#help why are people actually campaigning for jimmy in the notes
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hi again. curious as to if you have any personal south park headcanons?? (or if youd like to possibly be friends 😐)
Of course we can be friends, all SP pals are welcomed!
I realised I’d never really sat down to think about these so this got long pretty quickly. Also, this is kind of all over the place and some of these are less headcanons and more things I like to think about.
KYLE
He’s pretty booksmart and likes to write short stories, which are closely guarded. He does share them with Stan and Ike, sometimes making them little characters in the stories.
Can play the violin. He learnt using online videos and mostly uses it to play meme songs and megalovania.
Sings really well but is ridiculously shy about it.
Makes PowerPoints for anyone who gets confused on certain subjects and sits through it with them.
Has naturally sharp teeth, nothing too dramatic but it’s fun to think about.
Learns a lot of languages in his free time and teaches Stan what he knows.
STAN
He’s dyslexic? I don’t know, it just seems like a fun thing to explore with him.
He’s really good with video editing software and likes to make stupid videos to laugh about.
Has sound knowledge on cars and can fix basic problems with them pretty easily.
Knows a lot about animals and really likes whales.
Uses open natural spaces to clear his head, often sitting in low tree branches.
Starts going on jogs to improve his stamina (which people call sprints because why does he have to move so fast?!?!).
KENNY
Is really good at skateboard tricks with his great balance.
Likes to do make-up for the girls and Karen, often getting tips from Bebe.
Takes freestyle dance classes and is pretty damn good at it.
Helps Karen make animal shelters for creatures in the area.
Everyone finds it easy to confide in Kenny.
CARTMAN
Eventually, people get fed up of him and leave him alone. He figures he has to be less of an asshole when even Butters cuts off contact.
He mellows out quite a bit and people often forget he’s listening until he chimes in with how much of an idiot they are.
When he puts his mind to it (which is rare) he’s really good at comforting people.
He makes really cool origami.
He starts spending a lot of time reading, favouring detective mysteries.
Keeps a diar- sorry journal to note down things he feels are important.
I like the idea that he and Clyde become step-brothers and he’s a passive but super protective brother!
BUTTERS
When he gets older, he comes out of his shell and is actually really daring (likes skydiving and paragliding).
He can hold his own in a fight, despite his small stature.
Likes that Kenny calls him Leo and other pet names.
Gives ridiculously great advice but only when directly asked for it.
Has a bit of a mean streak to him (from years of being around Cartman). Push him too far and he’ll bring up secrets he has no right to know about you.
He’s a vegetarian but not very strictly, more for the health benefits than anything else. If he wants bacon, he’ll eat bacon.
CRAIG
He doesn’t like people to know when he’s upset, playing the “don’t care” card hard. He’s not fooling anyone.
Makes DIY guinea pig playhouses with Tweek.
He’s a ridiculously good artist and sketches his friends when they’re all in one place.
When he laughs, like really laughs, it’s a godsend and ridiculously contagious.
When left alone with Stan, they have a pretty playful relationship. A bit of roughhousing and bonding over small things.
Runs a small D&D campaign with the guys. Mostly consists of “CLYDE! NO!” and “Those aren’t yours Tweek”.
TWEEK
He has a small garden and likes to grow fruit and veg to use when he’s cooking. Craig keeps eating all the tomatoes.
Can’t be beaten at chess. Not even Kyle can best him. He has fun trying though.
Is fantastic as a strategist for group games.
He always seems to know when something is up with one of the other guys.
Can draw in perfect calligraphy and having something to focus on calms his twitches.
TOKEN
Can drink you under the table. This man is a beast and holds liquor like a keg.
He sings when drunk and is known to hate Katy Perry songs but somehow knows all the words to them. Guess what people get him to sing when he’s fully out of it?
Rarely makes puns but, when he does, they’re golden.
He really likes cats. If he finds a stray, he brings it home and cleans them up before introducing them to the horde in his backyard, that he feeds every morning.
He likes to stay healthy, often going to the gym, so he’s pretty well-built.
CLYDE
He has ADHD. Sitting still for a long time is a pain and he often feels a ridiculous urge to go and do something and can’t focus until its done.
Has a feel-good aura that improves everyone’s mood. Him just sitting there puts a smile on people’s faces.
Contrary to what people think, he has incredibly witty comebacks, often leaving you dumbfounded.
He’s great at bringing Token out of his shell. “You’re allowed to be stupid with us dude!”
He was chubby in childhood but never really grew out of it. More grows into it.
JIMMY
He’s good at convincing people not to do the stupid thing that will get them into a lot of trouble.
He can speak Welsh. He likes the accent and has a lot of good jokes to tell with it.
If you insult him, you will receive a crutch to the face. You were warned.
He’s a gaming maestro and mains druids in the best possible way.
BEBE
Mistress of Mischief. (Her + Kenny and Clyde is an accident waiting to happen).
Will walk into your house, beeline for the kitchen and eat your food. Hellos come after.
If she sees you wearing a bad outfit she’ll give advice then bring you shopping for one that really shines on you.
She sings Broadway songs whilst cleaning. If you hear her belting out Waving Through a Window just put your head down and walk away.
Wanna ask her why she did that? Eyebrow Waggle™.
RED
She’s great at dagger throwing, with a dead steady aim.
I like the AUs where she’s Craig’s cousin. It seems fitting.
She really likes chemistry. DIY smoke bombs are her speciality.
She can stare someone out of a room. Not even glaring, just a discomforting gaze.
NICHOLE
If you need help, she’s there already and probably has a bag full of cookies.
She gets along really well with Clyde and finds it easy to find something to talk about (which is mostly just teasing Token).
She used to date Token but it became awkward and they broke up, both deciding it felt too much like dating a sibling.
You eat her Werther’s Originals, you taste her blade.
She lets Craig style and cut her hair. He has a whole set of hairstylist equipment but no one knows where he got it from or where he keeps it.
WENDY
She likes to have friendly debates with Kyle, loving the new information she learns from him.
Goes to peaceful protests with Stan.
She has the Disapproving Frown™ which stops all schemes in their tracks.
Often seen chasing Bebe around to prevent her ridiculous plans.
Has long conversations with Cartman (post behaviour fix) and they’re really close friends.
I’ll probably come up with more in the future but this is it for now! Thanks for the ask, it was really fun to think about all this.
I have more headcanons for ships and such but those’ll just be for when I’m asked about the ship specifically, don’t wanna make these long posts a regular thing.
#south park#kyle broflovski#stan marsh#kenny mccormick#eric cartman#butters stotch#craig tucker#tweek tweak#token black#clyde donovan#jimmy valmer#bebe stevens#sp red#south park red#nichole daniels#wendy testaburger#tokole#high-jew-elf-queen#ask#headcanons
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Note: This article is from 2016
Glorious sunshine, a Caribbean island and a never-ending supply of grisly murders.
With nearly eight million loyal viewers Death In Paradise has become one of TV’s biggest dramas - a phenomenon for BBC1. Yet star Danny John-Jules reveals the show nearly never made it onto television at all, after it took nearly five years for a channel to snap it up.
Danny’s convinced the reason for the delay was a very disturbing one.
“Believe me, there were nerves in high places,” reveals actor Danny, who has played one of the show’s leading characters, police officer Dwayne Myers, since the start.
“Even though the lead was a white guy it was a huge undertaking at the time to have so many black people on screen in a prime-time slot. It took five years of hard-selling to get a TV channel to commit to the show. Death in Paradise was a fine line to walk - a lot of money had to be put into it.”
It’s a big statement to make.
And obviously everyone else’s loss finally became the BBC’s gain.
But Danny - who also plays Cat in sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf - says that when it comes to race and entertainment, it’s only too obvious there’s still a problem. He’s a longtime friend of Idris Elba, whose Academy Awards snub for his role in Beasts of No Nation helped trigger the #OscarSoWhite campaign and a huge boycott of the February 28 ceremony. Danny, 55, agrees with the likes of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett that more needs to be done.
“If you put up photographs of who votes for the Oscar nominations you can maybe realise why they reach the decisions they do,” he says.
And he certainly has little time for Broadchurch actress Charlotte Rampling. She blasted the uproar over the lack of diversity in the Oscar nominations was “racist to white people.”
But Danny says: “At the end of the day someone like Charlotte Rampling is only ever going to be judged on her performance. Her race is never going to come into it. Change that to someone like Whoopi Goldberg, who has won an Oscar, and there’s a whole other element, either subconsciously or consciously, that can creep into a judges’ decision making. It follows pretty much across the board in business, it’s not something just based in the arts.”
Of course, things have been different with Death In Paradise.
After finally finding its home at the BBC, it’s remained one of its most successful dramas as people lap up the mix of an lighthearted detective mystery with the beautiful scenery of the Caribbean isle of Guadeloupe.
“Thursday night for millions of people has now become feet up on the reclining sofa, glass of wine and wait for Death in Paradise to begin,” reflects Danny. “I’ve been on telly for 26 years and its very rare you get old West Indian ladies coming up to you in Sainsbury’s approaching you saying ‘Oh, I can’t wait for the next episode! That has been the biggest achievement - the fact the show seems to work for everybody.”
The gruelling six-month long shooting schedule is not quite so idyllic. “You think it’s great being located out in the Caribbean, but there are a lot of casualties of war,” says Danny.
One of them was the show’s original lead star Ben Miller, also of Armstrong And Miller fame, who quit as Detective Inspector Richard Poole at the end of series two. But his replacement, My Family actor Kris Marshall proved an instant hit as lead detective DI Humphrey Goodman.
“It’s a tough gig, and for Ben, with his wife pregnant in the first series, the issue of schools, and the fact he didn’t deal with the heat very well... We had a lot of that. Lots of people not making it through their contracts. Kris Marshall had an absolute mountain to climb when he arrived to take over the role. But he’s done it. And you know what? The ratings went up.”
Danny, who grew up in Paddington, west London, says he has never been one to personally suffer from homesickness or fatigue - mainly because of his early days as a dancer on the variety circuit. “You were on £40 a week and you would be away for six months. I was in a show on the Isle of Wight, three months with Jimmy Tarbuck, three with Dicky Henderson. I saw Dicky the day his mum died. He got up in the morning, got the ferry to London, went to his mum’s funeral, and then was back on stage in the Isle of Wight that same night at 7pm. You look at people like him and you think you can’t just phone in with a bit of a tickle in your throat.”
Danny went on to be a dancer in the West End, including Starlight Express, and performed in Wham!’s The Edge of Heaven video and The Great Muppet Caper, before landing the part in Red Dwarf in 1988.
The show, co-starring Craig Charles and Chris Barrie, ran for 10 series until 1999, before making a highly-anticipated comeback first in 2009 and then properly last year.
The 12th series is due on screens this summer.
But despite being in two huge shows, Danny ensures he’s not away from his family for long - even flying out his fiancee Petula Langlais, and their two children Dante, 10, and Danae, 8, to Guadeloupe for six weeks during the filming of Death in Paradise. He and Petula have been together for 13 years, but have only recently got engaged.
“Most people would have been surprised if I had been with someone for 13 weeks, never mind 13 years,” he laughs. “People were talking actually - especially when I was dressing in PVC and wearing lots of make-up for shows!”
Now however he’s all about family - and Dante is already following in his footsteps as he appears in the programme himself. He was asked to do the guest role after producers saw him in Danny’s self-made short film Bucky - a tragic story of inner-city urban life seen through the eyes of a five year-old boy, co-starring James Bond actor Colin Salmon and EastEnders actress Mona Hammond.
“It was three days of filming, literally 9am to 9pm at night,” he says. “I don’t think I could have asked anyone else’s child to take part. Some of the Death in Paradise producers then saw it - and offered Dante a part.”
Grinning wide, Danny can’t hide his pride. And as he looks forward to his wedding and not one but two big shows on TV, he proves he really is the Cat that got the cream.
#death in paradise#dip interviews#danny john jules#this is from 2016 but i thought it was a good article to share#racism tw
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Vote for Anguish
The best hope is keeping people miserable. Everyone truly feels inspired while deciding if we'll change which arrogant doddering putz will fill a chair at state dinners. Those disturbingly enthusiastic about having a new old guy are desperate to frame the present one as the embodiment of everything they despise about a nation they want to rule. Social justice-themed policies create the bleakness adherents maintain is already here, which is a clever way to stay relevant.
We're so racist that we won't even accept that this country is as bigoted as us. Demonizing those who dare suggest America might be a great and good is how we get equality. The Fourth Reich is so bad that it apparently keeps those who loathe or fear it from fleeing. Bitching about a potential border wall is an odd habit for those who refuse to hop over the invisible line barrier.
A message is surely inspirational if it counts upon everything sucking. Liberals have to keep voters unhappy as a matter of policy. But they'll ameliorate your agony by making the country less like it is.
If class warfare warriors get one of their precious goals, they're forced to invent new indignities. Observers may note they're never happy, and not in the sense of continuing to pursue excellence. It's almost like their machinations don't help. At least their continual failures explain why they're so unhappy. I just wish they wouldn't take it out on the nation.
Trading in injustice means needing a product to sell. There's no wonder professional grievance mongers loathe business, as they think all peddlers are similarly scuzzy. Looking for the next victim to exploit means coming up with conclusions first, which doesn't seem very scientific. But waiting for facts means not getting to presume the officer was a racist sadist. Those who presume every hate crime claim must be true are too righteous for evidence.
It turns out the economy implodes when it's shut down for most of a year. Write that down in your phone notes. The shutdown virus hasn't quite made the economy healthy. Like with a baseball sprint to the World Series, the circumstances around employment in 2020 make it feel too odd to consider as anything but an exception. I hopeDemocratic governors are flubbing to make Donald Trump look bad and not actually trying to do well.
The world stopping to confuse a virus predator may possibly be extraordinary circumstances. Don't ask why the city looks like The Omega Man. Like everything else that ever goes wrong, it's surely the president's fault.
It's so 2020 to curse those forcing us to defend a singularly unpleasant executive. Don't make me explain why Donald freaking Trump isn't Patient Zero. Unsubstantiated criticism means he gets support for doing nothing, which makes it like every other infuriating break this most undeserving executive has ever received. Help the last person who deserves it by acting like black holes of irrational unfairness. Next, explain why an astrological term is racist.
Sometimes, lawyers have to make cases even if they're unconvincing. That challenging scenario also applies to the most despicable clients of all, namely politicians. Every party out of office needs to portray the country as if it's presently a toxic waste dump. I almost felt sorry for Walter Mondale attempting to portray Ronald Reagan as a failure, a feeling assuaged by knowing Jimmy Carter's vice president would have made the country as woeful as he thinks it already was.
Permanent teenagers seem just a bit too eager to loathe those who allow their material needs to be met. For people who hate cops, liberals sure spend a lot of time actively seeking distorted evidence that fits their prejudices. Such palpable contempt is not just for election purposes. You can tell they're not just announcing America is an apocalyptic hellhole to win elections by how they continue the habit while in office. They're too fervent to blame it on habit.
Claiming a country that sure seems free the most singularly awful place is a sign of gratitude. Those who don't appreciate it here do everything they can to confirm their regrettable policies. Barack Obama loathed the place where he felt entitled to be president so much that he ruined its economy while diminishing its standing. He screwed up intentionally, right?
Joe Biden learned the lesson along with his name this morning. As with his sort-of hopeful successor, the rather ordinary messiah hasn't done anything with his life other than proclaiming he'd do everything better. The embodiment of needless contempt was so busy explaining why the country sucked that he forgot to make it not so. He taught his vice president well.
America is a diabolical monster ruining the lives of everyone in and out of it. The monstrous wasteland might be tolerable if we imported enough socialism. Taking what belongs to others and giving it to others to whom it doesn't belong creates fairness. It also ends racism somehow.
Nothing the other side sucks is not an endorsement of Trump. It's only thing he has. He gets blamed even for the things he doesn't screw up. That doesn't mean everyone who notices he's occasionally hassled without cause must think he's super. Those loathing the incumbent are somehow drearier, which almost validates their baffling assertions.
When the only way you can avoid work is winning an election and the only way you can win an election is by telling voters their horrid lives are in frightening disarray, the campaign message may seem a bit less than inspirational. Don't worry, as everything will turn around once those who hate you and everything you like win. Revealing the solution would spoil the surprise.
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Once more into Milwaukee, old friends. That is said with true anticipation, as I’m looking forward to the Mid Winter Convention and also all of all the wonderful people who go to it and run it – including almost all of our Onyx Path Monday Meeting crew.
I also look forward to it with a tidal wave of nostalgia, as Milwaukee, and the Hilton where Mid Winter is held, was also where White Wolf booked our Gen-Con rooms and our parties in the years after Vampire first came out. So there’s a lot of overlay of memories as I walk (stagger) through the hotel and downtown.
Now, as to what we’re doing there now?
First, we’ll be officially announcing four projects that are on our plate this year at our Onyx Path Q&A Social on Friday. From there we’ll also talk about them on the Onyx Pathcast live from Mid Winter, and on our social media. So even if you miss the Q&A, and it’s been sold out for quite some time, keep and eye and an ear out (and maybe an arm, YA lit readers) and you’ll hear about them.
And like I mentioned last week, if you have any questions you want us to answer at the Q&A, send them in via the Comments section of this blog.
Dark Eras 2 art by Luis Sanz
Thursday features panels and seminars for folks wanting to get into or do better in the TTRPG creation biz, and we have a bunch of our folks helping out there; from Eddy Webb’s Developer Bootcamp, to Matt McElroy and myself sitting in on the Kickstarter tips session in the morning. There are freelancer panels with a bunch of our, well, freelancers, like Crystal Mazur and Danielle Lauzon, that are also happening throughout the con.
In fact, on Saturday, there’s a V5 Chicago By Night panel with Matthew and a host of writers from the project that should help illuminate the darkness. Not of a vampire’s soul, but of why Mike Hollywood wrote about particular Chicago landmarks – that sort of thing.
We’ve also got folks demoing and playtesting, with a few secret playtests being run, throughout the convention.
VtR2e Spilled Blood art by Andrea Payne
Let’s back it up, and I’ll talk about Wednesday, which is our all-day Onyx Path Summit where the Monday Meeting crew will be reviewing 2019 and looking towards the next couple of years.
Some of that is just stuff we have to do like budgeting, but the vast majority will be more process and project focused brainstorming.
Some of that will be to review the notes from the team that I’ve posted these last 3 weeks. We’ll look mostly at what we can improve, but we’ll definitely add in the good stuff we did all last year. And there is a lot of that last year. After all, we all need to remember the highs as we take a hard look at what could be done better.
So if you want us discussing your ideas for what we can do to sharpen our saws or new avenues to look into- please drop us a note in the Comments here. We’ll add your thoughts to the mix in the appropriate discussion. We intend to come out of this year’s Summit with strong directions for how to improve what we do while still moving forward with new projects and possibilities.
Last year, for example, one of our directions was to increase our Actual Play presence – and so we made decisions through the year that brought on more venues for that. Such as boosting our Twitch channel to the point where there’s at least one stream running a day and often more.
So, we’ll see what this year’s Summit brings us!
Meanwhile, (Blood) Cults of the (Bloody) Blood Gods (of Blood) for V5 continues to wow us on Kickstarter, and with more than a week left, we’re still going strong! We’ve passed the Chicago By Night KS in terms of number of backers and the pledge amount (in fact we’re just a hair from being 400% funded as I write this). Check out the raft of Cults of the Blood Gods vids and interviews happening just this last week in the Media section below!
Yugman’s Guide art by Shen Fei
New Years Resolutions from Onyx Path:
Here are the resolutions of our usual Monday Meeting cast of characters as we look out into 2020. Note that these are before our Summit this Wednesday, so some of them might refocus after that. Maybe not!
Dixie:
I’m going to revamp how I track and plan my projects so that things are less likely to be late or rushed. I’m also going to be more realistic about my workload and not let myself get overwhelmed because I thought I could do more than I reasonably could. It’s going to be a good year for projects!
Mirthful Mike:
My big one for 2020 is to work on my control issues… namely contracting more of the layout duties rather than trying to tackle 95% of them myself. This not only means bringing in at least one or two more designers, but also working with the devs on updating some of the tagging stuff that I’ve been manually tweaking over the years.
Matt:
I’m resolving to make better use out of the tools we have available for project management and team communications. We have a lot of projects in development and tools to make managing them easier, so I should be more effective using them.
LisaT:
I resolve to manage my time better on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
Ian:
Now that the core Trinity Continuum is out, I’m looking forward to being able to deliver upcoming supplements and game lines a lot faster. We were able to hit the ground running over December with a good handful of releases, and I’d like to keep up a lot of that momentum.
Eddy:
I resolve to clear up the clutter in my work process so I have more time to focus on projects. Being busy is a great problem to have, but it is still a problem if there’s a dozen different things that all need your attention.
Matthew:
I resolve to play and run more games outside my normal horror comfort zone! I want to expand my knowledge of rules and settings in 2020. While I love being the Vampire guy at Onyx Path, it would be fantastic to confidently take on more fantasy and science fiction work, and for me, that requires running more D&D, Scion, and Trinity!
RichT:
Last year, I was able to do much more creative work as James Bell’s efforts as our Kickstarter Concierge really kicked in and I could step back from KS planning and execution: and it was great! For 2020, I resolve to continue pushing forward with more and more creative efforts, from continuing with the ongoing reviews of our projects as our fantastic creative teams pitch and outline their ideas, to full read-throughs of finished PDFs, to expanding the unusual ideas that help define our projects and game worlds.
For example, I feel like I was able to add some fun to the TC: Aberrant KS with the lead-in webcomic, and with some of the character-based design elements for the book, and I think we can run with similar things for our other books. Maybe it’s time for us to come up with a new Deluxe book idea, to play around with some fun packaging that evokes the project specifically.
There’s a lot to look forward to with so many fantastic games to work on, and we’re all excited to be creating our:
Many Worlds, One Path!
BLURBS!
Kickstarter!
V5 Cults of the Blood Gods has passed $119,000 and 2010 backers, and has trumpeted forward passing through Stretch Goal after Stretch Goal right into the new year!
Onyx Path Media!
This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast is a live broadcast from the MidWinter Convention in Milwaukee! Check it out direct on Podbean, or your favorite podcast venue! https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/
We continue on the V5 Cults of the Blood Gods train this week, starting with an interview between 307 RPG Podcast and one of the book’s co-writers, Jacob Burgess: https://307rpg.com/?p=128
Podcast 67 – Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: the Masquerade) with writer Jacob Burgess
Strange Adventures provides coverage of the Hecata from V5 Cults of the Blood Gods right here: https://youtu.be/TcXwmrLlEPk
Noted Vampire YouTuber Outstar has made her own fantastic video covering V5 Cults of the Blood Gods right here, and it’s worth checking out: https://youtu.be/_oUk-doDepo
Red Moon Roleplaying continue their actual play of The Family, a V5 Cults of the Blood Gods story involving Matthew Dawkins, Klara Herbol, Bianca Savazzi, and Jason Carl, with episode three right here: https://youtu.be/TcH3RZO3Z7s
Our Twitch channel continues with its streams of superb content, including Aberrant, Scarred Lands, Changeling: The Lost, Changeling: The Dreaming, Mage: The Awakening, and Vampire: The Masquerade!
Follow us on twitch.tv/theonyxpath to watch us live or catch up by subscribing!
Likewise, continue to tune in to us on YouTube for actual plays of Changeling: The Lost, Pugmire, Vampire: The Masquerade, and much much more!
Subscribe to us on youtube.com/user/theonyxpath
And the Gentleman Gamer, Matthew Dawkins, continues his Gentleman’s Guide to Scion over on his channel, youtube.com/user/clackclickbang
And here’s even more Occultists Anonymous actual plays of Mage: The Awakening for you!
Episode 70: What We Leave Behind
The cabal get breakfast with Shanna in order to get some first-hand information about the Mysterium caucus in Mexico. After the sun sets, they have an appointment with a ghost imprisoned in a bench.https://youtu.be/pE4n8Pfgml4
Episode 71: A New Oracle
The cabal checks in with Jimmy “Smalls” Patinko and arranges for a jailbreak for their friend out-of-time, Judd. The Leaf Theater Players take to the stage!https://youtu.be/ky8qO-OFP9g
The Story Told Podcast continue their Exalted actual play with episode 22 of the Fall of Jiara, their Dragon-Blooded story: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/fall-of-jiara-22
Blood on the Tamesis has published a fun video on playing a Lasombra using the resources in the soon-to-be released V5 Chicago by Night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utI8P5C0AJk&feature=youtu.be
Devil’s Luck Gaming continue their fantastic and epic Scarred Lands Pirates of the Bloodwater campaign over on their Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/DevilsLuckGaming
And back over to Red Moon Roleplaying to close us off with the penultimate episode of The Sacrifice for V5 Chicago by Night, run by Klara Herbol and including Matthew Dawkins as a player: https://youtu.be/9N29X-PWhsQ
Drop Matthew a message via the contact button on matthewdawkins.com if you have actual plays, reviews, or game overviews you want us to profile on the blog!
Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!
Electronic Gaming!
As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)
On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!
You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).
If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!
Our selection includes these latest fiction books:
Our Sales Partners!
We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire
We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game
Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost
Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!:
https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands
Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online
Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/
And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And NOW Scion Origin and Scion Hero are available to order!
Starting today, DTRPG and its affiliated Community Content sites begin the New Year, New Game sale! A huge number of our PDFs are on sale from all of our game worlds, as well as a Big Scion 2e Bundle with 4 PDFs being offered for $13! https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/299474/NYNG-Scion-2E-BUNDLE
As always, you can find Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!
On Sale This Week!
This Wednesday, we will be releasing the Advance PDF for Trinity Continuum: Aeon Ready Made Characters on DTRPG! We’ll also be releasing the C20 Novel, The Cup of Dreams, and the Tales of Good Dogs Pugmire fiction anthology in the Nook and Kindle stores!
Finally on Wednesday, we’ll be opening the Storypath Nexus Community Content site for Trinity Continuum projects with templates and art packs to get you started, and several projects already submitted to the site!
Conventions!
2020: Midwinter: January 9th – 12th, in Milwaukee, WI. Come see rare appearances by Onyx Path art director Mirthful Mike Chaney, Impish Ian Watson, and a rare US appearance by The Gentleman Gamer himself, Matthew Dawkins! Also, most of our Monday Meeting crew: Eddy Webb, Dixie Cochran, Matt McElroy, and RichT!
We’ll be holding panels, running games, making announcements of hitherto unannounced projects, recording the Onyx Pathcast, and holding down some seats in the Monarch Lounge!
Check out David Fuller’s Athens, Ohio Scion actual play tie-in adventure (soon to be coming to the Storypath Nexus community content site) that will be running at Midwinter. The event url is below:
https://tabletop.events/conventions/midwinter-gaming-convention-2020/schedule/402
And now, the new project status updates!
DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):
First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)
Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)
N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)
Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)
Duke Rollo fiction (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
TC: Aberrant Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
RUST (Scarred Lands)
Under Alien Suns (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
Redlines
Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)
Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)
Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)
Second Draft
M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)
Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)
Development
Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)
TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)
Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)
Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)
Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)
Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)
Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)
Manuscript Approval
Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)
Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)
Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)
One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)
Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)
Post-Approval Development
Scion LARP Rules (Scion)
Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)
Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)
Editing
Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)
Geist 2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)
Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)
Legendlore core book (Legendlore)
WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)
Mythical Denizens (Creatures of the World Bestiary) (Scion 2nd Edition)
Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)
Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad (Scarred Lands)
Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)
Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)
Buried Bones: Creating in the Realms of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)
Post-Editing Development
TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)
City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)
W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)
TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
Vigil Watch (Scarred Lands)
Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)
Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)
Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)
Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)
Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)
M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
Indexing
ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!
In Art Direction
Contagion Chronicle – Finals coming in.
Trinity Continuum: Aberrant
Hunter: The Vigil 2e
Ex3 Lunars – Art is in.
TCfBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers – LeBlanc working on finals.
Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed – Contracted. Already seeing sketches.
Cults of the Blood God (KS)
Mummy 2
City of the Towered Tombs
Let the Streets Run Red – Art notes and contracts finishing going out this week.
CtL Oak Ash and Thorn – Figuring out art notes.
Scion Mythical Denizens – Need sketches for fulls.
Deviant
Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad – Got some finals in.
Vigil Watch – Need one more artist.
Legendlore (KS)
Technocracy Reloaded (KS) – Got notes out to artists for halfs and splats.
Scion Companion – Working on art notes for that.
In Layout
Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds
Pirates of Pugmire – With Aileen.
Proofing
Dark Eras 2 – At WW for approval and they will be back after the New Year.
Trinity Continuum Aeon Jumpstart
They Came from Beneath the Sea!
VtR Spilled Blood – 2nd proof with dev.
Chicago Folio – Halfway through layout.
At Press
V5: Chicago – Shipping to the KS fulfillment shippers.
Geist 2e (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition) – Being printed.
Geist 2e Screen – Being printed.
DR:E – Being printed.
DRE Screen – Being printed.
DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties
Trinity Continuum: Aeon RMCs – Advance PDF going on sale on Wednesday.
Memento Mori – Gathering errata.
M20 Book of the Fallen – PoD proof on the way.
Trinity Continuum Storypath Nexus Community Content – Goes live on Weds.
Today’s Reason to Celebrate!
Late last week was my granddaughter’s one-year birthday! If she demolishes life as completely as she did her birthday cupcake – the kid’s gonna be alright.
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Men VS Women
Women have many faults
Men only have 2
Everything they say
And everything they do
RELATIONSHIPS: First, a man does not call a relationship a relationship - he refers to it as "that time when me and Suzie were boinking on a semi-regular basis."
When a relationship ends, a woman will cry and pour her heart out to her girlfriends, and she will write a poem titled "All Men Are Idiots." Then she will get on with her life.
A man has a little more trouble letting go. Six months after the breakup at 3 am early on a Sunday morning - he will call and say "I just wanted to let you know you ruined my life, and I'll never forgive you, and I hate you, and you're a total floozy. But I want you to know there's always a chance for us." This is known as the "I Hate You/I Love You" drunken phone call, that 99% of all men have made at least once. There are community colleges that offer courses to help men get over this need; alas these classes rarely prove effective.
SEX: Women prefer 30-45 minutes of foreplay.
Men prefer 30-45 seconds of foreplay. Men consider driving back to her place as part of the foreplay.
MATURITY: Women mature much faster than men. Most 17-year-old females can function as adults.
Most 17-year-old males are still trading baseball cards and giving each other wedgies after gym class. This is why high school romances rarely work out.
COMEDY: Let's say a small group of men and women are in a room, watching tele- vision, and an episode of "The Three Stooges" comes on. Immediately, the men will get very excited - they will laugh uproariously, and even try to imitate the actions of Curly, man's favorite Stooge.
The women will roll their eys, groan, and wait it out.
HANDWRITING: To their credit, men do not decorate their penmanship. They just chicken-scratch.
Women use scented, colored stationery and they dot their "i's" with circles and hearts. Women use ridiculously large loops in their "p's" and "g's." It is a royal pain to read a note from a woman. Even when she's dumping you, she'll put a smiley face at the end of the note.
BATHROOMS: A man has at most seven items in his bathroom - a toothbrush, toothpaste, shaving cream, razor, shampoo, a bar of soap, and a towel from the Holiday Inn.
The average number of items in a typical woman's bathroom is 437. A man would not be able to identify most of these items.
MAGAZINES: Men's magazines often feature pictures of naked women.
Women's magazines also feature pictures of naked women. This is because the female body is a beautiful work of art, while the male body is hairy and lumpy and should not be seen by the light of day.
GROCERIES: A woman makes a list of things she needs and then goes to the store and buys these things.
A man waits until the only items left in his fridge are half of a lemon, and something turning green. Then he goes grocery shopping. He buys everything that looks good. By the time he reaches the checkout counter, his cart is packed tighter than the Clampett's car on The Beverley Hillbillies. Of course, this will not stop him from going to the 10-items-or-less lane.
GOING OUT: When a man says he's ready to go out, it means he's ready to go out.
When a woman says she's ready to go out, it means that she WILL be ready to go out, as soon as she finds her other earring, finishes putting on her makeup...
SHOES: When preparing for work, a woman will put on a Mondi wool suit, and then slip into Reebok sneakers. She will carry her dress shoes in a plastic bag from Saks. When she arrives at work, she will put on her dress shoes. Five minutes later, she will kick them off because her feet are under her desk.
A man wears one pair of shoes for the entire day.
CATS: Women love cats.
Men say they love cats, but when women aren't looking, men kick cats.
MIRRORS: Men are vain; they will check themselves out in the mirror.
Women are ridiculous; they will check out their reflections in any shiny surface - mirrors, spoons, store windows, toasters, Joe Garagiola's head...
GARAGES: Women use garages to park their cars and to store their lawnmowers.
Men use garages for many things. They hang license plates in garages, they watch TV in garages, and they build useless wooden things in garages.
MOVIES: For women, their favorite movie scene is when Clark Gable kisses Vivien Leigh for the first time in "Gone With The Wind."
For men, it's when Jimmy Cagney shoves a grapefruit in Mae Clark's face in "Public Enemy."
JEWELRY: Women look nice when they wear jewelry.
A man can get away with wearing one ring, and that's it. Any more than that, and he will look like a lounge singer named Vic.
MENOPAUSE: When a woman reaches menopause, she goes through a variety of complicated emotional, psychological, and biological changes. The nature and degree of the changes varies with the individual.
Menopause in a man provokes a uniform reaction. He buys aviator glasses, a snazzy French cap, leather driving gloves, and goes shopping for an expensive foreign sports car.
THE TELEPHONE: Men see the telephone as a communications tool. They use the telephone to send short messages to other people.
A woman can visit her girlfriend for two weeks, and upon returning home, she will call the same friend and they will talk for three hours.
LOW BLOWS: Let's say a man and a woman are watching a boxing match on television, and one of the fighters is felled by a low blow.
The woman says, "Oh, gee, that must hurt."
The man doubles over and actually feels the pain.
DIRECTIONS: If a woman is out driving and she finds herself in unfamiliar surroundings, she will stop at a gas station and ask for directions.
Men consider this to be a sign of weakness. A man will never stop and ask for directions. Men will drive in a circle for hours, all the while saying things like, "Looks like I've found a new way to get there," and, "I know I'm in the neighborhood. I recognize that White Hen store."
ADMITTING MISTAKES: Women will sometimes admit making a mistake.
The last man who admitted that he was wrong was General George Custer.
RICHARD GERE: Women like Richard Gere because he is sexy in a dangerous way.
Men hate Richard Gere because he reminds them of that slick guy who works out at the health club and dates only married women.
DRESSING UP: A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the garbage, answer the phone, read a book, get the mail...
A man will dress up for: weddings and funerals.
NUDITY IN MOVIES: Every actress in the history of movies has had to do a nude scene. This is because every movie in the history of movies has been produced by men.
The only actor who has ever appeard nude in the movies is Richard Gere. This is another reason why men hate him.
DAVID LETTERMAN: Men think David Letterman is the funniest man on the face of the earth.
Women think he is a mean, semi-dorky guy who always has a bad haircut.
CAMERAS: Men take photography very seriously. They'll shell out $4000 for state- of-the-art equipment, and build darkrooms, and take photography classes.
Women purchase Kodak Insta-matics, and often produce better-looking shots.
POLITICS: Men love to talk about politics, but they often forget to do political things such as voting.
Women are very happy that another generation of Kennedys are growing up and getting into politics, because they will be able to campaign for them and cry on election night.
LOCKER ROOMS: In the locker room, men talk about three things: money, football, and women. They exaggerate about money, they don't know football nearly as well as they think they do, and they fabricate stories about women.
Women talk about one thing in the locker room - sex. Not in abstract terms, either. They're graphic and technical, and they *never* lie.
LAUNDRY: Women do laundry every couple of days.
A man will wear every article of clothing he owns, including his surgical pants that were hip about eight years ago, before he will do his laundry. When he is finally out of clothes, he will wear a dirty sweatshirt inside out, rent a U-Haul and take his mountain of clothes to the laundromat, and expect to meet a beautiful woman while he is there.
WEDDINGS: When reminiscing about weddings, women talk about the "ceremony."
Men talk about "the bachelor party."
GYM SOCKS: Men wear sensible socks. They wear standard white sweatsocks.
Women wear strange socks. They are cut way below the ankles, have pictures of clouds on them, and have a big fuzzy ball on the back.
TOYS: Little girls love to play with toys. Then, when they reach the age of 11 or 12, they lose interest.
Men never grow out of their obsession with toys. As they get older, their toys simply become more expensive and impractical. Examples of mens toys: miniature TV's, car phones, complicated juicers and blenders, graphic equalizers, small robots that serve cocktails on command, video games, and anything that blinks, beeps and requires at least six "D" batteries to operate.
PLANTS: A woman will ask a man to water her plants while she is on vacation.
The man will water the plants.
The woman returns five days later, to an apartment full of dead plants.
No one knows why this happens.
NICKNAMES: With the exception of female body-builders, who call each other names like "Ultimate Pecs" and "Big Turk," women eschew the use of nicknames. If Gloria, Suzanne, Deborah and Michelle get together for lunch, they will call each other Gloria, Suzanne, Deborah and Michelle.
But if Mike, Dave, and Jack go out for a brewski, they will affectionately refer to each other as Peckerhead, Scumbag, and Louse.
There are five things that women should never, ever ask a guy, according to an article in last April's issue of Sassy magazine.
The five questions are:
1 - "What are you thinking?"
2 - "Do you love me?"
3 - "Do I look fat?"
4 - "Do you think she is prettier than me?"
5 - "What would you do if I died?"
What makes these questions so bad is that every one is guaranteed to explode into a major argument and/or divorce if the man does not answer properly, which is to say dishonestly. For example:
1 - "What are you thinking?"
The proper answer to this question, of course is, "I'm sorry if I've been pensive, dear. I was just reflecting on what a warm, wonderful, caring, thoughtful, intelligent, beautiful woman you are and what a lucky guy I am to have met you." Obviously, this statement bears no resemblance whatsoever to what the guy was really thinking at the time, which was most likely one of five things:
a - Baseball
b - Football
c - How fat you are
d - How much prettier she is than you
e - How he would spend the insurance money if you died
According to the Sassy article, the best answer to this stupid question came from Al Bundy, of Married With Children, who was asked it by his wife, Peg. "If I wanted you to know," Al said, "I'd be talking instead of thinking."
The other questions also have only one right answer but many wrong answers:
2 - "Do you love me?"
The correct answer to this question is, "Yes." For those guys who feel the need to be more elaborate, you may answer, "Yes, dear." Wrong answers include:
a - I suppose so.
b - Would it make you feel better if I said yes?
c - That depends on what you mean by "love".
d - Does it matter?
e - Who, me?
3 - "Do I look fat?"
The correct male response to this question is to quickly, confidently, and emphatically state, "No, of course not" and then quickly leave the room. Wrong answers include:
a - I wouldn't call you fat, but I wouldn't call you thin either.
b - Compared to what?
c - A little extra weight looks good on you.
d - I've seen fatter.
e - Could you repeat the question? I was thinking about your insurance policy
4 - "Do you think she's prettier than me?"
The "she" in the question could be an ex-girlfriend, a passer-by you were staring at so hard that you almost caused a traffic accident or an actress in a movie you just saw. In any case, the correct response is, "No, you are much prettier." Wrong answers include:
a - Not prettier, just pretty in a different way.
b - I don't know how one goes about rating such things.
c - Yes, but I bet you have a better personality.
d - Only in the sense that she's younger and thinner.
e - Could you repeat the question? I was thinking about your insurance policy.
5 - "What would you do if I died?"
Correct answer: "Dearest love, in the event of your untimely demise, life would cease to have meaning for me and I would perforce hurl myself under the front tires of the first Domino's Pizza truck that came my way." This might be the stupidest question of the lot, as is illustrated by the following stupid exchange:
"Dear," said the wife. "What would you do if I died?"
"Why, dear, I would be extremely upset," said the husband. "Why do you ask such a question?"
"Would you remarry?" persevered the wife.
"No, of course not, dear" said the husband.
"Don't you like being married?" said the wife.
"Of course I do, dear" he said.
"Then why wouldn't you remarry?"
"Alright," said the husband, "I'd remarry."
"You would?" said the wife, looking vaguely hurt.
"Yes" said the husband.
"Would you sleep with her in our bed?" said the wife after a long pause.
"Well yes, I suppose I would." replied the husband.
"I see," said the wife indignantly. "And would you let her wear my old clothes?
"I suppose, if she wanted to" said the husband.
"Really," said the wife icily. "And would you take down the pictures of me and replace them with pictures of her?"
"Yes. I think that would be the correct thing to do."
"Is that so?" said the wife, leaping to her feet. "And I suppose you'd let her play with my golf clubs, too."
"Of course not, dear," said the husband. "She's left-handed..."
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via Politics – FiveThirtyEight
Republicans suffered a resounding defeat in the 2018 midterms. President Trump now faces investigations not only from special counsel Robert Mueller, but also from Democratic chairpersons who will be running committees in the House. Yet the president’s reaction to his increased political peril has been to invite more of it.
Trump needs the support of congressional Republicans to keep this threat at bay so he can execute his agenda and block any potential impeachment process. But his decision to remove U.S. troops from Syria irritated congressional Republicans. And that policy shift helped lead to the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who congressional Republicans really liked. The president needs to get support from voters outside of his base to win re-election, but Trump’s proposed border wall is unpopular and the public was not in favor of shutting down the government over the wall.
All of that raises a big question: Is the president in danger of a serious challenge for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination? Right now, I don’t think Trump has too much to worry about. But there are two scenarios in which a primary challenger against Trump would be more viable than they are now — and either or both of them could happen in 2019.
Before we get to that, however: Why isn’t Trump in much trouble now? The president is very popular among Republican voters. According to Gallup polling, 89 percent of self-identified Republican voters approve of Trump.1 That support from within the party is similar to the level President George W. Bush enjoyed at this stage in his first term,2 according to Gallup; it’s significantly better than Bill Clinton or Barack Obama’s standing at this point in their presidencies.3
How presidents’ parties viewed them two years in
Average presidential job approval rating among members of the president’s party in the last three polls of each president’s first midterm year
Year President Average job approval 1978 Jimmy Carter 62.3%
–
1982 Ronald Reagan 79.7
–
1990 George H.W. Bush 81.7
–
1994 Bill Clinton 72.7
–
2002 George W. Bush 92.3
–
2010 Barack Obama 81.3
–
2018 Donald Trump 88.7
–
Includes only polls that were completed before the end of that calendar year. Because poll timing is not on a consistent schedule, the last three polls of the year covers slightly different time periods for each president. For all presidents other than Trump, polls were conducted in November and December or just in December. Trump’s final three polls of the year were conducted between October and December.
Source: Gallup
None of Trump’s three immediate predecessors faced a serious primary challenge. And, so far, there aren’t any Republicans who are clearly set to challenge Trump, even as a long list of Democrats have either already announced their 2020 candidacies or are likely to do so very soon.
“There is no significant opposition to Trump in the Republican Party,” said Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the conservative-leaning Ethics and Public Policy Center and author of two recent books about Republican politics. (I talked to several Republican operatives for this story. None of them wanted to go the record, but off the record, they were fairly dismissive of the idea that Trump would be challenged in a primary.)
So how would a serious primary challenge to Trump emerge? First, I should note I am setting a fairly low bar here for a “serious” challenge: Pat Buchanan’s 1992 bid against George H.W. Bush. Buchanan’s challenge was nowhere near as strong as the ones launched by candidates like Ronald Reagan in 1976 (against Gerald Ford) or Ted Kennedy in 1980 (against Jimmy Carter), both of whom won nearly 40 percent of the delegates in those years’ primaries and caucuses. But while Buchanan did not win a single state, he did get 37 percent of the vote in New Hampshire and more than 25 percent in 11 other states, and, more importantly, he showed that there was some wariness about the incumbent president within his own party. So I’m defining a serious challenger as someone who could get at least 30 percent of the vote in one of the early primary states.
I think there are two clear paths that could produce a Trump primary challenger who’s at least as strong as Buchanan. Let’s walk down each.
Path 1: Events weaken Trump’s support
The most obvious path that could lead to a strong Trump challenger would be paved by some new development. For example, Trump could take a policy step that deeply offends a core part of the GOP base. If he picked a pro-abortion-rights nominee for the Supreme Court, for instance, he could alienate evangelical Christian conservatives, a huge bloc within the Republican Party and one that currently strongly supports Trump.
I don’t expect Trump to do this — he has largely stuck to conservative orthodoxy in his first two years in office. I do not consider removing troops from Syria or even Afghanistan (as the president is considering doing) to be moves that would cause an impasse between the GOP base and Trump. There is little evidence that GOP voters (as opposed to congressional Republicans) are bothered by those moves.
But although he has largely embraced mainstream Republican policies, Trump remains unpredictable, and for that reason I think it is possible, if very unlikely, that Trump could end up taking a step that annoys rank-and-file GOP voters.
Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 election and whether Trump benefited from Russian interference represents another potential event-driven shift. Right now, that investigation is doing Trump little harm. Polls show that while the majority of Democrats and independents view the inquiry as serious and justified, Republicans overwhelmingly say that it’s a politically motivated attack against the president. But if Mueller uncovers clear evidence that Trump personally supported Russian efforts to interfere in the election, for example, that could change opinion among Republican voters, or at least among powerful Republican elites.
Here’s perhaps the most important potential event that could inspire a primary challenge: a recession. A key argument of Trump and his allies has been that, whatever you think of the president’s personal behavior, the economy has boomed under his leadership. A recession would undermine that argument, particularly if Republican voters are convinced that Trump’s behavior (such as attacking the chairman of the Federal Reserve) or his policies (such as imposing new tariffs) are partly to blame for the economic downturn.
None of these events are all that likely, but I wouldn’t rule them out. And there’s always the possibility that some new scandal breaks or some other unknown unknown weakens Trump’s support. It’s happened before: For much of 1991, George H.W. Bush had sky-high approval ratings among Republicans.4 But the recession that started in 1990 and whose effects were still being felt in 1992 likely hurt the president. And Bush had broken with his party’s base — and broken a campaign promise — by signing a tax increase in 1990.
Path 2: People work to weaken Trump’s support
The second potential path that could produce a strong challenge to Trump is if the various blocs in the GOP who are unhappy with the president to come together and embrace an alternative.
The first reason this is even a remote possibility is that Trump’s staunch support among Republicans isn’t all that it seems. Some political scientists have concluded that a bloc of Trump detractors who were once Republicans are now describing themselves as independents. Pew Research Center data suggests that a big bloc of people under 30 in particular have left the Republican Party in the Trump era. If many Republicans who dislike Trump are removing themselves from the sample, that would boost his average among those who remain. So if calling yourself a Republican essentially means that you like Trump, of course Trump’s approval rating is very high among Republicans.
In addition, we are in an era of rising partisan polarization, where voters, more than ever, tell pollsters they love the president when he or she comes from their party but hate presidents from the other party. Gallup data suggests that Trump is more popular among Republicans than Ronald Reagan was at this stage of his presidency. I wasn’t covering politics in 1982, but I’m not actually sure Trump is more beloved among Republicans right now than Reagan was then. I wonder if the Trump approval data is just telling us that Republican voters are more loyal to their party now — and that they would be just as loyal to another Republican if he or she became the party’s nominee.
Third, Trump has some clear weak spots within the GOP coalition. Polls show Trump has less support among Republicans under 45, those who consider themselves liberal or moderate, women, those who live in suburban or urban areas, those who identify as independents but lean Republican, and those who are not evangelical.
Yes, those groups have considerable overlap. But the Republican Party is not as dominated by old white male evangelicals as the popular narrative suggests. According to Pew, only about one-third of people who identify with the Republican Party are white evangelical Christians. About 40 percent of Republicans and people who lean Republican are under age 50. These various pockets of Trump skepticism in the GOP could add up to a sizable bloc. And remember that in 2016, the non-Trump GOP vote, which included many people who belong to these same demographic groups, was split among a number of candidates. I doubt there will be more than one or two serious GOP alternatives to Trump in 2020, so if we saw a lone Republican contender, that person would likely be able to draw all or most of the anti-Trump vote to themselves, rather than splitting that potential coalition with other candidates.
“Trump’s base is largely confined to those who identify as ‘strong Republicans,’ and that means his base is weaker than it seems,” said Peter Enns, executive director of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University. A recent poll seems to confirm Enns’s perspective. PRRI asked a sample of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who they wanted to be the GOP nominee in 2020. Sixty-six percent said Trump, while 33 percent said another person. The fact that a third of the people who lean or identity as Republicans want someone other than Trump on the ballot in 2020 is significant, as it amounts to a considerable chunk of the party. And that 66 percent number is considerably lower than the percentage of self-identified Republicans who approve of the job Trump is doing, according to Gallup polls, which suggests that Trump’s support is concentrated among the most staunchly Republican voters.
Olsen was more skeptical, “There are places [in the GOP electorate] where he is weaker or stronger, but that is strong versus very strong,” he said.
Either way, Trump is still popular enough among Republicans that someone will have to beat him to get the nomination — he can’t be expected to just step aside. An alternative candidate would need to attract support from more than just the people who hate the president. But it could happen. Remember that Hillary Clinton was viewed favorably by about 90 percent of Democrats in June 2014, according to Gallup. She looked unbeatable. Then a viable alternative emerged (Bernie Sanders) and Clinton found herself in a competitive primary.
So who might this challenger be? The candidate probably needs to appeal to the groups I listed above where Trump’s support is weaker. So generally, even though Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton has taken some steps toward a presidential run, I don’t think current circumstances favor someone like Cotton, who mirrors Trump’s conservative stance on immigration issues. Instead, I would look for someone broadly to Trump’s left. Some names given to me by Republican strategists who would not go on the record include former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, departing Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney and U.S. Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Will Hurd of Texas.
If you’re reading that list and thinking that none of those people sound like particularly strong challengers to Trump, I agree with you. Barring some exciting alternative from out of nowhere, I think the real danger Trump faces in 2019 and 2020 is some kind of major event weakening his grip on the GOP combined with a strong challenger emerging.
At least right now, none of that seems particularly likely. And that’s good news for Trump. Maybe the primary challenge was an effect, not a cause, but Ford, Carter and George H.W. Bush all lost in the general election after fending off intra-party rivals. Clinton, Obama and George W. Bush all avoided primary challenges and won second terms. If no Republican runs against Trump over the next year, we should interpret that as a positive sign for Trump’s re-election chances — it probably means the party thinks he can win the general election in 2020, and also that it isn’t too annoyed with him. And if Trump avoids facing a challenger, that could also keep the GOP unified and make it easier for him to win.
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How Many Presidents Have The Republicans Tried To Impeach
New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/how-many-presidents-have-the-republicans-tried-to-impeach/
How Many Presidents Have The Republicans Tried To Impeach
The Trump Administrations Treatment Of Immigration Exclusively As A Criminal And National Security Matter Is Inhumane Impractical And Must End The Bernie Sanders Campaign Wrote As President Bernie Sanders Would Make Undocumented Immigration A Civil Matter And Fundamentally Reform The Government Agencies Tasked With Enforcing Immigration Law In A Way That Views Immigration As A Historically Valued Process Thats Woven Into Our Countrys Fabric
Hey Bernie — those who are here by less than legal means are breaking the law. That is a criminal matter, not a civil one.
And, for the record, many of the terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks on our country had overstayed their visas and were in violation of our immigration laws, thus additionally making it a matter of national security.
But you probably already knew that. You just don’t care.
Sanders has released an immigration plan that would impose a moratorium on deportations, “break up” existing immigration enforcement agencies, grant full welfare access to non-legal immigrants and welcome a minimum of 50,000 “climate migrants” in the first year of a Sanders administration.
According to Fox News, the plan effectively establishes Sanders at the far left of the immigration debate, as he aims to energize a base that helped drive his 2016 primary campaign amid competition from other liberal candidates in the field this time around.
Bernies Dangerous Open Borders Agenda Would Incentivize Illegal Immigration And Continue The Flow Of Illegal Drugs And Criminals Into Our Country Spokesperson Michael Joyce Said Meanwhile President Trumps Steadfast Leadership On This Issue Has Resulted In A 63 Percent Decline In Illegal Immigrant Apprehensions Since May
Trump has previously indicated that he believes liberal immigration policies from his opponents will help him win in 2020.
When a number of Democrats raised their hands in June to a debate question about whether those not in the country legally should get health care, Trump declared it “the end of that race!”
While most of the Democratic nominees are pushing similar agendas on immigration, Joe Biden has not yet committed to the same level of reform.
Immigration Is Not A Threat To National Security His Plan Says It Is Long Past Time We Break Up The Department Of Homeland Security And Refocus Its Mission On Keeping Our Country Safe And Responding Effectively To Emergencies
Part of his plan disbands both Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection . Matters to do with deportation and enforcement would return to the Department of Justice, while customs matters would be sent to the Treasury and naturalization and citizenship to the State Department.
Instead, border enforcement would focus on “stemming the flow of firearms and drugs at ports of entry that have contributed to the opioid epidemic and stopping human trafficking.”
He would abolish measures such as DNA testing and facial recognition technology for immigration and border enforcement.
For those immigrants, legal or not, who are in the country, Sanders accelerates the call to include ALL in welfare programs and other government services such as health care. Under Sanders, everything is on the table for everyone in the country regardless of immigration status.
The things that Sanders wants to offer independent of immigration status: Medicare-for-all, College-for-all and free universal school meals .
Sanders is also pushing for Congress to pass Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Embrace Act, which opens all welfare programs to all immigrants, legal or not.
Sanders also wants to streamline legal immigration channels, reduce fees, and provide funding to unite immigrants who are stuck in backlogs.
The Republican National Committee on Thursday called the plan “dangerous.”
Devin Nunes Says Gop Majority In The House After 2022 Midterms Could Spell Trouble For New President As Fringe Conservatives Seek Retribution
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Related video: Sean Hannity attacks Trump’s ‘lacklustre, meandering’ impeachment defence
Republicans could face significant pressure to impeach Joe Biden should they win back a majority in the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections, California congressman Devin Nunes has warned.
Speaking to Fox News anchor Sean Hannity on Wednesday night, the Donald Trump loyalist suggested the GOP’s right-wing fringe could use any newfound power in Congress to push for a revenge impeachment against President Biden after his predecessor became the first commander-in-chief in American history to be impeached twice by the House.
“Republicans have a good chance of taking the House in 2022,” Mr Nunes said. “Now, if that happens, and let’s – for example, we don’t know what’s gonna happen to Hunter Biden’s laptop. We don’t know what’s gonna happen with the Durham investigation . But I could see the pressure would become great for us to actually have to impeach Biden.”
“Now look, I don’t want to do that, but you’re going to have people that are going to be saying that,” he added.
His allusion to the computer owned by the president’s son refers to a pre-election story popular among Trump supporters concerning the device being handed over by the owner of a Delaware repair shop to prominent Republican lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Interesting Fact Did You Know Democrats Have Tried To Impeach Every Republican President Since Eisenhower
The site had made the proclamation that the information delivered from the meme shared online was “Mostly False”, but when reading the rationale behind why they made such a claim revealed aspects that erred toward being more truthful. The Snopes article read:
What’s True
Articles of impeachment were introduced against five of the six Republican presidents who have served since President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
What’s False
Articles of impeachment were not introduced against President Gerald Ford; a handful of Democratic politicians filed articles of impeachment against President George H. W. Bush Sr. and President RonaldReagan but their efforts did not receive the backing of the entire Democratic party; and the impeachment efforts against President Richard Nixon received bipartisan support.
So, the infamous debunking website had claimed that this was a mostly false statement since that only five of the six Republican presidents had articles of impeachment brought towards them while in office.
Yet, the real kicker is that they failed to mention that Gerald Ford wasn’t even an elected president and had only stayed in office for slightly over two years.
The circumstances of Ford’s appointment were stemming from the Nixon’s fall from grace and his original vice president resigning over the disgrace of the Watergate scandal. With all the country had been through at that point, impeachment on the appointed president Ford would have been insufferable.
My Father Came To America As A Refugee Without A Nickel In His Pocket To Escape Widespread Anti
Sanders’ plan was written in conjunction with several immigrants who were shielded from deportation by former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
In the plan, he promises to extend legal status to those eligible under the DACA program, as well as to grant relief for their parents. He also promises to use executive authority to allow immigrants who have violated our laws by living in the U.S. for five or more years to stay “free from threat of deportation.”
Sanders wants to provide a “pathway to citizenship” via Congress for all undocumented immigrants living in America — which he says is currently around 11 million — and would ensure that “old or low-level contacts with the criminal justice system” do not prevent illegal immigrants from walking along that path.
As president, Sanders says he would also decriminalize illegal border crossings, instead making it a civil violation. He would also end detention for those without a violent crime conviction.
Upon being sworn in, a President Sanders would halt all deportations until there was a full audit of “current and past practices and policies.”
He would also end the Trump ‘Muslim travel ban,’ as well as other Trump policies such as the Migrant Protection Protocols and defunding of sanctuary cities.
They are called public defenders.
You mean, like the corruption, repression and poverty in Venezuela, caused by the very socialism he wants to bring to America?
Did You Know That Democrats Have Tried To Impeach Every Elected Republican President Since 1960
Threat title:Did You Know That Democrats Have Tried to Impeach EVERY Elected Republican President since 1960?Of course there was no Republican POTUS elected in 1960, because Kennedy was elected. Nor was there one in 1964 when LBJ was elected. 1968 did see a Republican POTUS when Nixon squeaked in, but no impeachment was introduced against him until after the 1972 re-election. And when it was, it was supported from every side. So here already the OP has padded his specious claim by twelve years. And counting. 1976, no Republican, Jimmy Carter elected. Finally in 1980 and 1984, Reagan the Republican elected and re-elected and Henry Gonzalez filed impeachment articles that went nowhere. OP has padded his dates by 27 years. In 1988 HW Bush was elected, Gonzalez again files article, again goes nowhere. 1992 and 1996 was Clinton, who did face impeachment but ruh-roh, he’s not a Republican. So apparently, somebody filed articles against Dubya.The Cliff’s Notes to cut the bullshit.SFX: sound of emptying balloon
“The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible”– Albert Einstein
Gop Sen Collins: Trump Incited An Insurrection To Prevent Peaceful Transfer Of Authority
From CNN’s Clare Foran
GOP Sen. Susan Collins, who was among the Republicans who voted to convict former President Trump, spoke on the Senate floor explaining her vote, saying Trump “incited an insurrection with the purpose of preventing that transfer of power from occurring.”
“Instead of preventing a dangerous situation, President Trump created one. Rather than defend the Constitutional transfer of power, he incited an insurrection with the purpose of preventing that transfer of power from occurring,” she said.
Collins said that Trump’s “actions to interfere with the peaceful transition of power – the hallmark of our Constitution and our American democracy – were an abuse of power and constitute grounds for conviction.”
“The record is clear that the President, President Trump abused his power, violated his oath to uphold the Constitution and tried almost every means in his power to prevent the peaceful transfer of authority to the newly elected President,” she said.
“My vote in this trial stems from my own oath and duty to defend the Constitution of the United States. The abuse of power and betrayal of his oath by President Trump meet the Constitutional standard of high crimes and misdemeanors and for those reasons, I voted to convict,” she said.
Most Senate Republicans Back Measure Saying Trump Impeachment Trial Is Unconstitutional
Dareh Gregorian
Senate Republicans voted Tuesday for a measure that would have declared the impeachment proceedings against former President Donald Trump unconstitutional because he is no longer in office.
The motion, by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was defeated by a vote of 55-45, showing that Democrats have an uphill climb to secure the 67 votes needed for a conviction. Among those who voted for the motion was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has said he is undecided whether to convict Trump and who worked on the trial calendar with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
McConnell, when he was majority leader, rebuffed Democrats’ efforts to hold the trial while Trump was in office.
Senators were sworn for Trump’s second impeachment trial earlier Tuesday, a day after House impeachment managers delivered to the Senate the article of impeachment accusing Trump of incitement of insurrection in the Capitol riot this month.
The senators were given the oath by Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the president pro tempore of the Democratic-controlled Senate.
“Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of Donald John Trump, former president of the United States, now pending, you will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and the laws, so help you God?” Leahy asked the assembled senators.
Leahy is presiding over the trial instead of Chief Justice John Roberts because Trump is a former president.
Stacey Plaskett Addresses Emotional Toll Of Seeing Black Women Used In Trump Defense
“Those 43 who voted to acquit the president did so because they were afraid of him, because they were more interested in party and in power than they were in our country and in duty to their Senate oath,” she added.
Plaskett said Trump “will be forever tarnished” by the impeachment.
“I think it leaves him for all history — our children and my grandchildren will see in history that this was the most despicable despot attempting to become a fascist ruler over a country that was founded in democracy,” she said.
President Biden said the attack on the Capitol “has reminded us that democracy is fragile.” Above, Biden speaks during a visit Thursday to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. Evan Vucci/APhide caption
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President Biden said the attack on the Capitol “has reminded us that democracy is fragile.” Above, Biden speaks during a visit Thursday to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.
President Biden responded to the Senate’s acquittal of Donald Trump on Saturday by reminding Americans that truth must be defended, saying the impeachment of the former president was a stark illustration of the danger posed to democracy by lies, misinformation and extremism.
And Biden said that although Trump was acquitted, his actions in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 insurrection were not “in dispute.”
New Report Suggests Most Scholars Are On The Other Side; Trial Could Start This Week
WASHINGTON—The political fate of President Trump, and any ambitions he might have for reclaiming the White House in 2024, could be settled by who wins a debate over whether a president can be convicted through the impeachment process after leaving office—a matter on which the U.S. Constitution is silent.
The House impeached Mr. Trump last Wednesday for “high crimes and misdemeanors” for conduct culminating with a speech exhorting thousands of his followers to march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol and “fight like hell” against congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
“Thus incited by President Trump, members of the crowd he had addressed…unlawfully breached and vandalized the Capitol, injured and killed law enforcement personnel, menaced Members of Congress, the Vice President, and Congressional personnel, and engaged in other violent, deadly, destructive, and seditious acts,” the impeachment resolution, which won support from 10 Republicans, alleges.
The Senate could take the next steps—trying Mr. Trump and voting on his guilt—as soon as this week. Conviction requires a two-thirds vote by senators present; assuming perfect attendance, 17 Republicans would need to join all 50 Democrats to find Mr. Trump guilty.
Trump Lawyer: His Call To Georgia Officials To ‘find’ Votes Was Taken Out Of Context
Trump’s lawyers largely sidestepped Trump’s false claims of election fraud. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked during the question-and-answer session: “Are the prosecutors right when they claim that Trump was telling a big lie, or in your judgment did Trump actually win the election?”
Trump lawyer Michael van der Veen shot back, “My judgment? Who asked that?”
“I did,” Sanders replied.
“My judgment is irrelevant,” van der Veen said.
“You represent the president of the United States!” Sanders yelled back before Sen. Patrick Leahy, the presiding officer, gaveled the chamber back to order.
Trump’s rhetoric about widespread fraud and a stolen election was false, dismissed by many courts stemming from dozens of lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign and allies across several key states.
After Speaking Out On Impeachment Herrera Beutler Heads Toward Clash With Her Party
“The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president,” he said, “and having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth.”
McConnell rebuked Trump for his actions after the insurrection as well.
“He did not do his job. He didn’t take steps so federal law could be faithfully executed and order restored,” he continued.
“No. Instead, according to public reports, he watched television happily — happily — as the chaos unfolded,” he said. “Even after it was clear to any reasonable observer that Vice President Pence was in serious danger.”
But McConnell said that the process of impeachment and conviction is a “limited tool” and that he believes Trump is not “constitutionally eligible for conviction.”
“The Constitution gives us a particular role. This body is not invited to act as the nation’s overarching moral tribunal,” he said.
He said that the text of the question of constitutionality is “legitimately ambiguous” and that he “respects” his colleagues for reaching either the conclusion to acquit or convict.
Seven Republicans broke ranks with their party in voting for a conviction.
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Michael van der Veen, defense lawyer for former President Donald Trump, gives closing arguments during Trump’s second impeachment trial on February 13, 2021.
Trump’s Defense Closes Its Case By Saying Impeachment Trial Is A ‘complete Charade’
Manager Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado rebutted the defense’s argument that Trump has been denied due process.
“We had a full presentation of evidence, adversarial presentations, motions. The president was invited to testify. He declined. The president was invited to provide exculpatory evidence. He declined. You can’t claim there’s no due process when you won’t participate in the process,” he said.
He noted that impeachment is separate and distinct from the criminal justice system.
“Why would the constitution include the impeachment power at all, if the criminal justice system serves as a suitable alternative once a President leaves office?” he asked. “It wouldn’t.”
Neguse also sought to address an allegation raised by defense attorneys, that the impeachment trial was rooted in hate. He turned to a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
“This trial is not born from hatred,” said Neguse. “Far from it. It’s born from love of country. Our country. Our desire to maintain it. Our desire to see America at its best.”
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On Saturday morning, senators voted to hear from Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler as a witness in the impeachment trial. Later, an agreement allowed a statement by her into the record without calling her.
The Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump won’t be hearing from witnesses after all.
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If Convicted Removal From Office Possible Disqualification From Government Service
If a president is acquitted by the Senate, the impeachment trial is over. But if he or she is found guilty, the Senate trial moves to the sentencing or “punishment” phase. The Constitution allows for two types of punishments for a president found guilty of an impeachable offense: “Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States.”
The first punishment, removal from office, is automatically enforced following a two-thirds guilty vote. But the second punishment, disqualification from holding any future government position, requires a separate Senate vote. In this case, only a simple majority is required to ban the impeached president from any future government office for life. That second vote has never been held since no president has been found guilty in the Senate trial.
Trump Lawyer: His Call To Georgia Officials To Find Votes Was Taken Out Of Context
Trump’s lawyers largely sidestepped Trump’s false claims of election fraud. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked during the question-and-answer session: “Are the prosecutors right when they claim that Trump was telling a big lie, or in your judgment did Trump actually win the election?”
Trump lawyer Michael van der Veen shot back, “My judgment? Who asked that?”
“I did,” Sanders replied.
“My judgment is irrelevant,” van der Veen said.
“You represent the president of the United States!” Sanders yelled back before Sen. Patrick Leahy, the presiding officer, gaveled the chamber back to order.
Trump’s rhetoric about widespread fraud and a stolen election was false, dismissed by many courts stemming from dozens of lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign and allies across several key states.
Mcconnell: Trump Is Practically And Morally Responsible For Provoking Capitol Riot
From CNN’s Adrienne Vogt
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called the Jan. 6 Capitol attack a “disgrace.”
“They did this because they had been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth. Because he was angry. He had lost an election. Former President Trump’s actions preceded the riot were a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty,” McConnell said.
“There’s no question — none — that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it. The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their President,” he added.
McConnell said there were “wild myths” about election fraud, but he said he defended Trump’s right to bring any complaints to the legal system.
“As I stood up and said clearly at that time, the election was settled. It was over. But that just really opened a new chapter of even wilder, wilder and more unfounded claims,” he said. “The leader of the free world cannot spend weeks thundering that shadowy forces are stealing our country and then feign surprise when people believe him and do reckless things.”
Trump “did not do his job” to end the Jan. 6 violence, McConnell said.
McConnell called the Trump defense team invoking Trump’s voters during the impeachment trial “as a human shield against criticism.”
Watch:
Democrats Use Video Of Capitol Attack To Remind Senators Of Purpose Of Impeachment
Senators were brought back to the day of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol when Tuesday’s Senate trial opened with a 13-minute video containing clips from that day, from the president’s exhortation at a rally near the White House that his followers should go to the Capitol to the ensuing attack.
The video included footage of rioters breaking windows and chanting “stop the steal” as they disrupted the process to certify the 2020 presidential election results, falsely believing Trump’s claims that President Joe Biden won due to widespread fraud.
Members of Congress were shown in the video being escorted out. One clip showed the moment a Capitol Police officer shot Ashli Babbitt, the 35-year-old woman who had joined the rioters trying to get into the House chamber.
The clips were followed by Trump’s words on social media, directing the rioters to “go home with love and in peace.”
“Senators, the president was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives on Jan. 13 for doing that. You ask what a high crime and misdemeanor is under our Constitution? That is a high crime and misdemeanor. If that’s not an impeachable offense, then there is no such thing,” said House impeachment prosecutor Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md.
“They don’t need to show you movies to show you that the riot happened here. We will stipulate that it happened, and you know all about it,” he said.
Stacey Plaskett: Trump Trial Needed ‘more Senators With Spines Not More Witnesses’
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and West Virginia GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito both cited constitutional concerns in their decision to vote to acquit Trump.
Virgin Islands House Del. Stacey Plaskett, another impeachment manager, told NPR’s Weekend Edition that they didn’t “reverse course” on witnesses but instead succeeded in adding Herrera Beutler’s statement describing a conversation between House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Trump as the attack was ongoing.
“I know that people have a lot of angst and they can’t believe that the Senate did what they did . But what we needed were senators, more senators with spines, not more witnesses,” Plaskett said.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a close ally of President Biden, reportedly urged House managers to relent on witnesses. He told ABC’s This Week on Sunday that spending “months fighting over witnesses” wouldn’t have been worth it.
“What the House managers needed wasn’t more witnesses or more evidence, what we all needed was more Republican courage,” he said. “This was the most bipartisan verdict in American history, a strong rebuke to President Trump, but frankly at the end of the day, the trial had reached its natural conclusion.”
Seven Republican senators voted to convict Trump, after 10 GOP House members voted to impeach Trump for inciting the mob that breached the U.S. Capitol.
Republican Who Wanted To Destroy Bill Clinton During 1998 Impeachment Has Regrets
A former Republican congressman who led the charge to impeach Bill Clinton in 1998 said he paid a visit to the former Democratic president a few years ago to ask forgiveness for his role in the affair.
“I hated Bill Clinton, wanted to destroy him, asked to be on Judiciary Committee so that I could impeach him,” said Bob Inglis, R-S.C., in an interview on “The Long Game,” a Yahoo News podcast.
Inglis visited Clinton a few years ago at the former president’s office in Harlem, he said, in what he described as a “very interesting” meeting. Inglis informed Clinton that he joined the Judiciary Committee as soon as he was elected to Congress in 1992, the same year Clinton was elected president, with the intent of impeaching him.
“I hated you so much that I wanted to impeach you,” Inglis told Clinton.
Clinton “sort of flinched,” Inglis said. “I said, ‘Yeah, I know you hadn’t done anything yet, but so much did I hate you.”
“I told him that it wasn’t good for my soul, it wasn’t good for the country, for me to have that level of animosity toward him,” Inglis said. “He didn’t say the words that you would hope to hear, which is, ‘You’re forgiven.’ But in every way he has expressed that to me. He’s been very kind to accept the apology for sure.”
Inglis left his seat in Congress in 1998, the same year the Republican-controlled House impeached Clinton, to run for the U.S. Senate. He narrowly lost to Democratic incumbent Sen. Fritz Hollings, who had held the seat since 1966.
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Has Trump failed Black Americans?
New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/has-trump-failed-black-americans/
Has Trump failed Black Americans?
By Rashawn Ray, Keon L. Gilbert “I have done more for Black Americans than anybody, except for the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln.” Donald Trump has repeatedly made this statement. However, many Black Americans have not viewed Trump’s first presidential term similarly. We cover some of the key concerns below. The Economy It is true that Black unemployment was at an all-time low in February 2020, before COVID-19. Yet, the Black unemployment rate under the Obama-Biden administration had one of the largest declines in American history following The Great Recession. Trump largely inherited a growing economy. However, when we look at the jobs picture, in addition to the unemployment rate, we are concerned about the quality of those jobs. Quality jobs pay living wages and benefits. Blacks still continue to be concentrated in lower sector jobs, which do not have adequate healthcare or paid sick leave and have disproportionately exposed them to COVID-19. For Black men, job prospects are even more limited. In addition to facing more barriers to work entry, the available jobs often do not provide enough money for them to provide financially for their families. For these men, the labor market has failed them. Thus, their unemployment is not factored into the rate. In fact, research notes that 1.5 million Black men are missing from social and economic life. Trump’s recent Platinum Plan claims to increase investments in Black communities by creating Black-small businesses and jobs. Despite the rapper Ice Cube’s contributions, for some it is too little, too late. The Pay Protection Plan (PPP) from the Small Business Administration left Black businesses out in the cold. Over 90% of Black-owned small businesses that applied for PPP funding were denied. This has led to over 40% of Black-owned small businesses being shuttered during COVID-19. These realities document a callousness towards Black business owners who already have difficulties securing loans for development, and if provided a loan, are more likely to be offered one at higher interest rates than similar white-owned businesses would obtain, thereby increasing their operating costs. If achieving racial equity were actually part of Trump’s agenda, the distribution of resources from the PPP would have explicitly included Black-and-other-minority-owned small businesses and would have allowed them to receive an equitable share. Implicit Bias Training During the first 2020 Presidential debate, Chris Wallace asked Trump, “Why did you end racial sensitivity training and do you believe there is systemic racism in this country?” Trump replied, “I ended it because it’s racist… a lot of people were complaining they were asked to do things that were absolutely insane. That it was a radical revolution… They were teaching people to hate our country.” Trump’s statements are ironic considering that hate crimes increased over 200% in places where he held a campaign rally in 2016. His language about “Liberate Michigan” and “Stand back and stand by” may have contributed to the kidnapping plots of Michigan and Virginia Governors. In addition to Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric, the recent ban on trainings using critical race theory and addressing white privilege are an admission that improving workplace culture is not part of a Trump administration. It is also a blatant denial of racial discrimination that has been protected under the law. All of the federal government needs these forms of training, starting with the White House. Criminal Justice Reform and Policing For many Black people, Trump’s law and order rhetoric and dismissal of the Movement for Black Lives unearths collective memories about his full-page advertisements in four New York newspapers including The New York Times, to crucify the now exonerated Central Park 5. In big, bold letters, Trump’s headline read: “Bring Back the Death Penalty. Bring Back our Police!” While it is true that Trump signed the First Step Act, a bipartisan bill originally introduced by Senator Cory Booker as the Next Step Act that seeks to decrease recidivism and prison population numbers by providing more vocational training and work opportunities for the formally incarcerated, the Administration’s Department of Justice has also taken steps which have undermined efforts to decrease racist and hostile encounters between Black and Brown Americans and law enforcement. The Trump administration has purposely halted consent decrees and Department of Justice police department investigations. As a point of reference, the Obama administration handed down the most consent decrees of any president. Judges and the Courts Blacks Americans should be aware of what may be Trump’s lasting legacy—his federal judge selections and his Supreme Court nominations. The demographics of the judges are telling. Trump has appointed the most Appeals Court judges since President Jimmy Carter. Not one of them is Black. With a strongly conservative set of judges, many of them will affect judicial outcomes for at least the next generation on topics of critical importance to Black Americans, including policing, sentencing, voting, healthcare, and racial equity. To highlight the impact of these judges, a recent panel, all appointed by Trump, blocked a lower court ruling and is allowing Texas Governor Greg Abbott to only have one mail-in ballot drop off box in each county in the state. If Trump was doing more for Black people, he would do all he could to ensure they have equitable access to vote. Voting Rights is a cornerstone civil right that Black communities fought to secure. There are millions of Black people who recall not being able to vote. Black people’s right to vote has not been protected and many will be potentially exposed to COVID-19 because of their distrust in the mail-in ballot process. COVID-19 and Affordable Healthcare This brings us to COVID-19. Simply put, the pandemic response by the Trump administration has been deadly. COVID-19 has disproportionately killed Black people at double the rate of Whites. However, it could have been different. When Trump took office, he dismantled the pandemic response unit created under the Obama-Biden administration. He also shut down the social and behavioral committee that helps inform the White House on how people embedded in social institutions like education, hospitals, prisons, grocery stores and restaurants, and neighborhoods might be disproportionately affected based on their urban or rural environments. These factors are the main reason why, to date, nearly 8 million Americans have contracted COVID-19 and nearly 220,000 have died. Trump claims there is no way these deaths could have been prevented. What we know is that the viral infections are both biologically and socially pathogenic as they follow pathways or vectors of inequity to attack the most vulnerable. Structural conditions determine the susceptibility and severity of acute and chronic conditions. In a global report on pandemic responses, the United States ranked 175th on healthcare access out of nearly 200 countries. Early on during the pandemic, Black people were six times more likely to be turned away from COVID-19 testing and treatment once at the hospital. In 2016, Trump asked Black Americans: “What do you have to lose?” This is such an infamous statement that rapper Meek Mill put it in the opening of his recent song. Well, what Black people have to lose are their lives as well as those of their loved ones if stuck with four more years of a Trump administration. Dr. Gilbert is currently an Associate Professor at the Saint Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice in the Department of Behavioral Science and Health Education . He is also co-director of the Institute for Healing Justice and Equity. His primary research interests seek to reduce health disparities through research and interventions that will prevent disease and promote healthy behaviors.
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All-American Boy chapter 2
Chapter 2
And I cast a spell over the west to make you think of me the same way I think of you.
-Fall Out Boy, Bang the Doldrums
Cas:
Trying his best not to wake the sleeping man, Cas and Gabe unloaded the plastic totes and put them in the corner of the room. Cas figured he could stack them on top of the wardrobe once they were empty. After everything was off the cart, Cas walked with Gabe to return it so another student could use it.
“Your roommate’s pretty dreamy,” Gabe commented, nonchalantly.
Gabe was the only person in the world, other than a handful of people he used to hang out with when he was with his ex, who knew he was gay.
Cas shrugged. “I’m not here to get laid, Gabe. I’m here to get an education. You know I want to be a vet someday. And Birchwood has a fantastic pre-veterinary program. I’m not gonna blow it over some crush.”
Gabe quirked an eyebrow at him. “You have a crush on him already?”
Cas scoffed. “No, of course not,” he lied. “I’m just saying. Even if it develops into a crush I’m not going to pursue anything. Besides, he’s probably straight.”
“What makes you say that?”
Cas shrugged. “Most guys are.”
Gabe put his hand on Cas’s shoulder. “Maybe he’ll surprise you,” he offered, squeezing reassuringly. “Hey, kiddo, I gotta get back to the office. You sure you’re gonna be okay?”
The ‘office’ was Gabriel’s candy store. Much to their mother’s dismay, Cas’s older brother used his business degree to open a candy store at Water Tower Place in Chicago. Apparently owning a sweet shop at a mall wasn’t ‘respectable’ and Gabriel became the family embarrassment… Well, after Castiel that was.
Of course, Alfie was still in middle school but had dreams of becoming a teacher. At a respectable Lutheran private school, of course. Anna was in seminary school, hoping to become a pastor, which was enough of a scandal in the Novak household since women were not permitted to become church leaders under the teachings of Marian Luther. Although, that was rapidly changing, many in Pontiac were still old fashioned like that. Nick was the vice president of a company called Roman Enterprises. At only thirty-two, he was the youngest VP in company history. Richard Roman, or Dick as he prefered to be called, was a complete and total monster. On top of screwing over the working and middle classes at every opportunity, he was also the biggest campaign contributor to Donald Trump in 2016. Hence, why Nick was called ‘Lucifer.’ It also helped that Nick and Dick rhymed.
Uriel bragged about the missions trips he took to India and how he was giving children there a ‘Bible based education.’ Every time he talked about how many children came to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, Cas couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Not only was the church erasing these children’s cultural gods, they also weren’t offering them a real education. One that would help them later in life. Cas desperately hoped his brother’s ministry cared just as much about what happened to these kids here on Earth as they did about their souls going to a supposed afterlife.
And finally, Zach was a movie director specializing in films of the spiritual nature. Currently, he was working on making yet another Karen Kingsbury novel into a two hour piece of tooth rotting garbage. Oh, how his mother loved those books. She was extra proud of her eldest son. She was especially drawn towards those who used their creative nature to ‘please the Lord’ hence why she was currently dating the music director of their church.
“If you want me to stay a couple more hours, grab some lunch, I can,” Gabe offered when Cas didn’t say anything.
“No,” Cas shook his head. “It’s a Saturday. I know you need to get back.” He hugged his brother, putting his chin on the shorter man’s head. “Thanks for all your help, Gabe.”
“No sweat, Cassie,” Gabe said, pulling back from the hug. “Just… Call me if you need anything, okay?”
“I will,” Cas promised.
Back in his room, Cas began unpacking the totes as quietly as possible. He put his clothes in the wardrobe/dresser and filled the desk with school supplies. He put his shower caddy near the door to the bathroom suite that was between their room and the room next door. At Norman, there was only four students to a bathroom. Each room also had a sink so that students wouldn’t take up the bathroom just to brush their teeth. It was much better than the bathrooms that were shared by the whole floor at Lawrence Complex. He put his extra toiletries, miscellaneous items, and snacks in the end table by the bed and made his twin XL. Why college beds were longer than standard, Cas would never understand. He sat down at the desk and opened his laptop but was distracted by the sun shining from the window to his right. If he could just put the desk on the wall near the door and move his wardrobe/dresser combo to where the desk was near the door to the restroom it would fix the problem.
Forgetting his roommate was still asleep he began pushing his desk towards its destination. It made a nails-on-a-chalkboard noise as it scraped across the ugly tile, and only then did Cas remember the gorgeous man sleeping in the next bed.
“Sorry,” Cas said with a wince. “I didn’t mean to wake you. I just… I prefer the desk over here, otherwise the sun is in my eyes and-”
“You must be Jimmy,” the boy said, sitting up. He stretched his arms above his head and Cas was once again rewarded with a flash of stomach. His mouth basically watered at the sight of defined, yet soft abs.
“Uh… Actually, I prefer to go by Cas,” he said, his mouth suddenly dry. He swallowed and tried to look away, but found he couldn’t.
“Cas? Is that a middle name or something?” the boy asked, staring at Cas as if he were appraising him.
“Yeah,” Cas answered, feeling shy. “It’s short for Castiel.”
The boy swung his legs over the edge of the bed, and stood up. “The name’s Dean,” he said, extending his hand for Cas to shake. Castiel shook his hand. It was callused and warm. “I take it you’re a freshman,” Dean said, gesturing towards the purple Boyd Hall lanyard Cas was wearing around his neck. “You guys all do that your first semester.”
Cas looked down at Dean’s jeans and noticed a Batman lanyard hanging out of his pocket. “I see you decided not to use the lanyard that came with our key,” he observed and Dean huffed a laugh.
“Nah, stopped doing that second semester last year. It kinda paints a target on your back as ‘fresh meat,’” he explained. “Buy your own lanyard, don’t wear it around your neck, and keep your keycard in your wallet instead of attached to your lanyard. It’s much less dorky when you take it out to pay for meals and stuff.”
“So the card that lets us into our hall is also our meal card?” Cas asked since Charlie hadn’t explained how the keycards worked yet. They were supposed to have a freshman meeting the following morning at ten.
Dean nodded. “Yep. It also gets us into Norman after midnight and doubles as a library card and laundry card if you have Bulldog Cash. Multi-purpose.” His roommate flashed him a charming smile and Cas almost swooned.
“Cool,” Cas said, removing his lanyard from around his neck and slipping it into his pocket as Dean had. “So are you a sophomore?”
“Yep. Engineering student. You?”
“Pre-vet,” Cas said and Dean nodded.
“I guess we’ll both be spending a lot of time in the science building then,” the man observed.
“I suppose. I… I took a tour when I got accepted but I don’t quite remember where everything’s at,” Cas admitted.
“Basically, everything down one of three streets. The main stretch, Michelangelo Boulevard, the one with the big-ass statue of the university's founders, is where most colleges are located, like the architecture building and Teachers’ College, as well as Birtch Library and a few other buildings. Lakeside Avenue and University Way are the other two main streets. But, uh, you’ll get the hang of it,” Dean explained, charming smile never leaving his lips.
Cas couldn’t help but look down at the man’s plush mouth, licking his own lips as he did so. “I suppose I will. I’m just nervous I guess,” Cas said, looking up to meet the man’s bright green eyes.
Dean nodded, eyes trailing down to Cas’s lips as well. Or was that just Cas’s imagination? “Yeah, it gets easier after the first week or two… There’s also the Quad. That’s where the science building and the museum are located. Near that giant-ass clock tower.”
“So, just go towards the tower and I’ll be fine?” Cas asked, still a bit nervous about finding his way to class on Monday.
Dean nodded. “Basically.” He looked at the alarm clock by his bed, making note of the time. “Oh shit is it two o’clock already? Lunch ends at three. Wanna get some with me…? Uh, that is if you haven’t already eaten.”
Cas shook his head. “No, I’ve been unpacking for a couple of hours. I completely lost track of time," he said sheepishly.
Dean looked around Cas’s side of the room. “Yeah, that side has less room because of the bathroom and the sink. Sorry about that… You need help moving your desk?”
Cas nodded and pointed towards the wardrobe combo. “I want to switch it with my wardrobe so I’m not distracted by the sun.”
“No problem,” Dean said, rolling up the sleeves of his flannel and offering him another one of those million dollar smiles.
Dean showed him the fare Norman Complex had to offer. There was a salad bar, a grill, a pan pizza oven, a sandwich station, a ‘southern comfort food’ area and a stir-fry station as well as a pastry station with enticing looking desserts. There was also an al-la-carte section where students could buy foods they could bring back to their rooms. Every eating area had one. You could also find toiletries in this area like shampoo and soap, and to Cas's surprise, condoms.
“I see they have lot of healthier options as well,” Cas said, getting in line for the stir-fry.
Dean nodded. “Yeah, between that, all the walking, and the recplex, it’s real easy to avoid the freshman fifteen if you want to… On the other hand, pie for every meal doesn’t exactly help that,” he said, looking longingly at the pastry station. “You get your fried veggies, I’m gonna go grab a burger,” Dean said, heading towards the grill.
Cas waited for his stir-fry, noting that the price took up almost all his allotted eight dollars, and got an iced tear from the soda station. He then went to pay for his food. Since he didn’t have his meal card yet, he used one of the cupons Charlie gave out in the welcome packet.
Meal paid for, he found Dean sitting in the middle of the cafeteria next to none none other than his RA and another boy Cas didn’t recognize.
Cas sat down next to Dean and smiled at Charlie.
“Hey, Cas,” she said putting down her sandwich. “You settling in okay?”
“Yes, I am,” Cas said, picking his soy sauce packet and opening the corner. “Dean has been very helpful. I’m rather lucky to have an upperclassman as a roommate.”
“Damn right you are,” Dean said, taking a big bite of his cheeseburger. “Cas, this is Garth. He also lives on our floor and is one of my best friends. He’s a creative writing major.” Dean gestured towards the skinny guy sitting across from him eating what appeared to be meatloaf and mashed potatoes.
“Nice to meet you, Cas,” the brown-haired boy said. “Is that short for Casey or somethin’?”
“Uh, no. It’s short for my middle name, Castiel. My real name is James, but I’ve never gone by it,” Cas admitted shyly as he snapped open his chopsticks.
“Nah, you don’t exactly look like a Jim,” Garth said, taking another bite of buttery looking mashed potatoes.
“Thanks?” Cas said as he began to pluck at his rice and veggies. He’d gone with the shrimp, which took a little longer to cook, but after one bite he realized it was totally worth the wait. He let out a groan and he chewed.
“Wow,” Dean said with a smirk. “Pornagraphic, Cas.”
Cas blushed. “I’m sorry, I just didn’t expect the food here to be so… Good.”
“Best in the state,” Dean replied, popping a greasy looking fry in his mouth.
Cas nodded, continuing to eat his surprisingly good food.
“So, what’s your major, Cas?” Charlie asked.
“Pre-vet. I… I just really love animals.”
Charlie looked at Dean, excitement in her eyes. “Your brother would be excited to hear that,” she said and Dean huffed a laugh.
“Uh, no. He couldn’t do the dissections at school,” he said, shaking his head. “Went vegan shortly after freshman bio. Poor guy. Threw all hope of becoming a vet out the window.”
Cas smirked. “Yeah, that happens to a lot of kids. At least he went vegan for the right reasons, I suppose. So many people give up meat as some sort of fad, but your brother seems to be in it for the animals, which I respect.”
“Yeah,” Dean nodded, taking another bite of his burger. “He’s a hippie weirdo but he’s my hippie weirdo.”
Cas couldn’t help but look at the man beside him with fondness. He really seemed to care about his little brother, much as he tried to hide the affection.
“I’m a computer science major myself,” Charlie said, forking at the bits of her sandwich that fell out the back. “With a minor in digital media. If I don’t get an IT job somewhere I could always work as a social media rep or a web designer or something.”
“So, tell me about yourself, Cas,” Garth said, pushing his finished tray away and taking a long drag from his soda.
“Uh, there’s not much to tell really,” Cas muttered into his food. He didn’t exactly want to subject his new friends to his family drama just yet. “I’m just a kid from Pontiac.”
“I’m from Topeka,” Charlie said. “Dean’s also from Kansas, small town called Lebanon.”
“Originally from Lawrence, the city not the dorm, but my dad moved away after my mom died. Guess he couldn’t stand to live in the same house anymore, you know?” Dean shared.
Cas’s stomach felt suddenly queasy. “I am so sorry, Dean,” he said with genuine sympathy. His parents sucked, but at least they were still alive.
Dean shrugged as he polished off his fries. “No big deal. I was really little so…” the man trailed off, picking up his fork to start on the slice of apple pie he'd given in and gotten.
“From Lebanon as well,” Garth said. “Not a very big town, just about the only thing there is Singer’s Auto. I worked there in high school but always wanted something more. Got a full ride to Birchwood and never looked back.”
“Lucky geniuses here,” he said, gesturing to Garth and Charlie, “received academic scholarships. Charlie ain’t on a full ride, which is part of the reason she took up the RA job. I’m here for soccer,” the man explained.
Cas frowned down at his almost finished plate. “I didn’t receive a scholarship or anything like that. This was just one of many state schools I got accepted to. Fell in love with the campus after I took a tour. It really is very pretty here.”
Dean put his hand on his shoulder. “No need to feel embarrassed just because you aren’t here on scholarship, man. There’s no shame in paying your own way.”
Cas smiled softly before taking a sip of his tea. “Thank you, Dean,” he said after a moment.
Dean:
That evening, Dean tried to convince Cas to join him at Kevin’s apartment for a small get together, but after learning that there’d be alcohol there, the guy decided he was just gonna stay in and play some video games. Dean respected his decision, of course. He knew pre-med and pre-vet majors would get kicked out of their program if caught drinking under twenty-one and didn’t want Cas to do anything he felt uncomfortable with, especially his first week.
Kevin and Charlie were both juniors, whereas Dean and Garth were sophomores. Other than the four of them, the only other people at the ‘party’ were Channing, Kevin’s long-term girlfriend, and Gilda, Charlie’s new gf. They’d met in the RA program and had only been dating a month. They had to come in a few weeks early for training, which Dean did not envy them for. But, hey, at least they got paid.
Dean was a few beers in when Charlie sat down next to him on the couch.
“So… Your new roommate is cute,” said the lesbian.
“Didn’t know you swung that way, Bradburry,” Dean said with a chuckle, taking a sip of his beer. Thankfully, Channing was twenty-one now and could legally purchase alcohol for them all. Dean didn’t really trust the fake IDs Charlie made them all last year.
Charlie giggled. “Well, he’s cute for a guy,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows. She was the only one who knew Dean’s secret.
“I guess,” Dean said, leaning back. He was attempting to pay attention the the episode of Rick and Morty they were all watching but the show was just a little too quick paced for how drunk he was getting. Not to mention everyone was talking over it.
“You gonna go for it?” she asked and Dean scoffed.
“Nah, we both know that boy’s probably straight. I’m tired of crushing on straight guys, for one,” he said as quietly as he could, so as not to have the rest of his friends overhear. “And even if he did go for other guys, he probably wouldn’t be okay with me having been with women. Very few gay men actually want to date a guy like me. And considering I’m still not out about it, that adds a whole new set of problems to potential relationships...”
Charlie looked at him with sympathy. “You don’t know that. Gilda’s bi, and I have no problems with it. The LGBT community is getting more and more inclusive each day, Dean. Bi visibility is becoming less and less of an issue because people like her are speaking out about it. You should come to a Prism meeting. It’ll help you come out of your shell.”
Charlie had been trying to get him to come to the campus LGBTQIA+ alliance, Prism, ever since his first semester.
Dean shook his head. “I’m not ready for that, Charles. Told you last time you asked.”
Charlie wrinkled her nose at the offending nickname. “You did, but I thought you might want to give a chance. It’s been a whole summer since I’ve asked.”
Dean took another sip of his beer. “I’ll think about it,” he promised.
Dean spent all of Sunday - after sleeping in and nursing his hangover of course - showing Cas around campus. He took him through all the important buildings, showing him the library, the science building, and all the eating areas. They even stopped for lunch at the Student Center he picked up some Jack in the Box, which they could get with their meal plan. Other than that, the student center had a salad bar and a Tropical Smoothie. Cas got himself a sandwich and a smoothie instead of a deep fried taco like Dean.
After that, Dean took him through the Quad, even showing him the free art museum. On their way out, they picked up a few posters a tent was selling, since Cas’s side of the room was rather vacant of art. Dean promised him he’d show him the ‘Villa’ on Friday. It was basically this place off campus with a shit ton of restaurants, stores, and bars. It was within walking distance to campus and was a major weekend hangout for most students. That, and Friday Nite Live, a cheesy ‘party’ put on by the student association each and every Friday. It was themed and offered a wide array of activities and crafts. It was mostly for freshman, but even upperclassmen stopped by before hitting the bars to get a slice of free pizza.
“Let me see your schedule,” Dean said, and Cas fumbled to pull it up on his phone. “Ugh, you got running at eight Monday, Wednesday, Friday?” he said, making a face at Cas’s choice of PE class. “I don’t have to take phys ed since I’m in a sport, thank god.”
Cas frowned at him. “I like running,” he said defensively. “I was on cross country in high school.”
Dean chuckled. “Yet another thing you have in common with my baby brother.”
Cas crossed his arms, looking like a petulant child. It was kinda cute if Dean was being completely honest. “Well, Sam sounds like a wonderful young man, if you ask me.”
Dean clapped him on the shoulder. “That he is,” he agreed.
Cas:
Cas found his way to the PE building next to the recplex at eight in the morning the following day. The air was damp and dewy and a bit muggy, as was common in late August. He walked into the building and found himself at an ancient indoor track, much more outdated than the track at the recplex Dean showed him yesterday.
A few other kids were seated at the bleachers so he sat down to join them until the instructor showed up. Since it was their first day they only went a mile, much to Cas’s disappointment. But at least they went outside to do it. They wouldn’t actually be using the indoor track unless the weather was bad.
After that he had an hour break, which he specifically scheduled so he could shower and eat breakfast, and then he had his first bio class at ten. At eleven he had French, and then at noon he’d scheduled lunch, which Dean teased him for since all the dining areas would be extra busy that hour. He called it ‘typically freshman.’ Cas was only slightly disappointed he wouldn’t be able to dine with Dean during the week. At one Cas had speech class, which met for lab Mondays and Wednesday and lecture on Fridays. And then Cas was done for the day. Dean’s last class was over at three so Cas went back to his room to wait for him, popping in Dragon Age Inquisition to pass the time. The first week was syllabus week, so he didn’t have any homework yet.
He and Dean went to the Globe, a cafeteria named after Shakespeare's theater, for dinner. It had a Taco Bell, Quiznos, and a Burger King as well as yet another salad station and more stir-fry. Cas got himself a sandwich while Dean ordered Taco Bell.
That evening, the two of them played Super Smash Bros with Charlie and Garth. It was probably the most fun Cas had ever had in his entire life. It wasn’t as if he had many friends growing up.
On Tuesdays he had his lab for French since it was a four day a week class, and his two Tuesday/Thursday classes, Theatre and Calc. With all the core classes he was required to take, he had a pretty full semester this year at nineteen credit hours (French was worth four).
That evening he, Dean, and Charlie ate at the most popular cafeteria on Campus, Westwood. It was the only all-girls dorm on Campus and hosted the campus sororities. It had a flat top grill for stir-fry instead of woks like the other eating places had as well as a full side brick oven for pizza, spinning salads instead of a salad bar, comfort food, pasta, and sandwiches. Once a week they did breakfast for dinner (although he was told that was always packed) and even had a mini-Starbucks. The only eating places he hadn't tried yet were a few grab-and go al-la-carte places, Lawrence's shitty cafeteria, and the buffett at Norman, which he was skeptical of because he found those to be germy.
Of course, the line for the stir-fry was long af, but Cas didn’t mind. It reminded him of hibachi, he way the chefs tossed his veggies and beef around on the stove. He even rewarded himself with a slice of chocolate cake, promising to go for an extra run that week to burn it off.
He and Dean hung out every single night, which was good because he knew it would be especially hard for him to live with someone he didn’t get along with. Thankfully, the pair of them got along great. It was Friday after class when Dean walked in. Cas paused his game to greet the man.
“How was class?” he asked, moving the controller to the floor.
“You know, first week stuff. No homework yet, so that’s good. Well, aside from reading chapter one of damn every textbook, but who the hell reads the chapters if they’re just gonna go over them in class?”
Cas frowned. “The books are so expensive. Seems like a waste not to read them.”
Dean chuckled and shook his head. “So, what, you gonna spend all weekend reading?”
“No,” Cas said, standing up to stretch. “I was planning on doing that Sunday afternoon since it won’t be that time consuming.”
“Okay, good,” Dean said, smiling shyly. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I… I was kinda hoping you’d come LARPING with us.”
To be continued...
http://archiveofourown.org/works/13196649/chapters/30538008
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Political Animals-Part 13-The Wedding
This is an A/B/O AU. You are the Omega artist daughter of Naomi Novak, a world-class heart surgeon who is running for Mayor of New York City. After a meeting where your mother’s advisers call you a “liability”, she tells you that if you don’t do as your told she will cut you off. You storm out and wind up in a bar a few blocks away.
The hottest Alpha you have EVER laid eyes on with a scent so mouthwatering you’re practically drooling offers to buy you a drink. It’s just a drink, right? What do you have to lose? Only everything.
Characters: Omega! Reader, Beta! Naomi Novak, Alpha! Castiel Novak, Omega! Meg Novak, Claire Novak, Jimmy Novak, Alpha! Sam Winchester, Alpha! Dean Winchester, Alpha! John Winchester, Omega! Jo Harvelle
Big thanks to @moansmisha for letting me use some of her ideas from this post.
Master List
Part 1 (all parts are linked)
Parts in bold are text messages
“Wait, what did you say?” I asked, swallowing hard.
“You heard me. The mayor’s scheduling secretary called. He has time on Saturday to marry us. Dad has to switch some stuff around, but he said he wouldn’t miss my wedding.”
“But my arm’s in a cast….” I began weakly.
Sam reached over and grabbed my hand, pulling me to him. “I don’t care about that. I would marry you if you were in a body cast, Y/N. I want you and the pups to have my name. Besides, with all this stuff going on with your father, I would feel better if you were my wife.”
“Can I invite Cas and Meg?” I asked hopefully.
Sam’s easy smile melted my heart a little. “You can even invite your mother if you want.”
“I’ll invite her because she’s my mother, not because I care whether she’s there or not,” I told him.
“I’m gonna invite Dean and Jo if that’s okay with you,” Sam asked.
“Of course! What if everyone can’t make it on short notice?” I asked worriedly.
“As long as we’re there, that’s all that matters.”
Meg and I went shopping for something for me to wear on Saturday. Finding a dress that I was comfortable in, that fit over my ever-expanding stomach AND my cast, and didn’t make me look like a parade float was no small feat.
“For the last time Meg, I’m NOT wearing white! Since I’m already having Sam’s pups that ship has sailed!”
“Fine! Excuse me for being a traditionalist! So what color do you want then?” She asked in an irritated tone.
“I’ll know it when I see it, I guess.” I shrugged.
It caught my eye from across the store. It was blue-green and reminded me of Sam’s eyes. It had open sleeves that fit my casted arm and an empire waist that fit my belly and allowed me to breathe.
“How does it look?” I asked Meg when I came out of the dressing room.
“Oh Y/N, you look beautiful!” Meg told me, a catch in her voice. “That’s the one.”
Neither Meg nor I noticed the man with the camera hiding behind a rack taking pictures of me trying on dresses.
I spent the night before the wedding at Cas and Meg’s. Everyone we had invited was able to attend, except for my mother. She had “prior commitments” for the campaign of course. Our relationship had fallen so far that it didn’t even phase me that my mother wouldn’t be there on my most important day.
Cas and I sat in his study in our pajamas, talking late into the night like we did when we were kids. “I can’t believe your getting married tomorrow, Y/N.”
“Why? Can’t believe someone actually wants to marry me?” I said with a grin.
“Shut up.”
“Dad wanted this for me. He told me to find an Alpha to love, have pups, be happy. I didn’t expect it all to happen so quickly. Sam is a good man, Cas. He loves me.”
“I like him, Y/N. He seems like a man of integrity. I trust he will protect you. I just wish everything wasn’t happening so fast. I can’t help but worry about you.” Cas looked torn.
I took Cas’ hand in mine. “He’s my Alpha, my other half. I tried to fight my attraction to him and it made me miserable. I love him. We belong together. But you’ll always be my big brother, Cas. Thank you for always being there for me no matter what.”
Cas’ eyes were shiny with unshed tears. He hugged me tightly. “Better get to bed, Little Sis. You have a big day tomorrow.”
Right on cue, I yawned widely. “I love you, Bro,” I whispered before heading off to bed and dreams of my Alpha.
When I got to my room there was a text from Sam.
Sam: I can’t wait to marry you, Y/N. I love you, Omega
Y/N: I love you more, Alpha. My bed is lonely without you.
Sam: We’ll make up for it tomorrow. Go to sleep, baby.
Y/N: Night, Sam
When we met in the mayor’s office, Winchesters, and Novaks (minus my mother), the election was far from everyone’s mind. I was so happy that Sam’s family was able to be there for him, and Meg and Cas for me.
Jo hugged me when she saw me. “I’m so happy for you guys.” She whispered in my ear.
“You’re gonna be next,” I whispered back.
“Here’s hoping,” She said with a grin.
“Welcome to the family, Beautiful.” Dean murmured as he kissed my cheek.
“You say that now, wait until I ask you to babysit,” I said with a smile.
John walked over to us. “Are you ready Y/N?” He asked.
“I sure am,” I replied confidently.
“I need to talk to the two of you when we are done here.” He whispered to me before walking me over to where Sam and the mayor were standing.
“Hello, Miss Novak. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Mayor McGinty said, holding out his hand. “I’ve met your mother many times.”
“Please don’t hold that against me, Mr. Mayor,” I whispered wryly. He laughed before turning to speak to John.
I turned to face Sam. His scent enveloped me, and it felt like coming home. He took both of my hands in his much larger ones. “Are you ready to do this, Y/N?” He asked in a quiet whisper.
“I’ve never been more ready to do anything in my entire life,” I said with a dazzling smile.
The ceremony was short, but Meg still cried through the entire thing. Cas held her tightly while she sobbed into his shoulder. The mayor gave us each an opportunity to say something when he was finished speaking.
I went first. “Sam, when I am with you I feel like I have come home. I didn’t realize I was missing a part of myself until I met you. For the first time in my life I I am happy I’m an Omega.”
Sam took a deep breath as he stared into my eyes. “I knew from the first time I met you that you were mine, Y/N. I knew we belonged together. I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy.”
“By the power invested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you husband and wife.” The mayor stated.
When Sam kissed me in front of both our families, I felt complete for the first time in my life.
Afterward, hugs and congratulations and hugs were shared with our families and we thanked the mayor for taking time out of his busy schedule to marry us.
“It was no trouble at all. John’s buying me lunch after our next golf game.” He said with a smile. “I have to ask you, Miss Novak….I mean Mrs. Winchester…. how does your mother feel about all this? I notice she’s the only one not here.”
I gave him a sad smile. “Mr. Mayor, my mother and I didn’t see eye to eye long before Sam came along. He’s just the latest thing I’ve done to annoy her. It doesn’t take much.”
Since everyone wanted to hear what John had to say, after the ceremony the mayor was kind enough to give us all a room where we could talk in private. Sam and I, Cas and Meg, Dean and Jo, and John got settled at a large around a conference table. John spoke first. “So I asked some of my friends at the precinct to look into your father for me, Y/N.”
“Did they find out anything?” Sam asked sharply.
“He had been released from the clinic in Munich 6 weeks ago. The doctors felt he wasn’t a danger to himself or others as he took his meds. They didn’t feel there was any more they could do for him. His mother saw him once right when he got home. She said he was angry and demanded to know why he wasn’t told about his daughter. She said she hasn’t seen him since.”
“Do the police know where he is?” I asked John.
John sighed and I knew the answer. “No, but they are looking for him. The problem his he hasn’t really threatened you, so they are limited in what can be done.”
“But the pictures, the notes……” Cas began.
“The are disturbing, yes, but he hasn’t tried to hurt her. She got hit by the car because she chased him, not because of anything he did.” John replied.
“So what should we do?” Dean asked.
“The best thing you can do is keep your eyes open. Be aware of your surroundings. If you are with Y/N and something seems suspicious, call it in. I’m afraid that’s all we can do for now.”
Sam stood up and pushed back from the table, and we all jumped. “What if he stopped taking his medicine? What if Y/N’s in danger?” The last part he choked out, he was so angry.
Dean got up and put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “We won’t let anything happen to your Omega, Sammy. We all love her too.”
“Dean’s right.” Meg chimed in.
Maybe it was the hormones, or maybe it was the love I felt from the people in the room, but I couldn’t help but cry.
Sam and I had opted not to go on a honeymoon now, given my still-limited mobility. I wanted to be able to enjoy my Alpha unencumbered, so we just decided to spend the weekend at a bed-and-breakfast and go on a honeymoon sometime after the twins were born.
The B and B was quaint and peaceful. It had been a long day, and by the time we had gotten settled in for the night I was tired. But not THAT tired.
“Come here, wife,” Sam whispered to me when we had gotten into bed.
“Is there something you want, Alpha?” I asked, running my lips up the side of his neck.
“You.” He demanded.
“I’m right here, Alpha.”
He pulled me to him and kissed me hard enough to make me whimper. His taste was intoxicating. I turned onto my side, and I shivered as Sam sucked a mark onto the sensitive skin there.
His large hands palmed my breasts, his fingers teasing my sensitive nipples. A shudder ran through me.
“These are getting bigger.” He whispered. “So is this.” Both of his hands caressed the small hard bump of my stomach. I could feel Sam’s erection pressing against my ass. I ground myself against it, desperate for the friction.
Sam, please!” I begged.
“What you need, Omega?” He growled.
“Need you,” I whined.
He slipped a finger into me, rubbing against my soaked folds as I gasped with pleasure. His thumb found my clit and he rubbed the sensitive bud as I writhed in pleasure. My body just opened up to him and he was able to insert two long fingers into me and within seconds I was spiraling towards an orgasm.
“Come for me, Y/N!” Sam demanded and my body obliged as I arched off the bed in a powerful orgasm.
As I lay there panting trying to catch my breath, Sam continued exploring my body. “I love how your body is changing, Y/N. You are so beautiful.”
He slid easily into me, and wrapping his arms around me, began to thrust, slowly at first, but gradually picking up speed.
“Want your knot, Sam. Want it so bad.” I begged.
Sam buried his face in my neck as he thrust hard and fast into me. I could feel another orgasm approach as my pussy clamped down on him. He gave a hoarse cry as he spilled into me and his knot popped, locking us together. I screamed his name as pleasure coursed through me. Sam held me tight as we drifted off to sleep, drunk on endorphins.
While we were eating breakfast the next morning, the nice lady who owned the B and B came up to our table with some beautiful flowers. “Mrs. Winchester? Sorry to bother you while your eating, but these were just delivered for you.”
Sam and I looked at each other. No one knew where we were going. We had made sure of that. As soon as she left I opened the card that was tucked into the flowers. I pulled out a picture of Meg and I dress shopping, taken the moment I came out to show Meg the dress I had ultimately picked. With trembling hands, I removed the hand-written card.
YOU LOOKED LOVELY. I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE.
I handed both items to Sam. I had completely lost my appetite. Sam and I just looked at each other in shock. How had he found us here? We went back to our room, threw our belongings into our suitcases, and left for home 30 minutes later.
Part 14
@skybinx-blog @percywinchester27 @a-sea-of-fandoms @dorky-and-i-know-it @fangirl1802 @pinknerdpanda @atc74 @moonlitskinwalker @we-are-band-sexuals @jayankles @notnaturalanahi @ariannalikescake @growningupgeek @itsummertime22 @roseblood11 @demondeansdomme @cantchoosejustonefandom @ferferelli @midnightjazzmine @dr-dean @clairese1980 @moonstonemystyk @obsessedtmifangirl @bailieinabottle @mesomisha54 @agoodold-fashionedvillain @brewsthespirit-blog @fucking-grapefruit @typicalweirdbookworm @the-strandedgypsy @meganwinchester1999 @maddieburcham1 @diabetus-swag @bohowitch @mizzezm @winchestergirl-love @vixenvindictive @theoriginalvicki @ayeeitsemry @kittenofdoomage @oriona75 @jotink78 @the-cucumber-who-lived @magickal-angel @gecko9596 @winchester-writes @valynsia @ronnie248-blog @inuhimesblog @phoenixia67 @afanofmanystuffs @sassy-losechester @mariairwin666 @essie1876@shell-fire @becaamm @aalexandra2712 @stone-met @maxsaturdayhatesnarwhals@thelittleredwhocould@just-another-busy-fangirl@sunriserose1023 @blacktithe7 @ajspencer1892 @mamabear82nd @notateenbeachmovie @i-just-wanna-live-gc @calicat79
#ayeeitsemry#inhumesblog#essie1876#shell-fire#maxsaturdayhatesnarwhals#thelittleredwhocould#just-another-busy-fangirl#notateenbeachmovie#Sam Winchester#sam and dean#dean winchester#john winchester#castiel x meg#Castiel Novak#Sam angst#sam and you#sam and y/n#sam and reader#spn fanfic#SPN FANDOM#SPN Fan#spn fangirl#spn family#spn fanficpond#spnfanficpondjellyfish#jellyfish writes#jellyfishwrites#supernatural series#spn series#political animals
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Renunciation
Things are slowly heating up. Enjoy!
“So I’ve been working“ Claire says instead of a greeting when he picks up.
Cas is immediately worried – he of all people should know some hunters tend to run into dangerous situations without thinking of consequences first – but he’s learned that she won’t respond well should he choose to express this, so he asks “On what?”
She chuckles.
“I can tell you’re freaking out. Don’t worry, I’m safe and well. Listen. Since you obviously don’t want me on the front line, since you didn’t even tell me someone’s trying to kill all of you, I thought I could do some... campaigning.”
“Campaigning?”
“Yeah. I talked to Jody. Turns out not those she and others contacted are standing behind you – “
“We are aware, but we think that with the support we have – “
“I get that, but it’s always better to have more friends, right?”
She pauses, probably for dramatic effect, as teenagers are wont to do.
“So I have been talking to their kids – well, of those who have them, anyway.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Look, Cas, it’s easy. Being neutral is fine and all, but you can’t ignore planned genocide forever, not even if you’re a hunter who only sees black and white. You might be able to contradict your peers, fine enough. But if a nice young girl befriends your nice young girl and your nice young girl learns the truth about the Winchesters she’s only ever heard crazy stories about before... you guys are legends, by the way. It’s insane.”
“We do our best” he deadpans, hoping it will get a chuckle out of her. It does.
“So eleven more hunter families at the east coast are keeping their eyes open.”
“Claire, that’s... thank you. I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. Just stay safe, alright? And invite me to the wedding.”
“Dean and I aren’t en- oh. That was a joke.”
“Getting better all the time. Talk to you soon, Cas!”
“Take care of yourself, Claire.”
He will be eternally grateful for the bond he’s developed with Jimmy Novak’s daughter. He sends a short prayer of thanks to his father before he goes to tell Dean and the others of the newest developments.
They’ve developed a routine of sorts. Dean jokingly refers to the room next to the library they’ve filled with the information their contacts give them as their “war room”. Usually at least one of them can be found there at this time of the day.
He enters to find Mick checking out their map of the west coast. He’s busy circling towns he considers as probably desirable for the Men of Letters to stay at. They’re too smart to risk being taken down in one swoop.
And yet that’s exactly what they are planning. The Men of Letters don’t know how far their network reaches, thanks to Crowley having used the loopholes the spell he was under allowed and them feeding him false information during that time.
That reminds him –
“Have you seen Crowley?”
He wasn’t at breakfast today for the first time since Rowena lifted the spell, and according to Dean, the talk they shared last night was “intense”. Maybe Crowley needs some time for himself.
Cas a feeling how this story will end.
He’s already lived through it.
“No. But I don’t think he’s in trouble. The Men of Letters know better than to try something that already failed.”
He nods, noting that Mick doesn’t bat an eyelid anymore when he mentions his former employers. He’s found a place for himself in their midst remarkably quickly.
Certainly faster than Cas ever decided he wished to stay with Dean.
“Cas? Are you alright?”
He blinks.
“Yes. I just... remembered something.”
Mick grimaces.
“I know how that feels like.”
His phone rings and his face lights up. With a polite excuse, he brushes past Cas.
And the former angel knows exactly how this feels like, he reflects with a smile.
Falling in love.
He’s aware that... problems may arise with the budding romance they’re witnessing. Mel is a water wraith, a creature meant to live for centuries, and she does not possess the luxury that Cas had. She can never become human.
But then, she wouldn’t if she could. Mel is her own spirit, she is one with her element. She knows what she wants... and for the time being, it’s Mick.
Cas hopes their friend won’t get hurt.
Dean comes into the room.
“Hey. Mick’s busy talking.”
He grins the easy, happy grin Cas has gotten used to ever since they set off on the road together, and as always, his heart skips a beat.
“Claire called. She has been “campaigning”.
Dean chuckles and kisses him.
“Should have known she wouldn’t stay put. So what did she say?”
When Cas is done bringing him up to speed, they hear the tell-tale heavy steps of the golem.
Dean smiles.
“Aaron got a little distracted by the Hebrew section of our library today. Apparently he already found three texts he believed were no longer available.”
“Crowley really stocked it well” he responds. “By the way, have you seen him?”
“No. Don’t expect to. Trust me, he just needs some time alone, is all.”
He relaxes. Dean knows Crowley well. If he says there’s nothing to worry about, there isn’t.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” he asks Aaron and Matan after they’ve come in.
Aaron grins speepishly.
“Sorry. But the text I found may give me some close how to unravel their necromancing spell once and for all...”
“Don’t be sorry, that’s great news.” Dean nudges him. “Cas here has some too. His kind of-daughter has been working for us.”
“Not my daughter, Dean.”
“Close enough.”
“She’s yours too, then” he teases him, his beloved blushing and looking away.
He’d make a wonderful father, Cas is sure. Dean is great with children.
And perhaps, who knows, once things have settled down...
He doesn’t allow himself to dwell on the thought.
After Sam has joined them and Mick has come back from his phone call, still smiling happily, everyone except Crowley knows about the newest development.
He saves them from trying to contact him by crashing into the war room a moment later.
“What the – Crowley!”
Dean hastens to help him up.
“You alright? Were the Men of Letters – “
“No” he admits, grimacing. He doesn’t appear to be injured, although his suit is dirty and torn.
“Demons.”
“Demons? Don’t they know better than to attack you?”
Crowley dis- and a moment later reappears with a glass in his hand.
“That’s better”. He takes a huge gulp.
“I went to Hell. I figured if I could get enough support, I might be able to break the wardings as I did before.”
“What happened?” Cas asks.
“Turns out, the reason I saw no one during my last short visit is that they are not exactly keen on my leadership.”
“We knew that before” Dean comments.
“Yeah, and you’ve always been able to reel them in, right?”
“Not this time. Turns out...” he trails off.
It’s Matan who guesses the answer.
“Your true face has changed.”
Crowley nods.
“Your – what does that mean?” Dean demands at the same time as Sam requires, “Was it the spell?”
Crowley shoots him a look that’s... almost offended.
And Cas understands.
All the time he had under the spell to think about what he wants and where he belongs, his talk with Dean, his admission that he hates Hell...
“No it wasn’t” he says simply.
Crowley nods.
“I’m afraid yours truly has become too good to lead Hell.”
“So what happens now? Is there someone else?”
He smirks.
“No, don’t worry. The Princes and Knights of Hell are either uninterested in taking over or dead. And there is no one around who could do what I have done. They wouldn’t even attack me. They’re scared of the changes the golem’s noticed.”
“But then why...” Dean gestures towards his suit.
“Using that to tell them what I thought of them once and for all might not have been the best idea” Crowley admits.
Dean groans.
“You didn’t.”
“Can you blame me? They’re all these whiny, egotistical, annoying sons of bitches who can’t understand why they haven’t taken over the earth despite being dumb as bricks!”
“Tell us how you really feel. You got away okay, right?”
“Yes. They tried, but most were still too scared to do anything, and I’ve still got my powers.”
“So you’re not the King of Hell anymore?” Aaron asks.
“I have resigned.”
“Pah”. Dean shakes his head, taking Cas’ hand. “A honorific can easily be bestowed. You’ll always be King to us, right guys?”
“Definitely very... kingly” Cas lightly agrees.
Now, dirty and hated by demonkind, more than ever. He almost wishes he were still an angel so he could see the changes in Crowley’s soul.
He squeezes Dean’s hand.
Almost.
“The royal family has got nothing like him” Mick says.
“A reformed demon is worth all of Hell” Matan announces.
Sam actually raises his hand for a fist bump, which Cas can see surprises Crowley.
Yes, they’ve changed a lot since the King of Hell first showed up and helped him and Dean deal with that dragon two years ago.
“Sadly this means I won’t be able to break through their security” Crowley explains, downing his glass.
“We’ll just have to find another way, then”. Dean turns and looks at Matan.
“I assume you can break Brits as easily as Nazis?”
“Of course. I can do anything my rabbi orders me to.”
“Requests. What he requests” Aaron is quick to correct him.
He was hesitant about the whole aspect of ownership from the first, Dean told Cas.
“So, what are we going to do now?” Sam asks. “According to Lizzie, they expect more reinforcements”.
“Quite frankly, I’m tired of these bastards running around our country. I think it’s time we throw them out.”
“Alright then, time to attack. I can get behind that” Crowley replies.
“Yes, there’s just...” Dean trails off.
Cas is still holding his hand. He can guess what his beloved will say next. He’s been thinking about it ever since Rowena left.
“I think we should try and talk to Mary again”.
“What?” Sam splutters. “Dean, she called you a monster! She’s not interested in – “
“I am not saying we should give her a get out of jail free card. Hell, I’m not even saying call her Mom and try to grovel hoping we can somehow get her back. All I’m saying is we try to reach out and explain to her what we’ve been doing one last time, without giving anything away, of course. And if she still insists that all monsters must be eradicated and that I am one of them... That me and Cas and Crowley are monsters, than that’s it. One more chance to listen. That’s all she gets.”
The brothers share a long look.
Eventually Sam nods.
“Alright. Just one more try. And if she doesn’t want to listen...”
“She’s going down with the rest of them” Dean finishes.
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via Politics – FiveThirtyEight
Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited.
sarah (Sarah Frostenson, politics editor): On Thursday, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that next week’s presidential debate would be held virtually. President Trump, however, has said that he isn’t going to waste his time with a virtual debate, promising instead to hold a rally.
Trump is down 9.8 points in national polls and is steadily losing ground each day in our forecast to Biden, as we inch ever closer to the election. Refusing then to participate in the debate when he could use it as an opportunity to mount a comeback against former vice president Joe Biden is a curious choice. Doesn’t Trump need the debates to mount a comeback?
Let’s talk Trump’s case for — and the case against — needing the debates.
OK, what’s the case for him needing them?
geoffrey.skelley (Geoffrey Skelley, elections analyst): He needs something. #analysis
But seriously, the debates are among the few, regularly scheduled major moments in the fall campaign, so they do present an opportunity to shake things up, even if they’re not certain to do so.
natesilver (Nate Silver, editor in chief): To a first approximation, I agree with that, although it’s overstated. Our research on primary debates suggested that a debate is equivalent to something like six to 10 days of normal campaigning and news, in terms of how much they move the polls. So it’s as if Trump is taking a week off the clock in an election in which he trails by 10 points.
With that said, maybe this ups the importance of the third debate — if there is one.
geoffrey.skelley: But we also can’t know given Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis whetherif Trump is really up for a two-hour debate right now, so perhaps he’s avoiding something that could be even more damaging.
sarah: One thing we talked about a lot going into the first presidential debate, is how much that first debate (more than the others) can really shake things up, but as former FiveThirtyEighter Harry Enten has also written, the second debate is not necessarily a game changer, and there’s no reason to believe that the person who didn’t do well in the first debate rebounds in the second.
Isn’t it possible then, that Trump, holding his own rally in which he doesn’t have to play by any moderator rules, isn’t necessarily a terrible move?
nrakich (Nathaniel Rakich, elections analyst): The problem is that he’s been holding campaign rallies all year long, and they haven’t helped him overtake Biden in the polls.
The days when cable news would air his rallies nationally are over. Maybe they get some nice local earned media, but that simply isn’t gonna measure up to a debate, as Nate mentioned.
geoffrey.skelley: It depends on the coverage. If it’s “Trump hasn’t recovered from COVID-19 and it’s irresponsible to be holding rallies,” I can’t imagine that helps him when 60 percent of the country said Trump was wrong to say we shouldn’t be afraid of COVID-19, and two-thirds said if he’d taken the coronavirus more seriously, he probably wouldn’t have gotten sick.
natesilver: Yeah, Trump is a fairly bad debater to begin with and it’s fairly likely that he would still be experiencing physical or mental ailments by next week thanks to his COVID-19 diagnosis. So the CPD gives him an excuse to pull out rather than him looking like a
.
geoffrey.skelley: And what if his rally is sparsely attended or looks that way in pictures? It’s his Tulsa rally all over again.
natesilver: Nobody will give a shit about the rally either way, I don’t think.
Unless, again, Trump appears sick or something.
sarah: OK, but from Biden’s POV, a skipped second debate is … fine by him? If anything, he would have more to lose than Trump in the second debate?
nrakich: Right. Traditionally, the front-runner wants fewer debates and the underdog wants more. That’s why you always see hopeless Senate candidates challenging their opponent to 10 Lincoln-Douglas-style debates or whatever.
natesilver: Unless Biden thinks Trump would be so bad that it would be worth debating him even if he’s being risk averse. Like if Biden’s up by 10 points now, and on average he’d gain 2 points by debating Trump, you might do that even if there’s a chance you’d decline instead. It depends on what the variance is.
geoffrey.skelley: A town-hall format would probably play better to Biden’s style, too, answering people directly, etc.
But the debate wouldn’t be in-person, so maybe that’s less relevant.
nrakich: That strikes me as overconfident, Nate. Biden could screw up too. I don’t think you can just assume he’d gain an average of 2 points by debating Trump.
natesilver: I’m not assuming he’d gain 2 points, I’m saying conditional on that assumption, it might be worth debating.
But also: Trump has lost every general election debate he’s conducted, per post-debate polling.
And he has COVID-19 and is on steroids and is acting erratically, even for him.
geoffrey.skelley: Who knows how a virtual town hall debate would go, but Trump was seen as the main cause of the disruption and chaos at the first debate, so it wouldn’t shock me if he did the same thing in that format — if the debate were held.
nrakich: That would be so awkward with the potential lag. Imagine all the stops and starts!
geoffrey.skelley: Yeah, you thought the interruptions were bad when they were in the same room!
sarah: Yeah, Trump really doesn’t seem to like debates, he skipped some in the primaries in 2016, too. But this brings us back to the original question: Trump is really far behind Biden in the polls, and Biden just got some of his best polls of the campaign this week. His margin over Trump is growing. What — if not a debate –- is going to shake things up for Trump?
nrakich: If Trump is going to shake up the race without the debates, he needs something external to happen — for example, a major Biden gaffe or crisis. There is some evidence that politicians in trouble try to stir up international conflict to create a rally-around-the-flag effect. Or there could be a Comey letter redux; the Department of Justice just changed its policies to allow prosecutors to continue their investigations even close to an election.
sarah: Nate, Trump is losing a little ground each day in our forecast if his standing in the polls doesn’t improve, right? Tell us more about that, and what that means for Trump’s ability to close the gap between him and Biden at this point.
natesilver: Trump’s chances are at 15 percent in our forecast now, but my guess is that he’d be at something like 5 percent if the election were held today.
He’d need a VERY large polling error to win if Biden is up 10 points nationally and 7 points or so in the tipping-point states. So most of his comeback chances still stem from being able to turn the race around somehow, and debates are one way to do that … maybe the best way at this stage.
geoffrey.skelley: Right, in terms of predictable events, things you know are coming, the debates are really it.
sarah: On that note, in the unpredictableness that is 2020, do we actually think Trump actually pulls out or is this just a publicity stunt? Something our colleague Perry Bacon Jr. had mentioned in our chat Wednesday before the VP debate, was how he was skeptical that the CPD could stop Trump from participating in a debate if he wanted to. Do you think Trump is just trying to negotiate the terms of the second debate?
nrakich: I think he’d actually pull out. Our colleague Kaleigh Rogers said something smart in our office Slack this morning, so I’ll just quote her: “Trump knows the last debate didn’t go well for him and this is a way for him to not participate while saving face with his base.”
geoffrey.skelley: Well, there is a little bit of precedent for presidents threatening to withdraw from a debate in order to change their terms.
President George H.W. Bush refused to debate under the commission’s plans in 1992. But he eventually agreed to some debates.
In September 1992, the first scheduled debate was canceled when President Bush rejected the commission’s plans. Hecklers dressed as chickens began showing up at his rallies, and Bush would occasionally engage them: pic.twitter.com/kAhK1Vj9DW
— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) October 8, 2020
And Jimmy Carter refused to participate in the first debate in 1980 because it included independent John Anderson. I would say, though, in both the 1980 and 1992 cases, neither incumbent was rewarded for their intransigence.
natesilver: How’d that go for Jimmy Carter?
geoffrey.skelley: Exactly.
nrakich: Either way, I don’t think we will get an in-person debate. I think if Trump successfully negotiates them back to an in-person debate, I think Biden will be the one to say he won’t attend.
geoffrey.skelley: The commission is in danger of losing face in any of these situations, but I’d think holding an in-person event with Trump fresh off of COVID-19 (or still suffering lingering effects) would be pretty terrible.
Now, in 1980, Ronald Reagan debated just Anderson at the first debate. Does Biden get to hold a solo “debate” with Trump not participating? I assume it would just be canceled.
nrakich: Interesting. The town-hall style does make that easier. …
sarah: What do Americans think about holding the debate next week? As we’ve said before, there just aren’t that many undecided voters this year, so is it possible that many Americans don’t need the debates to help them make their decision on how they’re going to vote?
nrakich: Two polls conducted before today’s announcement actually had contradictory findings about whether Americans think the rest of the debates should go forward. Reuters/Ipsos found that 59 percent of Americans thought that the debates should be postponed until Trump recovers. But Americans told CNN/SSRS, 59 percent to 36 percent, that the debates should be held.
But regardless of whether people want to see more debates, I agree that it’s unlikely to change their votes. Our polling with Ipsos has shown that most voters are either absolutely positive they’re going to vote for Trump or absolutely positive they’re going to vote for Biden.
geoffrey.skelley: What format the debate should take seemed to really affect how people responded, too. Pluralities have told pollsters that they wanted the next debate if it was virtual.
sarah: Yeah, and with a split screen … it wouldn’t necessarily feel all that different than if Biden and Trump were in the same room.
geoffrey.skelley: 100 percent. Look, a presidential debate has been held remotely before. John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon’s third debate in 1960 took place with the candidates in different studios. Kennedy was in New York City, Nixon was in Los Angeles.
natesilver: I don’t know about that. The conventions produced very little in the way of bounces this year, which could be evidence that virtual vs. in-person matters.
nrakich: How do we tease that out from polarization, though, Nate?
To be honest, I feel like if the conventions in, say, 1988 had been virtual, they’d have still produced pretty big bounces.
Maybe just not as big as they were.
natesilver: Well, we got a decent-sized bounce from the Democratic convention four years ago. McCain/Palin got a pretty big one in 2008. They can still happen.
nrakich: But there were also more undecided voters in 2016. Everyone already has an opinion of Trump and Biden this year.
natesilver: The virtual conventions were well-produced, but fairly boring and I’m not sure why people tried to pretend otherwise.
nrakich: “Well-produced but fairly boring” kind of applies to every political convention, though!
At least if you’re watching from home.
natesilver: More boring than usual.
natesilver: Ratings were down. The polls didn’t move. In person matters.
nrakich: Eh. I’m not convinced. (There are other reasons the ratings might have been down, like people switching their viewing habits from network TV to online streaming.)
natesilver: The thing, though, is that you like politics and I don’t, despite covering it for a living. So I’m more like a typical American in those ways.
nrakich:
sarah: OK, final thoughts — it sounds as if we all agree on this one — the case for Trump skipping the debate next week … doesn’t hold a lot of upside for him?
geoffrey.skelley: Skipping the debate isn’t likely to help Trump, although it’s unclear if it will hurt him. At the same time, not knowing Trump’s current health condition in the wake of his COVID-19 diagnosis, means it’s possible he’d have had a bad showing at the virtual debate and hurt his standing more. In other words, the move to a virtual debate may have given him the out he was seeking because of that — or he just doesn’t want to debate anymore.
But I do think if he skips the debate and holds a rally instead, it could end up damaging him, considering how many voters don’t think he’s taken the coronavirus seriously enough. Such an event would seem to play right into that narrative.
nrakich: Yeah, Sarah, I think skipping the debate would be the latest in a long line of poor political decisions by Trump. Although to Nate’s point, I’m not sure he would be able to take advantage of the debate to turn his numbers around anyway.
It’s just increasingly hard to find any political upside for Trump.
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How Many Presidents Have The Republicans Tried To Impeach
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How Many Presidents Have The Republicans Tried To Impeach
The Trump Administrations Treatment Of Immigration Exclusively As A Criminal And National Security Matter Is Inhumane Impractical And Must End The Bernie Sanders Campaign Wrote As President Bernie Sanders Would Make Undocumented Immigration A Civil Matter And Fundamentally Reform The Government Agencies Tasked With Enforcing Immigration Law In A Way That Views Immigration As A Historically Valued Process Thats Woven Into Our Countrys Fabric
Hey Bernie — those who are here by less than legal means are breaking the law. That is a criminal matter, not a civil one.
And, for the record, many of the terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks on our country had overstayed their visas and were in violation of our immigration laws, thus additionally making it a matter of national security.
But you probably already knew that. You just don’t care.
Sanders has released an immigration plan that would impose a moratorium on deportations, “break up” existing immigration enforcement agencies, grant full welfare access to non-legal immigrants and welcome a minimum of 50,000 “climate migrants” in the first year of a Sanders administration.
According to Fox News, the plan effectively establishes Sanders at the far left of the immigration debate, as he aims to energize a base that helped drive his 2016 primary campaign amid competition from other liberal candidates in the field this time around.
Bernies Dangerous Open Borders Agenda Would Incentivize Illegal Immigration And Continue The Flow Of Illegal Drugs And Criminals Into Our Country Spokesperson Michael Joyce Said Meanwhile President Trumps Steadfast Leadership On This Issue Has Resulted In A 63 Percent Decline In Illegal Immigrant Apprehensions Since May
Trump has previously indicated that he believes liberal immigration policies from his opponents will help him win in 2020.
When a number of Democrats raised their hands in June to a debate question about whether those not in the country legally should get health care, Trump declared it “the end of that race!”
While most of the Democratic nominees are pushing similar agendas on immigration, Joe Biden has not yet committed to the same level of reform.
Immigration Is Not A Threat To National Security His Plan Says It Is Long Past Time We Break Up The Department Of Homeland Security And Refocus Its Mission On Keeping Our Country Safe And Responding Effectively To Emergencies
Part of his plan disbands both Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection . Matters to do with deportation and enforcement would return to the Department of Justice, while customs matters would be sent to the Treasury and naturalization and citizenship to the State Department.
Instead, border enforcement would focus on “stemming the flow of firearms and drugs at ports of entry that have contributed to the opioid epidemic and stopping human trafficking.”
He would abolish measures such as DNA testing and facial recognition technology for immigration and border enforcement.
For those immigrants, legal or not, who are in the country, Sanders accelerates the call to include ALL in welfare programs and other government services such as health care. Under Sanders, everything is on the table for everyone in the country regardless of immigration status.
The things that Sanders wants to offer independent of immigration status: Medicare-for-all, College-for-all and free universal school meals .
Sanders is also pushing for Congress to pass Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Embrace Act, which opens all welfare programs to all immigrants, legal or not.
Sanders also wants to streamline legal immigration channels, reduce fees, and provide funding to unite immigrants who are stuck in backlogs.
The Republican National Committee on Thursday called the plan “dangerous.”
Devin Nunes Says Gop Majority In The House After 2022 Midterms Could Spell Trouble For New President As Fringe Conservatives Seek Retribution
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Related video: Sean Hannity attacks Trump’s ‘lacklustre, meandering’ impeachment defence
Republicans could face significant pressure to impeach Joe Biden should they win back a majority in the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections, California congressman Devin Nunes has warned.
Speaking to Fox News anchor Sean Hannity on Wednesday night, the Donald Trump loyalist suggested the GOP’s right-wing fringe could use any newfound power in Congress to push for a revenge impeachment against President Biden after his predecessor became the first commander-in-chief in American history to be impeached twice by the House.
“Republicans have a good chance of taking the House in 2022,” Mr Nunes said. “Now, if that happens, and let’s – for example, we don’t know what’s gonna happen to Hunter Biden’s laptop. We don’t know what’s gonna happen with the Durham investigation . But I could see the pressure would become great for us to actually have to impeach Biden.”
“Now look, I don’t want to do that, but you’re going to have people that are going to be saying that,” he added.
His allusion to the computer owned by the president’s son refers to a pre-election story popular among Trump supporters concerning the device being handed over by the owner of a Delaware repair shop to prominent Republican lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Interesting Fact Did You Know Democrats Have Tried To Impeach Every Republican President Since Eisenhower
The site had made the proclamation that the information delivered from the meme shared online was “Mostly False”, but when reading the rationale behind why they made such a claim revealed aspects that erred toward being more truthful. The Snopes article read:
What’s True
Articles of impeachment were introduced against five of the six Republican presidents who have served since President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
What’s False
Articles of impeachment were not introduced against President Gerald Ford; a handful of Democratic politicians filed articles of impeachment against President George H. W. Bush Sr. and President RonaldReagan but their efforts did not receive the backing of the entire Democratic party; and the impeachment efforts against President Richard Nixon received bipartisan support.
So, the infamous debunking website had claimed that this was a mostly false statement since that only five of the six Republican presidents had articles of impeachment brought towards them while in office.
Yet, the real kicker is that they failed to mention that Gerald Ford wasn’t even an elected president and had only stayed in office for slightly over two years.
The circumstances of Ford’s appointment were stemming from the Nixon’s fall from grace and his original vice president resigning over the disgrace of the Watergate scandal. With all the country had been through at that point, impeachment on the appointed president Ford would have been insufferable.
My Father Came To America As A Refugee Without A Nickel In His Pocket To Escape Widespread Anti
Sanders’ plan was written in conjunction with several immigrants who were shielded from deportation by former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
In the plan, he promises to extend legal status to those eligible under the DACA program, as well as to grant relief for their parents. He also promises to use executive authority to allow immigrants who have violated our laws by living in the U.S. for five or more years to stay “free from threat of deportation.”
Sanders wants to provide a “pathway to citizenship” via Congress for all undocumented immigrants living in America — which he says is currently around 11 million — and would ensure that “old or low-level contacts with the criminal justice system” do not prevent illegal immigrants from walking along that path.
As president, Sanders says he would also decriminalize illegal border crossings, instead making it a civil violation. He would also end detention for those without a violent crime conviction.
Upon being sworn in, a President Sanders would halt all deportations until there was a full audit of “current and past practices and policies.”
He would also end the Trump ‘Muslim travel ban,’ as well as other Trump policies such as the Migrant Protection Protocols and defunding of sanctuary cities.
They are called public defenders.
You mean, like the corruption, repression and poverty in Venezuela, caused by the very socialism he wants to bring to America?
Did You Know That Democrats Have Tried To Impeach Every Elected Republican President Since 1960
Threat title:Did You Know That Democrats Have Tried to Impeach EVERY Elected Republican President since 1960?Of course there was no Republican POTUS elected in 1960, because Kennedy was elected. Nor was there one in 1964 when LBJ was elected. 1968 did see a Republican POTUS when Nixon squeaked in, but no impeachment was introduced against him until after the 1972 re-election. And when it was, it was supported from every side. So here already the OP has padded his specious claim by twelve years. And counting. 1976, no Republican, Jimmy Carter elected. Finally in 1980 and 1984, Reagan the Republican elected and re-elected and Henry Gonzalez filed impeachment articles that went nowhere. OP has padded his dates by 27 years. In 1988 HW Bush was elected, Gonzalez again files article, again goes nowhere. 1992 and 1996 was Clinton, who did face impeachment but ruh-roh, he’s not a Republican. So apparently, somebody filed articles against Dubya.The Cliff’s Notes to cut the bullshit.SFX: sound of emptying balloon
“The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible”– Albert Einstein
Gop Sen Collins: Trump Incited An Insurrection To Prevent Peaceful Transfer Of Authority
From CNN’s Clare Foran
GOP Sen. Susan Collins, who was among the Republicans who voted to convict former President Trump, spoke on the Senate floor explaining her vote, saying Trump “incited an insurrection with the purpose of preventing that transfer of power from occurring.”
“Instead of preventing a dangerous situation, President Trump created one. Rather than defend the Constitutional transfer of power, he incited an insurrection with the purpose of preventing that transfer of power from occurring,” she said.
Collins said that Trump’s “actions to interfere with the peaceful transition of power – the hallmark of our Constitution and our American democracy – were an abuse of power and constitute grounds for conviction.”
“The record is clear that the President, President Trump abused his power, violated his oath to uphold the Constitution and tried almost every means in his power to prevent the peaceful transfer of authority to the newly elected President,” she said.
“My vote in this trial stems from my own oath and duty to defend the Constitution of the United States. The abuse of power and betrayal of his oath by President Trump meet the Constitutional standard of high crimes and misdemeanors and for those reasons, I voted to convict,” she said.
Most Senate Republicans Back Measure Saying Trump Impeachment Trial Is Unconstitutional
Dareh Gregorian
Senate Republicans voted Tuesday for a measure that would have declared the impeachment proceedings against former President Donald Trump unconstitutional because he is no longer in office.
The motion, by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was defeated by a vote of 55-45, showing that Democrats have an uphill climb to secure the 67 votes needed for a conviction. Among those who voted for the motion was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has said he is undecided whether to convict Trump and who worked on the trial calendar with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
McConnell, when he was majority leader, rebuffed Democrats’ efforts to hold the trial while Trump was in office.
Senators were sworn for Trump’s second impeachment trial earlier Tuesday, a day after House impeachment managers delivered to the Senate the article of impeachment accusing Trump of incitement of insurrection in the Capitol riot this month.
The senators were given the oath by Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the president pro tempore of the Democratic-controlled Senate.
“Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of Donald John Trump, former president of the United States, now pending, you will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and the laws, so help you God?” Leahy asked the assembled senators.
Leahy is presiding over the trial instead of Chief Justice John Roberts because Trump is a former president.
Stacey Plaskett Addresses Emotional Toll Of Seeing Black Women Used In Trump Defense
“Those 43 who voted to acquit the president did so because they were afraid of him, because they were more interested in party and in power than they were in our country and in duty to their Senate oath,” she added.
Plaskett said Trump “will be forever tarnished” by the impeachment.
“I think it leaves him for all history — our children and my grandchildren will see in history that this was the most despicable despot attempting to become a fascist ruler over a country that was founded in democracy,” she said.
President Biden said the attack on the Capitol “has reminded us that democracy is fragile.” Above, Biden speaks during a visit Thursday to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. Evan Vucci/APhide caption
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President Biden said the attack on the Capitol “has reminded us that democracy is fragile.” Above, Biden speaks during a visit Thursday to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.
President Biden responded to the Senate’s acquittal of Donald Trump on Saturday by reminding Americans that truth must be defended, saying the impeachment of the former president was a stark illustration of the danger posed to democracy by lies, misinformation and extremism.
And Biden said that although Trump was acquitted, his actions in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 insurrection were not “in dispute.”
New Report Suggests Most Scholars Are On The Other Side; Trial Could Start This Week
WASHINGTON—The political fate of President Trump, and any ambitions he might have for reclaiming the White House in 2024, could be settled by who wins a debate over whether a president can be convicted through the impeachment process after leaving office—a matter on which the U.S. Constitution is silent.
The House impeached Mr. Trump last Wednesday for “high crimes and misdemeanors” for conduct culminating with a speech exhorting thousands of his followers to march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol and “fight like hell” against congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
“Thus incited by President Trump, members of the crowd he had addressed…unlawfully breached and vandalized the Capitol, injured and killed law enforcement personnel, menaced Members of Congress, the Vice President, and Congressional personnel, and engaged in other violent, deadly, destructive, and seditious acts,” the impeachment resolution, which won support from 10 Republicans, alleges.
The Senate could take the next steps—trying Mr. Trump and voting on his guilt—as soon as this week. Conviction requires a two-thirds vote by senators present; assuming perfect attendance, 17 Republicans would need to join all 50 Democrats to find Mr. Trump guilty.
Trump Lawyer: His Call To Georgia Officials To ‘find’ Votes Was Taken Out Of Context
Trump’s lawyers largely sidestepped Trump’s false claims of election fraud. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked during the question-and-answer session: “Are the prosecutors right when they claim that Trump was telling a big lie, or in your judgment did Trump actually win the election?”
Trump lawyer Michael van der Veen shot back, “My judgment? Who asked that?”
“I did,” Sanders replied.
“My judgment is irrelevant,” van der Veen said.
“You represent the president of the United States!” Sanders yelled back before Sen. Patrick Leahy, the presiding officer, gaveled the chamber back to order.
Trump’s rhetoric about widespread fraud and a stolen election was false, dismissed by many courts stemming from dozens of lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign and allies across several key states.
After Speaking Out On Impeachment Herrera Beutler Heads Toward Clash With Her Party
“The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president,” he said, “and having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth.”
McConnell rebuked Trump for his actions after the insurrection as well.
“He did not do his job. He didn’t take steps so federal law could be faithfully executed and order restored,” he continued.
“No. Instead, according to public reports, he watched television happily — happily — as the chaos unfolded,” he said. “Even after it was clear to any reasonable observer that Vice President Pence was in serious danger.”
But McConnell said that the process of impeachment and conviction is a “limited tool” and that he believes Trump is not “constitutionally eligible for conviction.”
“The Constitution gives us a particular role. This body is not invited to act as the nation’s overarching moral tribunal,” he said.
He said that the text of the question of constitutionality is “legitimately ambiguous” and that he “respects” his colleagues for reaching either the conclusion to acquit or convict.
Seven Republicans broke ranks with their party in voting for a conviction.
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Michael van der Veen, defense lawyer for former President Donald Trump, gives closing arguments during Trump’s second impeachment trial on February 13, 2021.
Trump’s Defense Closes Its Case By Saying Impeachment Trial Is A ‘complete Charade’
Manager Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado rebutted the defense’s argument that Trump has been denied due process.
“We had a full presentation of evidence, adversarial presentations, motions. The president was invited to testify. He declined. The president was invited to provide exculpatory evidence. He declined. You can’t claim there’s no due process when you won’t participate in the process,” he said.
He noted that impeachment is separate and distinct from the criminal justice system.
“Why would the constitution include the impeachment power at all, if the criminal justice system serves as a suitable alternative once a President leaves office?” he asked. “It wouldn’t.”
Neguse also sought to address an allegation raised by defense attorneys, that the impeachment trial was rooted in hate. He turned to a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
“This trial is not born from hatred,” said Neguse. “Far from it. It’s born from love of country. Our country. Our desire to maintain it. Our desire to see America at its best.”
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On Saturday morning, senators voted to hear from Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler as a witness in the impeachment trial. Later, an agreement allowed a statement by her into the record without calling her.
The Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump won’t be hearing from witnesses after all.
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If Convicted Removal From Office Possible Disqualification From Government Service
If a president is acquitted by the Senate, the impeachment trial is over. But if he or she is found guilty, the Senate trial moves to the sentencing or “punishment” phase. The Constitution allows for two types of punishments for a president found guilty of an impeachable offense: “Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States.”
The first punishment, removal from office, is automatically enforced following a two-thirds guilty vote. But the second punishment, disqualification from holding any future government position, requires a separate Senate vote. In this case, only a simple majority is required to ban the impeached president from any future government office for life. That second vote has never been held since no president has been found guilty in the Senate trial.
Trump Lawyer: His Call To Georgia Officials To Find Votes Was Taken Out Of Context
Trump’s lawyers largely sidestepped Trump’s false claims of election fraud. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked during the question-and-answer session: “Are the prosecutors right when they claim that Trump was telling a big lie, or in your judgment did Trump actually win the election?”
Trump lawyer Michael van der Veen shot back, “My judgment? Who asked that?”
“I did,” Sanders replied.
“My judgment is irrelevant,” van der Veen said.
“You represent the president of the United States!” Sanders yelled back before Sen. Patrick Leahy, the presiding officer, gaveled the chamber back to order.
Trump’s rhetoric about widespread fraud and a stolen election was false, dismissed by many courts stemming from dozens of lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign and allies across several key states.
Mcconnell: Trump Is Practically And Morally Responsible For Provoking Capitol Riot
From CNN’s Adrienne Vogt
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called the Jan. 6 Capitol attack a “disgrace.”
“They did this because they had been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth. Because he was angry. He had lost an election. Former President Trump’s actions preceded the riot were a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty,” McConnell said.
“There’s no question — none — that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it. The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their President,” he added.
McConnell said there were “wild myths” about election fraud, but he said he defended Trump’s right to bring any complaints to the legal system.
“As I stood up and said clearly at that time, the election was settled. It was over. But that just really opened a new chapter of even wilder, wilder and more unfounded claims,” he said. “The leader of the free world cannot spend weeks thundering that shadowy forces are stealing our country and then feign surprise when people believe him and do reckless things.”
Trump “did not do his job” to end the Jan. 6 violence, McConnell said.
McConnell called the Trump defense team invoking Trump’s voters during the impeachment trial “as a human shield against criticism.”
Watch:
Democrats Use Video Of Capitol Attack To Remind Senators Of Purpose Of Impeachment
Senators were brought back to the day of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol when Tuesday’s Senate trial opened with a 13-minute video containing clips from that day, from the president’s exhortation at a rally near the White House that his followers should go to the Capitol to the ensuing attack.
The video included footage of rioters breaking windows and chanting “stop the steal” as they disrupted the process to certify the 2020 presidential election results, falsely believing Trump’s claims that President Joe Biden won due to widespread fraud.
Members of Congress were shown in the video being escorted out. One clip showed the moment a Capitol Police officer shot Ashli Babbitt, the 35-year-old woman who had joined the rioters trying to get into the House chamber.
The clips were followed by Trump’s words on social media, directing the rioters to “go home with love and in peace.”
“Senators, the president was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives on Jan. 13 for doing that. You ask what a high crime and misdemeanor is under our Constitution? That is a high crime and misdemeanor. If that’s not an impeachable offense, then there is no such thing,” said House impeachment prosecutor Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md.
“They don’t need to show you movies to show you that the riot happened here. We will stipulate that it happened, and you know all about it,” he said.
Stacey Plaskett: Trump Trial Needed ‘more Senators With Spines Not More Witnesses’
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and West Virginia GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito both cited constitutional concerns in their decision to vote to acquit Trump.
Virgin Islands House Del. Stacey Plaskett, another impeachment manager, told NPR’s Weekend Edition that they didn’t “reverse course” on witnesses but instead succeeded in adding Herrera Beutler’s statement describing a conversation between House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Trump as the attack was ongoing.
“I know that people have a lot of angst and they can’t believe that the Senate did what they did . But what we needed were senators, more senators with spines, not more witnesses,” Plaskett said.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a close ally of President Biden, reportedly urged House managers to relent on witnesses. He told ABC’s This Week on Sunday that spending “months fighting over witnesses” wouldn’t have been worth it.
“What the House managers needed wasn’t more witnesses or more evidence, what we all needed was more Republican courage,” he said. “This was the most bipartisan verdict in American history, a strong rebuke to President Trump, but frankly at the end of the day, the trial had reached its natural conclusion.”
Seven Republican senators voted to convict Trump, after 10 GOP House members voted to impeach Trump for inciting the mob that breached the U.S. Capitol.
Republican Who Wanted To Destroy Bill Clinton During 1998 Impeachment Has Regrets
A former Republican congressman who led the charge to impeach Bill Clinton in 1998 said he paid a visit to the former Democratic president a few years ago to ask forgiveness for his role in the affair.
“I hated Bill Clinton, wanted to destroy him, asked to be on Judiciary Committee so that I could impeach him,” said Bob Inglis, R-S.C., in an interview on “The Long Game,” a Yahoo News podcast.
Inglis visited Clinton a few years ago at the former president’s office in Harlem, he said, in what he described as a “very interesting” meeting. Inglis informed Clinton that he joined the Judiciary Committee as soon as he was elected to Congress in 1992, the same year Clinton was elected president, with the intent of impeaching him.
“I hated you so much that I wanted to impeach you,” Inglis told Clinton.
Clinton “sort of flinched,” Inglis said. “I said, ‘Yeah, I know you hadn’t done anything yet, but so much did I hate you.”
“I told him that it wasn’t good for my soul, it wasn’t good for the country, for me to have that level of animosity toward him,” Inglis said. “He didn’t say the words that you would hope to hear, which is, ‘You’re forgiven.’ But in every way he has expressed that to me. He’s been very kind to accept the apology for sure.”
Inglis left his seat in Congress in 1998, the same year the Republican-controlled House impeached Clinton, to run for the U.S. Senate. He narrowly lost to Democratic incumbent Sen. Fritz Hollings, who had held the seat since 1966.
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