okay, so i've completed all the school mysteries that amasawa identified as being tied to the professor, and we're about to do the big wrap up, but i'm going to go out on a limb here and say that The Professor is Itokuro. which would be upsetting, but also kind of amazing. i'm putting this here so when i get the reveal in ten minutes the entire internet will know exactly how big of a chump i am.

I like you [/p, unless you're Lumii, in which case /gay gay homosexual very much romantic], have some of my Genshin Impact Modern/College AU headcanons 👉👈

Content warnings: FLUFF!!!! Brief mentions of drugs a few times but no use is described in detail!

—Albedo and Sucrose were lab partners in high-school and they happen to have a few chem classes together, so they stick with who the know. Albedo is majoring in Advanced Chem [probably to be a teacher if I'm being honest] and Sucrose in Bio Chem

—Zhongli is a huge rock nerd, always has been. Geology major, with a minor in history because gramps knows a lot :skull: Hes one of the only archons I can see being a professor tbh

—Itto works at an arcade. Hmm, I wonder where all of his college tuition goes....I'm just kidding, or am I?

—Ajax does criminology, and has a big old interest on true crime cases. He loves listening to podcasts about both solved and unsolved cases

—The Fatui is just a frat house send tweet. No murder in my modern college au >:((((

—All the "teen" characters, like Bennett, Razor, Xingqiu, Chongyun, Collei, etc, they're all high-school students. Upperclassmen [juniors and seniors], like 17-19 years old

—Dori is like, this world's version of Jeffrey Bezos, change my mind

—Venti and Kazuha have done a duet before. Many times, actually. Venti has offered him a spot in his band, to which Kazuha politely declined. He likes the freedom of freelance artistry and doesn't like feeling tied down to something like a band. Also, yes Kazuha sounds like Cigarettes After Sex when he sings fight me just listen to some if their music and you'll understand where I'm coming from. Unless Mark Whitten can sing, in which case, I AM LOOKING MR.WHITTEN ONE OF MY FAVE ENG VAS. Venti's is, ofc, Erika because yes <3

—Cyno, Tignari, and Collei all live together with the former two being roomates and College buddies and Collei being adopted/taken in by them.

—Ayato was the student council president in high school and he's on the college leadership committee

—Ayaka, Yoimiya, and Kokomi are in a poly throuple because they would be cute together let's be honest here

—Ningguang and Beidou are high-school sweethearts and Kazuha is their roomie that they literally just adopted. Like, he settled in and they literally had him sign adoption papers......as an adult 😭😭😭😭

—I personally don't like/use the stoner Kazuha headcanon [but that's mainly because of my trauma with weed] but he does have Tomo's name tattooed on his ankle. He was like an older brother to him and he died in a freak accident

—Miko has to cook, otherwise Ei would burn their shared home down. She literally can't leave Ei alone 💀

—I see Gorou as a paleontologist for some reason. Dunno, just got the vibes

—Nahida was valedictorian in high-school and probably will graduate college with even higher honors than what she got in high-school. Smart bean yes yes

—Teyvat is the name of the college, the 7 nations are the seven areas/halls (like Mondstadt would be the arts hall, Sumeru would be the science hall, Liyue would be history, etc etc)

—Kazuha works as a botanist and is also a freelance musician! His major is Environmental Science and he's definitely an activist

—Heizou definitely goes into a Criminal Justice and Law and he probably has some sort of internship related to that.

—Venti is obviously a music major, like, is that even a question? Of course he's got a and and of course he does gigs.

—Xiao gives me the vibes of a Criminal Justice major too, what with his demon conquering and all. Imaging him and Heizou in a class together omfg-

—Heizou was in a debate club in high school, and he got his team through the championships, winning them first place. He still has the medallion hanging up in his room, along with the picture of his team holding him up as he was holding up the trophy.

—While Heizou has a lot of intellect and intuition, he's not as emotionally intelligent as others. He struggles with communicating and knowing when to stop a joke because he can't take a hint that he's actually being mean and the person doesn't like it 😭 If you've seen TBHK, he's kinda similar to how Hanako was in the Confession Tree episode. He doesn't do it on purpose, but he can be so mean when he's teasing [how did my general Heizou headcanon make it into the modern au batch- oh, well]

—Kazuha scrapbooks and does photography as a hobby, along with his poetry and carving. I also see him doing fencing. High society kid things ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

—Heizou always helps out any of his friends with self defense lessons. He's always looking out for them and making sure they're safe. You can trust him to watch your drink and you best bet that he's caught guys trying to roofie drinks and made sure they regret their life choices <3

—Kokomi and Marine Biology??? Hell YEAH!!! I also can see her being a professional mermaid for a side job. Tbh, that's right up her alley. She's also always got her nose in a book studying, even when she's out on a date with her girlfriends! >:o Put the book down and pay attention to your girlfriends girlie!!!

—All of the anemo users were band and/or kids in high school, come on. It's the trauma that got it written all over them for me💀 No I'm not projecting my feelings as a band kid onto my favorite element sh-shut up-! Chongyun also strikes me as a band kid and Xingqiu a theater kid, and yes he teases Chongyun for being in band

g-ghostic-basil

Hopefully Mayumi hears what unfolded from her brother. It means that if Juu's boss tries to contact them, they would be more resilant to her.

*Meanwhile, at Hope’s Peak*

So he gave you the whole story?

More or less. I just published what was relevant.

-ESUMI MASA: ULTIMATE JOURNALIST- CLASS 76-B-

So who do y’think is gonna take over as commissioner now?

Nobody’s really sure yet. Everyone’s still on edge, trying to sort through everything Kinjo did...

But if you ask me, I think Hideyoshi’s perfect for the job.

I’d certainly trust his leadership.

So then, have you considered what I said?

Yeah. I got the feeling Hope’s Peak was up to something, especially when there were all those accusations with those kids’ parents.

Yeah...I know this is a lot to ask, and it would mean breaking your own NDA, but-

Oh, I threw that out as soon as they gave it to me.

Trust me, Deguchi-san, I’m with you all the way.

Thank you. I really appreciate that.

Yeah! The Steering Committee’s gonna be no match for the 76 Squad!

…Is that what we’re calling ourselves?

What, no good?

We’ll work on it.

So, what’s next?

Well, now that the Police Commissioner position is vacant, there’s likely going to be some kind of new resurgence in activity, either from Hope’s Peak itself, from Kasugano, or from other criminal element. 

I know a few people I need you to keep an eye on while we wait for the position to get filled, alright? And if anything looks strange, let us know.

You got it. Wouldn’t surprise me if someone on either side tried that, especially after all those trials.

So, what about Nakamura? Should I go pay him a visit?

No, no, that’s too risky. We can’t give away anything unless we’re sure he’s planning something.

For now, let’s simply keep an eye on things and learn what we can.

Here’s hoping the rest of the year is peaceful.

I think everyone’s hoping for that.

_____________________________________________________

JUU KINJO: DECEASED KOUHEI SASAKI: RESCUED

MISSION: COMPLETE

Tumblr History Ask meme, No. 30! (An AU where George was never executed but Edward IV still dies at 40, and his sons both die of the plague or sweating sickness, leaving GEORGE to be King of England! what think you? 😆)

Hohoho ho. I have a lot of thoughts on this. Hell I even wrote an entire fictional AU series on AO3 on this topic - you can find it here (please R&R I’m desperate). So yes sorry for the late reply and I really hope you enjoy my usual bursting out in an essay (as per usual). Mwah x

Without speaking about it anymore and spoiling I’ll just answer your ask straight. Ok so George becomes king. Princes dead or not this may still cause issues because technically speaking Elizabeth of York has a stronger claim to the throne (Edward IV recognised the same in 1469 and before presenting her as his true heir presumptive not George).

While on a practical level George would easily be able to hold the throne against Elizabeth of York (who on her own did not command enough support to overthrow Richard III despite the illegitimacy rumours not really being considered as true by most), if Elizabeth married and got a son it would wreak havoc. Everytime King George fails in any way people will look at Elizabeth’s son as an alternative. Sure he could pull a King John I and keep her unmarried under house arrest until the end of her days (what happened to his niece Eleanor of Brittany) but how will he manage to do this will all 5 sisters?

There are many things to consider, for one, George was popular in London and if there was an outspread plague and he gave the princes a state burial I really think people could believe him that they were not murdered. Not to mention under these circumstances, Richard III would be the protector so the blame would fall on him anyway - pretty excellent for George id say. Hell he could even use the kid’s death as some sort of God’s divine judgment propaganda against his brother’s reign. He would need to continue denigrating Edward because his daughters (as explained above) will continue to be an issue. He would most likely continue with the ‘Edward IV was a bastard’ rumour. Otherwise, George could use the ‘by law I’m Lancaster’s heir’ as some sort of further support his reign and why he can overreach his nieces and their sons.

Another question remains ~ is Isabel dead or not? Assuming you mean this is 1483 and she dies, I am certain George would get remarried once he becomes king because while his part in the Mary of Burgundy marriage shamaz remains unclear I think what it shows is that he was more likely than not to want to remarry. This need would further increase if he became king because two young children (only one of which is a boy) is no secure line of succession. George took no decisive steps to get married to Mary upon his brother’s refusal (eg scheming for a dispensation or trying to go abroad) so I will assume that in this timeline George remains unmarried until 1483 and Mary dies in 1482 as canon. Mary (and his sister Margaret behind her) would have gained him great support in keeping the throne, England and Burgundy would have pretty much united (if Edward of Warwick died prematurely and George and Mary’s son became the next king) and England may have become the dominating European power as opposed to the Habsburg empire.

However since Mary is out of question, I can’t think of some other foreign Princess at that time that would have brought with her considerable power. George seems to have had no wish to war with France so that’s nice. I can’t say that Louis XI had great admiration for him but his place in the Picquiny committee (one of the four) implies that France trusted that he would keep the peace. George (mostly because of Warwick) was hated in Burgundy but Margaret clearly would have guided Maximilian (Mary’s real husband who took up control after she died) towards good relations with England and given Maximilian’s support of the York Pretenders in Henry VII’s reign I think he was the type of man who had no strong opinions towards any individual in England so would have been fine with it.

Anything else is difficult to say. George was described by Hicks (who is very very un-pop-history in his biography/PhD thesis of George) as a man ultimately unsuited to his role because of his temperament. His actions even before Isabel’s death do suggest something like that but the way he was after her death (Dec 1476 - May/June 1477) was just so uncharacteristically erratic and one-after-another that many people (including me) think it was him becoming unstabilised by his wife’s death as opposed to a reflection of his general fortitude and decision-making capabilities. So I ask: was it a phase he would have gotten out of by 1483 or was he permanently going to stay this way even if he did get remarried? I don’t think he was mad - certainly not, but a bit perturbed definitely and I don’t know how it would affect some aspects of his reign eg being merciful, pardoning people who’ve done him wrong, giving patronage of influence to his ministers... etc. However, if he did get out of this phase (or at least calmed down a bit by 1483) I think he could have genuinely been a good king. His role as a regional magnate shows him as generous, pious, eloquent, handsome, popular, refined, extremely knowledgeable of the law and good at peace-weaving. On a downside he also seemed inflexible in his approach, disproportionately harsh on certain penalties (eg Poaching), quick to act in certain aspects yet full of procrastinative habits in others, prideful, vengeful, susceptible to flattery, suspicious and with something suggestive of an overly superstitious personality.

Nevertheless, it is one thing to be a baron and another thing to be king. George had become quite detached from the national stage (let alone the international) towards the end of his life so he would have a lot of catching up to do. And as always is the issue with a king coming from the nobility and not the crown directly, there may be factional issues and the Neville affinity might expect certain favours and privelages from him especially since his heir Edward comes from their line. As we know, Neville support for George waned after Isabel’s death but the few that remained would expect great favour from him - this being at odds with those who were in power during Edward IV’s reign eg William Hastings, Anthony Woodville etc. After all, they really saw him as their earl (Rous speaks of him in the same terms as he spoke of his predecessors the Beauchamps).

George would inherit a country full of administrative issues and as much as I believe he was genuinely concerned with ‘the common weale’ and deserved all the praise given to him by his contemporaries, I see him falling into the same trap as Edward IV. Circumstances would likely force him to strengthen the crown’s authority and people would call him a hypocrite for this. Otherwise, he would let himself become a small centre around which others revolve but I don’t know if his pride would allow that either. Nevertheless, I think he would lead England into the ‘renaissance’ culturally. He would continue patronising the printing press, continue with the previous monarchs’ cultural endowments of colleges, churches and such (as he had done in his own lands), he would also share in Edward’s popularity with the city and trade (he gave great privileges to his burgesses says Rous, his permanent retinue had burgesses in them and many other stuff point to him respecting the place of trade) - though he wouldn’t engage in them because (as according to Hicks and others) he didn’t have a good business sense. This could go at odds against him most likely attempting to retain military retention privelages to the barons which in itself was a factor which worked against the development of a early modern state. This is the odd thing about George, in some ways he appears beyond his time and in other behind his time. All we can hope is that Warwick had tried to cultivate him a bit in national leadership and that it stayed with him.

Will he reign peacefully or get deposed? It could go either way but I am certain his reign would be filled with problems. If he gets his own Bosworth (with his niece’s sons or Henry Tudor) I think he would get romanticised as the last Plantagenet king in case of the latter because unlike Richard III he wouldn’t have nephew killing as his issue. A saving grace of George was that he was a master propagandist so I have bit of faith in his posterity and image and I think it could have made his reign flow more smoothly to a degree.

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman may be retired, but she's doing everything she can to make gymnastics safer for young girls who aspire to be the next Aly or Simone.

In 2017, Raisman released her book Fierce, describing the sexual abuse she experienced at the hands of the USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar and in 2018, delivered her powerful testimony at Nassar's 2018 sentencing hearing. (He has since been convicted and has been sentenced to 175 years in prison.) Since then, she's been working to provide young athletes with the abuse-free environment she wishes she had by speaking out against USA Gymnastics and working with organizations like Darkness to Light, the nation's leading advocate for the prevention of child sexual abuse. She's also become a vocal mental health advocate, shedding light on the often silent mental health struggles that survivors of sexual abuse experience.

As an Aerie ambassador since 2018, she has always released collections that are deeply personal, both in design and cause. (In a previous collection, a sports bra was printed with 'Trust Yourself', something Raisman says was hard to do after the abuse she experienced.) Her newest capsule collection, OFFLINE by Aerie x Aly Raisman, available February 26, will be Raisman's third collaboration with the brand that has benefited Darkness to Light.

Ahead of the collection launch, we talked to Raisman about her journey to healing — and why the fight for justice is far from over.

You've been involved with Darkness to Light since 2018. What are they, and you, doing to ensure athletes have abuse-free environments?

I started working with Darkness to Light very soon after I spoke in court a couple of years ago. They actually reached out after they saw all of us speak and it's just been really incredible to be able to learn from them. I've taken the course that they have and I really believe in it. It's something I wish that every single adult took because if we want to prevent child sexual abuse, we have to have the adults educated — we can't expect the children to know something's wrong. One of the things we're working on is the Flip the Switch campaign, which offers training for free because we recognize trying to convince adults to take training is hard, especially when it's about sexual abuse. A lot of people don't want to talk about it or think about it. So the collaborations with Aerie are so amazing because it donates a lot of money to the campaign and allows people to take this training for free, which is so important.

Simone Biles said in a recent 60 Minutes interview that she wouldn't feel comfortable with her future daughter being part of USA gymnastics because she's not confident the abuse won't happen again. Do you feel the same?

I've thought a lot about this question and, you know, I realized it's not the sport [that's the problem]. I love gymnastics so much and it has brought me so many incredible lessons and friendships and so many amazing experiences. So it's not the sport, it's the corrupt system — that's the problem. It's the organization, it's the people that enable these things to happen. And so you know, I agree with Simone that USA gymnastics, the United States Olympic Committee, haven't done what we've been asking them to do to ensure this doesn't happen again. A really important thing that has not been done that we've been asking for for years is: We want answers. It's so important to have an independent investigation because you can't say that things are better if we don't understand who knew exactly what, when, how this happened and what [aspects] of the system were flawed or corrupt that allowed this to go on for so long. And it's really important for us to understand that for us to be able to believe in a better USA gymnastics. And they still haven't done that. In fact, I feel like they're still trying to get away from acting like they did anything wrong, which is not okay.

I also think it's important to recognize that the way survivors feel can be greatly impacted by how their abuse is handled or not handled. Ours has been really poorly handled. So it really impacts survivors because this has been going on for so long and we're still having to talk about it in interviews because nothing has changed. It's always triggering when you have to talk about it; when you see things in the news about it. It's taking years and years and years, when it should not, it shouldn't be like that.

You've been outspoken about the anxiety and PTSD you've experienced as a result of your experience and you've also been a big mental health advocate these past few years. What do you want people to know about the healing process and what has that looked like for you as of late?

The last couple of months I'm starting to feel a little bit more like myself, but I have, you know, ups and downs just like everyone else. Healing isn't one size fits all and every day I feel differently. Some days I feel calmer and other days I feel triggered by the smallest things. I still get triggered often, but I think that's normal when there's so much trauma that I've experienced. I'm trying to take it day by day, but multiple times a week I will spend time writing in a journal and talking to an expert, and just really working on myself, but it's a process.

But I'm also hoping to help educate people that healing takes a long time and abuse isn't something that you just suffer in the moment; it can really carry on with you. And I think a really important thing for people to understand is that survivors being supported and heard and believed is really, really crucial to their healing because when you've gone through abuse, there's often so much gaslighting. There's a lot of manipulation. It's really can be very confusing. You start to second-guess your own thoughts. You start to feel like you can't trust yourself anymore. You don't know what's right. I just hope that we get to a point one day where when a survivor shares their story publicly, people understand that you can't know what anyone else is going through. We just have to be compassionate.

You recently partnered with Woodward gymnastics camp, which you actually attended when you were younger, to help with their program and also champion a safer environment for the campers. All staff will undergo Darkness to Light training, but how else are you helping to create a different experience for this next generation? I imagine mental health is much more of a conversation.

We want the kids to have fun and recognize that they're more than just an athlete, whether it's a gymnast or a skateboarder or whatever they come to camp for. It's also important to recognize that when the kids come to camp, they may be struggling with, you know, being bullied back home or maybe they're having trouble with something going on at home or at their gym. So we want to give tools to help kids so that they really trust their gut, and empower them to ask questions. I wish I asked more questions growing up. I'm trying to learn from the things I wish I had when I was younger by talking to other survivors or other athletes.

I definitely think the [mental health] conversation is getting so much better — I have seen a shift even in the way I feel talking about [mental health]. In the first interview I did a couple of years ago talking about anxiety and depression, I felt really embarrassed and now I don't feel like that at all. If anything, it feels freeing. I know that so many people are experiencing it, so it just feels nice to be able to connect with people and it makes it a little easier to navigate because I don't feel like I'm suffering alone.

Some people are saying that it's a new era for gymnastics right now; there are all of these fun routines going viral and it's more joy-filled and less uptight. What's your take on that?

I'm not competing anymore so it's hard to say, but I think it's so great to see the collegiate gymnasts and how their routines, I mean, they look like they're having so much fun. I think that it's sort of like anything else — of course, there are a lot of gymnasts that might be enjoying themselves and may feel like there are certain parts of [the sport] that are better. But there are also a lot of collegiate gymnasts that have spoken out in the last few years about different types of abuse, including verbal abuse. And it's the same with the elite world — there are some coaches that I hear from the gymnasts that are great, and certain coaches that aren't. So, it's hard to generalize, but overall, it's really nice to see. There was so much about abuse, and we're so grateful for the support, but I think it's also really great for the fans to see gymnasts having fun as well.

But again, it's important that we also recognize that the leadership still at USA gymnastics is not doing the right thing. They need to investigate and they have to be transparent about what happened and why it happened. In fact, Darkness to Light had been working with USA Gymnastics for about six years. And they said they weren't doing the things they were suggesting and so they decided not to work with them anymore — they just want to put out a press release [and be done with it]. You can look at their press statements that they put out now and they're very similar to what they were decades ago. It's just a lot of the same talk, but no action behind it.

A kinda sorta Christmas valentine (branjie) - writworm42

A/N:  Started this during Christmas, it became something so much bigger than it was supposed to be, wound up finishing it on Valentine’s day. Funny coincidence, huh?

Thank you Holtz for beta-ing <3 <3 <3 Title from Christmas Valentine (lots of versions but the one that inspired this was Ingrid Michaelson & Jason Mraz).

Vanessa misses the summer.

When she looks out the window of her classroom she sees blankets of white, heavy flurries that still coming down, until nothing is particularly distinguishable from anything else on the ground. She can already tell that it’s going tol be freezing outside; never mind the fact that the heat in the school has been broken for pretty much the entire season, or that her winter coat is still wet from a slip and fall chasing some of her kids down at recess.

Just two more handwriting sheets left for Vanessa to grade (if you could call it grading, really–when you teach kindergarten, if a letter looks even vaguely like the one it’s supposed to, you praise the Lord and call it a day), and she’ll be free. Granted, transit is going to be a disaster in this weather, but even time sandwiched between fifteen strangers is better than freezing in a chalk-dusted, paint-smeared tin can that she’s spent almost eleven hours total in today.

Vanessa would have been done a lot sooner if she’d just brought the past week’s worth of grading home with her. But Riley has taken to chewing up anything he can get his greedy little paws on lately, and so the safer choice these days is to just leave things at her desk.

It doesn’t really explain why Vanessa’s left it all for a Friday night, but it’s not important. What matters is that she’s on her last sheet, and there’s a bottle of red wine and leftover Chinese in the fridge at home.

Vanessa files the last sheet away with a triumphant flourish, grinning to herself as she shimmies into her coat and gathers up her things.

The school halls are a ghost-town. It’s not entirely unexpected - even though it’s only the second week of December, things are beginning to wind down in anticipation of the holiday break. The committee meetings, late-night grading, and clubs have started to slow down significantly. Coupled with the heating situation and, well, there’s really no motivation for staff or students to stay at the school this late.

Still, there’s something eerie about the silence that greets Vanessa as she walks down the hall, her runners scuffing against the unwaxed floor (thanks to a janitorial strike, there’s a little extra grit catching in her shoes today, but hey, they really do get underpaid, so she doesn’t mind).

Almost like it’s taunting her, driving in the fact that she really is alone here.

Vanessa doesn’t have time to ruminate on it, though. Right now, she has to get home to Riley and her dinner, the Dr. Phil reruns on her PVR to help her forget the strange feeling of being alone at school after dark.

She reaches the front door and pauses for a moment to bring her hand back into her sleeve, effectively creating a sort of glove for herself before laying her hand on its frigid metal push-bar. She’s about to brace herself to actually touch it when suddenly, a pale hand darts into her field of vision, beating her to the punch.

“Oh.” Vanessa looks up to see a tall blonde woman smiling at her, green eyes not quite meeting her own and shy blush spreading on the woman’s face. “Hey, Vanessa.”

Brooke Lynn Hytes.

Vanessa’s heart skips a beat.

Brooke is the other kindergarten teacher at the school, and while she’s popular with her students and parents, she’s become controversial in the teacher’s lounge, for lack of a better word. At first it had been a sort of confusion, an inability of the other staff to make heads or tails of the woman. Whenever she had been around her kids, she was alive and outgoing, pulling faces and making exaggerated gestures and teaching them with an expert rapport. But in the teacher’s lounge, she had been well, cold wasn’t the way to put it. She was always friendly, and kind, but shy and reserved, almost flat, in a way. Didn’t talk much, except in meetings, when she was so overly-perfect with her notes and posture that it had been intimidating just to look at her. Often shirked social opportunities, giving some kind of excuse that no one could tell the actual truth of. A bit of a mystery. Still, people had put up with her most of the time, because she’s good at her job and doesn’t cause any problems.

Until this year.

Scrooge Lynn Hytes . The nickname rings in Vanessa’s ears as she thinks back to last week, all the talk about Christmas crafts and the big holiday concert. Brooke had simply shrugged and said that her class wouldn’t be participating in the concert, and at the current moment, not a single paper Santa or even a crepe-paper menorah hung in her doorway. No one really asked her why she was abstaining - still, the fact that she didn’t spontaneously offer an explanation seemed to tick people off, and so the other teachers had become as cold to her as they often perceived her to be towards them.

She thinks she’s above it.

She teaches kindergarten but won’t let any kids have fun.

Why is she working with kids if she can’t even let them make some letters to Santa? I gave her a template for one and she refused.  

Ridiculous.

It’s easy enough to believe, if one listens to the rumours often enough and don’t know Brooke much more than the talk they’ve heard about her.

Only the thing is, Vanessa has trouble accepting it.

Since they teach the same grade, Vanessa often works with Brooke closer than other teachers. They spend time during lunches and after school planning lessons, check in with each other, and make sure their curriculums and approaches are in sync. Learning from each other and helping each other out. And in all of that, Vanessa can tell that she and Brooke actually have a lot in common. Like how much they love their kids, and how they love seeing the bright colours and patterns on every backpack, sweater, and running shoe that the older kids slowly stop sporting as they move towards grade five. How they were both dance majors in college, then went back to school to study teaching. How they both follow pageants, and how neither of them can stop their heads from bobbing or lips from moving softly when Rihanna is playing in the staff lounge. How they both love to teach through crafts, songs, and movement more than any other kinds of activities, and how they both like to include equity and leadership in their curriculums.

And then there are the things that make them a little different, the things that make Brooke completely unique and utterly unforgettable. Like how her voice rises about five octaves when she’s excited, or how she decorates every corner of her classroom with cat posters that are almost always new every year. How she has a dry, sarcastic sense of humour, and makes jokes that could easily be taken seriously, if you aren’t looking at her face to check for the wry smile and expectant eyes she always flashes at her audience while waiting for them to laugh. How she drinks black coffee like it’s water, and will tell kids to spit out their gum while actively chewing three pieces to mask the smell of espresso and cigarettes on her breath.

How she’s funny, and kind, and genuine, even if she can be quiet and neurotic and pragmatic to a fault.

Vanessa knows that there’s more to Brooke than the other teachers allow themselves to believe. And maybe it’s that mystery, or maybe it’s all the things she does know about Brooke, but either way, Vanessa can’t stop thinking about her. How pretty she is. How smart she is. How she wishes she had reached the door just a bit faster, so that there might have been even the smallest chance that their hands would meet.

“Hey, Miss Brooke.” Vanessa settles for a little smile and a light tone of voice instead, and even though it breaks her heart to see how Brooke lights up at the kindness, it also warms her to see the other woman smile.

“You’re here late.” Brooke blushes as she says it, almost as if she’s afraid it’ll be rude, and Vanessa suppresses a smile. Cutie.  

“I left some grading until the last minute.” She shrugs. “How come you’re here this late, you a slacker too?”

To Vanessa’s relief, Brooke laughs, and not a nervous or forced laugh, either—it’s loud and genuine, one she doesn’t hide behind her hand or try to keep quiet.

“I was decorating.” Brooke shakes her head, still chuckling a little bit. But her smile fades when she looks back at Vanessa, and Vanessa suddenly realizes that she must look as surprised as she feels at the words.

“God, you don’t actually listen to Barb and those rumours, do you?” Brooke rolls her eyes, and it breaks Vanessa’s heart to see how there’s a flash of hurt on her face, a sudden hardness to her voice. “I’m working on shit with my class, it’s just winter-themed, not holiday. Pisses Barb and her library posse off, and suddenly I’m the pariah of Charles Elementary.”

“Oh.” Vanessa’s heart sinks, a feeling of guilt and regret clawing at her chest, tightening her throat. “I didn’t—Shit, I’m sorry, Brooke, I didn’t know. And I shoulda asked.”

The apology seems to reassure Brooke, or at the very least placate her, because a little bit of light returns to her eyes, and she finally meets Vanessa’s gaze.

“It’s alright, Ness.” Vanessa’s heart practically leaps at the nickname, her previous faux pas left behind by her mind as Ness echoes through it. It’s a nickname only Brooke ever uses, one that Vanessa likes to think carries warmth and affection in its one syllable. If anyone else has a nickname for Vanessa, it’s Vanjie or Vanj, a throwback to her days teaching in the inner-city. But no one calls her Ness except Brooke. And Brooke has no nicknames for anyone except Vanessa.

“Say, it’s really coming down out there–you want a ride home?” Brooke stares through the thick sheets of snow falling outside, squinting as she scans the front entrance and parking lot.

Brooke’s right - even in the maybe twenty minutes that have passed since Vanessa last looked out the window, the snow has intensified an alarming amount. Now, it’s coming down so hard that Vanessa practically can’t see through it, the flurries spinning fast in what she guesses must be some pretty bad winds. The ground, from what she can see, is glistening with packed snow and ice, stuff that probably comes up to her ankles as far as she can tell.

“Yeah,” she shudders, “A ride sounds great.”

It’s probably just her, but Brooke seems to light up at the response a little, seems to have a little extra spring in her step as she leans her weight against the door to force it open.

Then again, if the way her heart is practically dancing in her chest as she follows Brooke out is an indicator of anything, she might just be projecting.

“Holy fuck.” They trudge up to Brooke’s car only to find it buried in snow, a thick wall weighing down on its roof and windshields. The wind has clearly swept more snow onto Brooke’s car than just what’s falling, and even underneath it, there’s a sheet of wet, windswept snow that covers the ground.

“I can help you brush it all off, if you want.” Vanessa offers, and she swears the rosy blush that appears on Brooke’s cheeks is from more just than the cold.

“No, that’s okay.” Brooke shakes her head. “I have a brush in the car– Fuck. ”

“What?” Vanessa shuffles as fast as she can without slipping over to where Brooke is struggling with her door handle, grunting with frustration and and effort as she pulls with increasing strength. But it’s useless - Vanessa can see even standing just beside Brooke that the door handle is frozen over in its place, unmoving.

“Maybe if I just stay with my hand on it it’ll warm up…” Brooke starts, and that’s when Vanessa notices Brooke’s hands.

It’s not the first time Vanessa’s been fixated by Brooke’s hands. It’s not creepy–at least, she tells herself it’s not, because she doesn’t spend time thinking about what she wants them to do, she doesn’t, not that much, anyway. It’s more of a fascination, yet another thing about Brooke that Vanessa finds she can’t get out of her head. How graceful they are, and poised, how they work so efficiently and with such fine dexterity, never shaking or tripping up. How the skin seems so smooth on them, save for the veins that pop up and trace ridges and rivers over her tendons, strong and twisted and just a little blue through her pale complexion. How they fly up to comb through her hair when she’s nervous or thinking hard, how they clap and ball into excited fists when she laughs especially hard.

Now, though, all Vanessa can notice is how red and raw they seem. Because despite the terrible weather, despite how dry and frigid the air is and how searingly cold the metal car door handle must be, Brooke’s hands are completely bare.

“Oh my God, Brooke, don’t–C’mere, okay?” Vanessa doesn’t think twice before surging forward to grab Brooke’s hands in her own, rubbing the frozen fingers between her glove-clad hands and bringing them close to her mouth to blow on them a little.

Close enough to kiss, and fitting well enough into her palms to keep holding onto them forever.

Oh, God.

“I’m sorry, I–” A wave of horror washes through Vanessa as she realizes the implications of what she’s done, how intimate the action actually is, and she tries to retract her hands, but Brooke stops her, grabbing onto her hands and pulling them close again despite the nervous way she blushes and bites her lip.

“It’s okay.” Brooke smiles just a little, and Vanessa’s heart speeds up even as her anxiety subsides. “Thank you.”

They stay like that for a moment. Silent, their eyes flitting between each other and elsewhere, only catching each other’s gazes for a moment before breaking it. And maybe it’s just Vanessa, but the air seems to change for a moment, becoming warmer, thicker. Like something is growing in it, words waiting to be said and actions ready to be taken, if only one of them would move first.

Brooke is the first to break the suspense, shifting on her feet and dropping Vanessa’s hands far too soon.

“Let’s head back inside.” Brooke suggests. “I’ll call a tow truck and we can warm up a bit while we wait.”

It’s strange–as frigid as it is outside, and as much as the snow pelts them as they trudge back to the school, Vanessa can’t help but feel a little warmer as they go.

–

“They said it’ll be about two hours because of the weather.” Brooke emerges from the principal’s office about five minutes later, hands finally back to their normal hue as she slides her cell back into her coat pocket. “Apparently there’s lots of accidents right now, and that’s before they even start trying to get to us.”

Vanessa shivers thinking about all the people out on the road who haven’t been so lucky as to have their car physically stop them from trying to get anywhere. People who might have careened out of control, hit other people, skid right off the road and wound up in a ditch, trapped upside down and stuck waiting for help. Buses at a stand-still for fear of losing control, and routes cancelled because a busload of people being injured or worse just isn’t worth getting home in time for your TV program.

Suddenly, being stuck at the school doesn’t seem so bad, even if the heat is broken, the hallways are far too quiet for comfort, and there’s nothing much to do.

“Vanessa?” She snaps back to reality when she hears Brooke’s voice again, edged with a bit of concern.

“Huh?”

“I said, do you want to wait in my classroom? I have a space heater, I brought it from home last week ‘cause my kids were cold.”

Vanessa doesn’t answer, only charges down the hall in the direction of Brooke’s room, Brooke’s laughter echoing down the hall as she follows close behind.

Vanessa’s enthusiasm is only increased tenfold when she reaches the classroom and moves aside for Brooke to unlock the door. There’s an illustration of children skiing plastered over the door’s window, and when the door finally swings open, Vanessa is knocked off her feet by the sight of the room inside.

Brooke’s classroom is nothing short of a winter wonderland. It’s clear that the kids have been working hard, probably since even before December, and every decoration, every craft, seems to have a theme. In lieu of the construction-paper alphabet that usually lines Brooke’s walls, there’s a glittery string of winter-themed words, Achoo, Brrrr, Cold, and December tracing a path leading from the front of the class all the way to the door. The kids have drawn and their own mitten-shaped nameplates, leaving a rainbow of hands on every table. The windows are covered in paper snowmen and cotton-ball hills. And at the very front, attached to the chalkboard, is a poster of numbers up to 20, only instead of apples or stars, there’s clumsily-cut snowflakes that sparkle with silver glitter.

“Brooke, this is…” Vanessa trails off, unable to quite find the right word to describe it. Beautiful , maybe, or amazing. Wonderful. Jaw-dropping. Incredible.

“Holy shit.” Her words land there instead, but from the way Brooke beams at the praise, it seems that they’ve more than conveyed how Vanessa feels.

“You really like it?” Brooke brushes a piece of hair back behind her ear, blushing, and Vanessa’s heart almost breaks at how the blonde’s voice wavers, sounds so hopeful and yet still unconvinced.

She takes a deep breath, then takes a chance.

“I love it.” Vanessa grabs Brooke’s hand, still cold and red, squeezes it gently, barely holds back from bringing it to her lips.

That’s not what this is about. No matter how badly Vanessa wants it to be.

“Thank you.” Brooke breathes, and for a moment, Vanessa wonders if the look in Brooke’s eyes, the sparkle and warmth that it sends over to Vanessa, means what she thinks it does. Hopes it does.

But at the last minute, her fear comes crashing back in, and so she looks away, blushes, drops Brooke’s hand and takes a step back before she notices anything is up.

“So, um…” Vanessa scrambles for something else to say, something to fill the silence, but nothing comes to mind.

Well, something does, but she regrets it the minute she blurts it out.

“How come you won’t let your kids participate in the school concert?”

This time, it’s Brooke who takes a step back, and when Vanessa feels her face grow hot, it’s with a whole different kind of embarrassment, one that makes her want to disappear. Brooke doesn’t look hurt, per se, or even upset—just disappointed, somehow.

Fuck . Perfect, absolutely perfect. Vanessa had created a perfect moment with a beautiful woman, and now she’d ruined it.

“Brooke—“

“No, it’s okay.” Brooke sighs. “That’s just—it wasn’t what I thought you’d say, is all.”

It takes a few moments for the words to sink in, for their implication to come together in Vanessa’s mind. But by the time they do, it’s too late for Vanessa to dwell on them, to ask what Brooke thought she would say, if she was right about it.

“I didn’t stop them,” Brooke shakes her head. “They chose not to. Those two girls who are Jehovah’s wouldn’t have been allowed to participate, and when they told their friends, the whole class agreed and told me quite firmly that they didn’t want to do the concert if Jane and Annie couldn’t.”

“Oh.”

Vanessa’s an idiot, an absolute idiot. She should have known that Brooke would give her class a choice like that, respect their decision and accept their reasoning. She should have known that Brooke’s kids would propose doing something like skipping a concert to show solidarity with friends, because that’s the kind of kindness and acceptance that Brooke teaches her kids. She should have known that this is all something Brooke would not only allow, but encourage, because she herself would do the same.

“You’ve done a great job with your kids, you know that?” Brooke blushes at Vanessa’s compliment, a shy, excited smile growing on her face, and Vanessa can’t help but smile too. “Seriously—I’m… I’m sorry for believing the rumours, Brooke. You’re amazing, and you care more than any teacher I know.”

She looks up at Brooke, hoping to see the hurt dissolved from her face, but instead, when the blonde looks back at her, she’s biting her lip, chewing back that soft, brilliant smile Vanessa would give anything to see again.

“Can I show you the craft I’m gonna give my kids tomorrow?”

Vanessa’s heart speeds up, and she nods. It’s not just that Brooke is creative and a good teacher, and so Vanessa knows it’ll be a good craft. It’s that somehow, seeing something Brooke is still planning, something that makes her eyes light up despite the hesitation on her face, feels special. Like Vanessa is special. Like she’s important enough, safe enough, liked enough by Brooke for the blonde to open up to her.

It’s not easy for Brooke to do that, Vanessa knows, so the fact that she gets to be someone Brooke lets her down around is an opportunity she’s incredibly grateful for.

“I’d love to.”

Brooke lets out one of her famous happy-claps, and Vanessa feels like her heart might explode–but before it can, Brooke is leading her over to her desk, rooting through one of the doors before slapping sheets of handwriting paper down on its surface.

“Letters to loved ones.” Brooke announces proudly. “I’ve been telling my kids, winter is a time to do good deeds, ‘cause letting people know you love them warms both you and them up from the inside out.”

Vanessa isn’t sure why she does what she does next. Maybe it’s the lighting in the room, the way it glows a soft orange while still warming up, still not taking on its full fluorescent glow. Maybe it’s the snow outside, stirring some kind of romanticism within her that makes her want to get close. Or maybe it’s Brooke’s words and the meaning her voice carries when she says them, the implication they might hold.

Maybe it’s just the way Brooke’s eyes stare back at her, green and bright and shining with passion, admiration, and some kind of softness that holds a potential Vanessa is dying to explore.

All Vanessa knows is that in one breath, one moment, one flash of impulse and adrenaline, she makes her move.

“Want to write one for ourselves?” Vanessa asks, the question coming out so quickly she’s not even sure Brooke hears it. “Or, like, for someone else, I mean, but like, we write it?”

It might be just Vanessa, but there seems to be a gleam of understanding that lights up in Brooke’s eyes, and she nods shyly, blushing a little as her eyes glide to the floor.

“I’ll get out some pens.”

Vanessa writes in red and Brooke in black, both huddled on the floor in front of the space heater so close that their shoulders are practically touching. It makes Vanessa’s already-difficult task harder, but maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe if Brooke looks over her shoulder, sees what she’s writing, Vanessa won’t talk herself out of writing what’s really in her head.

Dear Brooke,

From the first time I met you, I knew we’d get along. And the more I got to know you, the more special you became to me. Your creativity, humour, and intelligence have always impressed me, but it’s your kindness, empathy, and quiet determination are what truly dazzle me. You love your kids so much you’ll bear any hurt on their behalf, and you love your job with a passion I wish more of the staff still had.

I can’t take my eyes off you, because your spirit burns so bright there’s nothing I’d rather watch.

I  

Vanessa stops, her breath catching in her throat.

She can’t do it. No matter how much she wants to, she can’t say the words that her heart wants to scream. Because it’s not right, not fair to put Brooke in that position, and because if Brooke doesn’t return Vanessa’s feelings, then she doesn’t know if she can survive the heartbreak.

Vanessa is just about to cross out her last sentence when Brooke interrupts her, triumphantly announcing that she’s done before folding the paper in half and handing it over to Vanessa.

“Oh.” Vanessa feels a sinking in her chest, half hope and half preparing herself for the worst. There’s no way Brooke could return her feelings. No way she could write anything close to what Vanessa has. It’s not been enough time; if Brooke was going to write that she loved Vanessa, she would have taken more time.

Wouldn’t she?

“Um, you don’t have to read it now, if you don’t want to.” Brooke’s courage fades as the moments pass, Vanessa still unsure of what to say, what to do. “You read it later, or just throw it out, if you want…”

Vanessa whips open the letter without another moment’s hesitation.

Vanessa,

I’m not great at opening up, you know that. But you make me want to change that. You make me want to yell and laugh and clap and get excited. You make me want to be with you all the time, just so I can see you smile and smile back at you.

You might not feel the same way, in which case I’m going to be embarrassed and probably not going to be able to look you in the eye for a while. In that case, I hope you’re as patient with me as you always are.

Point is, I can’t say I love you yet, because even though I think I do, we aren’t together, so I don’t know for sure.

But I want to say it. Want to find out if I do for certain.

If you want to find out too, let me know?

XOXO,

Brooke  

“I’m–I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have–”

But Brooke’s stammering is cut off at the pass, because fuck it, why write anything in a letter when Brooke is right there, eyes hopeful and lip worried raw from biting? Why wait, when Brooke is still wearing her coat and Vanessa’s heart is pounding and there’s a perfect moment right in front of her?

She grabs Brooke by the lapels of her coat before she can stop herself, and pulls the blonde in for a kiss.

Brooke tastes like mint and cigarettes, her lips soft but commanding and body melting into Vanessa’s every touch, and in that moment, the room feels incredibly warm.

–

“They’re here!” Brooke hangs up her phone excitedly, announcing the news like it’s the best she’s heard all day. And it is, in a way–the tow truck has arrived, and they’re going to take Vanessa and Brooke home. At the same time, though, Vanessa can’t help but feel a sinking disappointment in her chest.

The tow truck has arrived to take Brooke and her home, which means that their time together is coming to a close.

The two of them had spent the remainder of the two hours together giggling and kissing and talking, the air between them lighter and filled with almost schoolgirl-like nerves and excitement. In-between embraces, they had laid in front of the heater and talked about everything under the sun, the ice between them fully broken at last as they chatted about shows they were watching, music they listened to, funny things their pets had done recently. By the time Brooke had received the tow truck company’s call, they had agreed that Vanessa had to come meet Brooke’s cats, and that Brooke would definitely need to play with Vanessa’s dog in turn.

It’s a promise that still makes Vanessa’s heart soar, one she can’t wait to realize.

“You’re not excited to get out of here?” Brooke frowns as she tosses Vanessa her coat, no doubt noting the disappointment and hesitation that Vanessa is sure she’s showing on her face.

“No, I am, it’s just–”

But before Vanessa can finish her sentence, Brooke has crossed the room again to embrace her, pull her close and tip her chin up to plant a comforting kiss on her lips.

“Let me take you out this weekend, yeah?” Brooke soothes, but her face is genuine, if not a little nervous, as if Brooke is actually doubtful that Vanessa wouldn’t jump at the chance to go on a date with her. “We can keep this going, keep getting to know each other. Without being, you know, snowed in at work.” She winks, and Vanessa giggles, nodding.

“Now, come on, Ness.” Brooke grins as they separate, sneaking in one last kiss before they do. “Our chariot awaits.”

camp camp oc building stuff

i’m currently going through some art block but i thought it’d be interesting if i gave more depth to the camp camp OCs i made for my high school au. Since I felt that they’re pretty one-noted from the introduction that I gave to them.

*lmao i’m gonna use proper punctuation for this*

Willow

Her first name is actually Rosanna while Willow is simply her middle name (that Max had actually come up with). The reason why she’s referred to as Willow is because Max didn’t like how similar his siblings names were and only called his little sister by her middle name, and it practically stuck with everyone.

Though David sometimes call Willow his “little rosebud”

Willow heavily looks up to her older brother and admires his adventurous spirit.

She looks up to Nikki for the same exact reasons, and Nikki does have a fondness for her because of how they have similar personalities.

Oh, she totally ships Max with Nikki and is convinced they’ll get married.

Rowan

Gwen and David debated on what his first name should be, Jasper or Louis. It wasn’t until Max had given his parents a new tree sapling in their backyard, a rowan tree sapling.

His middle name then ended up being Louis (which, if you haven’t seen it yet-- in this AU, Gwen’s dad dies before her pregnancy)

Like how Willow is more close to Nikki, Rowan formed a friendship with Neil. He is intrigued with all of the science experiments that Max talks about and Neil is more than happy to have Rowan as his “little apprentice”

He inherited his hoodie from Max, though it’s too big for him right now.

Meli

Her mother is a therapist-- she’s actually Nurf’s therapist. And her dad is a college professor. Both are constantly working and it didn’t help that she was awkward and reserved, so she had a lonely and boring childhood.

She then joined a lot of extra curricular activities to not only look good for college applications but to keep herself busy.

Her favorite activity is Theatre because of how that gives her an opportunity to hang out with Nurf and Preston. Though she does hate how rude the cast members can be towards her (this comes from my own experience since i used to do theatre, i was an actor but since i never had a huge role, i always helped out stage crew and let me say, actors can be so rude. at least the ones that i knew.)

Meli actually can sing well but she’s way too nervous to perform in front of others, so she sticks to what she knows. And I personally think her singing voice would sound similar to Clairo.

Her least favorite activity is Student Council-- mostly because of horrid leadership by both the teacher running it and Celine being very stubborn and aloof. She’s only in it in hopes of her voice having some sort of impact in the future.

Celine

First things first-- how the fuck does Jacob and Bonquisha have an 18-year-old daughter? Well, Jacob does. There’s no confirmed age for him, so I’d say that he’s 35 as of the AU. He and Celine’s biological mother,  were teen parents. Bonquisha is simply her step-mother.

Celine was in her mother’s custody (she got to see her dad on the weekends though) up until her mother died.

She is a lesbian. Though she’s not too open with her sexuality-- that’s not to say she has internalized homophobia, she’s not ashamed of her sexual identity by any means! The thing is that because of how she isolate herself, no one really knows her interests. Only her high-achieving ambition and unapproachable nature.

While also being in Student Council, also made room for being in the Broadcasters Club (which is connected to the School News Committee). Coincidentally, Max is in that club as well and they’re often put to work together, which is a recipe of disaster.

The only person she considers as an acquaintance is Hwan-- they only know each other because of how similar their schedules are and whenever there has to be partner work, they choose to work together.

She has a job! Celine works at the town’s local grocery store and she hates it, but it pays off. 

Liz

Similar to Meli, Liz lived in a lonely household. Her mom is a pilot while her father is in the air force. She was also an only child.

Luckily, she was able to make a handful of friends with her friendly and bubbly nature. In fact, she had befriended Colin during their youth.

But because of how she had no siblings, she dreams of having multiple children so they wouldn’t have to go through the same thing.

She only joined Marching Band to hang out with Colin and she quickly loved doing Color Guard.

Liz is a prodigy and in fact takes all advanced core classes. She has an interest for science-- chemistry to be specific. This passion of her did spark a one sided rivalry between her and Neil.

She doesn’t have a job because of how school takes up most of her time.

Despite her general positive attitude, Liz is constantly stressed with the life she’s given to herself. Especially with sending in college applications and moving on to the next stage of her life.

She likes to call Petrol, “Steph” or “Stephie.” While Petrol calls her “Lizzie” or “Liz Bug” during the rare occurrences he talks.

Liz is a talented singer and is in advanced choir along with Space Kid-- who is her closest friend in that choir. Also I think her voice would sound similar to Egg/My Life is a Yolk

Her Aunt is Charity (Cute Waitress) and is considerably close with her as Charity typically looked after Liz during her childhood whenever her parents were at work.

Colin

Colin is only raised by his mom after his dad unexpectedly them when he was only a child. Her mother works at Sleepy Peak’s Thrift Store.

As a kid, he often hung out with his mom and it was there were he discovered the majority of his interests. He played with the instruments there and dressed up in all of the clothes he thought looked “neat” and “groovy”

He started playing the saxophone because it was the only instrument that his mom allowed him to bring home (yes, she let him take it without paying for it... it was only played and used by Colin so it didn’t really harm anyone)

Colin can also play the piano and typically played with the one at Liz’s house when they became friends.

In middle school, Colin grew a crush on Liz but it didn’t last. He never told her about this past crush.

He realized that he was bisexual during Band Camp when he started getting flustered around a boy who was in the same section as him.

The only reason he decided to become the drum major was because no one else wanted to get that role.

Outside from his friendship with Liz, he’s well acquainted with Jermy (because of marching band) and sometimes hang out during school hours.

Colin is also friends with Erin since they have similar classes.

aiko bon “Profile Interview” Chapter 4 (2/3)

ーHow DID people view you in high school?

aiko: I was everyone’s wing man. (laughs) Every single time we had some kind of event in middle school, I was always busy behind the scenes, helping people out. My teacher even called me “The Matchmaker”. People were grateful, but it sorta just… extended into high school, too. I helped so many couples get together.

ーYou played Cupid?

aiko: I don’t remember any of it, but my friends have been telling me that a lot lately. One guy told me I’d given him a letter, so I asked, “What’d I write?” Apparently I’d written up a profile of a girl I was trying to match him up with, and when I gave it to him, I said, “At least read SOME of this-- she’s a great girl!” They ended up getting married and have kids together now.

ーYou already hit it out of the park, getting them to date by complimenting her!

aiko: Nah, I’m pretty sure I had feelings for him too, but I just let it be. (laughs) I don’t remember doing that at all though. When he told me I gave it to him, I was like, “Hoo boy, what did I write…”

ーDid you bring your friends together like that often?

aiko: Yup. Sometimes I even had to come between them. I don’t remember the specifics, but one of my friends wanted to ask someone out using the ‘Aiko method’. You see, back then we had this way of asking people out called the ‘Aiko method’. Like, one girl would say, “I’m gonna give the Aiko method a try today!” And we’d all go, “You are? Well, good luck!” (laughs)

ーWhat was the method?

aiko: Well, thinking about it now, it was really cold-hearted. Honestly, it’s really embarrassing. You’d ask them out by making it a quiz, sort of. You say, “Mind if I quiz you on something? Answer with either ‘yes’ or ‘no’, ‘kay? I like you. Would you go out with me? Yes or no?” The nice thing about that was it was really easy to answer. Like, doesn’t matter which one you pick, just say yes or no!

ーSounds like it makes it really easy to confess to someone.

aiko: It did! But one time when I asked that and a guy said, “Flower circle!” I remember thinking, “Boy, that was lame.” (laughs) Like, “Hey, that wasn’t one of the options! I said to pick ‘yes’ or ‘no’!” (laughs)

ーWas your method pretty popular for a little while?

aiko: Eh, just so-so. Everyone used to ask each other out after school festivals and field days. Suzumushidera was also kinda popular for that. It’s this temple in Kyoto where you can hear the bell crickets chirping all year round. Doesn’t matter when you go, you’ll hear them chirping. If you go there, you’ll also see Jizo statues wearing straw sandals. Supposedly if you put an ofuda between your hands and say your name and your address, the Jizo will come to your house so he can grant you a wish. I went there too-- everyone did. Like, “You got an ofuda? *whips it out* Well of course I do!” (laughs) All the girls had ofuda charms from Suzumushidera.

ーHow did you know about that place?

aiko: I heard about it from my relatives. When my cousin got sick once, I went to this one temple to make a wish because they told me I should. I started going there after that. Then I started hearing about that temple in magazines a bunch. “Hayashi Mariko gives it an A+!” That sort of thing. The admission fee was also cheap. It was only about 300 yen. And they gave out tea and sweets.

ーDid you go there often?

aiko: I actually only went there 3 times, because it took me about an hour and a half by bus and train to get there from my house. It wasn’t something I could just hop on over to after school because it was a temple, so it closed at like 3 or 4’o’clock. I went there on my days off.

ーDid your wishes come true?

aiko: They did! They were all wishes about love, and all three came true. The people who worked at the temple told people that you shouldn’t wish to be married if you didn’t even have a boyfriend, though. “It won’t come true,” they said. “There’s an order to everything.” That’s why they told people who didn’t have boyfriends to wish for a boyfriend first. After you found a boyfriend, you could wish to be married. “You can wish to Jizo all you want to be married when you don’t have a boyfriend and don’t even like anybody, but it won’t come true!” they said. Which is true! It’s funny ‘cause it makes perfect sense. I spread it around school because I thought it was nice.

ーDid you take leadership roles in class and among your friends a lot? Like, were you the one to take initiative and start doing something instead of just doing whatever everyone else was doing?

aiko: Yeah. I don’t think I was really ever the type to cling to other people. I got chocolates from other girls ever since I was in middle school, too. It was sorta like I had my own fan club or somethin’. (laughs) In the cafeteria I’d tell one of the underclassmen something like, “Oh, I love this magazine. The horoscopes are so interestin’ to read every month, y’know?” Then the following month, I’d see them standing in the hallway reading the latest issue!! Sometimes it really surprised me. People would wish me happy birthday and I’d be like, “How’d you know today was my birthday?” They’d say, “‘Cause I’m in your fan club!” and I’d go, “Wait, what!?”

ーWhat were you like back then? Were you a tomboy? Or like an older sister to them?

aiko: I’m not sure. I was full of energy though. I guess tomboyish… ?

ーWere you ever on the student council or school festival committee?

aiko: I was vice president of the student council during my last year of high school. I wasn’t terribly interested in stuff like that; my teacher asked me to be in it. “If I’m gonna be in this, I’m gonna make it fun.” So then I invited all my friends to join too. The whole student council consisted of my friends.

ーYou basically took over the whole student council. (laughs)

aiko: I guess so. (laughs) The president was the captain of the volleyball team, my best friend was secretary, and the other vice president was on the basketball team. They were all my friends. We spray-painted stars and bears and stuff on the walls of the student council room. One of my teachers said it’s all still there to this day. “We left the stuff you drew. We’ve got some of your history here,” they said. (laughs) So yeah, I was on the student council. I was also the leader of the pep squad during field day.

ーIsn’t it usually a guy who leads the pep squad?

aiko: I was the only girl. (laughs) That was decided on my way home from swim lessons. “You’re the squad leader, aiko,” they said. I went, “Whaaaat?! Really!?” Every person on the pep squad was part of one of the sports teams: one guy was the volleyball team captain, another was the basketball team captain, and we also had the volleyball team setter in the squad. I looked so tiny next to all these tall, big-boned dudes. I just said, “Yaaay!”

ーMost guys on pep squads wear their school uniform jackets. What costume would a girl wear?

aiko: Some of the classes at my high school wore the school uniform jackets, but some of the classes sort of just made up their own outfits. The girls in my class wore tennis coats and aprons, which kind of made us look like cute, frilly waitresses. The guys wore blouses and bowties. I got to wear a pretty gorgeous apron as pep squad leader. (laughs) It had SO many frills. We were the purple team so everyone was wearing purple clothes except for me-- I was in white. I was the smallest one on the squad, but I’m pretty sure I was the loudest. Like, loud enough that I honestly think I annoyed the people living in the apartments next to our school. (laughs) Well, I did my part the best I could, and the purple team won some medals. I was also the torch bearer at that field day. It was the student council vice president’s job. There’s a picture of me in the yearbook lighting the torch with my eyes half-open. (laughs) How bad. I was also super tan in that picture. It was a yearbook though, so that picture’s everywhere. (laughs)

ーYou were student council vice president, the torch bearer, AND you were on the pep squad. I know you hate that picture, but sounds like you had a lot of other pictures in the yearbook too.

aiko: We were all in our senior year by then too. No one paid it any mind because we were all busy with entrance exams by then.

ーSchool festivals being what they are, I’m sure you had your hands full with that too.

aiko: You betcha I was! All three years, our class performance was something I came up with. In 10th grade we did a ‘haunted house’. In 11th grade we did ‘Antarctica’.

ーWhat did you guys do to make it “Antarctica”?

aiko: We made the classroom real cold. We got a bunch of dry ice, made some penguins. Then we filled a bucket with water and had everyone put their feet in it. The first person to pull their feet out of the bucket lost the game. To give everyone a taste of what it’s like in Antarctica. (laughs) In 12th grade, we had the revolutionary idea of doing a karaoke box.

ーWhere’d you rent the karaoke machine from?

aiko: We borrowed it from Acom.

ーAt any rate, sounds like you were a pretty lively and social kid back in high school.

aiko: I guess I was. One of my friends once told me a long time ago, “You know aiko, I’ve been watchin’ you this whole time. I watched you the whole time you were walking from the shoe closet to the back gate.” Apparently I’d talked to 18 people in that span of time. (laughs) It was just about 20 meters from the shoe closet to the back gate.

ーThat calculates to about 1 conversation with someone per meter.

aiko: See? He said I’d talked to 18 different people. “You talked to that many people in that short of a distance before you walked through the gate. I really respect you for that,” he said. I remember thinking, “Huh, it really is important to me to greet all these people one by one.” I had a lot of acquaintances back then.

ーSo were you the type of person who could get along with just about anybody?

aiko: There were a lot of people I hated with a passion though. You know, people I wouldn’t mind never talking to for the rest of my life. But yeah, I was pretty social overall. I was a sensitive social butterfly.

ーWhen you say sensitive, do you mean a lot of things bothered you?

aiko: Yeah. When one of my close friends felt down, I always wondered what I did. I’d be totally convinced I’d done something, and that they were mad at me.

ーEven if you were sensitive about things like that, I still wouldn’t describe you as a shy or timid person though.

aiko: That’s true for when I was with my friends at like, school. I did all of that introspective thinking when I got back home to my house. When I was at home, I spent almost all my time holed up in my room and didn’t really leave. As outgoing as I was at school, once I was back in my room I was basically a shut-in.

ーWhich version of you would you say is your natural, true self?

aiko: Hm, both of them, now that I think about it. I don’t have to force myself and work really hard to be one or the other. I love being alone, but I’d also go nuts if I were alone all the time. On the flip side, I really enjoy being around people, but being around people all the time would be a huge pain. It’s so taxing when I don’t get a good balance between the two. That’s never changed about me. When I’m at home, I’m super low-key. I walk around listening to my Walkman even though I’m home alone. I could play my music out loud since no one else is around, but I do laundry and stuff while listening to music on my Walkman instead. (laughs)

ーIt must shock people when they find out you’re a certain way at home or out in public when they didn’t know that about you before. I bet they say, “Oh, I didn’t know this side of you!”

aiko: I’m not sure! I was so simple and naive back in middle school, though. I never ever cried in front of my aunt and always acted so cheerful, no matter what happened, so maybe nobody knew my other side. I probably grew up a lot faster because I was put into my relatives’ care at a relatively young age. I’m an only child too, so I’ve always spent more time in adult situations than I did with children my age. With all the stuff I had going on, I sorta had to be that way. I don’t mean this in a weird way, but I had to be conscious of the face I was putting on for other people, I think. Once I got into high school, it was just normal for me to be a completely different person at school than I was at home.

ーWhich version of ‘aiko’ are you when you’re with someone you like?

aiko: Good question… I don’t think I’ve ever dated anybody that I’ve showed the ‘yin’ parts of myself to. Things always ended before I could stop pretending because for the most part, I haven’t dated anyone for that long. The longest I ever date someone was about 3 months.

ーI feel like most guys you’ve been in love with felt the same way back though.

aiko: They haven’t though, they haven’t! I’ve spent WAY more time in one-sided loves, all things considered. There’s also been quite a few times where I just couldn’t bring myself to act on my feelings. I didn’t ask out the guy I’d been in love with since I entered high school until I was in my senior year… We broke up before we even really understood each other at all. (laughs) He was in my grade, and I’d always had a crush on him. I still sorta liked him even after we broke up. After that we got along pretty well as friends, but it was always a bit of a sore spot for both of us. It’s only recently that he’s coming out to me about all of this. In fact, he didn’t start calling me “Aiko” until recently. I was like, “And we’ve known each other HOW many years now!?” (laughs)

ーSo what DID he call you for 10 years? (laughs)

aiko: He used my last name or just said, “Hey you.” (laughs) Really made me wonder, y’know? He’s the type that never talks about himself either. It wasn’t until recently that he started talking to me about a lot of different things. It took him 10 years for both of us to finally admit that we had a lot of fun together back then. It took 10 years to be able to say that.

ーSo does that mean he’s a pretty good friend of yours now?

aiko: Yeah. But he’s overseas now. I asked him why he left, and he told me he’s on a journey to find himself. (laughs) As always, I ain’t really sure what he meant by that. That’s so like him though.

ーBy the way, did the high school you attended have a uniform?

aiko: We had one, but I didn’t really ever wear it. The uniform was a navy blue blazer with one row of buttons, and pleated skirt, kind of, that had four pleats. I used to wear this skirt that wasn’t part of the uniform. I bought it in Umeda and it looked pretty good with my school uniform. I wore sweaters and hoodies with it. Well, usually a hoodie. I’ve pretty much always loved wearing hoodies… I still do! Whenever I got demerits I would always say, “It’s the hoodie, isn’t it?” (laughs) I was always saying, “I’m already at 28 points, can I just wear the hoodie?” I’ve always loved hoodies, but I totally fell in love with them in high school.

ーSo... you basically went to school wearing street clothes that LOOKED like the school uniform.

aiko: Yup. (laughs) I bought a black-ish skirt that went nicely with it, and in the winter I wore sweaters and hoodies over top of it. You were supposed to wear a white blouse with it too, but I wore a pale blue one with it. I made small additions to it while following the general ‘style’ of the uniform as much as I could.

ーDid your school not have a very strict uniform dress code?

aiko: ...Well yeah, they did, and it was annoying. Every time they found out I’d broken the dress code, they pinched me on my stomach. Just wearing a beanie in the wintertime made everyone flip out. People kept asking me if I was okay. Our high school was strict enough that they made me take off any clothes that obviously weren’t part of the uniform, though. I tried to avoid them getting mad at me for that at least, although sometimes they noticed from far away and would yell, “Hold on, what are you WEARING!?” and I’d run away. “Oh, n-no, this is the uniform. I’m wearing the uniform,” I’d tell them. “Mine’s in the wash! Yeah, in the wash.” You could’ve sworn my uniform was always in the washing machine at home. (laughs)

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Are There Republicans Running For President

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/are-there-republicans-running-for-president/

Are There Republicans Running For President

What Is A Voter

Trump says there is ‘tremendous support’ for him to run for president again

The Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act, which took effect January 1, 2011, created voter-nominated offices. The Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act does not apply to candidates running for U.S. President, county central committees, or local offices.

Most of the offices that were previously known as partisan are now known as voter-nominated offices. Voter-nominated offices are state constitutional offices, state legislative offices, and U.S. congressional offices. The only partisan offices now are the offices of U.S. President and county central committee.

List Of Republicans Who Opposed The Donald Trump 2020 Presidential Campaign

This article is part of a series about

This is a list of Republicans and conservatives who opposed the re-election of incumbent Donald Trump, the 2020 Republican Party nominee for President of the United States. Among them are former Republicans who left the party in 2016 or later due to their opposition to Trump, those who held office as a Republican, Republicans who endorsed a different candidate, and Republican presidential primary election candidates that announced opposition to Trump as the presumptive nominee. Over 70 former senior Republican national security officials and 61 additional senior officials have also signed onto a statement declaring, “We are profoundly concerned about our nation’s security and standing in the world under the leadership of Donald Trump. The President has demonstrated that he is dangerously unfit to serve another term.”

A group of former senior U.S. government officials and conservativesincluding from the Reagan, Bush 41, Bush 43, and Trump administrations have formed The Republican Political Alliance for Integrity and Reform to, “focus on a return to principles-based governing in the post-Trump era.”

A third group of Republicans, Republican Voters Against Trump was launched in May 2020 has collected over 500 testimonials opposing Donald Trump.

‘i Made A Decision To Live My Life In Service’

Brock Pierce is a former child actor who appeared in the Mighty Ducks franchise and starred as the president’s son in the 1996 comedy First Kid. But thanks to his second career as a tech entrepreneur, he’s also probably a crypto currency billionaire.

Why is he running for president? Partly because he is deeply concerned by the state of the country.

“I think that we lack a real vision for the future – I mean, what kind of world do we want to live in, in the year 2030? What is the plan? Where are we trying to get to, you know? You have to aim for something. And I see mostly just a lot of mud being thrown around, not a lot of people putting forth game-changing ideas. It’s getting scary. And I have a view of what to do.”

For the last four years, Mr Pierce has focused on philanthropic work in Puerto Rico, where his foundation recently raised a million dollars for PPE to give to first responders.

Asked what America’s priorities should be for the next four years, he suggests the country stops pursuing “growth for growth’s sake”, and measures its success by how well life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are upheld.

“I have many liberal tendencies, just like I have conservative tendencies,” Mr Pierce says. “And I think it’s time we take a collective breath and a brave step into the future, because all of these ideologies have something to teach us.”

‘We don’t like either candidate’

And if he doesn’t pull it off? Mr Pierce says he has offers.

Former Colorado Gov John Hickenlooper

Hickenlooper joined the field in early March, seeking to parlay his success in growing Colorado’s economy while passing environmental regulations and gun control laws into a successful presidential campaign. In a launch video, he spoke further of healing the nation’s political divisions.

“One thing I’ve shown I can do, again and again, is create teams of amazingly talented people and really address these issues that are the critical issues facing this country,” he said on “Good Morning America.”

He also announced he was suspending his campaign with a video.

“While this campaign didn’t have the outcome we were hoping for, every moment has been worthwhile and I’m thankful to everyone who supported this campaign and our entire team,” he said in the video posted to .

Who Wants To Run For Governor As A Republican In 2022

Pennsylvania Republicans have been battling with Gov. Tom Wolf since he unseated incumbent Tom Corbett in 2014. Many of them are eager to take Wolfs place, but there is no clear frontrunner this early in the race. Several Republicans have already announced their bid, and a few others have hinted or shown interest in joining what is expected to be a crowded primary. Thus far, its hard to find a Republican candidate without some sort of ties to former President Donald Trump. 

With a heated race to fill U.S. Sen. Pat Toomeys seat next year, the GOP will have to be strategic about what candidates it wants to back for the Senate and for governor. Potential candidates will also have to weigh their options and decide where they fit best and can compete.

There are plenty of names that could be added to this list in the coming months, but here is our second iteration of potential Republican candidates for 2022. A couple of candidates have been added since the last edition.

Running

Former U.S. Rep Lou Barletta

Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale

Gale was the first Republican to formally announce his candidacy for governor back in February. An avid Trump supporter, he has criticized the Pennsylvania GOP and pledged to be a conservative populist. Hes also caught attention for and saying Trumps presidency was sabotaged. 

Former Corry Mayor Jason Monn

Pittsburgh attorney Jason Richey

John Ventre

With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibitionthe Run For President

Return to Rise to National Prominence List Previous Section: The New Lincoln | 

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was the least known of all of the contenders for the Republican Partyâs nomination for president. Heading the list was former New York Governor William H. Seward, with the politically awkward Governor Salmon P. Chase of Ohio a distant second. Conservative Edward Bates of Missouri was considered too old, and many Republicans seemed uncomfortable with the popular but unpredictable Horace Greeley, founder and editor of the New York Tribune.

To overcome his disadvantage, Lincoln adopted an unobtrusive publicity campaign. The timely release of his published debates with Stephen A. Douglas and brief autobiographies and a carefully orchestrated speaking campaign in New York and parts of New England all worked to Lincolnâs advantage. The nomination and the subsequent campaign were left largely to trusted handlers, but even after his election was secure, Lincoln maintained a dogged silence on national issues prior to his inauguration.

Allegations Of Inciting Violence

Research suggests Trump’s rhetoric caused an increased incidence of hate crimes. During his 2016 campaign, he urged or praised physical attacks against protesters or reporters. Since then, some defendants prosecuted for hate crimes or violent acts cited Trump’s rhetoric in arguing that they were not culpable or should receive a lighter sentence. In May 2020, a nationwide review by ABC News identified at least 54 criminal cases from August 2015 to April 2020 in which Trump was invoked in direct connection with violence or threats of violence by mostly white men against mostly members of minority groups. On January 13, 2021, the House of Representatives impeached Trump for incitement of insurrection for his actions prior to the storming of the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob of his supporters who acted in his name.

: James K Polk Vs Henry Clay Vs James Birney

The election of 1844 introduced expansion and slavery as important political issues and contributed to westward and southern growth and sectionalism. Southerners of both parties sought to annex Texas and expand slavery. Martin Van Buren angered southern Democrats by opposing annexation for that reason, and the Democratic convention cast aside the ex-president and front-runner for the first dark horse, Tennessees James K. Polk. After almost silently breaking with Van Buren over Texas, Pennsylvanias George M. Dallas was nominated for vice president to appease Van Burenites, and the party backed annexation and settling the Oregon boundary dispute with England. The abolitionist Liberty Party nominated Michigans James G. Birney. Trying to avoid controversy, the Whigs nominated anti-annexationist Henry Clay of Kentucky and Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey. But, pressured by southerners, Clay endorsed annexation even though he was concerned it might cause war with Mexico and disunion, thereby losing support among antislavery Whigs.

Enough New Yorkers voted for Birney to throw 36 electoral votes and the election to Polk, who won the Electoral College 170-105 and a slim popular victory. John Tyler signed a joint congressional resolution admitting Texas, but Polk pursued Oregon and then northern Mexico in the Mexican-American War, aggravating tension over slavery and sectional balance and leading to the Compromise of 1850.

How Donald Trump Could Steal The Election

Ted Cruz First GOP Candidate Set to Run in 2016 Presidential Race

The president cant simply cancel the fall balloting, but his state-level allies could still deliver him a second term.

About the author: Jeffrey Davis is a professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the author of Seeking Human Rights Justice in Latin America, and the forthcoming book Constitutional Tyranny.

Even under a normal president, the coronavirus pandemic would present real challenges to the 2020 American election. Everything about in-person voting could be dangerous. Waiting in line, touching a voting machine, and working in polling stations all run afoul of social-distancing mandates. Already, Maryland, Kentucky, Georgia, and Louisiana have postponed their presidential primaries, while Wyoming, New York, and Ohio have altered their voting procedures. Of course, other democracies face similar problems; the United Kingdom has postponed local elections for one year.

But under President Donald Trump, the possibilities for how the coronavirus could wreak havoc on the election are all the more concerning. This is not a president who cares about the sanctity of the electoral process. After all, he has never seemed particularly concerned about Russias efforts to manipulate the 2016 outcome , and he was impeached for demanding Ukrainian help in his reelection efforts.

New 2020 Voter Data: How Biden Won How Trump Kept The Race Close And What It Tells Us About The Future

As we saw in 2016 and again in 2020, traditional survey research is finding it harder than it once was to assess presidential elections accurately. Pre-election polls systemically misjudge who is likely to vote, and exit polls conducted as voters leave the voting booths get it wrong as well.

Now, using a massive sample of validated voters whose participation has been independently verified, the Pew Research Center has . It helps us understand how Joe Biden was able to accomplish what Hillary Clinton did notand why President Trump came closer to getting reelected than the pre-election surveys had predicted.

How Joe Biden won

Five main factors account for Bidens success.

The Biden campaign reunited the Democratic Party. Compared to 2016, he raised the share of moderate and conservative Democrats who voted for the Democratic nominee by 6 points, from 85 to 91%, while increasing the Democratic share of liberal Democrats from 94 to 98%. And he received the support of 85% of Democrats who had defected to 3rd party and independent candidates in 2016.

How Trump kept it close

Despite non-stop controversy about his policies and personal conduct, President Trump managed to raise his share of the popular vote from 46% in 2016 to 47% in 2020. His core coalition held together, and he made a few new friends.

Longer-term prospects

Statehood And Indian Removal

Republic of East FloridaSeminole WarsAdamsOnís TreatyFlorida TerritoryAdmission to the UnionList of U.S. states by date of admission to the UnionCracker

Defense of Florida’s northern border with the United States was minor during the second Spanish period. The region became a haven for escaped slaves and a base for Indian attacks against U.S. territories, and the U.S. pressed Spain for reform.

Americans of and began moving into northern Florida from the backwoods of and . Though technically not allowed by the Spanish authorities and the Floridan government, they were never able to effectively police the border region and the backwoods settlers from the United States would continue to immigrate into Florida unchecked. These migrants, mixing with the already present British settlers who had remained in Florida since the British period, would be the progenitors of the population known as .

These American settlers established a permanent foothold in the area and ignored Spanish authorities. The British settlers who had remained also resented Spanish rule, leading to a rebellion in 1810 and the establishment for ninety days of the so-called Free and Independent Republic of on September 23. After meetings beginning in June, rebels overcame the garrison at , and unfurled the flag of the new republic: a single white star on a blue field. This flag would later become known as the “”.

What Is A Typical Presidential Election Cycle

The presidential election process follows a typical cycle:

Spring of the year before an election Candidates announce their intentions to run.

Summer of the year before an election through spring of the election year Primary and caucus Caucus: a statewide meeting held by members of a political party to choose a presidential candidate to support. debates take place.

January to June of election year States and parties hold primaries Primary: an election held to determine which of a party’s candidates will receive that party’s nomination and be their sole candidate later in the general election.and caucuses.

July to early September Parties hold nominating conventions to choose their candidates.

September and October Candidates participate in presidential debates.

Early November Election Day

December Electors Elector: a person who is certified to represent their state’s vote in the Electoral College. cast their votes in the Electoral College.

Early January of the next calendar year Congress counts the electoral votes.

January 20 Inauguration Day

For an in-depth look at the federal election process in the U.S., check out USA In Brief: ELECTIONS.

Contribution Limits For 2021

Additional national party committee accounts Donor $109,500* per account, per year Candidate committee $45,000 per account, per year PAC: nonmulticandidate $109,500* per account, per year Party committee: state/district/local Unlimited transfers

*Indexed for inflation in odd-numbered years.

PAC here refers to a committee that makes contributions to other federal political committees. Independent-expenditure-only political committees may accept unlimited contributions, including from corporations and labor organizations.

The limits in this column apply to a national party committees accounts for: the presidential nominating convention; election recounts and contests and other legal proceedings; and national party headquarters buildings. A partys national committee, Senate campaign committee and House campaign committee are each considered separate national party committees with separate limits. Only a national party committee, not the parties national congressional campaign committees, may have an account for the presidential nominating convention.

**Additionally, a national party committee and its Senatorial campaign committee may contribute up to $51,200 combined per campaign to each Senate candidate.

Nj Primary Elections 2020: The Five Republicans Who Want To Take Over As Us Senator

Colleen ODea, Senior Writer and Projects EditorNJ Decides 2020Politics

Five Republicans are vying for the chance to try to do something no one else has been able to do in almost a half-century: Convince New Jersey voters to elect a Republican to serve in the U.S. Senate, where Democrat Cory Booker now sits.

It has been 48 years since New Jersey voters have sent a Republican to the U.S. Senate, and registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly a million. In 2018, Republican and former pharmaceuticals executive Bob Hugin spent more than $39 million, including $36 million of his own money, and lost by 11 percentage points to incumbent Bob Menendez, who had been considered vulnerable after his trial on political corruption charges ended in a hung jury.

Statewide races are the toughest ones of all for a GOP outnumbered by a million more registered Democrats in the state, said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. But even before party registrations were so lopsided, Republican Senate candidates have fared more poorly here than almost anywhere else in the nation. Since New Jersey last sent a Republican to the Senate in 1972, the GOP has lost a staggering 15 Senate races in a row, he said.

Withdrew Before The Primaries

The following individuals participated in at least one authorized presidential debate but withdrew from the race before the Iowa caucuses on February 1, 2016. They are listed in order of exit, starting with the most recent.

Name

The following notable individuals filed as candidates with FEC by November 2015.

Name

Additionally, Peter Messina was on the ballot in Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Idaho.Tim Cook was on the ballot in Louisiana, New Hampshire and Arizona. Walter Iwachiw was on the ballot in Florida and New Hampshire.

Jerry Moran: Senator Kansas

Senator Jerry Moran arrives for a meeting about the Republican healthcare bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 19, 2017.

Trumps second endorsement of the 2022 campaign season is Jerry Moran, the Republican incumbent senator from Kansas. He was the first member of Congress to receive an endorsement from the former president.

Moran voted with most Republican senators to acquit Trump of his impeachment charge of inciting the pro-Trump storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

Ron Johnson: Senator Wisconsin

Former GOP Rep. Joe Walsh: ‘I’m going to run for president’

WASHINGTON, DC FEBRUARY 25: Senator Ron Johnson speaks during a U.S. Senate Budget Committee hearing regarding wages at large corporations on Capitol Hill, February 25, 2021 in Washington, DC. The committee is looking at why many low-wage workers in America qualify for public benefits even though thousands of them are employees of large corporations.

Trump announced his endorsement for Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson before he has even announced a re-election bid. Johnson, 66, has represented Wisconsin in the Senate since 2011.

Even though he has not yet announced that he is running, and I certainly hope he does, I am giving my Complete and Total Endorsement to Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.  He is brave, he is bold, he loves our Country, our Military, and our Vets, Trump wrote in a statement. He will protect our Second Amendment, and everything else we stand for.  It is the kind of courage we need in the U.S. Senate.  He has no idea how popular he is.  Run, Ron, Run!

This list will be updated as Trump announces new endorsements.

: Benjamin Harrison Vs Grover Cleveland

In 1888 the Democratic Party nominated President Grover Cleveland and chose Allen G. Thurman of Ohio as his running mate, replacing Vice President Thomas Hendricks who had died in office.

After eight ballots, the Republican Party chose Benjamin Harrison, former senator from Indiana and the grandson of President William Henry Harrison. Levi P. Morton of New York was the vice-presidential nominee.

In the popular vote for president, Cleveland won with 5,540,050 votes to Harrisons 5,444,337. But Harrison received more votes in the Electoral College, 233 to Clevelands 168, and was therefore elected. The Republicans carried New York, President Clevelands political base.

The campaign of 1888 helped establish the Republicans as the party of high tariffs, which most Democrats, heavily supported by southern farmers, opposed. But memories of the Civil War also figured heavily in the election.

Northern veterans, organized in the Grand Army of the Republic, had been angered by Clevelands veto of pension legislation and his decision to return Confederate battle flags..

Sen Mitt Romney Of Utah

A Gallup poll last March found Romney, 74, has a higher approval rating among Democrats than Republicans, so you might figure he doesnt have a prayer in taking his partys nomination again. A February Morning Consult poll, though, had Romney polling ahead of Republicans like Pompeo, Cotton and Hawley. So, youre telling me theres a chance? Yes, a one-in-a-million chance.

The 2012 GOP presidential nominee and his wife, Ann, have five sons. He graduated from Brigham Young University and Harvard Law. Romney is a former Massachusetts governor, and the first person to be a governor and senator from two different states since Sam Houston, who was governor of Tennessee and a senator from Texas. Romney is this years JFK Profile in Courage Award recipient.

Former Vice President Mike Pence

If youre curious how the former vice president might handle the fact that many of Trumps supporters think hes disloyal for certifying the 2020 election, his speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on June 24 laid out his argument.

Pence opened the speech with one of his favorite lines, in which he calls himself a Christian, conservative and Republican, in that order and then proceeded to spend the next 20 or so minutes praising Trump and the work of the Trump-Pence administration. We made America great again in just four years, he boasted. Then he finally touched on the attack. Jan. 6 was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol, he said.

Pence said he would always be proud that elected officials reconvened to finish certifying the election after the riot, and he said he understood why many were disappointed in his tickets loss last year: I can relate, I was on the ballot. He also positioned his view on the election as one informed by Republican patriotism and love of the Constitution.

The Republican Party will always keep our oath to the Constitution, even when it would be politically expedient to do otherwise, he said. Theres almost no idea more un-American that any one person can choose the American president. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone.

: Andrew Jackson Vs Henry Clay Vs William Wirt

Democratic-Republican Andrew Jackson was reelected in 1832 with 688,242 popular votes to 473,462 for National-Republican Henry Clay and 101,051 for Anti-Masonic candidate William Wirt. Jackson easily carried the Electoral College with 219 votes. Clay received only 49, and Wirt won the seven votes of Vermont. Martin Van Buren won the vice presidency with 189 votes against 97 for various other candidates.

The spoils system of political patronage, the tariff, and federal funding of internal improvements were major issues, but the most important was Jacksons veto of the rechartering of the Bank of the United States. National-Republicans attacked the veto, arguing that the Bank was needed to maintain a stable currency and economy. King Andrews veto, they asserted, was an abuse of executive power. In defense of Jacksons veto, Democratic-Republicans labeled the Bank an aristocratic institutiona monster. Suspicious of banking and of paper money, Jacksonians opposed the Bank for giving special privileges to private investors at government expense and charged that it fostered British control of the American economy.

The Anti-Masons convened the first national presidential nominating convention in Baltimore on September 26, 1831. The other parties soon followed suit, and the convention replaced the discredited caucus system of nomination.

Sen Josh Hawley Of Missouri

Though controversial, Hawley, 41, is a fundraising machine and hes quickly made a name for himself. The blowback Hawley faced for objecting to Bidens Electoral College win included a lost book deal and calls for him to resign from students at the law school where he previously taught. His mentor, former Sen. John Danforth of Missouri, said that supporting Hawley was the biggest mistake Ive ever made in my life.

Still, he brought in more than $1.5 million between Jan. 1 and March 5, according to Axios, and fundraising appeals in his name from the National Republican Senatorial Committee brought in more cash than any other Republican except NRSC Chair Sen. Rick Scott of Florida. Just because youre toxic in Washington doesnt mean you cant build a meaningful base of support nationally.

One Republican strategist compared the possibility of Hawley 2024 to Cruz in 2016. Hes not especially well-liked by his colleagues , but hes built a national profile for himself and become a leading Republican voice opposed to big technology companies.

Hawley and his wife, Erin, have three children. He got his start in politics as Missouri attorney general before being elected to the Senate in 2018. Hawley graduated from Stanford and Yale Law.

Scholarship Essays

This week I have been asked to help read scholarship essays for the second years of a graduate program. This review is scored on (poorly defined) “merit”, need, leadership/school spirit, and school branding (as in, how well do they promote/represent the school and greater university). These scores are entirely subjective as the committee reads them over, scores, and then figures out from there who gets the scholarship once all the points are in.

Kinda like Eurovision scoring, I guess, except your metaphorical twelve points are up to my and the others judgment.

These essays are short, and some students went over the character limit as they suddenly cut off mid-sentence before further elaborating on some points they took too long to get to. So that is a problem. Two of the students copied their merit essay into the need essay portion, which tells me nothing of why they need financial assistance, just repeats their academic and extracurricular activities.

Then there’s the one jerk, out of 81.

Look, if some of the subjective criteria of the essay involve “leadership”, “school spirit”, and “how well do you represent our school and promote its brand”, I strongly recommend NOT acting like your fellow students are irresponsible children who are less deserving of aid than yourself. It’s not only poor form, but no you don’t know what other students are going through. And in my estimation, you fail on multiple counts.

This student went on about how he was extremely frugal, lived within his means, saved money, and the steps taken to avoid loans. Not an unusual story. Nor unusual to want to continue avoiding loans, and so a scholarship would help greatly. Again, bog standard. Where he trips up is when he says, “other students are expecting financial aid to get them through school, but they aren’t as careful with their spending as I am and so their needs are not really as great as they will make it sound in their own essays.”

Like, wow dude. How dare you?

I have read essays where students are recovering from—or still experiencing—major illnesses and injuries. Students who have spouses and/or kids. Students separated from their spouses and/or kids while pursuing their degrees. Students supporting their parents or other family members. Students from other countries who are experiencing unexpected taxes and costs, their national currency suddenly devaluing killing their expected savings, and fewer companies willing/able to sponsor them or take them as interns, or unable to find American co-signers to get loans with decent interest rates (on top of any family issues they’re experiencing unexpectedly). A student suddenly going through a divorce. At least two students were initially going through a loan company that literally dropped our university from their client list two weeks before the fall semester started, leaving financial aid advisors scrambling to help these students whose expected funds were suddenly gone.

Some students are certainly just looking for a hand to reduce their overall loan costs, or avoid them—grad school is expensive, after all. But many of these students are filling in scholarship applications because if they do not get aid, they may not be able to finish this degree and take care of themselves and their loved ones. Given the work they discuss in their merit essays, in many cases that would be a shame.

In my opinion, getting to score this guy’s essays? I’ma score him low across the board. Looking down on fellow students for no reason besides you cannot comprehend life experiences outside of your own, and assume no one can possibly have a need greater than “I just don’t want to add to my loans”? Not very meritorious. Nor the mark of a good leader. Does not show an understanding of school spirit or pride or a grasp of the program’s diversity. And I sure don’t wanna know what sort of representation of the school’s brand you’re presenting to other organizations, companies, and universities.

I don’t have a lot of power here, I am only temp help assisting the committee members, but they are still taking my scores into account, and trust me—I will do my part to make sure people who need the scholarship get it, while people like this jerk do not.

So, kids, when writing your essays for scholarships—or anything having to do with academia, really—remember to put on your best face and don’t knock your academic colleagues. Be kind, be generous, and worry about you, not others. My opinion is based entirely on the essay you submit about your merits and needs, and if you waste precious character limits on tearing down other students, well, my opinion will not be a good one.

What college football coaches learned from the pandemic last year

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/ncaa-football/what-college-football-coaches-learned-from-the-pandemic-last-year/

What college football coaches learned from the pandemic last year

WEST VIRGINIA COACH Neal Brown is hesitant when he says there are positive things to be gained from what he and his fellow coaches went through last season.

“Maybe ‘positives’ isn’t the right word,” he corrected himself.

Brown doesn’t want to paint a rosy picture of what was a frustrating situation for everyone involved. Talk to enough coaches and they’ll tell you how exhausting it was going through a pandemic, juggling safety and practice and those endless pages of protocols and, oh yeah, the games themselves.

They’re creatures of habit who thrive on structure and routine. But as North Carolina coach Mack Brown told his staff one day last year, “The only thing consistent is inconsistency.”

So, no, it wasn’t much fun, and there was very little in the moment that felt positive.

But the further away they get from what Neal Brown says was the most challenging experience for anyone in leadership, whether they were a coach, a CEO or a principal, the more there’s something to be gained from the experience.

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“I think there are opportunities that have come out of the adversity that we’ve been through,” he said.

Opportunities to rethink the way they practice and recruit. Opportunities to rethink the way they teach and communicate. Opportunities to not look away from social justice issues that for so long were ignored.

Like millions of Americans, Neal Brown has learned to embrace Zoom, which is why he was able to participate in this interview from his home one day last month.

That may not sound like much — it is the offseason, after all — but it runs contrary to an entire career of waking up early, going into the office for daily staff meetings, and since he was already there, staying a while even though there wasn’t much work to be done.

But on this day, he held the staff meeting virtually and drove his kids to school. Then, he returned home and spoke to a reporter from his own couch about coaching post-COVID-19 and how there’s a need for a better work-life balance in his profession, which for too long has embraced the lifestyle of the workaholic who sleeps in his office at nights.

After the call was over, his plan was to take the rest of the day off.

“There was no more, ‘This is the way we’ve always done it,'” Neal Brown said. “That’s probably the most growth that I made not only as being a head football coach but personally as well — adapting and embracing change.”

THERE WAS ONE curveball coaches were thrown that they all almost universally enjoyed and want to integrate moving forward.

The NCAA dubbed it “enhanced summer practice,” but what it boiled down to was a sort of pre-preseason practice to help players ease into more traditional training after so much time away because of COVID restrictions.

Similar to the NFL’s organized team activities, colleges were granted two extra weeks dedicated to weight training, conditioning, film review, walk-throughs and meetings. Players couldn’t wear helmets or pads during walk-throughs, but they could handle a football.

Alabama coach Nick Saban was a proponent of the plan, stressing how the practices would be non-contact and how they would provide more education, focusing on things like technique and fundamentals.

“It was awesome,” Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins said.

Because of the limited contact and slow build-up, Collins said, “I thought we were fresher the early part of the season than we had been in the previous four years.”

Neal Brown has learned to embrace the benefits of Zoom meetings and working from home. Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire

Iowa State coach Matt Campbell felt the same way about the health benefits of the extended preseason, except he noticed a difference on the back end of the season. In an interview with The Athletic, Campbell said he saw better practices from his team late in the year and quicker recovery times.

The Cyclones finished the regular season as winners of five straight, reaching the Big 12 championship game for the first time in school history.

“I thought the week of preparation, going into our bowl game, was maybe the best practices we had all year,” he told the website. “We were able to continue to add fuel to the tank instead of extracting some of that fuel. When we needed it most, we were able to find it and use it.”

Stanford coach David Shaw, who is chair of the NCAA rules committee, said coaches are hoping to adopt the extra lead-in time on an annual basis.

While there wasn’t enough time to change the calendar this year, next year is a possibility.

First, Shaw said, they need to talk to medical professionals to see whether their hunch that it’s healthier for players is backed up by actual science. Second, there’s the coaches’ quality of life to consider, because it’d be taking away two weeks of vacation.

Time will tell whether everyone gets on board, but in the meantime, Neal Brown has a more radical approach he’s considering.

Last season, out of necessity in order to limit a teamwide outbreak and to make the most out of the limited time they had to prepare, he essentially split West Virginia’s roster down the middle. Instead of holding one practice and one set of meetings for players each day, the Mountaineers held two.

What it did was confront the fact that if there are 85 scholarship players on a team, not all 85 are at the same level of maturity or understanding. So teaching them all the same is going to inevitably leave some players bored and leave others behind.

It’s simple, Neal Brown said: “You don’t want to slow them down where you lose the fourth-year player just so the first-year player has a chance.”

By dividing the roster along the lines of experience and readiness to play, he provided more targeted coaching and, perhaps most importantly, more reps for everyone.

He hasn’t made a final decision on split practices in the future, but said, “There’s a thought that maybe that’s the best way moving forward.”

IT’S SURPRISING THAT the pairing of Zoom and recruiting didn’t happen sooner.

After all, the growth of recruiting departments in college football and video communication technology like Zoom and FaceTime have coincided over the past decade. But before the pandemic, there was very little integration on those two fronts.

Well, not anymore.

Virtual visits allow for recruits to experience places like Fayetteville, Arkansas, they might not have ever been able to go to. Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

What happened out of necessity during a year of no in-person recruiting — namely FaceTime calls and virtual campus visits over Zoom — is here to stay.

Instead of hoping for an unofficial visit to show off their programs, coaches are now able to make a more tangible first impression online, which could be a huge win for difficult-to-reach places like Arkansas and Stanford.

During the pandemic, Shaw said his staff got creative and learned how to “bottle” the Stanford experience. That meant virtually introducing prospects to their professors and students, and showing off the beauty of campus, along with its terrific weather.

“We can’t wait to get people on campus,” Shaw said, “but we have a good program now to show them as much of campus as possible — the people as well as the scenery — to entice them to come.”

While Arkansas coach Sam Pittman says there’s no substitute for in-person contact, the value of virtual visits makes too much sense to ignore.

It’s a matter of logistics. Because Fayetteville’s nearest major recruiting hubs — Atlanta, New Orleans and Dallas — are all at least a five-hour drive away, it’s difficult to get recruits to campus.

“Instead of saying, ‘This kid can’t make it to Junior Day,’ why don’t we take the Junior Day to him?” Pittman said. “I learned that and we may use that in the future.

“We may have a weekend totally committed only to Georgia or Florida or someplace where the kids can’t get here.”

Neal Brown, whose West Virginia campus is a hike for many of the country’s top prospects, said it’s a win three times over to go virtual in recruiting.

“Players save money getting to and from campus, and universities save money, and it’s a better life for an assistant coach,” he said.

Plus, it’s fewer nights on the road for everyone.

MACK BROWN FOUND himself pouting last year.

During the first wave of the coronavirus, when everyone was forced to leave campus and it looked like the football season might not happen, he wondered why he bothered to come out of retirement.

“Why am I doing this?” he thought. “I came back to be around players and try to help them and help younger coaches, and I can’t talk to anybody, I can’t see them, they can’t even come around. What are we doing?”

That’s when his wife, Sally, spoke up.

“[She] jumped on me and said, ‘You know what? There’s never been a more important time for leadership. You need to help people understand this. You need to help solve the problems. You’ve been around a long time, so you need to figure it out,'” he recalled.

“And at that point I kind of woke up and said, ‘All right, I got it.'”

He had to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

That meant acknowledging what he didn’t know, whether it was about the pandemic or the social justice issues playing out in Raleigh and cities across the U.S.

At 69 years old, Mack Brown confronted some harsh realities.

Mack Brown told his staff one day last year, “The only thing consistent is inconsistency.” Grant Halverson/Getty Images

For so long, he saw the locker room as a place free from racism. But then he heard the pain in his players’ voices as they discussed the murder of George Floyd. And then he found out that two of his coaches — one white and one black — hadn’t spoken in days.

“That really bothered me,” he said. “I could tell there was pressure, there was tension.”

Rather than sidestepping it, they confronted it head-on as a team.

“We talked hard,” Mack Brown said.

And he also listened. A lot of what was said surprised him.

He kept hearing about white privilege, which he took to mean that he had money and a good life. So he asked his players questions about it and began to understand.

“I’m white privilege,” he realized. “I don’t feel race. I don’t see it. I don’t get stopped going home. I don’t get shot in the back.”

Talking it through brought them closer together, and it led to conversations about mental health, drugs and homelessness.

“I’m not sure it wasn’t the closest team I’ve ever been around,” he said.

Kentucky’s Mark Stoops was one of many coaches across college football who walked arm-in-arm with his players last summer to protest police violence against people of color.

But just because the protests have subsided doesn’t mean the issues have.

“I’ve learned that we need to continue to not let this matter go away,” Stoops said. “We have to continue to address it. We have to continue to work at it. We have to continue to do our part to be part of the solution to grow closer together, and keep that at the forefront of our program through communication and education.”

BAYLOR’S DAVE ARANDA says he saw the worst in a lot of people and the best in others.

He doesn’t name names, nor does he cite specific issues. He doesn’t want to be polarizing. But the last year revealed a lot to him.

He referenced the TV show “Ted Lasso” and a scene in which the lead character, a soccer coach, is playing darts in a pub and quotes Walt Whitman: “Be curious, not judgmental.”

“Keeping that approach all the way through COVID when there’s really good and really bad things happening and you’re seeing bad parts of people, I think is the key,” Aranda said. “When you come out on the other side of it, there’s an opportunity to blossom.”

But to blossom into what?

Whether it’s a global pandemic or a life event, Eli Drinkwitz sees a need for coaches to be more amenable. AP Photo/L.G. Patterson

Aranda sees a shift taking place in college football in which the old-school ways of coaching are fading.

“I’m not saying we’re it,” Aranda said, “but I do sense that along with the NIL and all of it, the birth of a modern coach — of someone that [deals with] social justice issues, race and inequality, the transfer portal, social media, mental health. It’s self-talk, positive talk, negative talk. It’s perfectionism. It’s bullying. It’s parents and expectations. It’s all of it.”

Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz talked about that trend toward a more holistic approach as well.

This generation of athletes is so flexible and adaptable, he said, and coaches are generally more rigid and routine-oriented.

There’s a fine line, of course, but whether it’s a pandemic or a life event, Drinkwitz sees a need for coaches to be more amenable.

He brought up Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address and the idea of striving to become a more perfect union. That notion of striving — admitting you’re not there, but you’re working toward it — is where he finds meaning.

It’s about listening and learning and working together.

“I’ve learned there’s a lot more capacity to do things than I ever thought possible if you take it one step at a time,” he said. “Then, before you know it, you get somewhere. You don’t look at the totality of the task, you take it one step at a time and put one foot in front of the other.

“And that’s really what we were trying to do the whole time — keep moving forward and try to make a positive impact, whether it was the pandemic or social justice, whether it was our football team trying to improve and establish our identity, every day let’s take a little step forward.”

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‘Lock the S.O.B.s Up’: Joe Biden and the Era of Mass Incarceration

He now plays down his role overhauling crime laws with segregationist senators in the ’80s and ’90s. That portrayal today is at odds with his actions and rhetoric back then.

JOE BIDEN THIS weekend continued to draw attention to the complicated role he has played in the country’s history of race relations. On Thursday night, he drew criticism when he was asked what Americans can do about the legacy of slavery, and answered by suggesting parents put on a record player for kids, and that social workers should visit parents’ homes to teach them how to care for their children. He followed that by recounting on Sunday his run-in in the 1960s with a young gang leader named “Corn Pop,” a story that involved “the only white guy” at a city pool cutting him a 6-foot piece of chain to defend himself against the razor-wielding teen and his friends.

The politics of race relations have been a central part of Biden’s career, from his high-profile opposition to busing to his authoring of the 1994 Biden Crime Bill. When he talks about his criminal justice record on the campaign trail, he argues today that the focus on the ’94 bill is unfair, because the real rise in mass incarceration happened at the state level and was long underway by then.

Biden is correct that the surge began in the 1970s and accelerated in the 1980s, but a closer look at his role reveals that it was Biden who was among the principal and earliest movers of the policy agenda that would become the war on drugs and mass incarceration, and he did so in the face of initial reluctance from none other than President Ronald Reagan. Indeed, Reagan even vetoed a signature piece of Biden legislation, which he drafted with arch segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, to create a federal “drug czar.”

At the time, many Republicans were hesitant about increasing federal spending, and in fact looking for ways to slash the budget. Domestically, Reagan wanted to focus on cutting taxes and reducing social welfare spending, and had little interest in an expansive federal spending program geared toward building new prisons and hiring new police. Biden, on the other hand, was a key policy leader among both parties on the issue of expanding funding to states and municipalities for policing and prisons.

As governor of California, Reagan had been an infamous proponent for law-and-order politics, but when he ran for president in 1980 against incumbent Jimmy Carter, crime was not a significant issue in the race. Rather, the 1980 election focused largely on the economy, inflation, and unemployment.

Biden, meanwhile, was criticizing Carter for not fighting the war on drugs forcefully enough.“I’m trying to alarm the policymakers,” he told the Washington Post months before the 1980 election. “I’m saying that business as usual won’t work.”

Although mass imprisonment is and was primarily driven by states, at the federal level Biden shaped the punitive political culture of the 1980s and 1990s by reviving a policy agenda that was briefly in decline at the end of the 1970s. In three years under Carter, the federal prison population fell by a quarter, even as it was rising at the state level. By the final days of the Carter administration, the federal program that provided resources to states for policing and imprisonment, the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, or LEAA, was being dismantled.

In the weeks after the election, Biden argued that the problem with LEAA was inadequate coordination and poor management, and that the federal government should take a more assertive stance in this area while continuing to provide funds to states to expand their police and prison systems. “The American people believe we have waged war on crime and failed,” Biden, who was the U.S. senator for Delaware at the time, said. “Therefore, they concluded that nothing can be done about it.” In his view, though, federal funding was an essential piece of the drug war. He saw the need for a program like LEAA, but it needed a stronger manager in charge: a drug czar.

Alongside Reagan’s entry into office, Republicans wrested control of the Senate from the Democrats. South Carolina Democrat-turned-Republican Thurmond replaced Ted Kennedy as Judiciary Committee chair, and Kennedy ceded the ranking spot to Biden. Biden had previously locked horns with Kennedy as they competed to lead the party on crime, with Biden wanting to shed the party’s image as being soft. “As most old-line Democrats view it, the only ways we can deal with violence will have a negative impact on civil rights and liberties. … I think that’s malarkey,” he told the New York Times.

“Give me the crime issue … and you’ll never have trouble with it in an election,” Biden was said to have begged party leadership during meetings. With his new position of power on the committee, he began to shape its agenda accordingly.

As they each started their new roles on the Judiciary Committee, Biden approached Thurmond privately to sort out their shared priorities. Biden brought with him a 90-page draft bill and a promise: “If you keep your right-wing guys from killing this bill, I’ll keep the liberals off the bill. And if you and I stand fast and agree on what we can agree on and just hold firm, we can pass this thing,” Biden told the committee chair.

At the time, the White House and Nancy Reagan were also beginning to focus on drugs and crime, but the president saw little need for increased federal funding. Due to its cost, he had recently scuttled a proposed prison expansion plan from his Attorney General’s Task Force on Violent Crime.

Biden disapproved of Reagan’s plan to scale back funding for crime fighting, complaining in October 1981 about inadequate money to combat drug trafficking. The Coast Guard “just doesn’t have as many boats as the bad guys,” he said. “The boats just aren’t as good.” Biden had joined with some of his Republican colleagues to offer the administration more money to spend on crime. Biden excoriated what he dubbed the White House’s “budgeteers” for the paltry funding being offered to the FBI. “You are cutting not only the muscle, but the bone,” he told the attorney general.

Throughout Reagan’s first two years in office, Biden frequently criticized him for shortchanging the war on crime and drugs. In June 1981, Biden spoke before a House committee hearing on budget cuts to drug enforcement. “I, personally, am getting tired of rhetoric about the war on violent crime and the war on drugs. … These types of budget cuts certainly would seem to contradict a serious effort to develop a federal drug strategy,” he said. 

“My patience for action in the drug arena by this administration is beginning to waiver. Just as I criticized the Carter administration for a lack of innovative ideas in this area I will criticize this administration if promises and rhetoric are not soon replaced by results,” he continued.

An American in London: Betsy Blair first met Gene Kelly at an audition. She didn't just get the part - she got the man.

https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,3604,480424,00.html

Betsy Blair recalls the moment Gene Kelly proposed to her. "It was in front of the Plaza Hotel in New York. We were sitting by the fountain and he said he couldn't leave me to the mercy of New York when he went to Hollywood. I said yes immediately. I didn't have any reservations at all. You don't when you're in love."

Blair had met Kelly two years earlier at an audition when she was 15. She had inadvertently turned up a day early and had spoken to a man moving tables and chairs. "I thought he was a busboy. I said, 'I'm here to see Mr Rose' and he asked me if I was a dancer. I said I was and he told me the audition was the following day. I fished the card out of my bag and sure enough it was, so I thanked this busboy and started to leave. Then he said, 'Are you a good dancer?' I turned round and said, 'Very.' The next day, I went to the audition and it was Gene moving the tables and chairs around. He was the choreographer."

Blair got the job and fell in love, spending the next two years working in nightclubs and on Broadway in musical comedies and in theatre. It was a big change for someone who had grown up in smalltown New Jersey. "I used to enter amateur shows, and being from the neighbourhood and being only nine, I won one. The prize was $20, which was a lot of money in the 30s. The man who ran the show spoke to my mother and it turned out it wasn't such an amateur show so I joined his troupe and I got paid $5 every Thursday. That was my first professional engagement. Then it all sort of happened."

Her second job was as a child photographic model. Then, with a schoolteacher mother and a father who sold insurance, Blair was set for university, winning a scholarship. But on the way back from a college interview - where she was told to come back the next year because she was too young - she saw an advertisement for dancers in a nightclub show. "I got off the train and said to my mother that I was going and I didn't care what Daddy said. So we convinced my father that because I was going to make $35 a week - more money than my brothers, who had been to university, were making - I would save and go to university the next year."

It was when that nightclub closed that Blair auditioned for another and met Kelly. "When I think about it now, that year and a half [in New York] was incredible but when you're young, nothing is surprising. You don't judge it, you don't think about it, it's just so much fun and so beautiful. I wasn't blasé about it - it was just what was happening."

After their honeymoon, Blair and Kelly arrived in Hollywood on December 7, 1941, the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Contracted to David Selznick and unlikely to be drafted early, Kelly (who was 29) was yet to make a movie, so he sold war bonds while Blair volunteered in a hospital. However, it wasn't long before MGM asked him to be in For Me and My Gal and made a deal with Selznick to take over half of his contract. It was the birth of not just one of Hollywood's most talented stars, but of an icon too.

For Blair, however, Kelly was simply her husband. "I loved his work and he was a great dancer and he was also a really interesting, educated fellow. The fact that he was a star didn't matter to me. I was a snippy kid, I never thought of him as an icon."

Kelly made three movies before he went into the US Navy's photographic unit, a posting that frustrated him since, Blair says, he wanted to fight. Blair herself had moved from Hollywood back to New Jersey with their baby daughter, Kerry, understudying for the part of Laura in the first production of The Glass Menagerie on Broadway. Kelly was on the verge of being shipped to the Pacific when the atom bomb was dropped on Japan.

When the war finished, the family returned to the west coast. It was then that Kelly's career went meteoric, the high points of which included: Anchors Aweigh, for which he earned a best actor Oscar nomination; Ziegfeld Follies with Fred Astaire; The Pirate, in which he reprised his For Me and My Gal partnership with Judy Garland; On the Town; An American in Paris, for which he won a special Academy award; and Singin' in the Rain, which he acted in, co-directed and choreographed.

Throughout this was Blair. Didn't she feel that she was in his shadow? "Not at all. I did mean, sometime in the future, to be a serious actress but I had so much time. It didn't occur to me that this life would interfere, that I should be in New York if I wanted to be a serious actress." (This life included hosting legendary parties attended by the likes of Noel Coward, Garland and Frank Sinatra.)

Blair's life, which she calls "almost boring because it was so wonderful", changed when the Senate investigations subcommittee under the leadership of Joseph McCarthy started its witchhunts into "un-American activities". She and Kelly were both left-wing and even though she didn't suffer as much as others, she finds it hard to talk about now. "To be very left-wing in Hollywood was to work for the unions, to work for the blacks, the ordinary things that are social democratic principles. It was, if you were a writer, to try and write a film in which black people had a dignified position rather than just servants. At the time, you weren't to say you were a communist or you weren't a communist - they had no right to ask. I think now that the committee knew from the FBI who was a communist and who wasn't and they didn't call anyone who wasn't. I wasn't that important that I would have been called but it was an incomprehensible time."

In 1957, the year after she was nominated for a best actress Oscar for her role in Marty, Blair's marriage to Kelly ended, after which she moved to Paris. She will say nothing about their divorce other than, "I have nothing bad to say about Gene in any way. I can't, in a little interview, explain the complications of what I needed and what he needed. We were married 16 years and it just came to an end."

In Gene Kelly: Hollywood Greats - the accomplished and delightful biography of the star - Blair says she didn't want to be "an idolised little girl any more". Aside from that, she keeps her counsel.

In the five years she spent in France, Blair worked more than she had before or since, including appearing in Michelangelo Antonioni's Il Grido (The Cry). It was while filming at Pinewood that she met her second husband, Karel Reisz, who directed Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. They married in 1963.

Now in her late 70s and living in north London, Blair is still luminous. In a long velvet dress and drinking Diet Coke out of a silver tankard, she still has a sparkle in her eyes, at once dignified and mischievous. It may have been this that Stephen Daldry saw when he cast her in his new film, The Hours. "He called me up and asked me to have lunch. So I went thinking it must be Meryl Streep's mother and I can do that - we both come from New Jersey - but it wasn't. I play Julianne Moore's character in 50 years' time.

"You never stop wanting to act but I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it. I've often thought I was very lucky. To grow up in a small town is very lucky, to get all those real life values. Then I was in New York when you could still go walking in Central Park. And then to be in Hollywood and then Paris. Then to come and live here for the rest of my life. The timing of things has been very fortunate."

Let Ben Rest: Disney’s Opportunity to Explore Auradon, Encourage Youth Involvement in Politics, and Encourage Healthy Leadership Habits

Many thanks to @screaminginternallyalleternity for pointing this out, and making wonderful writing besides about all the ways Auradon is incredibly messed up.

Auradon’s power is far too concentrated at the very top. We see that Beast, despite being one man and ruling over such a diverse and massive union of states, has the power to:

Completely, utterly ban Magic, one of the most powerful tools (and means of living) for its citizens,  what brought a lot of the Royals into power in the first place and let them keep it, and united these states together in the first place,

Exile a gigantic portion of their population into an island prison, whilst bringing some of them back from the dead specifically for this, with inhumane conditions, no government supervision or aid, and literally dumping all their trash on them, and

Oppressing pretty much all non-human minorities so efficiently that most people aren’t even aware of it happening, and they had to wait for a change in administration to have their grievances aired and actually redressed, rather than getting yelled at and threatened until you shut up and sit back down.

I headcanon a lot that the decisions such as the Magic Ban, the Isle of the Lost, and the numerous oppressive laws weren’t entirely his fault—there had to have been civilian support, along with allies with the other royals—but as Kanye West sang, “No one man should have all that power.”

I can understand why the power structure came to be: in majority of the States’ time periods, royalty was seen as divine, infallible, and absolutely deserving to do whatever they pleased, because they couldn’t be sitting on the throne if they weren’t the true, right ruler for the kingdom. Even with London bringing with it the ideas of democracies, liberalism, and secularism, religious beliefs and long-held truths like that don’t die easily, nor do they fade away within the span of 20 years.

They may have compromised with the elective monarchy they have right now, but the point still stands: we have one man who has far too much power, and as Alex wrote about, far too much responsibility than any one person should ever have.

I understand that Ben is basically the Kim Possible of the Descendants Universe sans fighting evil villains on a regular basis,* that he is perfect in every way, with superhuman time management skills, intelligence, and energy stores to be a star athlete, captain and president of pretty much every club under the sun, and straight A grades plus numerous colleges and professionals courting and asking him for his opinion.

But like Kim Possible the show frequently used as a dramatic plot point, even if you can do anything, that doesn’t mean you should, because you are still human and you have limits.

It’d be a massive opportunity for Disney on all fronts to show Ben being overwhelmed by all his responsibilities and duties, and doing what responsible and successful leaders do:

Delegate responsibility to others.

It’d be a great way to point out the flaws of Auradon’s political system of entrusting so much power into a very small elite (or just two-three individuals) surrounded by advisers (who may or may not be corrupt, like Jafar), and are both oftentimes blind and deaf to the needs, the desires, and the realities of the people they serve.

It’d serve as an excellent critique of our current world, with how so many people put far too much trust in their politicians and leaders, believing them to be the actors of change rather than just the people coordinating the effort; having more sway over matters than they really have (such as with the economy, or massive, complicated crises like poverty); and more often than not, giving them too little supervision and accountability, content to disregard their duty as citizens to watch over the people watching over them, and just let them take the wheel.

Whether that leads to them to greener pastures, or off a cliff, too many people think their civic duty ends once you cast your ballot.

It’d be effective in teaching kids this most valuable lesson of adulthood: you can’t do everything by yourself. You need the help of other people. Even if you can take the weight of the world on your shoulders, you shouldn’t, because you’ll get tired, you’ll get sick, and you’ll eventually get crushed by your load, if you don’t have someone who can help take some of the weight off, or tag out for you while you recuperate.

It’d be a wonderful, convenient, and lore-friendly way to put attention into the various aspects of Auradon outside of the Isle, Auradon Prep, and parts of Auradon City, and develop individual characters—have Ben make new committees, initiatives, and departments, and delegate a student representative for each of them.

Hell, just make them the official Secretary, as apparently this society is perfectly fine with handing over absolute executive power to 16 year olds still in high school, why not his alter-egos in his cabinet?

Have Jane and Mal team-up as the Secretaries for the Magic, Sorcery, and Mystical Matters Committee, trying to find out some way to slowly, safely, sanely undo the magic ban without causing widespread chaos and discontent, have us see how exactly the Fae population have been affected by having the very essence of their existence made illegal, and how Auradon’s regular population had adapted with science and the consequences of getting rid of magic.

It wouldn’t be strange of them to go visiting the cells and settlements of expatriated Fae and magic users like the Stars (a headcanon of mine), interview the other Faeries of the realm and how they’ve been adapting or more often than not, suffering, and explore magic and the effects of the Ban deeper because that’s their job.

Have Jay be in charge of the “At-Risk Children Athletics Program” and explore the concept of Auradon Villain Kids (AVKs): the children of pardoned criminals or “not THAT evil” individuals that have avoided the Isle, but have a massive stigma anyway. Have him find out how the Romani (“gypsies” from The Hunchback of Notre Dame) have been doing, hang out with his fellow street urchins in Agrabah, London, China, and so on, introduce to these kids who think they have no future and nothing to live for that there is hope for them in sports, and getting into education.

Have Carlos and Evie be part of the Department of Science and Technology, exploring how education is still faulty in Auradon with parents perceptions that their kids are not going to benefit from it, the horribly mistaken belief that girls belong at home and not in college, along with the flaws and issues that technology and science have wrought with Auradon.

How many blacksmiths were put out of business when mass-produced products from automated factories came about? Why does Auradon such a huge throw-away culture where they can’t seem to use anything more than once or to the last drop, and is this because they live in such a time of abundance, they have stopped caring about the environmental and societal costs because “there’ll always be more?” How was technology adapted by these mostly medieval fantasy universes, and what the hell is going on with London right now?

You can also rope in the other AKs and give them the spotlight, like making Lonnie, Audrey, and Doug into the trio in charge of the Rural Development Initiative, exploring the people that have likely been left behind by Auradon’s move into a very automated, information-based economy: farmers, small, out of the way villages, and people who thought they’d be working the same well-paying, low barrier-to-entry, low-skill jobs all their lives, until they suddenly disappeared.

Expose us to the plight of the minorities through Doug’s experiences as the son of the Dwarves, how he thought there was no future for him but the mines, and how Snow White and his family fought damn hard to get him the education he deserved.

Have Lonnie explore how the middle class is better off, but not that much, and how certain societal problems have remained like arranged marriages because singles are so overwhelmed by how much choice they have, along with how Feminism still has a long way to go in that you’re still very much expected to quit your career at some point and become a full-time mother in Auradon.

Get Audrey’s hands dirty, have her interact with her people outside of parties and formally arranged meetings where everything is staged, shiny, and clean, and let her see the reality of the people that she’s going to govern, how things REALLY are outside of her gold-and-jewel-studded bubble as a 1% Royal,  and that her luxury always comes at the cost of someone else’s prosperity, as there’s only so many resources to go around.

For far too long, Disney has been perpetuating the myth of “Divine Right” with their royals and the people who marry into the monarchy: that they deserve their positions because of them being inherently better, smarter, and more ethical people, that they deserve to rule because they are obviously good rulers and the bad ones are deposed in short order, or that it’s only the kings and queens who can actually enact any sort of change in the world, the commoner’s job is to make that happen like they were horses pulling a cart.

Having Ben delegate his tasks, admit that he needs help, and spread the responsibility around not only makes him a more realistic and sympathetic character and less of a Marty Stu, it empowers the other members of the cast and gives them importance in the world, AND it shows real life kids that you don’t need to have been born into royalty or have a crown put in your head to take charge, and lead the way for change for the world around you.

Plus, it can be a great opportunity to show the kids a HEALTHY, sane, safe way to have a high power, high responsibility executive job, that even if you are at the top, you’re still relying on the people below you holding you up just as they are on you, that you will inevitably need several hands of help, and that you need vacation days, breaks from your work, and time to yourself, away from the crush of paperwork, demands, and people demanding hearings.

That you need to and can make a system where the colour of this year’s ball is handled by your Royal Event Planner, you have a clear chart and system of if you really need to take this call or hear out this plea or can have someone else do it for you, and that your primary job as a leader isn’t to do all the work, it’s to figure out how to get everyone to do what they’re best at or can do, so you can all achieve more than if you were all working by yourselves.

I’d also LOVE to see a scene where Ben is kicking back in his room, slowly working through a giant pile of books, interspersed with the VKs and AKs running around, trying to keep this dystopian disaster we call Auradon from imploding.

* I actually have an AU about this. More on it Later.(TM)

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Are There Republicans Running For President

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/are-there-republicans-running-for-president/

Are There Republicans Running For President

What Is A Voter

Trump says there is ‘tremendous support’ for him to run for president again

The Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act, which took effect January 1, 2011, created voter-nominated offices. The Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act does not apply to candidates running for U.S. President, county central committees, or local offices.

Most of the offices that were previously known as partisan are now known as voter-nominated offices. Voter-nominated offices are state constitutional offices, state legislative offices, and U.S. congressional offices. The only partisan offices now are the offices of U.S. President and county central committee.

List Of Republicans Who Opposed The Donald Trump 2020 Presidential Campaign

This article is part of a series about

This is a list of Republicans and conservatives who opposed the re-election of incumbent Donald Trump, the 2020 Republican Party nominee for President of the United States. Among them are former Republicans who left the party in 2016 or later due to their opposition to Trump, those who held office as a Republican, Republicans who endorsed a different candidate, and Republican presidential primary election candidates that announced opposition to Trump as the presumptive nominee. Over 70 former senior Republican national security officials and 61 additional senior officials have also signed onto a statement declaring, “We are profoundly concerned about our nation’s security and standing in the world under the leadership of Donald Trump. The President has demonstrated that he is dangerously unfit to serve another term.”

A group of former senior U.S. government officials and conservativesincluding from the Reagan, Bush 41, Bush 43, and Trump administrations have formed The Republican Political Alliance for Integrity and Reform to, “focus on a return to principles-based governing in the post-Trump era.”

A third group of Republicans, Republican Voters Against Trump was launched in May 2020 has collected over 500 testimonials opposing Donald Trump.

‘i Made A Decision To Live My Life In Service’

Brock Pierce is a former child actor who appeared in the Mighty Ducks franchise and starred as the president’s son in the 1996 comedy First Kid. But thanks to his second career as a tech entrepreneur, he’s also probably a crypto currency billionaire.

Why is he running for president? Partly because he is deeply concerned by the state of the country.

“I think that we lack a real vision for the future – I mean, what kind of world do we want to live in, in the year 2030? What is the plan? Where are we trying to get to, you know? You have to aim for something. And I see mostly just a lot of mud being thrown around, not a lot of people putting forth game-changing ideas. It’s getting scary. And I have a view of what to do.”

For the last four years, Mr Pierce has focused on philanthropic work in Puerto Rico, where his foundation recently raised a million dollars for PPE to give to first responders.

Asked what America’s priorities should be for the next four years, he suggests the country stops pursuing “growth for growth’s sake”, and measures its success by how well life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are upheld.

“I have many liberal tendencies, just like I have conservative tendencies,” Mr Pierce says. “And I think it’s time we take a collective breath and a brave step into the future, because all of these ideologies have something to teach us.”

‘We don’t like either candidate’

And if he doesn’t pull it off? Mr Pierce says he has offers.

Former Colorado Gov John Hickenlooper

Hickenlooper joined the field in early March, seeking to parlay his success in growing Colorado’s economy while passing environmental regulations and gun control laws into a successful presidential campaign. In a launch video, he spoke further of healing the nation’s political divisions.

“One thing I’ve shown I can do, again and again, is create teams of amazingly talented people and really address these issues that are the critical issues facing this country,” he said on “Good Morning America.”

He also announced he was suspending his campaign with a video.

“While this campaign didn’t have the outcome we were hoping for, every moment has been worthwhile and I’m thankful to everyone who supported this campaign and our entire team,” he said in the video posted to .

Who Wants To Run For Governor As A Republican In 2022

Pennsylvania Republicans have been battling with Gov. Tom Wolf since he unseated incumbent Tom Corbett in 2014. Many of them are eager to take Wolfs place, but there is no clear frontrunner this early in the race. Several Republicans have already announced their bid, and a few others have hinted or shown interest in joining what is expected to be a crowded primary. Thus far, its hard to find a Republican candidate without some sort of ties to former President Donald Trump. 

With a heated race to fill U.S. Sen. Pat Toomeys seat next year, the GOP will have to be strategic about what candidates it wants to back for the Senate and for governor. Potential candidates will also have to weigh their options and decide where they fit best and can compete.

There are plenty of names that could be added to this list in the coming months, but here is our second iteration of potential Republican candidates for 2022. A couple of candidates have been added since the last edition.

Running

Former U.S. Rep Lou Barletta

Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale

Gale was the first Republican to formally announce his candidacy for governor back in February. An avid Trump supporter, he has criticized the Pennsylvania GOP and pledged to be a conservative populist. Hes also caught attention for and saying Trumps presidency was sabotaged. 

Former Corry Mayor Jason Monn

Pittsburgh attorney Jason Richey

John Ventre

With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibitionthe Run For President

Return to Rise to National Prominence List Previous Section: The New Lincoln | 

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was the least known of all of the contenders for the Republican Partyâs nomination for president. Heading the list was former New York Governor William H. Seward, with the politically awkward Governor Salmon P. Chase of Ohio a distant second. Conservative Edward Bates of Missouri was considered too old, and many Republicans seemed uncomfortable with the popular but unpredictable Horace Greeley, founder and editor of the New York Tribune.

To overcome his disadvantage, Lincoln adopted an unobtrusive publicity campaign. The timely release of his published debates with Stephen A. Douglas and brief autobiographies and a carefully orchestrated speaking campaign in New York and parts of New England all worked to Lincolnâs advantage. The nomination and the subsequent campaign were left largely to trusted handlers, but even after his election was secure, Lincoln maintained a dogged silence on national issues prior to his inauguration.

Allegations Of Inciting Violence

Research suggests Trump’s rhetoric caused an increased incidence of hate crimes. During his 2016 campaign, he urged or praised physical attacks against protesters or reporters. Since then, some defendants prosecuted for hate crimes or violent acts cited Trump’s rhetoric in arguing that they were not culpable or should receive a lighter sentence. In May 2020, a nationwide review by ABC News identified at least 54 criminal cases from August 2015 to April 2020 in which Trump was invoked in direct connection with violence or threats of violence by mostly white men against mostly members of minority groups. On January 13, 2021, the House of Representatives impeached Trump for incitement of insurrection for his actions prior to the storming of the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob of his supporters who acted in his name.

: James K Polk Vs Henry Clay Vs James Birney

The election of 1844 introduced expansion and slavery as important political issues and contributed to westward and southern growth and sectionalism. Southerners of both parties sought to annex Texas and expand slavery. Martin Van Buren angered southern Democrats by opposing annexation for that reason, and the Democratic convention cast aside the ex-president and front-runner for the first dark horse, Tennessees James K. Polk. After almost silently breaking with Van Buren over Texas, Pennsylvanias George M. Dallas was nominated for vice president to appease Van Burenites, and the party backed annexation and settling the Oregon boundary dispute with England. The abolitionist Liberty Party nominated Michigans James G. Birney. Trying to avoid controversy, the Whigs nominated anti-annexationist Henry Clay of Kentucky and Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey. But, pressured by southerners, Clay endorsed annexation even though he was concerned it might cause war with Mexico and disunion, thereby losing support among antislavery Whigs.

Enough New Yorkers voted for Birney to throw 36 electoral votes and the election to Polk, who won the Electoral College 170-105 and a slim popular victory. John Tyler signed a joint congressional resolution admitting Texas, but Polk pursued Oregon and then northern Mexico in the Mexican-American War, aggravating tension over slavery and sectional balance and leading to the Compromise of 1850.

How Donald Trump Could Steal The Election

Ted Cruz First GOP Candidate Set to Run in 2016 Presidential Race

The president cant simply cancel the fall balloting, but his state-level allies could still deliver him a second term.

About the author: Jeffrey Davis is a professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the author of Seeking Human Rights Justice in Latin America, and the forthcoming book Constitutional Tyranny.

Even under a normal president, the coronavirus pandemic would present real challenges to the 2020 American election. Everything about in-person voting could be dangerous. Waiting in line, touching a voting machine, and working in polling stations all run afoul of social-distancing mandates. Already, Maryland, Kentucky, Georgia, and Louisiana have postponed their presidential primaries, while Wyoming, New York, and Ohio have altered their voting procedures. Of course, other democracies face similar problems; the United Kingdom has postponed local elections for one year.

But under President Donald Trump, the possibilities for how the coronavirus could wreak havoc on the election are all the more concerning. This is not a president who cares about the sanctity of the electoral process. After all, he has never seemed particularly concerned about Russias efforts to manipulate the 2016 outcome , and he was impeached for demanding Ukrainian help in his reelection efforts.

New 2020 Voter Data: How Biden Won How Trump Kept The Race Close And What It Tells Us About The Future

As we saw in 2016 and again in 2020, traditional survey research is finding it harder than it once was to assess presidential elections accurately. Pre-election polls systemically misjudge who is likely to vote, and exit polls conducted as voters leave the voting booths get it wrong as well.

Now, using a massive sample of validated voters whose participation has been independently verified, the Pew Research Center has . It helps us understand how Joe Biden was able to accomplish what Hillary Clinton did notand why President Trump came closer to getting reelected than the pre-election surveys had predicted.

How Joe Biden won

Five main factors account for Bidens success.

The Biden campaign reunited the Democratic Party. Compared to 2016, he raised the share of moderate and conservative Democrats who voted for the Democratic nominee by 6 points, from 85 to 91%, while increasing the Democratic share of liberal Democrats from 94 to 98%. And he received the support of 85% of Democrats who had defected to 3rd party and independent candidates in 2016.

How Trump kept it close

Despite non-stop controversy about his policies and personal conduct, President Trump managed to raise his share of the popular vote from 46% in 2016 to 47% in 2020. His core coalition held together, and he made a few new friends.

Longer-term prospects

Statehood And Indian Removal

Republic of East FloridaSeminole WarsAdamsOnís TreatyFlorida TerritoryAdmission to the UnionList of U.S. states by date of admission to the UnionCracker

Defense of Florida’s northern border with the United States was minor during the second Spanish period. The region became a haven for escaped slaves and a base for Indian attacks against U.S. territories, and the U.S. pressed Spain for reform.

Americans of and began moving into northern Florida from the backwoods of and . Though technically not allowed by the Spanish authorities and the Floridan government, they were never able to effectively police the border region and the backwoods settlers from the United States would continue to immigrate into Florida unchecked. These migrants, mixing with the already present British settlers who had remained in Florida since the British period, would be the progenitors of the population known as .

These American settlers established a permanent foothold in the area and ignored Spanish authorities. The British settlers who had remained also resented Spanish rule, leading to a rebellion in 1810 and the establishment for ninety days of the so-called Free and Independent Republic of on September 23. After meetings beginning in June, rebels overcame the garrison at , and unfurled the flag of the new republic: a single white star on a blue field. This flag would later become known as the “”.

What Is A Typical Presidential Election Cycle

The presidential election process follows a typical cycle:

Spring of the year before an election Candidates announce their intentions to run.

Summer of the year before an election through spring of the election year Primary and caucus Caucus: a statewide meeting held by members of a political party to choose a presidential candidate to support. debates take place.

January to June of election year States and parties hold primaries Primary: an election held to determine which of a party’s candidates will receive that party’s nomination and be their sole candidate later in the general election.and caucuses.

July to early September Parties hold nominating conventions to choose their candidates.

September and October Candidates participate in presidential debates.

Early November Election Day

December Electors Elector: a person who is certified to represent their state’s vote in the Electoral College. cast their votes in the Electoral College.

Early January of the next calendar year Congress counts the electoral votes.

January 20 Inauguration Day

For an in-depth look at the federal election process in the U.S., check out USA In Brief: ELECTIONS.

Contribution Limits For 2021

Additional national party committee accounts Donor $109,500* per account, per year Candidate committee $45,000 per account, per year PAC: nonmulticandidate $109,500* per account, per year Party committee: state/district/local Unlimited transfers

*Indexed for inflation in odd-numbered years.

PAC here refers to a committee that makes contributions to other federal political committees. Independent-expenditure-only political committees may accept unlimited contributions, including from corporations and labor organizations.

The limits in this column apply to a national party committees accounts for: the presidential nominating convention; election recounts and contests and other legal proceedings; and national party headquarters buildings. A partys national committee, Senate campaign committee and House campaign committee are each considered separate national party committees with separate limits. Only a national party committee, not the parties national congressional campaign committees, may have an account for the presidential nominating convention.

**Additionally, a national party committee and its Senatorial campaign committee may contribute up to $51,200 combined per campaign to each Senate candidate.

Nj Primary Elections 2020: The Five Republicans Who Want To Take Over As Us Senator

Colleen ODea, Senior Writer and Projects EditorNJ Decides 2020Politics

Five Republicans are vying for the chance to try to do something no one else has been able to do in almost a half-century: Convince New Jersey voters to elect a Republican to serve in the U.S. Senate, where Democrat Cory Booker now sits.

It has been 48 years since New Jersey voters have sent a Republican to the U.S. Senate, and registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly a million. In 2018, Republican and former pharmaceuticals executive Bob Hugin spent more than $39 million, including $36 million of his own money, and lost by 11 percentage points to incumbent Bob Menendez, who had been considered vulnerable after his trial on political corruption charges ended in a hung jury.

Statewide races are the toughest ones of all for a GOP outnumbered by a million more registered Democrats in the state, said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. But even before party registrations were so lopsided, Republican Senate candidates have fared more poorly here than almost anywhere else in the nation. Since New Jersey last sent a Republican to the Senate in 1972, the GOP has lost a staggering 15 Senate races in a row, he said.

Withdrew Before The Primaries

The following individuals participated in at least one authorized presidential debate but withdrew from the race before the Iowa caucuses on February 1, 2016. They are listed in order of exit, starting with the most recent.

Name

The following notable individuals filed as candidates with FEC by November 2015.

Name

Additionally, Peter Messina was on the ballot in Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Idaho.Tim Cook was on the ballot in Louisiana, New Hampshire and Arizona. Walter Iwachiw was on the ballot in Florida and New Hampshire.

Jerry Moran: Senator Kansas

Senator Jerry Moran arrives for a meeting about the Republican healthcare bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 19, 2017.

Trumps second endorsement of the 2022 campaign season is Jerry Moran, the Republican incumbent senator from Kansas. He was the first member of Congress to receive an endorsement from the former president.

Moran voted with most Republican senators to acquit Trump of his impeachment charge of inciting the pro-Trump storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

Ron Johnson: Senator Wisconsin

Former GOP Rep. Joe Walsh: ‘I’m going to run for president’

WASHINGTON, DC FEBRUARY 25: Senator Ron Johnson speaks during a U.S. Senate Budget Committee hearing regarding wages at large corporations on Capitol Hill, February 25, 2021 in Washington, DC. The committee is looking at why many low-wage workers in America qualify for public benefits even though thousands of them are employees of large corporations.

Trump announced his endorsement for Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson before he has even announced a re-election bid. Johnson, 66, has represented Wisconsin in the Senate since 2011.

Even though he has not yet announced that he is running, and I certainly hope he does, I am giving my Complete and Total Endorsement to Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.  He is brave, he is bold, he loves our Country, our Military, and our Vets, Trump wrote in a statement. He will protect our Second Amendment, and everything else we stand for.  It is the kind of courage we need in the U.S. Senate.  He has no idea how popular he is.  Run, Ron, Run!

This list will be updated as Trump announces new endorsements.

: Benjamin Harrison Vs Grover Cleveland

In 1888 the Democratic Party nominated President Grover Cleveland and chose Allen G. Thurman of Ohio as his running mate, replacing Vice President Thomas Hendricks who had died in office.

After eight ballots, the Republican Party chose Benjamin Harrison, former senator from Indiana and the grandson of President William Henry Harrison. Levi P. Morton of New York was the vice-presidential nominee.

In the popular vote for president, Cleveland won with 5,540,050 votes to Harrisons 5,444,337. But Harrison received more votes in the Electoral College, 233 to Clevelands 168, and was therefore elected. The Republicans carried New York, President Clevelands political base.

The campaign of 1888 helped establish the Republicans as the party of high tariffs, which most Democrats, heavily supported by southern farmers, opposed. But memories of the Civil War also figured heavily in the election.

Northern veterans, organized in the Grand Army of the Republic, had been angered by Clevelands veto of pension legislation and his decision to return Confederate battle flags..

Sen Mitt Romney Of Utah

A Gallup poll last March found Romney, 74, has a higher approval rating among Democrats than Republicans, so you might figure he doesnt have a prayer in taking his partys nomination again. A February Morning Consult poll, though, had Romney polling ahead of Republicans like Pompeo, Cotton and Hawley. So, youre telling me theres a chance? Yes, a one-in-a-million chance.

The 2012 GOP presidential nominee and his wife, Ann, have five sons. He graduated from Brigham Young University and Harvard Law. Romney is a former Massachusetts governor, and the first person to be a governor and senator from two different states since Sam Houston, who was governor of Tennessee and a senator from Texas. Romney is this years JFK Profile in Courage Award recipient.

Former Vice President Mike Pence

If youre curious how the former vice president might handle the fact that many of Trumps supporters think hes disloyal for certifying the 2020 election, his speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on June 24 laid out his argument.

Pence opened the speech with one of his favorite lines, in which he calls himself a Christian, conservative and Republican, in that order and then proceeded to spend the next 20 or so minutes praising Trump and the work of the Trump-Pence administration. We made America great again in just four years, he boasted. Then he finally touched on the attack. Jan. 6 was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol, he said.

Pence said he would always be proud that elected officials reconvened to finish certifying the election after the riot, and he said he understood why many were disappointed in his tickets loss last year: I can relate, I was on the ballot. He also positioned his view on the election as one informed by Republican patriotism and love of the Constitution.

The Republican Party will always keep our oath to the Constitution, even when it would be politically expedient to do otherwise, he said. Theres almost no idea more un-American that any one person can choose the American president. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone.

: Andrew Jackson Vs Henry Clay Vs William Wirt

Democratic-Republican Andrew Jackson was reelected in 1832 with 688,242 popular votes to 473,462 for National-Republican Henry Clay and 101,051 for Anti-Masonic candidate William Wirt. Jackson easily carried the Electoral College with 219 votes. Clay received only 49, and Wirt won the seven votes of Vermont. Martin Van Buren won the vice presidency with 189 votes against 97 for various other candidates.

The spoils system of political patronage, the tariff, and federal funding of internal improvements were major issues, but the most important was Jacksons veto of the rechartering of the Bank of the United States. National-Republicans attacked the veto, arguing that the Bank was needed to maintain a stable currency and economy. King Andrews veto, they asserted, was an abuse of executive power. In defense of Jacksons veto, Democratic-Republicans labeled the Bank an aristocratic institutiona monster. Suspicious of banking and of paper money, Jacksonians opposed the Bank for giving special privileges to private investors at government expense and charged that it fostered British control of the American economy.

The Anti-Masons convened the first national presidential nominating convention in Baltimore on September 26, 1831. The other parties soon followed suit, and the convention replaced the discredited caucus system of nomination.

Sen Josh Hawley Of Missouri

Though controversial, Hawley, 41, is a fundraising machine and hes quickly made a name for himself. The blowback Hawley faced for objecting to Bidens Electoral College win included a lost book deal and calls for him to resign from students at the law school where he previously taught. His mentor, former Sen. John Danforth of Missouri, said that supporting Hawley was the biggest mistake Ive ever made in my life.

Still, he brought in more than $1.5 million between Jan. 1 and March 5, according to Axios, and fundraising appeals in his name from the National Republican Senatorial Committee brought in more cash than any other Republican except NRSC Chair Sen. Rick Scott of Florida. Just because youre toxic in Washington doesnt mean you cant build a meaningful base of support nationally.

One Republican strategist compared the possibility of Hawley 2024 to Cruz in 2016. Hes not especially well-liked by his colleagues , but hes built a national profile for himself and become a leading Republican voice opposed to big technology companies.

Hawley and his wife, Erin, have three children. He got his start in politics as Missouri attorney general before being elected to the Senate in 2018. Hawley graduated from Stanford and Yale Law.

If I Ruled The World

The world would be quite a bit different if I were its supreme dictator. Oh yes, I am in favor of a dictatorship, as long as that dictator is me! And here's how it would go. 

A few disclaimers before we begin: 1) Keep your expectations low when you read this. You won’t like everything I list but you won’t hate it all either. This is due to me being neither a liberal or a conservative solely but rather bits and pieces of each. 2) I am making this rant for my own entertainment and the entertainment of the few people who enjoy it when I rant. I am not making this in hopes of starting a debate on what is right or wrong, stupid or smart. If I sound like an idiot to you, cool. Let me sound like an idiot in peace! With that said, keep your lame ass argumentative comments out of my inbox. Thanks. Ok on with the rant!

First of all, I'd have to setup a single worldwide government. The current rulers of all current nations would become representatives of their respective countries on my World Senate. Of course, being a dictator I don't really need a Senate, but it's nice to have. As long as they know that anything they decide can get shit-canned by me, then it's all good. Not Bush though. And definitely not T.rump. I would pass a law that no-one in the Bush/T.rump family is ever allowed to enter politics ever again. I'd make 0bama the President again so he could be the American Senator, cuz I liked him.  It goes without saying that I'd first pass all sorts of Youth Rights laws. Every age-based law would be abolished and replaced by laws that actually make sense. For example, the driving age would get axed and be replaced by a more rigorous driving test. In fact, we have way too many stupid drivers out there as it is, so the WHOLE driving test would have to be retaken by everyone. I would bring back beheading as the favorite execution style. Lethal Injections are for pussies. What the fuck is scary about getting a shot that puts you to sleep? Fuck no, if you did something bad enough that you deserve to die, you're gonna lose your head, bitch! Murderers get the death penalty, period. No life imprisonments for assholes who kill people. You kill someone, you die, that's all. (Note: DP would however only occur with a substantial amount of concrete evidence) Rapists get the death penalty. If she said no, then it's NO, motherfucker.  If you beat your kids, you get put in chains in the middle of Times Square and people can pay $1 for one punch or kick. The beatings stop when someone draws blood (cuz we don't wanna kill your ass). On the 3rd offense, an angry mob gets to beat your ass into a coma. If you come out of it, your kids can decide whether you should live or die. If you molest a kid, whatever part of your body touched them gets painted with acid. Then you go to the chopping block! If you steal from someone, you lose your rights and freedom for 1 year and become your victim's endentured servant. On the 3rd offense, you will work until you have paid for 10 times the value of the item stolen or for 5 years, whichever comes first. Marijuana is legal in Salt’s World. It will be tightly regulated and heavily taxed, because if you're gonna be a pothead, you're gonna fucking pay for it. Growing your own shit or selling it without a license will be considered stealing from the government and you get the punishment for theft (see above). Drunk drivers get no chances. First offense of drunk driving means you lose your license for life, in theory. I say "in theory" because it will work sort of like a life sentence in prison works. You can be brought up for "parole" and a committee will assess whether you deserve to get your license back. Such assessments will occur once every 10 years. If you beat your wife, I annul your marriage and place a restraining order against you. I don't care if she gives me that brainwashed crying bullshit "but he loves me, he didn't mean it, really he doesn't abuse me." You hit her, you lose her, and that's final. I will have my government scientists figure out an alternative to abortion that everyone can live with. Preferably, I'd like to see us be able to remove an embryo and continue to grow it in a lab. People who're trying to adopt always want babies and they always have to wait years for one. Not anymore. Furthermore, it seems that adoption is frowned upon due to it being so difficult to get approved and those who do get approved have a predisposition for choosing pretty, white INFANTS. Under my control, a new process will be drawn up to make it not only easier to adopt regardless of sexuality, marital status, etc but make it so that people don’t get to “select” which child they want. First come, first given, end of story. If you really want a child, you wouldn’t be that gdamn picky anyway. If you don’t want your child, that’s fine and well. We will literally take it out of your stomach (same concept as aborting) and grow it for you. Real abortions will only be allowed if a health risk to either mother or child comes up. This is how I would attempt to find middle ground, a compromise if you will. My government will fund cloning research. I want to be able to clone stem cells and body parts. If this can be done, maybe sick and dying patients won't have to wait year after year for suitable donors. In a world where everyone is part of the same government, there's not much need for massive armies. A global police force will be instituted as the next step above Federal officers. So, it would go, local cops, state cops, federal cops, global cops. Without an army to feed, clothe, etc. a shitload of money would be freed up to make people's lives better. There won't be anymore fucking hunger in my world. Every single farm worldwide will be required by law to give 5% of their yearly output to the government for distribution to the poor. They will, of course, receive a humongous tax break for doing this and any farm that voluntarily gives in excess of 15% will pay no taxes at all. Yes, I know this will make the cost of food rise globally. Too bad. You pay a dollar more for your T-bone and you can just cry about it, but at least some little Ethiopian can have some fucking potatoes that night. And in retrospect, under my administration, the percentage of poor people in the world should lower dramatically if not disappear altogether if you play your cards right. But until this global shitshow is corrected, that’s what would have to happen. Medicine will no longer be big business. All wealthy citizens under my rule will see a tax increase, which will pay for everyone's healthcare. No more private insurance companies, it's going government-issue, baby! And, by the way, under my rule the words "government issue" won't be a synonym for "piss poor." No one should be groaning about this because the minimum wage will also see an increase to an actual living wage proportional to the cost of living that will make workers and their families happy and also boost consumer sales, thus increasing the profits of businesses everywhere. The lack of insurance plans employers now have to provide for their employees will free up some of that extra cash. We're dismantling nuclear weapons and using their radioactive components as fuel. What the fuck do we need nukes for when all the world is united under one government? I will pass a law stating once and for all that all sentient life on this planet is entitled to equal treatment and protection under the law and that no law may be passed which contradicts this. Gay marriage: Legal. If you file a stupid lawsuit, we throw you in jail for 3 months. This includes suing the tobacco industry when you're the one who lit up 50 times a day for 30 years, moron. You also can't sue because you're fat. Watch what you eat and exercise if it bothers you so much! I will force Microsoft, Apple, and all those Google people to work together and create "The Uber OS." It'll run Windows programs and Mac programs (all versions) and Google programs (all flavors). All the drivers will work interchangeably. They will all be told that if the OS ever crashes, they each lose a family member! Mwahahahahaha. (kidding obvs). Every citizen will be allowed to carry a sidearm, as long as the sidearm is worn in plain view (like the old west). Every citizen carrying a gun had better remember the price they'll pay for murder. Unless it's self defense or defense of another's life, don't pull that gun! Significant resources will be diverted to build subway systems. City-wide, State-wide, Nation-wide, and World-wide systems will be built. Any system that is Interstate or beyond must be supersonic. The World-wide system must reach speeds of Mach 2 or greater (don't try standing up on the train, bitch!). The purpose of this subway network will not only be to facilitate free travel across the globe, but also to provide countless millions of new jobs that should adequately handle our planet's homelessness and unemployment problems. I should've mentioned taxes earlier, but here it is. The worldwide tax brackets will be as follows: everyone making 10k or less will owe 12% (you can omit the extra 2% with a financial hardship exemption form but it should be noted that no full-time adult worker should be making that much under my leadership so this should be doable without a person’s quality of life taking a hit), everyone making between 10,001-99,999 will owe 15%, everyone making $100k-$200k will owe 30%. Everyone over 200k will owe 50%. Surely you don't think the money for all these great improvements is just gonna fall from the sky? Recycling will become mandatory. We throw away far too much shit. Why chop down a rainforest when there's enough paper in a city dump to fill a library 10 times over?! We will also have to become far less dependent on fossil fuels. I'll work out a timetable for eventually outlawing fossil fuels in favor of electric, solar, and nuclear power. Go back to that city dump and imagine how many atoms are sitting their going to waste when we could be smashing them and reaping the benefits. Prison overcrowding? No problem! Legalizing weed and making drugs a medical issue instead of a criminal one should take care of this problem for the most part and as for the rest, well, Antarctica is just sitting there not doing a damn thing, it's time we put it to use. Remember the penal colony "Rura Penthe" from Star Trek VI? Yup, it'll be something like that. No guard towers, no fence, nothing. If you wanna escape, go ahead. You'll just freeze to death, idiot. Otherwise, you'll stay right there in prison and serve out your sentence. Imagine how many new jobs a prison that size will create? And the cost of feeding them will be negligible. They'll have giant heated greenhouses for growing everything they eat. They don't work to grow it, they don't eat. In other words, a prison sentence means you serve your time as a farmer in the middle of frozen fucking nowhere. Jon Stewart will be appointed as my press secretary. At least all my press releases will have the whole world laughing their asses off. Minimum Wage will be increased to $12.50/hr. I think Ronald McDonald can afford to buy used overhauls for a while so that his employees don't have to shop at the Salvation Army. Corruption in government would be gone. No one is allowed to spend more than $500 on their election campaigns. They can put up a fucking website and do grassroots shit. That way there's no big corporate donations and shit to deal with. Plus, politicians are gonna become like preachers: We give them a place to live and a minimal salary, that's it. No big bucks, no fancy cars, nothing. It's not gonna be about the money. All the money we cut from politicians can go to teachers, cops, firemen, etc. Y'know, the government employees who actually fucking DO something worthwhile and give back to society. Pro Athletes get capped at $90,000/yr. None of this being a rich bastard because you play a fucking game. Maybe then, only people who LOVE the sport and DON'T corrupt it will find their way in. Just like with the politicians, when it's not about the money only people who actually give a fuck will want the job. Ninety grand a year is still a damn good salary. It's not like they'll be poor. The RIAA and MPAA will be told once and for all to shut the fuck up about Peer-to-Peer. They should've jumped on the bandwagon when it got rolling, now they can just suck it up. By the way, musicians and actors are capped at $60,000/yr. They can still have the royalties on their music, movies, concerts, commercial deals, etc. Wouldn't be fair to take that away from them. However, the industry will still be encouraged to develop better copyright protection methods so that all the true geeks can still enjoy the immense thrill of breaking a copyright protection scheme only days after it's implemented. They've gotta have something to do on a dateless Saturday night. Wouldn't want to rob them of that. We'll be having a government-sponsored betting pool on how long it takes the industry to figure out that copyright protection is fucking useless (they spend years developing some new state-of-the-art system and once it's released, a 13yo breaks it in 2 days... get a clue). SPAM will be made illegal! The punishment for spamming is 5 years in the Antarctic Prison Colony! I think that just about covers the basics. Of course, I could probably go on all fucking night with this shit, but if I kept going I'd never get this rant posted. Just know that there's like a billion more cool things I'd do. I might just have to make a sequel to this rant. Until then....... Salt for president 2020.