your best option.

Members of personnel discover their very own option and also ideally get to an agreement that will certainly iron out their trouble or improve the scenario.

Arbitration is a private and risk-free means to speak via issues with the help of a neutral arbitrator, to locate a means onward and enhance functioning connections.

Many individuals discover it allows them to discover a way to interact with their ex once more, which if you have youngsters together can only be an actually advantage.

You can not typically get agreements concerning the kids made into a court order in the same way.

Some will certainly provide help for a taken care of cost, others might offer a very first conference free of cost.

The focus is on collaborating to move forward, not determining who was right or wrong in the past.

Provide feedbackEarly years (ages years) There's a great deal of aid offered in the early years, consisting of from wellness visitors and family centres. It is standard at this time of year to look back over the previous twelve months and reflect upon what has occurred, although many will not wish to look back at the year 2020. Simpson Millar Solicitors are a national law firm with over 500 personnel and also offices in Bristol, Cardiff, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester as well as Southport.

Questions for Colin - DCC edition

Okay so, November is upon us (has already entered here), and it’s Dutch Comic Con month, and once again I’m doing this because DAMN I want to ask the guy questions and am perfectly fine standing in line for 30+ minutes waiting to do just that but I have no idea what to ask him or how to phrase my questions.

Under the cut because I love rambling, lol.

So. Best (and quite possible, I’d gather) case scenario, I get to ask him three questions. One in each panel (hopefully, he’ll have one both days), and one in the M&G. One will be about JJ Sneed, one about him playing the two Hooks, and one idk about what yet (I really really wanna ask him about Kiss Me Judas but I think he still won’t be able to say much on that).

Now, I will come back to what to ask about JJ Sneed when we actually see the episode and know what’s it like, but a first idea is “What was your favourite moment in filming JJ Sneed?” or something. Just give him an open-ended question about something wholly new and make sure he knows how much we enjoy seeing him in new stuff. One doubt I have is that because it would literally be so brand new, like, ep drops on the 22nd and the con is on the 23rd and 24th, he may say he doesn’t wanna spoil people who haven’t watched it yet, so a) I’ll be asking it on the second day and b) I think I’ve grown enough confidence to outright ask “Can I ask about JJ Sneed or do you worry you’ll spoil people?” before I ask the question, so if he says no, I can have an alternative question at the ready. Because I really, really wouldn’t like my question to be wasted like that. As much as I love him, waiting 30+ minutes standing up only to get a “Can’t answer that” is a bummer :/ (I mean, I’m not blaming him, I know sometimes he really can’t say some stuff, but I think the best solution for the both of us is something like that, so I can ask him something else... does that make sense?)

Idk, maybe even pointing out the “spoiler” factor may make him unsure of answering, on the other hand, by that point it will have been released globally and anyone who has the means to watch it will have the chance to...

I wanna ask about him playing the two Hooks for a very specific reason, but also because I have so many fcuking feels about those two being friends, and I have so much happiness over Colin having had fun with playing both versions, so I think I’ll be asking him something like “What were your favourite parts in playing each different Hook?”. Not like, the differences, because I know that he’ll say something about Wish Hook being a father and while I find it ADORABLE that he drew from his feelings as a real father to play him, it’s something I already know, and I honestly just want to let him talk about his favourite parts, without making him feel like I’m asking him to choose. Just talk about what you like man, I LOVE HEARING YOU TALK.

Now the above two I’ll ask at the panels, for the M&G... I’m still not sure what to ask. God knows how much I want to ask him about something related to whump, but I think I’ve run out of simple, “sneaky” ways to have him talk about it (as much as you can call my question “Did you like playing the scenes of Hook in the Underworld” sneaky 😆) and I’m not sure how else I could approach the subject. I could ask him about The Right Stuff, but still I’m so uninterested in the subject material that I can’t come up with any question I deem interesting, though I know there’s a lot of people who would love to hear him talk about that. Kinda hoping someone else asks him about that in the M&G (and don’t worry, if all goes well, I’ll post a detailed recap of it for y’all, hopefully by the same night). 

One idea I had about Kiss Me Judas was to ask him how different the script is from the book. I remember reading an interview from the book’s author saying how he changed some stuff, and I’m really curious to know what those things are (if anything because there are a couple of things I didn’t like in the book and I’d like to be prepared about them possibly happening in the film), but again I worry that he’ll say he can’t say much about it since it’s at such an early stage. Another idea was to start by saying “I’m super fucking excited for Kiss Me Judas, I know it’ll take long but I’m gonna wait,” and then ask something irrelevant. Like, let him know that there are already people excited about this project (that he himself seems very excited about) and then go on with a question he can answer.

Another idea was to ask him about Dark Hook, but I’m like... not sure. I’m worrying it might have been too long since then, and I’m not sure exactly what to ask him in the first place. Like, at times I feel 5x10 and 5x11 have been amongst the episodes where he was given the best material in OUAT as an actor, and he fucking nailed that material, but again I’m like... I know he’ll appreciate hearing that people loved his work there, but I’m not sure how to phrase a question that’ll be worth half my 250 euros (because I’ll be honest the experience alone is worth at least the rest).

There’s also Fairytale of New York that I can ask him about, particularly if it’ll come out anytime soon because the story’s supposed to take place during Christmas and it’s November and there’s not even a trailer out yet is it not gonna be a Christmas movie or will we have to wait for Christmas 2020??

Anyway, those are my ideas, there’s still time to work on them and I’m fully determined to exhaust me legs and expose meself 🤪 However, if anyone has an idea of what questions to ask or how to phrase them, I’d love working around ideas about it!

Chester: The Emotional Support Tardigrade [Master Doc]

Discovery adopts a baby Tardigrade that quickly becomes the "class pet"/mascot.

They name it Chester and he’s about as big as a house cat and friendly like a dog and his favourite place in the world is either on Stamets’s shoulder or tucked up in Tilly’s arm as she works. Sometimes he’s spotted perched on Reno’s head but that’s only when she thinks no one else is around (she has an Image to uphold and being sweet on this tiny universe travelling gremlin won’t cut it)

Stamets somehow changes the spores so they're little cat treat size and the main gang (Paul, Hugh, Michael, Tilly and Reno) all carry some

Owosekun knits him a blue and silver jumper so he has a uniform. (Detmer designs it)

He gets his own combadge and they train him to responds to certain commands

Commands Chester:

He knows “Bridge” but instead of engineering it’s “Stamets” and instead of Michael and Tilly’s room it’s “Aunties” and he goes there (or just teleports straight to Michael or Tilly)

[Paul (from like a hidden alcove on the bridge or something close): "Chester, Chester, AUNTIE" *pop* Michael: "OH SAREK!" Paul: *just fucking dying of giggles*]

The joke's on Paul though when Michael also trains Chester to respond to “dad” but he apparently gets confused and teleports onto Hugh instead and because Hugh thinks it was Paul’s doing, Paul hides out in Engineering for like 3 days

Hugh eventually teases Paul out by telling Chester to go to him with a little note attached saying "I've retrained him so I'm Papa and you're Dad because it sounds better" and Paul just fucking cries (Which confuses Chester because he knows tears are sad but Dad doesn't feel sad)

Black Alert Chester:

Every Black Alert he pops to Engineering because he knows he can't be with his dad but his also his big sis is always worried so he just like plops on her head. First time it happened they nearly got lost because Paul was laughing so hard

Tilly hit the floor laughing and Paul was so far gone in his laugh that like, you know when someone giggles Real Hard and they’re just reduced to *squeaks*? He was reduced to that

Meanwhile Reno walks in and sees Tilly on the floor sobbing with a tardigrade on her head, and Paul just *wheezing* in the chamber

Hugh is there (because it's now his station during Black alert) and he's dying too but trying very very hard to pay attention because he's worried about Paul

No one replies to post-jump Bridge hails because they can't so Michael is sent and she just walks in to: Tilly on the floor with her face covered by a tardigrade, laughing Paul still in the chamber but disconnected fucking crying Hugh sat with his back against the glass struggling to breathe, and Reno recording it all because she hates (loves) Paul

She tells the bridge “I have no idea what happened but everyone here is either crying, laughing, or crying laughing and Chester May or may not be smothering Ensign Tilly” Saru just fucking sighs like he's given up on the universe (it's because he has)

Emotional Support Chester: (You can’t be sad while a tardigrade is making little beeps and peeps at you)

You know when cats do that thing when they know someone is sad and keeps annoying them? He really really loves Michael

Michael being all sad and then she hears a weird noise and then Plunk! A cat sized tardigrade plops down on the bed next to her and just starts making lil noises until she picks him up and they sit together

Tilly walks in and is just like "awh :(" and sits next to her and hugs her

Alternatively: Same scenario but Plunk! And a fully grown sized tardigrade pops down next to her and just Lays On Top Of Her and Refuses to get up until she’s calmed down

So Tilly walks into that one, says “oh no”, tries to wrestle him away, and then gets sat on herself

They end up projecting a movie on the ceiling because “goddammit, we’ll be here for a bit, might as well watch a movie”

They both miss the start of their shifts so both Stamets and Saru go to their quarters and are all angry and pissy then they open the door and are just like "ah. Emotional Support Tardigrade is on duty. You are relieved from the shift" and they walk out

(Hugh checks on them later with chocolate and a dermal regenerator because emotions and also tardigrades are fucking heavy they've probably got bruises)

They comm them like “why aren’t you at your post” and they manage to wheeze “Chester is kinda crushing our ribs” and they’re like “oh worm, we’ll try and call him away so you can breathe” (They fail)

There's now a certain alert/notification you can send your CO and CMO in case of Chester Hugs (One of the Medical Officers becomes "SCM" which stands for "Specialist Chester Medic")

Havoc Chester

When dogs sometimes do that thing where they like to wander around their owners house at night and check in on everyone when they sleep? Chester uses his travelling abilities to wander around the ship and teleport into people's rooms. He’s almost always found sleeping on top of one of his favourite people on the ship and Refuses to get up unless they give him cuddles and carry him around

One day he sits on top of Tilly but cries whenever she puts him down or tries to give him to someone else, so for that day there's an extra person in the command training program (Saru tries very very hard to be stern but cannot deal with the cries either so just let’s it be and writes in his report that Tilly has “outstanding compassion and an incredible ability to continue working on her jobs even when tasked with protecting another member of the crew”)

Time Travelling Chester

Tardigrades teleport around time just like they do space and one day, when they need assistance and a distraction and just fucking Hope, the Enterprise bridge finds itself nearly jumping out of their collective skins when a sudden loud POP and PLUNK happens and this random creature they’ve never seen before hits the bridge floor, tosses a capsule on the ground with a bunch of notes and PADDs, and then POPS back out of existence on its way to distract their enemies

(It’s a command that takes more preparation bc it’s a longer flight for him, but he knows the command “Captain” as well as anyone, and even better than they could have hoped, considering they had to teach him who he was looking for through Holos and pictures)

Then when Pike grabs the capsule and is like “holy shit, I think I know what that was” he opens it and there’s a note on top of all the PADDs and notes and pictures and other shit from long lost friends, that just reads “We Got You”

Spock is just like "Jesus fucking Sarek Michael can you stop just adopting things really it's getting ridiculous" but secretly looks out for him and tells him to look after Michael (Spock is one to talk considering Sarek is just Collecting Children)

Also the Discovery crew can never tell when the Enterprise gets their updates because they’re all off the books (their entire ship is too, until the 24th century) so they just sort of Send Shit whenever? And sometimes they get capsules back with pictures and notes and recordings on old data PADDs that the ‘fleet wouldn’t miss/could easily be explained away as “broken on mission”

Okay so we may have gotten slightly obsessed but it was the best time ever and I want it to happen again (disco-headcannons you're amazing and I love you and your willingness to listen to my headcannon rambling)

Which 10 Republicans Voted For Impeachment

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/which-10-republicans-voted-for-impeachment/

Which 10 Republicans Voted For Impeachment

David G Valadao Of California

Here are the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald Trump

Mr. Valadaos district in the San Joaquin Valley is somewhat difficult to characterize politically, given his performance in it: He sailed to victories in 2012 and 2016 even though Democratic presidential candidates won the district by double-digit margins. In 2018, amid a Democratic wave election, he lost by less than 1,000 votes. He recaptured his seat last year even as Mr. Biden ran up an 11-point margin in the district.

What is clearer is that Mr. Valadaos survival in such a skittish district is seen as important to Republican efforts to recapture the House. That may explain why, despite his impeachment vote, Mr. McCarthy, now a vociferous Trump ally, has been helping Mr. Valadao raise money.

For his part, Mr. Valadao has been a reliable Republican vote in the House since his support for impeachment and has said very little about it in the intervening months, aside from voting for Mr. Katkos doomed Jan. 6 commission.

But he has expressed some solidarity with other pro-impeachment Republicans: He appeared at a fund-raiser for Mr. Newhouse and donated to eight others all except Ms. Cheney, whose political action committee donated $5,000 to Mr. Valadao.

So far, he faces only weak opposition: His leading primary challenger lost a Republican primary for Congress in New Mexico last year.

Reached by phone on Friday, Mr. Valadao showed no interest in discussing his relationship with the former president. I have a comms director, he said. Have a nice day. Goodbye.

House Votes To Impeach Trump But Senate Trial Unlikely Before Biden’s Inauguration

9. Rep. John Katko, New York’s 24th: Katko is a moderate from an evenly divided moderate district. A former federal prosecutor, he said of Trump: “It cannot be ignored that President Trump encouraged this insurrection.” He also noted that as the riot was happening, Trump “refused to call it off, putting countless lives in danger.”

10. Rep. David Valadao, California’s 21st: The Southern California congressman represents a majority-Latino district Biden won 54% to 44%. Valadao won election to this seat in 2012 before losing it in 2018 and winning it back in the fall. He’s the rare case of a member of Congress who touts his willingness to work with the other party. Of his vote for impeachment, he said: “President Trump was, without question, a driving force in the catastrophic events that took place on January 6.” He added, “His inciting rhetoric was un-American, abhorrent, and absolutely an impeachable offense.”

Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler

Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington State said that she would vote to impeach because she believed that the president had acted in violation of his oath of office.

I understand the argument that the best course is not to further inflame the country or alienate Republican voters, she said. But I am a Republican voter. I believe in our Constitution, individual liberty, free markets, charity, life, justice, peace and this exceptional country. I see that my own party will be best served when those among us choose truth.

Also Check: Why Are Republicans Wearing Blue Ties

Trumps Ready To Fight

Fox News reports that the only Republican who voted to impeach Trump that isnt facing a primary challenger is Rep. John Katko .

They write that Katko appeared to get back into good graces with GOP leadership quickly after his impeachment vote and noted he was one of the faces of a border trip with House Republicans earlier this year.;

He did, however, join Cheney, Kinzinger, and the other Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, in also voting to establish a 9/11-style commission to investigate the Capitol protests.

Supporters of a Jan. 6 commission are settling on a backup plan to fully probe the Capitol attack: a select House committee

But theyre worried that even in a best-case scenario, itll become a total circus. New from me:

Sam Brodey

In April, CNBC;revealed that Trumps leadership PAC Save America has $85 million on hand heading into the midterms, something one person with knowledge of the matter describes as a gargantuan sum of cash.

Another report indicates Trump is teaming up with Newt Gingrich on a new MAGA doctrine for the Republican Party, using the famed Contract with America as a framework.

With an eye toward winning back the House and Senate in the 2022 midterm elections, Donald Trump has begun crafting a policy agenda outlining a MAGA doctrine.

And hes teaming up with Newt Gingrich to do it.

POLITICO May 26, 2021

Read this NextonThePoliticalInsider.com

Trump Expected To Make A Statement On Impeachment Proceedings Official Says

From CNNs Kaitlan Collins and Jim Acosta

President Trump will make a statement reacting to todays impeachment proceedings soon, an official familiar with the matter tells CNN. It will likely be a video.

The House has just voted to impeach President Trump for the second time making him the only US president to ever be impeached twice. The resolution passed 232 to 197.

The impeachment resolution the House voted on charges Trump with;a single article, incitement of insurrection, for his role in last weeks deadly Capitol riot.

More on this: A White House official said aides to the President are concerned the video he is recording this evening will be removed by YouTube, as Trump has seen his presence on social media vanish in recent days as tech giants like Twitter and Facebook have cracked down on the Presidents often false and irresponsible content.;

The official said the plan is to post the video on whitehouse.gov. But YouTube is used by the White House to post videos on the official government site.;The official said news outlets would be wise to make a digital recording of the video as soon as possible, in the event it is pulled down by YouTube.

The Oval Office is under consideration as a location for recording the video. It could be posted sometime during the next couple of hours.

You May Like: Democrats Against Impeachment

Rep Jamie Herrera Beutler

Another Washington representative, Herrera Beutler, on Wednesday detailed Trumps middling response to the riot including his attacks on Vice-President Mike Pence while Pence was hiding from the mob inside the Capitol and Trumps ignoring of Republican pleas to forcefully condemn the violence.

Read more: Trump condemns violence at Capitol riot but doesnt mention impeachment in new video

The Presidents offenses, in my reading of the Constitution, were impeachable based on the indisputable evidence we already have, she said in a statement.

I understand the argument that the best course is not to further inflame the country or alienate Republican voters. But I am a Republican voter.

Jaime Herrera Beutler

Trump Calls For ‘no Violence’ As Congress Moves To Impeach Him For Role In Riot

This time, there will be more. Some Republican senators have called on Trump to resign, and even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he is undecided at this point.

Trump’s impeachment won’t lead to his removal even if he is convicted because of the timeline. The Senate is adjourned until Tuesday. The next day, Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president. But there’s another penalty the Constitution allows for as a result of a Senate conviction that could be appealing to some Republican senators banning Trump from holding “office” again.

While there is some debate as to the definition of “office” in the Constitution and whether that would apply to running for president or even Congress, that kind of public rebuke would send a strong message that Republicans are ready to move on from Trumpism.

Recommended Reading: How Many House Seats Did Democrats Lose

Staying Above The Fray

As autumn approaches, the pressure on Bice from within her party appears to be lifting. Oklahoma GOP leaders have said nothing about her since party Chairman John Bennett posted a rebuke on Facebook in May following her Jan. 6 commission vote. Bennetts post is now blocked from public view, and he did not respond to a request for an interview.

Bice, who voted in January to oppose certification of the presidential result in Arizona, has repeatedly given the same explanation for her stance;on both the 2020 presidential election and the Capitol riot, positions she reiterated in an interview with CQ Roll Call.;

She said she wanted to make a statement about the integrity of state lawmakers control over how elections are administered, noting a 2020 state Supreme Court ruling that allowed voters to cast absentee ballots without getting them notarized.

Voting rights advocates said the measure would protect voters during the coronavirus pandemic, but state Republican lawmakers called the decision judicial overreach and rushed a party-line bill through the Legislature restoring the requirement.;

Oklahoma could have become a statistic like other states that had their election laws changed by judicial or executive decree, Bice said. For me, that was something that was very troubling.

Video: Texas GOP working to redraw maps to favor Republicans as Senate Democrats introduce voter protections bill

Read Also: How Many States Are Controlled By Republicans

Who Were The 10 Republicans That Voted For Impeachment

Why 10 Republicans Voted For Impeachment l FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast

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Ten Republicans Voted To Impeach Donald Trump The Backlash Has Been Swift Sbs News

The gop votes were in sharp contrast to the unanimous support for trump among house republicans when he was impeached by democrats in december 2019. cheney, whose decision to buck trump sparked an immediate backlash within the gop, was the only member of her partys leadership to support impeachment, which was opposed by 197 republicans. The 10 who voted with democrats to impeach trump could give a degree of cover and open the door a little wider for republicans in the senate to vote to convict trump. sen. With 10 republican votes, trump’s second impeachment was the most bipartisan one in history. by comparison, five democrats voted to impeach bill clinton in 1998. here are the 10 republicans:. With 10 republican votes, trump’s second impeachment was the most bipartisan one in history. by comparison, five democrats voted to impeach bill clinton in 1998. here are the 10 republicans:. the ten republicans in the house who voted for trumps impeachment were;house republican conference chair liz cheney. letters to the editor aug 20 2021. The ten republicans in the house who voted for trumps impeachment were;house republican conference chair liz cheney. letters to the editor aug 20 2021. ten house republicans crossed party lines on wednesday and voted to impeach president trump which is 10 more than the amount to go against him the first time around.

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Rep Tom Rice South Carolina

Rep. Tom Rice, representing South Carolinas 7th Congressional District, voted to impeach Trump, though he had not spoken out publicly about his decision prior to the vote.

In a statement after the vote Wednesday, Rice said he was not sure whether Trumps speech before the mobs attack amounted to incitement of a riot, but any reasonable person could see the potential for violence.

Once the violence began, when the Capitol was under siege, when the Capitol Police were being beaten and killed, and when the Vice President and the Congress were being locked down, the President was watching and tweeted about the Vice Presidents lack of courage, Rice wrote.

I have backed this President through thick and thin for four years. I campaigned for him and voted for him twice. But, this utter failure is inexcusable.

Report: 9 Of The 10 Republicans Who Voted To Impeach Trump Facing Primary Challengers

Nine out of the 10 Republican lawmakers who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump are facing primary challenges for their congressional seats.

Fox News reports that a majority of those who joined Democrats and the media circus during the second impeachment trial are facing a barrage of pro-Trump primary challengers.

Some of them, like Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger , according to Fox, may have a very hard time holding on to their seats.

The former President has vowed to back challengers to any Republicans who voted in favor of impeachment as they gear up for a fight in 2022.

Republicans who voted for impeachment face barrage of pro-Trump primary challengers

Also Check: How Many States Are Controlled By Republicans

Stun Guns Stinger Whips And A Crossbow: What Police Found On The Capitol Protesters

Not long after security forces cleared the last of the;pro-Trump mob;from the Capitol, a police officer stationed nearby spotted a suspicious male in a white passenger van with red spray paint on the side. The Ford Econoline 150 had Georgia plates and a red MAGA hat on the dashboard.

Im one of these, the man said to the officer as he pointed to the hat, according to a police report.

The man, Grant Moore of Buford, Ga., went on to say that he was supporting the Chinese who were currently protesting around the city, the report says. Whatever that meant, Moore, 65, was soon placed under arrest on weapons charges.

Inside his vehicle was a book bag containing a semi-automatic handgun with a fully-loaded 6-round magazine, the police report says. The officer also found three other magazines inside the bag and 12 loose rounds in one of the vans front compartments.

The guns and ammunition were among an unusual collection of weapons the police seized from;protesters who flooded into D.C.;to support President Trumps effort to overturn the 2020 election.

Jaime Herrera Beutler Of Washington

Ms. Herrera Beutler took a bizarre star turn during Mr. Trumps second impeachment proceedings after she divulged that Mr. McCarthy, the House Republican leader, had told her that Mr. Trump had sided with the mob on a phone call with Mr. McCarthy while the Capitol riot unfolded.

Since then, Ms. Herrera Beutler has stayed mostly silent about her role in the proceedings and her vote to impeach Mr. Trump. A campaign spokesman confirmed that she plans to run for re-election.

She faces what could prove a tough challenge from a primary opponent Mr. Trump has endorsed: Joe Kent, a former Army Special Forces officer. Mr. Kents wife, Shannon Kent, a chief petty officer in the Navy who worked closely with the National Security Agency, was killed by a suicide bomber in 2019 while on a counterterrorism mission in Syria. Mr. Kent plans to speak at a rally in Washington on Saturday in support of defendants charged in connection with the Capitol assault.

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Of The 10 House Republicans Who Voted For Impeachment Already Have Primary Challengers

Rumble SAVE $50 OFF your 4-Week Emergency Food Supply Kit here: ?Dont wait for an emergency before you prepare for one! Click on the link now! ^^^??? YOUR PATRIOT PATH TO FREEDOM! ???9 Of The 10 House Republicans Who Voted For Impeachment Already Have Primary Challengers! In this video, were going to look at how pundits are already admitting that the 10 Republicans who voted for Trumps impeachment are set to lose their seats, how several of them had the gall to vote in favor of giving illegals amnesty, and why it is that the Republicans had better rid themselves of all RINOs or face eventual political annihilation; you are NOT going to want to miss this!

Rep Adam Kinzinger Illinois

Trump used his office to attack the legislative branch of government, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois 16th Congressional District said in a statement Tuesday, causing violence and destruction to our nations symbol of democracy.

There is no doubt in my mind that the President of the United States broke his oath of office and incited this insurrection, Kinzinger wrote. If these actions are not worthy of impeachment, then what is an impeachable offense?

FILE PHOTO: Members of the National Guard gather at the U.S. Capitol as the House of Representatives prepares to begin the voting process on a resolution demanding U.S. Vice President Pence and the cabinet remove President Trump from office, in Washington, U.S., January 12, 2021. REUTERS/Erin Scott TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY/File Photo

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Will The Stimulus Bill Boost Democrats Electoral Prospects

But is this opposition real or just noise? After all, were still a long way from the 2022 primaries, which leaves plenty of time for anger surrounding their votes to impeach Trump to fade.

related:Sometimes Senators Just Retire. Dont Read Too Much Into The Recent GOP Exodus. Read more. »

At first glance, the seriousness of the primary challengers does vary quite a bit, ranging from the very serious that is, other elected officials, who tend to be stronger candidates to political newcomers like a conservative activist best known for getting married in a MAGA dress. Yet, in most cases, these representatives should all have at least some reason to be concerned about winning renomination in 2022 especially those who hail from more Republican-leaning districts.1

Republicans who voted to impeach face primary challenges

The 10 House Republicans who backed impeachment, including whether they were publicly admonished by state or local Republican Party committees and whether they have a primary challenger

Representative -10.9

*Valadao lost reelection in Californias 21st Congressional District in 2018 but won the seat back in 2020.

Admonishment includes a censure or public rebuke by a Republican Party committee at the state, district or county level.

related:Why Republicans Dont Fear An Electoral Backlash For Opposing Really Popular Parts Of Bidens Agenda Read more. »

related:Confidence Interval: Republicans Will Win Back Congress In 2022 Read more. »

Gop Leader Mccarthy: Trump Bears Responsibility For Violence Wont Vote To Impeach

10 Republicans Cross Party Lines To Vote For Trump’s Second Impeachment

Some ambitious Republican senators have never been as on board the Trump train as the more feverish GOP members in the House, and the former might be open to convicting Trump. But their ambition cuts two ways on the one hand, voting to ban Trump opens a lane to carry the Republican mantle in 2024 and be the partys new standard-bearer, but, on the other, it has the potential to alienate many of the 74 million who voted for Trump, and whose votes they need.

Its a long shot that Trump would ultimately be convicted, because 17 Republicans would need to join Democrats to get the two-thirds majority needed for a conviction. But its growing clearer that a majority of the Senate will vote to convict him, reflecting the number of Americans who are in favor of impeachment, disapproved of the job Trump has done and voted for his opponent in the 2020 presidential election.

Correction Jan. 14, 2021

A previous version of this story incorrectly said Rep. Peter Meijer is a West Point graduate. Meijer attended West Point, but he is a graduate of Columbia University.

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Ati Flash Tool For Mac

REVIEW: ATI Radeon X800 XT Mac Edition versus GeForce 6800 Ultra and Others

Originally posted January 5th, 2005, by rob-ART morgan, mad scientist Updated February 24th, 2005, with X800 XT overclock results. Updated June 28th, 2005, with news about the Radeon X850 XT CTO option for G5 Power Macs.

On January 5th, 2005, ATI announced the Radeon X800 XT for the G5 Power Mac. To start things off, I'm sharing a table of features and specs to help you understand how all the 'high end' graphics cards for the G5 compare.

Radeon 9800 Pro Special Mac Edition

nVidia GeForce 6800 GT

Radeon X800 XT Mac Edition

Memory

256MB

256MB

256MB

ADC, DVI

DVI x 2

ADC, DVI

Supports 30' Cinema

No

Yes

Yes

1

2

1

Pixel Fillrate

3.3GP/s

6.4GP/s

8.0+GP/s

8

16

16

Core Clock Speed

412MHz

400MHz

500MHz

77

??

182

Effective Memory Clock Speed

730MHz

1100MHz

1100MHz

22GB/s

32GB/s

32GB/s

Transform Rate

412MV/s

600MV/s

?

4

6

6

Aftermarket Price

$399 from ATI direct, resellers and as kit from Apple

$499 as kit from Apple

$499 from ATI direct and resellers

(* The 9800 XT takes uses only one slot but the heatsink/fan assembly encroaches on slot 2. However, the back plate is still available for such things as the 8 port Internal-to-External SATA Port Adapter from MacGurus)

At first glance, it appears the X800 XT Mac Edition should give you equal or better performance than GeForce 6800 Ultra for an aftermarket price equal to the GeForce 6800 GT -- plus it only uses one slot. But let's look at real world performance.

The Unreal Tournament 2004 Retail build 3339 (UT2004) test was done using the latest SantaDuck Toolpak that combines botmatches and flybys in one application. We chose the Primeval Flyby at 1920x1200 at maximum quality settings to help dramatize the contribution of the graphics card in 3D gaming. The asterisk (*) next to the X800 XT stands for overclock runs with the card set to 500MHz core clock speed and 1100MHz memory clock speed using ATIccelerator II.

However, a good Botmatch is closer to actual game play, so we ran the BridgeOfFate match at 1920x1200 and maximum quality...

Halo is very OpenGL intensive, especially when you set quailty to high and run at high resolution. We used the Halo 1.5 update which now has GPU based Lens Flare performance.

Turn on Full Scene Anti-Aliasing (FSAA) and the gap between the X800 XT and the rest of the cards grows...

We used ATI Displays utility to override the Halo OpenGL settings with FSAA Multi 4X in the case of the ATI cards. Those of you who saw this page earlier today know that we switched from FSAA Super to Multi as we were told that Super only works at 1024x768 and below. As you can see, even with Multi, the X800 'out pulls' the GeForce 6800s.

In case you want to try our Halo scenarios, here's the settings we used: HW Shaders = Advanced Shaders Detail Objects = On, Model Reflections = On FSAA = Off or 4X Lens Flare = High, Model Quality = High VIDEO: Resolution 1920x1200 Refresh = 0, Framerate Throttle = No Vsync Specular = On, Shadows = On, Decals = On, Particles = High, Texture Quality = High SOUND: Sound Quality = Low, Sound Variety = Low

Quake 3 Arena, though getting 'long in the tooth' is still a useful test for OpenGL (as well as dual processor) performance...

Motion is our newest test of graphic cards. As you can see below, how fast you can render a project for preview depends as much on your graphics card's speed (and memory capacity) as it does on your CPU power. This was the one test where the GeForce 6800 cards beat the X800 XT...

GRAPH LEGEND Graphics Cards X800 XT* = overclocked Radeon X800 XT using ATIccelerator II -- simulating X850 XT X800 XT = ATI Radeon X800 XT Mac Edition (8X, 256MB) GeF68 UT = nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL (8X, 256MB) GeF68 GT = nVidia GeForce 6800 GT DDL (8X, 256MB) Rad98 XT = ATI Radeon 9800 XT OEM (8X, 256MB) Rad98 SE = ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Special Edition (8X, 256MB) Rad96 XT = ATI Radeon 9600 XT OEM (8X, 128MB) CPUs G5/2.5 = G5/2.5GHz MP Power Mac

CONCLUSION I'm very impressed with the performance of the ATI Radeon X800 XT Mac Edition. It's equal to or faster than the GeForce 6800 Ultra in every test but one, yet costs $100 less and uses only one slot. Yes. It is half the length and half the thickness of the GeForce 6800 Ultra. So if you want to reclaim your PCI-X slot, better list your GeForce 6800 on eBay before everyone hears about the X800. ;-)

(In the photo above, the X800 is dwarfed by the GeForce 6800 Ultra in length and thickness as it sits on top of it.)

The X800 XT has the added advantage of being an ATI product which means it can utilize the ATI Displays utility to override the OpenGL settings in all applications to take advantage of such features as advanced Full Scene Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering. As designated by the asterisk (*), we used ATIccelerator II to overclock the core to 500MHz and the memory to 1100MHz. There's no corresponding tool for the GeForce 6800 Ultra that I know of.

The only G5 Power User that might prefer the GeForce 6800 would be the few 'lucky dogs' with TWO 30' Cinema displays. The X800 XT comes with one dual link DVI port and one ADC port. That means it supports one 30' Cinema and a second display of your choosing (as long as it's not another 30' Cinema). The GeForce 6800 cards have two dual link DVI ports and therefore can drive two 30' Cinema displays.

ATI included an ADC port on the X800 because they believe most buyers of the X800 XT already have an ADC display they would like to use with their G5 Power Mac. However, if your second display is DVI (or even VGA), there are inexpensive adapters to convert the ADC port to drive a DVI or VGA display. (See 'Where to Buy' below)

FAN NOISE Many of you are asking 'How noisy is the fan?' ATI has done a good job of choosing a quiet fan for the X800. I had only the clear plastic baffle on the G5/2.5 Power Mac test unit. The ambient sound was very low. At 'idle,' if I put my ear right up to the baffle and cracked it open slightly, I could barely distinguish the X800's fan from the Power Mac's multiple fans. When I ran the Halo 'highest quality' TimeDemo sequence, the CPU fans kicked up drowning out any sound coming from the graphics card fan. The same is true of the GeForce 6800 Ultra.

Note to readers running at 1280x1024: There are great gains to be had over your 'old' graphics card by upgrading to the X800, even if you aren't running at 1920x1200. We re-ran our tests at 1280x1024. Check out the X800's advantage over the stock 9600 XT: 230% for Quake3 142% for UT2004 Flyby 40% for UT2004 Botmatch 247% for Halo with FSAA = 4 We'll publish a full page comparing all the cards at 1280x1024 soon. And we'll also address the issue, 'Does having dual processers help with 3D gaming?' (Short answer: only if you are running Quake3.)

NEWS FLASH

June 28th, 2005 -- Radeon X850 XT added to Apple's CTO options for the G5 Power Mac! And GeForce 6800 Ultra dropped! The X850 XT appears to be a speed bumped X800 XT. Yet by dropping the Ultra version of the GeForce 6800 and replacing it with the GT, the Radeon X850 XT becomes the best choice for maximum OpenGL performance. (See chart below) The other good news is that the X850 XT takes up only one slot (vs the CTO GeForce 6800 GT and Ultra which take up two). And at $350, it's cheaper than buying the G5 tower with the default wimpy Radeon 9600 or 9650 and replacing it with an aftermarket $500 Radeon X800 XT.

Only possible downside is if you have two 30' Cinemas. It only supports one 30' Cinema and one 'normal' display, while the GeForce 6800 GT and Ultra support up to two 30' Cinemas. (Don't panic when you hear that the X850 XT's second port is ADC. If you have two DVI displays, order the $29 ADC to DVI adapter from Apple. And don't confuse it with the DVI to ADC converter for $99. Click 'Displays' under 'Accessories' on Apple's online store.)

Don't be depressed if you just bought an X800 XT. You can use ATIccelerator II to tweak your X800 XT to run at 500MHz core clock and 550MHz memory clock speed just like the X850 XT, thereby making it an X850 XT. (See our charts at the top of this article.)

RELATED ARTICLES ON THE NET

Anandtech posted their review of the Radeon X800 XT Mac Edition the same day we did. The showed the GeForce 6800 Ultra faster but were running at lower resolution.

InsideMacGames posted their review of the Radeon X800 XT Mac Edition. It includes the same games we used plus others. Their results are similar to ours -- the X800 wins.

SharkeyExtreme compares the PC versions of the GeForce 6800 GT and Ultra with the Radeon 9800 XT and X800 XT running:

UT2003 and UT2004 Doom 3 and Halo Quake3 and Wolfenstein

Doom 3 shootout with PC versions of GeForce 6800 GT, 6800 Ultra, Radeon X800, and 9800 XT. (Doom runs better on the GeForce cards because nVidia has worked closely with Doom 3 developers to optimize it for that game.)

WHERE TO BUY VARIOUS GRAPHICS CARDS FOR YOUR POWER MAC and MAC PRO

For your Mac Pro, you have the following 16X PCI Express (PCIe) options: The GeForce 7300 GT (16X, 256MB, dual-link DVI + single-link DVI port) is the default. We recommend the Radeon X1900 XT (16X, 512MB, two dual-link DVI ports) as a CTO option. It's much faster than the GeForce 7300 GT and just as fast as the expensive Quadro FX 4500. According to Alias/Autodesk, the X1900 XT is the only graphics card without limitations when using Maya 8.5. To custom order your Mac Pro with the Radeon X1900 XT, go to the Apple Store and click on the Mac Pro graphic.

If you didn't order the Radeon X1900 XT with your Mac Pro, you can order the Radeon X1900 XT as an aftermarket kit for your Mac Pro, go to the Apple Store and click on DISPLAYS in the left margin or do a search on 'X1900.'

NOTE: Mac Pro PCIe graphics cards will not work in Power Mac G5s with PCIe slots -- and vice versa. Nor will Windows PC PCIe graphics cards work in the Mac Pro.

Graphics Card Options for the Dual-Core or Quad-Core G5 with 16X PCI Express slot: The best option for your Dual-Core or Quad-Core G5 with PCIe slots is the ATI Radeon X1900 G5 Mac Edition released in November 2006. You can buy it directly from ATI's Online Store for $299 (with 'trade up' allowance).

It's also sold by Small Dog Electronics and Other World Computing.

The following cards only work on a G5 Power Mac with 8X AGP slot: The 'G5 only' Radeon X800 XT Mac Edition (8X AGP, 256MB, ADC + Dual-Link DVI port) is available from ATI Online Store, Apple's Online Store, Buy.com, Other World Computing, and Small Dog Electronics. (The MSRP is $299)

Apple's Online Store is no longer selling the GeForce 6800 GT or Ultra, which had Dual-Dual-Link DVI ports (for two 30' Cinemas).

The 'G5 only' Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Special Edition (8X AGP, 256MB, ADC + DVI port) is no longer made by ATI.

The following cards work on both the G5 Power Mac (8X AGP) and G4 Power Macs with 2X or 4X AGP: Other World Computing has the new ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Mac (2X/4X AGP, 256MB, DVI + VGA ports) graphics card in stock for $259. ATI has it on their Online Store for $249. The SKU number is 100-435058, in case you want to make sure you are getting the right card.

ATI Online Store, Buy.com and Other World Computing have the Radeon 9600 Pro PC and Mac Edition (4X AGP, 256MB, DVI + Dual-Link DVI port) as well. It's compatible with late model G4 Power Macs and all G5 Power Macs with AGP slots. Priced at $199 MSRP it is the lowest priced AGP graphics card with Dual-Link DVI support.

Has Bare Feats helped you? How about helping Bare Feats?

© 2005 Rob Art Morgan 'BARE facts on Macintosh speed FEATS' Email , the webmaster and mad scientist

ATI Winflash is especially designed to help users backup, re-flash or upgrade the BIOS of their computer's ATI video card. Developed by the manufacturer itself, it is the recommended method to.

List of all WD firmware and software available for download. Download AMD ATI ATIFlash. AMD ATIFlash is used to flash the graphics card BIOS on AMD Radeon 580, 570, 480, 470, 460 and older cards. Usage: atiflash -p 0 Bios.rom -f.

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Sleeping Beauty and Her Knight

What exactly is capable of killing a dragon?

As fairytales would have it, the best solution for a dragon is to send a knight.

A long time ago I did a post on how the Tsukiyama arc as a whole is basically a whole plot reference to sleeping beauty, but with a slight inversion. I’ll be referencing mainly that post for Ui and Tsukiyama’s section. 

The arc in which Koori Ui is introduced into the manga, is a sleeping beauty reference. Not only that, but since that arc, Ui himself seems to have symbolically switched places with Tsukiyama. Originally, Tsukiyama was both the knight, and then sleeping beauty. Whereas, now it seems ever since their confrontation on Rueshima, Koori has been acting more and more like the knight. 

Specifically, when Ui and Tsukiyama first confront each other Tsukiyama says that he owes Ui something for the Rose operation, and Ui responds that Tsukiyama owes something to him in term. Beforehand, Tsukiyama was the victim of the story, either the hapless prince, or the princess lying in the bed. From Ui’s perspective though, Tsukiyama is the rose garden. 

Both in what the ghoul ‘Rose’ referred to, Kanae von Rosewald whose name means forest of Roses, and also what the operation meant to Ui as a whole. As the operation is what caused him to lose Hairu. In other words, Tsukiyama stole her away from him in a way. 

In the original version of the tale, after the princess falls asleep she is surrounded by a forest of trees, brambles, and thorns (which roses have), in order to shield it from the outside world and save the princess.   In the original tale too, what causes the princess to sleep is a prick of a needle. Matsumae’s kagune heavily resembles the vine walls that eventually surround the princess. 

Matsumae, is what pierces Hairu. 

Oddly enough what we see before her death is not a character explanation or a flashback as most characters get, but rather what seems to be Hairu dreaming herself. 

It’s even referenced in her art in the volume 5 omake. 

Hairu is referred to as a princess several times as well, most notably by Kijima. 

So in this version of the story, Hairu is pricked by Rose’s needle and becomes a sleeping princess. Much later, Ui is told of the possibility that he can bring her back.

However, to do so he must face a dragon first. It seems also that Ui was at least clued in on part of the dragon plan as Furuta goes out of his way to explain the whole thing to him after the fact. So unlike Suzuya, Ui probably knew a little more and knew his actions in the 24th ward would be part of creating dragon.

There actually is no dragon in the Grimm version, but remember painting with a wide brush here so the pop culture (ie the disney) sleeping beauty and the original one are probably equally worthy as reference material. 

In the disney version of the tale, there’s a direct and acting antagonist in Maleficent. Whereas in the original version the old fairy who curses sleeping beauty shows up at the beginning, and then never again and her curse is just a destiny to be avoided throughout the story. Though, I might say the destiny to die young before ever reaching maturity, and have that determined since birth does have a lot of common with the garden children who are cursed from birth to live 1/4 lives.

The irony is whether Ui actually took Hairu to the rose operation or not, without an elixir of life she would have died early regardless. Which is what Sleeping Beauty is ultimately about thematically, a princess trying to escape an otherwise inescapable curse through some loophole. That remains consistent between the two stories, the disney version just has an antagonist that is present throughout. 

In the disney version, Maleficent goes out of her way to capture Phillip just as the kingdom falls asleep. (In the Grimm version a prince just kind of wanders there 100 years later... I doubt that’s going to happen with this story). To summarize the Disney version though, Maleficent’s plan is to hold Phillip captive until he’s an old man and then force him to as an old man, try to brave the thorns and save the princess then. Either way she detains his agency for a long time, and then he’s released by the interference of the good fairies. 

In a similar manner, Furuta lied and kept Ui next to his side for a long time. Ui even literally says that he was in chains, and he chose himself to chain himself to the reaper.

Even in the Disney Story, it was Maleficent’s intention for Aurora to be eventually woken up. If everything had gone according to Maleficent’s scenario though, by the time she did wake up her beloved prince would be a feeble old man that could not help her. In the same way, Furuta’s intention seems to have been to create a being capable of recreating life, but he was also stringing Ui along on the belief that this could be applied directly to Hairu and Arima. 

In the Disney version when the  fairies try to interfere in her scenario and wake up the princess early by freeing the knight to go cut through the brambles and save her (which in this version are set up by maleficent herself, whereas in the Grimm version they were set up by the good fairies as a way of protecting her for 100 years), then and only then is the dragon summoned. As a way of making sure that everything goes according to Maleficent’s planned out narrative for her revenge. 

Which matches near perfectly with what we see at the end of this chapter. Ui is told that Furuta’s narrative won’t work out for him, that he won’t get the sleeping princess by simply following to Furuta’s plan, but he stands up and decides to face the dragon anyway.

You could also tie this to the thematic roll of sleeping and dreams in sleeping beauty. Ui spends a great deal of time dreaming. Possibly ever since Hairu died, the chapter immediately after where he realizes her death is called ‘Dream.’

From that point forward, Ui clings to her memory. Ui even says so himself, he did not really ultimately believe in Furuta, but was looking for some kind of refuge. Dreaming, the same way that Sasaki did.

When faced with reality though, Ui’s choice ultimately is important. Instead of choosing to give up even after being told it was hopeless, Ui stands again. Not only that but the person who seemed to be his enemy, suddenly again became his ally when the chips were down.

Ironically, being told that there was no chance at all to revive Hairu seems to have revitalized Ui rather than breaking him down as he feared all along.

Perhaps what Furuta said a long time ago is coming to pass. Ui actually didn’t need a reason to fight all along. It was his seeking a reason that made him this way.

The same way that Kaneki seeking a reason through Touka, seems to have been what unintentionally among other things what led him to his demise and his current rampage.

Ultimately though, if what Ui has done in this moment and the growth he’s experienced does not lead to a Hairu revival, it could lead back to Kaneki. What Kaneki essentially needs to grasp is that he like Ui, doesn’t really even need a reason to fight. Ui’s been fighting all along without a reason, and he can still do, he can still pick himself up and live even when told it’s completely hopeless. Being told exactly what it is he feared hearing the most did the opposite,  it’s reignited Ui’s hope.

[x] @silverbulletsama

The fact that if anything, Kaneki’s seven thousand revivals and rebirths means this. That there was never any point from which he could recover from, that there was never no hope. Even at his lowest point and having all of his absolute worst fears come true, that Kaneki can still survive and still fight.

As I said above there’s two paths forward. That Furuta is right and there is no chance of reviving Hairu, in that case I’d likely expect the manga to end with just a dragon Kaneki fight the same way Tokyo Ghoul ended with the fighting of both Owl’s. 

However if the opposite is true if revival is still on the table, specifically after Kaneki’s destruction is tamed down and he begins to be capable of recreating life again, then thematically that would return us to the story of sleeping beauty. 

In the disney version the story proceeds simply from this point. With the help of the fairies, the prince once he learns the truth, defeats the dragon and awakens the princess. Ui has a lot in common with a knight, first there’s his weapon, a poelarm, or a spear which resembles what a knight on horseback would carry.

Ui’s hobby is riding horses in his free time, and his aspiration is to be chivarlous like a knight. He holds onto the fantasy of the CCG acting as heroes of justice, and holding a certain code of honor to be better than the situation which they are in. He also has ties to Arima as a teacher, and Arima in the past several times has been referred to as a knight. 

Which would make thematically, Ui his squire I supposed until he decided to succeed him.

Hairu is the princess, Ui is the knight, Dragon itself is the Dragon. Of course, as Ui is reminded by Furuta things are actually much more complicated than that. Even if hypothetically defeating dragon leads to Hairu’s direct revival perhaps by means of Kanou or some immortality elixir crafted from the remains of Dragon, there’s still one missing piece left in Ui’s character arc.

Ui has no idea at all about the garden or even Arima’s true ancestry and purpose. It seems odd to resolve Ui’s character without this important note being brought to him.

In the second part of the fairy tale, unknowingly there is someone of secret ogre lineage connected to the prince, who tries to eat his children. 

After wedding the Princess in secret, the Prince continues to visit her and she bears him two children, Aurore (Dawn) and Jour (Day), unbeknown to his mother, who is of an ogre lineage. When the time comes for the Prince to ascend the throne, he brings his wife, children, and the talabutte ("Count of the Mount").

The Ogress Queen Mother sends the young Queen and the children to a house secluded in the woods and directs her cook to prepare the boy with Sauce Robert for dinner. The kind-hearted cook substitutes a lamb for the boy, which satisfies the Queen Mother.

Being secretly connected to a race of people who eat humans is the last of the bombshells that Hairu has to drop on Ui. It seems to have been Hairu’s purpose in the story from the start anyway, to be connected to the garden. 

The lack of closure on the garden children seems odd too, as Yusa puts it. Even if they defeat Kaneki here, they’re not going to at this point achieve anything like the world Kaneki wanted. Most of the garden children at this point are dead, and no sympathy or even justice has been paid their way. There’s also the calendar to consider which shows Hairu as an Ukkaku. 

@tgcalendar2016

The calendar which I might remind you has never lied. So a part two of the sleeping beauty fairy tale which deals with the prince having to deal with Ogres who eat people to protect his marriage and his childre, the hints that Hairu would be returning as a one eyed ghoul despite being told at several points that such a thing is impossible, and the overall lack of a sunlit garden arc or true explanation of the garden even though it’s been built the whole story.

The fact that Furuta too seems to not have died the way he intended too, and is instead forced to live and explain the consequences of his actions to Ui.

All of that seems to point to a sunlit garden arc in the aftermath of all of this destruction, where Ui, perhaps with a Hairu on his side, or perhaps a version of Hairu he has to care for as a consequence for his recklessness in trying to revive her acting as a continuation to this arc. 

In a character sense too, it would have made no sense for Ui to be rewarded (this is in a character development sense not using people as rewards) with getting what he wants, to see Hairu again by going off the deep end and indulging in all of his worst habits.

However, it does make sense for Ui, to be told that he’ll never receive what he wants and that his actions ultimately led to ruin, who is then capable of picking himself back up again, reaffirming his bond with Take and once again experiencing positive development, to then be rewarded with what it was he was seeking. 

Either way I don’t think this is the end of Ui’s arc, because even if his reason to fight has been squared away, he hasn’t addressed the humanity of ghouls at all. Which is something that him finding out about the garden and the true wishes of Arima that he seems to have been built up to face for a long time. 

That’s the best summary I can give of Ui’s arc for now though, even when it all seems hopeless, there’s still some hope that can be grasped. 

Impressions/Review:  Shining Live

Alright...here we go friends and neighbors.  Since we have hit our main roadblock on the game right now what better time but to do an “Impressions/Review” on the game “Shining Live” from the “Uta no Prince-Sama” franchise? This impressions however isn’t just going to be about the game but we are going to give a history on the series from its inception to where we are now because all of that is going to be factored in for a specific reason Oh and since we are in this for the long haul...this is going to be under a read more as well.  Also all information comes from the wikipedia page for UtaPri as well as the .com site and Broccol.co.jp  I did my research for this piece when I knew I was going to review it With THAT out of the way...shall we get started?

Uta no Prince-Sama was announced by Broccoli in the Summer of 2009.  To be exact the post that was placed on the website is from August 8th of 2009 and you could go to the website from there.  To this day if you wanted to go to the original version of the site you could...just hit up internet wayback machine for it. The first game’s release came in June of 2010.  June 24th is the day that is referred to as the proper Anniversary of the series and this year will be 8 years for the franchise.  Can you believe it will be 10 years in 2020?  HOLY CRAP! ANYWAYS! As you will see for the rest of this review there will be release dates from the game series and there will also be dates for the Anime seasons.  This is for a reason as you will see when we actually get talking about the game but I wanted to make sure this review was a 100% thorough breakdown for everyone both old hats and new peeps coming into the fandom.  With that in mind let us continue Uta no Prince-Sama as a “Visual Novle/Otome” has currently 9 games in their “Main” series between the PSP and VITA.  The Original game (Uta no Prince-Sama has been remade 2 times since its original version and they came out on August 11th ,2011 and January 26th of 2016 respectively.  The rest of the ORIGINAL games came out around the following times Amazing Aria - 12/23/2010 Sweet Seranade - February 10 ,2011 Debut - May 24, 2012 All-Star - March 7th, 2013 All-Star After Secret - February 26, 2015 Now all of these are important because around some of these dates a season for an Anime came out and all of the Seasons fell under the “Maji Love” banner starting with 1000% in July of 2011 (July 2nd for those keeping score at home) and running to September 24th of that year.  Of the four seasons so far this is the only season to have a a “Summer” Release as the other seasons (2K ,Revolutions and Legend Star) all fell either in the Spring or Autumn season.  2K and Revolutions both released in April of 2013/15 and Legend Star was in 2016 Okay okay I know what you are all thinking “Josh we know all of this...hurry up and get on with the friggin’ review” To which I say “I’m getting there but we need to do just a LITTLE MORE setup because the next part is important to Shining Live” When the first season of the Anime (ML1K) aired it was around “Amazing Aria” and “Sweet Sernade” and so the writers were writing to introduce you to basically STARISH as a 6 Member group with Cecil being a guest start basically (because when the first game happened 6 members were dateable from the start and one in Cecil was unlockable).  When Season 2 aired in 2013 Debut and All-Star were a thing but they had to introduce QN (whom briefly appeared at STARISH’s debut concert at the end of Season 1) so they would do just that When Season 2 premiered in 2013 the first episode was titled “Poison Kiss” and in it introduced the boys of QUARTET NIGHT whom would take the roles of “Seniors” for STARISH for the season.  Later when “Revolutions” happened 2 years later they would become the “In Agency Rivals” of STARISH to try and win the sport of the performer at the Triple S. HOWEVER Season 2 also sought to bring in a new monkey wrench into the fray by introducing the group “HEAVENS” led by Eiichi Ootori as he was flanked by Kira Sumeragi and Nagi Mikado and would face off in a “Must Win” scenario at the UtaPri awards where the loser would be forced to disband.  STARISH won but HEAVENS would be spared from disbanding as the President of Shining Agency stepped in and made sure that that stipulation wasn’t fulfilled.  They WOULD come back later as a 7 person group where each member was an opposite for a particular STARISH member and this season in particular (Revolutions) would be the last season also to aired around the release of a game.  “Revolutions” aired around April of 2015 the same year that the final game for the PSP (VN wise) released which was in February. Now there is a reason we just went through this History lesson (and if I fucked anything up I apologize) but its because we NOW are going to talk about Shing Live! LET’S GO Okay when we talk about Shining Live we are going to break this down like this Story Gameplay Translation (This is a translation of a Japanese Rhythm game so this one is important) Overall fun factor Just so you know...I am tempted to talk about the translation LAST because of the fact that it is a bit of a hot button but with that in mind...LET’S GO! Story I know that UtaPri isn’t typically known to some for its story but if you pay attention enough the story and plot are some of the most interesting things in the series.  I can’t tell you how ,when I watched every episode (52 and if we count the OVA then 53), I was always looking forward to what was going to happen in the next episode because the characters were compelling as all hell (and still are) and their personalities ,while some kind of grated on me over the years, were still varied enough that you could have your favorites So what IS the story of this game?  Well QUARTET NIGHT and STARISH are performing a joint concert called “Shining Live” where they showcase the groups that President Shining Saotome has on display.  In this case those groups are STARISH and QN. When the game starts the player (that’s you) are greeting by intros with each of the characters and that is our first introduction to ,not only the new translation for the game, but also the personalities of each character that will be on display at this time.  I say “At this time” because we will be talking about the future soon enough. After an introduction from all the cast they play “Welcome to UtaPri World” which is your introduction to the gameplay.  I’ll talk more about that in bit but basically tap the buttons in accordance to the song and as you do you will eventually progress to the title screen and go about your business After this the real story begins but...which story IS IT? See the game has 3 types Main Story Side Story Event Story The one that you will play a lot (or until you run out of certain items which I will talk about in a minute) is the Main Story.  This starts with after the performance of “Welcome to UtaPri World” (which doesn’t count towards clearing songs on the setlist) and your first chapter consists of a story with STARISH AND ONE WITH QN where the STARISH boys want to try and get better than their Senpais to eventually overtake them.  To do this they know they need to get better and to do that they need to keep on having performances and getting stronger.  QN however knows this and knows they need to get better as a group themselves but of course we know they have their own issues too right? To clear a chapter of the game the player must play each song and clear them.  Now there are 4 difficulties in the game so you have to play the one you are comfortable with but remember this Higher difficulties consume more LP (That stands for Live Points in this game) and can cause problems later on higher player levels...it can also help you progress faster in the game though with the XP system. As the player progresses in the story more and more songs become available.  Remember that you need tickets to play the stories so not having them puts you in a position that is no fun so playing the songs repeatedly helps out greatly Speaking of...LET’S TALK ABOUT GAMEPLAY Gameplay The game play of this game is not unlike say...Klab’s Love Live.  Rings come from a beam of light and your job is to tap them as close to perfect as possible and get the best score possible. Now this is where we are going to have differences in the way the game scores your taps.  In the JP version the scoring went JUST PERFECT PEFECT GREAT GOOD BAD MISS Getting all “Just Perfect” and “Perfect” scores meant you got a “PERFECT COMBO” and a special purple board came around the screen.  a Full Combo was just orange text When the Global Version was released they changed up two things and one was the grade for the note taps PERFECT GREAT GOOD BAD MISS Notice something:  Yeah they removed the “JUST PERFECT” rank from the score.  The belief is that having those would confuse the International audience so they scrapped “JUST PERFECT” and just left those in.  Also now you can get “ULTIMATE COMBO” just for getting “Perfect” and “Great” grades all the way through...its the equivalent to the Crown in Music 1 or the Gold in Music 2 You also get a score rank in the game The game ranks you scorewise from D to S (although C is the first one on the rewards chart...more on that in a second) and as you score in the song the bar goes up.  The better you grade on a note the more points and the better your shot of getting the elusive S rank on a song. How high you can go on the score meter is determined by a few things How well you tap on a note (although that can be wonky sometimes) The level/Grade of your phots Your traits for you and your partner in the song The first one we already explained how that kind of works...the others might be “Huh?” for some people so let me explain Every card has 4 rarities Normal Rare Super Rare Ultra Rare The higher the rarity of the card the better you have a chance to get an S rank...thing is your level matters too because every card gets EXP that participates in a song (BTW I know they are photos but I for some reason always call them “cards”...its a Yu-Gi-Oh! problem with me) so you want them to be in as much as possible.  There is also the BOND of the card though too Alright how to explain this We all have favorite characters and we want them to get to know us better right?  Well this game has a thing where has your number in the star of each character goes up you get new voice clips and the like from them...you also get rewards from the game as the game has missions based on songs ,player level and bond level between you and a character.  The goals are always every 10 levels and you usually get 10 prisms for doing it each time so that is def something to keep in mind Oh right...that is another important aspect of the game and its getting the new cards So this game has a gacha system which involves a photoshoot (for the record B-Project also has something kind of similar too) and there are many different kinds.  Some are based off of events like an MV for a particular video or even a Gacha that has cards from previous sets in it!  Some might even be themed after a Holiday (There is an event going on right now where Natsuki is the UR for Valentine’s Day and if you are lucky enough to pull him HE WILL BE SO HAPPY!) and there is even a Photoshoot which I think was the very first one they ever did that is a standard (Its one with the Military Outfits..you’ll know it when you see it. There are also two other special ones for special tickets that you can win either in a slot machine or I think you can get those in a shop.  I know for the V-Day you could get the SR+ one for sure in exchange for Presents! Some Photoshoots have an expiration on them and some are split into “halves” meaning that they will have one half have one UR card on them and then there is another half with another.  An example of this would be Nats being the UR for this particular half of the V-Day and Ren is beginning on the 13th of this month. NOW SPEAKING OF THINGS WITH DURATIONS LETS TALK ABOUT THE EVENTS! @baku5ds asked me to talk about these so I will...ONLY COS SHE ASKED ME TOO! So the game has events that last for about a week and the way they work is not unlike the events of “Stand my Hero” (a Match 3 game with Otome Elements that has some of the UtaPri VAs in it) EXCEPT all of these are ranked! Here is how they work From about 1:59 PM JST (That’s 11:59 PM EST for us) and for the next 6 days the player engages in a battle with other players to try and win not ONE new Photo but TWO! The Photos are related to the Event Story we spoke about earlier as the characters on them are portraying characters for the story.  The stories HERE (unlike for the main story) are 10 parts long BUT you get 5 Prisms each like you do for playing a side or main story chapter...that’s 50 prisms! You’re goal is to do one of two things in these 6 days 1.  Make it all the way to the cards on your points ladder (good luck because every so often the points increase by 500 so to get to the UR card its every 3500 to get the next reward) OR 2.  Finish in the top 10% of the rankings and you get TWO nice new shiny photos.  IF you got both copies already on the points ladder this just means you get a 3rd of at least one of the photos so enjoy This is legitimately one of the most exhausting things the game can ask a player to do because you aren’t just playing other players but you are playing yourself as your will and endurance get tested because you are playing THE SAME SET OVER AND OVER AND OVER again...it can be exhausting BUT if its for cards you really want you will suffer for them and it will be worth it!  I got a nice shiny UR for my collection so I’m happy :-) Are the events LONG...yes but if you have the patience and the endurance you can get through them easily...otherwise WHY ARE THEY SO BLASTED LONG?! (again that was for @baku5ds) Now let’s address the elephant in the room Translation (I know I said I would do “fun factor but...eh put that with the events thingy) The translation in some respects seems to be a bode of contention and I can respect that.  I think for ME it hasn’t been an issue because it feels like when they did the translation they wanted to make it more “lighthearted” as an experience for new players (and potential new fans) as possible.  If the story was “Angsty” as all get out how many people outside of the general base would play it? Does it have its issues?  Well there was a part in the last event when Syo said to Natsuki “Hey want to come with?” and I mentioned this to a friend of mine and they thought it might have been some old slang that got in. One that became a meme was when Ren at the beginning of the game goes “Hello Ladies.  Ren Jinguji is in the house” and I actually chuckled which I think is something this game wanted us to do from the start.  Have a lighthearted romp through UtaPri and get to see the characters in situations that might not happen in the Anime because of the fact that the series is 13 episodes each season and 22-25 minutes a pop.  A little lighthearted fun never hurt anyone (and let’s be real...we all needed that after Season 4). So now that I wrote what is no doubt a College Thesis on this game would I rec it for a new fan? SURE! The thing that you have to get over is sometimes the hit detection is wonky af when it comes to hitting notes and if you can endure the events when they feel like a Boston Marathon then you got that going for you too! All in all Uta no Prince-Sama Shining Live is a game that ,even if you aren’t a UtaPri fan but you love Rhythm games...check it out you won’t be disappointed!

CAPE Network Forum Newsletter: Issue III

Welcome to the third edition of the CAPE Network Forum Newsletter.

Uncertainty and the unknown seem to define our present time. With regards to safety and health, uncertainty and the unknown must be conquered, and we must protect each other and prioritize those at risk and those less able to care for themselves.

We must also remember that, in education and in art, uncertainty and the unknown are generative. Navigating through the unknown gives students authentic ownership of their learning. For teachers and artists, asking questions they don’t know the answer to engenders a real partnership between them—and gives them a sense of ownership as well. Further, a true struggle with the unknown and uncertainty in teaching can bring a teacher or an artist to what they really believe education or art should be.

We are now in an entirely new world in regards to education. No one knows what works best, no one knows how anything will turn out, and no one knows how long this will go on. This is why, more than ever, teachers and artists and principals and schools must have the freedom to experiment. Compliance enforcement and drives for uniform curriculums are not helpful at this time. We must acknowledge that the only way to build a new way of learning is through the collaborative work of educators, parents and community partners connecting in networks in order to share and debate. A new way of teaching and learning that can set students on their paths of finding ways to positively grow and develop can’t be dictated by the top down, whether by edicts or by associations of those in power positions engaged in long conversations before they issue a document of their making.

In June of 2018, CAPE held a public panel discussion on the critical importance of uncertainty and the unknown in art, education, and science. The conversation took place under very different circumstances than ours at present, and yet what was spoken has real relevance now. During the panel, one of the things we talked about was vulnerability. To be uncertain is also to be vulnerable. Educational policies often seek to remove uncertainty, and thus vulnerability as well. But vulnerability, and feeling okay with being vulnerable together, is what we need now to learn, create, persevere, and help others through this crisis.

— Scott Sikkema

Updates

CAPE's very own Mark Diaz, Associate Director of Education, has a project displayed with Roman Susan (1224 W Loyola Ave, Chicago) from April 24th to May 6th. The project, panorama2(problem) will be on view directly from the street, while the storefront remains closed. For more information, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/roman.susan.3

If you have exhibitions, performances, or other events coming up that you would like to be announced in the newsletter, please contact Jenny Lee at [email protected]

Thanks to everyone who attended our professional development meeting with Ernest Whiteman on effective ways to create your own YouTube videos. This was our fourth professional development online meeting, and our attendance for the four meetings totals around 300 participants.

Our long-term in-school Artist/Researcher Partners program will have an online professional development meeting on Tuesday, April 28, from 4 to 6 pm.

We are excited to note that CAPE teachers and artists have posted over 70 videos.

Most of these videos are on the CAPE Network Forum. In addition, schools are beginning to post CAPE artist/teacher videos on their websites and/or Facebook pages. Thus far, over 2000 viewers have clicked on these videos!

CAPE teaching artists and Park Forest Chicago Heights District 163 STEAM and visual art teachers have collaborated to conceive at-home curricula for the rest of their school year for grades K—5 students in our STEAM Ahead program.

We want your feedback! Mark and Brandon will talk to ARP teachers and artists about the possibilities about an online Convergence exhibition, and will be seeking input. In addition, CAPE staff is thinking about all in-school and after-school programs doing online exhibiting, either at the same time, or one week being in- school, the next week after school. But—we’re not sure about this, so we need your comments.

Some of you offered feedback to Scott Sikkema for the CAPE spring, Summer, and School Year 2020-2021 draft plan, which was posted on the Forum. We have taken it down now for further drafting, but please continue to contact Scott with ideas and questions.

As everyone knows, schools are closed for the duration of the school year. ISBE has updated their guidelines accordingly: https://www.isbe.net/Documents/FAQ-4- 24-20.pdf, and Superintendent Ayala has provided additional information on such matters as retrieving personal items from schools: https://www.isbe.net/Documents/Message-042420.pdf.

CAPE Network Forum Newsletter Tumblr Highlight:

This issue's Tumblr highlight is on "Mr Knowbody's Stay Home Art's Instruction Journal Reflection II." bAnansi is a multidisciplinary artist based in Chicago, IL. His work offers perspective through a lens of cynicism. By means of conceptualization, appropriation, image and sound manipulation, visceral/violent performance, and audience control, he exposes visible and invisible power dynamics embedded in our society. bAnansi attempts to guide viewers to assume a different interpretation than one they may already possess, by setting parameters, both physical and cognitive in order to view his work.

CAPE Network Interview: Panel Discussion - Uncertainty in Art, Education, and STEM

See full discussion here

For this issue of the Forum newsletter we are featuring a panel discussion from June 2018. This panel was held in conjunction with our annual Convergence exhibition of student work from our Artist/Researcher Partners program, and it was followed by a hands-on workshop (led by Patty Whitehouse and Margy Stover). The panelists included Deborah Birmingham, teacher at Durkin Park Elementary School; Erin Preston, independent researcher; Lisa Kim, scientist; Marcela Torres, artist; and Patricia Nguyen, artist and Executive Director at Axis Lab.

Scott: Our topic today is uncertainty in science, art, pedagogy, and other related things that it might generate, like conflict or risk.

The first thing I’m going to ask about is going to science. What’s the place of uncertainty in science, in scientific investigations by students or by an adult scientist, or in teaching science? How does uncertainty impact the investigation, whether at the beginning, or middle or end?

Deborah: I think with this particular project, uncertainty was very important. In science oftentimes children, in fourth grade they’re used to being directed to a correct answer, what the answer should be, what you should come out with.

This time it allowed them the opportunity to take ownership—“Well, wait a minute, you’re not going to tell me is this right? No, explore it for yourself.” It gave them the freedom to do so. And in the beginning they were uncomfortable, knowing that, wait a minute, there’s always just a right answer or a wrong answer.

This form of uncertainty allowed them to really take ownership, as you said. In the beginning they were leery, but as we worked through the project they became more confident in what they were doing and what they were exploring. I think it’s very important for science that children are allowed to know that they don’t have to be certain about certain things starting out.

Scott: You mentioned a project in particular that your students worked on. It’s on exhibit—can you briefly describe it?

Deborah: The project that I worked on with the artist here, Niema Qureshi, we worked on children trying to see using lines and shapes, trying to visualize energy. So many times you hear of energy, but you don’t get a chance to see what is energy, so how can you use shapes and lines to define what energy is to have a picture of energy, just in a nutshell.

Lisa: I definitely grew up just thinking there’s that one right answer that we’re always looking for. Coming into a new position as a researcher in a lab, we come up with all these hypotheses, but then I was thinking, okay, this is my prediction, and if it’s correct, that’s the best case scenario. Then I ended up having incorrect predictions, and my advisor was saying that’s still great, you still can get so many questions out of that.

In that way uncertainty is such a huge thing in science, especially, and in research, because I think successful projects bring up more uncertainty. I think that’s a really great place to be, having more questions that you can explore and ask more, just like how is this going to affect this ecosystem, or how is this going to affect this organism. You’re just going to end up getting more questions out of that.

Deborah: I think that’s good, Lisa, because when you think about the real world, we’re teaching children to grow up and be problem-solvers in real life situations. And when you have certain questions, even though you fail, you’re still resolving a problem. You don’t have to be confined to right or wrong.

I think it’s good in the school setting when we can do something like this with CAPE, allowing children to problem-solve, because when you think about the curriculum, so many times you’re preparing for tests, and with testing there’s just one answer, one answer. If we want children to think outside the box when they become adults and go into the world, we have to give them their freedom in the classroom to know that you don’t have to be right, and your wrong answer can be a right answer. As you say, it can lead to further investigation.

Scott: Now, how about from an artist’s perspective? I’m not trying to set up a dichotomy, but both of you, Marcela and Patricia, work in performance art and other methods. Is there something you could talk about in terms of uncertainty in your process?

Marcela: Well, I was thinking that actually it’s very similar, in certain ways. I began to think about the word uncertainty and that creates resilience and trauma in people, like if there is no certainty, that’s like negative in a way. But within the arts or within science, there’s a structure of things we know, right? There’s things that we are confident and comfortable within, and then you set up that structure to then deal with the uncertain.

Within my own work, I was thinking there is a lot of risk in the actual physicality of fighting, which is sometimes used in my work, and so there’s a technicality that I know how to block. I trust the person I’m with. But there is uncertainty as to what will actually happen.

Patricia: I love this question and I love that it’s being approached from these multiple ways, because uncertainty is so much of a place of possibility. And it could be debilitating at times, right? It could be this place of doubt, this place of fundamentally questioning one’s self and one’s ability, what one can contribute in the world, but it’s that place of questioning, as you were talking about, that actually opens up these doors that offer avenues to explore and to investigate.

For me, when I’m working with students in performance who have never worked in performance, a lot of my students right now are all engineering students, and it’s like they either take performance or they take public speaking. And so they take performance. A lot of them are taking risks. They’re doing things they’ve never done before. There’s so much certainty in engineering, in some ways, it’s like this is why this is, these are the facts. And then I’m like performance can be anything, it can be everything. And then they’re like I don’t know what that means.

To kind encourage students to, instead of defining what the boundaries are, to use uncertainty to actually question what those boundaries are, how those boundaries were put in place, what institutions created those conditions, what values are laden in those structures, for them to then break it and re-form and reimagine how they can move in the world, or how they can think in the world. I really try to ask students to use their uncomfortability and their uncertainty as a place of digging deeper, as a place of asking more questions and a place of getting to know them well.

Erin: I think that uncertainty affords teachers and students a lot of agency. Deborah, you had mentioned there are these predetermined goals and outcomes that are largely driven by test preparation and what those do, they limit possibilities for both teachers and students to explore curriculum, and content, and learning, and with these kind of structural influences, they limit teachers’ ability to make instructional and pedagogical choices about learning.

That can be what curriculum, and what content, and even the pacing. That can remove teachers’ own beliefs and opinions about education and learning, their values about learning and what they know about their own students and their students’ needs and their students’ interests. When a learning experience brings in uncertainty and embraces uncertainty, what can happen is it looks more like what you described, where the possibilities open up. You might have an idea of what the outcome could be, but it’s not predetermined, and the students are making the choices along that path in the way that they express their understanding and their path to arrive at those new understandings.

These structural influences that privilege certainty are so pervasive and really hard to get away from that sometimes we can even be operating from a place of certainty when we think that we’re facilitating student agency. One example from my research that was last year in Collaboration Laboratory—for those of you not as familiar, it’s a two year program for teachers and teaching artists new to CAPE to work together in arts integration and collaborating together on these projects. A teacher shared with me a really powerful learning experience that they had had in watching the unfolding of a curriculum unit of, actually, their student teacher.

The premise of this curriculum unit was art and social change. The students were asked what would you change about your school if you could change one thing. That sounds really open, right? That sounds inquiry based, and it sounds like it would really facilitate students maybe even having a chance to shape their school space based on their opinions and experiences. But the students came back and said wait, we don’t want to change anything. Our school has actually been doing nothing but changing the past four years based on leadership changes, and teachers coming and going, and physical changes to the school space.

So when the teacher and her student teacher were confronted with the fact that they had these assumptions based on their certainty that students were experiencing these things and understanding their world at school in a certain way, it opened up the possibility for the students to really bring in their own experiences and understanding of the impacts the changes had on their school experience to their learning. Maybe it would resemble something more of a commemoration of the history of the school or something that was more in line in a meaningful way to their choices.

Marcela: I keep thinking about modeling and problem-solving in a way, as well, ‘cause I think that in the past when I think about my own teachers, there’s always like a hierarchy, right, where you are...they’re your master, in a way. But to open up and become like the role model for it, you’re trying to pull it all together, you’re trying to make things work, and you’re under a certain kind of limitation through CPS, and students seeing the way in which you maneuver, that also becomes sort of a model for problem- solving themselves as well, and then it also cuts the hierarchy to be like oh, I can do that, we can do that, we’re doing it.

Erin: I think, Marcella, you just touched on something that is really important about hierarchy and the role of uncertainty in setting off that hierarchy between teachers and students, and it’s also an important process of the CAPE methodology, where, when the teacher is not certain where the class is going to arrive, what the products are going to be, then the students aren’t looking at them to see what hoops am I going to jump through, what path do I need to take to get there, where’s the X that I need to land on, right?

So the students see that the uncertainty that the teacher has means that it’s okay to kind of wrestle with these questions, and to locate that path on their own terms, and to make choices to get there. So I think that that’s a really important part of it.

Marcela: That ties both of these things together, trusting your teacher, they are somebody that you trust, and you understand, and they have a structure for you, but you’re not going to hit the X. You’re going to hit like a circle, and then a triangle, and then lie on the floor. [Laughter.]

Contemporary Recall:

CAPE After School program professional development, 2012

Written by: Scott Sikkema

The CAPE program staff, artists, teachers, and students have long been interested in space, especially school space, as a construct and as a material. We have done many professional developments investigating space, and conducted research investigations into the interactions and relationships between space and identities. In this video excerpt from a professional development meeting led by Mark Diaz and Hilesh Patel, we see one break-out group of teachers and artists who created a performance art piece utilizing a high school classroom and one of the classroom’s key components. Click here to see the full video!

CAPE Program Staff:

Scott Sikkema, Education Director ([email protected]) Mark Diaz, Associate Director of Education ([email protected]) Joseph Spilberg, Associate Director of Education ([email protected]) Brandon Phouybanhdyt, Program Coordinator ([email protected]) Jenny Lee, Research Program Coordinator ([email protected])

Lockdown Part Two & Clap for our Carers 2020

"I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt." Amos 4:10 KJV.

Tuesday the 24th of March 2020 was the first day of the UK Lockdown 2020 and I have addressed that first day in a previous blog post (see link below). On Wednesday the 25th of March I decided to take a walk, keeping within the bounds of Government advice to take permitted exercise. I headed off with my camera on a quite beautiful day, towards a nearby country park; the former country seat of my Lord the Earl of Harrington.

The park is only a couple of miles from where I live and I took the pretty route via the tow path to get to the road. I was able to admire the continued work on the canal restoration. There is still a long way to go before this canal will be open again but now of course, all work has stopped. Other people were naturally enough, also out exercising. There were people walking, cycling, running and walking their dogs. There were less people than usual but oddly, it felt like there were still too many out and about. We were playing dodge with each other, stepping aside on the towpath, waiting to allow others to pass or simply giving each other a wider berth than usual.

I joined the road and made the outer ring of the park in good time. Although the park is closed , with the tearooms, toilets and the carpark all shut up, it is accessible via public paths and bridleways. I walked a circuit of the lake, noting that there were perhaps barely a dozen people in the entire park. I have never seen the park so deserted and the wildlife took full advantage of the lack of disturbance.

I did not however, take full advantage of the opportunity afforded me by the park being deserted. I did not wander far from the lakeside but remained near taking pictures of the geese feeding. I was becoming increasingly eager to return home to the relative safety of my own dwelling. The walk was not at all relaxing. I would stop to let people pass, as I often do because I have manners but now there are reasons. It is all about social distancing. Everyone is so terribly polite but it is all so very artificial, as we looked upon each other with obvious suspicion. I did not enjoy my walk.

"Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast." Isaiah 26:20 KJV.

As some of us hide in our burrows fearful and timorous, we have every justification to ask; what of the future? Some foolish people have failed to heed the warnings and have continued to party like it is the end of days. Their selfish behaviour has guaranteed that for some, it is their end time. I have quoted the worst case scenario in a previous blog but I shall reiterate. The estimated population of the United Kingdom is 66 million. The original figures from March estimate that up to 80% of the population could become infected. Of that 80% (52,800,000), there could be up to 2% fatalities. That is 1,052,000. I emphasise that this is very much the worst case scenario, the more recent estimates are much better, a fraction of that. Probably less than 100,000. The lowest figure I have seen predicted is 20,000 dead, which feels almost too low. If we can keep to that figure however or if it is even lower, then we can count ourselves fortunate indeed. Of course no one really knows for sure, we are estimating or perhaps extrapolating based on the best figures we have available.

From my own personal experience on a surgical ward, I have noted that most COVID-19 positive patients do not have any respiratory symptoms at all. Usually it is a standalone pyrexia. This high temperature is not unusual in post operative patients and therefore, COVID-19 is not easy to spot. To put it simply, not all infected patients are producing aerosol borne droplets. Immunity takes time to develop. Smallpox could kill the peoples of the Old World but it near wiped out the populations of the New World. These people had no immunity developed from centuries of prior contact. As a registered nurse I know that we will lose patients but we will also lose healthcare staff. We already have, several. We are at war and there will be causalities. This statement of simple fact causes justifiable concern to colleagues, family and friends. It is sobering and causes a pause for thought; yet it is better not to dwell on such things. We must keep calm and carry on.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Psalm 23:4 KJV.

There has been talk, an expression of hope or perhaps even a statement of belief; that the world will now change for the better. Communities have in some cases pulled together and there are obvious manifestations of appreciation. People claim this is representative of a social change and a global reawakening. Wildlife has returned or spread into our urban areas as we have withdrawn ourselves. Can the return of dolphins to the canals of Venice, deer wandering the streets of English villages and feral goats feeding in the gardens of a Welsh seaside town; really be seen as a sign of hope and not simply a curiosity? Will we see herds of unicorns majestically migrating across the North American plains while merrily farting rainbows?

A clear manifestation of appreciation took place at 8pm on Thursday 26th of March 2020 and this was 'Clap for our Carers.' This campaign gained in publicity and momentum; primarily thanks to the Internet, almost a full week before the date. The object was to get people across the country standing at their doors and windows, applauding the National Health Service and other essential services. Being a rather cynical individual with regards this sort of activity, I chose to dismiss 'Clap for our Carers' as a stunt and as a potentially empty gesture. I did not think people would actually take part but I was wrong.

Just before 8pm that evening I stood at my gate, lights came on and people came out into the street. Then my street erupted in whoops and cheers. There was even a three cheers - a 'hip hip hooray for the NHS!' I had never seen anything like this before. People actually did it, the entire street did it. It was and still is, an emotional moment. Colleagues with whom I later exchanged messages with were left as speechless as I was.

Three months ago few would have cared that I am a nurse. In six months time few will care that I am a nurse and this time next year, no one will care that I am a nurse. This time next year COVID-19 will be a memory and society will have returned to normal. Society will have returned to its old insular, greedy ways and people will be as selfish and egocentric as they were before the emergency. Memories are short.

Hysteria & the Media:

https://chatteringmagpie.wordpress.com/2020/03/14/hysteria-the-media/

Lockdown 24th March 2020

https://chatteringmagpie.wordpress.com/2020/03/24/lockdown-24th-march-2020/

Welcome to CHVRCHES’ tenth event! —Part 2!

This event is our third choice event, in which we set a scene and split your characters up into groups dependent on how many points you’ve acquired so far. Once in that setting, you can create threads as you see fit for your muse. The settings and information shared in this event are considered game canon, whether or not you explore it deeply.

While this event will be dropped in 3 parts, during this second part, it’s the real “Choice” part of the event... you will be split into groups and then divided further for those personalized experiences we’ve all been talking about! This part is the reason we’ve been so hard at work, and the reason we asked you to do Challenge 21 for us—it’s a heavy character-development piece.

Part 1: June 24th: The Welcoming

Part 2: July 01st: The Encounter

Part 3: July 15th: The Escape

The date stamp for the event is still Saturday, June 24th, but now around 10pm. Be sure to include that in your posts for timeline purposes. Please do not make timeline threads after July 22nd yet; from now until then, your muse will be at the hotel… where they checked in as they liked, but might never leave… ♥ You can write Hotel California threads for as long as you like.

Alright, first thing’s first: some Out of Character stuff—

This is a really intense, ambitious kind of event, and we’re hoping it goes off well and is challenging and fun. We want to say, up-front, that the experiences are meant to be difficult for your muses based on what you provided to us, but not triggering for you as players. Our intention is only for a game-style experience you can enjoy. All experiences have trigger warnings listed at the top. If your muse’s experience is triggering for you, just let us know and we will be happy to edit or alter the experience to suit your needs!

The basic gist is that in a muse’s given room, that room becomes an alternate reality. The things in that room are real, but can be left behind by leaving the room. After the muse leaves the room, we recommend locking it with their room key so no one else can wander into their personal hellscape after they’ve escaped it! The key word is after. Some experiences begin as self-paras (and some experiences are very self-driven, like Noah and Renee’s, as only they can unlock their rooms), while others will become assisted experiences.

Which is to say, on the other hand, some experiences require the help of other muses to escape! Cassiel’s, for example, is one that cannot be escaped alone. If you agree to help another person’s muse escape their room, your muse will be able to see and experience everything in that room. The room will only actively attack the muse it was designed for, but if your muse attacks whatever is in the room, it will defend itself (so you know, when you write stuff out). For example, Crowley’s nurses won’t pay attention to your muse, but will try to keep her in the room; if your muse punches one of the nurses, the nurse will defend.

Other general notes:

Don’t try to break windows or kick through walls to escape the hotel. The structure of the hotel will heal itself. Only damages done to the hotel, it does to itself.

In most of the rooms, there are “divider doors” that connect, say, room 307 and 308, for example. Those are locked. In order to move between conjoined rooms, that door must be unlocked by a muse. Rooms with 01/02 do not have this ability. (For visual aid, see here.)

What affects your muse directly did happen. So Grace’s hair loss? Totally real. Crowley having to wander the hotel in hospital scrubs after she escapes her room? Real. However, the people you meet in the AU aren’t “real”—they’re Famine’s manifestations and manipulations, though they’re still physically present.

The goal here is for muses to Face Their Fears (alone or supported) and come out stronger. To leave those old ‘realities’ behind as we move into Season 3. You have to leave the room before it kills you or traps you in it. Then perhaps help others do the same.

When you read your experience, it’s probably best if you decide if you want help or want to conquer the fear solo, if both options are available in your scenario. If you want help, ask for someone to write it with you in the OOC or reach out if you have a partner in mind; these experiences don’t work well as “open threads.” Only 2 experiences have partners assigned.

However, open threads totally work once you’ve escaped your room and are in the hallways! Room 10s are specifically left “un-alternate-realitied” if muses want a neutral gathering space on their floor. Yes, for now, you’re restricted to the floor you’re assigned to. 

On to the In Character piece of the event!

The party is in full swing till about midnight, when a man dressed like concierge approaches the velvet ropes, an old, ’20s era microphone in hand amplifying his voice: “The hostess is allowing entry to your rooms now! Feel free to settle in and then return to the fun, but by all means, allow us to show you the way.” He looks into the crowd, as if searching for someone, and then shrugs in a charming sort of way, playing to the crowd: “I hear there are some VIPs in the audience this evening!” he gloats.

“Now, now, I know you are all VIPs here, otherwise you wouldn’t have been invited, but I’m specifically looking for those with room keys marked with an S! If you have room keys with an S in the front, please follow this bellhop right here,” the concierge gestured to the nearest bellhop, “who will take your things and escort you into the secret wing, on this very floor!” A scant few people move toward the front of the house—so few, in fact, that in this swarm of revellers, only two people step forward: Kiara and Belial, who follow the bellhop.

S1A: Pestilence

S1B: War

After they enter their suite, which is past a set of grand double-doors, the bellhop leaves them. Back at the front of the house, the concierge is still continuing the arrangements; he removes the velvet rope, opening the staircase with flair and finesse, then going on to say, “Now, if you would be so kind, if all those with room keys numbering in the 300s would step right this way, you will be escorted to the exquisite top floor!” And so, all of you assigned to the 300s head toward the stairwell, a bellhop showing the way and assisting with bags.

301: Kezia Isles

302: Isaiah Faust

303: Renee Thornton

304: Raziel

305: Crowley

306: Maria Sinclair

307: Donato

308: Zoe Etsuko

309: Adele Davis

After the 300s have gone up to the third floor, they will find that the stairs that connect the second floor to the third have collapsed; what was stairs is now smooth floor. The service elevator is still there—somewhat. The casing for the elevator is there, but there’s no elevator inside of it. You open the door to enter the elevator and instead there is only the blackness of a chasm with an endless bottom, far deeper than is possible for the once-was warehouse.

Those waiting their turn below for the other floors have no idea. Back on the main floor, the concierge is speaking in that same charismatic, ephemeral voice: “And now, we’d like to accept anyone with room keys numbering in the 200s! Step right this way, come on down and we will escort you to the second floor! Thank you so much for coming!” he says warmly, and so all those with room keys marked in the 200s go over to the area, and are assisted with their bags and escorted by a bellhop to the second floor.

201: Satan *

202: Grace Lowery

203: Isadora Garcia

204: Ethan Pierce

205: Magda Wilder

206: Naomi Vance

207: Noah Jackson

208: Cassiel

209: Lazarus * Satan will be saved by Magda.

After the 200s have gone up to the second floor, they will find that the stairs that connect the main floor to the second also have collapsed; what was stairs is now smooth floor. The service elevator is still there—somewhat. The casing for the elevator is there, but there’s no elevator inside of it. You open the door to enter the elevator and instead there is only the blackness of a chasm with an endless bottom, far deeper than is possible for the once-was warehouse.

Those waiting their turn below, still on the main floor, have no idea. If you’re still on the main floor, though, you’ll be quite perplexed, as the concierge then says, “Thank you all for attending, your presence is magnificent!” and then offers a quick bow before putting the red rope back up and leaving the immediate premises. Those of you left, still, look to one another, confused: what room key do you have? You ask one another. You all have “B” in the front. What floor does that stand for? Where are you supposed to go?

And then,

quite suddenly,

the entire floor where the staircase should have led down and an elevator could have been, that whole area that should have been how reasonable people might get to a lower level—it collapses. The floor just gives out, splinters into shambles, splits and send all of you careening downward, too far down to climb back out. From below, the mess of once-was-floor and now-ceiling seems impossibly far away, the kind of distance that echoes. After you make your way out of the debris and pull bits of wood and dust from your person, you find that the bottom floor is, well, relatively nice, but there’s no way out. You’ll need to wait to get rescued. So what else is there to do?

You go to your room.

B01: Abaddon *

B02: Leviathan

B03: Olivia Cross

B04: Babylon

B05: Shibah

B06: Zack Kapoor

B07: Elijah Nolan

B08: Gabriel

B09: Paul Howell * Abaddon will be ‘saved’ by Gabriel—who will, in turn, rip her wings off.

The doors to the Hotel disappear; entry and exit are now impossible. Enjoy, darlings! Welcome to the Hotel.

Current TG:re timeline

I’ve found a few posts both on Reddit and here asking/theorizing about the current timeline in TG, so I’ll give it a shot myself.

Just scroll to the very end to the “timeline” section if you want to skip the reasoning.

For the record, the conclusion of the current month and day is the same as Cey’s, but different by a year. The reasoning and other dates vary.  

Reasoning

1. 

In this blog we’ll be assuming Ishida actually knows what he’s doing, rather than having severely messed up the dates.

Why?

We usually haven’t seen a fixation on dates in Tokyo Ghoul. Currently, there is, so I’d reckon there is some information to be found there.

2.

Following chronological order, I’ll start by going off the obstetric calculations from Cey’s post linked above.

First of all, the obstetric calculations are accurate if we do consider Touka’s due date to be 12/28. I’m not the health care expert so resorting to tools whose accuracy I have no certainty of (but likely about as close as Ishida, a man, would get) and assuming Touka’s cycle is normal, the likely date for chapters 122-125 is between 04/04 and 04/08 (or up to three days earlier).

3. 

In chapter 126, on the day of the wedding, Tooru announces his resolution to “aid” Ken and become a trainer to the Oggai.

I’ll assume that Tooru is being completely truthful in the letter from 129.

This letter establishes Yoriko is already imprisoned, but not on death row yet, and that Tooru will be waiting for Kaneki at the chateau from 04/12 to 04/17 at 9 p.m.

Everyone on Netabare seems to agree Hajime was caught on 04/11. For an infiltration plan to happen and for Hajime to have the letter, Tooru needs to have taken charge of the Oggai already, and since they’re already separated by the time Hajime is captured, the latest day for this is 04/10. This means Yoriko’s imprisonment likely happened, at the latest, a day earlier, on 04/09. And then, that means the very latest date for Takeomi’s and Yoriko’s wedding would have been 04/08 (this further shortens the time span for chapters 122-125, giving us 04/07 tops for them to happen). If you’re thinking that’s too cruel and they’d at least have a honeymoon, let me refer to this omake to remind you the CCG has exams on Christmas, so whether they’d have a honeymoon is questionable.

Anyway, unless Hajime is a true fool, we can presume Ken did get the letter between the night of 04/11 or likely sometime during 04/12 at the latest. The former would also be the day Nishiki returns with food for Touka.  

4. 

For the missive stating Yoriko’s penalty, I will be referring to this post by Old McDonald (if you’ve paid attention for a while, you’ll recognize him as one of the Wiki mods, and also formerly active in discussion threads on Batoto). 

In chapter 130, we see there was a court order to subject Yoriko to the death penalty on 04/15.

In the same chapter, we see the date on which Furuta seals its approval and makes it immediately enforceable is 04/23.

Now, back to an earlier part of chapter 130, Tooru is still talking about whether Ken will go face him at the chateau. This means it is still between 04/12 and 04/17 at this point in time. Shinsanpei talks of an intention to intensify the punishment for people who aid ghouls. This presumably means this happens after the court order has been sent (04/15), but before Furuta signs the missive to proceed with it (04/23). So this conversation happens between 04/15 and 04/17 at the latest. This also means Kaneki finding out about the pregnancy and Touka finding the court file happens between these dates.

5. 

A fun tidbit about years:

The calendar Touka was looking at was definitely a 2016 calendar.

However, there have been quite a lot of hints pointing out to the year being 2017.

First, we know for a fact Tokyo Ghoul starts in 2012.

Second, we know how much time has passed between the end of Tokyo Ghoul, in the month of July in their own timeline, and the beginning of :re, in June two years later. We also know we skip to the following year because chapter 31.5 happens on Christmas.

Third, we know the Anteiku raid happened right after Touka’s birthday (chapter 89), which was 07/01 on a school day.

Setting the current events in 2016 means moving back the events a year, which in turn means 07/01 is a Sunday, and definitely not a day Touka would be at school.  

Interestingly, this means Touka was looking at a five month outdated calendar, which says something about the state of the 24th Ward.

What we can conclude from all of this

1.

The events with all Kuroiwas (Iwao, Takeomi, Yoriko), Tooru, and Kuki have been jumping back and forth. Yoriko’s imprisonment and Takeomi’s apprehension would have likely happened on the same date, and Furuta’s conversation with Iwao would have been either the same date or one day later, which explains why we see neither of them during the mission in which Hajime is found by Goat.

2. 

The letter that Tooru sent with Yoriko’s court file is not the same missive that we see on the last page of chapter 130. However, given Touka was concerned about Yoriko’s safety even years ago, and how radicalized the CCG has been under Furuta, it would be easy for her to draw the conclusion that wouldn’t come until days later: that Yoriko is/will be sentenced to death, so the missive we see is placed there to give us, readers, the same effect Yoriko’s notice of apprehension would have on Touka.  If we follow real life logic, the latest day Yoriko could be executed would be 04/28, so the best case scenario for Goat to rescue her is between 04/15 and 04/28 (13 days), and the worst between 04/17 and 04/23 (six days).

3. 

The situation with the ghoul extermination was likely so bad, the meeting Shuu mentioned in chapter 122, that was due to happen on 04/13, did not happen, as everyone retreated to the 24th Ward and met there instead.

4. 

As a last note, Touka wouldn’t be (not) getting her next period until 04/20, which means she has been very, very careful about the possibility of her body not devouring a child. Make what you want out of this, but chances are while she has a strong suspicion, she wouldn’t be certain of a pregnancy for a few more days, which is why she hasn’t told Kaneki. 

Also, Nishiki is extremely keen.

I swear I’m done.

Other possibilities

I chose to include them although I find them unlikely.

1.

It is currently May and Yoriko is being imprisoned for an indeterminate time. This means her sentence is ordered on 17/04/15 and approved on 17/04/23; Ken receives Tooru’s letter with this document attached, prompting for a meeting any day between 17/05/12 and 17/05/17. 

2.

Ishida messed up.  

TIMELINE

(E) = earliest; (L) = latest

April 2017

(E) 01 – (L) 07: Goat is tracked by the Oggai and leaves :re; Tooru attacks Ken and Touka; the latter engage in intercourse

(L) 08: Takeomi’s and Yoriko’s wedding

(L) 09: Yoriko’s and Takeomi’s apprehension

(L) 11: 23rd Ward extermination; Hajime’s “rescue” and delivery of letter (Tooru) and court file (Yoriko); Yoriko is still not sentenced to death

12: Tooru will be waiting for Ken at the chateau at 9 p.m. every day until the 17th

15: Court order for Yoriko to be put on death row

[CURRENT DATE] (E) 15 – (L) 17: Tooru and Shinsanpei discuss new measures for people suspected of aiding ghouls and whether Ken will visit the chateau; Ken finds out about Touka’s pregnancy; Touka finds out about Yoriko’s imprisonment and likely death sentence

17: Last day Tooru would wait for Ken

23: Furuta (Kichimura) approves the court order for Yoriko to be put on death row

(E) 23 – (L) 28: Execution of Yoriko Kuroiwa

Our Birth Story

I’m putting it under a “read more” because it’s really long. If you’re pregnant, you might not want to read it right now. What happened to me was pretty much the worst case scenario and I don’t want to scare anyone. I wouldn’t worry about it happening to you. <3

I’ve been wanting to write this post for a long time now but it’s so intimidating! It probably won’t sound very poetic or pretty because, honestly, my memories surrounding the day are really fuzzy.

On the night of Thursday, March 23, Peter and I drove to the hospital to get all checked in at 10pm. I was so excited!! I had really been looking forward to my induction day and meeting my babe. I was 39 weeks and 2 days pregnant.

The labor room I was in was so peaceful and lovely. Peter was stretched out on a couch next to me while I watched Netflix on a tablet in the hospital bed. They gave me an IV drip but it didn’t even hurt when they stuck me.

I was probably only like two cm dilated when I got there. Cytotec was administered probably a couple hours after we got there to dilate me. They only gave me half a dose to see how I reacted to it. It was just a little pill I swallowed. They gave me sleeping medicine too.

Two times during the night I was woken up by nurses rushing in and thrusting an oxygen mask on my face and telling me to stay calm and breathe. Something was happening with the baby. Maybe his heart rate was dropping? I can’t remember but it was terrifying. The sleeping medicine must have been really strong though because as soon as they left I would fall right back asleep.

They didn’t give me anymore Cytotec because they said the baby was reacting poorly to it. So I feel like I didn’t get enough to really get things going.

At 5am on Friday the 24th, my midwife came and they started to administer Pitocin via IV to start my contractions. This is when my memories REALLY start getting fuzzy. I remember texting my birth photographer and telling her everything was starting so she probably needed to get to the hospital soon. My contractions only felt like mild period cramps at that time.

The next thing I remember is probably a couple of hours later. My birth photographer was there taking photos and I had two of the SWEETEST nurses. (During my entire stay at the hospital I had so many amazing nurses!! I wish I could hug every one of them.) One was a young white woman who was hilarious and the other was a slightly older black woman who was so, SO nice.She kept patting my hands and wiping my forehead, reassuring me I could do this and everything was okay. By this time I was in an excruciating amount of pain. I remember screaming and crying. I’m sure the Pitocin was what made it so horrible.

It took the anesthesiologist FOREVER to reach me for the epidural. There were two other women he had to get to first. My nurse just kept holding my hand. It was weird because I didn’t want Peter to touch me but when that nurse did it helped so much.

The anesthesiologist was this cute, tiny old white man. He puttered in with his supplies and got to work. I was so scared because I just HAD to watch a video of an epidural during pregnancy and I knew what the needle was like and ughhh. But I was willing to do anything to make the pain go away.

Except it didn’t.

Because the epidural wouldn’t work.

The guy kept sticking me in my spine and I would let out bloodcurdling screams and he kept saying things like, “This doesn’t make sense. You shouldn’t be able to feel that.”

Suddenly, my midwife grew very concerned and said my baby’s heartbeat was dangerously dropping. Since it had already dropped twice the previous night, she said I needed a c-section and immediately. It all happened so fast; I was so confused (and still in pain).

They all grabbed me and quickly moved me onto a gurney and raced me to the operating room. My poor husband was left behind and given scrubs. By the time he got them on and reached us, they already had Archer out! The actual c-section only took minutes. He got to go with him to get his first bath and make sure he was okay.

Meanwhile, what happened to me was a little more terrifying lol. I remember being naked on a table with bright lights everywhere and people in scrubs and masks. It felt like an episode of the X-Files. I was shaking uncontrollably and someone said something about how they needed to get me to stop. My midwife was there, telling me she wasn’t going anywhere and to breathe. The amazing, nice nurse was there too. I specifically remember her grabbing my face and putting her eyes up to mine and telling me I was going to be okay and that I could do it. I wish I could go back in time and hug that woman. She was a miracle for me.

They put me to sleep and I’m so happy they did because I think what happened next would have traumatized me even more if I was awake. After they got Archer out, my uterus wouldn’t contract and I was hemorrhaging everywhere. They gave me injections and suppositories to try to make it contract and stop the bleeding. The surgeon said he even, “held my uterus in his hands and kneaded it like bread to try to stimulate contractions.” Nothing was working. Finally, they were able to stitch it a certain way that stopped the bleeding. He said that if it had happened 20 years ago then I probably would have needed a hysterectomy!!

On the positive side he said he got a good look at all my organs and they look great lmao.

Our photographer took photos of me back in the labor room afterwards when a nurse helped me breastfeed for the first time. Basically I’m just laying there with my mouth open while she helps him latch onto my boob. I don’t remember it. I don’t remember our first time breastfeeding. I don’t remember our first skin to skin. I don’t remember fucking meeting my baby for the first time.

The first thing I remember is waking up that evening, seeing the baby is his little bedside pod thing and going, “Is it over? Is that him?”

I was in the hospital for four days total. I had a couple blood transfusions and was poked with a bunch of needles. I was in a lot of pain from the incision but its healed perfectly. Physically, I’m fine now.

Mentally, it’s been really hard. I didn’t feel attached to our baby at first. I wanted to care for him but he didn’t feel like he was mine. I’ve dealt with a lot of feelings over the decision to be induced and how I missed so many “firsts.” Ultimately, I don’t regret getting induced though. The reason he went into distress was because his cord was nearly wrapped around his head and he was putting weight on it down in my pelvis. I keep getting these horrible thoughts like what if it had eventually wrapped around his neck and killed him?? What if I labored at home first and his heart rate dropped without me knowing from him being on his cord?? I feel like what happened was probably for the best even though it wasn’t what I pictured happening. I’m healthy and my baby is safe and healthy and isn’t that what really matters?

Archer is a little over three weeks old now and we’re starting to really bond. He’s amazing. I think I will be dealing with the mental aftermath from my c-section for quite a while but I’m glad I have him to focus on. He was worth it.

My name is Donte Woods-Spikes I personally have watched both of these mothers put in extra hours not only for their children, but also to assist the people that surround them. As much as I admire them both…I didn’t want them to meet. Why? In Columbus Ohio, community and police relations are not in favorable conditions. I try my best to bring the two entities together for the sake of all the innocent people who needs them both. At times I lose faith in both sides, but when the unlikely meeting took place between Leatha Wellington and Kelly “Officer” Shay, my faith became permanently restored.

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Leatha Wellington with her 3 sons. (Far left) Marshawn McCarrel, (2nd to left) Khyri McCarrel, (far right) MarQuan McCarrel.

Kelly “Officer” Shay with her daughter Maya.

It all started January 24th, 2017 around 11:00 AM. I woke up to see on my social media page that I was left a message by Officer Shay, telling me to contact her…ASAP.

(L to R) Commander Lang, Sergeant Ayres, Officer Kalous.

Pictures of me and other officers were posted on my page as well Columbus Division of Police social media page, which is how we met. I only communicated with Officer Shay through social media. I never saw her in person yet, so the fact she wanted me to contact her made me worry.

Instantly, I thought about everything I did in the past week and wondered if I unintentionally did anything illegal and if it was jail worthy. I thought about the red light I ran, the U-turn I made, the soda I got from the fast food place when I asked for a cup of water. None of it was enough to go to jail, so I called her. (Lol)

Once we began talking I was informed of a slight issue that was taking place at an event she saw I was going to attend. The event I was going to was called Feed The Streets.

Marshawn McCarrel, Leatha Wellington’s Son started the Feed The Streets (FTS) event. Its purpose was to feed those in need of a meal, as well provide people with clothing and basic needs. As of February 2016, Marshawn passed away from fatal self-inflicted harm.

Leatha Wellington, alongside a team of organizers continue the Feed The Streets event on a monthly basis. Volunteers from schools and organizations come to help out with passing out lunches and clothing.

Officer Shay told me that the landlord of the plaza was skeptical of Feed The Streets presence because of the crowd that it drew during event and preferred if they didn’t have the event in the parking lot. She volunteered to go to the event herself, just in case someone would call the police, she would be present to inform other officers that she was already on the scene and there was no problem.

I was very hesitant to pass along Officer Shay’s contact info because I knew once FTS were notified that they weren’t able to have the event in the parking lot, they weren’t going to be happy. Reluctantly, I informed Ms.Wellington and gave her Officer Shay’s number. After a while, I checked back with Ms. Wellington later on to find out that this was going to be their last time setting up in the parking lot.

…I became very upset. I couldn’t understand how someone could have an issue with a group of people providing food and clothing for ANYONE that is in need. The more I thought about the event location no longer being in the same spot…my brief moment of anger turned to worry. I began playing scenarios over in my head thinking what happened when Officer Shay and Ms. Wellington were on the phone, Who said what? Was it a smooth exchange or did someone get offended?

As much as I wanted to dig deeper and see if anything did happen, I left it alone and just waited to the day of the event to see what actually did happened.

So the day of event comes…

As I’m driving down West Broad Street I thought about how cold it actually was, and how the homeless people who frequently visited the event have to remain cold while I’m in my car with heat. I make it to the event and turn into the parking lot. I saw the police car WAY in the corner away from the event. I knew that was Officer Shay, I became worried again. I arrived a little bit late, so I thought maybe before I arrived they had a brief altercation or disagreement, something that caused her to stay away from the crowd.

I got out of my car and walked over to Ms. Wellington to help her unload some things out the back of her car. I was positive she was going to be angry or upset…but she wasn’t. She said hi, gave me a hug, and briefly talked about them finding a new spot to hold the event…and jumped right into the fray of things. I was thrown off by her being unfazed by the whole ordeal. Even with her being so calm, I still knew I had to go check on Officer Shay.

I mingled amongst the crowd for a couple of minutes while I watched the police car to see what was going to happen. Nothing…absolutely nothing. That was almost worse than something happening because I was prepared to react to whatever she did. I figured I needed to go see Officer Shay before something bad happened.

I separated from the crowd and walk over to the police car. As I got closer, me and Officer Shay made eye contact and waved at one another. As I approached the driver’s side of her police car, she stepped out. We hugged each other and began to talk about how good it was to finally meet face to face. I asked her if she wanted to come over and join, she said yea but she didn’t want to scare anyone. As much as I hate to admit it, she was right. The only reason I was comfortable was because I knew who she was, If I didn’t I would be skeptical. After that I asked if she would be able to come another Saturday. She said that she usually doesn’t work on Saturdays because she has to be with her daughter.

When she said that, I realized that from what I seen of her on social media, she happens to spend a LOT of time with her daughter. I began thinking to myself, “Wow, that’s very honorable of her to come out on this cold day that she usually doesn’t work to help maintain control in case something does happen.” I started to think, maybe nothing bad happened between them. Maybe I’m just making it all up in my head. As soon as I thought that…

Ms. Wellington and some people from the event began to walk over to where me and Officer Shay were. I figured THIS was about to be the moment they exchanged words.

Ms. Wellington and Officer Shay standing next to each other surrounded by children.

Nope…not yet.

What happened was one of the homeless people who attended the event was sitting on the curb next to us. He seemed to be very upset about something and didn’t want to go over to the event, so some of FTS decided to come over to him. We found out it was his birthday, so we all sang happy birthday. I said to myself, this is pretty cool, let me get a picture.

After that Officer Shay went to the car to grab something. I thought to myself it’s about to happen now…

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Nope…not yet.

Officer Shay came back with stickers and passed them out the kids. Which they seemed to be enjoying very much. I took some more pictures.

Unexpectedly, everything was going fine and I began to not worry as much as I did. Until something else happened that I knew for sure was about to disrupt the joyful moment.

One of the kids stopped and stared at Officer Shay while she was passing out the stickers. He began pointing at something…

He was pointing at her gun…

THIS was where I knew there was nothing that could easily be brushed aside or covered up with another happy moment. I thought of every high-profile shooting that took place in Columbus as well other cities and states. I don’t know if the kid knew about any of that Officer Shay turned around and saw him pointing. My heart began to beat very fast. I froze up and just stared.

Officer Shay said to him “If you see someone with one of those tell someone right away.”

He shook his head yes.

I just stood back and watched, waiting for it to turn into a long conversation, or a moment of awkwardness…the situation literally ended as quick as it began. I continued to observe everyone while they talked for a second…thinking of what else could possibly happen that would make me uncomfortable.

Officer Shay got back in her car, and Ms. Wellington walked over to her and they began to talk.

As they were talking I began thinking how this moment was inevitable.  I also thought about how selfish I was, how I thought of so many ways to not have them meet, how I doubted anything good would come from their encounter…but not once did I encourage them to connect when they both serve the same community. I tried to protect them from one another because of my own inability to trust that people aren’t able to connect with each others in ways that I can. This beautiful moment could have been sabotaged if I actually acted on my doubt. I took the picture while they were talking.

As the event was coming to an end, Ms. Wellington walks back over to the event and begins to pack up. I follow behind to assist her and everyone else. We finish up and I begin to say bye to everyone. I walk over to Ms. Wellington and she gives me a hug. As I was ready to let go she held me for a couple more seconds and said, “I love you.” To be honest…her words touched my soul. I can’t remember if I responded, but I know for a moment I could see inside myself. I felt very special and so privileged to be apart of the event.

Everyone began to leave, so I made way over to Officer Shay to say bye to her. I walked over to car once again, and she got out her car, again. I hugged her and thanked her for taking the time to watch over the event. She grabbed my hands and she said to me, “You have a gift. There are not a lot of people who can do what you do.” She was referring to me constantly attempting to bridge the gap not only between community and police, but people period. Little did she know, what I considered to be protecting both of them, was me acting just like the people that cause division. Her acknowledging me shed the guilty feeling that lingered inside of me. Again, not even a couple of minutes after Ms. Wellington embraced me, I felt honored that someone else would even acknowledge me in such a personal and fulfilling way how Officer Shay did.

What lesson did I learn from all of this?

What makes them both special is the traits of being a mother aren’t only exclusive to their children, they share the same love and compassion for humanity.

One of Ms. Wellington’s son’s is gone. She could have easily given up and went into that dark place that is very easy to go to when we lose a loved one…but she continues to invest in her sons vision and share that same love she has for her family with everyone else. As she continues her mission, the amount of strength she has is a constant reminder that we have the ability to push through things that seem impossible to overcome.

Officer Shay’s mission involves her waking up every day and dedicating her life to police neighborhoods in the midst of police officers being under heavy judgement and remains true to her jobs purpose watching over the people. Every moment she has free outside of her job, is invested into building a stronger bond with her daughter and promising her a future while she puts her life on the line for people she has never met.

After seeing watching them fulfill their missions, I found out what my mission was as well…

I did everything I could to fight against them crossing paths, but the day they finally did they both recognized me in ways that made me feel at peace. These two women are a prime example of sacrifice. If every person had the chance to experience the love of these two mothers, the world would change for the better. Neither one of these women are my mother, but they both have embraced and cared for me as if I was their own son.

Even though the three of us may have different ways of approaching community work, were all contributing to the same exact cause. Some times we can get so caught up in looking at solving issues in our own learned expected ways that we forget there plenty of others people who are doing the same exact things, but just in a different way. The same level of encouragement and embrace they have given me, I have no choice but to remain true to my mission, and share that same feeling they give me, to everyone else.

Sacrificing for a greater good is not something thats easy to do because it comes with putting pride to the side and facing your insecurities and fears head on. You have to let go of whatever may be holding you back and telling you no, because as soon as you overcome whatever it is, a new door opens up and new beginnings take place.

Happy Mothers Day Leatha Wellington and Kelly Shay. You both mean the world to me and I will continue to share the gift you shared with me with everyone I cross paths with.

Thank you.

    Three Missions…Two Mothers…One Sacrifice My name is Donte Woods-Spikes I personally have watched both of these mothers put in extra hours not only for their children, but also to assist the people that surround them.