SDF Chatter

I used to think I was a "femboy"

"But the mouth is also disinfected". Oh, well alright then... Religion is insane, all of them.

From Input Output Group via this RSS feed

One of the biggest factors in figuring out when early retirement is possible for me is the uncertainty of health care. I've looked into ACA plans, tried to estimate how much things will cost when life is healthy and when it isn't, and considered alternative scenarios, but haven't made myself comfortable, yet, with my options. What are you considering before you qualify for Medicare?

• ACA and other commercial plans?
• Spouse/partner not retiring early?
• Participate in a country with universal/national healthcare?

From VA Marine Mammal Rescue Society via this RSS feed

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/29122

PBD Podcast

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On Tuesday, the president of the billionaire-backed Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts, appeared on the influential far-right PBD podcast to discuss gender-affirming care. During his appearance, he echoed usual far-right anti-transgender talking points, including linking being transgender to being inherently violent. Then, the conversation turned towards what the Heritage Foundation was working on when it comes to the future of transgender people. It was during this shift that Roberts darkly announced that his solution to being transgender was simple: "You outlaw it," and that the organization was working to ban gender-affirming care at all ages through an incremental process he described as "radical incrementalism."

"But where there continues to be disagreement is on what you do with adults. At Heritage, we believe that so-called transgender surgery is bad for anybody because of what you saw in Rhode Island yesterday," said Roberts, referencing a domestic violence shooting at a Rhode Island ice rink the day before. "There does seem to be a mounting body of evidence that suggests a correlation between that surgery at any age, mental health issues, and increasingly, although we're running the numbers on this at Heritage, acts of violence. We have to come to grips with that as a society, in a way that transcends left versus right, because this really is about the human condition." "How do you address this, though?" replied host Patrick Bet-David. "You outlaw it," Roberts responded.

Then, when asked if transgender adults should have their medication taken away, Roberts endorsed the idea, stating, "We like that idea, too. One of the reasons is that we not only work in coalitions, but we often work toward an ultimate goal via incremental steps—sometimes people will call us radical incrementalists. We're willing to take a quarter of the enchilada if we can keep working there. So if that's the kind of thing that policymakers can agree on left and right, Heritage would be fully supportive of that, knowing that ultimately we have an ideal position that would be much stronger than that."

See the clip here:

The Heritage Foundation is the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, which calls for cutting federal funding for gender-affirming care for both children and adults and equates being transgender to pornography. The organization has been a driving force behind anti-transgender legislation nationwide, with its staffers directly assisting in the drafting and promotion of state-level care bans and its analysts testifying in statehouses. Heritage is funded through a web of dark money networks, including DonorsTrust, which gave the foundation $365,000 specifically earmarked for "Going On Offense On Gender Ideology." Its board includes billionaire conservative megadonor Rebekah Mercer, while board member Sean Fieler has funneled at least $18 million since 2010 to anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ organizations, including a group that supported Uganda's law criminalizing homosexuality with the death penalty.

The organization's open call for gender-affirming care bans for all ages echoes earlier conversations among conservative legislators in places like Ohio and Michigan for similar policy goals. In a leaked Twitter Space from January 2024, legislators behind anti-trans bills, including Representative Gary Click of Ohio—the sponsor of the state's youth care ban—openly discussed how their plan was to end gender-affirming care for everyone. "In terms of endgame, why are we allowing these practices for anyone?" asked Michigan Representative Josh Schriver, in a conversation referring specifically to adults. Click, who has ties to the Heritage Foundation, confirmed the strategy: "We have to take one bite at a time, do it incrementally." Roberts' language on PBD is strikingly similar—his "radical incrementalism" and willingness to "take a quarter of the enchilada" mirrors Click's "small bites" almost word for word, suggesting a coordinated long-term strategy towards adult care bans.

It is significant that the conversation happened on the PBD podcast. Hosted by Patrick Bet-David, the show reaches millions through its combined YouTube channels. The podcast has provided a platform for far-right figures to promote conspiracy theories and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, including guests who have argued that homosexuality is a "worldview" being "inflicted" on children. That the head of the organization behind Project 2025 chose this venue to openly call for outlawing gender-affirming care for adults suggests a growing comfort by the organization to be more open about its plans.

Gender-affirming care bans have been increasingly targeting adults. In 2023, Florida's SB 254 banned nurse practitioners from providing gender-affirming care, resulting in 80% of trans adult care being eliminated overnight. That same year, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey issued an emergency rule targeting transgender people of all ages with requirements so onerous they amounted to a de facto ban; it was blocked in court and withdrawn after roughly three weeks. In 2025, Puerto Rico signed the most extreme care ban in the United States or its territories, criminalizing care for anyone under 21 with penalties of up to 15 years in prison. And of course, Trump’s recent executive orders ban gender affirming care to the age of 19.

One thing is clear: gender-affirming care bans have never been about science, despite attempts by far-right organizations to launder their lobbying efforts through pseudoscientific hate groups and overseas "reviews." Rather, it’s always been about hate. That much is made clear by the openly-stated agenda of a billionaire-funded political machine that has always been working towards one goal: the elimination of transgender people from public life. The only thing that has changed is that they are now saying it out loud.

Erin In The Morning is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a subscriber.

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From Erin In The Morning via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/29037

When two women knocked on the door of Jesus Emmanuel Flores-Aguilar, begging for help with their car, the father of six didn't hesitate to help. But Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents ensured that his good deed would not go unpunished.

Minutes after Flores walked out of his home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, on Thursday and got to work looking under the hood of the car, three unmarked SUVs sped toward him, tires screeching behind him.

A horde of officers hopped out, raced toward Flores, and tackled him to the ground, footage recorded by a neighbor shows.

By Friday, Flores was already in an ICE detention facility in Texas, awaiting deportation.

“They lied to my dad that they needed help with their car,” said Flores’ son Miguel, who—like his siblings—is a US citizen. “I mean, they figured out that he was a mechanic. You know, my dad’s a generous guy, he’s willing to help anybody.”

Though he is undocumented, Flores, who is from Mexico, has lived in the US for more than 15 years.

In a statement to the Independent, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), claimed that Flores was "a criminal illegal alien [from] Mexico and former Vatos Locos 13 gang member who was removed TWICE from this country, a felony." She added that "his criminal history includes an arrest for felony assault."

Fox 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul previously reported that when it searched for Flores' criminal history, it found only parking violations.

The vast majority of those who have been swept up in President Donald Trump's "mass deportation" campaign have not had any criminal records. According to data from DHS on January 25, just over 74% of those held in ICE detention have no criminal convictions.

"The main reason he came here to the United States and was willing to come back is to give us a better life, and that’s what he’s done. He’s sent me and my sister to college," Miguel told Fox 9. "There’s no other reason to deport my dad, he’s a hard-working individual."

Miguel’s father was the victim of the sort of deceptive tactics that have become a hallmark of ICE arrests and have often been deployed during Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis and the surrounding area.

As the Associated Press reported earlier this month, ICE has regularly relied on what the agency calls "ruses" to pursue targets.

According to Minnesota's large network of citizen observers, agents have shown up at construction sites in hard hats and yellow vests to lure laborers into their clutches. They've disguised themselves as delivery drivers or electricians to trick home and business owners into coming outside. They've been filmed leaving scenes with Mexican flag decals on their bumpers and stuffed animals on their dashboards. And in some cases, they've even posed as anti-ICE activists.

These tactics are not new. An agency memo from 2006 described them as "an effective law enforcement tool that enhances officer safety" and claims they are used "to prevent violators from fleeing and placing themselves, officers, and innocent bystanders in a potentially dangerous situation."

But Naureen Shah, the director of immigration advocacy at the ACLU, argues that they have only sown chaos.

“If you have people afraid that the electrical worker outside their house might be ICE, you’re inviting public distrust and confusion on a much more dangerous level,” she told the AP. “This is what you do if you’re trying to control a populace, not trying to do routine, professional law enforcement.”

These tactics became more common during Trump's first term, prompting a lawsuit from the ACLU, which claimed they violated the Fourth Amendment.

In August, a settlement banned agents from misrepresenting their identity and purpose in Los Angeles, but the practice continued elsewhere in the US.

Shah said ICE appears to be using these tactics in Minnesota to a "more extreme degree than we’ve seen in the past."

Jesus' arrest comes as Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, who was put in charge of Metro Surge, said the operation was drawing to a close, with thousands of agents leaving the Minneapolis area.

However, this and other incidents in recent days have left residents on edge.

During the operation, CBS News Minnesota reported that Flores had been hunkered down in his home for weeks, hoping to avoid arrest.

Miguel said his family fears they may never see their father again.

Flores had already been deported once, 15 years ago. Miguel said lawyers have told him that getting his father out of detention would be a long shot.

Because immigration offenses are handled in civil court, Flores is not entitled to a government-paid public defender, as in criminal cases.

Miguel said his family is in desperate need of money, not just to pay for a lawyer but also to cover the cost of living and his siblings' medical expenses. Flores' wife, Dionicia, has described her husband as the family's "lifeline."

"This unexpected situation has left our family shocked, scared, heartbroken, and searching for answers," Miguel wrote. "Jesus is leaving behind four children who depend on him every day. My older brother, who is 25 years old and was diagnosed with autism from a very young age, my little brother—9 years old—who was born with a whisper in the heart, my other little brother who is 6 years old is in therapy and requires extra care and support and was diagnosed with autism, and lastly my little sister who is 7, who is in need of multiple surgeries and ongoing medical care."

In just three days, the family's fundraising campaign has received more than $13,000.

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From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/29065

Gold medalists Alysa Liu and Amber Glenn of Team USA pose for a photo after the medal ceremony for the team figure skating event on Feb. 8, 2026, in Milan, Italy. Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images

At the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, competing under the American banner has put some athletes at odds with their own government, transforming them — in a handful of candid remarks — from cereal-box patriots into political liabilities swiftly pilloried by the conservative establishment.

When reporters asked American freestyle skier Hunter Hess how it felt to wear the U.S. flag in front of the world in this moment, he said it “brings up mixed emotions.” Hess drew a clear line between the country he competes for and the policies coming out of Washington, saying, “Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.”

Hess’s plain, honest answer triggered one of the most striking political crosscurrents of these Games: President Donald Trump logged on to Truth Social to call Hess “a real loser” who shouldn’t have tried out for the Olympic team at all.

Hess wasn’t alone in speaking out. Curler Rich Ruohonen, an attorney and Minnesota native, criticized recent federal law enforcement actions in the state, saying the operations were “wrong” and violated Americans’ constitutional rights. Snowboarder Chloe Kim, whose parents immigrated to the United States from South Korea, defended her fellow teammates, saying Trump’s immigration policies “hit pretty close to home” and that athletes are “allowed to voice” their opinions.

The response from conservative media was instant: shame, dismissal, and, at times, openly cheering against the very athletes carrying the American flag.

Vice President JD Vance told reporters that Olympians are “not there to pop off about politics” and said they should expect “pushback” if they do. Florida Rep. Byron Donalds went further on social media, telling U.S. athletes that if they don’t want to represent the flag, “GO HOME.”

Sports in America are advertised, sold, and draped in red, white, and blue so completely that they become impossible to separate from nationalism.

Conservative commentators also charged in on behalf of the administration. After U.S. figure skater Amber Glenn, who won gold in the team event, voiced support for her LGBTQ community, conservative podcaster and former Fox News host Megyn Kelly branded her “another turncoat to root against” to her 3.6 million followers. The outrage snowballed, and Glenn said she received a “scary amount of hate/threats,” prompting her to take a break from social media altogether. (She later returned to TikTok with a carousel of images of her and teammate Alysa Liu wearing their team gold medals and addressing her critics: “They hate to see two woke bitches winning.”)

The intensity of the backlash illustrates how symbolic these Games have become — not just for who wins medals, but for who gets to define what national representation means on the international stage. While the Olympic Committee and the U.S. government prefer to present the Games as a neutral display of discipline, athletic poise, and national pride, the truth is less tidy. The Olympics have always served as a global window into the political and social conditions athletes come from — and when that window opens, protest has rarely been far behind.

Seen, Not Heard

Although the modern Olympic Charter’s Rule 50 aims to ban political, religious, or racial “propaganda” from competition, the idea that the Games have ever been apolitical ignores more than a century of history. Long before the International Olympic Committee tried to censor athletic competition, athletes and states recognized there was no separating sports from politics. At the 1906 Athens Games, Irish track and field star Peter O’Connor protested being listed as a British competitor by climbing a 20-foot flagpole and unfurling a green flag bearing the words “Erin Go Bragh” — Ireland forever — and went on to win gold.

As the Olympics entered the broadcast era and the audience stretched far beyond the stadium, political leaders were acutely aware they could use the Games’ reach to bolster their legitimacy. By the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Adolf Hitler and his propagandists transformed the Games into a showcase for the Nazi regime’s image and ideology. The widely publicized spectacle of a nation unified under Nazism was engineered to sanitize the Third Reich at home and abroad, cementing the modern Olympics as a global platform for state propaganda — and, inevitably, for those willing to resist it. Jewish organizations, labor leaders, and civil rights groups in the United States and Europe tried to organize a boycott of the event, warning that participation would validate Hitler’s regime and its persecution of Jews, but the effort ultimately failed. Athletes responded with the most direct act of resistance available to them: by winning, in open defiance. Jesse Owens — an African American runner — shattered Hitler’s carefully staged narrative of “Aryan” superiority by winning four gold medals, turning his victories into a de facto rebuke of the regime’s racial ideology.

Decades later, the 1968 Mexico City Games delivered one of the clearest political statements in Olympic history: sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising black-gloved fists on the medal stand in protest of racial injustice in the United States — an enduring image that turned the podium into a site of public dissent in front of the world.

American athletes, gold medalist Tommie Smith (center) and bronze medalist John Carlos (right) each raise a clenched fist and bow their heads on the podium during their medal ceremony at the 1968 Summer Games. Photo: Photo by Rolls Press/Popperfoto via Getty Images

The backlash was swift. Olympic officials expelled them from the Games, much of the press cast them as radicals, and both men faced threats and professional fallout for years afterward. Their protest remains one of the most controversial moments in Olympic history — and, as Smith later put it, entirely necessary: “We had to be seen because we couldn’t be heard.”

At the 2024 Paris opening ceremony, Palestinian boxer Waseem Abu Sal wore a shirt depicting the bombing of children in Gaza and told AFP it was meant to represent “the children who are martyred and die under the rubble,” bringing the war’s human toll visibly into the Olympic spotlight.

Across decades and continents, athletes and nations alike have used both participating in and abstaining from the Olympics to make statements about war, occupation, racial oppression, and human rights. This long history underscores a simple truth: When the whole world is watching, both governments and their critics understand the Games are too powerful a platform to leave unused.

More Than a Podium

It’s important that dissent shows up at the Olympics for more than just symbolic reasons: The conditions that shape who gets to compete are deeply connected to the social and political structures in the athletes’ home countries. Sports in America are advertised, sold, and draped in red, white, and blue so completely that they become impossible to separate from nationalism, transforming competition into a ritual where athletic achievement is inseparable from the story the nation tells about itself.

American Olympic success is not a vacuum. An analysis by researchers at George Mason University found that roughly 3 percent of athletes on Team USA at the 2026 Winter Games were born abroad and another 13.5 percent are children of immigrant parents — meaning nearly 17 percent of the delegation has direct ties to immigrant communities. That reality reflects how the United States develops and recruits athletic talent across communities, including immigrant families and underrepresented groups whose contributions have long powered American sports on the world stage.

For athletes whose families or personal histories intersect with immigration pathways, this shift is not an abstraction. It’s about who has secure status in the United States and who faces potential removal or legal uncertainty. The ways in which these forces shape an athlete don’t stop when they step on the snow or ice, no matter what flag is on their back.

The Games are built on spectacle, but beneath the pageantry is a hard truth: Athletes do not compete only for themselves, they compete as symbols of the nation they represent. When Americans step onto that global stage, they are presented as proof of what the United States claims to stand for — freedom, dignity, equality — even as the country itself struggles to live up to those ideals. That contradiction carries a real moral weight. Competing under the flag is not just an honor; it’s a responsibility to confront the distance between national image and national reality.

The post It’s Correct and Moral to Use the Olympics to Speak Out About Politics appeared first on The Intercept.

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From The Intercept via This RSS Feed.

Another thing found at the restore. Plastic. About 3" long.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/28994

"Late Show" host Stephen Colbert unloaded on higher-ups at CBS late Monday for refusing to air his interview with Texas US Senate candidate James Talarico, allegedly out of fear that the Federal Communications Commission—led by Trump lackey Brendan Carr—would retaliate against the network.

"We were told in no uncertain terms by our network's lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast," Colbert said of the Democratic candidate, whose 15-minute interview was aired on YouTube instead.

During an on-air segment late Monday, Colbert called attention to FCC Media Bureau guidance issued last month stating that daytime and late-night talk shows featuring interviews with political candidates must give equal time to opposing candidates, effectively dispensing with a decades-old exemption for the programs.

Colbert slammed CBS for "unilaterally enforcing" the FCC guidance, a decision he said was made for "purely financial reasons." CBS is owned by Paramount Skydance, whose chief executive, David Ellison, is the son of billionaire Trump ally and donor Larry Ellison.

Watch Colbert's segment:

CBS leadership's decision to block the airing of Colbert's interview with Talarico came days after the Republican-led FCC launched an investigation into whether ABC's "The View" violated equal time rules with its Talarico interview earlier this month. US Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), who is running against Talarico in the Senate primary, appeared on "The View" in January.

Anna Gomez, the lone Democratic commissioner on the FCC, denounced the ABC investigation as a "sham."

“Let’s be clear on what this is. This is government intimidation, not a legitimate investigation," said Gomez. "Like many other so-called ‘investigations’ before it, the FCC will announce an investigation but never carry one out, reach a conclusion, or take any meaningful action."

"The real purpose is to weaponize the FCC’s regulatory authority to intimidate perceived critics of this administration and chill protected speech. That is not how a free society operates," she continued. "I urge broadcasters and their parent networks to stand strong against these unfounded attacks and continue exercising their constitutional rights without fear or favor."

By refusing to let the Talarico interview air on the televised broadcast, CBS opted to cave to the administration, according to Colbert.

"Let’s just call this what it is: Donald Trump’s administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV, because all Trump does is watch TV, OK? He’s like a toddler with too much screen time," said Colbert. "He gets cranky and then drops a load in his diaper."

Talarico, for his part, declared in a social media post that "this is the interview Donald Trump didn’t want you to see," posting a clip of his appearance on "The Late Show."

Watch the full interview:

"I think that Donald Trump is worried that we're about to flip Texas," Talarico said during the interview. "This is the party that ran against cancel culture, and now they're trying to control what we watch, what we say, what we read."

"They went after 'The View' because I went on there," he continued. "They went after Jimmy Kimmel for telling a joke they didn't like. They went after you for telling the truth about Paramount's bribe to Donald Trump. Corporate media executives are selling out the First Amendment to curry favor with corrupt politicians."

Other critics of the CBS decision said it's the latest example of media conglomerates bending to Trump's bullying.

"Big media self-censorship is real," warned Tim Karr, senior director of strategy and communications with the advocacy group Free Press.

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From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/43260174

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/29112

Tenant and labor unions in Minneapolis and St. Paul have announced plans to carry out what they said would be the "largest rent strike in the United States in the last 100 years."

Beginning on March 1, if Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz does not meet their urgent demands for an eviction moratorium and rent relief, a coalition of nearly 26,000 workers has pledged to withhold rent, which they said could create a massive economic disruption.

The plans were announced on Tuesday by the tenants union Twin Cities Tenants, which is joined by five labor unions: Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 26, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota/Iowa, UNITE HERE Local 17, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) 1005, and Communication Workers of America (CWA) 7250.

They argued that a freeze on rents is desperately needed after "nearly three months of federal occupation" under President Donald Trump's "Operation Metro Surge," which sent nearly 3,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other immigration agents to the area, resulting in multiple fatal shootings and a wave of civil rights violations, including explicit racial profiling.

The unions said the daily presence of militarized agents "has taken a painful economic toll on poor and working-class tenants across the Twin Cities."

"Over 35,000 low-income Twin Cities households were already unable to afford the rent before the federal siege," they said. "Estimates show over $47 million in lost wages among people who have not been safe to go to work, and at least $15.7 million in additional rental assistance needed due to lost household income—leaving many of those households at imminent risk of eviction."

Evictions in Hennepin County spiked by 45% between this January and last, while requests for financial assistance have nearly doubled, according to a report this month from the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.

As the federal siege wore on and immigrants remained trapped in their homes, community members raised tens of thousands of dollars through GoFundMe campaigns. But it proved far too little to help the thousands of families suddenly at risk of losing their homes.

On January 30, tenant organizers, union members, and other local activists staged a sit-in at the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority and called for an immediate halt to evictions. Another group gathered outside the governor's mansion in St. Paul.

“We’re here today because federal immigration enforcement, eviction courts, and the police power of the state are converging to terrorize the same families,” said Jess Zarik, co-executive director of HOME Line. “Housing instability is being used as a weapon, and the scale of this crisis is unlike anything we’ve seen in our 34-year history.”

While city and state leaders have fought back rhetorically against the Trump administration's highest-profile abuses—including the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by agents last month—and called for accountability, organizers said they've been slow to remedy the wider effects it has had on working-class residents across the Twin Cities.

“A lot of people just can’t get to and from work because ICE has been stopping random cars on the road, largely based on what they think the skin color of the driver is,” said Klyde Warren, a Minneapolis renter and Twin Cities Tenants organizer. “How are you supposed to go to work and make money to pay your rent in those conditions? The answer is a lot of people just can’t right now, but the eviction courts are still operating as if things are normal and they’re not normal.”

Last week, Walz's office told Axios that the governor "does not currently have the legal authority to enact an eviction moratorium."

Walz enacted an eviction moratorium in early spring 2020, which tenant organizers said allowed renters to stay home safely to avoid risks from the Covid-19 pandemic. He did this using what is known as a "peacetime emergency" declaration, which allows the governor to circumvent typical rulemaking procedures during extraordinary circumstances.

The city councils of both Minneapolis and St. Paul voted unanimously last month for nonbinding resolutions calling on Walz to take similar action to protect vulnerable residents from displacement.

"Tenants in Minnesota are in a crisis. The federal invasion forced many of our neighbors to stay home and devastated our local economy," said Minneapolis City Council Member Aisha Chughtai (D-10). "We need real solutions for the cliff of the rental crisis we are facing on March 1."

"I will be going on rent strike on March 1, and I call on my constituents to join me, until we can get a real solution from our state government for this crisis," she said.

View this post on InstagramA post shared by @twincitiestenants

Even as ICE's operation draws to a close, some agents are still deployed and arresting Twin Cities residents. Organizers said that even after the surge itself ends, the economic fallout will need to be addressed.

"We absolutely need an eviction moratorium," said Geof Paquette, the internal organizing director at UNITE HERE Local 17. "Our members were struggling to keep up with housing costs before ICE occupied our streets. It has now become an emergency as many of our members are behind in their rent. It's well past time for some relief."

The unions have estimated that if just 10,000 of their members withheld their rent, it could cause $15 million in economic disruption and pressure the city and state government into action.

"The people of Minneapolis and St. Paul have shown the way, fighting a federal invasion and caring for their neighbors; their fight and their care continue in this historic rent strike," said Tara Raghuveer, director of the Tenant Union Federation. "Tenants and workers have decided that... they have no other choice but to strike. In taking this step, they join a storied tradition of struggle. The struggle can end whenever the governor steps in to do what's right."

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From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

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Echoes of War: The Oath Amidst the Ashes (Book 8)

Chapter 8: The Promised Day

Three sharp raps hammered against the wood, dragging Kayn from the depths of sleep. He woke feeling as though his head had been used as an anvil all night. Cowering beneath the sheets, he pulled the fabric up to his nose and buried his face in the pillow, seeking a darkness that the grey dawn of Mistville refused to grant him. The knocking persisted with that particular brand of insistence that promised consequences if left unanswered.

"Kayn, don’t you think you’ve slept long enough?"

Thalia’s voice cut through the oak door, muffled yet unmistakable. Kayn cracked an eye open; light stabbed beneath his eyelids, bleeding through the half-drawn curtains. Outside, the snow fell in silence, erasing the paths and piling upon the windowsills into miniature white mountains.

Thum. Thum. Thum.

Kayn curled tighter into a ball, pressing the quilt against his face, but the rhythmic pounding vibrated through everything. The door creaked open. He looked up, his face etched with the deep creases of his pillow, as Thalia crossed toward the window. Her light brown hair fell over her shoulders in disheveled waves, and her amber eyes swept the room with an expression Kayn knew all too well: patience teetering on the edge of exhaustion. She wore only a slender robe cinched over her nightgown.

"How much longer do you intend to lie there?"

Kayn turned his back to her and burrowed deeper into the bedding, clutching the hem against his chin. Thalia sighed and yanked the curtains wide, letting the leaden sky flood the room. The light revealed shelves groaning under the weight of books, wooden practice swords of varying sizes—piled in a corner beside a training dummy that had lost an arm—and a wardrobe standing ajar, cascading with clothes.

Thalia surveyed the clutter, her jaw tightening for a fleeting second before she swallowed her words. The glare hit Kayn’s eyelids, making him groan and mash the pillow against his face. He cursed whoever had seen fit to invent the sun.

"Five more minutes, Mom..."

"Fine. But don't make me come up here again," Thalia said. "Or I’ll have Pong roll you out of bed."

No. Not that.

The memory of sixty kilos of Pong lunging onto the mattress was enough to snap Kayn’s eyes wide open. Thalia stepped out, leaving the door ajar. Pong might still be asleep, but Kayn wasn't about to tempt fate. He sat up and perched on the edge of the bed, feet dangling in the air, refusing to touch the freezing floorboards. He rubbed his eyes with his knuckles until the skin stung, blinked against the light, and felt blindly for his slippers. He found them on the second try.

The hallway greeted him with the same biting chill as the bedroom, frost etching intricate patterns across the glass panes. Kayn walked on, not bothering to tame the tangle of brown locks that insisted on veiling his eyes. Descending the stairs, he found his father sitting on the bench by the hearth. He was working at the low table, bracing a piece of wood between his knees and palm. With a short, curved blade, he was carving a leaf that was not yet a leaf.

On the floor, Pong was gnawing on a fresh branch from the garden, the bark crunching between his jaws with every bite.

"Good morning, son," Gael said. "Happy birthday."

Kayn answered with a smile that still carried the weight of sleep in its corners. "Thanks, Dad."

He approached the sofa and ran a hand over the panda’s rounded head; the soft fur gave way beneath his fingers. "Morning to you too, Pong."

The guardian didn't flinch. He glanced up just long enough to confirm the voice belonged to someone who mattered, then returned to his branch with renewed vigor. Gael set the wood aside.

"Ready for today?"

Kayn tilted his head, his hand still buried in Pong’s fur. "Ready for what?"

"The Binding Ceremony, son. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten."

Kayn frowned, his mind slow to bridge the gap between the words and their weight. Heat crawled up his neck and flooded his cheeks. He slapped a hand to his forehead. How could I have forgotten? He had spent years waiting for this day—counting the months, the weeks, the days—tallying marks on the wall beside his bed. And he had forgotten.

Gael let out a laugh that rang through the living room, though his amusement was short-lived.

"Well, look at that." Thalia emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on an apron speckled with flour. "That poor memory reminds me of someone I know very well."

Thalia’s laughter joined Gael’s, who quickly averted his gaze toward the window, his neck turning a shade of crimson.

"If I recall correctly, dear, you were the last one to arrive at the ceremony."

Kayn turned to his father. "Really? You never told me that."

"Because he was embarrassed, Kayn."

"Well..." Gael cleared his throat. "I admit I was so anxious for the trial that I couldn't sleep a wink all night. When I finally woke up, the ceremony was nearly over. I barely made it."

"Not to mention," Thalia added through stifled giggles, "that you bolted out of the house so fast you didn't realize you were still in your nightclothes. You should have seen him, Kayn. When he finally established the bond with Pong, he started shouting, 'I did it!' all proud... in his underwear, in front of the entire village."

Gael buried his face in his hands. "I thought we agreed never to speak of this again..." He cast a pleading look at Pong, seeking an ally. "But we pulled it off in the end, didn't we, partner?"

He extended a fist toward the panda, who ignored him and tore a fresh leaf from the branch. Gael’s dejected expression pulled another laugh from Thalia.

Kayn was no longer listening. His parents' voices faded into a distant hum as his gaze drifted through the frosted glass, out beyond the snow-dusted rooftops. Though he wasn't there yet, he could see the central plaza where, in just a few hours, the Binding Ceremony would take place. He saw himself standing before the people of Mistville, reaching out to claim a guardian—a companion, a piece of himself he hadn't met yet, but who had been waiting for him since before he was born.

"I’ll do it too!" he announced suddenly, startling his parents.

Gael and Thalia exchanged a glance and fell silent.

"Alright, enough talk." Thalia straightened up and gestured toward the kitchen with her thumb. "Breakfast is almost ready."

Gael rose from the sofa, stretching his arms like a bear waking from hibernation, and rested a hand on Kayn’s shoulder.

"You’d better eat. You don't want to reach the ceremony on an empty stomach. Trust me, I don't recommend it."

Kayn followed his father into the kitchen, which occupied the east wing of the house. The scent of warm honey and fresh pancakes hit him the moment he crossed the threshold, and his stomach responded with a growl that would have put Pong to shame. He slumped into the chair by the window. His mother placed a glass of milk and a plate of five fluffy pancakes on the table; they steamed in rising spirals, their edges perfectly golden. The birthday breakfast. Every year, without fail, for as long as Kayn could remember. Today would be no exception.

"Don't just stare at it," his mother said. "Eat before they get cold."

Kayn took his fork and sank it into the stack. He poured a drizzle of honey and watched the amber liquid slide down the sides, pooling on the plate. Gael sat opposite him with a steaming mug of coffee, using it as a makeshift hand-warmer. Pong settled beside him like an infant far too large for its own body. He abandoned his branch and fixed his gaze on the pancakes with an intensity bordering on obsession.

Kayn looked from the pancakes to the dark liquid in his father's mug, eyeing it with suspicion. His father insisted it gave him energy, but Kayn remembered the single sip he’d tried two winters ago. It had burned his tongue like he’d bitten into a coal, and he’d nearly spat it across the table.

Since that day, he had sworn never to touch the stuff again.

Gael lifted the cup and blew gently, but as the ceramic brushed his lips, he paused. Pong was watching him from his cushion, a pink tongue peeking between black-and-white lips. Gael moved the cup to the left; the panda’s eyes followed. He moved it to the right; the eyes followed again. He sighed, pushed the cup to the center of the table—out of reach of those thieving paws—and Pong let out a huff, crossed his arms, and turned his gaze toward Kayn’s pancakes. He let out a mournful grunt when he realized they were nearly gone.

The table fell silent, broken only by the sound of Kayn devouring the last bites, but his mind was already elsewhere. He was outside, out in the snow, walking toward the heart of Mistville where a guardian waited.

"What are you thinking about?" Gael asked.

"Wha' fofm my bond will take," Kayn mumbled through a mouthful.

Gael let out a chuckle at his son’s muffled speech. Thalia was quick to step away from the stove to give Kayn a playful swat on the head. Gael took a sip of his coffee. He seemed to want to say more, but he simply looked out at the garden. Kayn drained his milk in one gulp, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and stood.

"I’m going to go get dressed."

The clothes he had chosen the night before lay draped over the chair by his desk, folded haphazardly. Over a linen shirt, he donned the dark, lined doublet he always wore, accented with yellow lines at the shoulders. Finally, he wound a grey scarf around his neck. He finished by picking up the pendant resting on his desk—a bluish crystal hanging from a braided cord. He looped it over his head.

At the entrance, his parents were waiting. Gael wore a heavy wool coat over his doublet, collar turned up against the cold, rubbing his gloved hands as if trying to wring heat from the air. Thalia was wrapped in a fur cloak that fell to her knees, adjusting her scarf with fingers that were already beginning to redden.

In his room, Kayn struggled with his lined boots, which refused to budge. He blew on his fingers and tried again.

"Kayn, are you coming or what?" his mother called from below.

"Coming!"

Kayn raced downstairs, his foot slipping on the penultimate step. His hand caught the banister just before his face caught the floor. As he moved toward his parents, his eyes caught the metallic glint on the table near the coat rack. A katana rested on a dark wooden pedestal, encased in a red-and-black scabbard.

"Almost forgot..." He stepped closer and bowed before the sword. "Good morning, Grandfather. The day of my Binding Ceremony is finally here. Do you know what that means? Soon I’ll be a Tamer, just like you and Dad."

The steel did not answer—it never did—but Kayn continued regardless.

"To be honest, I’m nervous. But I’m sure everything will be fine. That’s what Dad always says." He dropped his voice to a whisper. "Though you know he’s not always the most reliable source."

"Kayn, for the last time, move it or we’ll be late!" his mother insisted.

"Right away!" Kayn called back, looking once more at the blade. "Looks like I have to go, Grandfather. When I get back, I’ll tell you how it went. Wish me luck."

He rested his hand on the hilt, the cold metal biting into his fingers. One day he would wield this blade, but for now, he was content just to look at it. He burst through the door and sprinted down the path, leaving his parents behind, his boots carving tracks into the fresh snow.

Gael and Thalia looked at each other as a gust of frozen wind kicked up the powder at their feet.

"He certainly loves your father," Thalia remarked, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "He never misses a chance to talk to him."

Gael nodded, a smile softening the lines around his eyes. His father—Gael’s father, the grandfather Kayn had never known—had fought in the War of Discord and never returned. The war had swallowed him young, so young that Gael barely possessed true memories of the man. The only thing that had returned was the katana, appearing one morning at the doorstep, wrapped in stained cloth and leaning against the wood as if it had walked home on its own.

Though Kayn had never met the man who once brandished it, he had grown up on the stories his father told: tales of war, of honor, of sacrifice.

"Today will be a big day for him," Thalia added.

Kayn was waiting for them by the gate, hopping from one foot to the other.

"No doubt," Gael said. "Whatever happens, we’ll be right by his side."

Thalia looked at her husband, then at the boy who couldn't stop jumping with excitement at the gate. She tilted her head, offered a smile, and took his arm. Together, they set off.

The promised day had arrived...

..."

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Snip:

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution has responded to repeated US military threats against Iran, saying that the weapons that can sink the American carriers are "more dangerous" than the warships.

“The American president [Donald Trump] repeatedly says that their military is the strongest in the world. The strongest military in the world, however, can sometimes be struck so hard that it cannot even get back on its feet,” Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday while addressing thousands of people from East Azarbaijan Province.

“They keep saying, ‘We have sent an aircraft carrier toward Iran.’ Fine—an aircraft carrier is certainly a dangerous piece of equipment. But more dangerous than the carrier is the weapon capable of sending it to the bottom of the sea,” he added.

Trump’s remarks that Washington has been unable to eliminate the Islamic Republic for the past 47 years is “quite an admission,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.