#not only did he get conditioned to respond w/ extremes and violence

[randomidiocyncrazies]

Gwitch S2E3 “Father and Child”

w o w the Jeturks really cannot catch a break! after the L Lauda took last ep, this ep starts off with Guel being taken hostage by the Fold of Dawn and in a BAD way, unable to respond to outside stimuli

the terrorists intend to use him as a bargaining chip (I wonder how they found out his identity—I’m guessing their intel is good enough to recognize him on sight, plus Guel probably didn’t put up any resistance at questioning attempts, having been broken by accidentally killing his father in combat)

i’m guessing the camp will be attacked, and Guel will help the refugees evacuate—we saw kids trying to feed/deal with him when he was broken, so he’ll probably try to save the kids as a sign of him gaining resolve (and he’ll fail, probably, because the Jeturks are here to be punching bags)

it’s kinda ironic that, for all that she hates spacians (beating the shit out of Nika when Nika says her acts of violence will cause spacians to have a pretext of ignoring earthian voices), Norea is forced to work for spacians, who have all the power in their working relationship

although... the way she calls Sabina a “traitor”, i wonder if my previous speculation of Shaddiq’s squad being his fellow orphans—and them being Earth orphans specifically—is on the money? there has to be a reason why Shaddiq is so hung up on splintering the Benerit Group, and why the squad is so ride or die for him

glad we finally get some sense of Shaddiq’s deal! “Can’t fill stomachs with grudges” was extremely good, and i’m like 99.9% certain that the squad are fellow orphans (though i don’t understand why there are no other guys... i guess the other guys would’ve been rivals to the Grasseley inheritance? it’s been implied before that Shaddiq isn’t the only potential heir to Grasseley Defense.

and as for why none of the girls are potential heirs, well. apparently sexism thrives in space)

lmao punch me in the feels! Sophie's motivation was to get creature comforts and attain a family... and she did have a family who remembers & mourns her. also, children inherit bloody conflicts from their predecessors in a never ending cycle of violence, etc etc

THEME OF BLOODY CONFLICT LOCKED IN AN UNBREAKABLE CYCLE OF VENGEANCE AND REVENGE INTENSIFIES

(also, despite Guel being understandably devastated about accidentally killing his dad, i’m glad Vim Jeturk died. sorry not sorry.)

dumbass, your job is to defend and buy time for your fleeing civilians. good fucking job bro

our dead child of this ep. sorry girl, if someone SOMEONE didn’t draw attention to the garrison, maybe you’d have survived

...i still think Guel is going to fail in saving her, because being Guel is suffering. this man’s purpose in this show is to get kicked down at every opportunity. BUT at least he’s showing some initiative (good for him?)

Ah yup, there she goes...

with Guel’s assertion to not let the things that bind him to his father (who is still a POS btw) disappear, i wonder if he’ll go back to Jeturk Heavy Machinery—Lauda is in critical condition after the attack last ep, but if Guel does go back I’m guessing there’s going to be a split faction within Jeturk for who should be the next CEO

and about Quiet Zero... from Prospera, we know Quiet Zero (and potentially Vanadis Institute’s project with the GUND format) focuses on transhumanism, and I’m wondering what sort of plant survival strategies Nortrette has in mind when proposing Quiet Zero, and how it differs from the current project (if it does)

We know Miorine is going to be involved with Quiet Zero in some fashion either way, but it could be kinda interesting if she chose to walk away EXCEPT outside circumstances forces her to get involved. HOWEVER, with Gwitch’s themes of parents using children in their schemes/children following in their parent’s footsteps, I’m guessing Miorine will willingly get on board with the project, at least to investigate it

#gwitch #gundam the witch from mercury #gundam

[firebirdsdaughter]

You know what boggles my mind…

… Horobi literally spent his entire life being manipulated and used as a pawn by pretty much everyone.

And then he gets blamed.

I’m sorry, what?

#Firebird Negativity #Jin didn't die bc of him Jin died bc Jin reconnected him to the Ark and then tried to kill him #not only did he get conditioned to respond w/ extremes and violence #he's had autonomy w/held from him his ENTIRE LIFE #of course he'll reject someone telling him to be something #he's clinging to the only thing he knows his only logic #whilst being swallowed by a bunch of weird sensations he can't control or understand #He was SO TERRIFIED of his outburst in the scarf place #like it drives me nuts that people only seem to remember 'blame' as far as the previous domino #Horobi was not an instigator other people moulded him into this #and then treated him like it was his fault for being that way #he spent his entire life being controlled #and then when he tried to break free of that he clings to the only stability he has anyway #but then all he perceives is people's aggression and that they're trying to control him AGAIN #like oh my gods humans all fucked this up so bad #yes Horobi did shit but he was also mind raped abused and mind controlled for most of his life #again the dog used in a fighting rig analogy #you train an animal to bite and one day it WILL bite you #normally we're not supposed to feel bad for the abusers #we're supposed to feel bad for the victims #blaming Horobi is like blaming Yua if Yua had been under literal mind control which she wasn't #just frustrates me so much

[endysgirl]

Sailor Mars Birthday Tribute

I am so late on posting this but I just did not have time to edit. For Mars I wanted to talk about her 90s anime version and her much better manga version.

Let me start by laying my bias wide open. I never liked Sailor Mars. As a kid I thought she was unnecessarily mean. She was and still is my least favorite, besides ChibiMoon. She’s beautiful, and her powers and attacks are awesome. As for how she fits into the overall scheme of things, I have major issues with how the anime portrayed her compared to how Naoko intentioned her. Frankly, I can’t help but view 90s anime Rei as an imposter and I’ll explain why...

Ok, first let’s talk about 90’s anime-Rei. We know she’s very hard working, goes to an elite girls’s Catholic school and wants to be an independent career woman when she grows up. Yet, for some reason (*cough*patriarchy) she sees Mamoru in season one and thinks he’s perfect so she’s gotta have him. She embarrasses herself going all boy crazy over him (he literally steps on her head and just walks away) and he seems like a typical clueless dude who doesn’t realize she *likes* him. I relate hardcore to Mamoru here. She’s so thirsty and he is so not. Then fast forward to after Endymion gets taken and Rei slaps Usagi calling her a coward. It’s meant to be some great emotional scene that some fans latch on to. Yet, it’s not Rei’s slap that motivates Usagi. It just hurts her. Go watch it again (epi35); it’s the voice of Mask from her memory, gently and patiently encouraging her, as always, that she is strong and can fight that spurs Moon into action. We’ve seen over and over that Usagi responds to patient encouragement over violence, just like when she does when she faces the baddest villains. Yet, the 90s anime always has Rei cutting her down. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just the patriarchy at work, trying to convince young girls that the boy or girl who’s mean to you really does care about you. It’s toxic and just plain stupid.

Now, am I saying 90s anime Rei doesn’t really care about Usagi? No. Not at all. She’s her Senshi and they share the same heart and the same dream to protect those they love together. Of course she loves Usagi. My issue is how the 90s anime portrays that dynamic. It’s spreading toxicity within female friendships and trying to sell it as genuine. I also understand that Mars’s fiery personality is what a lot of her fans love about her. I’m not saying that’s bad either, even if it’s an inaccurate representation of the character Naoko created. Apparently, it was Ikuhara that wanted the anime to change her cold and aloof personality to “fiery”. To perpetuate the patriarchal tropes I’ve mentioned, the anime tried to paint her as Usagi’s bff of the group, usurping Minako’s place. In the manga, Minako is the Leader of the Senshi and the one closest to Usagi in personality and in her role as the Leader of Serenity’s guards. Yet the anime is constantly trying to make Mars the one that is extra special to Usagi. Case in point, at the end of Stars the first voice we hear address Eternal Moon after she defeats Galaxia is Rei but in the manga, Usagi is drawn hugging Minako first. These little moments bother me, probably a little too much.

Then there’s the love triangle they tried to created with her and Mamoru. Fucking kill me. The love triangle garbage is just typical, patriarchal tropism within the storyline that has no place in the SM story in regards to Mars. Let’s make two friends like the same dude bc that’s drama that people have been conditioned to enjoy. It’s lame as far as I’m concerned. Let’s take a moment to remember the random, stupid and pointless scene in the curry episode where ChibiUsa and Mamoru run into Rei and after a moment of awkwardness they decide to go find Usagi together. Tell me that’s not the patriarchy trying to validate one woman’s place by using another woman as comparison instead of letting her stand on her own. 😒 And they’re trying to backtrack on the whole Rei liking Mamoru episode. This isn’t Rei’s fault obviously, I’m just using this scene to explicate why I don’t like the dynamic the anime created, and why that makes Mars a difficult one for me to get excited about.

There’s no way you can convince me that Mars’s bitchiness wasn’t a direct result of a “male perspective” (as Naoko called it). The idea that female bffs bully each other and cat fight all the time is ludicrous. As a 32yo woman (and lifelong Moonie) with a tight circle of girlfriends, there isn’t a single one of us who would tolerate such toxicity from the other, even at 14yo. It just isn’t realistic, unless it’s a bad relationship. I’ll give the anime credit for getting one thing right - her bravery. In both the manga and the anime, Mars is fearless. She charges into battle and gives it her all. She doesn’t let any doubt get in her way. She does not hesitate or dwell on self-doubt. And that alone is reason enough to love her.

Now, let’s discuss Manga-Rei. Because Adult-Moonie-Me LOVES manga-Mars. She actually appears in Codename Sailor V outside the arcade. She says the atmosphere is “disquieting” and leaves. In the manga, she’s very quiet and reserved. There is no bickering or cat fighting between her and Usagi. She’s also probably the most objectively beautiful of the Inners. She’s suppose to be “slender”, with long black hair and brown eyes which are sometimes seen as purple. When Usagi first sees her on the bus, she thinks she’s soooo beautiful. And another time, when they’re at the beach/pool, guys keep buying Rei drinks but she’s not flirting or giving them any attention, bc she is not boy crazy. Sis is enjoying those drinks tho.

Her awakening in the manga is very similar to the anime with the exception that’s she sees a premonition of Usagi and Jadeite that makes her go find the bus. Like the other Senshi, she is drawn to Usagi.

In her manga profile, her dislikes are television, modern society (the anime has her immersed in pop culture, going so far as to make her write her own songs and dance at the school festival), canned asparagus and men. It’s implied that she doesn’t like men or care for them bc of her father. He never had time for her and she doesn’t have a good relationship with him. Plus in a short story, she has a guy she likes but he chooses to follow her father’s footsteps into politics. So she kisses him and is like, boy, bye. ✌🏽 She considers men emotionally weak, untrustworthy and is generally disinterested in them, even if they’re buying her drinks and fawning over her. Same, Sis.

She is described as beautiful and “reserved”, but “scary” when she’s angry. She so beautiful that when Mamoru’s underclassman, Asanuma, sees her, he thinks she would be the perfect girlfriend for Mamoru (who Asanuma thinks is perfect) and that she should be Mamoru’s ideal type. He’s really surprised that Usagi is so *ordinary*.

Rei has strong precognition and has an affinity to fire. Ironically, there is nothing in Shintoism about fire reading, so that must just be a shoutout to the Greek influence on the manga. I love her psychic abilities in both the anime and the manga. Random fun fact: Naoko worked at a Shinto temple for a while before or maybe during college.

Mars is one of the only Senshi, like Michiru, who can use an item as an attack in her civilian and Senshi form. Her “ofuda” (Shinto talismans) are powerful enough to disperse evil and make regular people faint (remember anime epi w/Unazuki’s mouth getting sealed and in the manga/crystal she accidentally “purifies” Usagi, causing her to faint). Mikos (shrine maidens) are known to use archery attacks, so civilian Rei was already proficient in archery before awakening as Mars. Also, just like Jupiter’s earrings stay on her when she transforms, Mars is always wearing a pendant and when she transforms, it attaches at the waist to her fuku.

Mars also, uniquely, has her own guardians: the Crows, Phobos and Deimos. In the anime, the crows never take human form as they do in the manga. In the Dead Moon arc, Jupiter and Mercury power up by speaking with their inner consciousness. But Mars powers up by speaking with the human forms of her crows. This is a great moment in the manga bc Phobos and Deimos basically tell Rei that’s it’s ok to not want or desire men and marriage. She is the asexual goddess everyone overlooks and I love this aspect to her personality. The Crows are the ones to give her the Mars Crystal which is her starseed. We also find out here that Mars pledged a vow of Chastity to Serenity in the SilMill. They don’t explain the reasons behind the vow, but considering Rei’s spirituality and serious conservatism, it’s understandable. Also, while Phobos and Deimos are named after the moons on Mars, in the Stars Arc it’s revealed that they’re from the Coronis and were acquainted with Sailor Lead Crow.

For the most part, Rei in the manga seems more boring than Rei in the 90s anime, but personally, I don’t think so. Reading the manga in middle school and seeing a female not *give*a*fuck* about marriage was awesome to me. She’s also kinder and she has far more respect for Usagi. She’s extremely popular at her school and has her own fan club. She carries herself with a certain dignity that reminds me of Michiru. She’s second in command after Venus. And let me end this by saying that Crystal gave Rei justice, and for that I am happy.

Happy Birthday, Mars! 🔥 🌙 ⭐️

P. S. Check out Allison Yarrow’s book “90’s Bitch: Media, Culture and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality” for more detailed analysis on how women in the 90s who wanted to have a home and a career got turned into the bitchy boss, bitchy girlfriend or bitchy best friend to subvert their quest for gender equality. I think Rei is the perfect example of this narrative. Especially when you consider men changed her nature in the anime from what her female creator intended for her. Also, check out the podcast on it https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unladylike/id1333193523?i=1000432317654 (podcast name: Unladylike episode 45. how to free the 90s Bitch)

Thanks for reading all this you wonderful Moonies!!!

#sailor mars #sailormars #rei hino #hino rei #90s bitch #bitchification #sailor moon #sailor senshi #sailor moon fan writing #hottest senshi #mahou shoujo #magical girl #pretty soldier sailor moon #rei #raye #anime #90s anime #manga

[horseluvr00-ff]

A Place to Call Home | Chapter 13

Masterlist Here

Rating: T+

Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe

Genre/Warnings: action/adventure/family | kidnapping, violence, strong language.

Summary: It’s been a few months since the Battle of New York. Steve Rogers is acclimating to life when he crosses paths with teenager Katelyn Sanders, a SHIELD recruit and highly valued asset with a dark past. Follow Kate’s adventure from SHIELD asset to Avenger to wanted fugitive over the course of her youth and into adulthood with her Avenging family. Follows Infinity Saga and beyond.

Words: 6,583

Disclaimer: Majority of properties within this fanfic are owned by Marvel/Disney. My OC Katelyn Sanders, as well as a few other unaffiliated things within this fanfic are of my own creation.

Author Note: Chapters usually average between 6k-8k words, but range from 4k to 10k. Relogs are welcome :) Please no plagiarism.

Full story available on FanFiction.net and A03 here and here

Chapter 13 can be found here and here in full. Go here to the full prologue tumblr post… So many options.

Check out a portion of Chapter 13 below:

“Code Red, the asset has escaped. Repeat, Code Red, the asset has escaped.”

The siren that began blaring over the Centurion installation in correspondence with the announcement caused essentially every agent to jump into action. While field agents and any personnel that could contribute to the situation headed for the control room, other personnel headed for the bunkers littered around the Centurion base.

“I thought the asset was stabilized in medical,” Warner mutters, turning a look on Doctor Rekaburb as they enter the control room.

“She was sir, but there were other variables we didn’t originally account for,” Rekaburb says quickly, close on the Executive’s heels as they came to a stop in the large room.

Several large screens covered the far wall, providing the scientists and agents present to get a view of everything relevant to the situation from the asset’s last known location, to the breached fence where the asset escaped. Alongside were IDs on the screens of field agents currently enroute tracking the asset, their vitals and other identifying information also present on the screen, their body cameras providing a life feed.

“What did Starr have to say?” Warner turns slightly, the question causing the other scientist to nod quickly before continuing.

“She says she didn’t see anything, however by the asset’s actions she believes it wasn’t a coordinated attempt to leave,”

“The asset lost control?” There was a hint of question in Warner’s voice as he processed the other doctor’s words with subtle surprise.

“It’s not impossible, however something would’ve had to have triggered it.”

Warner’s gaze was unfocused ahead as he thought over the possibilities… What would cause the asset to bolt. 

“When was the asset last prepped for conditioning?”

“A- couple days ago, sir.” Rekaburb responds, unsure where the Executive was going in his thoughts.

Warner gave a small shake of his head, one hand coming to rub the back of his head.

“That may work for your soldier, Rekaburb, but this asset has abilities that make it so you need to implement conditioning multiple times that of the normal scheduling,” Warner seethes, his expression giving way to his frustration at the fact. This was a stupid mistake that could’ve been avoided. “Why was she transported back here before conditioning!?”

“W-We needed to have her-”

“Just-” Warner cuts the man off, not wanting to hear the explanation any longer. “Find her. Before someone else does.” The statement came in a mutter as Rekaburb nodded in response. 

The scientist finally turns and gestures for some of the employees in the room to start working again, most of them having stopped to listen to the tense conversation.

Warner’s eyes traced the room as the majority of eyes were still turned towards him. He was in charge after all. If they couldn’t reel the asset back in, it could have serious consequences that affected the whole operation, as well as SHIELD as an organization… If they found out their plans regarding the asset… 

Warner’s eyes turned down to the set of touch screens in front of him, the sort of elevated area they were standing on lined with tablets to engage the com systems as well as view other camera angles around the base. Pressing the button on the tablet in front of him to unmute communications with the field team out looking for the asset, Warner took a deep breath.

“How are we doing Harris?” Warner finally speaks up, knowing the room was wired through the com system of the current group of agents out to apprehend the asset. 

“Closing in, Doctor.” Peter Harris responds. He was in command of the asset containment unit, consisting of a few dozen agents. “Approximately one click out,”

“Take extreme caution, Harris. The asset is extremely dangerous.” Warner mutters, the obvious concern on his face.

“Sir,”

At the word, Warner turned to see a group of SHIELD agents walk into the room, STRIKE team.

“Rumlow, I don’t want your men out there.” Warner waves a hand in a sort of dismissal as he turns back towards the wall of screens.

“With respect sir I-”

“That’s an order, commander” Warner states firmly, shooting a look over his shoulder briefly.

At the statement, Brock Rumlow was quiet before he exchanged a small glance with Jack Rollins, one of the members of STRIKE.

“I have orders from the Secretary.” Rumlow finally states, causing Warner to pause before the doctor exchanges a glance with Rekaburb.

Doctor Warner finally turns, meeting Rumlow’s eyes once again before he gives a small hand gesture for the commanding agent to continue.

“He wants us to follow up on the containment team.” Rumlow explains, his hands clasped in front of him as his posture relaxes, his head held high.

“He understands the level of danger involved with this situation, I assume.” Warner was hesitant. While he understood the Secretary’s request er- order… If anyone found out that the asset had escaped, their whole operation would be in jeopardy, as well as the agents involved in the apprehension. 

Brock Rumlow gives a small nod before exchanging a glance with one of the men with him.

“The Secretary doesn’t want us going to extreme lengths to apprehend the asset; just tail her and see where she goes.”

“She’s seen things that could jeopardize all of us, commander.” Warner states, his tone low. 

If the rest of SHIELD discovered what the asset potentially knew… There’s no telling how big the ramifications would be.

“He doesn’t think it will be a problem. The conditioning she underwent should be more than enough to cover our tracks.”

Warner narrowed his eyes only slightly before nodding. While he was sure the containment unit would do fine in securing her, the potential that she may slip past them was there, and it made him uneasy. However Rumlow was correct in repeating the Secretary’s thoughts. The conditioning was more than enough to cover their tracks. However apprehending her sooner rather than later was a necessity to continue their preparations for the completion of the asset’s implication into the program.

“Hold off here until the unit apprehends her,” Warner states, holding up a subtle hand as a means for the STRIKE team to wait.

Rumlow exchanges a glance with Rollins before giving a small nod. While the commander had doubts about this unit being successful, he hoped for a simple and quick extraction of the asset from such a situation. While the installation was located in the middle of nowhere within the Canadian wilderness, a bigger mess would mean potential witnesses the farther away the asset got.

“Contact Contact! Asset spotted!”

The rest of chapter 13 can be found here on FFN and here on AO3. Take a peak!

Stay healthy, stay safe, sending lots of love. <3

Masterlist Here

#avengers fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #steve rogers #captain america #avengers family #avengers fanfic #adoptive family #avengers fandom #marvel #avengers #marvel fanfic #marvel oc #female oc #oc teenager #natasha romanoff #black widow #brock rumlow #crossbones #clint barton #hawkeye #tony stark #iron man #bruce banner #hulk #shield

[macabrecabra]

Is something burning or is something just recently blown up? Junkrat finally makes his debut into Aquawatch!

Junkrat is a landshark, the catch all term for human/Mer hybrids. The mer half is the species known as the Greater Spinned Hammerhead Wave Ripper, a rare and often destructive species.

Junkrat’s story is mostly known as he’s told it in his own words being he can actually speak to staff and given Overwatch has records confirming many parts of the wild tale....but read for yourself by clicking the read more...

Junkrat is a, like mentioned above, a landshark, one of the most hated hybrid species and one that has more or less been manufactured unnaturally but truth be told, most hybrid species are unnatural. The term hybrid is used to indicate a species is made of two known and established cryptoid species. 

  Comparatively though, landsharks have more impact on humans thus they tend to be villianized the most. Landsharks are partially human, some appearing nearly human and others more mer, but most suffer terribly and only a scant few can survive to live long lives. Nearly all landsharks are manufactured though as human genetics tends to make smaller mers and lessen their natural defenses that make containing them difficult. Thus poachers will capture healthy mers able to carry and artificially impregnate them.

Thus you get the worse affront against mer-cryptoids that Overwatch is highly keen on snuffing out: Mer-Mills.

Junkrat’s mother was kept in one of these places and Junkrat was born to her with the rest of a litter of half mutated landsharks. The weakened mother couldn’t produce the milk to feed the children, could barely even react given the cramped, unsanitary conditions being maintained as well as the drugs pumped in constantly.  Greater Spinned Hammerhead Wave Rippers are large and dangerous creatures, prone to violence and blowing up human ships for “sport” by launching the spines on their back. However the blood of these creatures can be used to manufacture an oil that works better than gasoline meaning hunting them down is of great importance. However, extinction would mean loss of a cash opportunity so many are captured alive and forced to produce landsharks which are easier to harvest.  for their blood which is then turned processed. Technically illegal but most governments will turn a blind eye. Junkrat has this blood in his veins and the development of back spines allowing him the “detonate” talents of his mother’s species and the immunity to extreme heat. Add to that though is the very unique ability to actually speak and communicate in English, picking up a strong Australian accent due to where he learned English in his formative years. Junkrat is the only mer able to communicate with staff directly and translate other mer-speak more or less. Getting good translations out of him though is the hard part as some things he speaks about like it is common knowledge/terminology. 

Junkrat was a strange case in that his liter, being mostly dead landshark whelps, wasn’t really harvested carefully and he managed to wriggle back into his mother’s tank. The large mer seemed vaguely aware of him there, enough that she made some attempts to rouse herself to raise him. The mer-mill staff thought it amusing enough, cracking jokes but left Junkrat there where he grew up with a half-dead mother barely able to respond socially. Thus he started “talking” to the humans, picking up the English and Australian slang. Eventually though the novelty with the staff was dying off and it was becoming more important to make a profit.

At about five years old, by Junkrat’s rough estimation, he was taken from his mother’s tank, branded with a tattoo on the left forearm, and shoved in a cage tank with a dozen other half starved landshark whelps of various other species. Problem was that the others couldn’t read....Junkrat could. He’d watched the staff. He made his escaped and managed to get out through a water intake pipe to freedom. Freedom though turned out to be a desolate Australian wasteland, the facility far from any ocean and more or less a death sentence. He only survived being a landshark, able to travel upright where he snuck into a watercooler of some local hunters and burrowing into the icy water among beers. The hunters were more than a little shocked to find a mer-child in their cooler.... a freaky half-fish that they sold off to a side show just outside Perth where he became the amazing fish boy.

Unclean conditions and more mercryptids and land cryptoids kept in miserable cages to perform for excited populations, only legal due to local political corruption and perceived “good conditions and happiness” of the “animals”. The place went up in an explosion a year later with the mers and land cryptoids running free and was called an “eco-terrorist attack” by local news.

Little did they know it was a landshark who rigged it all to go up and then who made his escape into the open ocean, sort of swimming free. He was never the strongest swimmer but he managed to find his way to a landshark colony and for a time lived with them before a cull order was put out due to the constant stealing by the landsharks of beach goer possessions and and raiding the shoreline for food.

Poachers were hired under the table to remove the colony but one of the ships was sabotaged from underneath, exploded sky high and the second ship nearly also went up in flames but the “saboteur” was caught and to their surprise it was one of the landsharks. This savage retaliation had the poacher leader find a use for Junkrat other than a quick cull: Pit fighting. The left forearm and lower leg were amputated to slow Junkrat down and make it harder for him to escape and replaced with crude replacements, ones that didn’t fit right and scarred up the stumps and more than once caused harm. It was also meant as a way to remove the tattoo designating him as property to a rival business and avoiding any “ownership” issues. Then Junkrat spent the next few years fighting tooth and claw for life in pit fights against larger species. Eventually though the audience just wanted to see a slaughter and see the maniac landshark get chomped and he was pitted against a large beachhog taniwha that had been starved to the point it was biting anything that moved. During the fight though, Junkrat managed to convince Roadhog not to eat him in return for literally breaking the door protecting the audience.... a very hungry very angry beachhog taniwha doesn’t show much mercy in those circumstances. The two escaped again into the ocean and from there on out, kept close together, raiding and plundering up the shoreline for food and other items. Around this time Junkrat had an idea that he and Roadhog could find a way to get inland and go free his mother and “siblings” from the place he grew up.

A mad cap idea that was put on hold when they went a bit to far upriver and Roadhog ended up stuck in a muddy river, slowly drying up in Australia’s brutal sun. Overwatch was called in when the strange pair was spotted and after initial confrontation, managed to capture both and bring them in.

Detaining Junkrat was hard given he could speak (mostly cussing them all out) and able to blast his way out using his own unique blood as an ignition fluid for it in combination with his spines. Eventually he was calmed down enough to engage in conversation, Mercy leading it and getting some information out of him. It would only be later at seeing the care and work Overwatch did to help mers, a first time sight in Junkrat’s life, that he began to open about why he and Roadhog were stranded at all.

Overwatch was able to track down the facility and burst in, finally shutting down the mer-mill. Records showed there were over a hundred mer cryptoids there at one point or another although only ten were found alive. Hundreds of landsharks were found, over 85% were deformed and unable to survive even with corrective surgeries. 15% were malnourished and already pass the point of saving as well. Only 5% were rescued and nursed to health and able to be helped to live a somewhat normal life. Of the ten full-blooded mers found, Junkrat’s mother was among them, close to giving out, extremely sick, and rendered infertile due to the constant artificial breeding. She was brought back to Overwatch and after many tense weeks, managed to pull through. Remarkably she did remember Junkrat and they re-united, the  waveripper reacting positively and affectionately as if he was a full-blooded individual of their species. Still, she did not wish to remain in Overwatch and was released back to open ocean after a private goodbye with her only surviving offspring.

Junkrat was a bit despondent and hasn’t not commented on what was said in the goodbye, opting instead to bury himself under Roadhog and avoid everyone. He has since bounced back and gone back to his explosive ways, running amuck in the base, causing Symmetra to shriek when he gets in her tank and messes up her reef or giving Mei a fright when he goes “boom “ too close. A little menace, but he claims he’s just having fun....as he steals all the cute plushies to give to Roadhog.

He serves often as a translator for the mer-speak of the others although his translations are as colorful as you are imagining them to be. Not to mention he tends to embellish things, forget other things, and use a lot of what is termed “mer-lish lingo”, direct translations or references for what mers call things, that makes the translations even harder to understand.

Junkrat is the most likely mer to be seen out of the tank as he is allowed to come and go as he pleases as long as he behaves and doesn’t blow up too much. Still he tends to avoid contact with visitors as he doesn’t like being stared at like some “freak”. He prefers to lounge about the office area, racing office chairs down the hallways with Torbjorn, answering telemarketers to chat with them, and building mockships to blow up in the harbor with Reinhardt or Roadhog.  He is one of the weaker swimmers, a fact often compensated by hitching rides on Roadhog. Also he can’t handle extreme pressures of deep ocean survival which seems to put him out for some reason.

His coloration is not a healthy shade. Given the conditions he grew up in, a lot of the molted grey spots indicate early malnutrition in his youth. The prosthetics have been re-aligned to be comfortable and no longer locking up to allow him better movement although he was not too keen on getting complete replacements like they were a badge of honor or reminder of what he went through. For a landshark though, he IS usually tall.

Mercy handles care of the Beachog Taniwha and Junkrat as both need the most medical expertise, Roadhog more for his dietary needs and Junkrat more for his....everything. Hybrids tend to develop problems so careful monitoring is needed to make sure nothing lethal occurs in his biology. Also she is the only one that is not easily ruffled by their antics and the only one that can get Junkrat to behave somewhat.

Lots of text but I hope you enjoyed  = w =

#Aquawatch #Overwatch AU #Junkrat #Jamison Fawkes #Mercy #The junk son has arrived

[firebirdsdaughter]

Okay…

… I feel very bitter right now.

But I am going to be eternally frustrated by the fact that as far as I could tell, Aruto’s (and therefore Izu’s) definition of ‘heart’ was ‘happy making humans happy.’

Or… ‘Seeing that humans are ultimately good’?

Really, just… I define a heart as ‘feeling emotions.’ Feeling emotions is useless unless you know how to handle them, which Horobi didn’t, and no one seemed at all invested in teaching him how. Just made him feel worse and worse, pressured him about something that terrified him and pushed him over the edge, and then a human who really should have known better went and grabbed the fucking Ark Key??? Like. Horobi’s somehow completely at fault for Izu pestering him until he lashed out like any emotionally immature child or even animal would and then she doesn’t move out of the way even though she easily could have, but Aruto grabbing the psycho Key and going nutty is ‘totally understandable bc grief.’

For one thing, wtf would Horobi believe Izu’s nonsense, she’s programmed to love and obey Aruto, and she never develops anywhere past that. He knows she’d say anything to save her beloved master. She has no identity out of ‘exists to serve Aruto and occasionally be cutesy.’ Listen, Takahashi, you need to work on your female characters when you resurrect one w/ no memory and she’s exactly the same.

My lack of sympathy for Izu’s ‘death’ is bc it could easily have been prevented by multiple other people even if Horobi did literally nothing different, and bc literally nothing was lost. If any of the humans had actually used that compassion they sing to the skies about, you know, like, the fact that they have years of practice knowing how to feel and control emotions. I’m sorry but, ‘did you feel Izu’s pain?’ Well, first off, no, bc she didn’t seem pained at all, she just kinda stood there parroting Aruto’s bs, but… What about feeling Horobi’s pain? Or… Was Izu being ‘sad’ Horobi didn’t magically forgive humanity for everything they put him through and took from him more important than him having being mind raped, controlled, conditioned, and abused for twelve years? ‘I believe in your heart’ you mean you ‘believe’ he’s going to magically switch around and conform to your views that humans are ultimately good and anything bad they do can be excused bc they teach you about ‘hearts’? Meanwhile, none of her memories changed her at all. She gazes lovingly at Aruto, she participates in his jokes… There was pretty much nothing to her other than ‘loves Aruto.’ Her character fell into the trap of KR’s general attitude toward female characters that they exist to be pure angels who unfailingly believe in the hero and the series’ attitude toward AI, that the definition of ‘goodness’ for them is completely devotion to humans and unrealistic purity and benevolence.

The question should never have been ‘will AI have benevolence towards humans’ but ‘do humans deserve it?’ ‘what can we do to justify that?’ Why do HumaGear have to ‘prove their worth’ and ‘teach humans to be nice to them’ but humans don’t have to… Like… Know how to be decent? Aruto’s sympathies and dreams for HumaGear were exclusively rooted in how they benefitted humans. He expects the ‘hearts’ they develop to be completely ‘pure’ and ‘benevolent’ even if humanity has given them no reason to be so.

Horobi was the most aware of how horrible the Ark was. Everything he did, he did bc he was conditioned to believe it was right for HumaGear. Bc he saw the cruelty of humanity, and wanted to protect his people from it. He was conditioned/programmed to react w/ absolutes and extremes. He didn’t turn on the Ark bc he realised humans were actually ‘good’ he did it bc she turned on HumaGear, and he fought bc he loved HumaGear. His love for HumaGear, for Jin, was stronger than her control. That was it.

But he also knew that she was created by humans. Deliberately. It doesn’t matter that Gai had a personality one eighty bc the satellite printed him a dog and Aruto’s only for humans AI therapist talked to him for a hot minute. This shit doesn’t work like that, Gai should be at least facing jail time for his part in things. Yotacrappy’s response was to manipulated Jin into trying to kill him as a sacrifice, even after the Ark was out of the picture. Not a single person reacted w/ ‘maybe we should give this poor AI who has literally had his entire mind and life fucked over by humans and has no reason to like us a bit of kindness and support to help deal w/ the emotions he’s suddenly feeling.’ Izu’s speech was kinda close, but the tone was ultimately ‘she’s right and he’s wrong.’ The attitude shouldn’t be that ‘humans can sometimes be beneficial, so that makes the wrong they do okay.’ The fact that they tried to pretend that even the most twisted humans were ‘actually just misguided’ was ridiculous.

Horobi’s suffering was real and valid, and deserved recognition beyond ‘lol, but humans are actually nice, tho.’ He was scared and confused, but no one was trying to help him through that, they were just belittling the very valid reasons he had to be angry at humans. Rather than being like ‘I understand you’re angry and in pain and those are valid feelings, but there’s a better way to do this’ the response was either aggression or ‘no, you’re wrong, they teach us to want them to be happy and to dream or serving them well!’ (pretty much what Aruto’s definition of ‘good HumaGear’ seemed to be). And then even the people who should understand the most how her feels act like he’s spreading a ‘shocking’ and ‘bad’ thought by offering HumaGear a chance to stand up for themselves. I really hate how the protests were treated as Horobi spreading ‘malice’ to the HuamGear and all conveniently disappeared when Aruto ‘won.’

Again. The Frozen quote is eternally accurate for Aruto’s ‘dream.’ ‘It’ll be just like it was except for we’ll be best friends.’

Aruto’s dream was never equality or freedom for HumaGear. What he wanted was for them to go back to work for humans w/ smiles painted on their faces to make humans happy. HumaGear’s meaning in life shouldn’t be to ‘be useful to humans.’ I wasn’t expecting the ending to be ‘everything is okay now,’ but I was under the impression that there would be some kind of motion toward HumaGear getting some rights and protections or respect by virtue of being, like, living beings rather than needing to work and be ‘useful’ to justify their existence. Aruto is very face value, he thinks that the programmed personalities humans give HumaGear are their ‘true natures’ when they’re not, they’re just a starting point. They need to branch out. The fact that Izu’s entire life just revolved around benefiting Aruto made it hard to sympathise w/ her in place of the more interesting and dynamic characters. The fact that Aruto tries to claim HumaGear are his ‘employees’ when the definition of that word literally is ‘someone who works for a wage’ and people pay his company to get HumaGear to work for them and he delivers them to people in boxes… It’s just ridiculous. They shouldn’t have to just be ‘perfect pure forgiving little angels’ just bc humans made them and occasionally are nice to them? Izu’s data was just as biased as Horobi’s, they should have met in the middle rather than her being painted as ‘right’ and ‘good’ for only thinking of humans as good.

Yes, Horobi should have responded w/ violence, but literally no one even tried to put real effort into showing him other ways to react, or to help him through what happened to him. They either shouted at him, put him down, invalidated his suffering (admittedly bc she was just as out of balance maturity-wise as he was), or outright tried to kill him. Any child or animal will lash out when stressed or panicked. It is the responsibility of the people w/ more awareness to know what they’re dealing w/ and act accordingly. Izu knew he was armed, she saw the weapon pointed at her, she had plenty of time to move, and choose not to. That was not Horobi’s fault. It also wasn’t Horobi’s fault that humans decided to not give her a back up to benefit themselves. How was he even supposed to know that? Where was Aruto? Why was he running around outside trying to make the other HumaGear go back to his definition of ‘normal,’ while telling them there’s ‘no reason to fight anymore,’ which really should be their decision??? If he really cared and wanted to help Horobi and saw HumaGear as people, wouldn’t he have run in and tried to properly talk Horobi down? Then we have Yua’s hypocrisy of reacting aggressively to Horobi and them giving a speech to Yotacrappy for reacting the exact same way to the protests. And then Fuwa literally shooting down the one time Horobi genuinely tried to reach out… While kinda in character… Definitely did not help. Horobi was never in a place to parse out implications.

Basically, they pushed Horobi over the edge, then blamed him for being broken. Meanwhile, they have all sorts of ‘compassion’ and ‘understanding’ for Aruto and it’s ‘not his fault’ bc ‘grief.’ The attitude that Horobi’s suffering at the hands of the Ark was less important than Aruto’s trained AI letting herself get shot? The fact that Horobi, however horribly they influenced him to think he was completely at fault, was willing to ‘forgive’ humans for everything he suffered through bc of them… Is much more compassion than Aruto ever showed him.

Horobi had every right to be angry w/ humans and blame them for their part in what he went through. And humans never admitted responsibility for that, and never apologised to him.

But he’s supposed to need forgiveness from them?

#Firebird Negativity #I am… SO frustrated w/ how that was handled #I would have felt less annoyed if they had actually had everyone else owning their part in the incident #it should have been treated as 'everyone was at fault' #not 'Horobi was at fault' #Horobi wasn't fighting out of malice #he was fighting bc he felt he had to protect HumaGear from humans #and when they had a chance to prove that they could really be as compassionate as they claimed to be they squandered it #and the Aruto just grabs the fucking Ark Key rather thand fighting on his own even though he's human and should know how to do that? #but no obviously Aruto losing a person he knew is infinitely more painful/difficult than experiencing free will for the very first time #and then obviously losing the person he knew was equal to Horobi losing his literal menaing in life #right #… #that was sarcasm #Izu was not to Aruto what Jin was to Horobi #and Aruto's situation was not equal to Horobi's #Aruto should have had to recognise and apologise for Horobi's pain #if he wants to be the representative of humanity to HumaGear he should take responsibility for it too #also the fact that there was literally no difference in Izu sans memory is just… wtf Takahashi #just bring her back trying to pretend something was 'lost' to give the rampant victim blaming more bs ammo is ridiculous

[bountyofbeads]

Trump arrives in El Paso after staying largely out of public view in Dayton as he visits two cities grieving from mass shootings

https://wapo.st/2OLb3Qr

Trump arrives in El Paso after staying largely out of public view in Dayton as he visits two cities grieving from mass shootings

By John Wagner, Felicia Sonmez and Arelis R. Hernández | Published August 07 at 6:05 PM ET | Washington Post | Posted August 7, 2019 7:33 PM ET |

President Trump arrived in El Paso late Wednesday afternoon after remaining largely out of public view when he was in Dayton, Ohio, on a day of visits intended to console cities recovering from a pair of mass shootings over the weekend.

As he left the White House in the morning, Trump suggested he would refrain from attacking his political adversaries during the trip. “I would like to stay out of the political fray,” he told reporters.

But that detente lasted mere hours. By the time the president had left Dayton and boarded Air Force One for El Paso, he was back on Twitter and sniping at Democrats. He lashed out at Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley (D), falsely accusing them of mischaracterizing the reception he received during about two hours of meetings at Miami Valley Hospital with first responders, hospital staff and survivors of the shooting early Sunday morning that left nine dead.

“It was a warm & wonderful visit,” Trump tweeted. “Tremendous enthusiasm & even Love. Then I saw failed Presidential Candidate (0%) Sherrod Brown & Mayor Whaley totally misrepresenting what took place inside of the hospital. Their news conference after I left for El Paso was a fraud.”

Neither Brown nor Whaley said Trump received a poor reception at the hospital, and Brown never launched a presidential campaign. Speaking to reporters after Trump’s visit to Dayton, Brown said Trump was comforting in his talks with patients in the hospital. And both he and Whaley said they used their time with Trump to lobby him to push for an assault-weapons ban and stronger background checks, among other measures.

Whaley responded to Trump’s attack with bafflement.

“I don’t – I mean, I’m really confused,” she said as she read Trump’s tweets about her and Brown, according to video posted by the Cincinnati Enquirer. “We said he was treated, like, very well. So, I don’t know why they’re talking about ‘misrepresenting.’”

“Oh, well, you know,” she added with a shrug. “He lives in his world of Twitter.”

In his tweets from aboard Air Force One, Trump also said he was watching footage of former vice president Joe Biden delivering remarks in Iowa and proclaimed the speech “Sooo Boring!”

“The LameStream Media will die in the ratings and clicks with this guy,” Trump tweeted. “It will be over for them, not to mention the fact that our Country will do poorly with him. It will be one big crash, but at least China will be happy!”

Biden’s response, according to CNN: “He should get a life.”

And the president offered a critique of Fox News’s Shepard Smith, declaring that he prefers watching “Fake News CNN” rather than tuning in to Smith’s show, “the lowest rated show on @FoxNews.”

Aside from brief appearances on the airport tarmac in Dayton and El Paso, Trump did not speak publicly or allow himself to be photographed. Reporters traveling with him were secluded as he took part in the hospital visits.

Trump was greeted by scores of protesters in downtown Dayton and more upon arriving in El Paso, where 22 people died Saturday in a massacre that appeared to target immigrants.

The visit to Dayton, a city of about 140,000 people, was a marked break with tradition, as presidents visiting grieving communities typically offer public condolences and use the opportunity to try to comfort the nation.

Ahead of Trump’s tweets about Brown and Whaley, White House social media director Dan Scavino Jr. also accused the two Democrats of “LYING & completely mischaracterizing what took place w/ the President’s visit to Miami Valley Hospital today.”

“The President was treated like a Rock Star inside the hospital, which was all caught on video,” Scavino said on Twitter. “They all loved seeing their great President!”

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham also chastised the Democrats, saying in a tweet that it was “genuinely sad to see them immediately hold such a dishonest press conference in the name of partisan politics.”

At the hospital, Trump was accompanied by Brown, Whaley, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R), Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio) and Turner’s daughter, who witnessed the shooting.

Miami Valley Hospital, which is the largest and only trauma center in southwestern Ohio, treated 23 victims from the shooting in the Oregon District, all of whom survived. Of those, 10 suffered gunshot wounds and 13 were injured in the ensuing panic of the rampage. Most have been released from the hospital.

Aboard Air Force One, Grisham told reporters that the White House had not allowed journalists to observe the hospital visit because it was not “a photo op.”

The visit was “about the victims and their families and thanking medical staff,” Grisham said. Soon after, the White House distributed its own photos via Scavino’s Twitter account, and Trump tweeted out a video and photos of the visit. Hospital officials later described the hospital visit to The Washington Post.

Donations from across Ohio poured in as trauma teams worked through Sunday morning. The Del Sol health system in El Paso sent food for all the hospital workers, tying together two cities united in horror.

Trump met privately with the three victims who remain hospitalized but are in stable condition. Hospital President Mike Uhl said the president was “attentive, present and extremely accommodating,” as the patients spoke about their experience, and he encouraged them to focus on both their physical and emotional recuperation.

“It was an authentic visit,” Uhl said. “Everyone was given time to tell their story.”

The hospital also invited victims who had already been released to come back and meet with Trump. About 20 people, including friends and family, met privately with the president and first lady.

According to Mary Boosalis, president and chief executive of Premier Health, which owns the hospital, one female victim recalled her experience calmly for the dignitaries in the room. But within seconds, she burst into tears. Boosalis said the first lady embraced her, and the president said a few words to comfort her.

The commander in chief’s final visit was with police, fire officials and trauma surgeons who helped save lives that morning. The six Dayton police officers credited with taking down the shooter were also in the room.

Trump commended the first responders for their speed and courage in taking down the gunman within a minute and stopping him before he could do more damage inside Ned Pepper’s bar.

“I don’t think we will ever know how many lives were saved,” by their quick thinking, Boosalis recalled Trump saying.

Boosalis and Uhl said despite the charged political atmosphere with protesters outside and calls for gun control, the moment inside the hospital was a serene and much-needed salve.

“It was a moving moment to put politics aside and celebrate survival,” Boosalis said. “It’s not about politics, but about being acknowledged.”

Speaking to reporters before he left Washington, Trump dismissed critics who have suggested that his rhetoric on race and immigration is partly to blame for a rise in hate-inspired violence, such as that in El Paso.

“I think my rhetoric brings people together,” Trump said, adding that he is “concerned about the rise of any group of hate.”

“I don’t like it,” he said, “whether it’s white supremacy, whether it’s any other kind of supremacy.”

He called his critics “people who are looking for political gain.”

Trump also said that he is open to calling on Congress to return from recess to strengthen background checks for gun buyers but that he sees “no political appetite” for banning assault rifles.

Trump’s comments about possible legislative responses to the weekend carnage continued a pattern in recent days of advocating unfocused ideas without specifics — a pattern that would face an uncertain path in Congress.

Many Democrats, including much of the presidential field, advocate reinstating the now-expired assault weapons ban that was included in the 1994 crime bill.

“There is no political appetite for that at this moment,” said Trump.

He has voiced support in recent days for “red-flag” laws, which allow police to temporarily confiscate firearms from a person deemed by a judge as posing a risk of violence.

Recent polls indicate a majority of Americans support some form of ban on assault rifles, though there is a large partisan divide, and fewer than half of Republicans support such measures. A July NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist poll found 57 percent of the public supported a ban on “the sale of semiautomatic assault guns, such as the AK-47 or the AR-15.” Fewer than 3 in 10 Republicans supported the proposal, rising to a slight majority of independents, and over 8 in 10 Democrats.

Speaking to reporters alongside Whaley, Brown said it has been impossible to pass such legislation because of the opposition of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)

“We can’t get anything done in the Senate because Mitch McConnell and the president of the United States are in bed with the gun lobby,” Brown said.

Whaley said during a brief talk with Trump on the airport tarmac, she told him: “Mr. President, the city of Dayton and the people of Dayton are really looking forward to some action” on gun control.

“I think he heard me. I don’t know if he will take action,” Whaley added.

Scores of sign-wielding protesters — and some Trump supporters — gathered in downtown Dayton, anticipating Trump’s arrival. Protesters changed routes when they heard that the president would be greeting survivors at the Miami Valley hospital and stood along a sidewalk hoping to catch Trump’s attention.

A caravan of emergency vehicles separated the line of demonstrators from the back entrance where the president’s motorcade pulled in.

Stephanie Smith, 67, brought a small printout with a cartoonish image of Trump with the words “Stop Gun violence.” The retiree was awakened early Sunday by calls from relatives worried she would have been in Dayton’s Oregon District when the shooting began.

She then awakened her adult son with the same inquiries.

“It’s horrifying,” Smith said. “I appreciate the work being done on red-flag legislation but I am concerned that not enough attention is being placed on the weapons themselves.”

Along the protest line, demonstrators said they have lost faith in their politicians to “do something” — as they chanted — to stop the kind of carnage that devastated their city.

“Thoughts and prayers don’t stop bullets,” one of several signs read.

Three high school friends used banner paper to hold a sign welcoming Trump to Toledo, referencing a mistake he made earlier in the week during remarks in the Oval Office.

In El Paso, crowds of protesters could be seen gathered down a few side streets near University Hospital, where Trump arrived in the late afternoon. Rep. Veronica Escobar (D), whose district includes the Walmart and shopping center where the massacre occurred, said Tuesday that she had turned down an invitation from the White House to join Trump during his trip.

Some residents of the city were distressed by the president’s visit.

Albert Hernandez, 55, used to be a supporter of Trump. That changed last weekend, when his sister, Maribel Hernandez, and his brother-in-law, Leo Campos, were gunned down by the El Paso shooter.

In recent years, Hernandez said, his sister and her husband shared concerns that Trump was stoking racist and xenophobic sentiment with his rhetoric. Until this point, other relatives, including Hernandez himself, would often disagree.

“I was the one who would tell them that they were exaggerating, but now, with this tragedy, it’s the total opposite,” Hernandez said. “Now that this hit the family, people are starting to wake up.”

Hernandez criticized the president’s recent anti-immigrant and racist rhetoric, citing the incident when he told four Democratic congresswomen of color to “go back” to where they came from as well as the speech Trump gave in Florida where he smirked after an audience member yelled for migrants to be shot.

“[Trump] doesn’t seem to understand that he needs to stop because he’s awakening these killers,” the El Paso native said. “He doesn’t seem to understand that these people — these assassins — feel like they are his soldiers.”

Trump met with some family members of the shooting victims when he visited El Paso Wednesday, but Hernandez said no one from his family received an invitation from the president’s office. Even if they had, he added, he likely would not have attended.

“Honestly, as a proud American, a patriotic American, I think Trump should stay away from El Paso,” Hernandez said. “He’s making it worse.”

Hernandez reported from Dayton. Rebecca Tan, Allyson Chiu, Tim Craig, Scott Clement and Tim Elfrink in Washington contributed to this report.

#politics #u.s. news #donald trump #trump administration #politics and government #president donald trump #white house #trump #republican politics #us: news #republican party #international news #must reads #national security #immigration #maga #racism #democratic party #democrats #2020 candidates #el paso shooting #el paso strong #el paso #dayton strong #dayton shooting #dayton #hate speech #hate crimes #hate groups

[theconservativebrief]

The Trump administration is under searing criticism nationwide as a result of its “zero-tolerance” policy that has resulted in the separation of thousands of children from parents who are being criminally prosecuted for illegally entering the United States. Facing a torrent of criticism, even from traditional allies, the administration has hunkered down; officials are framing the policy as necessary to deter rising family migration from Central America.

“When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away … when people come up, they have to know they can’t get in,” President Donald Trump said Tuesday.

Deterrence is hardly a new concept in border enforcement. It’s been the basic principle behind immigration policy, enforced to varying degrees, for several administrations. But until now, the stiffest forms of punishment — prosecution and federal prison time — were reserved for adults traveling alone, not families.

But it is far from clear whether the new shock-and-awe measures will substantially deter future migrants from Central America, including families with children. Past experience does not demonstrate an “implement policy, achieve desired outcome” effect.

The reasons are many, not least that the forces that impel people to migrate are entangled with profound economic, political, and other realities. This is especially true for recent migrants from Central America, who have faced intense pressure to migrate due to poverty, natural disasters, civil wars, and extreme gang violence in recent decades.

For decades, deterrence has guided the philosophy of policing the border. Starting in the 1990s, the US Border Patrol expanded its capabilities to apprehend illegal crossers along the US-Mexico border. It sealed off major urban centers and thereby forced migrants to cross in more remote, dangerous areas. The US government has also used public service announcements in Mexico and Central America to broadcast messages about the dangers of crossing the border in arid deserts and rugged mountainous areas.

During the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, the government began imposing what the Border Patrol calls “consequences” for illegal crossing beyond simply turning them away. This includes the repatriation of migrants far from where they crossed — for instance, sending people apprehended in California back to Mexico through ports of entry in Texas, in an effort to break bonds with local smugglers.

Other tactics include formal deportation, which bars people from future legal admission to the United States, and prosecuting them in federal courts, where they may receive significant prison sentences.

These strategies were designed to raise psychological and financial costs for would-be border crossers, forcing them to think twice about the consequences of attempting illegal entry. There is some evidence that this system of deterrence worked. Fears about dying of exposure in the desert or mountains, being kidnapped or extorted by criminal elements along the border, or spending a few months in a US jail appear to have cut down the number of people who attempted a border crossing.

Border Patrol apprehensions at the Southwest border, which hit a 1.6 million peak in 2000 and exceeded 1 million as recently as 2006, plummeted to just over 300,000 in 2017 — a level not seen since the early 1970s.

The effectiveness of deterrence policies can also be seen in the declining number of people trying to cross the border more than once. In 2007, 29 percent of apprehended migrants were “recidivists” who were caught more than once in the same year; in 2014, the rate was just 14 percent. Border Patrol agents and researchers have attributed the decline to increased costs and dangers associated with repatriation through remote areas, the shock of being forced to appear in federal court (often in shackles and chains) and federal prison sentences that can last up to six months for first-time entrants and longer for those accused of multiple reentry or assisting smugglers.

But the dramatic drop in apprehensions is not due to deterrence alone. The United States has become a less attractive option for migrants for other reasons: In Mexico, historic improvements in the economy and education system have also kept more people at home. (And birth rates are declining, reducing the supply of migrants.)

Finally, the US recession in 2008 reduced the number of jobs that served as magnets for unauthorized immigrant workers. For immigrants seeking a brighter economic future, crossing the border to the US was no longer worth the risk.

Historically, the vast majority of apprehended migrants have been young adults from Mexico. But in 2014, for the first time, the Border Patrol apprehended more Central Americans than Mexicans.

That year, moreover, 29 percent of apprehensions were families or children traveling alone, up from less than 10 percent a decade ago. They did not fit the profile of previous migrants looking for economic opportunity: Many were fleeing domestic or gang violence in their home countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

During the Obama and preceding administrations, asylum-seeking migrants like these were largely spared from harsher deterrence tactics. Most families and adults traveling alone who were intercepted and who claimed asylum were released into the United States pending immigration court hearings.

Due to immigration court backlogs, most of the families, children, and other asylum seekers spent years in the United States awaiting the resolution of their cases. The vast majority of families and children apprehended since 2014 remain in the United States. On the campaign trail in 2016, Trump joined others in criticizing “catch-and-release” policies that allowed asylum seekers to remain in the United States for years, a practice that, he argued, incentivized illegal immigration.

The election of Trump, who made tough immigration enforcement a centerpiece of his campaign, proved a deterrent of its own, at least for a while. During 2017, apprehensions fell to near-record lows amid sharp rhetoric from the president combined with tough executive orders on immigration and a surge in arrests of unauthorized immigrants inside the United States.

But a year later, this “Trump effect” has largely subsided; in the period from March through May 2018, apprehensions reverted to levels similar to those of 2014 through 2016. Meanwhile, the share of families and children among apprehended migrants rose to 39 percent, compared to under 10 percent a decade ago.

Last month, the Trump administration responded to the increase in family arrivals by announcing the new “zero-tolerance” policy, which has resulted in the heart-rending stories of family separation we’re hearing about. Prosecution of parents for illegal entry in federal court requires separation from children, who cannot be held with them in criminal incarceration.

But in the worst case, if their asylum claims are denied, parents may be deported, leaving their children in the US. These children could remain in our country in long-term foster care if the Office of Refugee Resettlement cannot find another family member in the country who is willing and able to care for them.

And whether this strategy will deter family flows from Central America in the long term remains to be seen.

El Salvador and Honduras have among the highest murder rates in the world. Gang violence is an ever-present danger, especially for women and young people gangs try to recruit. Guatemala is experiencing ongoing political instability and has a high rate of extreme poverty. Research shows significant shares of child migrants from all three countries witnessed violence or were threatened by violence before fleeing.

The fact that apprehensions slowed last year only to rebound this year suggests that the reasons people are fleeing the region are powerful enough to overcome severe deterrence policies. Migrants are risking their lives to get away from horrific conditions without guarantee of success — only a small percentage ultimately meet the stringent US criteria for granting asylum.

What then is the answer? How can humanitarian protection for adults and children with valid asylum claims be balanced against policies that are essential to maintaining border security?

The solution cannot simply be more punishment, especially when it inflicts significant and lasting psychological harm on children. Such a solution is antithetical not just to international norms but to American values, whatever the deterrent effect might prove to be.

Moreover, while there is evidence that prosecution, shackling, and the threat of prison time have in the past deterred economic migrants from attempting to enter the United States illegally, these forms of deterrence are likely to be less successful with humanitarian migrants, especially families and children, who are often fleeing life-or-death circumstances in their home countries.

Family apprehensions have not dropped since the new policy was implemented, but it is still too soon to know. Even if they do, it is morally reprehensible to forcibly separate children from parents under any circumstances — deterrence cannot justify such cruelty.

Randy Capps is director of research for US Programs at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, DC. He is a leading national expert on US immigration policies and immigrant demographics and integration. Capps has written numerous reports on immigrant populations at the state and local levels and recently completed a national study of immigration enforcement during the Trump administration.

The Big Idea is Vox’s home for smart discussion of the most important issues and ideas in politics, science, and culture — typically by outside contributors. If you have an idea for a piece, pitch us at [email protected].

Original Source -> Family separation isn’t just immoral. It’s likely ineffective.

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

[firebirdsdaughter]

Fact is…

… While I do whine about Izu’s behaviour (mainly that it feels really hard to have sympathy for her when, yet again, this feels like the writers just handing her a massive Idiot Ball to make her go walk into the line of fire again, like it was so easily preventable even if Horobi hadn’t done anything different that it’s really hard for me to understand blaming him and hard to feel like this is sad at all it just feels stupid and contrived), ultimately, I blame the humans much more.

Naturally, there’s Gai, who started all of this by creating the damn Ark in the first place, can we please remember that, Horobi didn’t start any of this, Gai did by creating the Ark, which in turn fucked up Horobi’s mind. Like, that’s just a given, a human deliberately created the Ark, knowingly, and for petty, shitty reasons. Gai started this bloody ‘chain,’ and it’s fucked up that he’s getting away w/ it pretty much scot free while other people are literally fucking dying bc of it, but okay.

But besides that, much more than Izu (and there were issues w/ her behaviour, for one thing the idol/messiah worship of Aruto creeps me out, but that’s actually kinda why I feel this way), I blame the humans. In the end, w/ the way Izu has been ‘taught,’ it’s not really right to expect anymore emotional maturity/understanding/nuance from her than it is to expect it from Horobi. She’s basically just his complete antithesis, blindly loyal to humans and either completely blind to their failings or been taught to not recognise them. I don’t usually enjoy ‘humans are the real monsters’ plots, but ‘humans are the special special source of all good in the universe’ don’t do it for me either. Bc we’re not either of those things. Humans are complicated. We have equal potential for both good and bad, and the existence of one does not invalidate the other. Both Izu and Horobi’s data is accurate, and while I dislike the show taking the tone that ‘Izu’s is right bc Aruto is a divine saviour of HumaGear’ (okay, okay, you get my point, I’ll try to stop), that’s not exactly her fault, she’s been taught that, she was expressly made to benefit Aruto, the show has also very much had the angle of ‘teach HumaGear to be happy serving humans,’ of course she would fall into that kind of… Thing, she’s the ‘pinnacle of perfect HumaGear’ bc she’s blindly devoted to her owner (the key word was I’d try to stop). Anyway, really, both of them are in the same situation, fed biased data, just he got the short end of the stick w/ the malicious master who literally tortured him for asking questions and aggressively repressed his emotions and conditioned him to respond w/ violence and extremes for more than a decade. Izu’s emotions are limited to the ‘happy loyalty to humans’ variety, but at least she was able to figure out how to handle some of them, she wasn’t taught to, basically, be a child soldier where violence was the ‘only answer.’ But in the end, neither of them should be expected to have the wherewithal to reason through that kind of negotiation/interaction. Izu cannot understand what Horobi’s going through, cannot fathom negativity in humans, and Horobi… Horobi literally has no idea how to handle emotions (I do appreciate the show actively, explicitly explaining that he’s literally terrified of feeling, and I mean, why wouldn’t he be, we saw what the Ark did when he just wanted to know ‘why,’ how s/he jumped in every time he got emotional). She can’t empathise, and he has no other way to respond but to lash out. There’s no reason for either of them to know.

But humans should know better.

… I feel like Treebeard.

But the fact is, we can’t expect either of these HumaGear to actually know how to handle the situation, esp not Horobi, who has no idea how to person, let alone regularly interact w/ someone else. But humans should know better. If any of the humans around them had shown even an inkling of the compassion and empathy and kindness they are espoused to have? None of this would have happened. Fuwa, I love you like I love Horobi, aka, more than anyone else here,, but you totally fucked up. And so did Aruto and Yua. Horobi and Izu should never have been left alone together, that was a recipe for disaster. You would think that, if he really wanted to resolve things peacefully, Aruto would immediately book it to the ‘root’ of the problem, an actual human trying to show understanding and compassion would likely have gone a long way. I don’t think Horobi would have completely backed down, but they might have talked him into waiting and seeing. Yua and Fuwa could keep the others busy (esp bc they’re the ones who charged in and lit the fuse in the first place). After that, Horobi was a ticking time bomb that Izu neither knew how to defuse nor stay away from.

Expecting Horobi to know how to handle a situation like that, to be able to do the extensive emotional retrospection needed to clearly think things through in those circumstances… It’s like finding a child who grew up completely in the wild and trying to force them to just immediately snap back into society. Every single ‘wild child’ story. And those would be humans. For an AI, it’s even worse.

Horobi needed rehabilitation, he needed time, he needed to be eased back into things. He was never going to be magically okay or able to reason w/ the nuance of a human just bc the Ark wasn’t in his head anymore. She did lasting damage. Izu, while she did a stupid, had know way of understanding that. But the humans around them really should have. If Naki and Ikazuchi are really adjusted so fast, well, maybe they should have done something. Jin gets a little leeway bc he actually showed up and did just get ordered to kill Horobi, so he was a little scatterbrained, though I do take issue w/ some of his behaviour afterwards.

This isn’t Horobi being ‘really a bad person,’ this is a traumatised and highly damaged AI not knowing how to do anything but what he was taught, not knowing how to respond to emotions, having been conditioned to react w/ extremes and violence (we literally saw how the Ark trained him to do that, killing Anna, destroying Midori for making him think, aiming the bow at the kids… He’s been trained to ‘remove’ things that ‘destabilise’ him w/ extremity and violence), and Izu genuinely has no real idea on how to handle that kind of trauma, esp in another AI, bc none of the humans around ever tried to address it before, it was always just ‘chop chop back to work!’ Horobi wasn’t killed and reloaded w/ some new programming. He’s still going off the knowledge he had before, the Ark’s knowledge, his experience w/ the Ark. He’s not going to snap back to being a “happy,” “smiling” HumaGear. He’s been under too long. Expecting him to snap back is one thing from Izu, but she learned it from the humans around her.

So… I guess to try and summarise is I think, aside from considering the writing overly heavy-handed, I’d say that Izu, Jin, and Horobi are victims of human arrogance and insensitivity. If humans hadn’t been so focused on themselves in that moment, if someone had just shown a little sense and compassion, used that damn emotional maturity… We wouldn’t be here.

If any one of the humans. Had actually. Tried. Anything. To do anything. I’d be feeling much more sympathetic towards them.

#Firebird Negativity #Firebird Opinions #Spoilers #I complain about Izu's behaviour #and it's true I have a hard time feeling sympathy bc it was so easily preventable even if Horobi had done nothing different #it's hard to feel sad it just feels ridiculous and contrived #but the fact is neither of them were equipped to handle that situation #they should never have been left alone #it's like leaving a pet dog alone w/ one that was abused in a fighting ring #w/ no supervision and the abused dog has never been rehabilitated #and then getting mad and trying to put the abused dog down/shoot it bc it bit your dog for trying to play #not to literally compare either Horobi or Izu to dogs in the insulting sense #but they both have a similar innocence #they're both AI they can't comprehend the nuances of emotion and interaction #even w/ Izu's heavily biased and filtered view Horobi was also at a major disadvantage #at least she was allowed SOME feelings he was in complete chaos #clinging to what he knew in an attempt to keep his sanity and losing it anyway #AI have no 'natural' code of moral conduct #if Horobi ever had a programme done the Ark ripped it up and threw it out the window #they're victims of the human disinterest/indifference to HumaGear development and wellbeing #but I've rambled enough #thanks for coming to my TED talk about why 01 is frustrating #actually know this is just about why I think it's unreasonable to blame either Horobi or Izu alone for what happened #yeah Horobi reacted violently but that was literally all he knew and we've now confirmed he was TERRIFIED #Izu could have dodged and clearly wasn't thinking about her own safety to keep pestering him when he was getting volatile #and I blame both those things squarely/mostly on humans #the end #except not really