#AND HE COMES ACROSS AS SO WELL SPOKEN AND INTELLIGENT IN HIS TWEETS

[wesokkasimp]

I am SO HAPPY for Jalen but at the same time he is making me feel unnacomplished

#i mean he his like ten years older than me #like i am a sophomore in hs #BUT HE GRADUATED FROM UMICH WITH A 3.8 GPA #WHILE MAJORING IN ECONOMICS AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES #AND MINORING IN SPANISH?? #AND HE WAS IN THE TOP 25% OF HIS CLASS LIKE SHIT #AND NOW HES IN GRADUATE SCHOOL AT JOHNS HOPKINS #GAWDDD #AND HE INTERNED AT WASHINGTON?? #HE IS SO GADDAM SUCESSFUL #AND HE COMES ACROSS AS SO WELL SPOKEN AND INTELLIGENT IN HIS TWEETS #i need to calm down #like he probably wasn't crazy successful when he was 16

[spacedikut]

lockdown lovers ; spencer reid

pairing: spencer reid (criminal minds) x f!reader

summary: lockdown!au. spencer goes from expecting his days to be filled with books, books and more books to books, an asshole cat, and a cute anonymous neighbour. 4857 words

a/n: i was so excited about this and stayed up writing it so i hope you like it too :)

masterlist

It’s three days into lockdown when Spencer notices the cat.

It’s a Maine Coon, he recognises instantly, but there’s this distinctive… dead look in it’s eyes. The body is huge – so fluffy it looks like the cat has a mane, ears invariably up straight and large enough that the eyes look beady in comparison. A mixture of white and grey throughout, the cat spends its days lounging across the windowsill of the apartment in the building next to Spencer’s.

He’s fascinated. How can a cat be so big, so ugly, yet so lovely?

He has to know more.

If he was anyone else, he’d argue the obsession is the fruit of going stir-crazy in his apartment. A lack of seeing his friends combined with having to work cases from home would be the perfect justification for Spencer to move his work station to the window facing the cat.

But this is Spencer. He’s happy being stuck home. He just likes the look of the cat.

He spends a good twenty minutes rifling through his stationary to find a piece of paper and the appropriate pen to jot a note for the cat owner. He thinks the owner must be stuck home, too, so if he sticks the note to his window and waits a day, he could know the cat’s name within twenty four hours.

They’ve had plenty of staring contests. Spencer should know his rival’s name.

So he does. He takes his time writing out the words “I like your cat. Do they have a name?” clearly on the paper, then spends a good five minutes deciding where on the window to stick the message.

He decides on the upper left corner. You won’t miss it.

The cat blinks sleepily at him as they watch Spencer tape the question up.

There’s an answer within three hours.

Spencer is too excited to be embarrassed at how enthused he was when he noticed the response.

Or when he saw the name.

Hi there! His name is Mr Darcy :) He’s a dick x

Spencer can’t help but profile the writing, the syntax, the grammar.

The first thing he notices is there’s a feminine lilt to the way you write – you’re a woman, most likely. The writing is slightly messy, indicating high intelligence, and the use of a smiley face and a kiss makes him think you’re younger in age. If you live alone, which you must because you live in a one bedroom apartment, he can safely guess you’re around his age.

And Mr Darcy… you’re a bookworm. At least for romance and the classics.

Spencer likes Mr Darcy. He has so many questions, suddenly, like how is Mr Darcy a dick and how old is he and why does he never seem to move from his position by the window and what is your name and who are you and do you happen to read a lot of books? Like Ray Bradbury? Please say yes.

He shocks himself. Maybe this quarantine is getting to him more than he realises. He hasn’t felt this excited since Maeve.

He hasn’t been this intrigued since Maeve. And the circumstances are similar, he realises.

No. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Spence.

He worries himself into a spiral when he begins thinking about how to reply. As if she can hear his whining, Penelope calls him.

They’ve made it a habit to call one another a lot. She recently taught him how to use his webcam and has been encouraging him to write more on his computer, rather than by hand.

“Good afternoon, my favourite Doctor.” She sings. He hears some shuffling in the background and can tell she’s baking.

“I need your help with something.” He cuts straight to the chase.

Her interest is piqued, “Oh? I am all ears.”

“Remember the cat I mentioned?”

“The ugly-but-beautiful majestic beast that, if you believed in reincarnation, would’ve been a high class gentleman in his past life? Yes. I think about him every day.”

“His name’s Mr Darcy.”

She lets out a screech, a mixture of a groan and moan that is filled with pure glee. “Of course he’s called Mr Darcy! Tell me everything. How do you know?”

He’s clearly impressed with himself when he says, “I asked.”

“Whoa.” Penelope freezes in her kitchen. “Are you, Doctor Germaphobe, breaking the lockdown rules?”

Spencer feels insulted. “No! Never! I stuck a note to my window, like in that viral tweet you sent me.”

She chuckles, “Well, I already told you I could’ve told you everything about Mr Darcy and the owner if you wanted me to. I am incredible.”

“I appreciate the gesture, Garcia-“

“But it’s morally wrong. Yeah, yeah, heard it all before. What have you said back?”

“That’s what I need your help with.”

Garcia is only a little surprised he’s asking her and not Derek. But, then, as much as she loves Derek, he’s a bit too.. much for someone like Spencer when it comes to love. Spencer approaches people gently, hesitantly, often giving the impression he doesn’t even want to be there.

Derek can have anyone on their knees within minutes.

Different tactics, that’s all.

“Alright, pretty boy. How long have you been talking? Purely through window messages? What else has been said?”

“Well,” He begins, clearing his throat, making eye contact with Mr Darcy, “We’ve only spoken once. When I asked for Mr Darcy’s name. You know, studies have shown that animals can form lifelong friendships with other animals, even if they’re not from the same species.”

“Spencer.”

“Most research has focused on chimpanzees, baboons, horses, hyenas, elephants, bats, and dolphins - but there’s no reason to think that friendship is exclusive to these species.”

“Spencer!”

“What?”

“You’ve spoken to them once?”

“Her. Spoken to her once. And it wasn’t speaking, it was writing.”

There’s a long sigh down the phone. “First of all, how do you know the owner’s a girl?”

There’s movement in Mr Darcy’s apartment. Spencer stares. “The way she writes.”

“Uhuh,” Spencer can hear her stirring something through the phone, “And what was the last thing said?”

Spencer’s eyes narrow – is that a person? Is that the owner? Is that her? Oh my god.

“Spencer? You still there?” Garcia looks to her laptop, checking the call is still connected.

“Yeah, I’m here. Sorry. The last thing she said was his name is Mr Darcy and he’s a dick.”

“Oh,” Garcia smirks, “It’s sexy hearing you say dick.”

In normal circumstances, Spencer would register her comment and give a very distinct huh, but he’s distracted.

He sees Mr Darcy meow. A hand appears, petite, with fingernails painted yellow that have smiley faces on them. She brushes Mr Darcy’s fur back, pulling so the skin around his eyes tugs up high and he looks stupid. He seems to like it, though.

She must like smileys, he thinks.

Mr Darcy stands and stretches. He’s alarmingly long.

It’s silent on Garcia’s end, where she looks confused at the sudden silence. She checks again that the call is still connected.

“Spence?”

“Still here. Sorry. I thought I saw her.”

“Oooo,” She’s all giddy, “What does she look like? Is she pretty?”

“I couldn’t see her properly. I can tell she’s too cool for me already. This was stupid.” He sighs, “Forget I said anything. I’ll take knowing Mr Darcy’s name and move on with my life.”

Spencer moves to hang up, but is interrupted by a loud “No!” being shouted at him by Garcia.

“No, Spencer! No! You write something back to her right now and you form a friendship with someone that isn’t one of your colleagues. I love you with my whole heart, and you know that, but it would be good for you to expand your social circle!” She grins and bites her tongue between her teeth, “Aaaand.. this could be the start of a quarantine romance. God, I miss dating.”

At the mention of romance, Spencer visibly flinches. “I’ll see what I can do. I gotta go, Garcia, thanks for calling.”

“Love you. Please marry her so Mr Darcy can be the ring bearer.”

And she hangs up. He’s left contemplating whether he should respond, and what he should respond, as he watches the empty space where Mr Darcy is absent.

It must be dinner time for him.

+++

I’m curious as to how someone named Mr Darcy can be a dick.

That’s a good response, right?

Right?

It lets you know he gets the reference, he knows who Mr Darcy is named after, and leads you to continue the conversation. It’s perfect.

It’s taken him nearly two hours to come up with it. He feels exhausted.

He sticks it on the window, where Mr Darcy has returned to, and huffs out a breath.

He reminds himself to be calm and cool. This is simply a way to pass the time during quarantine, there’s no need to put too much pressure on himself to think it’s anything more or to put more effort than is necessary (he says, after spending two hours formulating a response).

Calm and cool. Cool and calm. Neither are words Spencer would ever use to describe himself.

Spencer stays up until nearly 1am reading. Just before he sleeps, he walks to the kitchen to get some water, and can’t resist checking to see if you’ve responded.

You have. He ignores the way his heart speeds up.

He used to share the windowsill with my other cat and a bunch of plants. Now he bites anything that attempts to move near him. He also likes to vomit on my pillow. My single pillow.

Spencer chuckles as he reads it. He remembers when the window was full of plants, and how one day they all just… disappeared. He assumed the person moved out, but now it’s funny to think that you had to move them all because Mr Darcy demanded he own that space.

He doesn’t recall ever seeing another cat.

Well, now he has to respond. He needs to know about the other cat!

He imagines Derek coming to him in an apparition, like some sort of angel, and saying, calm and cool, kid. Calm and cool.

Spencer decides he’ll reply in the morning. Cause he’s calm and cool, and totally doesn’t want to know anything and everything about you and the two cats you live with.

+++

The messages continue for days. Spencer learns a lot, despite his “attempts” to not profile you (“attempts” as in there was really no attempt).

He learns you were given Mr Darcy by a friend, he’s two years old, and your other cat is the recently adopted, affectionately named Stupid Sally. She’s a ginger cat, estimated to be at least four years old, and you refuse to believe there’s anything going on in that tiny head of hers.

Spencer catches a glimpse of Sally a couple of days after he learns her name. She jumps up beside Mr Darcy, bonks her head on the window, then is whacked by Mr Darcy and falls from the windowsill. Sally doesn’t make another attempt.

He still hasn’t seen you, though. The longer he talks to you, the more he wants Garcia to send him everything she can find on you.

But he has restraint. And fear.

He wants to know more, wants to learn more about the anonymous girl in the opposite building. He doesn’t even know your name, and he assumes you don’t know his, and he’s not entirely sure what number apartment you live in.

He considers asking to convert your conversation from post-it notes on windows to hand-written letters, but that reminds Spencer too much of Maeve and he can’t handle that.

Do you know how difficult it is for Spencer Reid, with all his knowledge and facts and ramblings, to limit himself and how much he says?

It’s torture.

The sun is blinding when Spencer pulls his curtain back, eyes navigating to see if there’s a new message waiting.

I haven’t asked, do you have any cats? Any pets? Mr Darcy would be a terrible boyfriend but Sally could use a lover :)

Before he can stop himself, his mind is whirring with the possible implications of your message. Does this mean you want to meet? You want to know about him as much as he wants to know about you? You’re interested?

He needs to call Penelope. He wants to talk to you so badly, learn everything there is to know, but he can’t bring himself to do it. The situation reminds him of Maeve and, although it’s been so long, he’s still mourning. He’s not sure he’s ready.

Turns out he doesn’t need to worry. You’ve got your own plan.

+++

“So,” Your friend sighs, flopping onto the couch, “You got his number? His name? Anything?”

“No,” You pout, “Not even sure he’s a guy.”

“That’s never stopped you before.”

You playfully gasp. “I don’t know what you’re implying, but I am insulted.”

She chuckles. She knows all about your curious neighbour - she’s the one that encouraged you to reply and keep replying. And now she’s the one trying to convince you to form an actual friendship.

“Just put your number on your window.”

“Do you know how dangerous that is?!” You scold, “Anyone could see it!”

“Yeah, but neighbour guy could see it. And text you. And be really cute.”

You can’t help but glance behind you, into your bedroom window, where the infamous window is. Mr Darcy lounges, completely zonked out with the sunshine keeping him warm.

“What’s the worst that can happen? Some random people text you and you, what, block them? That’s it. Easy.”

Life is so easy for extroverts, you think.

You grab your notebook, rip a piece out and jot down your number before you have a change of heart. You’re essentially double messaging through the medium of your window messaging. But who cares?

What have you got to lose?

+++

Spencer stares at your phone number for way too long. Mr Darcy, as if sensing Spencer’s battle, lazily lifts a paw and rests it against the paper, pushing it into the window.

Spencer dials Penelope’s number straight from memory.

“I was beginning to think you’d died, Spencer-“

“Is it a terrible idea to start texting with Mr Darcy’s owner?”

“What?!” She exclaims, “No! No no no no no! That is an incredible idea! Spencer, please tell me you’re texting her!”

Penelope’s excitement gives him a rush of confidence. She’s always so supportive, so encouraging. Penelope is the best.

“I’m staring at her phone number. I just- we know what happened last time..” He trails off, voice meek. He wants to pretend he isn’t constantly thinking about the worst outcome, but he is. He’s scared.

Penelope’s voice is soft down the phone, “Spence. You have nothing to be afraid of, okay? I’m so proud of you for even considering texting her. But if you truly think you’re not ready, maybe you’re not. But remember, this doesn’t have to be anything you don’t want it to. You can keep the conversation to cats and cats only.”

Spencer smiles even though she can’t see him. She’s right. It doesn’t have to be anything and, honestly, it’s likely it won’t be anything – after all, Spencer isn’t exactly confident when it comes to women.

She might also have a boyfriend. A husband. A wife. He doesn’t know.

He realises he’s started thinking way too deep about someone he doesn’t even know the name of.

“Does that silence mean you’re gonna text her?” Penelope questions, suspense and hope clear in her voice.

“Yeah,” He replies, glancing at Mr Darcy, “I am.”

+++

[To: Mr Darcy and Sally’s Owner]: Hello. I’m Spencer.

[From: Mr Darcy and Sally’s Owner] hello??????? do i know a spencer?

Embarrassment flushes through him. What a weird way to introduce yourself, he chastises himself, Great first impression.

[To: Mr Darcy and Sally’s owner]: Sorry. I’m the one that’s been asking about your cats through the window.

[From: Mr Darcy and Sally’s Owner]: really? prove it

He wants to feel insulted that you’re so suspicious, but is simultaneously impressed that you’re so cautious. It makes sense to worry after posting your number for anyone to see.

[To: Mr Darcy and Sally’s Owner]: Of course. I’ll put a note on my window with my number now.

He does just that, shuffling quickly and frantically like he does when his mind is moving a thousand miles a minute during a case. He slaps the note against the window, unable to resist hovering on the off chance he spots you.

His phone buzzes.

[From: Mr Darcy and Sally’s Owner]: oh hi spencer! im Y/N, owner of Mr Darcy and sally :)

He can’t help but chuckle at the sudden change of tone. You take stranger danger seriously, it seems.

Why does he find that so endearing?

He’s getting ahead of himself, again. Calm and cool.

They pick up the conversation from where the last note left off, where you asked Spencer if he has any pets of his own. He finds it much easier to talk to you like this, rambling and all, which you don’t seem to mind. Your texting style is distinctively different to his, making his phone vibrate multiple times as you send each sentence of your message separately. He prefers writing chunks full of information, all with perfect grammar and punctuation.

You teach him what ‘wtf’ means and when he sends a meme to Penelope with that caption she loses her damn mind.

She decides she loves you there and then.

A friendship blossoms. It’s odd, he doesn’t know what you look like and you admit to catching a glimpse of him when he showed you his number through the window, but other than that you have no idea what the other looks like.

You know so much about eachother’s lives, though, and so much about eachother. You know which apartment you both live in, he’s got a whole list of reasons why Mr Darcy is a dick and he kind of agrees, you even know that he’s an FBI agent.

Then it happens.

He discovers what you look like.

He wants to play it off as an accident, he really does, but that would be a complete and utter lie.

The area under the window opposite yours has become his new sanctuary. He spends way too much time there, reading and whatnot, and he tries to pretend that it’s so he can watch Mr Darcy all day every day, but there’s always been a part of him that wants you to walk by. Maybe stop right in the centre of the window, pause, let him get a good look.

That’s exactly what happens.

He’s doing some “light” reading before he moves to his bed, where he will continue to read, and he sees the main light in your bedroom switch on. You always have a light on – you’re scared of the dark, just like him, but the main light catches his attention because Mr Darcy looks back and meows.

Someone’s in the room.

For some reason, he can’t tear his eyes away. It’s not the first time he’s noticed someone flutter around the room, never managing to really show themselves. It could the best friend you told Spencer about, the one that you’ve been stuck living with the past month or so.

But it’s not.

A girl appears, wearing an oversized t-shirt and shorts with still-wet hair. She dangles a cat toy before Mr Darcy, which he swipes at twice, then looks away, uninterested.

She rolls her eyes at that, then starts dancing and mouthing along to a song Spencer doesn’t recognise. Now he can’t stop staring – she’s captivating, whoever she is, as she prances around her room, arms flailing around and serenading a very unimpressed Mr Darcy.

This has to be you, he thinks. He doesn’t know why, but this has to be you.

Your passionate singing dies out. It’s the end of the song. Before the next one can begin, you happen to look up and through the window, straight at Spencer.

And you disappear.

You collapse. You definitely scream a little, dramatically falling to the floor and hiding under the window with your back to the wall.

Holy shit. You think. He’s cute and he saw me singing to my asshole cat.

He must think I’m crazy.

Spencer keeps staring at the now empty space of your window, Mr Darcy having been spooked by your exit.

He thinks he might be in love.

+++

Neither of you know what to say to one another after what transpired.

You’re too embarrassed, Spencer feels a little star-struck, and you’re both speechless.

Neither of you expected the other to be so.. attractive.

Your phone is thrown in your lap. “Do it. Do it now.”

In a daze, you blink up at your friend, “I can’t.”

“Don’t make me threaten you.”

You blink.

“I know where he lives. I will obliterate the lockdown rules to go talk to him and drag him here, then you can deal with this face-to-face.”

Your mouth falls open. “Are you insane?”

She unlocks your phone, opens your conversation with Spencer, and places it in your hand.

“Yes.”

+++

[From: Y/N :)]: did you at least enjoy the performance…..

Spencer’s whole body prickles when he sees you’ve texted him.

Maybe Penelope’s manifesting did work.

[To: Y/N :)]: I did. I didn’t expect our face reveals to be so…

I honestly don’t know what to say.

[From: Y/N :)]: s doctor reid speechless? am i that talented?

Spencer lies back on his couch, beaming at his phone like a teenager in a cheesy chick flick.

[To: Y/N :)]: You’re very talented. Mr Darcy clearly disagrees, but don’t listen to him.

And just like that, you’re back in the flow of things.

+++

When July rolls around, you and Spencer have been talking every day since March. Despite the monotonous, repetitive days, Spencer wakes up giddy when he sees you’ve texted him. He usually wakes up earlier than you, you have a habit of playing games or watching television until the early hours of the morning, and he loves to send you a fact to wake up to.

Your favourite are the animal facts. He got Amazon Prime just so he could buy a plethora of animal books and watch animal documentaries. All for you.

At one point, you evolved to phone calls. They don’t happen often and the first one was while you were drunk, but they’re fun for the both of you.

It had been a Saturday, you and your friend were having a movie marathon with wine and of course she brought up Spencer. She choked on her drink when you told her you haven’t heard his voice or seen him since the incident.

“You should call him,” She slurred, “Tonight.”

“He’s working on his jigsaw. I’m not going to interrupt.”

She gave you this incredulous look, asking Really?

“What?! I have respect for him and his jigsaws!”

“Have respect for yourself and how cute he is!”

“That doesn’t make sense!”

She sighed, placing her glass on the coffee table with a clunk, “Picture this: you’re helping him with the jigsaw.”

You couldn’t hide the slight upturn of your lips at the thought. You both love jigsaws, doing one with him would be stupidly romantic to you.

“Yeah.” She nodded ridiculously, “That ain’t gonna happen if you don’t call him!”

In your drunken state, you realised she’s right. You called him that night for a total of ten minutes before you passed out after calling him super handsome.

You both went to sleep feeling warm inside. Spencer called you again the next day, where the call lasted nearly two hours, and it went from there.

But now the lockdown rules are being eased. People are going back to work, meaning establishments like restaurants and hairdressers are opening up with limited capacity, all breathing beings expected to wear a mask.

Neither of you have mentioned actually meeting one another. You’re too nervous. What if he doesn’t like you? What if the image he’s created of you in his head is way better than you are in real life and he’s disappointed? What if he doesn’t want to meet you?

Spencer worries about the exact same things.

So neither of you say anything.

+++

It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes Spencer’s mail gets sent to the wrong address. Perhaps to his neighbour, the person living across the hall, or someone on a completely different floor.

Twice, Spencer’s mail has been delivered to the apartment building next door. The building he now exclusively calls “Y/N’s building”.

Now it’s three times.

Unphased by the mask on his face, Spencer glances around the lobby of your apartment building and wonders what your routine is when you get home. Do you immediately check for packages? Look at the noticeboard? Or do you go straight up to your apartment?

Spencer walks to the reception desk, smiling politely even though the person can’t see it.

“Hi, I’m from the building next door. I think my mail was accidentally sent here?”

He clicks a few buttons, types a few things, then flippantly asks, “Apartment number?”

“Twenty-three.”

“Let me go get it.”

He takes his time leaving his chair and wandering through a door. Spencer glances around. There’s a few people, all wearing masks (Thank God), doing their own thing.

There’s two girls next to him. He eavesdrops, because he’s bored.

“I’m too used to living with you now,” The girl facing him pouts, “I don’t want to go.”

The girl with her back to him laughs, light and sweet, “You live a block away.”

“You know Sally is gonna miss me.”

Sally? As in…

“She’s gonna miss you only because you feed her too much and now she’s fat.”

Wait.

“C’mon, Y/N-“

Spencer blocks out the rest cause holy hell. You’re right there. You’re standing right next to Spencer, in all your glory, and you have no idea that he’s right there, too.

Should he say something? Should he introduce himself? Should he..

“Here, sir. My apologies for the mix-up.” The receptionist re-appears, handing Spencer his mail.

“Thank you.”

And Spencer leaves.

Except he doesn’t.

He stops outside the reception entrance, takes out his phone, and texts you.

[To: Y/N :)] This is weird but I’m right outside your building. I think you’re in the foyer and I’m too scared to approach you.

Two minutes pass before the building doors fly open.

Your head swivels back and forth. When you find Spencer, adorable and awkward Spencer, he can tell you’re grinning from the way your eyes bunch up under your mask. God, he knows you have the most beautiful smile. Everything about you is beautiful.

“Hi,” You breathe.

Spencer mouths a silent hi. You’ve taken his breath away.

“I-um. It’s good to see you in person.” Your voice is soft. It’s soft, and smooth, and so much prettier in real life. It’s already pretty through the phone, but the real version shoots straight to his heart.

He gulps, “Yeah, it’s.. Unexpected, but nice.” The corners of his mouth quirk up and he can’t tear his eyes away from you, “You’re even more gorgeous in real life.”

The compliment rolls off his tongue naturally because it’s true and from the second he spotted you he’s lost all logical thinking.

“I am?” You ask, gentle and hesitant, almost asking are you sure you mean me?

Spencer blushes, somewhat embarrassed by his confession. But he meant it, Spencer’s not the type to say things he doesn’t mean, and you don’t give him time to regret it-

“Would you like to get some coffee? If you’re free now?”

Would it be too much if he screams Yes?

“Yes. I’m free,” He ignores the mail in his hands, stuffing it in his satchel, “But let’s avoid Café Nero, I assume you still haven’t recovered from the nightmare latte you had there.”

You grin, which makes Spencer feel fuzzy, flattered that he remembers anecdotes from your texts.

Of course he remembers. You remember he has an eidetic memory.

You shyly brush your hair behind your ears, both sides, and Spencer spots the bright red of them. You’re flushed, just like him, and it fills him with confidence to know you’re the same mixture of excited and anxious about meeting him in person.

“W-what about your friend?” Spencer gestures vaguely to where he assumes she’d be, “Would she mind?”

“She’s the reason I ran out here, so… I think she’d be mad if we didn’t leave her behind.”

You smile at one another, a few feet apart. Spencer’s bumped into by the opening door of your apartment complex and stumbles, apologising profusely to the unimpressed woman that just stares at him.

Through the entire ordeal you watch Spencer, only him, and can’t stop the radiant, love-filled look on your face.

Maybe Mr Darcy isn’t such a dick when he’s the reason Spencer came into your life.

#spencer reid x reader #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid x you #criminal minds x reader #criminal minds fanfiction #mine #oh to be spencer reid's neighbour that he falls completely in love with during the lockdown

[thedivinedemom]

Stretching writing muscles!

The Decision

"What do we do now?"

This was the question on every human's mind but first left the lips of Ensign Karmel. The immediate thing to do was obvious at the time, send the data back to the alliance, and wait for a response. After that, well, it was anyone's guess. It was up to command now.

Captain Ava had spent most of her time waiting, staring out the viewport. Looking down at the rust red and green planet below. Admiring city lights as they flickered to life on the dark side. She wondered at the strange coloring. An abundance of iron? Some quirks in the atmosphere?

They did not dare send a probe to check, did not dare compromise their position. Just outside the planet's atmosphere, they remained unnoticed. And would remain so until they were ordered otherwise.

It did not stop the crew of the Destiny's Reach from wondering. Or from having their computer slither its way into the local equivalent of the internet. They had questions, the United Territories must have them too. Ava was ready to take any flack her noninvasive inquiry may gain her.

The computer couldn't translate enough.

First contact. She never dreamed or imagined it could really happen. That she'd be the one to finally find intelligent life. Maybe that was a bit of a lie. She had certainly hoped but never thought it would actually happen. After nearly 700 years of interstellar travel, humanity had resigned itself to being alone. And the few that still did believe thought it would be a meeting of a superior or at least equals.

No one, not a one, imagined that they would find a single planet species instead of an empire. And Ava feared what that meant.

Aca shook her head, praying that was not the case. The Destiny's Reach was meant to enrich humanity. To give them new data and dwellings with every system visited. They were not meant to be harbingers of destruction nor subjugation.

She shook her head again, dismissing the thought as best she could. She blinked to pull up the image data they had managed to extract from the local networks. Images, so much easier than language to understand and all the more telling.

The first image streamed to her retina was of a feathered lizard, or so the species could be described. They were near universally sleek in body with a long tail and four clawed feet that each owned an opposable thumb.

Video of them had shown them all to be quick in movement, cling to surfaces, and tilted their heads rather expressively. Stretching and moving their necks as they tweeted and croaked their language. The rows of sharp teeth worried her, reminding her of old horror vids, at first. Further, observation showed a mostly insectivore and herbivore diet. That took the edge off the maneater nightmare.

They had gotten several biology charts from what had to be a university archive. But again the language barrier blocked them. The Rosetta Stone program was hard at work. Decoding each symbol and communication it could find. It was taking time, the words were simply too alien to decipher at an inspiring speed.

But it was making progress. There was a bit of a speed bump when the program realized it was decoding multiple languages. Multiple languages with the same roof instead of a single language. Easily corrected and they had since discovered what was hopefully the main language of the world.

It was interesting to note that their written word mimicked their body language as much as their speech. Words and symbols twisted, tilted, and even inverted mid sentence to give new context and meaning. It could turn a polite request to a death challenge.

Ava just knew that was going to be a headache in the future, whatever the higher ups decided. She had seen how they wrote memos. It was not pretty.

"Captain Ava, " a communications officer called from across the bridge. John Johnson if she remembered right a bit bland in appearance but made up for it in his devotion to the cause. It made him a bit flamboyant at times but he was nothing less than professional.

"Yes, Ensign?"

Officer Johnson looked up.at her, his face lacking any of his usual exuberance. Nerves had too firm of a grip on him. "A message from Earth… It looks pretty dense."

Captain Ava did not gulp. Her hands did not shake. And she most certainly did not hesitate as she crossed the bridge. To do any of that would be undignified, especially when so.many eyes were watching her.

Johnson backed away from the council as she approached, glancing between the screen and her. Maybe he was wondering why she had not taken the message at the Captain's station. Maybe he was nervous over what the message said. Or, maybe, he just found get attractive. Whatever the case she could not, and did not, let herself be distracted.

With that message she was going to shape the course of human, and even galactic, history.

She decompressed the message and several files popped out to greet her. A plan for a permanent moon base, with coordinates that would make it visible planetside. Next was a packet of logistics work, spreadsheets filled with rows of materials and people that would be shipped in over the coming months.

It was a lot of people.

Last was a video file. A clip to be broadcasted plantwide as soon as the Rosetta program had a firm grip of the language. Command was very insistent that they send out the message as soon as possible, on repeat.

Ava, despite her best efforts, knew something showed on her face as she read the video's transcripts. She could hear the intake of breath, feel the change in the room as the crew started to whisper.

The transcript, and thus the video, was a short thing. Only a handful of lines but Ava felt they spoke volumes. A picture of humanity. A picture of the planet's moon. And three words to be spoken in every language possible.

"Come join us"

An:

Just wanted to write a snip on my favorite kind of HFY.

#hfy #scifi story #space exploration #orginal fiction #humanity fuck yeah

[pjstafford]

The Bad Boy/Good Guy public personality dynamic of David Duchovny

Written as a birthday gift (with her blog prompt) for Charmion @grungekid84

Dedication: Charmion and I are of different generations; separated in age by over twenty years. I was the age she is now, about, when the X-files was new and she watched it first as a child. Yet today we share similarities in thoughts related to our celebrity crush. To both Charmion and David Duchovny I say, I hope this blog does the love the justice it deserves.

Why are women 20 to 70 years of age fan girls of the 59 year old David Duchovny? Not simply fans! Fans might watch a movie because an actor is in it. They might rewatch a series a half dozen times. Fan girls like Charmion have an Xfile room and paint pictures. Fan girls like myself write blogs, fan fic and team up with fan girls like Cathy Glinski to present at academic conferences. Why do women who have no other celebrity crushes have this need to celebrate this one celebrity in these ways? It seems significant to me the age range of women who are fan girls. I have stood in an audience surrounded by women barely old enough to meet the 21 age limit who knew every word to each of his songs. I heard one such woman say that this is an experience she would tell her grandchildren about. I, also, know women closer to 70 who have traveled to a meet and greet or comic con because they wanted the opportunity to thank this celebrity for the years of joy. Just today as I start to write this a woman I do not know tweeted @hearteyes4david an open letter to the world with a life wish to meet and thank this man. There are so many of us who just want to say thank you. And I won’t say none of us are not, but most of us are not crazy. We are lobbyists, store managers, attorneys, emergency room nurses, church secretaries of different ages and nationalities, many happily married, most normal women ( and some men). So many of us eager, compelled almost, to meet a single specific man and say thank you.

Some of it, people will say, is lust. Yes, it’s possible that if he was a less attractive man we would wish to thank him in person less. Still, can you truly look at the picture at the end of this blog and say his looks are so much more Adonis like than any other man? To say it’s purely a physical lust for a handsome man is dismissive of the intelligent, thoughtful women so moved to want to thank him.

His talent? “Sweet baby Jesus” he gave us Mulder and if that wasn’t enough, Moody. Whether he is playing a man who has lost his wife in Return to me, a drugged out doctor in Playing God, or a Russian operative determine to see the US nuked in Phantomn he makes every character seem so real that he gets a reputation for only playing himself. He is so good of an actor playing such diverse roles that folks can’t believe is truly acting. Still, I think most of us would just be fans and not fan girls if good looks and talent was all he had going for him

He is multi-talented and many love the rock star with romantic, heart breaking lyrics. For me, as I have often said, he is my favorite living novelist with three novels published and a fourth to come out soon. He writes intelligent, funny, heart breaking novels with an unique style and characters that again seem real (even the talking animals). In a recent interview he said something to the effect that his kids could read these novels and know who he was a man. I think that’s why I love his writing so much is because lyrics or prose they are authentic expressions of an artist’s personality; which brings me to Charmion prompt...the personality of David Duchovny.

I have met the man briefly a handful of times. I like the man I have met, but I can’t pretend to know more anymore than his public persona. I know how he comes across in interviews, what others who know him say about him, and all I can possibly gleam from his public art...from the things he has acted in and from his written art- the XFiles the Unnatural, the movie “House of D”, the novels, the lyrics, the distorted selfies in the mirrors reflections he tweeted when he used to tweet. This is how I know what I know about the man...and the fact that the few times I met him he was soft spoken, polite, humble and kind; taking time to answer my questions intelligently, joke a little and write kind words.

I know he is flawed. It is impossible to be a fan and not know about some of the faults which have been well publicized. As he himself says in my favorite of his songs, “I got skeletons in my closet which time ain’t forgot...”. They will never be forgotten. They will be included 20 or 30 years from now in his obituary. His flawed character is a fact, it has been aired, it is part of who he is.

I have written that what I love best about his writing is the combination of darkness and despair with the lightness of the human spirit and resiliency (mmm...the ability to believe?) rising out of darkness. He writes about the most depressing subjects on earth realistically and the fairy tale quality which rises to fill our hearts, to make us laugh and cry, is as real. It is either or both n amazing technique and/ or a result of a world view. I choose to believe it is the latter.

David Duchovny is no saint, but God Damn, he seems like a remarkably good guy with enough of a bad/boy mischievous side to make his personality as sexy as fucking itself. See how I just got a little different in my language there. David puts fucking in a book title, god damn in a song, gets bleeped on air record breaking number of times. God damn, fuck you if you think this is a man who is afraid to swear. He is not really Fox Freaking Mulder but he is David Fucking Duchovny

He is a good guy. He is intelligent. His ability to reference the high brow literary comes across in all his works. His second album title is from a Shakespeare quote. Walt Whitman shows up throughout his novels (and his dog’s tweets). He is well read, it quite well known. If you don’t get that reference, he would, as a Dylan fan and a fan of many other musical artists. He is also happy to talk about and reference sporting heros.

He is a bad boy. Oh, but the lowbrow humor! Early interviews have fart jokes, bathroom humor. He has a knack for intermixing the profane and profound. His novel, Miss Subways, has the elementary teacher leaving the classroom in tears when an assignment (write a letter to a Shakespeare minor character) results in an innocent boy reading “My dearest Fellatio...”.

He is a good guy. He is a romantic. He gave the XFiles fans the shippy Mulder and Scully baseball scene. He believes in his heart that Californication was at heart a love story. He writes lyrics for his ex wife who loves the rain saying “ It will always be raining in this song.” In his novel are real people having real sex type of scenes...no great erotica with flowing hair and heaving bosoms for this man, but discussion of lights on or off or an older couple off screen and an adult son hearing and embarrassed.

He is a bad boy. The man has no fear of nudity. . In his first movie he was filmed completely naked. In the commentary to the rapture he admits that he told the director he thought the character slept in the nude. (Hence the balls shot). It was his idea to wear the red speedo. He improvised the moonshot in evolution.

He is a good guy. He believes in causes. He volunteers and donates to protect the planet, for animal rights, for music education and for planned parenthood. His was the only story in over 200 XFiles episodes that truly dealt with racial injustice and segregation.

He is a good guy. In House of D the thirteen year old boy’s best friend is a forty year old janitor with special needs. He is a bad boy. That boy and janitor told each other a lot of pee jokes.

I can go on and on and on about the bad boy/good guy public personna of David Duchovny, but I am going to close with a subject that might tempt fate and bring forth the haters. I want to end with thinking about David and women.

In Red Shoes diaries David was in the forefront of the soft porn explosion. In an interview this year Brigitte Bako describes her experience in filming the movie as the “worst experience of my life”; but has nothing but complimentary things to say about David, how sweet and nice he was. They became close friends and she later appeared in an episode of Californication.

In Californication, David was the star of one of the raunchiest series in television history. Tits and ass, fucking and punching. I love the show but it would likely not be made today although, to be fair, it demonstrates women having agency over their sexuality. Nevertheless, actresses who appeared on that show have recently been asked what it was like. Over and over again they talk about how comfortable the environment was and how polite and respectful David was.

Much has been made over Gillian Anderson being paid half of David Duchovny’s salary. This is hardly his fault and something he argued against once he was made aware of it, but, as a fan of the show, I love hearing him talk protectively of Mulder and of wanting to protect that relationship. I love that he was responsible for rewriting an ending to one of seasons 11 episodes which end not with Mulder objectifying Scully and not with him in his under wear, but with Scully opining the door and him standing there. As David said, Scully being in control of her own desires.

Finally in Miss Subways, I find a female character written with such realism and authenticity that I have to go back to the 19th century to find a female literary character so relatable to me. She is a reader, beautiful to some men, a little eccentric in some ways, vulnerable, strong but without a great belief in herself or her talent. She’s just fucking real in a fucking real world despite being in a surrealistic fantasy novel with Irish banshees and African spider goddesses, parallel timelines and phones that can alter reality.

We, the fan girls, love this celebrity, David Duchovny because of his looks, his talent and his personality; because he is a bad boy and a good guy; because he inspires us, because he is flawed as we all are and goes through his life trying to be present in the day. For all the fan women who have yet to meet you, Mr. Duchovny, I say thank you and we love you, until they can meet you and tell you themselves.

Happy Birthday, Charmion. If you should meet him someday when I am not there give him an extra hug for me.

[weecb1983]

Such a parcel of rogues in a nation…

Such a parcel of rogues in a nation…

 O would, or I had seen the day

That treason thus could sell us,

My auld gray head had lien in clay,

Wi' Bruce and loyal Wallace!

But pith and power, till my last hour,

I'll mak' this declaration;

We're bought and sold for English gold -

Such a parcel of rogues in a nation.

 Interpretation of poetry has never been my strong point, but I’d hazard a guess that The Bard was pretty pissed off when he wrote these words.  More than 200 years later, I have to wonder – are we still a “parcel of rogues in a nation”?

 I started off 2019 with two resolutions:

1.     Don’t worry about things until they happen

2.    Stop tweeting

 I lasted until the 2nd of January before I came across a tweet from the Scotsman…”End indyref2 talk in 2019, campaigners TELL @NicolaSturgeon” and felt compelled to retweet with a sarcastic comment and a bemused emoji. Fast forward a few hours and I’m awake at 3am, anxious about the state of the country and a Brexit that hasn’t happened yet.

Earlier in the year, to relieve my anxiety, the “other half” begrudgingly agreed to me stockpiling food.  So I set about compiling a “Brexit Cupboard” filled with pasta, rice and other staples from the continent such as olive oil and sundried tomatoes that may be hard to come by in the even a no-deal Brexit scenario.  I received a lot of stick for this from friends and family, who suggested that I was catastrophising and perhaps I had too much time on my hands, being on maternity leave at the time.  It was time I went back to work.

 Brexit cupboard ready to go, I still find myself awake at stupid o’clock in the morning, so in another attempt to get a decent night’s sleep I thought I’d try to take the thoughts that are troubling me and put them down on paper….

 Back in 2014 when Scotland voted No, I was heartbroken but I understood and accepted the result.  I don’t blame my friends and family who voted No (openly).  Initially, my gut reaction was No.  It was a risk, but I decided that since it was such a serious decision, I should partake in some research.  I had never been interested in politics before and, prior to 2013, wasn’t even registered to vote.  Coming from a predominantly socialist family, I was conscious that my vote should be an informed decision and not based on what those around me thought.  The more I read, the more convinced I was that Scotland should be independent, and the more incensed I became that we weren’t already.

 I joined Twitter, entered into discussion with “Unionists”, asking questions and looking for a reason as to why Scotland should remain as part of the UK. I am still looking.  For one single reason.  Instead I have received nothing but condescending replies, questioning my intelligence and level of education, or lack thereof.  One lovely chap asking, “not very bright are you?”. Regarding the ever divisive topic of Scottish Independence, polite discourse quickly descends into “sharing and pooling” and “fiscal transfer” and “go away, you don’t understand”.  I’ve tried with GERS.  I really have, and I don’t think it’s that GERS figures are beyond the comprehension of the average “cybernat”.  Just that they are far too dull to hold the attention of all but the most dogged “Britnat”, who would rather see Scotland burn to the ground than be independent (they might get their wish come April).  They wait eagerly for “GERS-figures day” every year and, like a dog with a bone, rip them to shreds and shout “See!  They are your own government’s figures and they show that Scotland is too wee, too poor!  Get back in your box”.  From what I can understand, these figures are based on Scotland being part of the so-called “United” Kingdom and can’t be used to predict what an independent Scotland would look like so I really don’t see what all the hoo-hah is about to be honest.

 Sometimes I think, in an alternative universe, where Scotland voted Yes four years ago, what would my unionist friends and family think if the country was in the state that it is now?  I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t be biting their tongue, going by the continuous loop of “SNP-bad” rhetoric that still prevails, despite none of this current shit-show being of their doing.

 Looking at the state of affairs, it is extremely disturbing to see what people will accept nowadays.  If you had told me four years ago that the UK would be stockpiling food and medicine, preparing the army for civil unrest and that Schrödinger’s drones would cause Gatwick airport to grind to a halt, I would have said, no one in their right mind would vote for that….but then again, they didn’t put that on the big red bus.

 Credit where it’s due to the Westminster establishment, they have been extremely clever in this respect.  Of course it would never have worked to put “Vote for martial law” on the bus!  Instead, over two years they have, little by little, gone from “£350 million for the NHS!” to “a no-deal scenario wouldn’t be the end of the world” with Westminster’s very own resident hobbit Michael Gove kindly suggesting that we allow people to scavenge on rubbish heaps.  Even better, it will give us a chance to go back to the good old days of the Blitz when everyone pulled together.  To anyone who says that, I say, get yourself down a trench during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.  I visited the WW1 battlefields in 2015 after 97 years of peace, and it was traumatising enough.

 To anyone who is (even now!) unsure about whether Brexit is all bad, I simply say, look at who supports it…for the love of God!  Imagine, stumbling across a party and looking around to see Boris Johnson, Hobbit Gove, Nigel Farage, Andrea Leadsom, Dominic Raab, Priti Patel, John Redwood, Vladimir Putin and last but by no means least, the smiling assassin, Jacob Rees-Mogg and his fellow Dickensian panto-villain Julia Hartley-Brewer (never trust anyone with a double-barrelled surname).  I would be turning on my heel and getting out of that place before they started burning £50 notes (or as it will be known post-brexit…$5,000,000).

 I happen to think Theresa May herself would also be at that party.  I am not for a minute buying that she was ever a Remainer.  I reckon her husband (senior executive at an investment fund that profits from tax-avoiding companies) would stand to lose a pretty penny from the EU’s Anti Tax Avoidance Directive which was presented on 28th January 2016 (!) and requires its member states to apply these measures as of 1st January 2019…3 months before the Brexit deadline.  Coincidence?  No deal has always been the end goal and who better to run down the clock than the cringe-worthy curtseying Theresa May who campaigned so emphatically for Remain? Theresa May, who is trying to broker a deal that is best for the WHOLE country and one that supports the democratic vote…the last democratic vote you’ll ever have, by the way.  Because now democracy means that when you voted once, based on an illegal campaign that no-one has been held accountable for, you are no longer entitled to change your mind because that is what democracy means now. Is Theresa May the Keyser Söze of Westminster?  Albeit her daft walk at the end is to the tune of Abba?  Is she that clever and forward-thinking to have orchestrated this whole clusterbourach?

 No, she is merely a puppet and her strings are being pulled by disaster capitalists who know exactly what they are doing.  They will have prepared for every eventuality.

 Panto villain Mogg has been popping his polite, well-spoken, over-privileged and under-achieving head up recently to air his views whenever he can on the main-stream media.  I noted that he voiced his support of the late Margaret Thatcher featuring on the new £50 note.  Margaret Thatcher, who was a known admirer of General Pinochet.

 This is a quote from Naomi Klein’s book, The Shock Doctrine:

 “The British prime minister was well acquainted with what she called “the remarkable success of the Chilean economy”, describing it as a “striking example of economic reform from which we can learn many lessons”.  Yet despite her admiration for Pinochet, when Hayek first suggested that she emulate his shock therapy policies, Thatcher was far from convinced.  In February 1982, the prime minister bluntly explained the problem in a private letter to her intellectual guru.  “I am sure you will agree that, in Britain with our democratic institutions and the need for a high degree of consent, some of the measures adopted in Chile are quite unacceptable.  Our reform must be in line with our traditions and our Constitution.  At times the process may seem painfully slow.”

 I wonder if 30 odd years is slow enough and I think by “quite unacceptable”, she means this…

 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/the-pinochet-affair-i-saw-them-herded-to-their-death-i-heard-the-gunfire-as-they-died-1179543.html

Make no mistake, this is a right-wing coup.  It’s just that it’s being carried out in an orderly fashion – the British way.

 No one wants to talk about Brexit anymore.  The majority of the people in my life are completely ignorant about the consequences of a no-deal scenario, blissfully so, and encourage me to join them. The apathy shown towards the biggest political disaster to happen to this country in living memory is beyond my comprehension.  So half the country is sleepwalking and half have just about reached Brexit saturation point and all the time we are being nudged, slowly towards the edge of the cliff. ….and when we’re pushed over the edge, there will be Sajid Javid waiting on an armed boat shouting “CRISIS! - NO MIGRANTS ALLOWED!”.  The neoliberals stand to make a tidy profit while the country is reeling from the chaos that would inevitably ensue from a No-deal. We can look forward to the swift privatisation of our Health Service, abolition of the welfare state, chlorinated chicken, etc.

 In 2014, Scottish independence was about hope and the ability to control our own affairs.  Now, it’s about the survival of our democracy.  If Scotland is not independent come March 29th 2019, I predict that, freed from the burden of EU laws, Westminster will adopt Henry VIII powers to abolish the devolved parliaments.  It has already shown what it is capable of, and its contempt of the Scottish parliament, by taking them to court over the Continuity Bill.  Scotland has barely been mentioned throughout the Brexit “negotiations” and has been disregarded and disrespected at every turn.  We are absolutely not, as was promised, “Better Together”. Independence is the only option now and I, for one, hope to begin 2020 as part of an independent Scotland with my human rights still intact.

 However, if anyone is reading this in a post-Brexit version of “The Handmaid’s Tale”….nothing to see here!  All left-wing views out the window.  God save the Queen.

#Brexit IndyRef2 StopBrexit

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/world/huawei-row-uk-to-let-chinese-firm-help-build-5g-network/

Huawei row: UK to let Chinese firm help build 5G network

Image copyright Alamy

The government has approved the supply of equipment by Chinese telecoms firm Huawei for the UK’s new 5G data network despite warnings of a security risk.

There is no formal confirmation but the Daily Telegraph says Huawei will build “non-core” components such as antennas.

The US wants its allies in the “Five Eyes” intelligence grouping – the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – to exclude the company.

Huawei has denied that its work poses any risks of espionage or sabotage.

But Australia has already said it is siding with Washington – which has spoken of “serious concerns over Huawei’s obligations to the Chinese government and the danger that poses to the integrity of telecommunications networks in the US and elsewhere”.

A spokesman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has said it is reviewing the supply of equipment for the 5G network and will report in due course.

Digital minister Margot James responded to the reports by tweeting: “In spite of Cabinet leaks to the contrary, final decision yet to be made on managing threats to telecoms infrastructure.”

According to the Daily Telegraph, Huawei would be allowed to help build the “non-core” infrastructure of the 5G network.

This would mean Huawei would not supply equipment for what is known as the “core” parts – where tasks such as checking device IDs and deciding how to route voice calls and data take place.

‘Different approaches’

Huawei, a private company which already supplies equipment for the UK’s existing mobile networks, has always denied claims it is controlled by the Chinese government.

It said it was awaiting a formal announcement, but was “pleased that the UK is continuing to take an evidence-based approach to its work”, adding it would continue to work cooperatively with the government and the industry.

Ciaran Martin, the head of the National Cyber Security Centre – which oversees Huawei’s current UK work – told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme a framework would be put in place to ensure the 5G network was “sufficiently safe”.

Asked about the potential of a conflict in the position of Five Eyes members, he added: “In the past decade there have been different approaches across the Five Eyes and across the allied wider Western alliance towards Huawei and towards other issues as well.”

What is 5G?

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption 5G promises great benefits but may come with higher security risks

5G is the next (fifth) generation of mobile internet connectivity, promising much faster data download and upload speeds, wider coverage and more stable connections.

The world is going mobile and existing spectrum bands are becoming congested, leading to breakdowns, particularly when many people in one area are trying to access services at the same time.

5G is also much better at handling thousands of devices simultaneously, from phones to equipment sensors, video cameras to smart street lights.

Current 4G mobile networks can offer speeds of about 45Mbps (megabits per second) on average and experts say 5G – which is starting to be rolled out in the UK this year – could achieve browsing and downloads up to 20 times faster.

What is 5G and what will it mean for you?

Six UK cities named as 5G pioneers

BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera says it is believed the decision to involve Huawei was taken by ministers at a meeting of the government’s national security council on Tuesday, chaired by Prime Minister Theresa May.

The home, defence and foreign secretaries were reported to have raised concerns during the discussions.

In a tweet, shadow Cabinet Office minister Jo Platt said using Huawei equipment would raise “serious questions” about the “government’s interests and how they will secure networks”.

Analysis

BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera

The decision on Huawei is one of the most significant long-term national security decisions this government will make and was always going to be contentious.

5G will underpin our daily lives in ways that are hard to predict. So does allowing a Chinese company to build those networks put people at risk of being spied on or even switched off?

That is the concern from Washington and other critics who wanted the company excluded.

But deciding to ban Huawei entirely from the network would have risked slowing down the development of 5G and also upsetting China.

The UK believes it has experience in managing the risks posed by Huawei and can continue to do so going forward.

But one retired senior intelligence official recently told me his view on what to do about Huawei had changed.

In the past, he said, he had believed the policy of managing the risk had been sufficient. But now he was less sure.

The reason was not to do with any change in his view of what the company could do. Rather it was about the risks to relationships with close allies, namely those of the Five Eyes and US.

Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat tweeted that allowing Huawei to build some of the UK’s 5G infrastructure would “cause allies to doubt our ability to keep data secure and erode the trust essential to #FiveEyes cooperation”.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionOne potential problem with 5G tech may have more to do with castles than you’d expect

Speaking on the Today programme, Mr Tugendhat said the proposals still raised concerns, as 5G involved an “internet system that can genuinely connect everything, and therefore the distinction between non-core and core is much harder to make”.

‘Shoddy’ Huawei work risks Westminster ban

Huawei sales top $100bn despite backlash

Joyce Hakmeh, a research fellow at think tank Chatham House and co-editor of the Journal of Cyber Policy, said the UK’s current mobile network needs to be transformed to the “the next level… quicker, more stable 5G”.

But she added the government would be hoping its decision on Huawei did not upset either China or the US.

Limiting – but not barring – Huawei technology from the 5G networks would be a “diplomatic way of managing a difficult situation” for the UK, said Ms Hakmeh.

[loudlytransparenttrash]

The phobia of Islamophobia

Lol so I just had someone tell me that it is Islamophobic to tell Muslims that they aren’t being banned from entering the US and to not use the word “Islam” in tags.

It reminds me of those groups like the Interfaith Center, who demands films and television to edit and remove the words “Islamist,” “Islamic,” and “jihad”, even from documentaries such The Rise of Al Qaeda - referencing the 9/11 hijackers and their motives. They don’t want the public to think that Islamism or jihad had anything to do with Al Qaeda or the 9/11 attacks, because that would be “Islamophobia.”  

Everybody seems so afraid of this word. From the police who are scared to investigate Muslim human trafficking and child abuse rings in the UK, being afraid to make public the mass sexual and violent attacks committed by Muslim refugees across Europe, being afraid to report their fellow officers who expressed radical Muslim beliefs or the teachers being afraid to alert authorities when their Muslim students show warning signs of becoming radicalized. What we are dealing with is not Islamophobia, but Islamophobia-phobia.

As author Ali Rizvi says: “As a brown-skinned person with a Muslim name, I can get away with a lot more than you’d think. I can publicly parade my wife or daughters around in head-to-toe burqas and be excused out of “respect” for my culture and/or religion, thanks to the racism of lowered expectations. I can re-define “racism” as something non-whites can never harbor against whites, and cite colonialism and imperialism as justification for my prejudice. And in an increasingly effective move that’s fast become something of an epidemic, I can shame you into silence for criticizing my ideas simply by calling you bigoted or Islamophobic.”

For decades, Muslims around the world have rightly complained about the Israeli government labeling even legitimate criticism of its policies “anti-Semitic,” effectively shielding itself from accountability. Today, Muslim organizations like CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) have borrowed a page from their playbook with the “Islamophobia” label - and taken it even further.

In addition to calling out prejudice against Muslims (a people), the term “Islamophobia” seeks to shield Islam itself (an ideology) from criticism. It’s as if every time you said smoking was a filthy habit, you were perceived to be calling all smokers filthy, horrible people. Human beings have rights and are entitled to respect. But when did we start extending those rights to ideas, books, and beliefs? You’d think the difference would be clear, but it isn’t. The ploy has worked over and over again, and now everyone seems petrified of being tagged with this label.

The phobia of being called “Islamophobic” has been on the rise for some time and it has become much more rampant, powerful, and dangerous than Islamophobia itself. Not long ago, a white American man successfully convinced the Massachusetts liberal arts school Brandeis University that he was being victimized and oppressed by a black African woman from Somalia - a woman who underwent genital mutilation at age five and travels with armed security at risk of being assassinated. That is the power of this term.

The man, Ibrahim Hooper, is a Muslim convert and a founding member and spokesman for CAIR. The woman, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, is an unapologetic activist for the rights of girls and women and a harsh, no-holds-barred critic of the religious ideologies (particularly the Islamic ideology in Muslim-majority countries that she experienced first-hand) that perpetuate and maintain their abuse. Having abandoned the Islamic faith of her parents and taken a stance against it, she is guilty of apostasy, a crime that is punishable by death according to most Islamic scholars, not to mention the holy text itself.

Hirsi Ali was also involved with the award-winning documentary, Honor Diaries, which explores violence against women in honor-based societies, including female genital mutilation (FGM), honor killings, domestic violence, and forced marriage. Despite featuring the voices of several practicing Muslim women, the film was deemed “Islamophobic” by - you guessed it - the poor folks at CAIR. Again, they felt they were the real victims, wanting their own voices heard while silencing those of the victims of FGM and honor killing in the film. Astonishingly, this ludicrous argument was enough to convince both the University of Illinois and the University of Michigan to cancel their screenings of the film which leads to even more deafness and blindness of a very serious human rights issue.

Progressive Muslim Maajid Nawaz tweeted a cartoon with the caption: “This Jesus & Mo cartoon is not offensive & I’m sure God is greater than to feel threatened by it.”

The result? Vicious death threats. A petition signed by tens of thousands to have him removed from his candidacy. Targeting by Western liberal apologists. Admonishments from his own moderate Muslim counterparts. Tweets such as, “Have spoken to someone in Pakistan. They will have a surprise for him on his next visit. He is used to surprises in Pak.” The most tragic aspect of all this is what Alishba Zarmeen has coined the “Greenwald Syndrome” - the phenomenon of Western liberals, in a supposed show of tolerance, embracing an apologist stance in favor of the intolerant.

After being publicly accused by Glenn Greenwald of “spouting and promoting Islamophobia,” Sam Harris responded with these words, which should be read by everyone:

“Needless to say, there are people who hate Arabs, Somalis, and other immigrants from predominantly Muslim societies for racist reasons. But if you can’t distinguish that sort of blind bigotry from a hatred and concern for dangerous, divisive, and irrational ideas - like a belief in martyrdom, or a notion of male ‘honor’ that entails the virtual enslavement of women and girls - you are doing real harm to our public conversation. Everything I have ever said about Islam refers to the content and consequences of its doctrine. And, again, I have always emphasized that its primary victims are innocent Muslims - especially women and girls. There is no such thing as ‘Islamophobia.’ This is a term of propaganda designed to protect Islam from the forces of secularism by conflating all criticism of it with racism and xenophobia. And it is doing its job, because people like you have been taken in by it.”

The fear of being called Islamophobic once led many prominent Westerners to abandon their own values when they abandoned Salman Rushdie. It led Yale to publish a book about the Danish Muhammad cartoon controversy, but without the cartoons. It led Comedy Central to censor their shows for fear of offending Muslims, even though the show irreverently lambastes virtually every other religion on a regular basis, unhindered and it has led to countless people being attacked, doxxed, threatened, silenced and their careers ruined, all for having a different opinion.

This epidemic continues today except now people aren’t taking “Islamophobia” as serious anymore and with good reason so Muslims have begun to create hoax hate-crimes against themselves to try and bring some credibility back to keep non-Mulsims in check.

Remember the 18-year-old Muslim girl who was assaulted and called a terrorist on the subway by Trump supporters and they tried to rip her hijab off and all of the social justice warriors had a complete meltdown? It was a lie that she made up to cover her parents finding out she was out fucking a Christian dude and getting drunk. It gets funnier, her Muslim father has forced her to shave her head completely for bringing shame on the family and she was arrested for making false accusations.

Remember the Muslim student who was robbed, beaten and had her hijab ripped off and stolen by Trump supporters? It was a lie. She is now being charged for filing a false report.

Remember when those white supremacist, anti-Muslim Trump supporters burned down the mosque in Houston? It was a lie. While the mosque did get burned down, it was done by a black Muslim who had attended the mosque for years.

Remember the Ohio student who was racially abused and assaulted by Trump supporters? It was a lie. She made it up the day after the election and after she made a post that she wants all Trump supporters to die of AIDS.

Remember the Michigan Muslim student who was harassed and threatened to be burned alive by the Trump supporter if she didn’t remove her hijab? It was a lie. Surveillance cameras show that she wasn’t even in the location where she claimed the attack took place.

Remember the Muslim woman who had her hijab ripped and forced off by police when they took her in for questioning? It was another lie.

Remember the Muslim kid who was beaten up on the school bus by five white kids and it forced the family to leave the country? Yes, another fucking lie.

Remember the student who had her face slashed and was called a terrorist in Lower Manhattan? Yet another lie.

These anti-Islamic hate-crimes even reached the UK with an 18-year-old Muslim student from Birmingham being punched in the face for wearing a hijab. It was a lie. She’s been charged for lying to the police.

These are just some of the false claims made within the past year alone and they received nation-wide coverage and left-wing outrage and hysteria, all pushing the agenda that America is a racist, Islamophobic hellhole and nobody except white people are safe.

This is an effective deterrent. This is exactly how terrorism works. This is how perfectly intelligent, well-read writers, commentators, and broadcasters become silenced by the Islamophobia smear fear - and rationalize themselves into becoming unaware victims of it.

When you’re unable to introduce Islamic-style blasphemy Sharia laws in a secular, Western society, you have to find alternative ways to silence those who offend you, right?

And that’s where the “Islamophobia” smear comes in - the ultimate, lazy substitute for a non-existent counter-argument. Don’t fall for it.

#islam #islamophobia #muslim #muslim ban #SJW #anti sjw #anti social justice warriors #social justice #social justice warrior #Trump #Donald Trump #feminism #feminist #anti feminism

[actutrends]

Is Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign blowing up in Iraq?

“It’s not working because the administration has no idea why it’s applying pressure or what it wants,” said Ilan Goldenberg, a former Pentagon and State Department official in the Obama administration. “It’s not even a maximum pressure strategy. It’s a maximum pressure policy.”

Even some supporters of “maximum pressure” quibble with the administration’s execution. Lebanon and Iraq, for instance, have seen major anti-corruption protests in recent months, with many demonstrators chanting against Iranian interference in their countries. But the U.S. has done little beyond offer verbal support, squandering a chance to lure those countries out of Iran’s orbit.

“There’s a huge opening that we’re not exploiting,” said Ilan Berman, senior vice president of the conservative American Foreign Policy Council.

As reports came in of the embassy attack in Iraq, U.S. officials confirmed they were planning to announce new sanctions on Iran, although they declined to give a time frame.

“Leadership is huddling on next steps,” one U.S. official said.

The Pentagon said it was sending more troops to help secure the embassy. The staffing there had already been reduced significantly over the past year, and the U.S. consulate in the Iraqi city of Basra was closed in 2018, but a full U.S. diplomatic pullout from Iraq has not been announced.

Diplomatic security is an especially sensitive issue for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who, as a Republican congressman, made a name for himself castigating his predecessor Hillary Clinton over her handling of the 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including a U.S. ambassador.

“Pompeo has long dreaded having a Benghazi-type event on his watch,” a former senior Trump administration official said.

As tensions mounted this week, Pompeo spoke with leaders in Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United Arab Emirates, all of whom view Tehran as an adversary, in a bid to show that the U.S. has plenty of support in its anti-Iran tactics. But it was not clear whether Pompeo would travel to Iraq — he’s scheduled to visit Ukraine and several of its neighbors starting later this week.

Pompeo did speak with Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi and President Barham Salih. The Iraqis “assured the secretary that they took seriously their responsibility for and would guarantee the safety and security of U.S. personnel and property,” the State Department said.

Reports from Baghdad, however, suggested that Iraqi officials may have turned a blind eye as protesters headed toward the heavily guarded U.S. diplomatic compound.

The developments this week were a remarkable turn of events for the United States in Iraq, where it maintains some 5,000 troops nearly 17 years after U.S. troops invaded the country and toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

In recent months, it seemed that U.S. efforts to isolate neighboring Iran’s clerical leadership were bearing some regional fruit, and not just by depleting Tehran’s coffers. Trump aides pointed to the protests in Iraq and Lebanon — as well as demonstrations in Iran itself — as proof that people across the region are tired of the Iranian regime’s antics.

“What we are also seeing regionally — the protests in Iran, the protests in Iraq, and the protests in Lebanon are a consistent rejection of the Iranian model of undermining sovereignty, endemic corruption, weaponizing sectarian grievances and destabilizing the region broadly,” a senior State Department official told reporters Monday.

But Iran-affiliated militias in Iraq also appeared willing to take advantage of the moment.

Many such militias are technically part of Iraq’s security forces and are known as the Popular Mobilization Forces. They have found at least one common cause with the U.S. in the past: battling the vicious Islamic State terrorist group.

Still, the U.S. alleges such Iran-backed militias have been behind a string of attacks aimed at American forces in Iraq. U.S. officials said they pleaded with Iraqi leaders to do more to prevent such attacks and protect American troops but that not enough was done.

Last week, an attack blamed on an Iran-backed group, Kataeb Hezbollah, killed a U.S. contractor and wounded several U.S. troops. The U.S. responded by bombing the militia’s weapons storage sites and command posts at three locations in Iraq and two in Syria; some two dozen militiamen were reported killed.

The U.S. retaliation alarmed Iraqi leaders, who described it as an attack on their forces, in this case the “45th and 46th Brigade.” Iraq’s National Security Council denounced the U.S. attack as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and said it would review its ties with the United States.

By Tuesday, protesters described in various media accounts as militiamen likely backed by Iran breached the embassy grounds, though not its main buildings, and set some fires. The scene was an ominous reminder of past such assaults, including in Benghazi and the 1979 storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran that led to the Iran hostage crisis.

Amid reports of U.S. diplomats barricading themselves inside, Democrats and other critics of the Trump administration said the chaos in Iraq was a natural consequence of a maximum pressure strategy that appeared to have no clear — or realistic — goals beyond pressure itself.

A set of 12 demands that Pompeo laid out last year for Iran is so broad that analysts argue it’s effectively a call for regime change and thus a nonstarter for Tehran.

Trump’s detractors noted that Iran’s regime appears firmly in control of its territory — it crushed the recent spate of protests there in part by blocking the internet — and that it is suspected to have carried out a string of attacks on international oil tankers and Saudi oil facilities.

“The results [of the maximum pressure campaign] so far have been more threats against international commerce, emboldened and more violent proxy attacks across the Middle East, and now, the death of an American citizen in Iraq,” said Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Trump administration officials deny that the maximum pressure campaign is the culprit in the escalating tensions. They argue that had the U.S. not responded to the Kataeb Hezbollah attacks, that would have invited even more Iranian aggression.

“President Trump directed our armed forces to respond in a way the Iranian regime will understand. And this is the language they speak, and so we’re confident about that,” the senior State Department official told reporters on Monday.

Despite the provocations that U.S. intelligence officials have linked to Tehran, Trump has hesitated to strike targets inside Iran, saying he wants to avoid a bloody, costly war. But, along with ramping up sanctions, he has sent thousands more troops to the Middle East in hopes of deterring Tehran.

Trump also has repeatedly said he wants to talk to Iranian leaders, and he came close to doing so during September’s United Nations General Assembly. Publicly, however, there has been little movement on the diplomatic front, something critics say is as much the fault of hawkish Trump aides as the Iranians themselves.

The president used Twitter on Tuesday to convey some tough rhetoric toward Iran in the wake of the embassy attack, saying it “will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities. They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat. Happy New Year!”

In a tweet 20 minutes later, he simply wrote: “The Anti-Benghazi!”

Trump also appealed to Iraqis in a tweet that, once again, offered little beyond verbal support. “To those many millions of people in Iraq who want freedom and who don’t want to be dominated and controlled by Iran, this is your time!” Trump wrote.

The White House added that Trump had spoken with Iraq’s prime minister and that he “emphasized the need to protect United States personnel and facilities in Iraq.”

Even if Trump and his aides pursue a major effort to bring Iran back into negotiations, Tehran is likely to hesitate, Goldenberg and others said.

The clerics have little reason to trust that the U.S. will honor an agreement. After all, it was Trump who walked away from the Iran nuclear deal, which was negotiated under his predecessor, Barack Obama, and re-imposed economic sanctions on Iran. Former Obama aides say the Iran nuclear deal helped calm relations between Washington and Iran, with benefits for the stability of contested Middle Eastern countries like Iraq.

“You don’t start a diplomatic negotiation by torching an agreement that already exists and then expecting your adversary to come back to the table for any kind of good-faith negotiation,” Goldenberg said.

Supporters of the maximum pressure campaign counter that the Iran nuclear deal gave Tehran more money and leeway to engage in non-nuclear military activity beyond its borders.

They say Iran’s lashing out in Iraq and beyond is a sign that the Trump approach is working.

If anything, they argue, now’s the time to ramp up the pressure, so that an even weaker Iran will eventually be forced to negotiate a new, more comprehensive agreement that goes beyond the Obama-era nuclear deal.

“The regime is facing a severe economic and political crisis at home and an open rebellion in Iraq and Lebanon against the corrupt governments and militias it has installed,” said Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank that advocates a tough line against Iran. “The administration should keep turning the screws financially, increase the military pressure and back the protesters.”

Berman, though, said the U.S. also should see what more incentives it can offer to countries such as Iraq and Lebanon to side with Washington over Tehran. That could include anything from trade agreements, to aid conditioned on governmental reform, to promises to become more deeply involved to supporting infrastructure projects, Berman said.

“The broader point would be that you don’t have to rely on the Iranians because we’re present and more engaged,” he said.

It won’t be easy. For one thing, the Iranian-backed Shiite militia Hezbollah is a major political player in Lebanon, and concerns over its role are believed to be one reason the U.S. temporarily delayed releasing a $105 million military aid package to the country this past year.

Aside from often corrupt coordination among their security and intelligence forces, Iraq and Iran — who once fought a brutal war with each other — have in more recent years tried to increase their economies’ integration. Baghdad views Iranian investment as key to helping its business sector; Iran views Iraq as a crucial partner amid the strain of U.S. sanctions.

And even while anti-Iran sentiment may be on the rise in Iraq, anti-American sentiment has lurked there for years, especially since the U.S. invasion of the country in 2003.

Daniel Lippman contributed to this report.

The post Is Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign blowing up in Iraq? appeared first on Actu Trends.

[thisdaynews]

Is Trump's 'maximum pressure' campaign blowing up in Iraq?

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/is-trumps-maximum-pressure-campaign-blowing-up-in-iraq/

Is Trump's 'maximum pressure' campaign blowing up in Iraq?

“It’s not working because the administration has no idea why it’s applying pressure or what it wants,” said Ilan Goldenberg, a former Pentagon and State Department official in the Obama administration. “It’s not even a maximum pressure strategy. It’s a maximum pressure policy.”

Even some supporters of “maximum pressure” quibble with the administration’s execution. Lebanon and Iraq, for instance, have seen major anti-corruption protests in recent months, with many demonstrators chanting against Iranian interference in their countries. But the U.S. has done little beyond offer verbal support, squandering a chance to lure those countries out of Iran’s orbit.

“There’s a huge opening that we’re not exploiting,” said Ilan Berman, senior vice president of the conservative American Foreign Policy Council.

As reports came in of the embassy attack in Iraq, U.S. officials confirmed they were planning to announce new sanctions on Iran, although they declined to give a time frame.

“Leadership is huddling on next steps,” one U.S. official said.

The Pentagon said it was sending more troops to help secure the embassy. The staffing there had already been reduced significantly over the past year, and the U.S. consulate in the Iraqi city of Basra was closed in 2018, but a full U.S. diplomatic pullout from Iraq has not been announced.

Diplomatic security is an especially sensitive issue for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who, as a Republican congressman, made a name for himself castigating his predecessor Hillary Clinton over her handling of the 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including a U.S. ambassador.

“Pompeo has long dreaded having a Benghazi-type event on his watch,” a former senior Trump administration official said.

As tensions mounted this week, Pompeo spoke with leaders in Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United Arab Emirates, all of whom view Tehran as an adversary, in a bid to show that the U.S. has plenty of support in its anti-Iran tactics. But it was not clear whether Pompeo would travel to Iraq — he’s scheduled to visit Ukraine and several of its neighbors starting later this week.

Pompeo did speak with Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi and President Barham Salih. The Iraqis “assured the secretary that they took seriously their responsibility for and would guarantee the safety and security of U.S. personnel and property,” the State Department said.

Reports from Baghdad, however, suggested that Iraqi officials may have turned a blind eye as protesters headed toward the heavily guarded U.S. diplomatic compound.

The developments this week were a remarkable turn of events for the United States in Iraq, where it maintains some 5,000 troops nearly 17 years after U.S. troops invaded the country and toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

In recent months, it seemed that U.S. efforts to isolate neighboring Iran’s clerical leadership were bearing some regional fruit, and not just by depleting Tehran’s coffers. Trump aides pointed to the protests in Iraq and Lebanon — as well as demonstrations in Iran itself — as proof that people across the region are tired of the Iranian regime’s antics.

“What we are also seeing regionally — the protests in Iran, the protests in Iraq, and the protests in Lebanon are a consistent rejection of the Iranian model of undermining sovereignty, endemic corruption, weaponizing sectarian grievances and destabilizing the region broadly,” a senior State Department official told reporters Monday.

But Iran-affiliated militias in Iraq also appeared willing to take advantage of the moment.

Many such militias are technically part of Iraq’s security forces and are known as the Popular Mobilization Forces. They have found at least one common cause with the U.S. in the past: battling the vicious Islamic State terrorist group.

Still, the U.S. alleges such Iran-backed militias have been behind a string of attacks aimed at American forces in Iraq. U.S. officials said they pleaded with Iraqi leaders to do more to prevent such attacks and protect American troops but that not enough was done.

Last week, an attack blamed on an Iran-backed group, Kataeb Hezbollah, killed a U.S. contractor and wounded several U.S. troops. The U.S. responded by bombing the militia’s weapons storage sites and command posts at three locations in Iraq and two in Syria; some two dozen militiamen were reported killed.

The U.S. retaliation alarmed Iraqi leaders, who described it as an attack on their forces, in this case the “45th and 46th Brigade.” Iraq’s National Security Council denounced the U.S. attack as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and said it would review its ties with the United States.

By Tuesday, protesters described in various media accounts as militiamen likely backed by Iran breached the embassy grounds, though not its main buildings, and set some fires. The scene was an ominous reminder of past such assaults, including in Benghazi and the 1979 storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran that led to the Iran hostage crisis.

Amid reports of U.S. diplomats barricading themselves inside, Democrats and other critics of the Trump administration said the chaos in Iraq was a natural consequence of a maximum pressure strategy that appeared to have no clear — or realistic — goals beyond pressure itself.

A set of 12 demands that Pompeo laid out last year for Iran is so broad that analysts argue it’s effectively a call for regime change and thus a nonstarter for Tehran.

Trump’s detractors noted that Iran’s regime appears firmly in control of its territory — it crushed the recent spate of protests there in part by blocking the internet — and that it is suspected to have carried out a string of attacks on international oil tankers and Saudi oil facilities.

“The results [of the maximum pressure campaign] so far have been more threats against international commerce, emboldened and more violent proxy attacks across the Middle East, and now, the death of an American citizen in Iraq,” said Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Trump administration officials deny that the maximum pressure campaign is the culprit in the escalating tensions. They argue that had the U.S. not responded to the Kataeb Hezbollah attacks, that would have invited even more Iranian aggression.

“President Trump directed our armed forces to respond in a way the Iranian regime will understand. And this is the language they speak, and so we’re confident about that,” the senior State Department official told reporters on Monday.

Despite the provocations that U.S. intelligence officials have linked to Tehran, Trump has hesitated to strike targets inside Iran, saying he wants to avoid a bloody, costly war. But, along with ramping up sanctions, he has sent thousands more troops to the Middle East in hopes of deterring Tehran.

Trump also has repeatedly said he wants to talk to Iranian leaders, and he came close to doing so during September’s United Nations General Assembly. Publicly, however, there has been little movement on the diplomatic front, something critics say is as much the fault of hawkish Trump aides as the Iranians themselves.

The president used Twitter on Tuesday to convey some tough rhetoric toward Iran in the wake of the embassy attack, saying it “will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities. They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat. Happy New Year!”

In a tweet 20 minutes later, he simply wrote: “The Anti-Benghazi!”

Trump also appealed to Iraqis in a tweet that, once again, offered little beyond verbal support. “To those many millions of people in Iraq who want freedom and who don’t want to be dominated and controlled by Iran, this is your time!” Trump wrote.

The White House added that Trump had spoken with Iraq’s prime minister and that he “emphasized the need to protect United States personnel and facilities in Iraq.”

Even if Trump and his aides pursue a major effort to bring Iran back into negotiations, Tehran is likely to hesitate, Goldenberg and others said.

The clerics have little reason to trust that the U.S. will honor an agreement. After all, it was Trump who walked away from the Iran nuclear deal, which was negotiated under his predecessor, Barack Obama, and re-imposed economic sanctions on Iran. Former Obama aides say the Iran nuclear deal helped calm relations between Washington and Iran, with benefits for the stability of contested Middle Eastern countries like Iraq.

“You don’t start a diplomatic negotiation by torching an agreement that already exists and then expecting your adversary to come back to the table for any kind of good-faith negotiation,” Goldenberg said.

Supporters of the maximum pressure campaign counter that the Iran nuclear deal gave Tehran more money and leeway to engage in non-nuclear military activity beyond its borders.

They say Iran’s lashing out in Iraq and beyond is a sign that the Trump approach is working.

If anything, they argue, now’s the time to ramp up the pressure, so that an even weaker Iran will eventually be forced to negotiate a new, more comprehensive agreement that goes beyond the Obama-era nuclear deal.

“The regime is facing a severe economic and political crisis at home and an open rebellion in Iraq and Lebanon against the corrupt governments and militias it has installed,” said Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank that advocates a tough line against Iran. “The administration should keep turning the screws financially, increase the military pressure and back the protesters.”

Berman, though, said the U.S. also should see what more incentives it can offer to countries such as Iraq and Lebanon to side with Washington over Tehran. That could include anything from trade agreements, to aid conditioned on governmental reform, to promises to become more deeply involved to supporting infrastructure projects, Berman said.

“The broader point would be that you don’t have to rely on the Iranians because we’re present and more engaged,” he said.

It won’t be easy. For one thing, the Iranian-backed Shiite militia Hezbollah is a major political player in Lebanon, and concerns over its role are believed to be one reason the U.S. temporarily delayed releasing a $105 million military aid package to the country this past year.

Aside from often corrupt coordination among their security and intelligence forces, Iraq and Iran — who once fought a brutal war with each other — have in more recent years tried to increase their economies’ integration. Baghdad views Iranian investment as key to helping its business sector; Iran views Iraq as a crucial partner amid the strain of U.S. sanctions.

And even while anti-Iran sentiment may be on the rise in Iraq, anti-American sentiment has lurked there for years, especially since the U.S. invasion of the country in 2003.

Daniel Lippman contributed to this report.

Read More

#blowing #campaign #Foreign #Politics

[bountyofbeads]

Beyond ‘Freedom’s Frontier,’ Trump scores his biggest live show yet in North Korea

https://wapo.st/31XXmQy

I have a hard time comprehending why Donald Trump feels so much more comfortable with dictators( MBS, Putin, Kim Jong Un) of brutal regimes than other Democratic countries. COULD SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN? 🤔😨🤢🤮🥵😡🙃

Beyond ‘Freedom’s Frontier,’ Trump scores his biggest live show yet in North Korea

By David Nakamura | Published June 30 at 5:30 AM ET | Washington Post | Posted June 30, 2019 |

For President Trump, it was the biggest live show yet: A handshake with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, and then a short stroll together — beyond Freedom’s Frontier and into the Hermit Kingdom.

One small step for the 45th president; one giant boost for his television ratings.

Trump billed his third meeting with Kim on Sunday in the Korean demilitarized zone as a “simple handshake,” perhaps to play down the consequences if the get-together ultimately fails to break the deadlock that scuttled their last round of nuclear talks in Hanoi in February.

But the moment was more than simple — it marked another in a series of remarkable set pieces that Trump has used over the past two years — first to bully Kim, then engage him — in a diplomatic gambit that has no precedent.

Critics often accuse the media-obsessed president of trying to conduct complex diplomacy on Twitter, the place where “Little Rocket Man” and “fire and fury” were born during the early days of Trump’s tenure when he and Kim were chest-beating in a barrage of threats and insults.

Yet Trump has also carefully cultivated elaborately staged moments that, strung together, reveal a president eager to play the roles of producer and director, calling the camera shots, hyping the drama, and building public expectations for a big reveal.

There was Trump’s surprising callout at the State of the Union in January 2018 to a North Korean defector who raised his crutches in the air to an ovation in the House chambers as the president thundered about the Kim regime’s brutality.

There was the time he popped into the White House briefing room unannounced and instructed reporters to go to the West Wing driveway for a “major statement” — which turned out to be South Korean officials announcing that Trump had agreed to hold a first summit with Kim.

And there was the night in July 2018 when Trump, along with first lady Melania Trump and Vice President Pence, visited Andrews Air Force Base under darkened skies to greet three Americans who had been released from captivity in North Korea.

In each case, the common element was that the drama played out on live television, and the president played the starring role.

“I want to thank Chairman Kim,” Trump told reporters after their meeting at the DMZ. “If he did not show up, I know the press would make me look really bad. So I appreciated it.”

Skeptics have accused Trump of elevating style over substance in his North Korea strategy, pointing out that a memorandum signed by the two leaders in Singapore last year contained no detailed road map and helped lead to the unsuccessful summit in Hanoi. U.S. intelligence agencies said the North continues to develop its program in secret, even though it has maintained a testing ban on nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Trump countered that each meeting is part of a larger process that eventually will yield results.

All presidents employ the elements of political theater to advance their governing agenda. The press pool of reporters that shadows the president by definition turns even his most mundane movements into a daily live journal, amplified in an era of social media and round-the-clock cable news.

Every president since Ronald Reagan, except George H.W. Bush, has visited the Korean DMZ, most of them donning a military bomber jacket and staring through oversized binoculars across the barren border.

But Trump has teased out his visit into a “will he or won’t he go” story line that began 20 months ago during his first visit to Seoul. On that trip — coming at a time when Trump was threatening Kim with a “much bigger” nuclear button — White House aides signaled to reporters that he would not visit because such theatrics had become almost a “cliche” — never mind that presidents generally go to give a pep talk to U.S. and South Korean troops.

In fact, Trump attempted to make a surprise visit only to be foiled when Marine One encountered bad weather and was forced to turn around. Still, Trump was able to create a dramatic moment later in the day when he delivered a speech to the Korean General Assembly filled with gruesome imagery of North Korea’s brutality spoken in vivid language.

Ahead of Trump’s visit to South Korea on Sunday, White House officials again attempted to tamp down expectations, telling reporters on a background briefing in Washington on Tuesday that there was no meeting scheduled with Kim.

But Trump, ever the showman, tweeted early Saturday while in Osaka for a global summit to announce that he would visit the DMZ, and he extended an invitation to Kim to meet him for a handshake.

Some experts, noting how much security goes into arranging head-of-state meetings, especially with a regime as paranoid about safety threats as the Kim family, speculated that the meeting was planned well in advance. But Trump, along with Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, stated Sunday that everything came into place after the president’s tweet. U.S. officials also said privately that they were caught by surprise.

Trump appeared to delight in keeping reporters guessing how events would unfold. He doled out blow-by-blow accounts of the negotiations over the handshake. “I understand they want to meet,” Trump said during remarks to business leaders in Seoul on Sunday morning.

“Chairman Kim wants to do it; I’d like to do it,” Trump said later at a bilateral meeting with Moon at the Blue House.

During a news joint conference in early afternoon, Trump declared: “We are going to the DMZ, and I’ll be meeting with Chairman Kim.”

At the DMZ, reporters gathered to cover Trump’s arrival. CNN went to live coverage with a view of the barren military installation and anchor Jim Sciutto tweeted a video of Marine One passing overhead.

Camera shots at times went fuzzy. At one point, color bars flashed on-screen, suggesting the satellite feed was lost. Then it went back on. Online streams showed footage of White House aides and security officials jostling with reporters. At times, a viewer could see Trump’s advisers in the frame — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner — like familiar background actors in a recurring series.

Then came Trump, striding toward the dividing line between North and South Korea in Panmunjom village, where blue negotiating rooms straddle the 38th parallel. As he passed the cameras, his back now filling the frame, one could see Kim, tiny at first, then coming into clearer view, approach from the other side.

They shook and then Trump stepped over the line into the North — the first sitting president to do so. North Korea’s state media reporters rushed to capture the moment as Trump and Kim strolled about 10 yards to the steps leading to a building usually guarded by soldiers.

And then they turned and walked back toward the American and South Korean reporters on the other side. Soon, they were surrounded in a scrum and the president was addressing the cameras, flanked by one of the world’s most brutal dictators.

“I think it’s historic,” Trump said. “It’s a great day for the world.”

But the president wasn’t done yet. Speaking to reporters again after Kim had departed, Trump confirmed he had invited the North Korean dictator to visit the United States.

“At some point,” the president promised, “it will all happen.”

#donald trump #u.s. news #politics #trump administration #president donald trump #politics and government #trump #republican politics #white house #international news #republican party #national security #us: news #must reads #democracy #political science #2020 candidates #2020 election #vladimir putin #civil-rights #read the mueller report #u.s. military #u. s. foreign policy #u. s. military #world news #mbs #kim jong un #north korea

[theconservativebrief]

It’s been 13 days since prominent Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi mysteriously disappeared inside Riyadh’s Consulate in Istanbul. But the impact of his disappearance and possible murder — which was allegedly ordered by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince — is still being felt across the Middle East and the US.

First, President Donald Trump and the Saudi regime are currently locked in a war of words. Khashoggi was a US resident at the time of his disappearance, and Trump on Saturday vowed to impose a “severe punishment” on the regime if it was involved in the journalist’s alleged murder.

Riyadh responded the next day that it wouldn’t cave to “threats.” But on Monday, after a conversation with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, it seemed that Trump had changed his mind — he speculated that “rogue killers” murdered the writer.

Still, the president decided to send Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Riyadh to meet personally with King Salman, the father of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Second, the economic fallout for Saudi Arabia continues. Riyadh planned a big investment conference for next week featuring many top names in government, business, and media. But several media sponsors and speakers pulled out last week, and major Wall Street companies, like JP Morgan Chase, decided over the weekend that they wouldn’t attend either.

The growing pressure may have led Saudi Arabia to agree on Monday to let Turkey search its Istanbul Consulate — the one where Khashoggi disappeared on October 2.

If you missed any of this because you wanted to enjoy a weekend free of global intrigue, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered.

What a difference 48 hours make.

On Saturday, CBS’s 60 Minutes released an excerpt of its interview with Trump in which he vowed to push back strongly on Riyadh if it had anything to do with Khashoggi’s possible murder.

“There’s a lot at stake. And maybe especially so because this man was a reporter,” Trump told Lesley Stahl. “There’s something really terrible and disgusting about that, if that were the case. So we’re gonna have to see. We’re going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment.”

However, in the interview, which fully aired on Sunday, Trump reiterated a point he made last week: that he doesn’t want to hurt Riyadh so much that it won’t spend $110 billion on American weaponry.

[embedded content]

Regardless, the Saudis didn’t take kindly to Trump’s words. An anonymous official put out a strong statement through a government media outlet on Sunday seeming to rebuke the US president.

“The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures, or repeating false accusations that will not undermine the Kingdom and its staunch positions,” the report from the Saudi Press Agency read.

In no part of the statement did the official provide any evidence that would exculpate the Saudi government for Khashoggi’s disappearance. Meanwhile, Riyadh has threatened to raise oil prices if the US or others impose sanctions on it.

Trump then called King Salman on Monday to discuss the issue. The president notably didn’t speak with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known by the nickname MBS, who US intelligence believes authorized a plan to lure Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia, though Pompeo, National Security Adviser John Bolton, and White House adviser Jared Kushner have previously spoken with MBS about the incident.

After the call, Trump tweeted that he would send Pompeo to Saudi Arabia to speak with King Salman — not MBS. Trump also made sure to mention that the king “denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened.”

Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened “to our Saudi Arabian citizen.” He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find answer. I am immediately sending our Secretary of State to meet with King!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 15, 2018

Hours later, Trump speculated that perhaps Riyadh had nothing to do with Khashoggi’s disappearance.

“He didn’t really know,” Trump told reporters outside the White House about his conversation with the top Saudi monarch. “[I]t sounded to me like maybe it could have been rogue killers, who knows? We’re going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon. But his was a flat denial.”

Pres. Trump says King Salman “firmly denies any knowledge” of “what took place” with regards to journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

“It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows? We’re going to try getting to the bottom of it.” https://t.co/ycHTGetpwh pic.twitter.com/NmJFzPbhzK

— ABC News (@ABC) October 15, 2018

And there you have it: In just two days, Trump went from promising Saudi Arabia would face consequences and to somewhat letting it off the hook. It’s quite a walk back for the president, and it could signal that he doesn’t actually want to punish Saudi Arabia at all.

Riyadh plans to host a three-day conference starting on October 23 called the Future Investment Initiative that’s been nicknamed a “Davos in the Desert.” One reason Saudi Arabia put the meeting together was to attract foreign money and strengthen its economy.

That goal seems further away than ever in the aftermath of Khashoggi’s disappearance and possible murder.

The chiefs of Wall Street giants JP Morgan Chase, Blackstone Group, and BlackRock all pulled out of the conference over the weekend. JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon had originally planned to give a keynote address at the conference, so this leaves Saudi Arabia just over a week to find another prominent speaker for its showpiece.

JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon speaks at a conference on September 12, 2018. He won’t be doing the same thing in Saudi Arabia later this month. Win McNamee/Getty Images

One major financial player has yet to back out, though: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. He still plans to go because the conference will hold sessions on how to curb terrorist financing, an issue that is important to the Trump administration.

But based on the recent Wall Street news, it’s possible Mnuchin will reverse course as well. “Mnuchin will make up his mind as the week progresses and as new information surfaces,” Trump’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow told ABC’s This Week on Sunday.

Meanwhile, my colleague Alexia Underwood curated a list of all the major companies, organizations, and people that have withdrawn from the investment conference. Here are just a few:

CNN

The New York Times

Ariana Huffington, the founder of the Huffington Post

The Economist’s editor-in-chief, Zanny Minton Beddoes

Virgin Group Founder Richard Branson

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim

Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul is the scene of the potential crime. For days, Turkey has led an investigation into what may have happened to Khashoggi when he walked into the mission on the afternoon of October 2.

On Monday, Riyadh allowed a joint Saudi-Turkish team to look inside the Consulate to gather evidence about what happened. The decision comes amid mounting global pressure from US lawmakers and European leaders to figure out what led to Khashoggi’s disappearance.

Turkish police provide security around Saudi Arabia’s Consulate in Istanbul on October 12, 2018. Stringer/Getty Images

It’s a big deal: The Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, just like its embassy in Ankara, is technically Saudi sovereign territory. This latest development means the kingdom has allowed foreigners, in this case Turkish authorities, to conduct an investigation on its soil.

At this point it’s unclear if investigators will find anything. After all, the possible crime happened nearly two weeks ago, allegedly at the hands of a well-trained, 15-man Saudi security team.

But what it shows is that Riyadh has realized it can’t sweep this situation under the rug, just as it has in the many other instances where it has disappeared dissidents around the world. International pressure, at least for now, may be working.

The question is if Trump will join in on the pressure campaign — or if he’ll stick to it even if he commits.

Original Source -> The weekend in the US-Saudi fight over Jamal Khashoggi, explained

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

[dwestfieldblog]

2018 - NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

(Solve et coagula)

Untying the Not and Never Was...back from Britain...Hello pagan heathens, welcome to the 14thyear of the blog and variations on the theme of transcendental dystopia in the key of F sharp. Feeling positivelypriapic today...with a private new list of  ancient sins that would make even a priest blush...in joyous celebration of Bacchus, Aphrodite and Apollo... I have my own morals, but morals they are and are followed as such. I don't remember what I am taught, I remember what I learn.

Within two minutes of walking past airport customs into the English speaking world, see a display of Newsweek magazines with the front cover blarting 'Putin is preparing for World War 3 -is Trump?' So good to be back so fast into the feculant nightmare. Great to hear the baldhead is running for yet another presidential term and barring his most serious rival from taking part in the lip-service of democratic process. And threatening him with imprisonment for daring to suggest the polls be boycotted. Wonder who will win? Here's hoping today's pig is tomorrow's bacon.

I watched no TV news at all but of course read the Daily Horrors with my breakfast every morning for three weeks...The Golden Reptile in the mickey mouse white house...he doesn't believe in exercise because it is unhealthy for the body and has a Very busy working day from 11am to 5pm...with 'executive time' between the hours.... a separate bedroom with 3 TV screens and cheeseburgers to lull him to sleep until he awakes to tweet his dawn chorus of mindless excremental bilge. Direct quotes from his twitter feed –'My two greatest assets have been mental stability andbeing, like, really smart'... 'a very stable genius...' America....truly serving as a genuine example to the world. How does it feel to be pitied by those you despise and despised by those you pity?

Trump has a 'much bigger and powerful' nuclear button on his desk than Cheese Boy in North Korea... 'and my Button works!'. (How would he know? Hard to test.) Penis measuring across continents. Mentally unstable is a very generous description of these child presidents....And speaking of dumber than paint leaders with bad hair (nice segway eh?) I heard a wonderful description of the lying wannabe UK prime minister Boris Johnson... 'like an arsonist pretending to be a fireman', returning to the Brexit crime scene to save the day...

Another foul/fowl pretender to the throne of PM in the UK, Mr Gove, coming out in sudden favour of chlorinated chicken from the USA and GM crops via the ever popular Monsanto corporation. Follow the lobbyists, follow the money trail. Ignore (or defenestrate) those who speak for corporate interests until you have checked whether their words are actually an opinion based on long running verifiable tests of good health or sound bites paid for by a wedge of serious wonga/moolah/cash into their bank accounts... and/or a future job when they leave politics. Shameless filth. Eg. David Cameron now accepting a role with the Chinese government's one and a half billion pound infrastructure programme.

China said recently that the 1989 British ambassador's claim that 10,000 students were murdered in Beijing is a little extreme. Well it was. Running tanks over unarmed students cannot said to be anything else. 200 has been given as a more realistic death toll. It took them 28 years to come up with this number.

'Oh Lord make my enemies ridiculous'. (Voltaire) Thank you lord...thank you lord.Hallelujah, to coin a phrase...

Pope Francis used his Christmas message to advise his masses to drop 'all sorts of useless baggage'...'the banality of consumerism, the blareof commercials, the stream of empty words and the overpowering waves of empty chatter and loud shouting'. This is the sort of stuff which should indeed be spoken by spiritual leaders but shame he didn't mention talking snakes, pregnant virgins, burning bushes, self inflicted guilt over original sin or the endlessly Unchristian behaviour by his flock. (And there is a special circle in Hell for priests of any faith who rape children.) 'Useless baggage' almost covers it all. As Francis said; '...rediscover what really matters'... Or discover what reality matter is made of..

.'A cross on every hill, a  star, a minaret, so many graves to fill, Oh love, aren't you tired yet?'Cohen, The Faith. Why not not eat pigs together?

The same evil government shit as ever after a massive storm destroying homes... Hurricane Irma wiped out almost every home on Barbuda (Caribbean) and as in New Orleans and dozens of similar cases after a force of nature, the greedpigs move in fast. Deals between the politicians and land developers overpower the rights of those who lived there, such is the freedom of a life without morality. Rebuild and replace communally owned land with dwellings for the wealthy and push aside all former residents. If ever a group of men deserved the force of nature/an act of the Goddess against them and their property, it is these swinefeed.

The West and the East, the East and West, condemning each others' subversions... What came first, the pot or the kettle?

Demonstrations in Iran by the lower classes of all generations across more than 100 cities and towns against the endless drift of power upwards to Khameni and the mullahs...and money outwards to various non charitable organisations (fill in the blanks with live ammunition, missiles, rocket launchers, suicide bombers etc.) the lack of hospitals and social support, the lack of aid after natural disasters, corruption and price rises. 40 percent of young people are unemployed and starting to wonder where the billions are going...or else knowing where. Most, if not all of the above bullet points (ha) are strong factors in the West too...but in America the tension implodes and is directed against ethnicitiesrather than those actually responsible.. and in Britain/ Europe... hmm...Civil unrest is contained in blaming foreigners, thus encouraging Nazi opportunist populists to manipulate the easily persuaded angry mass into voting for them. And the suckers fall for it everybloody time.

Issues of utterly irrelevant social media opinion, autistic entertainment saturating the global human mind to applaud the lowest common denominator, rocking back and forth with glee at the latest exploits of the hollow kardashians and their foul ego stroking ilk, famous only for being famous...a mass debate on the meaningless, billions of people being trained to focus their tiny, blurred attention deficit spans on a multitude of soul numbing emptiness. All looking in the absolute wrong directions while meanwhile....

The strong and immoral arise and laugh their arses off, stirring, provoking, initiating... and they prepare...America and Europe are weaker and weaker. A few computer viruses here and there, shared passwords, blackmail via disinformation,  man made disasters, plenty of random shocks, a constant underlying panic, threats and needling rhetoric result in.....on one side, an aggressive focused mobilisation of forces with intent and on the other, half a billion people with the spiritual bravery and intelligence of a pillow. At some Rubicon of a breakpoint, paranoia becomes common sense. The clock is now at two minutes to midnight. Be aware.

BE AWARE.

'The universe is a total construction of waves and vibrations whose inner content is 'Meaning', and Man is a micro system of the same vibratory nature, floating at some depth in the universal and meaningful wave system. The universal wave system is qualitative or value structured according to its vibration rate spectrum (faster frequencies have more informational capacity).David Foster

'Information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom, wisdom is not truth, truth is not beauty, beauty is not love, love is not music, music is the best'.... speaking of which...Sufferers of schizophrenia with audio and visual hallucinations could be aided by learning an instrument or by listening to music, says new research... Musical aptitude has a strong effect on 'the white matter integrity of the corpus callosum', which protects against the disorder. Quite tempting to comment on the plethora of musicians of all creeds who are obviously unbalanced, unstable and dangerous to themselves and others. Maybe too much music eh? Arf. Never. Anyway, Love IS music and music IS love Sorry Frank.

'All lovers young, all lovers must, consign to thee and come to dust'. Shakespeare -Cymbeline.

'Micro dosing' is one of the 'new' trend things...(as opposed to non functioning overdose situations) brought to you all the way from Silicon valley. That's right... just one tenth of 150 micrograms of LSD will aid you in your chosen field (no pun intended, almost) to break through, focus, go within, go OUT and open neural pathways blocked by the mundane and logical. I have not tripped on acid since 1985 (and that last trip was just over 21 hours long before I took sleeping pills to make the galaxies stop flowing through my brain.) Have been very tempted over the years but truly didn't want or need such an eternity of multidimensional senses while still in flesh...(once the doorway is opened, it stays opened.) This micro dosing is highly interesting however and I will do this this as soon as the first possibility appears. Still think I prefer October mushrooms....Where the Heart Is, in a Halo of Stars.

Picked up a leaflet yesterday...Non stop erotic massages and hotel escorts in Prague... 'Your imagination has no limits'...ermmm...ahhh..hmmm...probably not, but there are laws and only so much available cash this evening..Or, as Alien Sex Fiend sang, 'Everybody's got what everybody wants and everybody wants what everybody's got.' Well, almost.

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.' So sayeth (saideth?) George Orwell. Doesn't seem to apply to British and American universities where the mind fecking 'Safe Space' ethic is rigidly enforced by the twenty something brain police. Anything which could be offensive or disagreed with, is banned.....That comedian who once made a joke ridiculing transgenders... REMOVE him from the list of those who should speak... that woman who said the holy land is bollocks because the old testament was just some non verifiable book which told the Hebrews what they wanted to hear? No platform for her, no stage for them unless it has a gallows pole upon it. (Yeah, self fulfilling propaganda works like a dream every time. Bullshit is half of the charm.) You university morons. You MORONS, working for the enemy, for ones who seek to bring YOU down. Who seek to cage and contain thee. To limit the horizons of creative expression and put a sterile tank around truth. Poor little fragile youth, too delicate to be offended, WHY AREN'T YOU ANGRY? The ancient schools of Sumeria and Greece would be disgusted at your level of human intelligence. 

You cannot make up your own mind until you have exposed yourself to all shades of opinion and distilled all. Read what you disagree with with, it is a fascinating comedy...and very often reveals that what you thought you know, you do not Feel.

The man of the crowd is a weakling; people who need people are the stupidest people in the world. Evolution requires individuals, a union of outsiders working in random harmony...or...'Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see'. Schopenhauer. I know some of this may seem like nonsense. But it's a discipline and I do it with purpose.

Meanwhile, remaining emotional attachments to the socially acceptable drugs...I Want a cigarette or a Strong Drink, or at least, at long last, a painkiller that actually works. Arnica Montana and DL-Phenylalanine don't quite cut the mustard. Thirty minute pause while I go for a walk in the cold dark park, come back home and cut my own hair for the second time in my life. (Not bad at all, just as good as all my last cuts by semi professionals...) One side is half an inch longer but WT actual F? Who cares? Fate is gonna find you with a glass of champagne? Make it a triple espresso and half a bottle of good whisky and then we can talk. And a cigarette...my lack of smoking is making me want to claw and bite this wood table into splinters. There...a normal paragraph of usual life...just in time for the end of a page.

Favourite depressing headline from the new year...'Couple who left son to drown in lake were poor parents, judge concludes.' The wisdom of Solomon. My favourite headline from last month has to be ;A fried egg has no place in the nativity, say 77 percent of parents”\ My first thought was, uff, so 33 percent think it is ok?? My second thought was, well, why not eh? Makes as much sense as anything else in that twisted story....I read a useful column in a newspaper last month, called 'Failsafe ways to spot a Liar'. Glad to see my instincts were right according to researchers and clinical psychologists. Some humans are bereft of as much emotional intelligence and morality as AI machines. Blame it on childhood trauma,always an easy way out. How was the first year of your life? Use trance hypnotism recall, recall and release.

'The key task of a muse is to allow the artist to see his own feminine aspect that is otherwise invisible to him and to be a screen that fits the artist's projections. What completes the artist isn't the intrinsic qualities of the romantic interest but the artist's own feminine archetype. So, to the extent that the artist's projections dominate or replace the muse's own qualities, the muse's soul is dissipated.' Allan Showalter, psychiatrist.

Time to go back to being oblivious to the 'news' again, in the two minutes which are left, there is space to become plenty of nothing and locate your Will. See you in a few weeks after my probable final birthday, which falls upon an Easter Monday this year. Too late for a resurrection (well, there are pills for that anyway) but in time for the beauty of rising Spring with the binary healing of cabala chakras...every man and woman is a star...Stay well....