Artist: Taylor Swift
Album: folklore
Released: July 24, 2020
Label: Republic
Listen: Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / TIDAL

Introduction

Most of you probably know who Taylor Alison Swift is, whether you voluntarily learned it or not. Born on December 13, 1989, two numbers that will come back in her music a lot, she was born in West Reading, Pennsylvania. As a young girl, she was already interested in music and singing, her parents named her after singer-songwriter James Taylor after all. She was writing songs since she was 10 years old and moved to Nashville and started performing by 11. She started recording demos and meeting with executives from her tween to early teen years. Eventually, she met Scott Borchetta, the owner of a brand new label called Big Machine Records and wanted to make Taylor the first artist signed to him, which the 14 year old agreed to.
Taylor Swift released her first studio album, Taylor Swift in 2006 at age 16. The album got small success at first, but eventually songs like ‘Teardrops on My Guitar’ became hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Her next two albums, Fearless and Speak Now, became even bigger, getting top 10 hits and the former winning the Grammy’s Album of the Year award. She made a bigger pivot to pop music instead of country as her songs were getting bigger & bigger and her fanbase was growing exceedingly fast for a country act. Her next album, Red, was an experimental album for her. It featured her first singles that were 100% pop, and some of her biggest songs yet. In 2014, she released 1989, her biggest album with 5 top 10 hits, and the album that cemented her turn into pure, sugary pop, but still didn’t compromise her sharp writing. In 2016, some phone call was released that about being a bitch or something, idk I’ve never seen the zimmerman telegram. Taylor was against Germany trying to ally with Mexico in WWI, so in 2017 she released Reputation, an album with a totally darker aesthetic and vibe than she’s ever done before… which she abandons midway through and goes back to making more synthpop cuts.

How did Taylor head into 2020?

In November 2018, Taylor left Big Machine Records. Normally, a label switch wouldn’t mean too much, but while switching, her masters were bought by Scooter Braun from Scott Borchetta, with her not even aware they were up for sale. Scooter Braun is the manager of artists like Justin Bieber, but Scooter tried to make feuds between some of his artists and Taylor, so she already had animosity towards him behind the scenes. With this acquisition, Taylor was furious. Someone who she trusted since she was a teenager working with someone who had treated her poorly for years, all behind her back. To get back at them, she has promised to record all her previous work that is now owned by Scooter. In 2019, she makes her relationship with London boy Joe Alwyn public. Getting back to the music, she not-so-subtly kills the snake and releases her 7th album, Lover. She released the lead single, ‘ME!’ to, uhh… reviews. Lover had some of her sharpest writing yet, but also some of her most childish songs as well, both covered in big pastel paints, sometimes, literally. She planned a worldwide tour, Loverfest, in 2020, but sadly that was all closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With Taylor spending 2020 alone in VIP, she went back to her normal, lack of social media presence ways.
Then on July 23, she shocked all of her fans.

Tracklist

the 1

The opening track of an album always needs to grab the attention of the listener. “I’m doing good, I’m on some new shit” does that job well. 'The 1' is a song that isn’t about Taylor's story, plenty of songs on 'Folklore' aren't. It’s a classic “the one that got away” story. Boy and girl meet, but they break up due to a lack of passion from the guy. However, despite what she tells herself, there’s still a big part of her thinking about what else could’ve happened had they still been together. As someone who can plot a 5 episode soap opera about me and someone hot guy who randomly shows up on my twitter feed, I can absolutely relate to daydreaming and overthinking about an unobtainable relationship about someone. She even tries to imagine him moving on to make it easier for her to move on, to no avail. A jaunty, yet melancholic, piano-driven song, it’s a lovely opener for an album that’s gonna get a lot less jaunty from here on out.
Favorite Lyrics: If one thing had been different/Would everything be different today?

cardigan

’Cardigan’ is the SMASH #1 HIT SONG that SERVED LONGEVITY! It’s also the first part of the fabled “teenage love triangle trilogy” on the album, along with ’August’ and ’Betty’. The trilogy is about 3 teenagers: Betty, James, and an unnamed 2nd girl. Betty and James were just two high schoolers in a relationship together. Yet, over the summer, James cheated on her with unnamed 2nd girl. ’Cardigan’ is the song from the point-of-view of Betty, starting off with her reminiscing about their relationship and the good days. However, on verse two and chorus two, she talks about her realization that James was *good* friends with someone else besides her, and she broke up with him. Later on, she admits to herself that she does wonder if he was the one for her, yet expects he’ll come back to her anyway, which he does over on ’Betty' (her mind, it amazes me). One of my favorite parts of this song is how the title phrase “and when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone’s bed, you put me on and said you were my favorite,” changes in meaning throughout the song. First, it refers to how he made her feel a beautiful love, just like a comforting cardigan. Then, it shows that she realized she was just a 2nd choice, having the lie of “you’re my favorite” said in her face while being tossed aside. Finally, on the last part of the song, she's feeling depressed after the breakup, but he shows up on her porch asking to be taken back. Also, I think this is one of the bottom 3 songs on this album, MOVING ON!
Favorite Lyrics: You drew stars around my scars/But now I'm bleedin'

the last great american dynasty

*plops history book on desk* Rebekah Harkness is not one of the first names to come to mind when you think of Taylor Swift. Rebekah was a woman who died in 1982, Taylor wasn’t even born then! How is she an analogy for Taylor in this song? Well, Taylor purchased her Holiday Home in 2013 and eventually started learning the history about her. Rebekah married the son of an oil tycoon who, upon the death of his father, owned a large share of the oil and lots of money. Seven years later, he died of a heart attack, leaving Rebekah with all the money, but also a lot of the press at the time put an unfair amount of the blame on Rebekah, saying she destroyed the “last great American dynasty.” After being bored in her new 13 million dollar holiday home, Taylor noticed the parallels between Rebekah’s sexist narrative of being the cause of the death of a dynasty, and her own narrative of sexist tabloids and the internet, known breeding ground of misogyny. Rebekah was having a wonderful time herself, living her life and “ruining everything,” Taylor was doing the same and being unbothered by the narrative surrounding her (mostly). This is one of my favorite songs on the album, and the catchiest song on the project, there is so much to love about this. HOWEVER, apparently Rebekah actually stole her neighbor’s CAT and dyed it key lime green, so this is literally unplayable.
Favorite Lyrics: There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen/I had a marvelous time ruining everything

exile ft. Bon Iver

Have you ever wanted Somebody That I Used to Know but Justin Vernon is Gotye and Taylor Swift is Kimbra? Well, what the fuck, are you psychic or something? Anyway, 'Exile' delivers on your specific demand and gives the picture of two sides of a shattered relationship from an unexpected meeting after the breakup. Through one set of eyes, it was a surprising end to what seemed to be going well, and seeing her move on from them so fast is a cruel gut punch. Through another, it was a flawed relationship that was doomed early on and he still can’t understand what they had was not true love. After they each get a verse and chorus to themselves to make their case, we get the bridge. The bridge is the climax of this breakup as well as the song itself. After a final cry of ”So I’m leaving out the side door”, he just tells her to get the fuck OUT. He’s done crying over her and he totally knew they were an unstable couple too. He talks about how she never tried to communicate, all while she tells him that he did bother trying to listen to her communications. There was so many signs given out, but the lack of communication doomed everything and left what once was a budding romance into two people stewing in their anger and assertion that they are not the villain in this situation. It’s a heartbreaking song, and honestly should’ve gotten a fucking music video and proper promotion omg, I know its a cliche at this point, but Taylor please hire me to pick out your singles for your secret 3rd album that probably isn’t even called Woodvale.
Favorite Lyrics: You didn't even hear me out (You didn't even hear me out)/You never gave a warning sign (I gave so many signs)

my tears ricochet

If I ever see Scooter Braun or Scott Borchetta, its on sight. ‘My Tears Ricochet’ is one of the reasons I needed to explain the exposition on why her move from Big Machine would come back to haunt her. This was the first song she wrote for Folklore, and the only one she wrote completely solo. It describes, “an embittered tormentor showing up at the funeral of his fallen object of obsession.” She sings from the point of view of a ghost looking over her own funeral and seeing her abuser (and possible killer?) at the wake as well. She then talks about how fake he’s acting to get everyone to think he’s a victim in this whole ordeal as well, now that his beloved is gone. While there are plenty of descriptions that fit this character, there are plenty of obvious real life allusions to Scott Borchetta. Referencing how he would comfort her after she was in public feuds, how all their good years together are forever marred by the betrayal, and how he still gets to own her “stolen lullabies” that she created herself. All this while he tries to blame her for this whole drama. Anything to save face at the wake, while he owns all her stolen lullabies. It’s one of the most beautiful songs sonically, but also one of the most furious, and that fury is deserved.
Favorite lyrics: Cursing my name, wishing I stayed/You turned into your worst fears

mirrorball

We all have songs that, when we hear them, they get insanely personal immediately and you get attached in ways most people don’t. For me, the song on Folklore that I relate too much to is 'Mirrorball'. Without delving too deep into my own problems, I’ve always felt like I don’t know what my actual personality is. I’ve had several friend groups throughout the years and each one I played up a different side of myself, technically, I still do to my family with me still being in the closet. This is why I relate to this song the most of all the songs on this album. Taylor is a mirrorball. What does that mean? It's got multiple different meanings for this song. It means she reflects people’s wishes onto them, that she tries to be the brightest thing in the room, she has a lot of visible cracks and when she’s shattered, she’s broken into a million of unrecognizable pieces. She’s entertaining to everyone, but she specifically loves entertaining boyfriend, knowing that he’s the one person who loves her for herself. Even on the bridge, where she references COVID-19 shutting down all her planned performances, she recognizes that now only performing for an audience of one, but she's still happy performing for him. Mirrorball is full of so much heart that it really does shine on this album.
Favorite Lyrics: I want you to know/I'm a mirrorball/I can change everything about me to fit in

seven

'Seven' reveals that the real folklore was friendship all along. It’s a fictional song about a childhood friendship that’s now only vague memories of the time spent together as one of them moves on with their life, thinking about childhood innocence and how great their friendship was as well, despite not even able to recall what they looked like. One of the things I love about this song is that while it does show a beautiful image of childhood, it still alludes to darker themes than just normal childhood memories, such as abusive parents and how innocence will always leave a child at some point. Now, there is some debate over whether the “hide in the closet” line does refer to a queer relationship, but my answer is most likely no, as it’s the only mention of anything like this in the song. Of course, I might just be “gal pals”-ing this song, but it’s open to interpretation. One of my favorite lyrics on this song is “And just like a folk song/Our love will be passed on,” tying it in to the album’s theme. The love will be told through memories down to her kids and grandkids, maybe one day mentioning this love to their kids, even offhandedly. I love the piano line of this song and the lyrics really bring up an image of childhoods past, from playing pirates, throwing tantrums, and rope swings over a creek, which uhh…. be careful around them, kids.
Favorite Lyrics: And though I can't recall your face/I still got love for you

august

Now we have the second song in the “cheating high schooler love triangle story three parter” after ’Cardigan’. ’August’ is from the point-of-view of the unnamed girl that James cheated on Betty with. She recalls her lovely summer fling with James, full of nervousness, beautiful beaches, and teenage love. The production on this song is some of the best on the album, giving a perfect feel of a lovely August day relaxing on the beach with someone’s man. Unnamed Girl knew that this love was fated to only last the summer, if that, but she still held up the hope that James would just be hers. She was ready to just drop everything and become his, and even drove to him to try and convince him, all this backed by an explosive bridge and outro. UG does come back to her senses on the final line of the bridge, knowing that she wasn’t losing James, he was going back to who he shouldn’t have left to begin with. It’s a very bittersweet song, but a shining light on the album.
Favorite Lyrics: August slipped away into a moment in time/'Cause it was never mine

this is me trying

'This Is Me Trying' is an overthinker’s worse nightmare. Sometimes, you realize that you made a big mistake in a relationship and you want to see if there’s any chance of repairing it. This song is her trying (duh) to come back and accept all her mistakes to be taken back by her ex. While there at his doorway though, she starts worrying about how her words might not come out like she wants right now, unlike how sharp they were when she was angry. So what does she do? She just lets them know the simplest way possible, this is me trying my hardest to apologize and repair any possible relationship we could have. This alone would hit real hard as a song, however, this song also has more explicit references to Taylor herself than most of her “character songs” on Folklore, especially on the second verse. She delivers some of the most painful lyrics on the whole album in these verses. Verse two alone talks about being told her problems are all in her head, alcoholism, trying to get ahead so much that you fall behind, even in class, and oversharing with random people on accident. It paints a scary picture of Taylor’s own mental state at the moment and in her past. While I do think that some of these are just part of the “character,” its hard not to think that Taylor put a little more of herself than normal into the lyrics of this song.
Favorite Lyric: I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere

illicit affairs

Taylor says “FUCK the 6th/7th commandment (depending on what holy book you’re reading) on ‘Illicit Affairs.’ She writes a story about being involved in an affair with a married man. What started out with stares at a party, now leads to hot, regrettable sex in parking lots. She gives out some advic- I mean, details about how he hides his true intentions when heading out for another secret rendezvous. While most of the verses are just the normal details of how they’re hiding their meetings, by the bridge she confesses that she knows how conflicted he’s actually feeling. Calling himself a fool, and acknowledging that despite how strongly he feels for her, he can’t tell anyone else in his life these feelings, lest he ruin his reputation. Tbh, I still am conflicted on whether or not this song is against cheating or if its still reveling in the thought of it, but I'm not conflicted on whether or not this song is great.
Favorite Lyrics: They show their truth one single time/But they lie and they lie and they lie/A million little times

invisible string

From a song about Taylor destroying a marriage in secret, the natural path is to go right into a cheery love song about her and Joe. ‘Invisible String’ is probably the most Evermore sounding song on Folklore ~~which is not a good thing~~. But this song is good! It’s an adorable little guitar pluckin’ song about fate bringing Taylor and Joe together. It’s based off of an Asian folk myth and maybe the adorable 2015 game Unravel of how a red string connects two soulmates together through their pinkies and into their hearts, guiding them to right places and times until their meeting. In this song, she mentions some of the minute details of their relationship that she randomly made note of as they realized they were connected together by fate. She even manages to make sitting in a taxi cab listening to Bad Blood sound somewhat tolerable. Listing off his shirt working at fro-yo shops, the autumn leaves in a park they walked around in, and waitresses that know who she is, she leaves a cute idea of how their relationship grew. She also briefly mentions how she used to be hateful to her old exes, but over time realized that she’s recovered enough to listen to The Jonas Brothers again. ‘Invisible String’ is very comfy, and I think this was put before the next song to show the listener that “Hello! I am happy and in love! No need to worry too much about me!”
Favorite Lyrics: Green was the color of the grass

mad woman

’Mad Woman’ is a lesson of composed rage. Taylor explains what most people already know: society will paint a mad woman as crazy, delusional, etc, and try to shame her for being angry. However, Taylor has embraced her anger and will get as angry as she pleases because she’s tired of holding back. And of course, who else does she point that fury towards but Scooter and Scott. She knows that she’s living rent free in their heads, and lawns apparently and revels in that fact. Taylor even mentions how they used some women in their life (mainly Scooter’s wife) to leave the most offensive posts about her, while the two men were in defensive mode when the feud first went up. Taylor calls out Yael specifically mentioning that she knows that Taylor is in the right here, but “goodwives” always have to agree with their husbands. Which lowkey feels misogynistic but you know what they say, no one likes a non-misogynistic woman, what a shame she went non-misogynistic.
Favorite Lyrics: They say "move on," but you know I won't

epiphany

You know what, I’m gonna say it. ’Epiphany’ is a good song. Sure, it’s not the best on the album, or top three, or top five, maybe not even top ten, BUT it is definitely not the worst as so many people claim. It’s two different moving stories through the eyes of a WWI soldier, specifically Taylor’s grandfather, and a nurse during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Why did she decide to connect these two? Obviously it’s because [Note to self: write something smart here so people can get on your side about Epiphany being better than Peace, Hoax, and Cardigan]. Both paint equally grim pictures of being surrounded by loss, whether it be men on the battlefield of a war or ordinary people needing to be put on ventilators to breathe. Verse one and two both end with the depressing line 'some things you just can’t speak about,' which I interpret as both of these events are clearly traumatic yet most people wouldn’t want to hear about such depressing topics, so people have to repress them. The harshest part of the song comes at the bridge and outro where the only hope they have has to come to them in one of the few times they’re able to sleep, with that hope being very unrealistic in many cases as more bodies pile up on the battlefield and in hospital beds. It’s a real depressing and all too real song that deserves way more praise.
Favorite Lyrics: Just one single glimpse of relief/To make some sense of what you've seen

betty

The conclusion of the “TLTCU” (Teenage Love Triangle Cinematic Universe), ’Betty’ is confusingly a song through the perspective of James trying to make things right with him and Betty. Again, she’s singing from a perspective of James. Taylor is not being a lesbian on this song, anymore than ’Epiphany’ was Taylor’s coming out as a World War One veteran. James explains how he knows his introversion at the school dance made Betty have to enjoy herself with other people at the dance, which sparked jealousy in James. He was walking home dejected one night when Unnamed Girl ^{^TM} pulls up to him and says “Wanna go to my cool beach house and possibly fuck?” and James couldn’t resist, I guess. Little did James know, Inez was watching them from the corner, and she was definitely not keeping that to herself. Eventually, Betty was doing her best to avoid James, like you typically do to cheating exes you’re still forced to see at school or work. James was always curious of just crashing a party with her and just spilling his guts to her and asking her back, wondering if it will work or she’ll just beat the shit out of him. Either way, he finally gets the right mix of courage and desperation to go to her party. The song ends on a big question mark before we could get Betty’s answer, leaving the audience to guess what Betty says. But let’s be real, if your cheating ex showed up at your party uninvited and asked you to take them back, would you actually say yes in any case?
Favorite Lyrics: Would you have me? Would you want me? Would you tell me to go fuck myself?

peace

https://i.imgur.com/aw8hgR0.png. Yeah, I am not a fan of this one, folks. It’s a cute song about how Taylor knows her life is crazy and she might not ever be able to give Joe a normal romance, but she still loves him the same. But, is it just me or is the instrumentation and the vocals/lyrics go against each other at several points on this song? It’s like someone tried to make a poor mashup of two different tracks, and believe me, I know a thing or two about shitty mashups. The song also once again throws some shade at Scooter, Scott, and Kanye, but it feels real out of place for a love song, even if it’s about her crazy life. Really, I just feel like anything 'Peace' tries to do, some other track does it better.
Favorite Lyrics: All these people think love's for show/But I would die for you in secret

hoax

Wait, there’s a song called Hoax on this album?

the lakes

‘The Lakes,’ aka that song that made everyone realize swifties have lower reading comprehension than we thought, is the bonus track on the deluxe version of the album. I’ll be honest, I was originally not a fan of this song until about 4 days ago, listening to it again for this writeup. There’s something beautiful with these strings and the plan of just packing up all your stuff and your beloved and just living near beautiful lakes forever. Just ignoring all the bullshit from everyday life and “being superstar Taylor Swift” life, and living with your BF while nature moves around you two. I adore the bridge on this song and how it makes living at the lakes seem as gorgeous as a Monet painting. Who knew putting a good song on the physical copy would actually work to drive up album sales?
Favorite Lyrics: I want to watch wisteria grow right over my bare feet/'Cause I haven't moved in years

What happened after it’s release?

When folklore was released, you had a choice: do I listen on streaming or do I get a physical copy, or do I get the other physical version, or the other physical version, or the different physical version, or maybe another physical version, or the other CD/Vinyl option, or the “Meet Me Behind The Mall” version, or the last version I could own physically? And then after a few weeks you had choices on streaming: do I listen to the album, or do I listen to “folklore: the escapism chapter,” or do I listen to “folklore: the sleepless nights chapter,” or do I listen to “folklore: the saltbox house chapter,” or do I listen to “folklore: the yeah I showed up at your party chapter?” And then you had the choice of listening to Cardigan (Cabin in Candlelight), Betty (Live from the 2020 CMAs), or Folklore: the long pond studio sessions (From the Disney+ Special) [Deluxe Version.] We love Taylor for giving her fans so many ways to listen! Oh, she also dropped another album called Woodvale or something.

Discussion Questions:

#1. How do you like folklore compared to her other albums?
#2. What’s your favorite song from the album? And because we need some drama, least favorite?
#3. Folklore deals with many different themes of stress, anger, love, feminism, cheating, and more. Which themes were handled the best and/or the worst?
#4. Many people criticized Taylor for “using an indie aesthetic” at a time when many actual indie artists were struggling due to the pandemic. Do you think these criticisms have merit, yes or no? Why? And will you make me regret asking this on popheads?
#5. Did you watch “Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions?” Did it have an affect on your enjoyment of the album or certain songs?
#6. You can’t prove that the ghost of Rebekah Harkness *didn’t* possess Taylor Swift and force her to write a song about Rebekah’s narrative to lay her soul to rest and let her pass into the afterlife, like an episode of the mid to late 2000s tv show Ghost Whisperer starring Jennifer Love Hewitt. Therefore, I will believe this is exactly what happened. What are some of your strange interpretations/headcanons on this album? (Bonus points if you don’t mention Karlie Kloss)

Wrestling Observer Rewind ★ August 8, 1988

Going through old issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and posting highlights in my own words, continuing in the footsteps of daprice82. For anyone interested, I highly recommend signing up for the actual site at f4wonline and checking out the full archives.
• PREVIOUS •
1987
FUTURE YEARS ARCHIVE:
The Complete Observer Rewind Archive and 2002 by daprice82


1-4-1988	1-11-1988	1-18-1988	1-25-1988
2-1-1988	2-8-1988	2-15-1988	2-22-1988
2-29-1988	3-7-1988	3-14-1988	3-21-1988
3-28-1988	4-4-1988	4-11-1988	4-18-1988
4-25-1988	5-2-1988	5-9-1988	5-16-1988
5-23-1988	5-30-1988	6-6-1988	6-13-1988
6-20-1988	6-27-1988	7-4-1988	7-11-1988
7-18-1988	7-25-1988	8-1-1988	*

As far as the Bruiser Brody murder case goes, Invader #1 (fuck Invader #1) has given no explanation yet, and that’s led to a lot of speculation. Everyone wants an answer, and if anyone else knows, they’re not answering. The situation in Puerto Rico has deteriorated, as many wrestlers are boycotting the WWC. Some are worried they might get killed to, to which Dave says that to his knowledge there was no conspiracy and that after the Brody family, Invader’s family (for having him in the family), it’s WWC who have lost the most in the wake of things. Wrestlers have left them, they’ve been excoriated by the media, their image is perhaps irreparably damaged, they’ve lost two of their biggest draws, and fans in the area have been turned off from wrestling. Considering that, he finds it hard to imagine a credible conspiracy theory implicating WWC, considering just what the murder has cost them. And yet, if evidence were to emerge that shows there was a conspiracy, Dave thinks WWC should be shunned and boycotted as if they were South Africa. But running WWC out of business won’t bring Brody back. Dave does think this should make promotions rethink permitting weapons like guns and knives in the locker rooms, though.
The NWA is experiencing significant cash-flow issues. They’ve had to take out one or two large loans in excess of $300,000 in order to pay tv stations and cover wrestler pay. And if you think those balloon payments for some of the top guys that were supposed to come due back in May would be covered by this, nah. Those payments still aren’t happening yet. Reportedly, the loans come from TBS and serve as a down payment should a purchase agreement be reached. They also took a similar-sized loan out from a Charlotte bank. At this point, Dave is comfortable calling it: Jim Crockett Promotions is dead in the water unless a sale is made or they have a miraculous sudden recovery. Such a recovery is not going to happen, and if they don’t sell to TBS, then TBS will take their loan back from the ppv money when that comes through, leaving the NWA to die.
Remember how last week Dave got conflicting reports on the Great American Bash buyrate? Well, the 3.5%-4% touted by TBS is smoke and mirrors. The actual buyrate would appear to be around 2%, final numbers coming next week. Not a money loser, but marginally profitable at best. At this point Dave dissects the reasons the buyrate was so far below expectations: stale talent and uninteresting matches, fans turned off by Dusty finishes, and tv ratings for the NWA plummeting over the last quarter (the TBS Saturday show, usually in the top three cable shows, fell to number 11 this quarter and fell behind both WWF shows on USA). Dave talks a lot about numbers and I’m a literature person, so in direct language: all NWA programming is declining in viewership and they never had a chance to get a higher buyrate because their overall viewership is too low to support one. In summary, the Bash tour may temporarily increase house show numbers, but there’s nothing to suggest it’s driving tv numbers, proving that it’s ultimately a short-term solution incapable of addressing the long-term problem. Further analysis to come next week as the final numbers become apparent.
As far as TBS buying NWA goes, we’re coming to a point where timing is critical.If key NWA figures leave the company before the sale goes through, then it’s going to be even harder to get things moving in a positive direction. And Dave thinks it’s very likely a number of big names will jump ship in the next few weeks. They’re all free agents, since their contracts have been voided by the lack of those balloon payments they were supposed to get in May. Dave identifies a few changes that need to happen. Reformat the tv, give three or four fresh faces major pushes. No more squashes and every guy getting an interview per show. Market the wrestlers, not “see the NWA.” Ric Flair’s role needs to change. Same with the Road Warriors.
On July 7, Governor Robert Casey of Pennsylvania vetoed the bill to deregulate pro wrestling. Among the more significant of his objections to deregulation was that it would result in a revenue shortfall for the state athletic commission of $80,000.
Dave makes a few corrections on the coverage of Brody from the past few weeks. He went to Iowa State, not the University of Iowa (which is a shame, I thought it was cool Big E and I went to the same school as him, but apparently we didn’t). Dave also corrects his birthday, his funeral day (Wednesday, not Tuesday), and a couple other minor items like his theme song in Japan.
Atlanta station WATL’s wrestling block has been canceled effective the last week of August. Joe Pedecino has signed an agreement with channel 69, starting Labor Day, to bring a wrestling block to that channel.
Is Paul Orndorff dead? No. Stop writing to Dave every week because you read it in some other magazine that Orndorff is dead, because he’s alive. He especially hasn’t died from getting hit with a bowling ball or from AIDS. Seriously, people.

Watch: Paul Orndorff proves he’s alive as recently as 2019 with an interview about his career

CWF did an angle on their July 18 tv tapings involving Willie B. Hert (Pez Whatley), his son, and Paul E. Dangerously. Willie brought out his son, Paul questioned his parentage, the kid punches Paul, Eddie Gilbert comes out and beats up the kid, bada bing, bada boom, we got a feud.
Robert Gibson quit the NWA after getting paid only $1,100 for a week of Bash shows. As Dave understands it, going back was more Ricky Morton’s idea anyway. Morton may not be long for the company, though, if he wants the team to stay together.
The Midnight Express is starting to get cheered and look to be positioned for a face turn. What that means for Cornette is anybody’s guess, because babyface managers are tricky to get right.
The July 21 Great American Bash show in Cincinnati had a WarGames match that Dave prints 5 stars for. Again, wish it were clear that this was from whoever reported on the card for Dave and that he hasn’t seen it, because that’s probably the correct read here.
All Japan is putting a rocket on Stan Hansen’s back and he’s leaving fans in chanting “Brody” every night. If you thought Hansen was over before, it’s nothing compared to how over he is now. On July 27 he beat Tenryu by countout to capture the PWF and United National titles, and two days later he and Terry Gordy beat Jumbo Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu to win All Japan’s annual World’s Strongest Tag Determination League tournament.

Watch: Stan Hansen vs. Genichiro Tenryu, July 27, 1988

Additionally, All Japan’s August 29 show in Budokan Hall is being rebuilt as a Bruiser Brody Memorial show. The main events will still be voted on by fans.
Lots of foreign talent coming in for New Japan’s tour from the end of August to late September. Names include Vader, the Gaspar Brothers (Bob Orton Jr. and Karl Moffatt), Scott Hall, the Great Kokina (Yokozuna), and Black Tiger (an English wrestler).
Riki Choshu pinned Inoki on July 21 during a six-man tag match after a lariat. And he did it again the next night in a singles match, which was so noteworthy it was the front page of the Nikkan Sports page the following morning.
The magazines in Japan think it’s likely Akira Maeda will be wrestling Bob Backlund in December. They’re also predicting UWF will continue selling out every show they put on through the end of the year.
The most recent tv ratings in Japan show an interesting picture. All Japan drew a 6.5 on July 17 for a Hansen & Gordy vs. Tsuruta and Wajima main event. New Japan topped them with a 7.2 on July 16 featuring Kengo Kimura vs. Riki Choshu. Top of the heap, though, are All Japan Women, who drew a 7.5 with the Crush Girls vs. Mitsuko Nishiwaki and Mika Suzuki.
JWP did their Devil Masami vs. Shinobu Kandori match on July 14, and from what Dave can put together from photos, it looks like an incredible match. It was a 30 minute war which ended with both women bleeding a lot and Dave thinks it ended in a double disqualification. Close - draw by double count out in the ring as both women were spent and had lost too much blood to continue. Go out of your way to watch this, it’s an absolutely phenomenal match.

Watch: Shinobu Kandori vs. Devil Masami

Dave’s received two reports in the past week that the OWF has folded. More on that next week, but for now their July 8 show drew 65 in Gresham, Oregon, so that's not hard to believe.
The July 25 Memphis show drew the biggest gate since Lawler won the AWA title and was headlined by a LawleVon Erich broadway with both the World Class and AWA belts on the line. See that? Isn’t it much easier to just do a time limit draw that’s a great match (everyone was raving about it) than to mess up the rules on title switches? Too bad it wasn’t televised.
[Memphis] For the first time in modern wrestling history, a cake appeared in a wrestling angle and nobody’s face wound up covered with it. Bonus points if you can find this online.
Also in Memphis they’re teasing a face turn for Brickhouse Brown, but he and Robert Fuller keep reconciling despite Fuller continually being racist to him. We’re talking having a party featuring the Stud Stable on the tv show and Fuller giving Brown a watermelon and making racist remarks.
AWA’s big show in the Metrodome is either going to be on November 4 or 5. The Met Sports Center isn’t even sure.
Curt Hennig started with WWF on Friday night and has been suspended for life from AWA.
USA Pro Wrestling tag team champions the Rock ‘n’ Roll RPMs celebrated a year as tag champions during the promotion’s July 17 tv taping. Very impressive, considering the promotion is only 6 months old. They had a cake. It wound up with Mike Davis’s face shoved into it and pieces thrown at Tommy Lane’s face. Alas, poor cake. If you were in Memphis, you may have survived.
USA Pro also made a bit of what might be a desperate move to rekindle interest by having promoter and color commentator Ron Fuller clear out the ring during a big heel beatdown. Fuller’s basically retired from wrestling, but Dave thinks he’s getting back in the ring because he sees it as the only way to keep interest up and avoid shutting down for good (it doesn’t work).
Former wrestler Larry Hamilton is running for sheriff of Buchanan County, Missouri.
English wrestler and manager J.R. Foley, who worked mainly in western Canada in the 60s and 70s, died on July 24 of lung cancer. He was 50, and known for managing guys like Dynamite Kid, Badnews Allen, and the Honkytonk Man in Stampede.
Bruiser Brody’s death has been hitting some more news outlets. This week’s The Sporting News had a story on his death. The Reporters, a show on the Fox network, will be airing a piece in the next few weeks, while Entertainment Tonight ran their Brody and Adonis stories on Monday and Tuesday (with both stories featuring a young Dave Meltzer). The reason for the increase in publicity about the murder compared to last week appears to be a column from the LA Times famed sportswriter Scott Ostler.

Read: The Night the Fun Was Drained out of Pro Wrestling

Iceman King Parsons was offered the opportunity to do a tour in South Africa, but turned it down. Considering South Africa is still under Apartheid and Parsons is a Black man, I don’t blame him one bit for not going to South Africa.
”Cactus Jack Foley, who is one of the top Northeastern independent workers, may show up in the Central States.”
One of the letters this week is a poem called The Jobber. I’m printing it in full here because I love poetry, including bad poetry, and this needs to be shared (including original, as-printed spelling errors). I may go into what’s not working for me poetically here in the comments, but for now just read this amazing thing.

I was at home with my wife watching TV, When the telephone rang and the call was for me, That very next night in Nashville, Tennessee, They wanted me to do a job on national TV.
I’d make $65, the going rate for chumps, It was clearly understood that I’d be taking all the bumps, So I told their stooge that I would be there, He said “thanks very much,” but I knew he didn’t care.
Got all of my gear and packed my bag, That ride the next day would be such a drag Left my house at four so I wouldn't be late, Then started hauling ass up the interstate.
Stopped at a store to hear, "which one are you?" Those idiot marks just didn't have a clue If I was Hogan or Savage, they wouldn't have to ask, But I'm only a jobber, with a lowly wrestling task.
Arrived at the building and walked to the stage door, And got cussed out by a rat, such a pitiful whore, As I headed to the heels dressing room, My ego felt shattered, for I faced certain doom.
Strut into the room and forced a fake smile, "How ya been doing brother, haven't seen you in a while," Found me a spot and started getting ready, I was sweating like hell but my nerves held steady.
Up walked the booker to give me the finish, As I felt my pride so painfully diminish, He wanted us to do the "old Pearl Harbor," The face would make the comeback, I'd end up the jobber.
Then the bell rang, my match was up first, I was suddenly stricken with a bad case of thirst, "First match get out there," the bookers' voice did hiss, I was busy taking my third nervous piss.
So I stomped tot he ring to the sound of jeers, Then out waltzed the baby to a round of rousing cheers, I'm a pretty tough dude who can kick some bass, Too bad I don't fit in with the front office brass.
I'd take deca and D-Bol and some Winstrol V, If only the pencil would do something with me, My name was announced to the deafening boos, As I envied my opponent, cause he wasn't gonna lose.
All wnet as planned, and well, "that was that," My shoulders got pinned to the middle of the mat, TV matches are short, and this was no exception, I stormed back to the room feeling total dejection.
Took a hot shower and washed off the seat, I'd be back on the road, they'd be taking a jet, Said bye to the boys and then to the booker, I had turned my trick like a 300 pound hooker.
Oh how I wanted that booker to clobber, But had to keep my cool, I was only a jobber, Don't get me wrong, no apology was needed, I made the babyface look good, so I totally succeeded.
Drve back down the interstate guzzling a beer, Would I always be a jobber, what an agonizing fear? But deep down I know all that really matters, you see, Is that I play my role well, and am very proud of me

We’re starting to get letters about Brody now, and the first one is from one Johnny Black, who counted Brody as a friend. He talks about how Brody was unique in being a guy who had the promoters crawling to him instead of the other way around. And while he may have been hard to work with, he did everything to make sure the fans got their money’s worth. Black recalls seeing Brody stay behind after shows to take pictures and sign autographs for half an hour or more and how Brody didn’t understand why any wrestler wouldn’t take a few minutes for the fans. It’s an interesting insight into Brody’s philosophy: the promoters ultimately aren’t really the ones who pay the wrestlers. The fans are. Treat the fans well and you’ll always have a job. Another writer remarks about meeting Brody shortly after Mike Von Erich died and how much Brody hated WCCW’s exploitation of Mike’s death, and a third (a superfan in Greensboro who was almost a prototype for today’s front row regulars like Green Shirt Guy) reminisces about the first time he got to see Brody live and how, as Brody got ganged up on he called to Stan Hansen and said Brody needed his help. Hansen replied “Bruiser Brody doesn’t need any help” as Brody emerged at the top of the heap. A sad memory now.
Dave reports the Joe Malenko “one-match tournament” win of the Global Jr. title on the July 23 tv taping again. Still confused about the one-match tournament concept, but at least we know why the title was vacant - the previous champ, Steve Collins, “couldn’t make weight.” Also, apparently the Malenkos were fired recently for reasons Dave doesn’t know yet.
The card for WWF’s Summerslam looks like a dud to Dave. They’re clearly counting on Hogan/Savage vs. Andre/DiBiase with Ventura as referee being enough to pull in viewers. Demolition vs. the Hart Foundation for the tag titles should be okay, and they’ve got Honkytonk Man vs. Beefcake for the Intercontinental title and are billing it as the last time they’ll ever wrestle each other, so it looks like a Beefer title win is coming. WWF’s goal for the show is a 6% buyrate. Historically a hot headline and meh undercard outperforms a stacked undercard and weak main event, but for a national ppv, you really should want to stack the whole card, Dave thinks. Time to find out if WWF can successfully sell a big show off just one match.
In addition to Curt Hennig being in WWF, Gene Okerlund has returned. Apparently this happens about every year or two where Gene and Vince get hot at each other and things blow up (Gene quit for a day at the Slammy awards, in one recent instance), but Gene comes back because the money is too good. His duties are being relaxed a bit, though, and he’s going to mainly do only major things like NBC specials and Summerslam updates, rather than doing interviews on the road or for the All-American Wrestling show.
No Holds Barred will hit theaters in 1989, just after Wrestlemania V. Dave wonders if Hulk Hogan might possibly win the title at Wrestlemania right before the movie comes out (hmmm…). Obviously that would be ludicrous. He should win it three weeks after the movie comes out and has proven itself to be a total flop like David Arquette, greatest WCW champion of all time, did.
Blackthorne Publishing will soon begin releasing quarterly WWF comics. Dave’s surprised it took them so long to do that. Don't worry, Dave. It'll take a bit more time, because this doesn't seem to go anywhere and the first regular WWF comic won't appear until 1991, at least as far as I can find with a quick search.

NEXT WEEK: Big crowd for WWF in Milwaukee on July 31, Great American Bash official numbers, OWF and USA Pro out of business, Kevin Von Erich running World Class, and more

[PENNSYLVANIA] $900,000,000 UNPAID CLAIMS

I keep having dreams about a girl who went missing from my highschool.

12/22/2020 11:22 pm
I keep having dreams about a girl who went missing from my highschool.
I’m 24 years old and currently live across the country from my hometown, so I haven’t really thought about highschool for almost a decade, but recent events have got me wracking my brain for those memories.
Every night for the past 6 nights I’ve been having these dreams that appear to be retelling a story, always taking place in my old highschool and always involving the same girl - Rachel Currid.
Rachel went missing when I was a senior and she was a junior, so I didn’t know her very personally. From what little I knew, she was pretty reserved and private, only associating with a select group of people in the school. Nobody knew much about her, except for the fact that she came from a wealthy family and that her older brother Carson had a history of troublemaking and violence at the school.
Shortly before Rachel’s disappearance, Carson was pulled out of school and sent to some kind of mental institution with no explanation, some of the adults rumoring that his violent tendencies became too much to handle for their parents.
After he was sent away, Rachel didn’t come to school for two weeks.
The day that Rachel returned was… eventful, to say the least.
I remember the shock that I felt when I saw her walking down the hall for the first time in two weeks, and then the dread that replaced it when my eyes fell upon the bruises that littered her exposed skin and sunken eyes. Rachel’s eyes never left the floor to meet mine.
Halfway through the day a police officer showed up and pulled Rachel out of class. Apparently the school faculty had reported her repeated absences with little response, but the physical state she had showed up in that day was enough for the police to actually investigate.
That was the last time I ever saw Rachel.
The last time anyone at school saw her, actually. She never returned to class after that, and a week later she was reported as a missing person by her parents. They never found her.
I remember hearing the news and fearing for my life, finding it hard to believe that something like this could happen in a town that was so normal.
Eight years later and I’ve tried everything to block those memories out, to erase that guilt that still gnaws at my stomach sometimes when I’m trying to fall asleep because ‘I could’ve done something’ but I didn’t.
And now here I am, unable to sleep because everytime I close my eyes I see Rachel.
Maybe I’m slowly losing it due to the sleep deprivation, but I can’t help but feel like these dreams mean something - almost like she’s trying to tell me something.
Last night’s dream was of a class that Rachel and I had together in high school. It was surreal to see her alive and well in such a normal setting after all this time.
The dreams seem to be moving forward in chronological order of my memories, and I can’t help but dread what I already know is going to happen.
I’m afraid to sleep, but I know I need to see her again.
12/23/20 9:34 am
I saw her again.
But this time everything about the dream was different. It was dark and distorted, like something out of a fever dream, and the sound of loud screaming filtered in and out of my ears constantly.
I looked around and found myself in an unfamiliar room, it looked to be some sort of living room adorned with expensive furniture. I heard a loud crash and looked towards the source of the sound to find… Rachel’s brother? Why is he here?
He screamed and was throwing things around the room. Rachel is there too, she’s trying to stop him.
Carson grabbed her by the neck and threw her into the glass coffee table, shattering it instantly. I stood frozen in place as Rachel writhed on the floor in pain, Carson breathing heavily in the corner of the room.
A woman who I presume to be Rachel’s mother came into the room and slowly looked around. Without saying a word, she walked over to her son and gently grabbed his arm, leading him away from the scene.
Leaving Rachel there, alone.
I don’t know what to make of this dream. Did this actually happen to Rachel? Is this what caused Carson to have to be sent away?
I have so many questions, nothing seems to make sense anymore.
11/23/20 5:46 pm
I’ve been doing research on the Currid family all day, I couldn’t focus on anything else if I tried.
Their family is enormous and much richer than I thought. Apparently the father is a corporate lawyer and is a well known figure in the political world.
The only public information I could find for Rachel was her academic awards and her pictures during Currid family events. I think she used to have a Facebook, but her family must have deleted it.
I found almost nothing about Carson on the internet. No school records, no family portraits, no social media platforms - nothing. It almost seems like he was trying to stay out of the public eye.
After searching around on her mother’s Facebook page, I found a long message post from around 8 years ago. It was a statement made explaining why Carson was pulled out of school, and gave a sugar-coated version of his mental health issues that led them to send him to a psychiatric hospital in Pennsylvania.
In the post she gave the name of the psychiatric hospital, so in a moment of desperation I took it upon myself to search up the number for the hospital and give them a call. Obviously they couldn’t tell me much because of confidentiality, but they were able to tell me one very important thing.
Carson Currid is not a patient there. He has never been a patient there. They have no record of his file or ever meeting him.
His parents are lying. They’re covering something up, I know it. If he didn’t go to a psychiatric hospital then where the hell did he go?
What does this family have to hide?
Maybe I’m going crazy.

11/24/20 4:56 am
The dreams are getting more intense, more real. Fate is trying to tell me something in some twisted, confusing way.
When I opened my eyes in the dream it was dark. I saw the figure of Rachel stumbling through the forest, the overcast moon making it almost impossible to see.
I followed her, but my legs were not moving. It’s kind of like if I were experiencing it without fully being there, with no control over my body.
Eventually she walked into a clearing in the forest that turns into a cliff overlooking the lake. This place felt familiar to me. There’s someone there waiting for her.
It was Carson. He looked distraught.
I could barely hear their conversation, they spoke in hushed voices.
Carson wanted to run away and skip town, he knew where his parents were planning on sending him as he overheard their conversation. He sounded... regretful. Like he was scared by the things he had done.
Rachel wanted to go with him, she begged him to take her with but he insisted that she wouldn’t be safe with him.
She agreed to let him go on the condition that they would meet at that spot once a week to check-in.
I woke up in a cold sweat.
Carson skipped town, his parents must have covered it up in order to avoid a scandal.
If the timeline of these dreams is aligned with the actual timeline, that means that Rachel is going to disappear soon.
I’m running out of time, I need to know the truth but I don’t know if I can save her.
Why is this happening to me?
I think my next dream will be my last one.

12/25/20 1:07 pm
I have never been so horrified in my life. There is no fucking way that this is happening. I cannot believe or explain what I’ve just seen in my dream. I’m still trying to process if what I saw was real.
I open my eyes in the dream, and I am back at the cliff in the forest. Rachel is there too, sitting on the ground. She looked scared.
Carson appeared from the other side of the clearing, looking visibly upset. Rachel began to shake and stood up.
He immediately began to yell at her, screaming that she was a traitor and “just as bad as them”. Rachel had told her parents where Carson was staying. They called the police and gave them the address. The police came to his apartment, but he climbed down the fire escape and came straight here.
Rachel began to cry. She had been worried about him, he hadn’t contacted her in days and she was worried something happened to him, so she broke and told their parents.
Carson didn’t care, he was too far gone into his fit of rage to understand her true intentions.
Without warning he began to attack her, punching and kicking her repeatedly as she begged him to stop. Eventually he grew tired and left her laying there, bloody and alone.
I tried to scream for her but no noise came out of my mouth.
I close my eyes and open them again. I’m walking down the hallway of my highschool.
Everyone was staring at me strangely and I didn’t know why. I walked into the girls’ bathroom and glanced up into the mirror.
I was not prepared to see the face of Rachel Currid staring back at me. My exposed face and neck were covered in dark bruises.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I began to realize the situation I was in. This is the day that Rachel came back to school - and the day she went missing.
I’m reliving this day through Rachel’s eyes?
Why hasn’t this happened until now?
I stumbled away from the mirror, swinging the bathroom door open only to be met with a police officer.
He gently grabbed my upper arm and told me in a low voice that I needed to come with him.
I close my eyes and open them. I am in an interrogation room at the police station. They ask me about Carson. They ask about the bruises too.
They know that I know where Carson is. They know he did this to me.
I want to tell them what happened so bad, I want to tell them what is going to happen to me but I can’t. I opened my mouth but no noise came out.
Rachel won’t let me speak.
I close my eyes and open them. I am back at the highschool, but it’s dark. It’s so dark everywhere. I don’t know how I got here.
I saw a light coming from one of the classrooms and I walked toward it. Carson is sitting in the middle of the classroom, waiting for me.
He turned to face me, and the crazed look in his eye sent chills down my spine. He looked like a wounded animal.
He told me that he knows the police were questioning me, and that he knows I told them where he was.
I told him he was wrong, that I stayed silent. He didn’t believe me.
Carson reached deep into his pocket and pulled something out.
It was a gun.
He slowly raised it to the level of my forehead. He told me that I was too much of a liability, and that he was tired of hurting me.
I stared him in the eyes as he spoke, but somehow I did not feel scared. I think a part of Rachel was relieved that everything would be over.
With one last look Carson pulled the trigger and my vision went black.
Once again I was seeing Rachel and Carson from a third person perspective, and I couldn’t help but drop to my knees in anguish at the sight of Rachel’s lifeless body.
Slowly and painfully, I watched Carson pick up her body and carry it outside, leaving a trail of her blood behind him.
He stopped in an area by the school’s football field, underneath the bleachers and began digging. My eyes widened as I realized what he was doing.
He was burying her there.
I squinted my eyes shut as hard as I could, desperately needing to escape from this nightmare.
When I opened my eyes again I was awake and in my bed.
The first thing I did was run to the bathroom and throw up all the contents of my stomach.
I didn’t know what to do at that point, so I layed back down in my bed and stared at the ceiling.
I didn’t know if what I saw in my dream was real, but it felt so real that it left me with an unsettling feeling in my chest.
Should I… call the police?
I didn’t want to give them false information and make myself look like a lunatic, but if the information is true then maybe Rachel is still buried there.
With shaking hands I searched up the phone number for the police station of my old hometown, and hovered over the dial button.
I called in the information as an anonymous tip. It means they don’t know who I am, but it also means I don’t get any updates on the situation.
I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

12/28/20 7:46 pm
They found her. They fucking found her body.
I saw it on the news today, they dug her up from the spot underneath the bleachers.
I don’t know how to feel. I feel relieved that they found her body, but also so devastated now that I know what actually happened.
I don’t know why this happened to me. I don’t know how it happened either. Maybe it’s the work of a higher power or maybe it’s just karma from the universe.
I will never understand it. But that’s okay.
This will be my last journal entry on this topic.
I’m so sorry Rachel.

[OC] Chronicles of the Siren War [Chapter 67]

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A/N: Please consider supporting my writing efforts on Patreon. You can follow this story and be alerted when new chapters release via fanfiction.net.
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“I think I preferred the driving rain,” Thorson muttered to himself. He was a cramping, sweating mess by the time he reached the shrine atop the hill behind his base. Flickering flames within lanterns of stone greeted him and lit his path to the final set of stairs, flanked by the bold, red pillars of the Torii gate that, as Yamashiro had explained to him one day, separated the realm of the living from the realm of the gods. “No disrespect, but I have no time to stand on ceremony.”
The man took the stone steps two at a time until he reached the apex, the yellow and orange light of flame replaced by a calming, blue glow, its brightness a sad reminder of how many had been lost already after only half a year of war. It was easy enough to spot the cubes that belonged to Hornet, though they were not the bright yellow that Enterprise described at dinner. Instead they had faded significantly, looking more like dim sunlight. As Thorson drew closer he could swear that he felt something from them, but the nature of wisdom cubes never seemed to settle on one given explanation or mode of operation. He brushed against Yorktown’s first, bowing respectfully. As his fingertips glided over the smooth surface, a certain peace descended upon him. “I see. To fight at both Coral Sea and Midway like that and care for them both for so long? Rest easy then, Yorktown. Hammann will miss you, but I think she will understand in the end. We’ll take care of Enterprise. As for you-”
Thorson almost jumped as he laid his hands on Hornet’s last vestiges in the mortal world. His heart pounded and breathing quickened as Midway flashed before his eyes again, the sky utterly black and reaching out for him, or perhaps for her. So much remained obscure. As a mere human, shrouded in the fog of war, he called out anyway as he’d done for Arizona. You aren’t forgotten. I’m here, and so is Enterprise. Hold your ground. We’re coming. A small part of him expected Hornet to reply, in spite of everything that shouldn’t have been so. The maelstrom didn’t die down, but there was enough. She was there. She was fighting… something. “Good. I need another carrier and Enterprise can’t lose both her sisters in one day.”
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By the time Thorson arrived back at the docks, hundreds of men of all rank had assembled outside the labs. His fleet was keeping them at bay, but after his disruption there was no way everyone was about to go back to fighting, eating, and drinking. “Shift your sorry asses!” Tennessee demanded, striding forward and clearing a path for him. They stood nose to nose. “Andrew?”
“It’s bad, Tenn. Something’s trying to take her.”
“You’re sure?” she growled ominously. He shook his head.
“About as sure as I can be about a nightmare the morning after… just dust and echoes,” Thorson admitted. Tennessee looked the cubes over. She was no expert either, but they weren’t normal. That much was plain to see.
“Then let’s get her out of there. Penny, the cat, and Enterprise are inside. We kept everyone else out, including the Fleet Admiral,” she reported proudly, adjusting her leather gloves as though challenging him to tell her she’d done wrong. Thorson wasted no time, taking in her vibrant eyes and nodding approvingly. She stood aside and allowed him to pass through a group of sailors who were all from the Hornet. As he passed they all removed their caps and bowed solemnly, a move that left many in Thorson’s fleet, especially those from the Union, scratching their heads. He recognized a few of them as willing participants in the boxing ring.
“I’ll do what I can, thank you,” he said simply, calling out to Arizona before disappearing inside. “Arizona, come with me.”
“Yes sir,” she replied immediately, placing a hand on Yukikaze’s shoulder. “Wait here, sweetie.”
“None shall pass, nanoda!” the neko insisted as the battleship and commander headed inside the eerily silent and cavernous labs, made unsettling by the lack of occupants save Enterprise, Akashi, and Pennsylvania, who awaited them at the matrix.
“Everything is prepared, sir,” Penny assured him, gesturing to a fully loaded hopper full of wisdom cubes. Thorson nodded and turned to Enterprise.
“She is fighting something or someone in there. Get in there and pull her out. Tell her to imagine her ship as she always wanted, not as it was,” he ordered. Enterprise looked hesitantly at the machine. Pennsylvania shook her head impatiently.
“Act now or lose her forever. Go, flattop!”
Enterprise found no comfort in Thorson either, whose stoic expression beckoned her to act. Arizona smiled faintly in support but said nothing. “I… alright.” With a deep, shuddering breath, Enterprise stepped into one of the two chambers, with Thorson placing Hornet’s cubes in the other and immediately beginning the fill cycle with Akashi’s help. The minty kitty scampered off to oversee the dry dock outside while Thorson and the two Pennsylvania class sisters remained. The moment the matrix activated was evident, the water stabilizing unnaturally as the question of Hornet’s life hung solely on her older sister.
“Can I ask you something, Arizona?” Thorson whispered, taking her by the hand. Pennsylvania turned her head their way, allowing him to grasp hers as well. He was shaking.
“Of course, Andrew,” the battleship replied in her gentle voice.
“In the time it took us to come for you, I know you said you don’t recall much but… do you remember anything distinct?”
“What do you mean?”
“Anything alive, anything acting with intent, anything other than Penny or myself calling out to you?”
“I hate it when you start talking about this occult, mumbo jumbo shit,” Pennsylvania groused. He looked an apology her way.
“Sorry, Penny.”
“You don’t need to be, just keep it between us,” she replied as Arizona smiled at them. Hornet’s cubes had begun floating lazily in the matrix, though the pained look of exertion on Enterprise’s face was not comforting.
“I’m sorry, Andrew, I simply don’t know,” Arizona replied. “I didn’t even know how long I was out.”
“No, it’s my fault for asking you to explain purgatory,” Thorson muttered bitterly before returning his attention to the matrix. “She’s having trouble.”
The Pennsylvania class sisters couldn’t help but agree with Thorson’s evaluation. Enterprise was twisting and thrashing within her ‘cell’, and the ominous feeling he’d received from Hornet’s cubes atop the shrine was practically visible. But for whatever trials the Yorktown class sisters were facing, something had to have been going right as Akashi burst in through the side door along with her bulin crew. Shiranui floated in tow, ever peaceful and seemingly uninterested.
“Shikikan, the keel is here!” Akashi announced excitedly, heralding an absolute cacophony of noise as Hornet’s surviving crew, almost three thousand men strong, began shouting and cheering. If anything, it answered the question of why it had taken so long to feed everyone. Were he not absorbed with an operation that defied the known laws of science and even mortality, Thorson would have made a mental note to send Admiral Nimitz a bill.
“Well, I guess she always was a bit of a favorite,” Pennsylvania said, her tone a mixture of regret, aloofness, and maybe even a bit of jealousy. Outside, the chant of Maru! Maru! Grew only louder as the wisdom cubes placed into the conductive matrix slowly faded out of existence one by one and a new Union carrier willed itself into existence in a gory but resplendent process. Thorson breathed a sigh of relief, watching as Enterprise’s difficulties seemed to subside and Hornet’s new body took shape before them in concurrence with her hull outside. Pennsylvania rendered her judgment on the effort as Hornet’s long, blonde hair formed itself into twintails that draped forward over her breasts as she floated serenely within the matrix. Her crew had not shut up the entire time. “I don’t think she could have done it alone, Commander.”
“It’s a good thing she wasn’t alone then,” Thorson agreed as the machine finally finished its work and began draining at the behest of Enterprise, Hornet, or both. To his surprise, it was the naked, reborn Hornet who cradled her sister’s exhausted body as they stepped out of the matrix, not the other way around.
“Enty, Enty! We’re out. We’re back. Oh man, Enty, why did you face it down alone?!” Hornet demanded. Her sister smiled through tears as Pennsylvania clapped Thorson on the shoulder and headed for the exits.
“I’ll keep them at bay, but don’t keep them waiting,” she advised, speaking of Hornet’s crew as Thorson knelt beside the two carriers with Arizona.
“Who are you, Commander?” Hornet demanded, ignoring clothing herself in favor of supporting Enterprise.
“Commander Thorson, head of the fleet that defeated the Sakura battlegroup at Midway and the one who spoke to you recently, before your sister. What the hell happened in there?” he demanded gently.
“That idiot decided to face down cosmic darkness with her bare fists because she doesn’t even have rigging and she’s an idiot!” Hornet explained without explaining anything, holding Enterprise tightly to her new body and ensuring the two of them were alive and well. Satisfied as the older sister nodded silently against Hornet’s shoulder, Thorson helped the two of them to their feet where she turned her back and focused, finally, on an outfit to cover her body. Instead of her usual swim top and high cut shorts, she fashioned herself a black dress with yellow trim and thin straps around the shoulders, showing off her upper back, shoulders, and arms before deciding on elbow length black gloves and matching thigh high stockings to round out the look. A large, vicious looking hornet glowed at the base of her neck, confirming to Thorson that she’d picked up rigging in the process. “Ah, perfect! Now if you’ll excuse me Commander, allow me to do you a favor and shut those idiots up,” she giggled, placing a kiss on Enterprise’s cheek before entrusting her sister to Thorson and Arizona. The moment she stepped outside it sounded like a bomb went off. When Thorson rejoined the rest of his fleet soon after, he couldn’t help but wonder exactly when the ‘shutting up’ was supposed to occur.
“Burnside, you look like shit! Who gave you that black eye? Tennessee did? What the hell did you do? Oh whatever, get over here!” Hornet shouted, placing a kiss on the sailor’s cheek before moving onto the next and next after that. Her crew was positively elated to have their ‘Horny Maru’ back, and she was drinking it all in, a literal savior returned from the dead. Each crewman, after greeting her, hustled on board the new ship, excited to acquaint themselves with the new and upgraded war machine that Hornet herself had branded CV-12. Only when Hornet came face to face with her captain did the gaggle of sailors finally fall silent.
“I don’t care how nice it is watching you go. You’d best not leave again,” he insisted, embracing her like a daughter as she finally allowed the waterworks to flow.
“Cap, not in front of the boys.”
“Sod the boys, Hornet. We all thought we’d lost you forever,” he said quietly.
“I’m glad to say that’s apparently not how shipgirls like me work,” she responded, squeezing him tight before taking a step back and looking him up and down as he did the same. “Do you think they’re going to reassign me?”
“Let’s talk about that another time, Hornet. You’ll always be welcome at our home.”
“You sap. Say hello to the missus for me then if you take off without me. I can’t imagine not having you on the boat.”
“It’s your boat now, I’d say,” Mitscher replied, turning his gaze to her mint condition hull and gleaming AA guns. Several B-25s and other aircraft already lined the decks. “I’ll ask the Commander and his frankly adorable wait staff if they have more coffee. Something tells me it’s going to be a long night.”
“Damn right it is!” Hornet announced, turning to the remainder of her crew with a brilliant smile. “Now who else needs a kiss? If you try for the lips I’ll end you!”
Thorson turned to Enterprise, who he and Arizona were collectively supporting as all watching the raucous reunion. “You did what you needed to do,” he assured her. She shook her head.
“No, sir. The things I need to do have only just begun.”
-----
“Nnnh, huh? Five more minutes, sis,” Hornet requested, her long, blonde hair an absolute rat’s nest as she struggled to wake up. Unfamiliar surroundings and a sinfully soft bed tried to keep her where she was, courtesy of the Union dormitory on base. Enterprise chuckled quietly but refused to leave.
“You wouldn’t be like this if you hadn’t stayed up all night with your crew, Hornet.”
“Look, I just came back from the dead, ok? They deserved it,” she insisted, sitting up and letting the sheets fall from her body. “Hey Enty, do you think there’s a chance we could get Yorktown back too?”
“I already asked,” the silver-haired elder replied. “Commander Thorson believes she’s already gone to rest, and not whatever it was that happened to you and that awful thing. He meant a peaceful rest. After everything that happened to her at Coral Sea and Midway… I’m not sure.”
The two women remained silent for a moment, eventually interrupted by a polite tapping at the second floor window that overlooked the Sakura dormitories, just several yards away. Grim, Yorktown’s constant companion, could be seen waiting politely to be allowed in. Enterprise did so as Hornet shook off her sleepiness and hopped out of bed, searching around for her clothes. When she only found a form-fitting party dress, she sighed and did her best to bring her old outfit into existence. When that failed, she checked her drawers and found they were already there. With a relieved sigh she slipped on the short shorts and tied her top together behind her neck. She was just in time, as Cleveland bust into the room in her usual chipper mood.
“Hey, good to see you two are up. Big E, the Commander asked to see you at the radio tower. That’s where his office is. Hornet, you wanna tag along for breakfast?”
“Let me just get my hair under control,” the carrier laughed, brandishing a brush before looking at the mirror on top of her dresser. “Damn, you guys did a bang up job furnishing this place. You want it second? Your hair is looking a bit frazzled too. Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?”
“More like the wrong side of Thorson’s bed,” Cleveland replied confidently, causing Enterprise to straighten her spine like a telephone pole and Hornet to gasp open mouthed. The light cruiser giggled. “What? You thought he only sleeps with the Sakura boats? Uses his mighty manhood to subjugate the enemy and turn them into his willing servants? Thorson’s just a young man is all. Besides, I was his first so there’s no way I’m giving up that title. Oh my god, I love screwing with you guys so much. Yorktown-class needs to learn to loosen up. Hurry so we can go eat, Hornet!”
“I’ll be leaving to find the Commander then,” Enterprise said stiffly, reaching up a finger to stroke Grim’s head as the eagle leered at Cleveland and Hornet. The younger carrier leaned close and whispered to Cleveland as her sister left.
“That was all a joke to get at Enty, right? You don’t actually-”
“Oh I never said it was a joke, just that I was screwing with you two. Thanks!” Cleveland said, snatching the brush and quickly taming her strawberry blonde hair. “Not that I have anything against Ark Royal, but it’ll be damn good to have some Union airpower around here. Ready to go?”
Hornet watched her for a long moment, utterly dumbfounded. “So you… have sex with Commander Thorson?”
“I’d say half the base does, yeah,” Cleveland replied. “Oddly enough I don’t think Portland’s jumped on it yet. Maybe she’s worried their kids wouldn’t look like Indy!”
“Is he good?” Hornet had to ask, now that it was just the two of them and her rather prim and important elder sister was out of the room. Cleveland winked at her, pleased with her hair as she flicked it about.
“Why do you think half the base is sleeping with him?”
-----
“Good morning, Enterprise. How are you?” Thorson asked. The kansen saluted and he returned it professionally, showing no signs of weariness after a midnight romp or two with Cleveland.
“I’m well, sir. I believe my sister will be joining your fleet for breakfast,” she replied, meeting Ark Royal’s eyes. The Royal carrier had been asked for by Thorson that morning as well.
“I don’t want to keep either of you from breakfast for very long, but I figured you might wish to do this in private,” Thorson explained, opening a desk drawer and withdrawing a handful of wisdom shards, which he placed on the rough wooden surface. “Your rigging, Enterprise. Choose whichever you think suits you best.”
“I’ll be like Hornet?” she asked for clarity. During her raging all-nighter with her crew, Hornet had, of course, busted out her new rigging to show off to her crew. Two had been sent to the infirmary with bruising as her large flight deck knocked them to the ground and another handful had mild concussions from when she’d begun launching replica B-25s indoors. They’d all considered it a hell of a good time. Thorson exhaled patiently.
“With all appropriate consideration for a girl just come back from the beyond, I hope you’re a bit more careful with it than Hornet,” he said. She smiled at that.
“I think I can do that, sir. Let’s see then.” Enterprise quieted and furrowed her brow as she contemplated the shining, faintly glowing pieces before her. “Will they compel me to serve you?”
Thorson looked at Ark Royal, who shrugged silently. “I’ve never had anyone ask me that. I don’t think so, Enterprise. I can certainly think of more than a handful of kansen on this base who would slug me if I asked them to do any number of things. I consider the effects more subtle. Perhaps an alignment of desires or interests? I’m not sure. I don’t even know what a wisdom cube is made of.”
“I suppose that’s fair,” Enterprise agreed, taking two shards for herself and inhaling sharply as her body responded to them. Her flight deck, even larger than Hornet’s rested on her left hip as opposed to the right. In an interesting turn of events that Thorson likened to Laffey’s main battery pistols, the carrier also saw fit to arm herself, a mighty compound bow appearing in her right hand that featured a replica of her command tower as an arrow rest and grip. She shook her head and looked around her, taking the new additions in with a mixture of wonder and scientific intent. “This is… unexpected.”
“How so?” Thorson wondered.
“I can’t quite say. My apologies,” Enterprise responded, realizing she’d essentially waved off his question. “I just feel different… fundamentally. If I am someday able to place the sensation I’ll let you know, sir.”
“That’s all I ask. We have larger considerations than the nature of wisdom cubes unfortunately, as we always seem to. Ark Royal, I cannot sing your praises loudly enough. You’re the reason the Union even has a chance to obtain victory in the Pacific and the reason we suffered no significant casualties at Midway. However, I have no doubt that upon hearing of your exploits Queen Elizabeth and Warspite will summon you to defend the home front.”
“So you want me to train my replacements,” she deduced easily enough. Thorson grinned at her.
“I want you to beat them into the ground until they can stand against you on their own. The entirety of the base’s facilities will be open to you, Hornet, and Enterprise to conduct exercises as you see fit this week. That time period is subject to change depending on the whims of Union high command, but Fleet Admiral Nimitz seems content to give us at least that much time. Enterprise, you and your sister are to learn to fight like Ark Royal as you see fit. Every one of my ships has chosen to abandon her crew in favor of full control over her vessel; however I feel that is partially due to the questionable relationship between many Union kansen and their crews before Pearl Harbor. In one of our first engagements I helped Laffey reload one of her torpedo tubes while she re-armed the rest. There is precedent for human and kansen crews working together on a single vessel, but you must be capable of operating your hull completely independently by week end. That includes all elements of navigation, arming and launching aircraft, barrier projection, and so on.”
“Barrier projection?” Enterprise asked in confusion. Instead of replying, Thorson grabbed the unused ashtray on his desk and flung it at her. Grim squawked indignantly and made to take flight, but the woman flinched and conjured a shimmering blue barrier around her at the last moment, sending the ceramic tray clattering to the ground. Ark Royal chuckled at the scene while Thorson pre-empted Enterprise’s reply.
“Indianapolis and South Dakota have the strongest defensive abilities in my fleet. Seek them out if you need guidance. I don’t want to give you or Hornet orders that are too precise because I’ve never had to deal with kansen that actually have constructive relationships with their crew before. My only requirement, as I said, is your developing the skills necessary to tangle with Akagi and Kaga on their own terms… and perhaps Zuikaku and Shoukaku. They remain a wildcard in this game.”
“It will be done, sir. Was there anything else?” Enterprise wondered. Thorson shook his head.
“No, only to ask Hatsuharu if you prefer your tea or coffee prepared lightly. Yuugure tends to brew it stronger. I think it matches their personalities. I eagerly await whatever systems you and Hornet are able to develop. Please convey my orders to her. I’ll check in with you both each evening. There are private rooms within the Sakura dormitories for such purposes.”
“Understood. With your permission?”
“Of course. I’ve kept you both here long enough. Let’s go grab ourselves something to eat, shall we?” Thorson proposed, leading the way out and allowing Enterprise to strike up conversation with Ark Royal.
“What was it like, fighting them directly? I was rearming when they attacked us and my pilots were in the main attacking force,” Enterprise asked of the combat veteran. The Royal rested a hand against the handle of her pistol that she kept strapped to her hip at all times.
“Their pride and confidence are matched only by their power,” Ark replied with the typical gravitas of her countrymen. “But they lost.”
“That is certainly one way of looking at it,” Enterprise agreed, allowing Grim to fly off to stretch his wings and search out his own breakfast in the early morning skies and sea. “Anything else I should know?”
“I don’t want to be a downer, Enterprise, but I am a third party to all of this so I feel comfortable saying so. On this base the battleships are in charge because they’ve earned it in blood. They allowed themselves to be beaten to hell and back in exchange for getting the whole fleet close enough to strike the deathblow. They don’t trust you and they don’t like you. Keep your head down and prove yourself if you ever wish to command them,” Ark advised. The silver-haired kansen frowned and mulled over her words for some time as they walked down to the docks. Hornet’s new hull had already been moved from dry dock to the bay, and Akashi could be seen milling around with her crew of bulins. They all waved and smiled at her, a sharp contrast from the battleships Ark had been referring to.
“Is that what you did, Ark Royal?”
The Royal carrier reflected on her journey from biplanes and scout aircraft to fleets of ground based aircraft capable of crushing entire squadrons of enemy Zeros. “No. I didn’t lead anyone to greatness. I was dragged into it by the Knight Commander and the others.”
“Which reminds me,” Thorson cut in from ahead of them, having remained within earshot all the while. “If the Union refuses, I intend to see the Queen herself shower you with medals. I’m thinking toast and eggs today. Best decide for yourself, Enterprise. It’s not polite to keep Shiratsuyu and the others waiting.”
And so Enterprise abandoned complicated thoughts of her past and future, conflict and leadership, with what she would request for breakfast from a handful of cute, animal-eared, Sakura kansen. It was easier and far more comfortable than dealing with the perception that with Yorktown gone she was the figurehead of the Union fleets, especially since in the world she’d been thrust into no one seemed to want her as such. As they stepped through the doors to the mess hall, Hornet called out to her from where she was seated with California and Cleveland, along with many of the other Union kansen. “Sis, you gotta try the French toast!”
“Go on then, it starts now,” Ark encouraged in a motherly tone. Enterprise nodded.
“You aren’t joining us?”
“I have others who require my attention,” she replied as Kisaragi got up from her seat and stumbled clumsily over to them.
“Auntie Ark, come eat with Kisaragi?”
“Mmh, right away sweetie. What are you having today?”
“Rice!”
“And?”
“Kisaragi likes rice for breakfast!”
“Alright, but you’re going to try one new thing today for me, ok? Maybe some eggs,” the carrier insisted, picking up the tiny neko destroyer, giving her a kiss on the cheek, and walking over to the Sakura table where Shiranui and the elder shrine maidens were watching over the burgeoning fleet of pre-teen and child kansen that now included many of Yukikaze’s sisters. If anything, the scene served to demonstrate for Enterprise that there was quite a bit about her new home that she did not understand in the slightest.
-----
“This is… this is bullshit! I watched her die! I watched Akagi-sama kill her with a torpedo!” Hiryuu exclaimed in frustration and disbelief. Holding onto the side railing of the Akashi to support her still weakened body, the younger member of the second carrier division watched helplessly as Hornet began her first day of combat drills with her rigging alongside Enterprise and the rest of her crew. The first B-25 she produced and launched via catapult tore apart before reaching the end of the runway, and the second simply careened off the flight deck and into the ocean. That didn’t change the fact that the spunky, twin-tailed blonde was alive and kicking, not to mention improving as she circled up with her surviving pilots and mechanics on deck. Soryuu watched from just behind her sister, arms folded across her chest as she remained well aware of South Dakota and Minneapolis’ eyes on them.
“Your language is unbecoming of your status as a member of the second carrier division, Hiryuu,” she scolded, taking one of Hiryuu’s ears and tugging on it just hard enough to cause her gross discomfort.
“Ow ow ow, hey! What’s that for?” Hiryuu protested.
“First, for your foul mouth. Second, to confirm for myself that we are not dead or in some sort of dream. To think that we did battle with a man who can command the dead… under certain circumstances at least.”
“She looks pretty lively to me,” Hiryuu groused as Hornet tried her fighters instead. The first Hellcat spluttered out after gliding for several dozen yards. The second, however, managed to launch and fly under its own power. It exploded when it attempted to fire on Ark Royal’s aircraft, of course, but progress was progress and the cheering of Hornet’s crew could be heard easily from the docks. “How the hell are we supposed to fight that?”
“An excellent question, sister, one that many of our comrades apparently decided to skirt altogether in favor of joining him,” Soryuu pointed out. Hiryuu whipped her head around to glare at her in horror.
“You can’t possibly be considering-”
“I am considering everything, Hiryuu, as should you; including the possibility that Akagi-sama and Kaga-sama may have led us astray,” Soryuu admitted with great sadness, a soft salt breeze ruffling her long, cobalt hair. “I do not think they would do so purposefully, but even the strong can be blinded by love.”
Hiryuu blinked and looked at the deck, unable to come up with any sort of reply to her sister’s lamentations. She could barely appreciate the fact that they were still prisoners, much less what came after that. But such things had always been Soryuu’s forte. Hiryuu just hoped she would be able to fight again. “So what do we do, nee-san?” she asked.
“I don’t know, Hiryuu. I don’t know.”
-----
"I see the life of a prisoner suits you to an extent."
Soryuu cursed herself for letting the warm water and secluded area get to her. It was possible to forget the fact that Colorado was watching her, looking for any excuse to start blasting, but Commander Thorson's towel-clad form was more difficult. She adjusted the towel that she'd wrapped around her body, well aware that in exchange for concealing her breasts, she was exposing much of her lower body. At least it was underwater and evening.
"Do you have need of me, Union Commander?" She asked neutrally. "I suppose I don't technically have a choice, but I don't wish to join Yamashiro or Fusou as one of your consorts."
"I thought we'd been over this, Soryuu,” he replied with little emotion, sitting next to her.
“And yet here you are,” she shot back without hesitation. He nodded.
“True, but you strike me as the sort of person who should only be dealt with when they’re most vulnerable. Naked, alone, and watched over by a Colorado class battleship counts as far as I’m concerned. Now, what’s the status of the other prisoners?”
“What’s to stop me from lying to you?” she riddled. He smirked right back at her.
“The fact that I’ll always believe my own kansen over you. Tell it true or tell me to leave.”
“You first,” she insisted, lifting her hands from the water to tend to her voluminous bun that was keeping her hair out of the water. Lantern light and natural starlight glinted off the droplets running down her limbs as Thorson reaffirmed his belief that the kansen had to have been partially created by the will of man himself. Normal women did not possess sexually attractive armpits, but there she was showing off just that. “What is it you want from me other than to leer at my body like a wolf?”
“In short, I want four carriers when I move to finish this war. But I have doubts you’ll ever join me. Until then, I want to ensure that the prisoners are being kept accordance with common decency. I have a vested interest in not having any revolts or other incidents.”
“That is reasonable,” Soryuu admitted. “None of the humans have been aboard. Akashi and the others under your command have seen to that. We have been given the same food as your soldiers. We have been kept under constant guard. We have not been attacked. Jintsuu remains more defiant than even I, but the rest… Suzuya and Kongou are in mourning. Nagara is confused and afraid. My sister is constantly testing the limits of her cage-”
“She’ll be best friends with Downes and Tennessee if you decide to join us, I’m sure of that,” Thorson agreed.
“You say it as though it is so easy,” Soryuu accused.
“In my experience it has been,” he shrugged. The lapine carrier sighed heavily.
“They all look to me for answers I cannot provide, guidance I don’t have.” Thorson’s expression softened as Soryuu finally vented to someone who really didn’t have to care.
“That sounds difficult,” he remarked, looking over at her. He watched as her eyes examined his torso critically and then easily moved elsewhere.
“It does not help that I now know the truth of Akagi and Kaga’s failing,” Soryuu said, quieter still. “All that they have sacrificed to bring back Amagi-sama, and you raise the dead with a snap of your fingers.”
“Only the dead who wish to return and I can somehow reach… or in Hornet’s case, her sister reached out to her. I’m not whatever it is you think I am.”
“No, certainly not. But whatever you are is enough to make me question everything, up to including whether or not I should sacrifice the rest of my honor, bed you, and kill you.”
“Those are some tough questions!” Thorson laughed with little concern, finally breaking through Soryuu’s analytical shell and eliciting true surprise from the rabbit morph. “What’s with that look? I’m already on borrowed time near as I can tell. I could have easily died at Pearl Harbor or in any of the battles since. Making love with you as my final act in this world wouldn’t be the worst way to go.”
“You disgust me,” she spat.
“I probably do. If something changes with the condition of the prisoners, please inform me or one of the guards. We’ll keep doing what we can for Hiei. I hear she’s able to eat again.”
“Rice porridge for now, but yes. Good evening, enemy commander.”
Thorson stood and nodded his head, figuring progress was progress. Even if she only ever called him that, he had an avenue to ensure his imprisoned kansen didn’t disrupt his entire operation. “Yes, good evening to you as well, Sakura.”
-----
“Mein Kommandant?” Zed requested, knocking on Thorson’s door before sliding it slowly open. He still resided in the Sakura dormitories, more out of a need to keep a closer tab on them than anything else. He beckoned her inside.
“I was just reviewing Rear Admiral Spruance’s after-action report for Midway. I suspect Hornet might be the first kansen ever awarded the Medal of Honor. What can I do for you?”
“I have a report here from Frau Brooklyn regarding our most pressing supply needs. We’ve been assured that Captain Stevens is on his way, but there are longer term considerations like parts for power generators and cooking equipment,” she explained. He extended his hand and she offered him the papers which were promptly placed on his desk. He offered and took her hand next.
“And you, Zed? Things have been a bit hectic around here and I’m sorry for neglecting you,” he apologized as she blushed crimson. Nevertheless she slowly walked forward and sat in his lap.
“I believe Laffey and Javelin would not approve, Kommandant,” she whispered. “But I am well. Maryland has taken me under her wing, so to speak. Much of my time not spent with Laffey or Javelin is with her and her sisters. They are experts at ballistics and I feel I’ve learned quite a bit from them.”
“I’m glad, Zed. And it looks like you made a little change,” he remarked, noticing a stud in her left ear in the shape of the Iron Cross. “Our proud resident Ironblood.”
“Please Kommandant!” she gasped, turning away as electricity might as well have arced between them. There was no turning back when he cupped her cheek and brushed the new piercing with his finger.
“You’ve come so far,” he remarked proudly, quietly, as her eyes closed and she collapsed forward against his lips. The scrawny, frightened, malnourished girl he’d pulled from the ocean was no more. A young woman’s pert body filled out her skin tight undergarments instead. Feeling her new curves made his blood race. It was clear she felt the same.
“Mein Kommandant… I would like to go farther still.”
Thorson met her eyes as they pulled apart after their kiss, lips crackling with anticipation. “I’m not going to stop you, Zed.”
Under the protection of night and the blanket of his futon, Thorson and Zed clasped their hands together, kissing and tugging and pulling and pressing until every awful memory of the war was forced away, replaced by breathy moans, inscrutable pleasure, and the most carnal and irrevocable proof that even kansen who once flew the dreaded banner of Ironblood had a place in Azur Lane and, if they chose, at his side.
“Andrew, Ich liebe dich…”
-----
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My mother-in-law is crazier than yours 🤣

Warning: It’s long and if you read it all you may lose your mind.
— Mother-in-law’s messages below —
I did not send you Simon Parks did I? Sorry I didn’t mean to send it to you it won’t happen again. You’ll see how crazy pretty soon. Love u
****** I love you to death but you ****** ******* and ****** are so in the dark I cannot even bring you up to speed or I’m going to try to. At least you could’ve really think what you wanna think and believe what you wanna believe and I will do the same. Love you so much promise I won’t send anymore to you didn’t mean to Just delete it. XO. Time will show us who is right and who was wrong that’s all I can say Don’t be concerned. Just watch what happens.
The Gods of Eden by William Bramley. Great read. Start there! XO Hold onto your hat
In the bill that the party you voted for just passed they demand disclosure within 120 days. Read that part of the bill and maybe you won’t be so surprised? Just throwing that out there you might wanna do some research on that. Love you guys
I will take my tinfoil hat off after you read that book and read that bill. Lol
https://www.wilx.com/2020/12/30/the-pentagon-has-180-days-to-disclose-ufo-information/
Time will tell. Hang onto your hat! Urantia? stitchin? Bible? Fiction. You can’t fix evil you don’t believe exist ****. If you think everything I believe is a conspiracy theory I really feel sorry for your lack of faith in me. You have no idea the network of people that I have met in the last 15 years and the information that I receive. You believe rumor mills garbage but you believe everything the ** brother say. As does ***. Unfortunately we are on two completely opposite ends of the political spectrum. You believe I’m brainwashed and I think The same. Time will show us who’s right and who’s wrong. Everything you were ever taught was a lie everything you ever believed it was a lie and you are going to quotebased on fact checking with the same corrupt system that tells you shit on television media and Internet what’s real and what’s not. I have learned to think for myself and do my own research and use my own discernment and I don’t believe any one source or anyone bought or any one thing. How are you could ever vote for Biden after the overwhelming evidence of money laundering with him his son his entire family they own an island called Waters Island right next to Epstein‘s island they’re heavily involved in pedophilia and they are part of the crowd. He has been there for 46 years and look at the mess our country is in but you’re gonna blame it all on Trump because you’re brainwashed to hate Trump. You hate trump so much that you would hand your country over to utter communism and it’s sickening. We are in a communist overthrow of our country and if you don’t believe me you are soon going to find out and sadly going to find out. Do you think your party is the party of tolerance. They watch cities burn by BLM and antifa funded by Soros at $38 an hour and burn cities down for literally months but antifa goes to the capital and instigates with a bunch of innocent Trump followers behind them and they are using this crisis like all false flags to make a mockery of our president like it’s his fault. They are closing down all social media for any anti-VAX or Trump supporter conservative opinion and they have totally silenced your entire family except for you and the *’s. Our entire family and everybody I know thinks the way I think. All of us are completely shut off social media and Internet and called conspiracy theories by the main stream mockingbird propaganda media that is the entire corrupt legislature of the United States supporting it and then supporting them. Your belief and your hate for Trump or enough for you to watch your Country turn socialist and then communist as every country in the world that was ever socialist resulted in communism and watch your family go to concentration camps for their beliefs and not vaccination which are now bio weapons. Get your flu shots get your flu shots so that your 85% more likely to test positive for Covid and 55% more likely to contract Covid and get your Covid vaccine which is not even a vaccine but change is the human cell to be a pathogen creator based on four fantastic educated scientist that I listen to in addition to millions more that are now losing their medical careers for speaking up after all we are already communist. They are silencing opposition they are shutting down the ability for your president to speak in a country called the US. Every person that our entire family and everybody I listen to have been taken off the Internet. I don’t care how much you hate trump how you could ever even vote for Biden know when their agenda and his senility and his criminal background scares the living shit out of me and I’m concerned. Chyna released on the Friday before the election Biden tapes of Hunter raping a 10 year old but I saw personally and if you think I’m making that up you’re wrong they took those sites down the Friday before the election because that would’ve destroyed the Biden election. This is war for real and you are in the dark and you have no clue what’s going on because you’re so entrenched in your beliefs and you only listen to those that in force your beliefs. You can say I do the same but I have so much information from so many different resources and sources and everyone I know is not on Biden‘s side. Nancy Pelosi‘s laptopWas just taken from the Capital in a sting operation and she had dirty bombs on her laptop and she had the request for 500,000 Chinese to come in Long Beach Naval shipyard to take down Trump. The reason for the Pakistan black out was because of General Electric and the Dems supported a sale in the billions of General Electric to the Chinese and all of our military secrets were given to them in 2013 by the person you had your arm around in 2008 called Obama. Obama transferred $400 million through the Vatican in Italy through a satellite called Leonardo are responsible for the voter fraud in the live changing of the votes from Trump to Biden. Biden couldn’t get 12 people in the hall during his campaign trail and there were 3 million people in Washington on 6 January before antifa and BLM who were escorted by Washington police on two buses and people I know personally watch them get off the buses and they knew instantly they were antifa. Two buses went from **’s neighborhood in Pennsylvania and I know so many people personally that were there that testified to me personally that antifa stirred up the shit. Four of the people that died died of seizures and heart attacks and not of violence. The only violent acts were a girl shot in cold blood by someone who planned it for a false flag for the purpose that you were witnessing and someone got hit by a fire sting wisher. There are antifa that are now testifying and whistle blowingThat were paid $38 an hour to be there. Soros has done color revolutions that you are a sucker for in more countries and you can Shake a stick at and succeeded and overthrowing those countries and that is what they are doing here and you were falling for it hook line and sinker. I am just appointed in your discernment and your research and I don’t know where you get your information but your hate for Trump has blinded you. You were on the wrong side of history and time will show you where you’ll get it in your next go around. I love you to death you’re disappointed in my beliefs and I’m disappointed in yours but I don’t love you any less
If I sent you everything I knew you would I feel be way more on our page but I don’t bother because I know better. Your indoctrinated your hate for Trump has blinded you and your country is over if Trump does it pull this out of the sand. You will watch your parents go to concentration camps under forced vaccine laws like New York bill 416. Take a look at that. And HR bill 6666 Federal
You don’t think Satan is alive and well after you read those bills they will change your mind trust me
We physically stopped a pandemic that they tried to start in 2008 and people died in that conflict. I lived it with dad as my witness and it was horrific. What they’re doing with this Covid shit that you believe which is a whole other discussion-that’s exactly what they were attempting to start in 2008 and we physically stopped them exposed to their plan and they went crawling back in their holes. Your disbelief of my testimony breaks my heart and you have no idea what dad and I live through. You drove across country because of what we said and it was as real as I am sitting here but we stopped it we literally stopped it. They regrouped and came back with Covid which is exactly what they were trying to do then I was there you weren’t. I went to the Townhall meetings with all the officials and all the AP routers cameras behind me with all the same bullshit they did with this Covid plandemic. I repeat plan Demic. Your loving making six digits sitting at home working but you don’t understand the children that are getting mentally ill committing suicide getting bacterial pneumonia from wearing masks and going along with this horseshit and you were going along with it just like the rest of the world because it benefits you. Everyone is doing selective quarantine and quarantining when they want to and quarantine when they don’t when it gets him out of doing things they don’t want to do. It’s disgusting it’s control it’s communism and you fall for it as ****** does hook line and sinker and it’s disgusting. ****** hasn’t seen her granddaughter in a year and my mother hasn’t left her house and he’s getting dementia from being so cooped up. People are dying alone without someone holding their hand in their last hours and we can’t even have funerals for people we just lost. Our economy is destroyed there are more homeless and starving people than we have ever seen in US history and everybody just keeps wearing those masks and jokes that I don’t even mind wearing them I’m kind of getting used to it. I could throw up. Stay home keep wearing your mask keep believing the bullshit keep believing the brainwashing and the control and who is behind COVID-19 and it’s a scape in a Wuhan lab the Bill and Melinda Gates corporation and FauciAnd I’m sure that’s just conspiracy theory to
You are experiencing the great awakening and you’re gonna wake up whether you like it or not. And I will be there when you do
The entire false flag at the Capital and Washington on January 6 was a democratic ploy just like the Russian collusion horseshit the impeachment horseshit and antifa BLM horseshit. Trump won in a landslide 80 to 120,000,000 people voted for him and believe it or not California was red and had 10 million votes missing. Pelosi and her crowd up and running your state for 40 years and they had their Vineyard running when everybody else was losing their homes and you like the guy. We’ll talk about brainwashing Sunday and it isn’t me
I said my piece you said yours no more politics how’s the weather?
— My wife’s responses below —
We shall see if the Simon Parkes “mother” green alien comes down through the black hole portal to communicate to all of us through telepathy about how a hair dryer will save us all from covid-19 that was invented in a private lab surrounded by tinfoil wearing scientists in China by the Clinton Foundation where they planned it in the basement of a pizza restaurant in Washington DC with the help of reptilian crisis actors for every major mass shooting of the past century.🤣
The world was supposed to end a million times since you got yourself brainwashed. And the Illuminati qanon was supposed to arrest hillary Clinton and joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi everyday since 2016. 🤷‍♀️
I didn’t know you were a UFO expert too?! 👏🏽
Save yourself. I don’t know how but I pray for you everyday. And I’m not religious.
I love you too ❤️
I could go on and on about how crazy the stuff you believe in is… but it’s a waste of my time. Literally everything you said is inaccurate and sincerely insane.
You are aligning yourself with a domestic terrorist organization and a narcissistic insane president who just tried to overthrow our democratic government. Donald Trump is a facist white supremacy terrorist and the fact that you don’t know that is sad and embarrassing. Trump lost the election. Obviously and clearly.
Your grip on reality hasn’t been the same since 2001 - and I highly recommend seeing a therapist to help you with your PTSD that has snowballed into delusions.
Everything is a false flag to you. Everything involved crisis actors. You are unhinged in your lack of critical thinking.
You are obsessed with fighting with people and you are even more obsessed with trying to pull people into your cult.
I’ve asked you for over 12 years to stop sending me your crazy shit so that I could at least pretend I could have a relationship with you… but you always have and always will put your cult over your family - you simply cannot help but assault everyone who you have an email address or phone number for - I’m embarrassed to think of the people who receive your emails and texts.
You sit at home in your government paid for housing (either through your government pension or 9/11 payout) while you vote for a party that tries to strip away healthcare from millions of innocent children and families who need it. You sit at home in a town of 819 people during a pandemic while you try to judge people who live in major cities who don’t want to get a deadly pandemic disease. Just as you tried to recruit people to not pay their taxes while you went ahead and paid yours. That’s something you and Donald Trump share in common. Cowards. Always trying to get other people to do your dirty work for you.
You vote for a party that tries to strip rights away from your daughter. You vote for a party that actively destroys this country - socially, economically, environmentally, educationally, and empathetically every single day. You vote for a party that didn’t want to renew funding for 9/11 victims. You vote for a racist party. You are a pawn in their white supremacy game.
Don’t write to me telling me that I enjoy kids getting sick. You’re despicable.
I don’t like to get personal. But since you did. I figured it was fair game. 😊
The weather here has been pretty nice! 49 tonight - but it will be in the high 60s this week! Just another reason why I love California.

The Constitution is under attack, and The party is largely silent.

The Sauce: False claims of electoral fraud and next steps

Normally, I’d post Lost in the Sauce today (technically, yesterday). However, I think it’s important to focus on the election issues first - I’d call this THE sauce. Later this week, perhaps Thursday, I’ll post the real Lost in the Sauce.
Housekeeping:

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What’s next

Each state will “certify” its results — between now and December 8. The Electoral College meets to “vote” on December 14. Congress meets in joint session to “count” the Electoral College’s votes on January 6.
Emily Murphy, administrator of the General Services Administration, is refusing to sign a letter allowing President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team to formally begin its work this week. Her approval is required to provide the transition with funding, as well as access to government officials, office space in agencies, and equipment.

A GSA spokesperson told The Hill, however, that Administrator Emily Murphy, a political appointee named to the post by Trump, is waiting to determine that “a winner is clear.”
"An ascertainment has not yet been made. GSA and its Administrator will continue to abide by, and fulfill, all requirements under the law," the spokesperson added in a statement when asked if changes were forthcoming in the days ahead.

Attorney General William Barr issued a memo on Monday authorizing U.S. attorneys to open investigations into claims of voter fraud. Barr’s directive states that probes can be launched “if there are clear and apparently-credible allegations of irregularities that, if true, could potentially impact the outcome of a federal election in an individual State.”

...previous guidance from the Justice Department’s Election Crimes Branch that said prosecutors should not — in most instances — take overt steps in voter fraud or related investigations until after election results are in and certified. The guidance was designed to ensure that voters and state and local election officials, rather than the federal government, decide the results, and that, if prosecutors wanted to deviate from the norm, they would at least first have to consult with Public Integrity prosecutors and the Election Crimes Branch.

In protest of Barr’s directive, Richard Pilger - the longtime director of the Election Crimes Branch - stepped down from his position. In an email to colleagues, Pilger wrote that the new DOJ policy is "abrogating the forty-year-old Non-Interference Policy for ballot fraud investigation in the period prior to elections becoming certified and uncontested."
Some worry that fraud found under Barr’s new policy, however insignificant, will give Republican state legislaures cover to directly appoint Trump-supporting electors to the Electoral College, overturning the state’s popular votes.

The legal theory that would allow state legislatures to go rogue and appoint electors without regard for the popular vote rests on an argument made by Chief Justice William Rehnquist in Bush v. Gore, for himself and two other justices. On this view, a legislature is unconstrained in its power to set the manner by which electors are selected—meaning that even after an election, the legislature could ignore the results and select a different slate altogether. (Lawfare)

The idea has been pushed by conservative radio host Mark Levin and Senator Lindsey Graham (clip), particularly regarding Pennsylvania. However, Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman shut down the proposal, saying that state law makes it clear Pennsylvania must follow the popular vote.
Realistically, it is very unlikely an attempt to override the popular vote will succeed. The point, as with many of the electoral lawsuits brought by Trump, is to undermine faith in the results and in Biden’s presidency. However, in order to prepare for all possibilities, we can explore what would happen if a state sent illegitimate Trump-supporting electors to the final count conducted by Congress:

On Jan. 6, when the roll call arrives at a state with dueling slates of electors, House Democrats would insist on certifying those pledged to Biden...Senate Republicans could seek to validate the Trump electors. One possibility is that Vice President Pence would assert his prerogative, as president of the Senate, to control the counting of electoral votes and determine which slate is valid…If that were to occur, Democrats presumably would attempt to shut down the entire process until Republicans acquiesced. The Electoral Count Act explicitly states there is no moving on to the next state in line until any dispute is resolved, so Democrats can derail the process.
Pence might try to continue with the vote, but the House could then refuse to participate in the joint session any further, which would shut down the counting. While the stalemate persisted, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) could claim the right to serve as acting president starting on Jan. 20 for as long as Senate Republicans fail to recognize Biden’s status as president-elect based on the popular vote in the relevant states.

Misinformation and threats

Rightwing social media spread a list of over 14,000 alleged registered voters in Michigan who are dead, yet managed to cast a vote. CNN examined a subset of the list consisting of 50 entries, finding that 37 are actually dead and did not cast a vote; 5 are alive and voted; 8 are alive and didn’t vote. In other words, no fraud was discovered. Furthermore, some state registration systems indicate a missing date of birth by adopting filler dates, such as 01/01/1900, 01/01/1850, or 01/01/1800.

President Trump plans to brandish obituaries of people who supposedly voted but are dead — plus hold campaign-style rallies — in an effort to prolong his fight against apparent insurmountable election results

Facebook took down a widespread network of pages tied to President Trump’s former chief strategist Stephen Bannon for pushing misinformation about voter fraud and delegitimizing election results. The pages include “a Group that was originally named ‘Stop the Steal’ which later became ‘Gay Communists for Socialism’ and misled people about its purpose using deceptive tactics.”

Twitter permanently suspended Bannon’s Twitter account after he suggested last week that Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray should be beheaded.

Prominent Trump supporters including Bannon and George Papadopoulos, have been pushing a baseless conspiracy that votes were changed in Biden’s favor using a deep-state supercomputer named “Hammer” and a computer program named “Scorecard.”

“I think there are any number of things they need to investigate, including the likelihood that three percent of the vote total was changed in the pre-election voting ballots that were collected digitally by using the Hammer program and the software program called Scorecard,” Sidney Powell, the attorney for former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, said Friday in an appearance on Fox Business. “That would have amounted to a massive change in the vote.”

A texting company run by Gary Coby, the Trump campaign’s digital director, sent out thousands of targeted, anonymous text messages urging supporters to rally where votes were being counted in Philadelphia on Thursday, falsely claiming Democrats were trying to steal the presidential election. The company, Opn Sesame, has earned millions as a hub of text-messaging efforts for the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee this election cycle

“ALERT: Radical Liberals & Dems are trying to steal this election from Trump! We need YOU!” the text said, directing recipients to “show your support” on a street corner near the Philadelphia Convention Center where votes were being counted and tensions were running high.

Note: See section below, “Trump’s game,” for more on Trump-connected emails and text messages.

Later Thursday night, two men were arrested near the convention center for carrying loaded handguns without a permit. There are indications they believed fake ballots were being counted there, suggesting that they were motivated by rightwing disinformation about election fraud. Antonio LaMotta, 61, and Joshua Macias, 42, both of Chesapeake, Virginia, had over 160 rounds of ammunition in a car adorned with Qanon stickers.
There has been a TON of misinformation over the past week. NYT has kept a fact-checking list of the most prevalent false claims.

Trump lawsuit updates

The following cases were brought since Election Day:
In Pennsylvania, a federal judge dismissed a Trump campaign lawsuit to compel Philadelphia election officials to stop counting ballots. In another case, a state judge ruled in the campaign’s favor, allowing campaign officials to observe the Philadelphia process from a six-foot distance.
Ongoing litigation in PA:

On Monday, the Trump campaign filed a new lawsuit against Pennsylvania’s secretary of state and seven counties, seeking an injunction prohibiting them from certifying the state’s results of the 2020 election. The campaign brings a multitude of complaints - from mismanaged mail voting to a blockade of observers. Rick Hasen, an election law expert from the University of California in Irvine, said the lawsuit is “extremely unlikely” to change the outcome in Pennsylvania or the national outcome favoring Biden.
A case to compel Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar and all 67 counties to impose an earlier date for voters to show proof of identification if it was not on their initial ballots. A state judge ordered officials to segregate provisional ballots from voters with deficiencies on their mail-in ballots.
A case to compel the Montgomery County Board of Elections to stop counting mail-in-ballots. The Trump campaign and RNC allege that the board of elections was counting 600 ballots that had not been placed in secrecy envelopes and was therefore not complying with requirements.
A case to intervene in an already existing dispute before the U.S. Supreme Court about whether ballots the state received after 8 p.m. on Election Day should count. Ballots arriving after Election Day have already been segregated and have not been counted.

In Nevada, the Trump campaign has brought two lawsuits, both rejected by the courts. The first case: a federal judge refused an injunction on the automated signature-verification machines used in Clark County. The second case: a state judge denied the campaign and RNC’s request to halt the counting process in Clark County until they could observe the process.
In Michigan, conservatives have lost both claims it tried to bring in court since Election day. The first: a Court of Claims judge denied a Trump campaign request to halt the counting of absentee ballots, on the grounds that campaign officials had not been given access to observe the process as required by state law. The second: A Wayne County Circuit Court judge denied a conservative group’s request to halt the certification of election results in Detroit.

Trump’s lawyers tried to appeal the ruling in the first case, but it botched its initial attempt at a filing.

In Georgia, the Trump campaign has filed one lawsuit, seeking to disqualify just 50-some ballots. The campaign claimed the ballots arrived late but a judge ruled against them, saying Trump lawyers provided no evidence.
In Arizona, the Trump campaign and RNC are involved in an ongoing case alleging “up to thousands” of votes weren’t counted in Maricopa County due to irregularities (e.g. selecting more than one person in a single race). However, Deputy Maricopa County Attorney told a judge that only 180 of the 165,860 cast in person on Election Day had such potential errors.

Trump’s game

What is the point of these lawsuits and claims of election fraud? (1) It undermines Biden’s presidency; (2) It soothes Trump’s ego; (3) Trump is using it as an opportunity to fundraise; (4) Republicans hope it will keep their base fired up for the two Georgia Senate races in January.
At least half of donations to the Trump campaign’s “election defense” fund will go toward paying down debt for the president's campaign. A separate fundraising effort by the "Trump Make America Great Again Committee" states that 60% of contributions will go toward campaign debt while 40% goes to the RNC.

Archive: This Election isn’t over yet. We still have a long way to go and I need to know that I can count on you. I’m putting together an Election Defense Task Force that will be made up of my STRONGEST defenders. I’m calling on YOU to step up and join.
Please contribute $5 IMMEDIATELY to join the Election Defense Task Force and to increase your impact by 1000%.

Furthermore, there is no evidence that donations are ever matched at any percentage, let alone 1000%. As WaPo reports, this is likely another instance of Trump swindling his supporters:

In terms of legality, experts generally agree that false statements intended to flatter donors would be deemed harmless rhetoric in court. While lying about a donation match could legally be considered consumer fraud, there isn’t a specific campaign law against it.

Trump also recently formed a leadership PAC, “a federal fund-raising vehicle that will potentially let him retain his hold on the Republican Party even after he leaves office.” A leadership PAC could accept donations from an unlimited number of people and from other PACs.

A leadership PAC could spend an unlimited amount in so-called independent expenditures to benefit other candidates, as well as fund travel, polling and consultants. Mostly, it would almost certainly be a vehicle by which Mr. Trump could retain influence in a party that has been remade largely in his image over the past four years.

To a similar end, Trump has begun telling people that he may run for president again in 2024. This will keep him relevant and help him retain control over the GOP in the years to come. Combined with the creation of a new PAC and claims of being cheated, it appears that Trump wants to maintain a flow of cash and support during Biden’s presidency.

My journey with homeschool and neglect

I’m not sure how to start this, but I’ll try make it short (it probably won’t be, I’m sorry). This is my first time posting, and I’ll probably post more about my situation some other time. If my dad is in and out of this it’s because he still works in Pennsylvania and comes to see us sometimes.
This whole thing started when I was in 3rd grade in a town in Pennsylvania (I should be a freshman this year I think?). My grades were actually good, I had friends, I wasn’t scared to speak my mind, and I was mostly confident. Well, in the middle of it my parents dropped me out. I’m not totally sure why, it could’ve been the terrible school system? Family stuff going on across the country? Well, when they dropped us out it was about a year of nothing. My mom wouldn’t get us a tutor because I guess those sucked too.
They decided to have us pack our bags and drive to Oregon. This would be the beginning of the whole mess (It could be six years now, I don’t know anymore). My mom being my mom, didn’t even look for houses or apartments. No, she decided she was going to have us live like this: My grandpa owns a piece of property on this mountain. Wanna know how we cleaned our selves? We didn’t. Not until we got a camping shower months later. If we had to use a bathroom we had to shit in buckets. We didn’t have beds of our own to sleep on so we camped or slept in the car with 2 dogs. And guess what else? Zero schoolwork. Once my mom decided she was done with what she probably saw as a vacation, we moved again to Alaska.
And once again, getting her family an actual safe, normal, and livable home wasn’t her top priority. My grandma offered her an unfinished quonset. Just search up “Unfinished house interior” and find the shadiest looking one. That’s what it looked like. We had no showers so we had to wash our hair in buckets. We had to climb a dangerously long ladder to be able to get to an air mattress. Being Alaska, it got freezing cold. The house didn’t have enough heat so it wasn’t safe to be in there. I started noticing how bad my moms drinking was while living there. She’d always get beer and have a little too much, go out with her family and drink, leave us alone past midnight because she’s at a bar with my dad, show up drunk, etc. It got pretty rough. But not even my grandma telling my mom she’s not doing the right things for us was enough. She had far more important things going on (drinking and working on the house) so we didn’t do much schoolwork.
What infuriated me the most is that we lived right across the street from a school. At the time we were only behind about a year, but you know what my parents did? My dad tried convincing my mom that we were too far behind and she listened. I WAS ONE YEAR BEHIND. The challenges I would’ve faced would have been WAY more easier than the challenges I’ll have to face now. And my mom brought another dog home unannounced because she couldn’t say no to a friend who was asking her to take her. This dog has diet and skin allergies. The poor girls skin flakes off from her constant itching, and our home right now is coated in it. All of the dogs aren’t trained well at all. My dad constantly blames us for their behavior and all the messes they make and I can’t take it anymore. We moved back to Oregon a little after.
And guess what happened, my mom getting a safe home for us was an actual priority. Of course, the drinking still continued, and I feel like this is when I started noticing how horrible things were. Everyday I felt like I had less and less of a mom. And there still wasn’t much schoolwork besides the occasional sheet of paper we’d get every 4 months. But hey, I at least got to feel what an actual house was like for at least a year or two. During this time my parents were looking at different types of schools, like charter schools or public schools. It’s a little bit foggy so I can’t remember much. But my mom will use my lack of school against me because when we lived there we checked out a Christian private school, and she told me I got anxious about the idea of moving up to a huge private school that was apart of a religion we were never apart of. And I was anxious about the charter school too, like any person who’s parents had them out of school for 2+ years who’d be moving up to a completely different setting. So my mom just dropped it because I got scared and that was enough for her. I beat myself up everyday for it, I was a scared ass 11-12 year old who was confused, scared, and anxious about all the change. And I beat myself up for not trying to get my parents to stay in that house. But we moved into a different house.
My parents decided they wanted to fulfill their dreams of remodeling their own home (part fucking two). And once again, us having a safe living environment wasn’t an option anymore. The place is a wreck. The progress is very slow and there’s constant construction. Our bathroom looks like a construction unit, there’s dust, dog hair, and dog skin flakes everywhere. And like I said they aren’t properly trained so there’s dog shit and pee very often. And to top it all off, my grandpas property has stray cats all over the place. So he came knocking on our door with a box of kittens. So now we’re stuck with extra cats, my parents finally got rid of two a couple of months ago. But there’s always cat shit and litter everywhere. I can’t ever cook or bake anything without finding a dog hair in it somewhere. We’re practically feces empire. It got really bad this one time. My mom had a habit of hoarding dirty dishes in the oven, I kept warning her saying that something bad could happen if nobody knew there was dishes in there and somebody preheats the oven. One night I was going to make some food for everyone, and I let the oven preheat. Well, few minutes later, smoke everywhere. She left dishes and plastic in the oven. After the whole thing I was just shaken up by everything and I’m constantly checking the oven now.
5-6 years later after they dropped us out, my education is still shitty. I don’t know any math further than basic ass multiplication. Furthest I can go is like what, 10 x any small number? Every few months my mom tries acting serious about schoolwork and tries putting together a schedule, we go by that schedule for one day and she drops it until a few months later. I’ve been very vocal to her about how much my future means to me last year. Everything has just been a huge lie. She’s admitted to me that she’s lied to people who work in the whole homeschool law type of thing, and told them a bunch of lies about how we’re all completely okay. I’m tired of people praising her because we’re “homeschooled”. Everybody assumes my mom is some sort of “super mom” who’s top priority is our schoolwork. I just wished more people realized the actual harm and complete bullshit homeschooling can be, and how neglectful too. I honestly don’t know how the laws are so loose that parents can screw their kids over so much that there’s a subreddit for it.
And for my moms drinking, she’s been going to a therapy group for addicts. I’m always asking myself if she ever brings her family up there. I wonder if she ever talks about how she feels like she’s failed us, or if she actually wants to do better for us. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to hear from her. A genuine “I’m sorry that I’ve let you down, I want to try to be better for you, let’s have a fresh start”. But every so often she comes back with alcohol and tries to hide it from us. I can’t tell you how many “I promise I’ll stop’s” have been broken. We planned a family camping trip this one time, and the night before she just drank, and we weren’t able to go. And it’s a constant reminder to me that it’s always alcohol over family.
I’m sure my parents would hate me for even thinking this is neglect. Just the other night something happened that had to do with my dad and schoolwork stuff. I told my mom I felt stressed about it and I’m scared that my dad thinks I just want to slack off when it’s actually important to me, and that I feel like he thinks it’s me and my siblings fault. Well, she got sort of upset by it and told me “It’s nobody’s fault here”. The worst thing you could do in this house is think negatively of something in their parenting. So I kept my mouth shut. I don’t know what I feel about it, but I just feel rage. They did all of this shit to us, and act like it was SO uncontrollable and unintentional that it couldn’t have been anybody’s fault? I don’t know if they actually know they’ve messed up and they’re doing something wrong. And my mom will get kind of angry with me if I insinuate that. It’s really hard to talk with her so I mostly avoid talking to her as much as I can. I feel that if I show any kind of emotion I have about her that she doesn’t view as logical, she’ll twist it and put words into my mouth, or try to blame me or something and it just stresses everyone out.
I just want things to be normal. That’s all I ever wish for in the world. And I keep hoping and HOPING everyday, that I’m going to get out of this and it’s all going to be okay. That everything’s going to be great for me in the future, and that I’ll be happy. But I’m just so scared. I’m scared that my future is going to be a living hell because my mom didn’t give a shit about it. I have one life to live and I already wasted a chunk of it because my mom didn’t care much for it. I’m scared that I’m going to be in my 20’s and still not know basic math, or how to care for myself, all of that important adulthood shit. I’m scared that I’ll be flipping burgers at Burger King to survive. I’m scared that this isolation and constant moving has sucked all of the social confidence out of me and that I’ll just live the rest of my life a loner with no social skills. I just want them to drop this whole house, the animals, and move out into an actual house or apartment. I don’t care as long as it’s safe and we can get a fresh start. I’m just scared, I just want to make it out in life, but apparently that doesn’t fucking matter to my mom enough because my worries are less important than how she feels like I’m just saying all of this to attack her.
And who knows, I’m not sure if I’m going to go no contact once I move out. But knowing my total lack of any knowledge of the world that might be hard. I’m hoping I can escape all of this and move out at 18. I’m turning 15 in June, I’m just getting dumber by the day.
But for my sake, I’m going to believe in myself that things are going to be alright. And I’ll work hard if it means I can better myself. I’m really scared about posting this. To anybody who read all of this, thank you.

will pennsylvania shut down again video

Pennsylvania is “at the start of the fall resurgence” of COVID-19, the state's health secretary said Wednesday, but does not plan to reimpose a stay-at-home order or shut down businesses again ... Meanwhile, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court gave local judges the ability to shut down county courthouses as needed and the Pennsylvania Turnpike interchanges will no longer take cash or credit cards. The official website of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Find information and services from Pennsylvania state government agencies. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, seeking to slow out-of-control spread of the coronavirus, on Thursday announced sweeping new orders that will again shut down large swaths of society ... If cases continue to rise — Pennsylvania is projected to run out of intensive-care hospital beds next month — the state will have no choice. Other states already are clamping down. COVID-19 In Pennsylvania: New State Restrictions Could Be Announced This Week, Allegheny Co. Executive Rich Fitzgerald Says While nothing is set in stone, Fitzgerald says decisive action is needed ... Gyms and fitness facilities are shut down for indoor operations, and all in-person businesses can only operate at 50% of max capacity. RELATED: Coronavirus In Pennsylvania: Wolf Administration ... Pennsylvania has announced that it is again going to temporarily close down its casino industry in light of the spiking COVID-19 cases Pennsylvania Closes Casinos On Thursday, the US State of Pennsylvania announced its decision to once again close down all casinos and a number of other businesses until January 4 in light of the […] Pennsylvania man Jeffrey Spaide told neighbors ‘you should’ve kept your mouth shut’ before ‘executing’ them over snow. ... where Spaide fires at her twice again. Philadelphia, PA - As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, Governor Tom Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine today implored Pennsylvanians to take the next three weeks and stand united again Pennsylvania Shutting Down Again Until January 2021 Philly Bite Magazine

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RNC spokesperson says Republican candidate Rick Saccone has a 'secret weapon' in PA-18 special election. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing... donald rumsfeld says pennsylvania flight shot down. donald rumsfeld says pennsylvania flight shot down. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence go Sneaker Shopping with Complex's Joe La Puma at Stadium Goods in NYC, and talk about setting trends on their sitcoms, gettin... Support the growth PayPal [email protected] Love you guys. God bless. Deer Hunting 2019. Follow Danielle as she hunts for whitetail deer during the Pennsylvania Rifle season in WMU 2D in Clarion county. Her husband John is fi... Please try again later. Published on Nov 18, ... 6 Officers Shot in Florida and Pennsylvania, 2 Killed and 4 Wounded ... Navy SEAL Jocko Willink Breaks Down More Combat Scenes From Movies ... bowhunting whitetail in the hills of Northern PA. A successful early season hunt with some awesome shot footage Memorial Day weekend is a reminder to reaffirm our faith in this nation and its people to decide how to live their lives. Subscribe to Fox News! https://bit.... In today's video, we will explore a number of psychological facts that you never knew! Whether you want to learn about psychology facts, secrets of the mind,...

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