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copperbadge · 22 hours

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Radio Free Monday

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

Ways to Give:

Grumpywitch is a Black, queer disabled woman whose partner has been unemployed and jobsearching since last August; they have a small handmade jewelry business but don't sell enough to live on, and they're fundraising to cover expenses. You can support the fundraiser here or buy from her shop here.

cztacks has been accepted into the selective and prestigious Clarion West Writer's Workshop, but will need to travel from Australia to attend, and the AUD/USD exchange rate will not be in their favor once they arrive; they are fundraising to be able to cover costs of travel and attendance. You can read more, find giving options, and reblog here, check out their work here, or support the fundraiser here.

Something I thought was cool was that Clarion West also allows donors to buy goods and meals for the students as a group, or donate travel points -- you can check that out here with options ranging from $20-$250.

Anon linked to a fundraiser for pangur-and-grim/Greer, who is facing a $9K veterinarian bill when their cats Pangur and Grim both got pancreatitis after Grim got into kitten food for the new kitten and the resulting problems stressed Pangur out. Greer is bringing back old pin designs on their website; you can read more and reblog here (scroll down, the top part of the post is about the tattoos that inspired the design) or preorder/purchase here (including a tip jar at the shop here.

I recently found out about the Zinn Education Project and their Teach Truth Day of Action, which is coming up on June 8th; it supports teachers who are speaking out about anti-history education bills and history education censorship. You can read more about it here including ways to get involved, support teachers, and sign up to host a table or booth yourself. The page also has a donation link in the upper-right corner if you'd like to support their efforts financially.

Recurring Needs:

loversdoom is a college student from the Philippines, studying away from her family, and her parents are unexpectedly unable to support her education; she is dealing with a number of expenses and is now looking at costly medical procedures as well. You can read more and reblog here or give to the fundraiser here.

onedollopofsourcream is raising funds to help with food, transportation, medication for their family, and other expenses after a string of financial issues; they are also currently dealing with an abusive home situation including food control. You can read more, reblog, and find giving information here.

rilee16 is raising funds to get out of an abusive home situation; with irregular work hours and a tax debt due on top of chronic illness issues, they also need funds to repair their phone, which is dying, and cover utility bills. You can read more, reblog, and find giving information here.

And this has been Radio Free Monday! Thank you for your time. You can post items for my attention at the Radio Free Monday submissions form. If you're new to fundraising, you may want to check out my guide to fundraising here.

#radio free monday #charity #philanthropy #fannish community

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ecoamerica · 1 month

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youtube

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

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havegaysex · 2 months

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Why are you telling people to vote for the guy committing genocide :/

because voting is not an endorsement it's harm reduction.

Trump is going to be at best doing the same as Biden and likely much worse for Palestinians and all the countries suffering from American Imperialism than Biden is.

Republicans want to bring back child labor and get rid of social security, medicare, Medicaid. As someone who is surviving on Medicaid and social security I don't want those taken away. The Republican majority house already put a lot of limits on food stamps in this past term and I don't think we'll still have food stamps if we get a republican Congress and a Republican president.

They've made it pretty clear that if they get a republican Congress and a Republican president they're going to enact project 2025 and call a conference of states and try and take our rights back to the days when only wealthy white men had any rights when women and racial minorities had no rights, they want to make it illegal for LGBT+ folks to safely exist in public and get lifesaving healthcare.

In short

Do I support every single thing Biden has done as president?

No.

Do I like him?

Not particularly. But I'm still voting for him because apathy is not a choice.

Do I think that Joe Biden having another term means that we can actually make more progress for labor rights, trans healthcare, abortion access, advancement of the rights and protections for disabled people and so much more?

Yes absolutely.

Do I think that the genocide in Gaza needs to end and the United States needs to stop sending weapons to israel?

Yes, I think that un restricted flow of humanitarian aid into Palestine needs to happen, the siege needs to stop, and the country of Israel and the United States need to be held accountable at an international level. I think that the soldiers of the IDF/IOF need to be held accountable for their war crimes and pillaging that they continuously post evidence of on social medias. I'm trying to put a read more here so ce I've put a few linked articles and quotes from them.

A quote from the article below:

"While our map focuses solely on high school aged youth (age 13-17), some states, such as Oklahoma, Texas, and South Carolina, have considered banning care for transgender people up to 26 years of age. "

I've seen lawmakers in some states try to make it felony punishable by life in prison to get your trans child healthcare to keep them alive because they want to make it illegal for us to exist and a legal for anyone who helps us exist.

some quotes from the article above:

"Led by the long-established Heritage Foundation think tank and fueled by former Trump administration officials, the far-reaching effort is essentially a government-in-waiting for the former president’s second term — or any candidate who aligns with their ideals and can defeat President Joe Biden in 2024. With a nearly 1,000-page “Project 2025” handbook and an “army” of Americans, the idea is to have the civic infrastructure in place on Day One to commandeer, reshape and do away with what Republicans deride as the “deep state” bureaucracy, in part by firing as many as 50,000 federal workers. “We need to flood the zone with conservatives,” said Paul Dans, director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project and a former Trump administration official who speaks with historical flourish about the undertaking. “This is a clarion call to come to Washington,” he said. “People need to lay down their tools, and step aside from their professional life and say, ‘This is my lifetime moment to serve.’” The unprecedented effort is being orchestrated with dozens of right-flank organizations, many new to Washington, and represents a changed approach from conservatives, who traditionally have sought to limit the federal government by cutting federal taxes and slashing federal spending. Instead, Trump-era conservatives want to gut the “administrative state” from within, by ousting federal employees they believe are standing in the way of the president’s agenda and replacing them with like-minded officials more eager to fulfill a new executive’s approach to governing. The goal is to avoid the pitfalls of Trump’s first years in office, when the Republican president’s team was ill-prepared, his Cabinet nominees had trouble winning Senate confirmation and policies were met with resistance — by lawmakers, government workers and even Trump’s own appointees who refused to bend or break protocol, or in some cases violate laws, to achieve his goals. While many of the Project 2025 proposals are inspired by Trump, they are being echoed by GOP rivals Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy and are gaining prominence among other Republicans. And if Trump wins a second term, the work from the Heritage coalition ensures the president will have the personnel to carry forward his unfinished White House business. “The president Day One will be a wrecking ball for the administrative state,” said Russ Vought, a former Trump administration official involved in the effort who is now president at the conservative Center for Renewing America. Much of the new president’s agenda would be accomplished by reinstating what’s called Schedule F — a Trump-era executive order that would reclassify tens of thousands of the 2 million federal employees as essentially at-will workers who could more easily be fired. Biden had rescinded the executive order upon taking office in 2021, but Trump — and other presidential hopefuls — now vow to reinstate it."

"There’s a “top to bottom overhaul” of the Department of Justice, particularly curbing its independence and ending FBI efforts to combat the spread of misinformation. It calls for stepped-up prosecution of anyone providing or distributing abortion pills by mail."

Personally I think that voting for Joe Biden is better than someone who wants to enact this stuff on day one. It's like they read handmaid's tale and want to make that the reality of this country.

"Chapter by chapter, the pages offer a how-to manual for the next president, similar to one Heritage produced 50 years ago, ahead of the Ronald Reagan administration. Authored by some of today’s most prominent thinkers in the conservative movement, it’s often sprinkled with apocalyptic language." Ronald Reagan is a big reason we have a lot of problems we have today with our economy and with a lot more things. The people that supported Ronald Reagan do not need another term in office.

A quote from the article linked below:

"Trump has given no indication that he would be more sympathetic to Palestinian claims, nor that he would place more pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire. “The approach of the United States would be that Israel needs to win this war, it was attacked brutally,” Trump’s ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, describing how Trump would act. Friedman is now a campaign surrogate for Trump."

Personally I think Trump telling Israel to finish the job is indicators that another Trump presidency doesn't mean that weapons would stop being sent to Israel from United States

I fail to see how another term of Donald trump will be any better for the victims of the ongoing genocide in Palestine than President Joe Biden.

i think our system is absolutely messed up and broken but I don't think abstaining from voting is going to actually help.

#I don't support the genocide happening but I don't think that a republican will improve the situation happening in Gaza #I think that there needs to be a lot more grassroots effort for any third party candidate to be viable on the presidential level #We have two choices this election another term of Biden or another trump term #(if by some miracle the republicans managed to elect anyone else for their party nomination I still don't believe that a republican will #Improve the situation of Gaza or anything the United States is doing in the international level)#Asks #Mutuals #Im open to having further discussion about this #Also since this wasn't a DM or marked for private response I'm assuming you're fine with me posting my answer publicly.#I tried to pick out decent articles to link sorry if there not the best #None of my responses above are me trying to be hostile or combative #I'm genuinely trying to answer this question and I am not great at proofreading before posting but I did try here #vote blue no matter who #vote biden #vote democrat #vote blue #voting #us elections #election 2024 #trump 2024 #2024 election #biden 2024 #biden administration #president biden #joe biden #2024 elections #kamala harris #palestine #Israel

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searchingforserendipity25 · 8 months

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@finweanladiesweek | day one. miriel/indis

in the last year of miriel's life as she counted her life, the one before she grew heavy with child, the noldor had been the ones to host the competitions.

miriel remembered it only vaguely now, through a summer's haze - the bright clarions ringing, the pressing irritation of setting aside the project she had been working on in exchange for the hot light of laurelin and the duties of state - the deep satisfaction of seeing her own banners flying boldly, her husband clad by the work of her own hand.

after death, and in the time before death, she forgot about it all - the colour of the fabrics, the words spoken in praise and adoration to the valar upholding the celebration.

of the last days lived in shadowless felicity, miriel remembered best the minyar's youngest champion, the best and first of their begotten children born in aman.

tall and graceful and very swift, wrestling quendi twice her size in the games, distinguished among the rest of the golden-haired plenty of valmar only for how she laughed at the finishing line, when she won victory for her people or otherwise.

that was what miriel recalled: indis of the vanyar, dust-spotted and freckled, tall and dangerous and joyful, throwing the flowers of her success at the embroidered slippers of the queen of tirion.

finwë had been all for his friends then, turned towards ingwë's clasping hand and olwë's counsel, sitting away and above, so thickly wound together elu's absence was not an absence at all. other athletes had honoured the three kings already, offering their hard-won laurel crowns.

these flowers were for miriel alone, gathered beforehand, the sort of generosity that would become a gesture of friendship, a queenly offering, merely because indis was dust-spotted, tall and dangerous and kind.

osmantus, jasmine, the purple violets that grew upon taniquentil - miriel had had to bend down to pick them up. she remembered that, very clearly - the petals crinkling between her reaching fingers, the sweetness of indis' smile.

the robes she bore were among the best she had produced so far, as fair as the gauzy guise vána donned for the occasion, a glory of the noldor wore about her body in much the same way as tirion was dressed in its banners. the violets had stained them irreversibly.

she might have loathed someone for that, once.

enclosed in the halls of mandos, weary even as a shade and wearied of nothing so much as herself, miriel sought back their sweetness instead. there was little else to do. the perfumes of lórien and the proud, blooming lilies finwë had brought for her rooms during her weakness had grown to be so much ugliness to her.

miriel shed them all, along with her flesh. the smell of joy had become the laughing solemnity of indis vanyarin, to whom she had never spoken; and that much she wished to have as a memory.

finwë's choice never did surprise her; serindë would have chosen so herself, if life had been something she were willing to carry.

#finwean ladies week #miriel #indis #finwe #miriel/indis #míriel serinde #the silm fic #the silmarillion #tolkien fanfiction

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always-is-always · 1 year

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The claim to know

It’s amazing to me, how people will claim to know what is happening between Jungkook and Jimin. I use that word very loosely and intentionally. Do some have a crystal ball that gives them the inside information that they claim to know? These people who claim to know how the guys are or are not communicating or interacting, or how they are or are not spending time together. Are these people close friends of Jungkook and Jimin? Really? This person would like to know.

My opinion is that they are in an intimate, long-term relationship. The reasons have been placed right in front of us, countless times. I won’t go into all of the why’s and the how’s as I’m not good with that type of commentary. There are some fabulous kookmin/jikook blogs on this platform who are excellent wordsmiths and have that lane well covered. I know what I think and feel, and what I intuitively sense about Jungkook and Jimin. I’ll leave it there.

My point is that my opinion is simply that. I don’t project it, use it as a fact, or try to make others take it as their own. It’s just mine. Just like any other opinion. It is subjective. What I am referencing are the people out there who claim to know things based on what we are not seeing (ie: those who claim that things have changed because of a lack of content).

There are a lot of people who project expectations from their own life experiences (or lack of) onto Jungkook and Jimin. They take the filter that they view life through and apply it to their “view” of JK&JM’s relationship as it is presented to the public eye, and then they make statements to the world like they are factual. As if these guys actually show a miniscule drop of what they do with each other, how they communicate, or what they feel for each other, to the world. I’m seeing it on this platform over and over right now.

For those Anons out there who won’t even come out of their own closet and put their Tumblr name to a question or statement, do you really think that you know? If you are not willing to be public with who you are on this platform, do you really believe that Jeon Jungkook and Park Jimin are going to bear their Souls and Hearts to the public????

To those out there who demand, wish, project, and energetically push Jungkook and Jimin to “come out”, to just “kiss already”, and all that other BS, I say GROW UP. GROW UP. Stop projecting fantasies, wishes, desires, and daydreams onto those two HUMAN BEINGS. It is unhealthy not only for them but also for you. The energy that people project onto these two men is MASSIVE. It is a huge burden that many do not understand. If they did, they would never project what they do onto Jungkook and Jimin. Thoughts are forms of energy. Every thought about another human being travels to their energy field. If there is an expectation or desire connected to that thought, it shows up as a hook and will attach to that human’s energy field....... let that sink in.

So yeah, this is a little rant. Yeah, it’s a bit of a clarion call to people who can understand. AND, yeah, it’s probably not even going to land in front of people who need to have their a$$ kicked for the crap that they project onto our beloved Jungkook and Jimin......... I’m just so tired of it.

With their upcoming enlistment JK&JM MUST be careful. People who keep pushing for public expressions of love between them do not have a freaking clue just how dangerous that would be, for JK&JM. It is literally AGAINST THE LAW, for particular types of physical interactions in the SK military. People need to wake the **** up, and see the stark reality that these guys are facing. IT IS NOT SAFE for them to come out, as a couple. Not only because of the MS, but also the culture in their homeland is still very conservative, and the political environment is VERY conservative. Again, it isn’t safe for them......

Sorry not sorry for my rambling post here.... I just am so freaking tired of the immaturity that people are showing, and the ways that people continually project energetically onto Jungkook and Jimin. If people could see the energy, they would immediately stop. It isn’t a pretty sight, for those of us who can see it.

Outside of this way of sharing, there are only a couple of things that I personally do. I’m mindful about my thoughts and my energy, regarding Jungkook and Jimin. It is my responsibility to do so. (It’s every person’s responsibility.) I also ask the Divine to provide energetic protection for the guys, 24/7. It’s an ongoing request.

I realize that there are millions around the world in countless countries, who are a part of the fandom. With that will be countless people who do not understand how to be a fan without projecting onto the guys. It is unfortunate and out of this human’s reach to change.

I didn’t mean to go on and on..... I guess that this has been building for months now, and after being away for a few days I returned to this platform to see a bunch of stuff that triggered this post.

With that, I think that we all need a good smudging..... yeah.... gonna go light some sage now. 💜

#kookmin #jikook #jeon jungkook #park jimin #stop projecting onto them #take responsibility for your thoughts and expectations #thoughts are things #protect kookmin #protect them #go smudge #got sage #grow the heck up fandom

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scotianostra · 1 month

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The Scottish actor Alex McCrindle passed away on Aoril 20th 1990.

Born on 3rd August 1911 in Glasgow, Alex McCrindle started work at the age of 10 years, probably like many of us, delivering milk. At 15, he left school and got a job in a timber merchants’ office. He started his acting career playing heroes in plays put on by the Boys Brigade. Later, after moving to Glasgow and getting a job as a manager of a hardware firm, he joined the Glasgow Clarion Players. A pioneer Scottish theatre group with strong links to the Communist Party, this was a predecessor of Glasgow Unity and Glasgow Citizens.

McCrindle went to lectures on drama at Glasgow University and had become so engaged in theatrical matters that he had to choose to give up his hardware career. He was lucky to be able to become an indentured apprentice at Queen Theatre in London He finished up as an electrician but became immersed in the world of theatre and actors along the way.

He eventually became a formable actor himself. In the period 1937-9, he appeared in a dozen plays on the first broadcasts of television, including `Juneo and the Paycock’, before the medium was closed down for the duration of the war, sometimes being credited as Alex McCringle or Alex McGrindle, as well as in his own name. he was also in the cast of the classic Hitchcock film, `The 39 steps’, although he was more proud of his nationwide tour of `Six men of Dorset’, about the Tolpuddle Martyrs, in 1937

McCrindle began a history of the actors’ union, Equity, but was unable to finish it due to being called up for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. He produced the first ever play performed on board a RN ship during war, `Androcles and the Lion’, transmitted over the Tannoy!

He starred in the British BBC radio show `Dick Barton Special Agent’ from 1946-51, which ran for 700 episodes and had 15 million listeners. Alex played the role of Jock Anderson one of Dick Barton’s key henchmen and was widely loved for the role and enormously popular in it. In 1947, he was producer of the childrens TV programme `Larry the Lamb’.

Although he also branched out very successfully into scriptwriting, McCrindle was effectively blacklisted because of his Communist and Equity activities for much of the important years of his career, especially from the late 1940s to the end of the 1950s. In the 1950s, he appeared – often uncredited to escape the blacklist – in a string of small budget movies as a character actor. But, in the main, blacklisting resulted in him devoting more time to building up Equity and securing improved pay and conditions for Actors, to meet this objective he was sent by his union to found Scottish Equity, which only had 15 members before he began his work. He worked at this full-time for the next seven years, leaving the union in a flouring position north of the border. In this period, he only worked in British television and then only twice during the early 1960s.

In the later stage of his career, he began to secure significant parts in films and TV programmes from `The Saint’ in 1965, and then through many other projects, with increasingly more significant parts, to `All Creatures Great and Small’ and `Taggart’ and then, in the 1977 first `Star Wars’ movie in which he played a rebel general.

George Lucas, short of capital, offered the actors on the movie "points" in lieu of salary. Big stars such as Alec Guinness, could afford to indulge in some capitalist speculation and take "points" and, in the event, the film proved to be the best move Guinness ever made financially. "Hollywood thought Darth Vader was a tough nut," one luvvie has recalled, "but they hadn’t met Alex."! He campaigned through Equity for bonuses for all actors in Star Wars, among them R2-D2 (who was played, or operated inside, by Birmingham-born Kenny Baker), who also took a working wage and contributed to the success of Star Wars.

Alex had a great love of Scottish poetry and regularly read it aloud to audiences. He produced and read his own selection of 37 poems by William Soutar (Glasgow, Scotsoun, 1989) and raised money for Brownsbank Cottage., the former of the great Scottish writer, Hugh MacDiarmid, now a home for "writers in residence"

He was married twice, the first was Sandy, the second wife, Honor Arundel, the Communist children’s author and Daily Worker film critic. (See entry for Honor Arundel.) The home of McCrindle and Arundel in the fifties was always a hub of Party activity and organisation, as the writer Doris Lessing notes in her autobiography. Alex became close friends with Paul Strand, the famous photographer, and was a major asset to Strand in his `Tir a Mhurain’ photography project. He went onto become Strand’s agent in Scotland, negotiating with Compton Mackenzie and visiting the School of Scottish Studies in order to help set up the project.

In the 1980s, with US screenings no longer debarred to him, he appeared in dozens of major roles on television mini-series, including "Reilly: The Ace of Spies" and in film such as `Eye of the Needle’. As late as 1987 he played the role of a jailer in `Comrades’, the film about the Tolpuddle Martyrs.

Alex McCrindle’s obituary in the Times was headlined "Communist stalwart" and stated that he remained committed to an "unrelenting Marxism which lost nothing of its purity and uncompromising severity". His daughter Jean also became involved in politics and an award for drama was named after him. Alex McCrindle died on April 20, 1990 in Edinburgh.

#scotland #scottish #history #glaswegian #actor #theatre #television #cinema #star wars

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ecoamerica · 2 months

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youtube

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

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durgetodance · 1 month

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Clarion Call, Ch. 5: Astarion’s Interlude: Act 1.

Chapter Summary: Astarion's nice, simple plan, and all the ways in which it went wrong from the very beginning.

Story Summary: After receiving Bhaal's retribution in the form of Orin's dagger through her skull, The Dark Urge remembers nothing of her past.

But Astarion does. Faced with the prospect of finally coming face to face with the woman who promised to bring him a bloodbath to feast on, he struggles between his fear of her and the fated nature of their bond.

Akhaten and Astarion. Two mice stuck on the same never-ending wheel, this is the story of how they find their freedom from their masters, and from each other.

Series: blood in the water (part 3)

Relationship: Astarion/The Dark Urge

Tags: Soulmate AU, Enemies to Lovers, [eventual] Redemption!Dark Urge. Not your usual soulmate AU, not your usual Durgestarion. Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort.

Warning for Astarion’s trauma and Durge being Durge.

Read a snippet of chapter 5 below!

“What had he done?

It was the only question that ran through his mind, over and over and over again, as he nearly ran back to camp. He’d left her there, lost in whatever vision someone like her was wont to have, had been incapable of doing anything but running.

He kept throwing glances over his shoulder. Was she following him? Was she hunting him?

Did she, he wondered with a drop of ice in his stomach, did she know who he was?

The thought was nearly too much to bear. His throat was tightening, just like the metaphorical chains around his wrists.

She was here. She was here. She was here.”

#baldur's gate 3 #astarion bg3 #astarion ancunin #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #astarion #dark urge #bg3 dark urge #bg3 fanfiction #bg3 fic #baldurs gate fanfiction #baldurs gate 3 fanfiction #astarion/the dark urge

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mariacallous · 6 months

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It was supposed to be a clarion call to re-energize flagging U.S. support for Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was meant to dial into a classified briefing to the entire U.S. Senate on Tuesday, alongside top Biden administration officials, urging the Senate to support the swift passage of a massive national security supplemental bill to keep the taps of U.S. military aid flowing to Ukraine.

In the end, those best-laid plans devolved into yet another partisan fight on Capitol Hill.

Zelensky didn’t attend, according to congressional aides and former officials familiar with the matter, due to a last-minute scheduling conflict, and Senate Republicans walked out of the briefing early, fuming that the administration officials slated to brief them would only talk about Ukraine and Israel, and not the U.S. southern border—which was their top policy priority. While several top administration officials attended the briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who oversees U.S. border policy, did not, the aides and former officials said, incensing Republicans.

The drama around this classified briefing encapsulates the political quagmire the Biden administration now faces, with massive implications for U.S. foreign policy and, in particular, Ukraine’s war against Russia. The Biden administration stitched together a major package of $111 billion to support Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and fund U.S. southern border security in a bid to get as many members of Congress as possible to support the measure. Instead, it’s devolved into a political headache, leaving continued aid for Ukraine hanging in the balance during a crucial phase in its war in Ukraine, all because of a partisan feud over U.S.-Mexico border policies. In a speech on Wednesday urging members of Congress to support further funding for Ukraine, President Joe Biden accused “extreme Republicans” of “playing chicken” with U.S. national security.

“These are all political games,” said Luke Coffey, a national security expert at the Hudson Institute think tank. “Meanwhile, Ukrainians are dying, and funding is running dry.”

As of mid-November, the Pentagon had spent 97 percent of the $62 billion already earmarked for Ukraine, according to a starkly worded letter sent from the White House to congressional leaders on Monday. Military experts paint a bleak picture of what could happen next if the spigot of U.S. military aid is cut off.

“We support Ukraine or Ukraine loses the war,” said Fred Kagan, director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute. “It really is that stark,” he said.

In the first months of this renewed war, Russia seized 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, reaching the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv. Ukrainian forces have since waged a grinding battle to claw back towns and cities from Russian control. A collapse in U.S. support could unwind many of those hard-won gains. “If we cut Ukraine off and abandon Ukraine the way we abandoned Afghanistan, ultimately the same thing will happen,” Kagan said.

The war has been characterized by pitched artillery battles. Feeding the Ukrainian military’s rapacious need for artillery shells has been a central component of U.S. support. If that funding is stopped, it would be quickly felt on the battlefield. “People cannot fight with their bare hands,” said Andriy Zagorodnyuk, the former Ukrainian minister of defense.

Another pillar of U.S. support has been air defense systems, which have protected Ukrainian cities from Russian missile and drone attacks. Late last month, Russia unleashed a swarm of 75 drones on Kyiv in the single-biggest drone attack of the war to date. All but one were shot down by the city’s air defense systems. A dwindling in air defense munitions could leave Ukraine’s troops, urban areas, and critical infrastructure exposed to a Russian onslaught from the skies.

Russia watchers have long cautioned that, despite his forces’ underwhelming military performance, President Vladimir Putin believes he can bide his time and wait out Ukraine’s Western backers. The Russian leader has previously stated that Ukraine would not survive beyond “a week” if Western support were to dry up.

In a call with the media on Tuesday, Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, cautioned that Putin’s military objectives in Ukraine remain unchanged. “Russia is still intending to continue to advance,” Sullivan said. “Its objectives in Ukraine are the full subjugation of that country, not just the taking of some territory in the south and the east,” he said.

U.S. military aid to Ukraine far outstrips that provided by any other nation, and other Western states would be unable to fulfill the shortfall in the event that it is cut off. “I’ll be dialing for dollars and howitzers on a daily basis, but the bottom line is there is no substitute for the United States and what we can provide,” Sullivan said.

The U.S. has also played an important leadership role in organizing some 50 countries to provide aid to Kyiv through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. As Washington has given increasingly powerful weapons to Ukraine, including Abrams battle tanks, it has given cover for European nations to follow suit. “The alliance is unlikely simply to trundle forward under its own steam as if we hadn’t been there,” Kagan said. “This will, of course, also be a massive betrayal of the allies who have also leaned forward in incurring Putin’s wrath,” he said.

Foreign Policy interviewed 12 current and former officials, congressional aides, and experts on the ongoing political battles in Washington over the future of Ukraine aid and how the administration has linked it to funding for other national security priorities. One conclusion stands out above all others: There’s a palpable sense of dread among Ukraine’s biggest supporters in Washington and Europe.

Without continued U.S. military and economic aid for Kyiv, those supporters argue, Ukraine may not lose the war tomorrow, but it will undoubtedly tip the scale of the war in Russia’s favor. Biden administration officials and many members of Congress argue that Ukraine’s war is an existential struggle for peace in Europe: If Russia achieves a victory in Ukraine, it won’t stop there, and could invade U.S. allies on NATO’s eastern flank next.

A small group of cautious Ukraine optimists inside the administration and Congress see the political battle over this funding package—around $111 billion in total—as a nasty procedural hurdle that congressional leaders will eventually sort out. The Democrats narrowly control the Senate, while Republicans narrowly control the House, so the politics was always going to be tricky, they argue, but Congress has overcome thorny political impasses before.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has said that House Republicans won’t greenlight Ukraine aid without a Republican-backed immigration bill, H.R. 2, included in the supplemental package. Democrats have resoundingly rejected H.R. 2, which would mirror Trump-era immigration policies, including border wall construction and curbing humanitarian parole programs for asylum-seekers. On the Senate side, even Republicans who are reliably pro-Ukraine have been unwilling to pass the supplemental until the Biden administration puts more security on the border.

“The mayors of our major cities have clearly indicated they do not have the capacity to take care of the refugees,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, speaking about those who arrive over the U.S. southern border. “This ought to be a no-brainer for the president in terms of the large, hugely Democratic big cities as well as the heartland.”

These cautiously optimistic officials and experts argue that Ukraine has one thing going in its favor: Nearly every senator and a vast majority of the members of the House on both sides of the aisle still support continuing U.S. military aid to Ukraine—as do a majority of American voters, according to some of the latest opinion polls.

Still, there’s a much larger contingent of pessimists, who view the partisan skirmishes in the Senate, and the impasse over the funding package, as an omen of how U.S. support for Ukraine could waver in the coming months and years. They point to the small flank of anti-Ukraine voices in the Republican Party that has been growing louder and more influential outside Washington; the fumbling by the Biden administration on rolling out the national security supplemental tying Ukraine aid to border security; and, above all, to the question of what will happen in the 2024 presidential election.

“It is causing this gloom to descend across Europe and European capitals,” said Jim Townsend, a former top NATO policy official at the Pentagon. “They see this not as some tempest in a teapot or standard political fight in Congress, but as representative of where the U.S. is really going on foreign policy in the future.”

In a bid to marshal more support for Ukraine, Zelensky dispatched some of his top aides to Washington this week to pitch how critical U.S. support is to staving off a Russian victory.

Andriy Yermak, head of Zelensky’s presidential office, said that a postponement in U.S. aid would severely undermine Ukrainian efforts to liberate Russian-occupied territory and would create a “big risk” of Kyiv losing the war. “It will be difficult to keep in [the] same positions and for the people to really survive,” Yermak said in a speech at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington on Tuesday. Top Biden administration officials bluntly warned Congress that their ability to keep supplying Ukraine with weapons would dry up unless the emergency supplemental is passed.

“I want to be clear: without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine and to provide equipment from U.S. military stocks,” Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), wrote in a letter to congressional leaders this week. “There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. We are out of money—and nearly out of time.”

There’s another growing fear about how this political battle could affect aid to Ukraine in the future, playing out in the background of the drama on Capitol Hill that many officials point to: the U.S. defense industrial base.

A significant portion of the funds being held up are allocated to the U.S. defense industry to expand the production of U.S. munitions that can be sent to Ukraine to keep up the fight against Russia. The war has bogged down into what some analysts consider a stalemate, and both sides need immense supplies of artillery munitions in particular to keep up the fight. The U.S. Defense Department is now producing about 28,000 rounds of 155 mm artillery ammunition a month, according to the U.S. Army’s October numbers, the most-used across NATO countries. Though that’s double the amount of artillery that the United States was producing before Russia’s full-scale invasion, it’s far less than what Ukraine needs (Troops are firing about 7,000 rounds per day into Russian lines.). Without more money, U.S. officials say even that supply will dry up.

“Do we have the money to do 100,000 [rounds of 155 mm artillery ammo per month]? The answer is yes, if they passed a supplemental,” Pentagon acquisition chief William LaPlante told reporters on the sidelines of the Reagan National Defense Forum this weekend in Simi Valley, California.

Across the pond, European Union officials have also said that they are far short of the 27-nation bloc’s target to produce 1 million 155 mm rounds by early 2024. Any break in the deliveries of U.S. weapons and ammo might give Russia more opportunity to reconstitute its devastated ground forces in Ukraine, meaning the political battles on Capitol Hill could have very stark consequences for the real battles in Ukraine.

“There will be huge implications on the front lines,” Coffey said. “They probably wouldn’t be felt immediately as aid is still moving in the pipeline, but as Ukraine weathers this cold winter, and as it prepares for what it wants to do on the battlefield next year, this [U.S.] funding is crucial.”

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fictionalmenaremytype · 5 months

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Why do we know nothing about Shel! She could be so cool and badass, but we know barely anything about her! The only canon info we have is that she's cherokee, has short hair, is dating Piper, and somehow doesn't think any of the demigod stuff is utterly bonkers.

If Rick doesn't tell us more about her, I'm just going to assume that she's Rachel's roomate at Clarion Ladies Academy and was awoken one night in a coughing fit because she was choking on the green smoke coming from her roomate who appears to be sleep talking some really creepy stuff.

I'm just going to assume that Rachel had to tell her everything about CHB after that, and they write to one another in the summer.

I'm just going to assume that she's an aspiring singer and her and Rachel bounce ideas off one another for creative projects when they can't sleep.

I'm just going to assume that they cause havoc together, pulling pranks and skipping classes and sneaking to the school roof after curfew to paint the sunset and sing about the stars.

I'm just going to assume that when Piper and Shel meet Shel says she's heard of her before and Piper assumes that she means bc she's Tristan Mclean's daughter.

I'm just going to assume that when Piper finally opens up, Shel fills in what she can because Rachel has told her quite a lot and then has to explain that Rachel is her roommate at Clarion's

I'm just going to assume that Rachel and Shel are best friends because I haven't been told otherwise.

#shel deserves better!#piper×shel #rachel #rachel elizabeth dare #percy jackson and the olympians

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crackinglamb · 6 months

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(This thing is too big to share my usual way now. I'm both laughing and crying)

An army had come to Skyhold. A red one.

As she watched, the portcullis dropped with a distant clang and the drawbridge that connected Skyhold to the mountain trail began to lift. The clarion warning was cut off in a flurry of arrows and magic as the mass advanced onto the bridge, but it had been enough to do its job. They were sealed in. Unless Corypheus himself showed up with his dragon, they could outlast a siege. Granted, she didn’t think they would get that lucky. He was coming. She had no doubt of it.

She didn’t bother to stare, but went back into her room to don her armor and grab her bow. She cursed the number of stairs she had to go down just to reach the Great Hall, but managed them without tripping in her haste. Bull and Dorian were already waiting for her, armed and ready. Battle plans would come, but first things first.

“Get the civilians below. Into the old ballroom. Solas can direct them to safe places from there. There’s a ton of passages and ways to escape. He knows them all.”

“On it, Boss,” Bull said, taking off at a dead run. He could move astonishingly fast when he wanted to, and few would dare get in his way when he did.

“D, you and Vivienne see how many mages are in the tower that are battle ready. I would assume there’s Venatori out there.”

“Yes. It’s Haven all over again, isn’t it?”

“Hopefully not.”

DAFF Crew Tags

@warpedlegacy, @rakshadow, @rosella-writes, @effelants, @bluewren, @breninarthur, @ar-lath-ma-cully, @dreadfutures, @ir0n-angel, @theluckywizard, @nirikeehan, @oxygenforthewicked, @exalted-dawn-drabbles, @mogwaei, @melisusthewee, @blarrghe, @agentkatie

#Lamb writes #dragon age inquisition #solas x ofc #what a wicked game to play #imogen mclean #dorian pavus #the iron bull #dagna #solas #it's almost over 😭#welcome to the final three

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neverqueen · 8 months

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i still think minister and queen talent are rly stupid like lmao welcome to the world your skills are PROJECT MANAGEMENT!

so i did put a lot of thought into what the minister's and clarion's talents and therefore names would be before they were chosen, which makes ao3's non-canon names for them rly annoying.

but the more i think about it do we ever actually see them use any seasonal or talent based abilities ????

i honestly can't remember and maybeeee that would be a good hint (for me with how i view things) for what their original talents would be or if maybe there's some process that opens them up to more talents.

we have ppl like fairy mary who supervise specific talents which does sorta imply the ministers aren't talent-related, and all talents can contribute to all seasons in some way so it's not like... THAT limited for who can rise to what.

but then i guess maybe a minister or queen not having any talent would make sense because their job isn't to have a talent and be biased toward one etc but to oversee.

that's just rly lame imo! like i would be pissed if i was surrounded by all these cool powers and my job is just to oversee it without ever experiencing it for myself--i mean we saw tinkerbell's feelings on that before she started appreciating being a tinker. i just think having talents as well really helps them know what it's like first hand to prepare for a season too which then makes them better ministers.

maybe you lose your talent when you become a minister or queen actually? now that would be cool! sacrifice your talent AND your community and culture for the greater good of changing the seasons! i'd love that!

and it would do away with the whole.... weirdness of minster and queen being a "talent", even though i do think there's something interesting there too. like there can only be so many at a time, so if a new one is born the old one's got a death sentence started, or one may die without one to replace them in time etc. i just prefer something different usually.

#og #just rambling but basically!! anyone remember if we ever saw one of the ministers using any abilities like this?#i know collectively they all had like 10 minutes of screentime and i dont remember anything from the games so i'm guessinggg not

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bloodlrust · 28 days

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I wrote fanfic for the first time in years be nice to me. Link above but I'll section it off here too idk how people do it nowadays.

"Valentine tries to enjoy some alone time soon after finding Eddie Winter and coming to peace with himself, Hancock wants to chat up an old friend."

Valentine sat lounged in his cabin, feet upon an ottoman with a cigarette in between the metal digits of his right hand.

He swirls room temperature whiskey in his unimpaired hand, taking as deep a breath a man without lungs can.

It’s Nick’s first night in the room Sole had made for him in Sunshine Tidings co-op.

He remembers helping them clear out the ferals that inhabited the quaint shacks, and how excited Sole was, going on and on about the potential of this new settlement.

It took a couple weeks before Nick got an invitation to try out his new room, Sole had set it up with a bed, an office, and a reading nook with an ashtray and a small liquor cabinet closeby.

It’s everything the synth could want out of a home.

A cozy place far from his home in Diamond City to relax, away from the city noise where he can relax in complete quiet, other than the radio in the corner quietly playing Nat King Cole among others, a radio station Sole curated just for Valentine.

It took some convincing, Valentine was all about his work, he’d work himself to death if he could.

He’s told Ellie back at home can tune into his radio if he’s ever needed.

A part of him believes they just told him that to agree to take a break for once, even Ellie was begging him to go.

Still, through the back of his mind are all of the people of the Commonwealth who might need his help.

He reminds himself he doesn’t need to earn the right to live in the human world, and even if he did he’s done enough for several lifetimes.

“You can’t save everyone!” The voice of Ellie and Sole pleading in unison taunts him.

“Fine.” He thought.

“A break couldn’t hurt…Too much.”

At least he gets some peace and quiet, some alone time, a moment just to himself for the first time in perhaps years.

A soft crunching sound snaps Nick out of his headspace, he realizes he let his cigarette go out.

He puts down his drink and looks out the window, more crunchy pitter patters as he sees someone just barely leave his sight.

They seemed to be leaving so he brushes it off as a passing traveler, the co-op is rigged with turrets if a threat is detected so there isn’t much to worry about anyway.

He thumbs his gun closer just in case but shrugs it off and opens a book, back to relaxing.

Valentine smirks, zoning into the music playing softly and his book.

Some time off isn’t too bad afterall.

Nick feels a cool breeze on his neck, is there a draft?

He turns to the window to see it wide open, and a peculiar ghoul resting his head in his arms on the sill.

“Hey, Valentine.”

Nick groans.

“Hancock.”

Nick was a little perturbed he didn’t notice Hancock opening the window, they’re not exactly quiet. Is he getting rusty? Did he really let his guard down that much?

Maybe Hancock was just that good.

“You’re not just gonna ignore me, right?”

His raspy, clarion voice begged teasingly.

Every time Hancock spoke to Valentine he acted like they were old friends.

That might not be wrong per se but Valentine tried to keep their relationship strictly business.

It’s not that Nick dislikes Hancock, no.

They see eye to eye on most matters.

Where Hancock sees Nick as prude, he sees Hancock as reckless, and doesn’t support the lackluster laws in Goodneighbor or the ghoul’s habits.

But anytime Valentine has come into town for something he’s been nothing but kind and helpful.

“You keep zoning out, ya know?”

Nick blinks and looks up, giving him a weak smirk before slamming the window in his face.

He stands up to get another pack of cigarettes to replace the last one he carelessly let burn out.

“No. No distractions, I’m having ‘me-time’ or whatever they called it.” Nick mutters under his breath.

Nick hears a quick thud followed by squeaking, then shuffling, then a much heavier thud. His shoulders tense up.

Without turning around Valentine sighs.

“You’ve resorted to breaking and entering?”

Hancock giggles. “Yeah well it's not like any of the doors lock around here.”

It’s probably easier to entertain him than to argue with him to leave, isn’t it?

Nick turns around, just having lit a cigarette. He sees Hancock holding his knife and a decent chunk out of the windowsill he used to shimmy it open.

“There’s always going to be a draft now.”

Hancock tilts his head. “This is a shoddy wasteland shack, it’s not exactly air tight, Nicky.”

Valentine scoffs at the nickname.

An awkward silence shrouds the room as Valentine takes a long drag from his cigarette.

“Can I have a hit?” Hancock asks, breaking the silence.

“No.” Valentine says firmly.

Hancock watches the smoke enter Nick from the hole in his face, as he breathes in it gets sucked down into his neck, which is partially exposed from more wear and tear in his silicone skin.

Nearly half of the smoke Nick takes in is lost through the various holes in his body, Hancock twinges in envy.

"So, why do you get to smoke, but get angry when I do chems?"

Nick jolts in a way that almost looks like coughing, but they both know that isn’t possible.

He walks over to his liquor cabinet and pours a second drink.

“Because. You have lungs.”

He turns and plants a filled rocks glass in Hancock’s hands.

“I don’t.”

Hancock smirks and smells the whiskey.

“Why are you here? I assume Sole made you a cabin, too? Should’ve guessed…”

Hancock walks over and turns the radio up a bit, wiggling his hips to the beat.

“Well I got bored with talking with tin can pinko over there, thought I’d go talk to another one.”

Nick smirks, Professor Goodfeels was a weird one. The original Nick Valentine would be opposed to being called that word, yet after everything Nick has seen in the wasteland, there are worse things to be.

“I suppose I'm supposed to be flattered by that?”

Nick clenches his fist, has he said a single nice thing to Hancock yet?

“Sorry, I'm just not really sure how to relax right now. I’m a bit on edge.”

Hancock sets down the glass and approaches Nick, putting his hands on his shoulders.

A soft click goes off as Nick hears what sounds like a woman’s voice come from Hancock.

“There’s nothing wrong with taking a break once in a while, Nicky.”

“Jenny?”

Not just any woman.

Nick sees tears in his eyes despite not feeling any on his face, he can’t cry anymore after all.

He blinks and sees her holding him, looking worried but lovingly into his eyes.

It smells like bread and meat, his old favorite diner. He gets a pit in his stomach, he knows what will happen here.

“Are you okay, Nick?”

Nick involuntarily puts his hand on her face, does he miss her?

Nick shakes his head and looks up again. His right hand is planted on Hancock’s face, who looks confused.

“Oh.”

Hancock gently grabs Nick’s metal hand and takes it off his face.

“Another of Valentine’s memories?”

Anyone who’s known Nick long enough knows this happens from time to time. Not often to this intensity.

“Yeah… I guess what you said reminded me of Valentine’s– Anyway.”

Hancock found it amusing how Nick used his name to refer to himself and his prewar counterpart respectively, in fact it reminded him of himself, might be why he likes him so much, even if he is a bit of a square for his tastes.

“I wasn't aware we were that close.”

Nick appreciates Hancock’s attempt to humor him even in his dissociative state.

“I don’t think so, John.”

Hancock gasps.

“The hell you call me?”

Nick laughs.

“There’s another name I could call you if I really wanted to piss you off.”

Hancock’s eye twitches.

“You wouldn’t.”

“McDonough.”

Hancock sighs almost relieved before bursting into hysterical laughter.

Nick chuckles along. “What? You thought I’d-”

“Holy shit, I’m not even high. That’s so damn funny.”

Nick sits and finishes the whiskey he’d been neglecting, Hancock does the same with his full glass.

“Phew. You and me… we’re so similar you know that, right?”

Nick cocks his eye.

“How so, Hancock?”

Hancock wipes his face and stands up wildly.

“Think about it. I lose my humanity and in a desperate attempt to find meaning I adopt the guise of some long dead guy, and now I’m just some sort of in-between of myself and this founding father bastard!”

Nick smirks weakly before giving a contemplative stare.

“Tell me you don’t see the resemblance.”

Hancock sits on the arm of Nick’s chair and wraps his arm around him.

“I know we don’t have perfect ideals, but we have an awful lot in common. We both would do anything for the people. We’re people persons! And we're not even people in the same way other people are!”

Nick tries and fails to stifle his giggling.

“What the hell are you on about, Hancock? That whiskey didn’t pass through you that fast, did it?”

“Made you smile though, didn’t I?”

“I suppose so.”

Valentine pokes at Hancock, urging him off the chair. “You never answered my question earlier, why are you here?”

Hancock jumps on Nick’s bed and rests his arms behind his head, crossing his legs at the ankle.

“Yeah, Sole made me a little cabin, too. You wouldn’t like it there, though. It’s perfect for me heh.”

Nick rolls his eyes, assuming it's chock-full of chems and other vices of Hancock’s.

He looks outside, a lot more time has passed with company than without, curious.

Alone time was nice but he kept getting in his own head, not that he isn’t doing it even with Hancock’s company, maybe what he needs is somebody to distract him.

Is he doing it again?

“You’ve been doing this all day Valentine, you feelin’ alright?”

Nick shakes his head and looks over at Hancock lounging on his bed.

“Yeah…Just feeling a bit existential. After the whole Eddie Winter thing I’ve had an influx of Nick’s old memories. It’s just odd since I've made peace with myself, I don’t know how to feel about them anymore.”

Hancock gives a sympathetic smile.

“I threw myself into work after we dealt with him, so much so Ellie and Sole begged me to take a break and well, here I am.”

Hancock stretches his neck and unclenches his jaw.

“Yeah, I’m in a similar situation if you’d believe it. Well, not nearly as heavy as your shit, I’ll say– but!”

Hancock stifled a giggle, sitting up to face Nick better.

“I thought it was about time I take a break from all the mayoral B.S., even Fahrenheit could tell I was getting antsy. I gotta say, getting out to stretch my legs has been great for me so far.”

Nick smiles weakly.

“And, hey, I know I kinda just barged in here and demanded attention like a needy cat and all, but I’d understand if you’d rather have your alone time while you’re here.”

Nick looks outside and laughs. “How about we call it a night for now?”

Hancock frowns, and stands up. He puts on a weak smile when Nick turns around again.

“I’ll see you tomorrow though.”

Hancock’s face gleams, Nick can tell how much their talk meant to him, for whatever reason.

“And Hancock?”

“Yes?”

“Please take the door.”

“Ha! Got it, Nick. See you tomorrow.”

Hancock dances to the door in the beat of the music Nick completely forgot was playing. He gently opens and peeks his head out the other side making a silly face at Nick before closing it for good.

Nick smiles and picks up the book he was reading before being interrupted. Some light reading before bed wouldn’t hurt.

#fanfic #fallout 4 #fallout fanfic #valencock #this might have been inspired by that fanart i reblogged i loved that so much #nothing very romantic happens here its more slowburn that i may or may not add more to this storyline #Hancock is implied transmasc #nick valentine #john hancock

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screamingforyears · 4 months

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IN A MINUTE: // A POST_PUNK_ISH EXPRESS…

“THE TOP” is the lead single from @clarion_void’s forthcoming LP titled ‘Failure In Repetition’ (3/1 @lostfuturerecords) & it finds the Colorado Springs-based quartet of Greg Mullenax (guitar/vocals), Bryan Webb (bass), Evan Courtland (guitar) & James Ivy (drums) keeping their “core intact” across 4+ mins of gauzily hazed, post_metaling & blissfully blackened Doom.

@dontgetlemontx are back w/ “SAY SOMETHING NEW FOR ONCE,” the tasty official lead single from their forthcoming LP titled ‘Have Some Shame’ (4/23 @alacarterecords_@summerdarlingtapes) & it finds the Austin-based lads bringing the moody sass across 3 ½ mins of glammed up, alt_dancing & disco-lite NüWave.

“CAUSTIC CROSS” is the new single/lead track from @publiccircuitband’s forthcoming LP titled ‘Lamb’ (3/8 @alacarterecords_) & it finds the Brooklyn-based project finding that “indomitable will to live” across a sub 4 min slice of darkly waving, deliciously danceable & nü_romanticized SynthWave.

“ALL THE SAME” (@dominorecordco) is a brand new standalone single from @fatdogfatdogfatdog_ & it finds the South Londoners bringing that “It’s Fat Dog baby MUSIC TO GROW YOUR HAIRLINE BACK TO” vibe across a loaded 2:55 clip of beat driven, head bobbed & psychedelia plush’d ElectroShockPop.

#music #screamingforyears #songs #postpunk #indie #rock #goth #indierock #alternative #aesthetic #Bandcamp

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dustedmagazine · 2 months

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Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble — Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit (Spiritmuse)

Photo by Christopher Andrew

youtube

Celebrating 50 years of his Ethnic Heritage Ensemble bandleader, activist, educator and percussionist Kahil El’Zabar delves deeply into the music he has helped shape over his long career. Open Me is neither a valedictory nostalgia trip nor a lap of honor. Spanning spiritual and avant-garde jazz, African rhythms, soul blues and protest music, El’Zabar and his cohorts, trumpeter Corey Wilkes and baritone saxophonist Alex Harding, are joined by guests Ishmael Ali on cello and violinist James Sanders in collection of original tunes and finely wrought covers that look forward while linking the threads of El’Zabar’s musical legacy.

The quintet finds a devotional center to Miles Davis’ “All Blues”. El’Zabar plays on kalimba and bells, his hums and ululations a prayerful focus. The band play at a meditative pace with Wilkes pushing his tone through Davis’ modal calm into higher registers that evoke Don Cherry whilst Harding provides soulful counterpoint and a solo that carries the barest trace of Coltrane. Sanders’ short solo scratches then soars as if freeing itself from earthly concerns. “The Whole World in His Hands” feels reclaimed as El’Zabar lays down a rolling African beat and his vocal emphasizes the gospel blues root of the song. Behind, the horns and strings provide an intense group sound, with a call and response of short solos that mirror both church service and jam session. Their version of Eugene McDaniel’s “Compared To What” finds El’Zabar’s graveled vocal backed by Harding’s nimble baritone riff, a glorious clarion call from Wilkes and atmospheric flourishes from the strings. The spirit is to the fore, but this band also swings hard. “Hang Tuff” and McCoy Tyner’s “Passion Dance” are exuberant celebrations. The former graced by a dervish of a solo from Sanders and the latter played with all the power of a big band, the horns blasting the theme, El’Zabar all over his kit, the solos uniformly fiery.

From Lester Bowie, Anthony Braxton and Pharoah Sanders to David Murray to Tomeka Reid and Isaiah Collier, El’Zabar’s career spans generations of forward-thinking musicians. The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble is the longest running of his many musical projects and on Open Me, they produce a stirring mix of spirituality, groove and fire music. This is history very much alive and kicking.

Andrew Forell

#Kahil El’Zabar #ethnic heritage ensemble #open me a higher consciousness of sound and spirit #spiritmuse #andrew forell #albumreview #dusted magazine #Youtube #Corey Wilkes #Alex Harding #Ishmael Ali #James Sanders #Chicago #jazz

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