By R. Byrd, CNN
Updated 5:00 p.m. Pst, October 9th 2023
In a world already grappling with unprecedented geopolitical shifts and the escalating effects of global warming, scientists conducting routine satellite surveys of Antarctica have made a startling discovery. A large structure, previously hidden beneath the ice, has been partially uncovered near the South Pole. This discovery has sent ripples through the scientific community and beyond.
The structure, which appears to be of considerable size, has emerged due to the rapid melting of Antarctic ice, a consequence of global warming. The discovery of such a structure in one of the most inhospitable and unexplored places on Earth raises a multitude of questions about its origin, purpose, and implications.
Preliminary investigations into the structure have yielded intriguing results. While it's still early days, some scientists suggest a possible connection to ancient legends and mythologies. This theory, while speculative and based on very preliminary findings, adds an element of mystery and intrigue to the discovery. If there is any truth to this connection, it could potentially rewrite our understanding of history and the Earth itself.
This discovery comes at a time when the world is witnessing significant transformations. From the fragmentation of the United States to the formation of new political entities in Central and South America, and significant developments in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, the world is in a state of flux. The uncovering of this mysterious structure in Antarctica adds another layer of complexity to an already tumultuous period in human history.
As scientists continue to investigate the structure, the world watches with bated breath. The implications of this discovery are potentially far-reaching and could reshape our understanding of the world. As we navigate these uncertain times, one thing is clear: we are witnessing history in the making.
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Claim Submission Thread

**OPEN UNTIL Monday 1400 PST (06-12-2023)
2200 PST
0100 EST
1500 GMT
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Please refer to the updated Claims List for choices.
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Additionally, note the following important information,
Claim Expectations (IMPORTANT)
The following will be some advice, created to help new players and returning-players alike when selecting claims. Due to some expectations, it is imperative that you seriously think about the claims you are interested in and are prepared to showcase a working knowledge of your claim. As always, due to the limited number of desirable claims, it is doubly important that you have a basic idea in relation to your plans and your claim in general.
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As always, we encourage you to claim whatever you believe to be the most fun! But please understand that we will be expecting you to showcase some basic info. Furthermore, once claims have been distributed (Friday) - you will be expected to do the following within 7 days.
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Requirements of the [CLAIM] Post
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1. For S11 - every player will be expected to submit a claim post after having received your claim via the claim distribution results. This can be done anytime within 7 days of you receiving the results. But will be your first post as you will not be permitted to play until your [CLAIM] has been submitted and approved. The [CLAIM] post can even be submitted before the season officially starts, which will allow you to begin playing immediately when we open the season for play. (This applies to the mods as well). Failure to submit a [CLAIM] within that 7-day period will result in further action being taken by the mods.

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1. You can write your [CLAIM] post in nearly any format so long as it is not a META one. It could be formatted as a News Report, as a "narrative story", or in any way you can think of (nearly).

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1. Within this [CLAIM] post, you must list or otherwise specifically note the following information in order to prove to us that you have a basic understanding of the claim. This goes doubly so for the US Successors which will, like all players, enjoy plenty of freedom in RP.

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Information that must be noted in your [CLAIM]
Head of State
Your claim's form of government (Of course this can be expanded or altered at any time once the season starts).
A basic overview of the claim at large and its history between 2022 and 2023.
Further - claimants will be expected to detail the basic economic situation (structure), government structure, etcetera in further detail at some point.
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NOTE: Failure to meet these expectations can result in your claim being denied.
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It is highly likely, that if you fail to meet the 7-day requirement - your claim and any others like it will be entered into a tertiary phase for claim submission. Meaning it is possible you will have lost your claim.
YOU MUST RENAME YOUR CLAIM.
ALL COUNTRY NAMES ARE TEMPORARY PLACEHOLDERS - CLAIMANTS EXPECTED IF NOT REQUIRED TO CHANGE THEM.
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Additionally -
There will be a 2-week grace period once the season starts. During this time, no new wars may be started. This is to allow all players time to figure out their claims/countries and establish themselves (Also do your WIKIs). This will run from Jan1 2024 - Jan 1, 2026
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CLAIM SUBMISSION PROCEDURE
In order to have your choices counted, please submit in the following format.
To make it easy for the mods, you are encouraged to please submit in a format roughly akin to below.
Claims List (In priority of first pick to last pick)

1. Example Country (Put your first pick on this line naturally)

2.
3.
4.
5.
You are not required to have 5 picks, however, it should be noted that your 1st pick should absolutely be your first choice as most times, G8/G20 countries are gone by the time it reaches your 2nd, 3rd, or 4th pick.
This claim phase will be open until Monday - 1400 unless otherwise specified.
Relating the process of claim distribution will be conducted by the mods (myself most likely), and will be via RNG when there is more than one competing player for a claim. Note that this requires the two players to put the claim in question in the same numerical position.
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CLAIM LIST FOR REFERENCE (MAP)
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AFRICA	Name	Population	GDP (billions)
Central/East Africa	Central African Federation	367,575,704	$448.01
Horn of Africa	Horn of Africa Alliance	185,605,002	$218.11
North Africa	Magrebi Union	214,846,171	$838.98
Southern Africa	Southern African Union	222,212,495	$680.24
West Africa	West Africa Federation	456,283,945	$817.99
ASIA-OCEANIA
Saudi Arabia	Arabian Gulf Union	88,501,892	$2,114
The Caucasus	Caucasian Federation	18,345,996	$121.7
China	People's Republic of China	1,474,368,607	$19,454
India	Republic of India	1,869,509,065	$4,659
Iran	Islamic Republic of Iran	173,779,803	$738.65
Japan	State of Japan	123,719,238	$4,410
The Levant	Jordan-Israeli Federation	25,461,306	$610.29
Korea	Republic of Korea	78,039,165	$1,738
Malay Archipelago	Republic of Nusantara	447,125,011	$2,845
Oceania	Oceanic Federation	33,156,035	$$1,967
Southeast Asia	Southeast Asian Union	199,337,793	$1,068
Taiwan	Taiwan/Republic of China/Chinese Taipei	23,588,613	$790.728
Central Asia	Federation of Turkestan	66,273,018	$362.86
Turkey	Republic of Turkïye	106,527,014	$1,040
Europe
Alps	Alpine Confederation	17,544,613	$1,392
Poland	Baltic Commonwealth	43,672,033	$916.18
Romania	Carpathian Federation	31,246,868	$553.24
Czechoslovakia	Czechoslovak Republic	16,131,561	$458.02
France	Republic of France	72,804,962	$3,215
Germany	Federal Republics of Germany	108,930,853	$5,784
Iberia	Iberian Federation	57,531,231	$1,764
Italy	Mediterranean Union	78,564,631	$2,497
Russia	Russian Federation	151,082,776	$2,289
Scandinavia	United Kingdoms of Scandinavia	27,695,817	$1,860
Ukraine	Republic of Ukraine	43,306,477	$151.10
British Isles	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland	73,823,347	$3,781
Balkans	Federal Republic of Yugoslavia	26,164,676	$367.09
Latin America
Brazil	United States of Brazil	243,163,461	$2,263
Caribbean	Caribbean Federation	27,765,042	$210.62
Central America	Central American Federation	50,594,071	$321
Colombia	Republic of Gran Colombia	129,778,212	$800.548
Argentina	Southern Cone Federation	65,171,304	$958.69
North America
Canada	Dominion of Canada	80,309,224	$4,246
Mexico	United Mexican States	161,477,219	$ TBD
United States	United States of America	87,110,098	$ TBD
Pacific Coast	Pacific States Pact	57,204,168	$ 4,678
Midwest	Heartland Republic	39,852,287	$ 2,097
Dixie	Free States of America	90,458,708	$ 3,788

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Has anyone else noticed that cell phone service in Bushwick/East Williamsburg has been horrible to non-existent the past week or so? My friends and I have Verizon, and near the Jefferson L stop, troutman street, the Brooklyn mirage there was no service. We’ve always had full service in these spots so wonder what is going on?

#Story 1 - Started in the year 1980 in S. Deering on 104th & Hoxie. Conservative Vice Lords had sets in Trumbull housing projects in that neighborhood. The Svls were at war the GDS and King Cobras. The Svls hung out with CVLs, but the CVLs only wanted African Americans in their gang. Ranked CVLs one day heard, and they opened a Latino Chapter on 104th and Hoxie, and they were known as Spanish Vice Lords.There were a few Svls, but they've made their name being a hardcore gang. Svls were hardcore foes to the GDS and King Cobras from the Trumbull housing projects. In the 80s a gang called the "Wonders" were begotten into existence. They came about and were begotten , after a Simon City Royals set faded out of the neighborhood. The Wonders begotten deeper, and the Latin Kings beget a war with them. The Wonders faded and hung out with Svls. In 1991, the Wonders were Svls, and were given a Chapter on 108th and Mackinaw. 108th and Mackinaw was the spawn of Wolfe Park Svls. Svls were still warring w/ GDS, King Cobras, and were hawking and peddling Loud weed, LSD, or cocaine in Wolfe Park. Svls refused to hawk/ peddle crack cocaine for cash, because they didn't want fiends doing crimes in the neighborhood. In the summer of 1994, the 108th Svls started warring w/ Latin Kings & Latin Dragons in the neighborhood.
There were a lot of shootings w/ the Svls , and the Svls made a name for shootingsStory #2 Spanish Vice Lords : The Latin Chapter of Vice Lords. Svls foes were Slag valley Boyz, GDS, and King Cobras. In 1966, black & Puerto Ricans kicked off an alliance. Svls were said to have spawned in East Garfield Park or Humboldt Park. In 1995, the Svls from Wolfe Park spawned a session for Lady Spanish Vice Lords. The women were brought into the gang the same way as the men. The women fixed their lives and moved on.#2010s- 2020s Through the late 2010s going into the 2020s, Saints of Back of the years wanted more sets. Saints always wanted both sides of 47th and Ashland. La Raza and Latin Souls (BGD Allies) were on 47th Racine- Justine , and Souls took over Paulina Saints from Marshfield to Hermitage 47th/ 50th. In the 40s to mid 50s , there was an Alcohol Mafia for early five points star gangs on 50th and Marshfield. The 1950s Spartans of 49th/ Hermitage , and the 51st street bunch in the 1950s rumbled during the day over the set. Civil rights and race riots led them to vacate their set.The 50th Alcohol Mafia moved to 50th and Artesian/Rockwell . There used to be a tower mill used in the 30s- 40s, but now it is used to build low income, public, and affordable housing.
Back of the yards used to have bloody rumbles were skulls were beaten with bats and chains. The Saints in 1959 started making sets in the neighborhood. After the Saints, there was the Muscadoodlers in 1964 at 49th and Loomis, the Demons at 49th and Racine (1965- 1969). Even back then money talked the loudest , and was heard by those who could be bought in the "justice" system. The Latin Souls moved from 55th and Halsted to the back of the yards in the 1980s. The Latin Souls brought extra special police, and even had shoot-outs w/ the police. Saints and Party Players had enough of the Latin Souls. The Latin Souls had aids in early 80s, and bought down Latinos, blacks, Africans, poor people, women, and police. Spanish Vice Lords took over Latin Souls block.
The Spanish Vice Lords went to the Vice Lords from 56th and Seeley about Latin Souls and BPSN. The Latin Souls were still on 50th/Paulina claiming Latin Stones from Moetown (not Almighty Latin Stones of 82nd/ Kingston/Eckersall Stadium). Their set is from 47th/50th- Ashland/Hermitage and from 50th/54th- Ashland/Hermitage. The Spanish Vice Lords opened in EdgewateUptown on Bryn MawFoster- Broadway/Winthrop. They have opened in little Village on 27th/30th- Troy/Kedzie. The Spanish Vice Lords also share Triple Bz on 79th and Escabnaba with Vice Lords. The Spanish Vice Lords are also in Fresno, California.

Todotoronto Team here! We have an upcoming event for singles that are ready to mingle. Enjoy icebreakers and a relaxed, informal atmosphere to mix & mingle at Pravda Vodka Bar. Plus, Andrea Lo, the Founder & Dating Coach of Toronto Dating Hub will be hosting this event.
Early bird tickets are on sale now, click here to get the limited-time deal.
June 22nd (Thursday) from 6:30 PM – 9:30 PM EDT at Pravda Vodka Bar, 4 Wellington Street East Toronto, ON M5E 1C7

Todotoronto Team here! We have an upcoming event for singles that are ready to mingle. Enjoy icebreakers and a relaxed, informal atmosphere to mix & mingle at Pravda Vodka Bar. Plus, Andrea Lo, the Founder & Dating Coach of Toronto Dating Hub will be hosting this event.
Early bird tickets are on sale now, click here to get the limited time deal.
June 22nd (Thursday) from 6:30 PM – 9:30 PM EDT at Pravda Vodka Bar, 4 Wellington Street East Toronto, ON M5E 1C7

Rules!!! 1.not going over board on swearing(you can swear but Cannot argue aggressively in here!!) 2.Consent; we do not allow inappropriate behavior or actions without consent,even if they deny to interact into it leave them alone [important] report if someone is trying to groom or commit illegal actions with someone underage! 3.personal info;DO NOT share sensitive information such as what street you live in(house pin) what you work in or what school you go to or governmental name(better to use initials for safety) What information you can Share is country(out of the Americas) country state or city(typically thing) examples LA,California,Usa or Dallas,texas,Usa 4. Ethnicity/orientation; we do not judge what race you are weathered you're hispanic,African(American and native),native american,asian(east,south,west,american),native pacific, Caucasian,Other Or your sexuality like gay,lesbian,bisexual,Pansexual, Omnisexual,Genderfluid,Ace,demisexual,other. You are safe here!!♡!!
That's the main things you gotta know stay safe happy chatting!

[FND] 10218 Pet Shop Modular - 337 spots at $1/ea
Item Name Set Number: 10218 Pet Shop Modular
Lego Price: $270
Shipping: $67 - 24x20x6 9lb 23185 to 95897
Raffle Total/Spots: $337 - 337 @ $1ea
Price justification: Bricklink 3 month US average
Call spots: Y
Spot limit per person: N
Duration of spot limit: NA
Location(Country): US
Will ship international: Y - Winner outside CONUS pays over $67
Timestamp pics: https://imgur.com/a/fz7kqzS
Description: https://www.lego.com/en-gb/product/pet-shop-10218
Payment required w/in 5 minutes of raffle filling.
PayPal payments are to be Friends and Family only with NO COMMENTS. CashApp payments should have NO COMMENTS. Comments will result in a permanent ban

*PayPal Info: PM for details - NO COMMENTS *
Cash App Info: [REDACTED]
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Tip BlobAndHisBoy
Number of vacant slots: 0
Number of unpaid users: 0
Number of unpaid slots: 0
This slot list is created and updated by The EDC Raffle Tool by BlobAndHisBoy.
1 jethro2126 PAID
2 GorillaX PAID
3 DTURPLESMITH PAID
4 Fluffy-Run-6861 PAID
5 Fluffy-Run-6861 PAID
6 GorillaX PAID
7 azcpl121314 PAID
8 Bosskz PAID
9 robob280 PAID
10 azcpl121314 PAID
11 ssj3dvp11 PAID
12 Bosskz PAID
13 azcpl121314 PAID
14 GorillaX PAID
15 DTURPLESMITH PAID
16 lrsubfund PAID
17 East_Excitement_2009 PAID
18 damnstraight PAID
19 Ombersnip PAID
20 azcpl121314 PAID
21 BboBbi PAID
22 Jman901 PAID
23 Bosskz PAID
24 BboBbi PAID
25 Bosskz PAID
26 Bosskz PAID
27 azcpl121314 PAID
28 jethro2126 PAID
29 damnstraight PAID
30 BboBbi PAID
31 DerBengel PAID
32 HorizonXP PAID
33 BboBbi PAID
34 ssj3dvp11 PAID
35 DTURPLESMITH PAID
36 robob280 PAID
37 Doomburrito PAID
38 azcpl121314 PAID
39 Jman901 PAID
40 GorillaX PAID
41 HorizonXP PAID
42 jethro2126 PAID
43 lrsubfund PAID
44 DTURPLESMITH PAID
45 azcpl121314 PAID
46 ssj3dvp11 PAID
47 Jman901 PAID
48 phroz3n PAID
49 damnstraight PAID
50 Bosskz PAID
51 Bosskz PAID
52 rolet744 PAID
53 azcpl121314 PAID
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55 azcpl121314 PAID
56 HorizonXP PAID
57 BboBbi PAID
58 Bosskz PAID
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60 Jman901 PAID
61 HorizonXP PAID
62 jethro2126 PAID
63 GorillaX PAID
64 GorillaX PAID
65 Ombersnip PAID
66 BboBbi PAID
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68 damnstraight PAID
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70 Denivathar PAID
71 DTURPLESMITH PAID
72 Ombersnip PAID
73 GorillaX PAID
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75 damnstraight PAID
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78 BboBbi PAID
79 HorizonXP PAID
80 ssj3dvp11 PAID
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87 nik0nguy601 PAID
88 DTURPLESMITH PAID
89 HorizonXP PAID
90 BboBbi PAID
91 BboBbi PAID
92 DTURPLESMITH PAID
93 Ombersnip PAID
94 GorillaX PAID
95 BboBbi PAID
96 BboBbi PAID
97 DTURPLESMITH PAID
98 jethro2126 PAID
99 azcpl121314 PAID
100 Doomburrito PAID
101 robob280 PAID
102 Jman901 PAID
103 damnstraight PAID
104 TheSausageManCometh PAID
105 DTURPLESMITH PAID
106 East_Excitement_2009 PAID
107 jrsobx PAID
108 ssj3dvp11 PAID
109 GorillaX PAID
110 Bosskz PAID
111 DTURPLESMITH PAID
112 nik0nguy601 PAID
113 DTURPLESMITH PAID
114 ssj3dvp11 PAID
115 azcpl121314 PAID
116 Ombersnip PAID
117 jethro2126 PAID
118 DTURPLESMITH PAID
119 Ombersnip PAID
120 jethro2126 PAID
121 Jman901 PAID
122 DTURPLESMITH PAID
123 phroz3n PAID
124 Fluffy-Run-6861 PAID
125 Bosskz PAID
126 BboBbi PAID
127 damnstraight PAID
128 ssj3dvp11 PAID
129 East_Excitement_2009 PAID
130 BboBbi PAID
131 Denivathar PAID
132 BboBbi PAID
133 phroz3n PAID
134 azcpl121314 PAID
135 phroz3n PAID
136 jrsobx PAID
137 DTURPLESMITH PAID
138 DTURPLESMITH PAID
139 BboBbi PAID
140 lrsubfund PAID
141 azcpl121314 PAID
142 DTURPLESMITH PAID
143 Jman901 PAID
144 BboBbi PAID
145 damnstraight PAID
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147 DerBengel PAID
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150 Bosskz PAID
151 damnstraight PAID
152 BboBbi PAID
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154 nik0nguy601 PAID
155 jethro2126 PAID
156 Ombersnip PAID
157 jethro2126 PAID
158 Codename-KND PAID
159 damnstraight PAID
160 BboBbi PAID
161 DTURPLESMITH PAID
162 jrsobx PAID
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166 TheSausageManCometh PAID
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171 damnstraight PAID
172 DTURPLESMITH PAID
173 robob280 PAID
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188 DerBengel PAID
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191 phroz3n PAID
192 stollba PAID
193 damnstraight PAID
194 GorillaX PAID
195 HorizonXP PAID
196 DTURPLESMITH PAID
197 Jman901 PAID
198 Fluffy-Run-6861 PAID
199 azcpl121314 PAID
200 HorizonXP PAID
201 Denivathar PAID
202 Jman901 PAID
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204 jrsobx PAID
205 azcpl121314 PAID
206 Ombersnip PAID
207 azcpl121314 PAID
208 Jman901 PAID
209 HorizonXP PAID
210 HorizonXP PAID
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212 DTURPLESMITH PAID
213 Jman901 PAID
214 damnstraight PAID
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216 damnstraight PAID
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218 ssj3dvp11 PAID
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220 nik0nguy601 PAID
221 BboBbi PAID
222 HorizonXP PAID
223 Ombersnip PAID
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238 GorillaX PAID
239 nik0nguy601 PAID
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252 phroz3n PAID
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254 phroz3n PAID
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258 jrsobx PAID
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260 Bosskz PAID
261 BboBbi PAID
262 phroz3n PAID
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272 DTURPLESMITH PAID
273 BboBbi PAID
274 HorizonXP PAID
275 GorillaX PAID
276 BboBbi PAID
277 DTURPLESMITH PAID
278 East_Excitement_2009 PAID
279 Jman901 PAID
280 ssj3dvp11 PAID
281 jethro2126 PAID
282 HorizonXP PAID
283 BboBbi PAID
284 damnstraight PAID
285 damnstraight PAID
286 GorillaX PAID
287 rolet744 PAID
288 DTURPLESMITH PAID
289 BboBbi PAID
290 HorizonXP PAID
291 Codename-KND PAID
292 Codename-KND PAID
293 azcpl121314 PAID
294 BboBbi PAID
295 DTURPLESMITH PAID
296 GorillaX PAID
297 GorillaX PAID
298 BboBbi PAID
299 rolet744 PAID
300 DTURPLESMITH PAID
301 Denivathar PAID
302 GorillaX PAID
303 DTURPLESMITH PAID
304 DTURPLESMITH PAID
305 damnstraight PAID
306 BboBbi PAID
307 Jman901 PAID
308 DTURPLESMITH PAID
309 azcpl121314 PAID
310 nik0nguy601 PAID
311 HorizonXP PAID
312 Ombersnip PAID
313 BboBbi PAID
314 TheSausageManCometh PAID
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316 rolet744 PAID
317 azcpl121314 PAID
318 Ombersnip PAID
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322 HorizonXP PAID
323 jrsobx PAID
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325 jrsobx PAID
326 Bosskz PAID
327 azcpl121314 PAID
328 Ombersnip PAID
329 damnstraight PAID
330 BboBbi PAID
331 DTURPLESMITH PAID
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333 DTURPLESMITH PAID
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337 jhartz_ PAID

I never met you, but it feels like you probably had it together sooner than I did.
I was a lost thirteen year old, begging my parents to please understand that this is not just something I read on the internet.
I had no proof. You had it all, I’m sure.
Even as I write this I know so little about you. Perhaps I will use this as an opportunity to assume - you can fulfil the role of the person I think you might be, and I know I will get it wrong, but then I get to make my point, and you get to be a transgender celebrity, and we both walk away happy. There are others like you and I know what they are like well enough, I suppose.
Hormone blockers at ten, huh? Wow. Back then I was still trying to convince my parents I needed an iPod, and crushing on that girl I met over the summer holidays. It’s tempting to say you must have just been in the right place at the right time, with the right parents. But we all know those who go first, who push things forward like you did, often sit at the extremes. Did you transition in primary school? Were you playing with barbies, as they put it, from the day you learned to ask for them? I guess I could find all this out, I could listen to how you explain it, but it’s more fun putting the pieces together working backwards.
You were my age, you lived a short drive away from me, I might have even walked past you on the street sometime long ago. I feel connected to you now because of what emerged, but we never met, and we probably never will. You represent a me I could never have been, but also a me I was so close to having been. You represent the invisible, impossible girl who was living just down the road when I was told that nobody else felt like this. In another life, we could have gone through it together. If my parents had lived a bit further west or yours a bit further east, maybe we would have gone to the same school.
I don’t mean to say you had it easy at all. I can only imagine the torment, the anguish, the sheer desperation. Nobody understood back then, and it wasn’t even that long ago. How many therapist appointments, counselling sessions, and doctor’s offices did you attend instead of eighth grade English class? How many psychiatrists with a thousand pages of DSM-5 on their desks did you see instead of going to sleepovers with your friends? It must have been hell.
But then again, the alternative must have been worse, or you wouldn’t have done it.
Do I feel luckier than you, that I avoided all this? Maybe. We both had heavy crosses to bear, there were no winners here. My situation feels more complex, and that’s not just because I know it better. To transition a decade ago, especially as a teenager, you had to have a clear story and my alibis didn’t line up. Do you like boys or girls? Did you play with dolls or legos? Red pen, tick mark in the “no” box, next patient please, this one’s a fake.
I lied - I might have done a bit of research, and unlike mine, your story checks out. What two-year-old boy, for lack of a better word, says they want a vagina? A boy on track to being the first girl in the country to get on blockers, that’s who. It’s kind of hilarious, in a dark sort of way, to think that that might have been the first full sentence out of your mouth. I can’t compete with that! I was busy learning the alphabet!
Only now is that story changing. In meeting dozens upon dozens of trans people, many of whom didn’t transition until their twenties, thirties and beyond, one thing is clear: the kind of trans person you were and are, very much exists. But, it’s a tiny minority of the realm of possibility, to the point where I have yet to meet anyone else who figured it out enough to put into words before the age of twelve. It’s a huge tragedy that until very recently, there was only one kind of story that was accepted, and it was yours. Do I resent you for the fact that your story happened to be the right one? Of course not. But maybe I’m a little jealous. Just maybe.
I think back to all the possible times in my life I could have transitioned, and I return, dejected, to the admission that twenty-two was the earliest that really made sense. Sure, if I knew what I know now, I’d go back to high school and do it over the right way, unswayed by the opinions of those older than me, but that wasn’t the question. The subtlety of my journey, my gender identity, my end goal and the path to get there, was too much for my thirteen year old self to bear. It was there enough that she could see some glimmering flicker of it, just enough to catch the light, but not enough to grapple with, wrangle into something that made sense, and integrate into her life. So she let it go, adrift in the wind, and trusted it to come back when the time was right.
Had you been assigned female, you would have been just the same as any other girl. Part of this feels like the allure of the highly palatable trans woman to society in the first place: hey look at her! She’s just like any other girl, and she’s cute too, but you’ll never guess that she was born a boy! You might not have had your own Wikipedia page in this world, and who knows if your acting career would have taken off. But maybe that’s a worthwhile price to pay to be invisible.
Had I been assigned female? Well, I can point to a probable early life of confusion, tomboyishness, not-quite-fitting-in-with-the-girls but not-quite-fitting-in-with-the-boys-either, and a long and winding journey to a bisexual identity years later. So not really that different to current me, if I’m honest. At least being gender non-conforming might have been more acceptable, though I’m not saying it would have been easy. Being friends with girls without having it constantly questioned would have been nice though.
I often joke that if I were AFAB, I would have ended up non-binary by now. For someone who understands their gender identity to be fairly binary female, this is a somewhat tongue in cheek thing to say, but I do think it’s genuinely quite possibly true. I definitely feel more connected to femininity than its opposite - but that’s not to say I can’t see the masculine in my inner self sometimes. Perhaps I have a new identity crisis coming, who knows.
Being raised male, doing all I could to embrace the cards I was dealt, and then finally making the decision with eyes wide open to reject it all, feels incredibly empowering. It feels like I’ve unlocked a key to a world that fits me so much better. Every step of the way has felt correct, and I have few doubts that this is who I am. But I know that there are things about the way society raises women that I would have brushed up against in unhappy ways if things were different.
If I were born female, would I have been as academic as I was? Probably. Would I have gone into technology like I did? Less likely, but still possible. Would I have had the opportunities I did? Many yes, but some of them, almost certainly not. I don’t think I would have been pushed into STEM as hard as I was, or had the same drive I did to excel in it. Maybe, maybe not, who knows? My cousin was dealt the girl card and it didn’t stop her.
I know that I could not have transitioned at the age of eight like you did, because I did not know myself like you did; I was too busy learning to skateboard and play Mario. I could not have got on blockers at ten like you did, because I was busy camping with Cub Scouts, not fighting a court case to overturn medical laws. I could not have started estrogen at fifteen, because the doctors had already told me I wasn’t real, and I didn’t know enough to not believe them, and besides: if my hobbies are skateboarding, Mario and camping, why not just be a boy anyway?
I meet eighteen year olds beginning their transition today, and I’m overwhelmed with pride that we’ve come this far, shame that we took so long, and perhaps a tinge of envy. The court cases you attended when you should have been at primary school play a part in this, and there are thousands of teenagers who have benefitted from you being who you are. But then I remember that no, I could not have transitioned at eighteen either, because I was living with my parents who had already made their stance on the issue clear. I now know what it would end up taking to crack their shell, to have them on my side, because I have since done it - I can confidently say that at eighteen, I didn’t have it in me. I barely had it in me after I’d moved out, with a job and a loving partner, let alone when I was depending on them to drive me everywhere. The shift in tone has been incredible, but it took time for them to understand. My mother’s refrain now is that she failed in raising her trans child but succeeded in raising an adult who knew herself well enough to go against her parents. I like the irony, I think it’s beautiful and it tells a good story, but it’s tragic at the same time.
Looking back is only helpful up until a point. After a certain amount of reflection, we have to let go of the past and look towards the future. I’m grateful to my past self, because she did the best that she did with what she had. Past me could not have transitioned, but now here I am, educated, well fed, well paid, fit, healthy, surrounded by friends, in a wonderful relationship with a woman I love, and living in the right place at the right time. I am sure that I will look back in a few years with immense gratitude that I was able to transition when I did, that I was able to spend some of the best years of my life being myself. And in the scheme of things, I’m young - I can only imagine my thirty-year-old self writing this exact piece, the growing-up-next-to-me factor notwithstanding, about Julie Vu who transitioned at nineteen, or forty-year-old me writing it about Jamie Clayton who transitioned at twenty-five. I have to remind myself that both are beautiful, both are living the life they once only dreamed of, and I’m incredibly lucky to be born in a time where I can do this now rather than waiting even longer for society to catch up.
Of course I wonder about what could have been, and some unhealthy part of my brain curdles when I hear your voice, completely untouched by the testosterone that left marks on the rest of us. I may have survivor’s guilt of my own, but yours must be immense. I’m not mad at you any more than I’m mad at cis women for existing - part of me is just mad at myself for not having the fortitude to follow through, and you are living proof that I was not too young after all, that I failed. But at the end of the day, I feel that if I did transition when you did, I might have had to have been someone else.

Goodnights Comedy Club
401 Woodburn Rd.
Raleigh NC 27605
http://instagram.com/goodnightscomedy
http://twitter.com/GoodnightsCC
http://facebook.com/Goodnightscomedy
Tue, Jun 6, 2023 6:00 PM 08:15 PM RESCHEDULED, due to wildfires Pete's flight to the shows was grounded
Wed, Jun 7, 2023 6:00 PM 08:15 PM
Thu, Jun 8, 2023 6:00 PM 08:15 PM
Fri, Jun 9, 2023 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:45 PM
Sat, Jun 10, 2023 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:45 PM
Sun, Jun 11, 2023 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:45 PM
Goodnights Comedy Club Special Event: Pete Davidson Working Out New Material with Friends
Oxnard Levity Live
591 Collection Blvd
Oxnard, CA 93036
https://www.facebook.com/OxnardLevityLive/
https://www.instagram.com/levityoxnard/
https://twitter.com/oxnardlevity
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEvcMchG50kZl3T5wiuCkOA/videos
THU JUN 15 08:00PM 10:00PM
FRI JUN 16 07:30PM 09:45PM
SAT JUN 17 07:00PM 09:00PM
https://improv.com/oxnard/event/pete+davidson+working+out+new+material+with+friends/13249028/
Brea Improv
180 S Brea Blvd
Brea, CA 92821
http://www.facebook.com/BreaImprov
https://www.instagram.com/breaimprov/
https://twitter.com/breaimprov
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEvcMchG50kZl3T5wiuCkOA/videos
SUN JUN 18 07:00PM 09:30PM CANCELLED
https://improv.com/brea/event/pete+davidson+working+out+new+material+with+friends/13248788/
Comedy Connection
39 WARREN AVE
EAST PROVIDENCE, RI 02914
https://instagram.com/comedyconnection/
https://www.twitter.com/cmdyconnection
https://www.twitter.com/cmdyconnection
https://www.tiktok.com/@comedyconnection
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2EjMJaDHYS0HbwZVXDANCw
Tue, Jun 20, 2023 6:00 PM 8:15 PM
Wed, Jun 21, 2023 6:00 PM 8:15 PM
Thu, Jun 22, 2023 6:00 PM 8:15 PM
Fri, Jun 23, 2023 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM
Sat, Jun 24, 2023 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM
Sun, Jun 25, 2023 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM
Comedy Connection Pete Davidson - Working Out New Material with Friends (ricomedyconnection.com)
Comedy on State
202 State Street – Lower Level
Madison, WI 53703
https://www.facebook.com/comedyonstate
https://twitter.com/comedyonstate
https://www.instagram.com/comedyonstate/
Thursday 6/29/2023 6:30 pm 9:00 pm 11:30 PM
Friday 6/30/2023 6:30 pm 9:00 pm 11:30 PM
Saturday 7/1/2023 6:30 pm 9:00 pm 11:30 PM
Sunday 7/2/2023 6:30 pm 9:00 pm 11:30 PM
https://www.madisoncomedy.com/event/pete_davidson/2023-06-29/
The Comedy Zone Charlotte
900 NC Music Factory Blvd. B3
Charlotte NC 28206
http://instagram.com/comedyzoneclt
http://twitter.com/comedyzoneclt
http://facebook.com/ComedyZoneCLT
Thu, Jul 6, 2023 6:00 PM 8:15 10:30 PM
Fri, Jul 7, 2023 6:00 PM 8:15 10:30 PM
Sat, Jul 8, 2023 6:00 PM 8:15 10:30 PM
Sun, Jul 9, 2023 6:00 PM 8:15 10:30 PM
The Comedy Zone Charlotte Pete Davidson - Working Out New Material with Friends (cltcomedyzone.com)
Stand Up Live Huntsville
2012 Memorial Pkwy SW
Huntsville AL 35801
http://facebook.com/standuplivehunt
http://twitter.com/StandUpLiveHSV
http://instagram.com/standuplivehunt
Thu, Jul 13, 2023 6:00 PM 8:15 PM CANCELLED
Fri, Jul 14, 2023 6:00 PM 8:15 PM CANCELLED
Sat, Jul 15, 2023 6:00 PM 8:15 PM CANCELLED
Sun, Jul 16, 2023 6:00 PM 8:15 PM CANCELLED
https://huntsville.standuplive.com/events/75977
Miami Improv
3450 NW 83 Avenue, SUITE 224
Doral FL 33122
http://facebook.com/miaimprov
http://www.twitter.com/miaimprov
http://www.instagram.com/miaimprov
THU, JUL 20, 2023 7:00 PM 9:30 PM
FRI, JUL 21, 2023 7:00 PM 9:30 PM
SAT, JUL 22, 2023 7:00 PM 9:30 PM
SUN, JUL 23, 2023 7:00 PM 9:30 PM
https://www.miamiimprov.com/shows/222060
Stand Up Live Phoenix
2012 Memorial Pkwy SW
Huntsville AL 35801
http://facebook.com/standuplive
http://www.twitter.com/standuplive
http://www.instagram.com/standuplive
THU, JUL 27, 2023 7:00 PM 9:30 PM
FRI, JUL 28, 2023 7:00 PM 9:30 PM
SAT, JUL 29, 2023 7:00 PM 9:30 PM
SUN, JUL 30, 2023 7:00 PM 9:30 PM
https://phoenix.standuplive.com/events/76213
The Houston Improv
7620 Katy Fwy #45
Houston, TX 77024
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Improv-Houston/112135094212
https://www.instagram.com/improvhouston/
https://twitter.com/ImprovHouston
THU, AUG 10, 2023 07:00PM 09:30PM
FRI, AUG 11, 2023 07:00PM 09:30PM
SAT, AUG 12, 2023 07:00PM 09:30PM
SUN, AUG 13, 2023 07:00PM 09:30PM
https://improvtx.com/houston/event/pete+davidson+working+out+new+material+with+friends/13293108/
San Jose Improv
62 S Second St
San Jose, CA 95113
http://www.facebook.com/sanjoseimprov
https://www.instagram.com/SanJoseImprov/
https://twitter.com/ImprovSanJose
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEvcMchG50kZl3T5wiuCkOA/videos
THU, AUG 17, 2023 07:00PM 09:30PM
FRI, AUG 18, 2023 07:00PM 09:30PM
SAT, AUG 19, 2023 07:00PM 09:30PM
SUN, AUG 20, 2023 07:00PM 09:30PM
https://improv.com/sanjose/event/pete+davidson+working+out+new+material+with+friends+/13292248/

Credit to u/bluefishcake for writing the original SSB story and building the sandbox for us to play in.
And a big thanks to the authors and their stories that inspired to get off my ass and put my fingers to keyboard. RandomTinkerer (City Slickers and Hayseeds), Punnynfunny (Denied Operations), CompassWithHat (Top Lasgun), Rhion-618 (Just One Drop), UncleCieling(Going Native), RobotStatic (Far Away), Kazevenikov (The Cryptid Chronicle), Also to the editor # Fan Beta Readers and KLiCkonthat .
As always comments, complaints, and suggestions are welcome.
This is a fair use notice. Any and all aspects of this may be used on and within this subreddit only, with attribution. All other uses are exclusive to the author.
/*******************************/
Nanorix took the news from the advocates in stride, better than Linda. They had spent the night mutually venting at the injustice of the situation while putting away bottles of gin. Max sounded almost broken by the news while Nora the optimist in the family, firmly held to the belief that things would work out. Rufus was, well, Rufus. Intuitively compassionate, which is why he was laying in the front seat of the truck with his head on Linda's lap as they drove up to Flagstaff.
Linda was trying to sleep off her hangover, her eyes closed but not asleep. Alila had been honest that the only reason Garquile was not tied up in this was that he had her direct protection as a territorial governess. Tommy did not have that level of security and without it, he was in more danger than Robert. From what Alila had said, elements in the Interior wanted Robert dead, other interested parties wanted him alive because of his potential. The situation was so bad the Planetary Governess had stepped in and ordered the house arrest of six high-ranking members of the Interior and let it be known that if anything happened to young Mr. Pierce they would die publicly.
Neither Alila nor the planetary governess knew why the Interior wanted Robert dead, she did. After she heard that the pod found the children and what was being done to them. Her lieutenant had completely lost it, she rounded everyone operating the orphanage and lined them against the wall, and had them shot. The Interior had come in and had done what they always did, cleaned up the mess, and protected those who were important and connected. Before the interior got there one of the girls found a large data server and they made copies. There were four full copies still on Earth and one that she knew was off-world, and she had one of them. It had been too dangerous to keep at home so she had setup a remote server that would once a week send out a heartbeat signal. There were major safety measures in place to prevent access.
She had managed to go to Flagstaff for brunch about once a month to establish a pattern of behavior. Those trips with Robert and sometimes Tommy had always been good, nothing special just good days. She and Linda would have brunch and she would trigger a download to her server buried under the barn. When they had spoken with Alila, Max, and Nora, Max had commented that if anybody could stack the deck and pull inside straight now was the time to do it. She did not tell Linda why they had to come, just that she needed to come up and check on something.
She and Linda had a quiet brunch on the patio of the restaurant to allow Rufus to join them. As they ate she triggered the data transfer. The data transfer would take at least thirty minutes to complete, so they would have a nice long brunch and talk about anything but the boys, she even took a couple of selfies of the two of them to cover what she was doing. Rufus camped out under the table but never relaxed, she was not sure if he sensed her unease or something else was going on that she could not see.
They stayed and chit-chatted until Linda finished her third cup of coffee. She did not want the third cup but they needed the extra time to let the data transfer complete, and by that time Linda's hangover had started to subside. The drive home was uneventful, but traffic was horrible due to the festival of colors going on, it was the 4th of July after all.
/*******************************/
Ishani was tired and hungry but had little interest in eating. She and Ensign Tha'xur had been up half the night working to translate the new equations that Robert had created yesterday, with a new understanding of how the translation needed to work. Thoughts of Robert consumed her mind, and she had to fight the urge to look over and watch him, the singular human male. His name seemed to roll off her tongue, lingering from her dreams the previous night as she drifted off to sleep. Those dreams had been far from innocent, filled with exotic and seductive images of him, even in his baggy exercise clothing.
Returning her attention to her food, Ishani shifted uncomfortably. She would need to change her underclothes if she continued dwelling on him like this. Taking another bite of the fruit, nut, and sauce mixture, she tried to enjoy it, but it did little to distract her from watching him. He moved slowly, almost as if dancing, though she couldn't grasp the purpose behind his movements. Ensign Tha'xur's timely arrival saved her from making an obvious fool of herself by staring at a boy nearly two years her junior. It always felt like she was the only one looking.
Ensign Tha'xur sat down with a tray of food and jokingly said, "Ground control to Crewwoman Vevreix, are you awake?" Ishani returned her gaze to her food and responded, "Yes, ma'am, I am awake, just..." Before she could finish her sentence, Ensign Tha'xur interrupted, "Distracted?"
Signing without looking up and absentmindedly playing with her food, Ishani replied, "Yes, ma'am, horribly. It's just... he's just one boy. I have enough common sense to know that there is no way I should even consider... why couldn't he be old, wrinkled, and fat..."
Ensign Tha'xur completed Ishani's thought, saying, "Instead, he's young, fit, and I would even go as far as to say he's attractive in a very unmasculine way, with that wounded, sad boy aura."
Looking up, Ishani was taken aback and asked, "What do you mean 'you could call him attractive'? Are you blind? I mean, he may be a little short, but other than that, he is..." She trailed off, unable to find the right words.
Smiling and taking a bite of her burrito, Ensign Tha'xur replied, "He is desirable, and deep down, I believe you could take away all his pain and sadness... but please don't go there." Shifting into a serious tone, she continued, "I overheard Cmdr Norroe and Lt Cmdr Ashix talking about him the day we arrived. What caught my attention was Cmdr Norroe mentioning his thousand-yard stare that is measured in miles. There are significant parts of his life that we don't have access to because they've been redacted by the interior."
Ishani looked over at Robert, who appeared to have finished his morning workout and was heading towards the mobile kitchen. She murmured, "No one is ever so lost in the deepest of caves that they cannot be found by the beating of their heart. There is always hope and always a way out."
Ensign Tha'xur wiped her face clean of the red sauce that had dripped from her burrito and commented, "You, Crewwoman, are an optimist."
"With all due respect, ma'am, have you looked?" Ishani responded quizzically.
With a wry smile En. Tha'xur replied smoothly "I am technically a married woman and my husband and kho wives are going to be here in three days. I am hoping that my leave request will be honored, we were supposed to go to Tel Aviv for 14 days." Frowning slightly with the last statement.
Ishani gave an understanding smile "Well, that explains why you are not interested. You know, if you want to get the time off then ask for help. What is the worst he can do to say no?"
En. Tha'xur almost laughed at that, "So what should I do ask him over here for you to ogle him and for me to get a chance to go on leave, I do not think he would like that, being that he is here under guard."
Ishani took another bite of her food, ‘alright girl put up or shut up’ she thought to herself, before standing. "Ma'am if you never ask for help you will never get any." This is not a good idea, turning to find Robert who was looking for an open table to eat at. "Robert, can you join us over here, please?" Blessed Nest mother, that sounded so bad she inwardly cringed.
/************************/
Robert had gotten his food-laden tray and was looking for an empty place to sit. It felt a little weird not having a personal shadow always with him. The petty officers had told him last night that he would be given some space and an opportunity to interact with the people here. "Go out, mingle, talk to people, that's a winning idea," he thought sarcastically. Yup, everything was normal again. Alone in a room full of people and completely clueless about how to do the most basic of things, like talking to anybody.
Now, the people he could talk to were a problem. Being the only male and the only human, he received looks. The looks could be categorized into three groups: lust, curiosity, and pity. Dealing with lust was easy; he just chose not to care, and thankfully, they were discreet about it for now. Pity, on the other hand, infuriated him because most of the time, it was fake. Whenever someone expressed their sympathy for all the things he had been through, he wanted to scream. At best, it was a polite social convention, and at worst, it was a selfish and internalized burden of guilt that had nothing to do with him.
Just as he spotted an empty table at the far end, somebody called out his name. "Can you join us over here, please?" Shit, it was Ishani, the one person in the whole damned place who had a very unsettling effect on him. She was the only one here who scared the shit out of him. Taking a breath to collect himself, he acknowledged her with a nod and proceeded to join her and the Ensign at their table.
He noticed that when he acknowledged her, she just beamed and got all bubbly. That was the best word for it. Her glowing tattoos seemed to brighten for just a moment before she sat down, leaving him to wonder what those tattoos looked like on the rest of her body. He made it to the table and sat down on autopilot while his mind indulged in a little fantastical daydream, leaving him noticeably flushed and uncomfortable in ways that only men could be.
Setting his tray and bottle of maple syrup down on the table and taking a seat, Robert tried to say thank you, but neither Ishani nor the Ensign had their translators running.
En. Tha'xur noticed him stop trying to use hand speak and realized that they had just messed up a little. "I am sorry, that was rude of us," she said as she tried to get her translation app up and running. Meanwhile, Ishani was no help; she was head down in her food, blushing and trying very hard not to be noticed. "There, we're set."
Robert was relieved when En. Tha'xur got her translation app running, so he wouldn't have to stare at Ishani across the round table from him. He returned his attention to En. Tha'xur. "I was trying to say thank you for asking me to join you, and it's okay. You at least figured it out."
Ishani looked up from her half-eaten food when En. Tha'xur's translator started speaking. Fuck, she thought, this is so embarrassing. Inviting a boy to come over and eat with you only to ignore him when he gets here. Idiot. Turning to face him, her brain failed as she smiled stupidly and took another bite. "Hungry?"
En. Tha'xur couldn't help but cringe. The situation unfolding before she seemed straight out of a cliché "coming of age" story, where a girl meets a boy and the universe seems to pause just for them. It reminded her of the sentimental videos her older brother and his friends would tear up over. Poor Ishani, the other girls around her would roast her mercilessly, yet she remained oblivious to the fact that she was being watched. En. Tha'xur couldn't decide if it was cute or tragic. Determined to intervene and save Ishani from herself, she spoke up, "Robert, the reason Crewwoman Vevreix invited you over is that I need your help."
"Hungry?" Robert was caught off guard by Ishani's question. Did she even understand what she was doing? He found her confusing, and he just wanted to finish his meal quickly and GTFO. En. Tha'xur was speaking, but he had missed what she said. He decided to play dumb and replied, "OK."
En. Tha'xur thought to herself, "This is good." She then explained, "Well, my husband and my three kho wives are going to be arriving on Earth in three days. I had scheduled a 14-day leave, but then I received an emergency assignment here, and I don't know if they will honor my leave request."
Robert had managed to pay enough attention to understand that she needed a favor. He had two basic choices: give a hard no and explain that the advocates wouldn't allow him to help until they gave the go-ahead, or try to answer her questions. His best option was to listen and see if he could offer some hints. "I am quite restricted by what my advocates have told me to do, but I will try to point you in the right direction."
Finally, Ishani managed to gather her thoughts and interjected, "See, I told you, all you need to do is ask."
En. Tha'xur rolled her eyes, silently expressing her frustration towards Ishani. She replied, "Thank you, can you help?"
Talking with his mouth full wasn't polite and attempting to gesture while eating proved to be a challenge. Robert sighed as he reluctantly set down his fork, his stomach growling in protest. "Yes, I will genuinely help you. And if you're wondering why," Robert paused, trying to understand his willingness to assist, "it's because you asked. Now, the big question is, do you even know what you want to ask?"
Ishani eagerly jumped in, unknowingly giving En. Tha'xur some time to formulate a proper question to ask. "Okay, if I can ask one too, please?"
Robert held up one finger as he obeyed the demands of his stomach and shoved a load of runny fried eggs and hash browns in his mouth. "Sure, since you saved me from eating alone." Robert swallowed hard after he finished speaking, realizing he had just unintentionally flirted with her. Thinking inwardly, "Shut up, dumb ass. You are going to get yourself in trouble."
Ishani sputtered like Joe Pesci for just a couple of seconds before getting to her real question. "Ok, ok, ok, ok." Pointing to the work area where the Charger was, she asked, "Why is the car so important? Why did you build it?"
Robert shoveled another load of eggs and hash browns into his mouth. "Why would a human boy on Earth, living in North America, want to build a fast car and one that could fly?" Pausing to inhale the bite of his eggs and hash browns, he continued, "Because it was fun, and it would have been cool to have a hotrod and be the only one to fly. Well, that would be a show-off, a little, and to have a shitload of fun flying around in it."
En. Tha'xur cluelessly responded, "What is a 'hotrod,' and why would a flying car be 'cool'? I guess that means good?"
Robert had to roll his head back before responding, to the idea of attempting to explain custom car and motorcycle cultures. "Humans like to personalize cars and other things as expressions of their personalities and rolling pieces of art in some cases. For a human boy to be able to build a car and go fast is a dream. Hotrods are the result of those builds."
Taking another break to move the French toast in front of him and pour on the maple syrup, he continued, "Back to the first part of your question, 'Why is it important?' Other than a personal attachment to the memories connected to it... it is not, in the grand scheme of things, it was a mistake. A very valuable mistake, it disproved one of my approaches to a bigger challenge."
En. Tha'xur and Crewwoman Vevreix just looked at each other and mouthed the same words, "It was a fucking mistake!!"
Robert tried to hide his smug satisfaction. Nobody ever considered just how much of his work was critical and applied to his big challenge. Ishani looked at Robert as he dug into his French toast. "If that was a mistake, what is the prize?" Robert just smiled and shrugged in response to the question. En. Tha'xur sat dejected, "Well, that did answer one of the big questions. The car is a stepping stone to the bigger thing."
Watching the Ensign sit dejected and look a little lost made Robert feel like a little shit. Flipping the bird to the bureaucratic machine that was the Imperium always felt like a "fuck yes," but trolling a person was different. She had asked him for help, and he had used it to be petty and spiteful. "You don't need to ask right now, and if you loan me your data slate, I will give you a couple of hints," he said, reaching out for the device.
En. Tha'xur handed over the data slate wordlessly. Robert opened a new document and wrote:
"If you have 'The Right Stuff,' you can connect the dots."
"Space-Time Gravity is not the same as Gravity Space-Time."
When he finished, he handed the data slate back to the ensign and returned to his food. En. Tha'xur picked up the data slate, read the hints, and found the first line to be of no use other than some devotional wisdom that would be preached in a temple. However, the second line held interesting possibilities. Grabbing the data slate, Ishani quickly scanned the text and handed it back to En. Tha'xur. "Thank you, I think we can work with this," she said. Turning to En. Tha'xur, she added, "Ma'am, I think we need to work in conference room 2 today. It has the other digital whiteboard, and I think we need the space."
En. Tha'xur picked up the data slate and looked right at Robert. "I don't get the first one. The second one could be applied in a dozen or more places."
Finishing his first piece of French toast, Robert tried to remember the order of the equations to point her in the right direction. "Show me my work from last night, and I will show you the one to work against. Don't try to finish it, just try to understand it."
En. Tha'xur handed the translated copy of Robert's work back to him, and he looked at it with a mixture of fascination and difficulty. It was strange to see his work presented so neatly, but it was also challenging to read. He had to mentally retranslate it to the original version he had written. Working through the problem brought his headache back in full force, making the surroundings too bright and diminishing his appetite. Robert tried to hide his discomfort, squinting his eyes and taking deep breaths.
Concerned, Ishani noticed his strained expression and asked, "Are you alright? You don't look well."
With a weak smile, Robert replied, "I shouldn't have done that. I usually take a couple of days off after my little flying trips. It's like working out too hard and feeling extremely sore the next day, then trying to work out again. Not fun."
En. Tha'xur felt uneasy knowing that Robert was enduring pain to help her. She thought of her father and how he would be disappointed in her. "Are you sure you don't need a doctor?" she asked, genuinely concerned.
"I'll be fine, I just need some sleep," Robert reassured them, pushing his plate of food away. "If either of you wants to finish this, go for it. At the very least, don't waste the bacon."
Ishani reached for the plate and admitted, "I've heard about bacon, but I'm a little afraid to try new foods. I don't want to be disappointed."
En. Tha'xur reached for a piece of bacon, saying, "I love bacon. I'll even taste-test it to make sure it's okay." She smiled at Ishani and took a bite.
Robert observed as En. Tha'xur's eyes widened in shock. Oops, he remembered that he had coated the bacon in maple syrup. However, she didn't spit it out, which was a good sign. His mom loved crispy bacon dipped in maple syrup. Sometimes, she would devour an entire package of bacon if there was maple syrup in the house, and then she would try to conceal the fact that a pound of bacon had disappeared. She would even do her dishes, a chore that was usually Robert's.
En. Tha'xur bit into the bacon, expecting a salty taste but experiencing the combination of sweet and salty. The flavor was incredible. She paused to savor the taste before chewing again. "You have to try this!" she exclaimed.
Ishani, with anticipation in her eyes, sniffed the remaining piece of bacon. "Here goes nothing." She cherished this moment, as it was the closest she had come to tasting her nest mother's nectar. Grabbing the plate, she declared, "I'm finishing this!" and devoured the last piece of French toast without bothering with utensils.
Despite his throbbing headache, Robert couldn't help but smile as he rose from the table. "Enjoy. I need some sleep."
/*******************************/
Tommy had to roll his eyes at Valenlina's latest attempt to "improve" his wardrobe with a purple satin shirt with a matching sea green scarf. No matter how many times Valenlina tried to have Tommy dress like a proper male, Tommy always simply said no. Early on in the dating, Valenlina had gotten so frustrated that she also broke up with him, not that she ever told him. Her father and kho mother Tearhart had stepped in and explained that she could not make a human be like a Shil. The Imperium still tried, and the Humans resisted more. There were several semi-celebrities on the data-net that advised Shil’vai women on dating human males and females. The most common rule for dating a human male is not to try and change them to be acceptable in your circle because they will resent you for it. You have attracted a human male for a reason, embrace it.
Their walk through downtown Prescott was a moment the Tommy did not have to think about the meeting tomorrow. Early this morning he and his mother had gotten almost an hour of one on one time with Advocate Roskin and she was able to explain in greater detail what was expected of him tomorrow and how things could go right or wrong. Withholding information was one of the worse things he could do. After the meeting, Valenlina noticed the additional stress in Tommy. It was so bad that physical affection had no effect. There was only one thing other than sex that could distraction, window shopping.
Their window shopping trip started as a serious attempt to make him presentable in Shil’vati society, ow her attempts to help him look more presentable were just something they did to have fun. In many ways, it was closer to foreplay now, as Tommy now attempts to have Valenlina dress like a human girl. Tommy did have one big win, a pair of 4-inch-high heels, he had said they improved the view coming and going. Her big win last year was a shirt and tie set for his tailored charcoal suit, he was finally willing to wear formal attire with a splash color.
Valenlina could see her best effort to pull Tommy out of what his mother called a 'funk' were not working. He was still not willing to talk to her about it, she could understand that he was pissed but his silence bothered her. While he had not pushed her away, he still felt distant. Last year's fireworks had been the warmup act for what had followed. She could never look at Mr. Scott's old Ford pickup without blushing just a little bit.
Tommy smiled with a wicked little smile, "Thinking dirty thoughts again I see." he said holding up a pair of women's cowboy boots in hot pink.
Playfully Valenlina put on her pouty face, "What would you wear with them?"
Taking his turn to think dirty thoughts and hoping to see her turn dark blue Tommy put on his most innocent face, "First this is a girl's color, and they would be for you, but what would I wear if you wanted me to try them on? Nothing?" Emphasizing the last word.
With a facade of indignation, "Why Mr. Sandoval, are you implying that the Governess's daughter would be involved in anything so uncouth as to make a respectable male present himself for inspection with only what the Goddess endowed him with?"
Tommy returned the boots to the display and stepped forward to steal a kiss."My Dear Miss Seskie, you know dammed well that you would take full advantage of that situation."
Returning the kiss, Valenlina smiled. "Yes, Mr. Sandoval I would." She bent down to whisper into his ear. "I think we both need to cool off or we will never make it to the fireworks show."
Tommy took her by the hand." Looks like I'll have to settle for mint chocolate chip ice cream."
Valenlina put on a hurt expression. "You are so cruel."
They left the window shopping and continued walking back to the courthouse square. The roads around the court were closed for three days for Frontier Days and the Festive of Colors. This opened the court square up for a giant art show and sales venue. This was the change for local artisans to show off their wares in the hopes of making one or selling to a noble patron and then getting follow-up commission work. The north side of the courthouse was dedicated to custom motorcycles and the east side was for classic custom cars. The west side, known as "Whiskey Row" is where the food vendors and their destination Jacksons Ice Cream was set up right in front of the Palace Restaurant and Saloon.
Turning the corner to walk up Whiskey Row Tommy could not help but feel he was being watched. Tommy had to keep Valenlina from heading off to go look at this or that. He had to remind her, that ice cream was first or he would have to give her a spanking. Valenlina would always retort with, "Promises, promises".
When they were getting their ice cream Valenlina nudged Tommy and told him to look across the street. Standing in front of a face painting booth was a short portly balding human male with a puggy round face. He wearing a well-made black suit, the only thing missing from the 1930s gangster getup was a fedora hat.
Taking their ice cream and heading off to a wood sculptor's booth Tommy kicked himself mentally for not seeing him earlier, he was the only person wearing a business suit. He should have stood out like a sore thumb, but he just seemed to blend in. The booth was impressive, boasting several pieces commissioned by various members of the nobility. Tommy ate his ice cream and kept an eye on the gangster while Valenlina inspected the various pieces and got sticker shock.
Tommy tried to get Valenlina's attention when the gangster entered the booth and proceeded to the cane rack. By the time Valenlina noticed, the gangster was already paying for the cane he had selected.
When the gangster finished his transaction, he turned to Tommy and Valenlina." Well if it isn't the young man of the hour, Thomas Sandoval. It's a pleasure to meet you. As well as you, Miss Seskie."
Flustered, Tommy stuttered out, "Who the fuck are you? Have you been watching me?"
The man smiled, but it felt unnerving, maybe a little malicious, too., "My name is Mr. Rojo and I watch everybody. It's my calling, but I will admit that you and your brother have piqued my interest. I go through life watching the world go by, I enjoy the shifting mosaic of peoples' lives, and how they interconnect. For example, the car that you and your brother build was a 69 or 70 I could not tell with what is out on the news media.”
Tommy waited to tell this to go pound sand, but he need to talk and tell Mr. Rojo what even he needed, Tommy forgot Valenlina was listening as he spoke.” It is a 69, why is that important?”
The gangster slowly dropped part of his smile as he replied, ”It is not important, it is merely a curiosity just like why not use the Confederate battle flag and why the name Valkirey?”
Eagerly Tommy responded, “The Betsy Ross over the Stars and Bars, because it is more appropriate at this time and the Shil’vati Imperium has no idea what it means, instead of erasing human history maybe the Shil’vati could try learning from it.” almost quoting Sean Connery about goose stopping morons and burning books. “ Now for Valkire over General Lee, that is easy, Valkire’s are sexy and cool. and General Lee would get us in trouble, just like the Stars and Bars.”
The gangster's smile was completely gone, and his expression and tone had changed to serious but neutral almost professorial, “But I have a simple question for you, and I'd greatly appreciate it if you would give me an honest answer, Thomas what is gravity?"
Thomas could not stop himself and replied without hesitation. "Gravity is a higher dimensional construct. When projected from a higher dimension it appears to be a force, but to use it as a dimensional construct the space-time gravity interpretation must be inverted to be the first-dimensional construct so that space-time gravity becomes gravitational space-time with an indeterminate number of dimensional constructs between gravity and space."
The gangster looked surprised, while Valenlina looked utterly confused. "Is that your brother Robert's words or yours?"
Thomas hesitated only slightly before he replied. "Mostly Robert's, I can't dream up the shit he does but once he explains it, I can see it. He uses me as a sounding board." Tommy suddenly realized what he was saying. "Who the fuck are you?"
The gangster took Tommy's hand to shake it. "Mr. Sandoval, I told you I am a watcher and now I get to watch you. Have a glorious life Mr. Sandoval" nodding to Valenlina, "and you too, Miss Seskie."
Tommy watched as the gangster walked out of the booth noting that nobody noticed his passing.
Valenlina had been too engrossed in Mr. Rojo and Tommy's conversation to say or do anything, but now that Mr. Rojo was no longer there she angrily turned to face Tommy."Thomas, you have some explaining to do!"
Tommy would not realize until much later, that the gangster had placed the cane in his has as he left.
/*******************************/
First:
Janissary: The Joy Ride Ch1 : Sexyspacebabes (reddit.com)
Previous:
Janissary: The Joy Ride Ch7 : Sexyspacebabes (reddit.com)
Next:
Chapter 8
Extra:
Janissary: The Son Of War : Sexyspacebabes (reddit.com)
Janissary: Vision from Zy'Verila : Sexyspacebabes (reddit.com)

Hello there! Your local lightsaber group is hosting a small lightsaber tournament tomorrow at 7:15pm at University Park East in Palm Desert (right off of cook street)! Come and join us in celebrating the fun of star wars while our fighters bruise themselves for entertainment! Water will be available for all spectators, don't let the heat beat ya!
Here is the link to our facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/935342174463394
Here is the link to our insta if your curious to see what we do or what it will look like: https://www.instagram.com/penguinsaberacademy/
Hope to see some of you there!

Hello there! Your local lightsaber group is hosting a small lightsaber tournament tomorrow at 7:15pm at University Park East in Palm Desert (right off of cook street)! Come and join us in celebrating the fun of star wars while our fighters bruise themselves for entertainment! Water will be available for all spectators, don't let the heat beat ya!
Here is the link to our facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/935342174463394
Here is the link to our insta if your curious to see what we do or what it will look like: https://www.instagram.com/penguinsaberacademy/
Hope to see some of you there!

As a Mongolian born in China, the pattern of the Turkish opposition reminds me of the so-called Tiananmen Square leaders. After the massacre in Tiananmen Square in 1989, these people were seen by the Western world as the most hopeful opposition in China. Over the past thirty years, these people have received substantial funding from the West, but they have used this funding to satisfy their own luxurious lifestyles. They hold annual candlelight memorial events, attend inaugurations of various monuments and memorial halls to gain attention, sympathy, and more funding, and then that's it. They have not taken any substantial actions against the rule of the Chinese Communist Party; they simply repeat their own tragic experiences to gain attention and more support. They would rather spend money on continuing to build meaningless monuments than use it to lobby American politicians and economists.
Why do I think the Turkish opposition is similar to these wastes? In fact, if you just observe the various leaders of the Turkish opposition, you will see how small the world is, with one group of wastes resembling another in astonishing ways.
First, the leader of the Turkish opposition, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, is a terrible leader. What's even worse is that he is considered the most suitable candidate the opposition can come up with. He is a fascist politician in any country's political spectrum, yet he appears very moderate within the entire opposition group. Moreover, he exercises various forms of centralization within the party. In fact, he is a poor replica of Erdoğan within the CHP. Despite leading his team to lose almost all significant elections for twelve consecutive years, he has not been dismissed or assassinated, which makes one wonder if the entire CHP is composed of social scum with less ability than Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, to the extent that no one wants to hire an unemployed dockworker from Istanbul with lira that is practically indistinguishable from waste paper to replace him.
Fortunately, the average intelligence of the Turkish people is not so bad, but unfortunately, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's support rate among intellectually normal voters in Turkey is pitiful, and he has no chance of winning against Erdoğan in a one-on-one election. So, he formed an opposition alliance that includes well-known fascist figure Meral Akşener, a Gray Wolf who massacred thousands of Kurds and suffers from severe hyperthyroidism, Ekrem İmamoğlu, an overeducated intellectual, and Mansur Yavaş, a former member of the terrorist organization MHP who constantly aims to take over Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu himself. He may need to appoint 6 to 8 vice presidents after winning the election.
The opposition alliance was formed, although almost everyone in it has a record of killing and abusing civilians, and they are basically racists and fascists. Yet, they are praised by the Western media as the embodiment of freedom and democracy. By the way, most of the student leaders in the Tiananmen Square in China, who were hailed by the West as democratic fighters, have a father who is a general in the People's Liberation Army or a high-ranking official in the Chinese Communist Party.
However, even so, their approval ratings were still insufficient to secure an electoral victory. As a result, they reached out to the main Kurdish party, the CHP. But as mentioned earlier, almost everyone in this so-called opposition alliance is a racist and fascist. You can guess what happened. Without the Kurdish votes, they were bound to lose. However, from the first day of the elections, this group of misfits began mentally abusing Kurdish voters, commanding them to vote for them or else Kurdish rights would be further restricted under Erdogan's re-election. They refused to adopt any policies that would benefit the Kurdish people after the elections, refused to release Kurdish politicians imprisoned, refused to stop oppressing the Kurds, and even forced Kurdish politicians to admit that the Kurdish people in prison were all deservedly labeled as terrorists.
The political agenda of the opposition alliance has nothing to do with freedom, democracy, or human rights. Anyone with a shred of common sense can see that their ultimate goal is to replace Erdogan's extreme nationalist and racist government with another extreme nationalist and racist government that is pro-Western. The only difference between them and Erdogan is that one is pro-West and the other is anti-West.
Similarly, China's so-called opposition leaders also harbor hostility towards ethnic minorities in East Turkestan and Tibet. They have long refused to engage with Tibetan and Uighur organizations, and some even call for the violent occupation of Taiwan and deny the existence of concentration camps in East Turkestan, labeling the Dalai Lama as a terrorist.
Naturally, Western countries activated their propaganda machinery. Even Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's Twitter videos, which are as boring as my grandmother's bedtime stories, managed to garner millions of views. Keep in mind that Turkey has a population of only 85 million. Pre-election polls funded by the West consistently showed that the opposition would win by a significant margin. But these opposition leaders, after seeing such obvious false propaganda, managed to deceive themselves. It is truly shocking that these carefully planned intentions to undermine Erdogan and his supporters had no effect on their target audience. Erdogan's supporters continued to rally enthusiastically, while the opposition fell for the deception themselves.
Since March, there has been an abnormal optimism within the opposition. All my Turkish friends believed that the opposition would surely win, and as a result, the opposition alliance fell into severe internal strife. Meral Akşener, along with Mansur Yavaş, attempted to overthrow Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, and other candidates resorted to violence to secure positions in the new government. Kurdish leaders were told that they would have no place in the new government while being labeled as terrorists, yet they were still asked to vote for the opposition.
This reminds me of the period before the 1964 massacre, when those heroes in the squares believed they could seize power and started appointing provincial governors and ministers. By the way, during this time, these people remained highly vigilant against the demands of Tibetan and Uighur people, who were informed that they would have no place in the new government but were still asked to support the opposition's cause.
This dark humor frenzy continued until May 14, and we all know the result—the opposition lost in the first round of elections. The opposition was shocked by the outcome and spent a whole week without taking any substantive action. Then, these useless individuals decided to abandon the Kurds and embarked on a campaign of extreme nationalism and racism to appease nationalist voters. The result? They suffered an even more disastrous defeat in the second round of elections.
Then what happened was that the opposition accused election fraud, but eventually accepted the results without any demonstrations or street movements. The opposition alliance, which had been aggressive before the elections, disappeared like a deflated balloon. After losing the support of the Western media machinery, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's video views returned to normal.
So, what are these opposition parties doing now? They are busy blaming each other, seeing it as the fault of the West, the Kurds, the Azerbaijani dictator Aliyev, the Kurds again, and the Armenians. Basically, it's anyone's fault except their own.
By the way, the opposition in China has been doing the same thing for decades, portraying themselves as perfect victims and blaming the whole world.
I understand that the political ecosystems in China, Turkey, Armenia, and Mongolia have many differences, but there are also commonalities in political logic.
China's opposition has been fragmented for over thirty years, while Tibetan and Uighur people have established their own unified authoritative institutions and held several democratic elections. Yet, the Chinese opposition still attacks each other like a group of mafia gangs.
The situation of the Turkish opposition today is similar. Each opposition leader within their own parties acts like a mini-Erdoğan, while the PKK-YPG organization, which has always been seen by the mainstream Turkish public as terrorists, becomes increasingly disciplined and organized.
It seems to me that both the Turkish and Chinese opposition, just like the ruling class in their respective countries, are actually part of the imperial ambitions. They don't oppose Erdoğan and Xi Jinping's imperial ambitions; they only believe that they can achieve those ambitions better if the state machinery is in their hands. Therefore, their opposition to Erdoğan and Xi Jinping is not against these toxic ambitions but rather a desire to replace them.
Thus, they participate in politics with a ruler's mindset, believing themselves to be the chosen ones. They are more inclined towards winner-takes-all, while Tibetan, Kurdish, and Uighur people, who are relatively disadvantaged ethnic groups, tend to cooperate and compromise, which makes them perform better in political operations.
What's even worse is that, like the Chinese opposition, most supporters of the Turkish opposition are urban students and middle-class individuals from coastal areas. Moreover, these regions historically lack a culture of martial arts, have alarmingly low military enrollment rates, and lack any armed forces, either foreign or domestic, similar to India's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to protect themselves. This leads to the situation where this group can only attack Erdoğan in the realm of public opinion.
I know that public opinion can play a significant role in many cases, but to be honest, throughout history, public opinion has been like pepper on a steak, adding flavor but having no practical effect. Hitler was defeated by the Allied forces, not by newspaper articles exposing the atrocities in concentration camps. Saddam was captured by the US military, not by online criticism.
If the opposition considers the elections unfair, they should find ways to use force or initiate street uprisings to overthrow the unjust results, just like the Ukrainians did in 2014. Instead, they engage in ineffective and superficial actions through public opinion.
Unfortunately, this is the current behavior of the Turkish opposition. They simultaneously shout that the PKK is a terrorist organization, that the Republic of Turkey doesn't need a second official language, that Greece oppresses the Muslim minority in Western Thrace, that the Greek president is weak in the face of Erdoğan, that they support Azerbaijan's invasion of Armenia, that the Armenian president attended Erdoğan's inauguration ceremony, that they cheer for the ethnic cleansing of Kurds in Afrin, and that they blame Syrian Kurds for not liking them. These people want others to fight and sacrifice for them against Erdoğan so that they can enjoy privileges on the land stolen from the great massacre in the Republic of Turkey, while they hide behind and reap the benefits.
Now, I actually wish that Erdoğan would drive tanks into Istanbul and give these opposition parties a heroic death so that everyone would forget these pathetic clowns. At least, many years later, their children would shed tears in front of their tombstones instead of laughing at the ridiculous words and actions of their parents before their death.
I can already foresee the ultimate outcome of these so-called opposition groups. The West has wasted thirty years of time and money on the Chinese opposition, and now they have wasted five precious years on the Turkish opposition. I hope that those who harbor illusions about the Turkish opposition, especially the Armenians, understand that these people are nothing but a laughable bunch of waste. It would be better to channel their energy and resources into engaging with Greece, Cyprus, France, and the United States. Even negotiating with Erdoğan in exchange for time and money to rearm would be more productive than hoping for any internal change within Turkey through the so-called opposition.
I apologize for my limited English proficiency. These are some thoughts I have shared with some political science friends regarding the recent election results in Turkey. If there are any inaccuracies, I welcome corrections.

Hello,
Ditch the Drive: The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is excited to announce the finalized list of mitigation items for the upcoming 8-week closure of the Sumner Tunnel / Route 1A South (July 5 – August 31).
The following are the mitigation items by region:
Logan Airport • Real time travel time data for shuttle services: SL1 (https://www.mbta.com/schedules/741/line), Logan Express (https://www.massport.com/logan-airport/to-from-logan/transportation-options/logan-express), Airport Shuttles (https://www.massport.com/logan-airport/to-from-logan/transportation-options/on-airport-shuttle/) • Fare free Blue Line service at Airport Station • Logan Express o 25% discount during full closure and kids under 12 ride free o Employee parking relocated to provide additional customer parking at Braintree Logan Express • Silver Line o Real time travel information on Silver Line shuttles o Use of the I-90 EB Emergency Ramp for Silver Line to reduce travel time • Water Transportation o “Skip the Security Line” at Logan for all water transportation users o Winthrop Ferry o MBTA to operate Winthrop Ferry with service to Winthrop, Quincy, Logan Airport, Aquarium and Seaport o Zone 1A/ .40 one-way trip
East Boston, Revere, and Winthrop • MBTA Blue Line o Fare free Blue Line during the full 8-week closure o parking at all Blue Line station parking lots o Trains approximately every 6 minutes (morning and evening rush hour) o Additional free parking near Wood Island Station • MBTA East Boston Ferry Service (https://www.mbta.com/schedules/Boat-EastBoston/timetable) o Fare free during full closure • Winthrop Ferry o MBTA to operate Winthrop Ferry with service to Winthrop, Quincy, Logan Airport, Aquarium and Seaport o Zone 1A/ .40 one-way trip • Reduced Tolls for Active Drivers in Annual Sumner Tunnel Resident Program o EZ Pass accounts active in the Resident Program (https://www.ezdrivema.com/E-ZPass-MA/Special-Programs) will receive a toll discount on the Tobin Bridge and Ted Williams Tunnel during tunnel closures
North Shore • Commuter Rail Reduced Fares and Parking Fees o Zone 1A fare/ (.40) for inbound and outbound trips from Swampscott and Salem Stations (https://www.mbta.com/fares/commuter-rail-fares/zones) o Reduced parking fees ( a day) at Salem and Swampscott commuter rail lots o Free parking at Beverly Depot, North Beverly, Monserrat, Rowley, Gloucester, Hamilton/Wenham, Newburyport, and West Gloucester • Return of Lynn to Boston ferry service o Ferry service returns between Blossom Street Pier and Long Wharf (South) near Aquarium o 10 trips per day o Zone 1A/ .40 during full closure o Free parking at Blossom Street Pier • MBTA Blue Line o Fare free Blue Line during the full 8-week closure o parking at all Blue Line station parking lots o Trains every 6 minutes (morning and evening rush hour)
For any comments or questions, please email the project team at [email protected].
Regards, The Sumner Tunnel Restoration Project

Just like the title said, I was on my way home and I saw a ton of these nasty bugs on this huge plant in front of a few houses across the street from the East Liberty post office! I was able to spray them with a dish soap/vinegawater mix and will come back regularly to spray the plant. I’m so terrified of the Spotted Lanterfly (and their nymphs), so I’d like them to be gone as best as we can get!
If there are better ways to get rid of them (again, they’re in front of other people’s gates, and I don’t have access to much other resources), let me know! Let’s kill these invasive bugs 💪

I have multiple copies for most of my games, Trades are mostly based on prices from gg.deals. Please notify me if my keys are not for your personal use (i won't take any responsibility if i wasn't notified) and also please clearly state what you have and want in exchange when making an offer, i have no interest in buying games for Keys/Gems etc. and i also have no interest in Alpha, Beta, Curator, Dev and Non-Steam Keys

Barter.vg Reddit Steam Profile SteamTrades

FUEL (Removed from Steam Store) Magicka: Wizards of the Square Tablet (Removed from Steam Store) Human Resource Machine (Steam Inventory Gift) Magicka+All DLC's except Ninth Element Novel Magicka Shank 2 Operation Flashpoint: Red River (Removed from Steam Store) Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards: Reloaded (Removed from Steam Store) All Zombies Must Die! (Removed from Steam Store) R.I.P.D.: The Game (Removed from Steam Store) ibb & obb (Steam Inventory Gift) Afterfall InSanity Extended Edition (Removed from Steam Store) eXceed - Gun Bullet Children (Removed from Steam Store) eXceed 2nd - Vampire REX (Removed from Steam Store) God Mode (Removed from Steam Store) Gundemonium Recollection (Removed from Steam Store) Hitogata Happa (Removed from Steam Store) Naval War: Arctic Circle (Removed from Steam Store) Red Faction+Red Faction II Red Faction®: Armageddon™+Red Faction Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered+Red Faction Guerrilla Steam Edition Real World Racing (Removed from Steam Store) GundeadliGne (Removed from Steam Store) Beast Boxing Turbo (Removed from Steam Store) BlazeRush eXceed 3rd - Jade Penetrate Black Package (Removed from Steam Store) FortressCraft Evolved! Jagged Alliance - Back in Action King Arthur Collection (March 2012) Mini Motor Racing EVO+Mini Motor Racing X Monday Night Combat Sine Mora+Sine Mora EX Surgeon Simulator The Showdown Effect (Removed from Steam Store) Zeno Clash 2 Angel Express [Tokkyu Tenshi] Cloud Chamber (Removed from Steam Store) Darwinia DEFCON Demigod Droplitz (Removed from Steam Store) eversion ENDLESS™ Space - Definitive Edition (Steam Inventory Gift) Frozen Synapse Prime (Steam Inventory Gift) Galaxy on Fire 2™ Full HD Hack 'n' Slash (Steam Inventory Gift) Hard Reset Extended Edition Hydrophobia: Prophecy MIND: Path to Thalamus Enhanced Edition Multiwinia No Time to Explain+No Time To Explain Remastered On The Path Out There Somewhere (Steam Inventory Gift) Paranormal State: Poison Spring (Removed from Steam Store) Patrician IV Gold Post Apocalyptic Mayhem Primal Carnage Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad with Rising Storm Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood Run Away Sacred Gold Space Rangers (Removed from Steam Store) Spirited Heart Deluxe Splendor Suguri Collection The First Templar - Steam Special Edition The Ironclads Collection The Old City: Leviathan The Ship - 2 Pack Gift (Steam Inventory Gift) Trainz Settle and Carlisle Trainz™ Simulator 12 UFO: Afterlight+UFO: Afterlight - Old Version Uplink Warlock - Master of the Arcane War of the Roses (Removed from Steam Store) World War 1 Centennial Edition (Removed from Steam Store) Jets'n'Guns Gold Anna - Extended Edition BanHammer (Removed from Steam Store) Beat Hazard Complete Betrayer (Removed from Steam Store) Bionic Heart Crazy Machines 2 Crazy Machines Elements Crazy Machines: Golden Gears Defenders of Ardania (Removed from Steam Store) Depths of Fear :: Knossos (Removed from Steam Store) Driftmoon Edna & Harvey: The Breakout Europa Universalis III Complete Fairy Bloom Freesia FlatOut Flower Shop: Summer In Fairbrook Flower Shop: Winter In Fairbrook Gettysburg: Armored Warfare (Removed from Steam Store) Grand Ages: Rome GOLD Hearts of Iron 2 Complete Heileen 1: Sail Away Heileen 2: The Hands Of Fate Heileen 3: New Horizons Interstellar Marines Ion Assault KAMI King's Bounty: Armored Princess Knights of Honor Knock-knock Koi-Koi Japan [Hanafuda playing cards] Lilly Looking Through Little Racers STREET LYNE Megabyte Punch Painkiller Overdose Painkiller: Recurring Evil Painkiller Redemption Patrician IV Praetorians Rebel Galaxy Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 SATAZIUS Skara - The Blade Remains Sky Mercenaries The Void Toby: The Secret Mine Tropico Reloaded Tropico 4 Unexplored Zombie Driver HD Complete Edition About Love, Hate and the other ones A Game of Dwarves Air Conflicts: Secret Wars A.R.E.S.: Extinction Agenda A Valley Without Wind+A Valley Without Wind 2 BANZAI PECAN: The Last Hope For the Young Century Beat Hazard Blood Knights CAPSULE Chroma Squad Cities in Motion Dangerous Waters Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game Dark Fall: Lost Souls Death to Spies+Death to Spies: Moment of Truth Dementium II HD Deponia Disciples II: Gallean's Return Disciples II: Rise of the Elves Dollar Dash (Removed from Steam Store) Dungeons Dungeons - The Dark Lord Eastside Hockey Manager Finding Teddy Frederic: Evil Strikes Back Ghost Master® Grand Ages: Rome Home Imperial Glory Imperium Romanum Gold Edition Kalaban Knights of Pen and Paper +1 Edition Leviathan: Warships (Removed from Steam Store) Men of War: Assault Squad - Game of the Year Edition Meridian: New World Motorama NecroVision NecroVisioN: Lost Company Not The Robots Nuclear Dawn Oniken: Unstoppable Edition Onikira - Demon Killer Patrician III PixelJunk™ Monsters Ultimate Rooks Keep Solar Flux Solar Shifter EX Summoner Sweet Lily Dreams Switch Galaxy Ultra Sword of the Stars: Complete Collection The Journey Down: Chapter Two The Last Tinker™: City of Colors Tropico 3 Truck Racer Trulon: The Shadow Engine Tulpa Vessel Violett Remastered Viscera Cleanup Detail: Santa's Rampage Zombie Driver HD Alien Hallway Alien Shooter 2: Reloaded A New Beginning - Final Cut Angvik AquaNox AquaNox 2: Revelation Axis Game Factory's AGFPRO + Voxel Sculpt + PREMIUM Bundle Bad Rats: the Rats' Revenge Ballpoint Universe - Infinite Bang Bang Racing Battle Group 2 Bridge Constructor Bridge Constructor Medieval Cargo! The Quest for Gravity Cat on a Diet Ceville Cold War Commander: Conquest of the Americas Commandos 2: Men of Courage Commandos 3: Destination Berlin Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines Crash Time 3 Curse: The Eye of Isis Dark Fear Dead Hungry Diner Deadly 30 Deep Dungeons of Doom Drawful 2 Driftland: The Magic Revival Dynamite Jack East India Company Eidolon El Matador Elven Legacy Empress Of The Deep Eurofighter Typhoon Explodemon Face Noir Faces of War Fantasy Wars Final Slam 2 Fireburst Galactic Civilizations® I: Ultimate Edition GeoVox Gravi Greed: Black Border Greed Corp Grind Zones Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes Grotesque Tactics 2 – Dungeons and Donuts Gunman Clive Guns of Icarus Online Hacker Evolution Duality Hacker Evolution Source Code Haegemonia: Legions of Iron Helicopter Simulator 2014: Search and Rescue Hexcells Plus Holy Avatar vs. Maidens of the Dead Idol Hands In Between inMomentum Keebles Konung 2 Konung 3: Ties of the Dynasty Labyrinthine Dreams Last Knight: Rogue Rider Edition Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West Machines At War 3 Majesty 2 Making History: The Calm & the Storm Mata Hari Men of War™ Men of War: Assault Squad Men of War: Red Tide Miner Wars 2081 Miner Wars Arena Mirror Mysteries Mountain M.U.D. TV Musaic Box Overcast - Walden and the Werewolf Paranautical Activity: Deluxe Atonement Edition Perimeter Pixel Heroes: Byte & Magic Plush POPixel Probably Archery Purgatory: War of the Damned Puzzle Kingdoms Quell Quell Memento Quell Reflect Real Horror Stories Ultimate Edition Really Big Sky Reign: Conflict of Nations Rig n Roll Rush Bros. Sacraboar Satellite Repairman Saturday Morning RPG Save the Dodos Shadowgrounds Survivor Shadows: Price For Our Sins Sinless + OST Skilltree Saga SoulCraft Space Empires IV Deluxe Space Empires V Star Ruler Starsphere Star Wolves Star Wolves 3: Civil War Steel Storm: Burning Retribution Syberia II Teddy Floppy Ear - Mountain Adventure (Removed from Steam Store) Teddy Floppy Ear - The Race (Removed from Steam Store) Terrian Saga: KR-17 Theatre of War Theatre of War 2: Africa 1943 Theatre of War 2: Kursk 1943 Theatre of War 3: Korea The God's Chain The Joylancer: Legendary Motor Knight The Kings' Crusade Tobe's Vertical Adventure Trapped Dead Turba Twin Sector Two Brothers (Removed from Steam Store) Two Worlds II HD Type:Rider Vault Cracker Vegas: Make It Big™ Velvet Assassin Warriors' Wrath Who's That Flying?! Windforge XIII Century – Gold Edition Yumsters 2: Around the World Zombie Pirates ZombieRush Zombie Shooter

I have multiple copies for most of my games, Trades are mostly based on prices from gg.deals. Please notify me if my keys are not for your personal use (i won't take any responsibility if i wasn't notified) and also please clearly state what you have and want in exchange when making an offer, i have no interest in buying games for Keys/Gems etc. and i also have no interest in Alpha, Beta, Curator, Dev and Non-Steam Keys

Barter.vg Reddit Steam Profile SteamTrades

FUEL (Removed from Steam Store) Magicka: Wizards of the Square Tablet (Removed from Steam Store) Human Resource Machine (Steam Inventory Gift) Magicka+All DLC's except Ninth Element Novel Magicka Shank 2 Operation Flashpoint: Red River (Removed from Steam Store) Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards: Reloaded (Removed from Steam Store) All Zombies Must Die! (Removed from Steam Store) R.I.P.D.: The Game (Removed from Steam Store) ibb & obb (Steam Inventory Gift) Afterfall InSanity Extended Edition (Removed from Steam Store) eXceed - Gun Bullet Children (Removed from Steam Store) eXceed 2nd - Vampire REX (Removed from Steam Store) God Mode (Removed from Steam Store) Gundemonium Recollection (Removed from Steam Store) Hitogata Happa (Removed from Steam Store) Naval War: Arctic Circle (Removed from Steam Store) Red Faction+Red Faction II Red Faction®: Armageddon™+Red Faction Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered+Red Faction Guerrilla Steam Edition Real World Racing (Removed from Steam Store) GundeadliGne (Removed from Steam Store) Beast Boxing Turbo (Removed from Steam Store) BlazeRush eXceed 3rd - Jade Penetrate Black Package (Removed from Steam Store) FortressCraft Evolved! Jagged Alliance - Back in Action King Arthur Collection (March 2012) Mini Motor Racing EVO+Mini Motor Racing X Monday Night Combat Sine Mora+Sine Mora EX Surgeon Simulator The Showdown Effect (Removed from Steam Store) Zeno Clash 2 Angel Express [Tokkyu Tenshi] Cloud Chamber (Removed from Steam Store) Darwinia DEFCON Demigod Droplitz (Removed from Steam Store) eversion ENDLESS™ Space - Definitive Edition (Steam Inventory Gift) Frozen Synapse Prime (Steam Inventory Gift) Galaxy on Fire 2™ Full HD Hack 'n' Slash (Steam Inventory Gift) Hard Reset Extended Edition Hydrophobia: Prophecy MIND: Path to Thalamus Enhanced Edition Multiwinia No Time to Explain+No Time To Explain Remastered On The Path Out There Somewhere (Steam Inventory Gift) Paranormal State: Poison Spring (Removed from Steam Store) Patrician IV Gold Post Apocalyptic Mayhem Primal Carnage Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad with Rising Storm Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood Run Away Sacred Gold Space Rangers (Removed from Steam Store) Spirited Heart Deluxe Splendor Suguri Collection The First Templar - Steam Special Edition The Ironclads Collection The Old City: Leviathan The Ship - 2 Pack Gift (Steam Inventory Gift) Trainz Settle and Carlisle Trainz™ Simulator 12 UFO: Afterlight+UFO: Afterlight - Old Version Uplink Warlock - Master of the Arcane War of the Roses (Removed from Steam Store) World War 1 Centennial Edition (Removed from Steam Store) Jets'n'Guns Gold Anna - Extended Edition BanHammer (Removed from Steam Store) Beat Hazard Complete Betrayer (Removed from Steam Store) Bionic Heart Crazy Machines 2 Crazy Machines Elements Crazy Machines: Golden Gears Defenders of Ardania (Removed from Steam Store) Depths of Fear :: Knossos (Removed from Steam Store) Driftmoon Edna & Harvey: The Breakout Europa Universalis III Complete Fairy Bloom Freesia FlatOut Flower Shop: Summer In Fairbrook Flower Shop: Winter In Fairbrook Gettysburg: Armored Warfare (Removed from Steam Store) Grand Ages: Rome GOLD Hearts of Iron 2 Complete Heileen 1: Sail Away Heileen 2: The Hands Of Fate Heileen 3: New Horizons Interstellar Marines Ion Assault KAMI King's Bounty: Armored Princess Knights of Honor Knock-knock Koi-Koi Japan [Hanafuda playing cards] Lilly Looking Through Little Racers STREET LYNE Megabyte Punch Painkiller Overdose Painkiller: Recurring Evil Painkiller Redemption Patrician IV Praetorians Rebel Galaxy Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 SATAZIUS Skara - The Blade Remains Sky Mercenaries The Void Toby: The Secret Mine Tropico Reloaded Tropico 4 Unexplored Zombie Driver HD Complete Edition About Love, Hate and the other ones A Game of Dwarves Air Conflicts: Secret Wars A.R.E.S.: Extinction Agenda A Valley Without Wind+A Valley Without Wind 2 BANZAI PECAN: The Last Hope For the Young Century Beat Hazard Blood Knights CAPSULE Chroma Squad Cities in Motion Dangerous Waters Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game Dark Fall: Lost Souls Death to Spies+Death to Spies: Moment of Truth Dementium II HD Deponia Disciples II: Gallean's Return Disciples II: Rise of the Elves Dollar Dash (Removed from Steam Store) Dungeons Dungeons - The Dark Lord Eastside Hockey Manager Finding Teddy Frederic: Evil Strikes Back Ghost Master® Grand Ages: Rome Home Imperial Glory Imperium Romanum Gold Edition Kalaban Knights of Pen and Paper +1 Edition Leviathan: Warships (Removed from Steam Store) Men of War: Assault Squad - Game of the Year Edition Meridian: New World Motorama NecroVision NecroVisioN: Lost Company Not The Robots Nuclear Dawn Oniken: Unstoppable Edition Onikira - Demon Killer Patrician III PixelJunk™ Monsters Ultimate Rooks Keep Solar Flux Solar Shifter EX Summoner Sweet Lily Dreams Switch Galaxy Ultra Sword of the Stars: Complete Collection The Journey Down: Chapter Two The Last Tinker™: City of Colors Tropico 3 Truck Racer Trulon: The Shadow Engine Tulpa Vessel Violett Remastered Viscera Cleanup Detail: Santa's Rampage Zombie Driver HD Alien Hallway Alien Shooter 2: Reloaded A New Beginning - Final Cut Angvik AquaNox AquaNox 2: Revelation Axis Game Factory's AGFPRO + Voxel Sculpt + PREMIUM Bundle Bad Rats: the Rats' Revenge Ballpoint Universe - Infinite Bang Bang Racing Battle Group 2 Bridge Constructor Bridge Constructor Medieval Cargo! The Quest for Gravity Cat on a Diet Ceville Cold War Commander: Conquest of the Americas Commandos 2: Men of Courage Commandos 3: Destination Berlin Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines Crash Time 3 Curse: The Eye of Isis Dark Fear Dead Hungry Diner Deadly 30 Deep Dungeons of Doom Drawful 2 Driftland: The Magic Revival Dynamite Jack East India Company Eidolon El Matador Elven Legacy Empress Of The Deep Eurofighter Typhoon Explodemon Face Noir Faces of War Fantasy Wars Final Slam 2 Fireburst Galactic Civilizations® I: Ultimate Edition GeoVox Gravi Greed: Black Border Greed Corp Grind Zones Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes Grotesque Tactics 2 – Dungeons and Donuts Gunman Clive Guns of Icarus Online Hacker Evolution Duality Hacker Evolution Source Code Haegemonia: Legions of Iron Helicopter Simulator 2014: Search and Rescue Hexcells Plus Holy Avatar vs. Maidens of the Dead Idol Hands In Between inMomentum Keebles Konung 2 Konung 3: Ties of the Dynasty Labyrinthine Dreams Last Knight: Rogue Rider Edition Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West Machines At War 3 Majesty 2 Making History: The Calm & the Storm Mata Hari Men of War™ Men of War: Assault Squad Men of War: Red Tide Miner Wars 2081 Miner Wars Arena Mirror Mysteries Mountain M.U.D. TV Musaic Box Overcast - Walden and the Werewolf Paranautical Activity: Deluxe Atonement Edition Perimeter Pixel Heroes: Byte & Magic Plush POPixel Probably Archery Purgatory: War of the Damned Puzzle Kingdoms Quell Quell Memento Quell Reflect Real Horror Stories Ultimate Edition Really Big Sky Reign: Conflict of Nations Rig n Roll Rush Bros. Sacraboar Satellite Repairman Saturday Morning RPG Save the Dodos Shadowgrounds Survivor Shadows: Price For Our Sins Sinless + OST Skilltree Saga SoulCraft Space Empires IV Deluxe Space Empires V Star Ruler Starsphere Star Wolves Star Wolves 3: Civil War Steel Storm: Burning Retribution Syberia II Teddy Floppy Ear - Mountain Adventure (Removed from Steam Store) Teddy Floppy Ear - The Race (Removed from Steam Store) Terrian Saga: KR-17 Theatre of War Theatre of War 2: Africa 1943 Theatre of War 2: Kursk 1943 Theatre of War 3: Korea The God's Chain The Joylancer: Legendary Motor Knight The Kings' Crusade Tobe's Vertical Adventure Trapped Dead Turba Twin Sector Two Brothers (Removed from Steam Store) Two Worlds II HD Type:Rider Vault Cracker Vegas: Make It Big™ Velvet Assassin Warriors' Wrath Who's That Flying?! Windforge XIII Century – Gold Edition Yumsters 2: Around the World Zombie Pirates ZombieRush Zombie Shooter

I am intrigued to discover that there were multiple train stations in downtown Greenville, at least as late as the 1950s, in addition to the current Amtrak/Norfolk Southern station:

1. A Piedmont & Northern station, I think between Richardson and Academy streets, in the block south of McBee. I think that it had local passenger trains, but I’m not sure to where: perhaps Anderson and Greenwood?
   
2. Another station where the Prisma Health building is, just west of McBee Station. That railroad was bought by what’s now CSX and portions of the tracks were still there in the 1980s, parallel to East Washington Street. Similarly, I think that it had local passenger trains but I don’t know where they went or when they ended.
   

Any first-hand knowledge or experiences would be welcome!