“It’s a hard truth to accept, son… but you need to let her go. You need to understand that your daughter is dead. Gone. Whatever's left… that’s not your little girl. Not anymore.”
Those words broke me, but I needed to hear them.

Pastor Sanders put a gentle hand on my shoulder as I bowed my head, feeling the tears come.
“I’m sorry, Father…” I said, expecting him to take his hand away, to chide me for my weakness. But he did no such thing. Ever the gentle shepherd, he comforted me in my moment of need. He was a kind, but stern looking man, with a comforting smile and greying hair.

“It is natural to mourn the death of your own child,” He said. “That’s what any good father would do.”
“I tried… I tried to raise her right… tried to take care of her.”

“You did your best, my son,” Pastor Sanders assured me, “That is all that a man can do. But Satan is relentless. He is devious. He never comes with horns and a pitchfork. He chooses a more innocent form. He comes bearing what seems like wisdom, he comes in the form of a teacher, a friend, a mentor. Your daughter is not the first child whos life he has slithered his way into… and until the day where he is vanquished along with all the demons of hell, she will not be the last. Children are among Satan’s favorite targets. He seeks to indoctrinate them for his glory, he corrupts them and destroys them. I know what it is like as a parent to watch as he takes the child you raised and leaves something evil in its place. Not knowing or understanding what is happening. It’s a horrifying experience.”

“It happened to you too?” I asked.
Pastor Sanders nodded solemnly.
“It did. The pain you’re experiencing right now, I know it all too well. I lost my son about two years ago. He… he used to be a good boy. A proud boy. Then he met some girl…” His voice lowered into a hiss of disgust, “She lured him away from God. Turned him into something he wasn’t. She took him away from me.”

“How did you get him back?” I asked.
“I didn’t,” Pastor Sanders replied. “There comes a certain point where they are too far gone to save. When your child has forsaken God completely, there is no returning from that. There is no life without God, there is only despair and the only salvation that can be offered to them is to prevent them from comitting any further attrocities before God.”

My heart seized up in my chest.
“Father…?” I asked.
He had a far away look in his eye.
“I brought that boy into this world… I took him out. It was the only way I could save him. The only thing I could do to spare him from eternal Hellfire. I sent his soul to God, and through God I hope he may be purified.”

I was silent, unsure what to say to that. It almost sounded as if the Pastor was talking complete madness. He looked back at me, studying my expression for a moment before smiling at me.
“You’re wondering how I could do it, aren’t you?” He asked.
“Your own son, Father?
“Yes, my own son. It was necessary, to save his soul… and if you want to save your daughter…”
“No!” I said, standing up suddenly, “No! No, I couldn’t!”

He remained seated in the pew of the empty church, looking up at me.
“Then your daughter will be condemned to Hell.”
“There must be some way to save her!” I said.
“If there were, I would share it with you. You know that I would. But there is nothing. Nothing more that I have to offer you, here. The only path forward is to deny the Devil his soul.”
“Please, Father… please, I can’t…”

He finally stood up, turning to leave me.
“Father…?” I asked, as he stepped out from between the pews. He sighed before looking back at me. He paused, studying me for a moment before speaking again.
“As I said before, your daughter is already dead. My son was too. Whatever remains isn’t really them. Not anymore. You won’t get her back. All you can do is set her free. In the eyes of our children, we are their greatest heroes, Bill. And the task of a hero isn’t always an easy one. It never has been, even in the oldest myths. Think of Perseus… that’s a name you probably know, isn’t it?”

I nodded. The Greek hero who’d slain Medusa.
“Perseus ventured into the lair of the Gorgon, Medusa as an act of penance. When the King, his stepfather had invited him to a banquet, Perseus had no horse to offer him as a gift. So he asked the King to name his price. He requested the head of Medusa… and so Peresus sought it and when he returned, he earned his redemption. See yourself in Perseus, Bill. Do what needs to be done.”

With that, he left me there, broken in the pews and struggling with the truth he had bestowed upon me.

I already knew what needed to be done. And I knew that I had no choice but to do it.

Pastor Sanders was a stern teacher… but there was always purpose in his lessons. He was a man who spoke only truth, I knew this. It was why others feared him, ostracized him, persecuted him, and those who followed him. He had come to me at my lowest point about a year ago and I had given everything to follow him. My home was his home. My wealth was his wealth. People said I was a fool for what I did, but I knew that when the time came, they would wish that they had made the choices that I had made. I knew that the Lord would reward me for my loyalty to Pastor Sanders and to Him, for my faith in the Lord could not steer me wrong.

That said - I will admit that what Pastor Sanders told me tested my faith in him a little. But only a little. I knew in my heart that he was right. My daughter was dead. All I could do was deny whatever was left of her the chance to sin again, and perhaps free her soul. Maybe then, I might see her again in heaven. Maybe…

I would see her in heaven.

I would see her again and I would have my little girl back and that would be my reward! God willed it! God would make it so!

I knew what I had to do… and by God, I would do it. Like Perseus I would hunt the demon who had taken my daughter from me and I would destroy it, and grant her salvation!

Hallelujah.

***

I knew that I’d raised my little girl better than this. I knew that I’d raised her right. That I’d raised her to be honest, faithful, pure.

But the girl I saw walking down the street looked like none of those things. My daughter had natural hair, she didn’t dye it! She didn’t put on makeup like some whore, she didn’t dress like a whore! But the girl I saw walking down the street wore short shorts, had dyed blue hair, she had tattoos, good Lord! I almost didn’t recognize her as my own flesh and blood, and were it not for her aryan features I might not have recognized her at all.

I’d known that she had been sick… that she had been twisted. But I hadn’t realized just how bad it had gotten. I should never have let her leave home… I should never have let her leave me four years ago. But she’d begged and pleaded with me to let her go to college. She’d said that getting an education would be good for her. But I’d said no. I’d said that she didn’t need to waste her time on such things! A woman has no business slaving away for a wage. That’s a man’s job. That’s a man’s duty. But she’d begged and begged… and in the end I’d given in. I thought that maybe if she saw the depravity of the world for herself, she’d understand why I was so against her leaving. She’d understand why I didn’t want my precious flower to be poisoned by the sickness that has infected this world!

Clearly, I was wrong.

Once my daughter was gone, she never came back. I was sure she’d come home when I refused to continue to pay for her indoctrination at some college, but she persisted. She stayed in the city, put herself in debt to pay her way through school and started living with some other whore, who she paid rent with.

When I demanded that she return to me, she refused. She said that she wouldn’t go back under my roof! Even when I drove into that city to drag her out, to bring her home by force she locked herself in an apartment and had her ‘friends’ stand guard out front, telling me that she refused to see me.

I would have pushed past them, but they fought me tooth and nail. One of them, a particularly tall and somewhat lanky girl that she lived with. This girl I remembered most prominently. She’d had sharp, roman features, intense eyes and a large beanie that she wore on her head that made her look like some stoner, hippie freak. I swore that I even saw dreadlocks under there. She had been the strongest of them, to an almost impressive extent. She’d kept me from even making it into her apartment.

I’d sworn to her that I’d be back, but she hadn’t bothered indulging me with a reply. And when I had honored my word and returned with my brother and some of his friends, we found that someone else had taken over that apartment. My daughter and her whore friends had fled from us… and we weren’t able to find out where they went.

For years, I had not heard a single word from my daughter… and I missed her every day, or at least I suppose I missed the girl she had been, once upon a time. When I had tried reaching out to her, she had ignored me. I even tried getting in touch with some of her friends, but they refused to talk to her on my behalf.

This was not the girl I’d raised! The girl I’d raised would have honored her father, she would have known she owed me her respect and her obedience, she would never have treated me with such contempt!

No… this was nothing like the girl that I’d raised! This was something else although just what, I did not know. Pastor Sanders had said that only an actual demon could change someone so drastically, and I wondered if perhaps he was right.

I’d tried hiring a lawyer to look into some legal avenue I could pursue to have her brought back to me, and when that proved fruitless I tried to sue the college, for indoctrinating my daughter and taking her away from me, but that didn’t get me anywhere either.

My options dwindled away into nothing… and as much as I hadn’t wanted to accept Pastor Sanders truth, it was the only thing that I had left to cling to. Finding my daughter again after all these years was no easy feat… but I was patient and God was on my side.

She didn’t even notice me as she’d walked past my parked car that evening, but I saw her in all of her depravity. I saw the way she held hands with that tall girl I had seen before… the one who wore that disgusting beanie on her head. I watched as they chatted among each other, I observed the way they lingered so close to one another and I knew that they were more than just friends.

The sight of my daughter in some girls arms sickened me… my daughter, corrupted by this vile woman. The way that the woman in the beanie kissed my daughters cheek confirmed it. And as I watched them, I made the silent decision to kill her first… to teach my arrogant, faithless daughter… or whatever was left of her a lesson. To remind her that there was no place on this earth where she was safe from God!

The gun sat in my glovebox, it was loaded and ready. I watched as my daughter and her lover entered an apartment building. I already knew what floor they were going to, and I already knew which apartment.

Finding them had not been easy, but as I said I was persistent and blessed by God on my holy mission. The strength of Pastor Sanders kept me going and my faith was ironclad.

The sky was growing dark. After a few moments, I left my car and made my move. The gun rested heavy in my hand. It may not have been the most divine weapon, but it would do the job.

Floor 7, apartment 721.

That was my destination.

Like Perseus into the lair of Medusa, I stood stalwart and strong. I stepped out of the elevator and into the hall, feeling my heart race with every step. The voice of Satan whispered in my ear, begging me not to slaughter my own child. But I needed to do it. Killing her was the only way she could attain salvation! It was the only way she could return to God’s light!

My heart raced as I pounded on the door.
‘The task of a hero isn’t always an easy one.’
I was a hero, wasn’t I? I would be her hero!

I could hear footsteps approaching the door. I recognized them.

My daughter was close. My daughter was coming.

I would save her.

I exhaled, and when the door open I moved, forcing it open. I saw the wide, terrified eyes of my little girl as I closed my hand around her throat and pinned her against the wall. She tried to scream, but I forced her not to, pressing the gun into her stomach.
“Not a word…” I growled.

Her big blue eyes were fixated on me, wide and full of tears. For a moment, I remembered the child I’d used to know… the child I’d used to love.

I couldn’t do this, I couldn’t do this, I couldn’t do this…

I needed to. FOR HER SALVATION!

Grabbing my daughter, I dragged her deeper into the apartment. I didn’t see any trace of her girlfriend but I could hear a bath running in the next room. I tossed my daughter into the living room, sending her crashing to the ground and keeping the gun aimed at her. She didn’t utter a sound, she just stared at me, knowing what I was going to do.

“Wait…” She said, her voice trembling as she raised a hand to me, “D-Daddy wait…”
I didn’t answer her.

I heard the bathroom door open. Her girlfriend had likely heard the commotion and come to investigate.
“You will watch this…” I said to her, before turning to send the whore who had corrupted my daughter straight to hell.

No sooner had I turned around, did I see her emerging from the bedroom, dressed only in a bathrobe, with a towel wrapped around her head. She seemed to tower over me, and she fixed me in that intense stare of hers, recognizing me and immediately realizing what this was. I aimed the gun at her and watched her freeze.

“You took my girl away from me…” I hissed, “You took her from me…”
My finger pressed down on the trigger. There was no hesitation here. Only rage, pure and unfettered.

I would shoot this woman dead without batting an eye.

It would be easy.

And yet while the gun went off, the bullet missed.

I felt my daughters weight slamming into me, trying to stop me from killing the whore who had corrupted her. I heard her screaming at me, begging me not to. I threw her off of me. She was always a petite girl. She couldn’t stop me for long. I tried to aim the gun at the girlfriend again, but she had taken full opportunity of the distraction that my daughter had produced to close the distance between us. She grabbed me by the wrist with an iron grip, and kept me from aiming the gun at her.
“NO!” I spat, “DIE, YOU WHORE! DIE!”

With my free hand, I clawed at her face. I tore the towel off of her head and then…
Then…

Then I saw what lay beneath it… and my heart froze in my chest.

My daughter's girlfriend seemed surprised for a moment, but not for long. The things on her head on the other hand, seemed almost relieved to be free. They writhed and twisted on her scalp, hissing at me as they fixed me in their burning yellow eyes. They bore their fangs at me, rearing back to strike, but didn’t.

I stared into the eyes of Medusa. Beautiful, yet hideous with tangled emerald serpents for hair… and she looked back at me with a cold disgust that flayed me down to my very soul. Perseus would have stood brave! Perseus would have fought! I needed to fight too!

I struck her again, screaming in both terror and rage. She tried to stop me, but she wasn’t fast enough. I’d hit her across the head once, and was swinging my fist at her again when she caught it. One of the emerald snakes upon her head struck at me, biting my hand. Its bite left a searing pain behind.

I screamed as the Medusa pushed me off of her, sending me crashing to the ground. The gun slipped from my grasp as I gripped my burning hand. Its fingers clenched into a fist, but would not unclench.
No… no! I would not succumb to whatever this was! I would not succumb to the Gorgon’s poison!

“Gabrielle!” My daughter called, rushing to her side. She ran into the embrace of the Gorgon, before looking down at me. Her eyes settled on the bite in my hand, and a solemn look crossed her face.
“Don’t look, May…” The Gorgon said softly, and my daughter turned her head from me.

I tried to stand, but my body was already starting to burn. My muscles felt stiff and moving felt harder and harder… but my skin still looked like skin… it didn’t look like stone! I collapsed, gasping for breath as I did. Watching my skin, I could see something beneath it shifting. It could see my skin begin to bulge and deform. I could see new bone growth appearing in those deformities. My body was burning, growing, changing, coming apart.

I tried to reach for the gun, but my arms would not move anymore.
This shouldn’t be happening!
This shouldn’t be possible, God was supposed to be on my side! I shouldn’t be falling to one of Satan’s monsters! I shouldn’t be dying at the hands of the demon that held my daughter!

I looked up at them one last time. The Gorgon held my daughter close, comforting her as my body turned against me. Every movement caused fresh new pain to erupt through me. Breathing became impossible, as my lungs and throat became solid.

I lay on the ground, gasping for breath until no more breath came and then, when there was nothing left I only watched as the Gorgon gently took my daughter into the next room so she wouldn’t have to watch me die.

The room was empty when I finally slipped away into darkness… and when I did, I knew that God would not be waiting for me.

Karolina. Compentent, Cool, and well-liked by different overlords.
Jess. Honestly, whatever she's paid, it's not enough. Smart enough to get out at the right time.
Menken. Power hungry. Slick. Savvy enough to get the king a coke if he wants it.
Josh. Seems to have the upper hand over Logan and Kendall while they ask him for his support. Too bad he was only in one episode.
Rhea Jarell. We should have gotten the hint earlier that Logan wanted an outsider to be CEO. Plays both sides and wise enough to get out of a toxic situation.
Logan. Apparently he was to build and topple governments. And so he did with his own empire. Ambitious, ruthless, but not wise enough to raise serious people of his own.
Stewy. "I can promise you that I am spiritually and emotionally and ethically and morally behind whoever wins."
Marcia. The first to make a big power play after Logan's death and making vague death threats wherever she can. If she were around more during the show I"m sure she'd end up higher.
Gerri. Arguably stronger than Frank / Carl and also interim CEO of Waystar Royco. I'm dinging her for her nonsense with Roman.
Laird. Maybe I have a soft spot for lawyers but even when he's not in the room, he's relied by Logan, the Old Guard, and the kids to help get things done.
Frank / Karl : I'm cheating a bit since its a pair but they were really the MVPs during the transition period and held the boys' hands in their attempt to reverse viking.
Laurence Yee. CEO of Vaulter and board member of Waystar Royco. Too bad we didn't see more of him and should have wised up earlier to the Roys fuckery.
Matsson. Intimidating. Seemingly untouchable. Has the money to just sweep Waystar off of the Roys' feet. Fuckery with numbers and Ebba, though, can be his downfall in the end.
Brian. "I'm intellectually promiscuous but culturally conservative." Cool dude and I'd post him higher if he climbed the corporate ladder.
Sandy. Out for Logan's blood in the earlier seasons but turned into a vegetable.
Ebba. From the little we see of her, she's is high up in Matsson's organization that now larger with the acquisition. That said she puts up with Matsson's BS which might hurt her in the long-run.
Nan Pierce. She does get what she wants and is one of the few, if only people, who can drive away from a screaming Logan.
Tom Wambgans. From a humble background he made it to CEO of one of the largest companies in the world, even if is sucking up to kingmakers. Though silly, he has made the right calls and even put himself on the line to go to jail if that's what it takes. His messy marriage and outbursts with Greg keep him from a higher slot.
Ewan Roy. Another elder who can deliver one hell of a eulogy and acts as a conscience to Logan.
Eavis. From a Bernie Sanders-like politician that made it all the way to VP, at least lets see what the courts say. Only ding is his impulsive firing of a disrespectful Shiv. A more serious person could have handled that better.
Cyd. Tom's predecessor and partner at ATN. Definitely competent at the job but if she were more ruthless, she would have killed Tom in the cradle.
Nate. Man of the hour during the election tailgate and wise enough to know that turning into just another Logan would be disastrous for Ken.
Naomi Pierce. Seemingly enjoying a luxurious 0.001% life but unafraid to represent family business when it comes down to it.
Hugo Baker. A little silly - yes - and caught in a bad place laughing at Kerri but still an underrated player in the Roy Saga.
Caroline Collingwood. Despite being an ex of Logan's, she manages to be on good terms with him and the kids and can squeeze extra dollars from him when she can. Also, a cheeky little fuck.
Mark Ravenhead. Top $ draw at ATN, but can't even pass softball questions thrown at by his boss.
Shiv. The only child who has a career outside of Waystar Royco and almost was appointed Chief of Staff to a future VP candidate.
Greg. Yes, Greg the egg bumblefucks his way upwards and not necessarily taken seriously by anyone else...to their detriment. Out of all the characters, he has the biggest delta in status from s1 to s4 despite being a bumbling cartoon most of the time.
Willa. Temperamental? Yes. Bad playwright? Also yes. But she can stand her own to Marcia and swallows her pride for money and status in the end.
Kendal. Living + was a win for Ken but that may be his only win in a sea of attempts at greatness.
Roman. The most serious thing he's done was realize he wasn't a serious person by the last episode.
Kerry. No serious person would be described as "Chuckles the Clown" by Karl.
Conner. Even though I am a Conhead, going through to VPs and blowing $100 mil to get 1% isn't a very serious thing to do (cough Bloomberg cough). But still, a candidate for the ambassadorship to Slovenia.
Peter. Nobody likes Lady Caroline's new husband.

Not mentioned because of lack of information: Rava, Comfry, Tabitha

LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS!

I’m hoping to contend. Start 1 Qb, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 2 Flex, 1 Superflex. I’d get the Jameson Williams side.
QB: Herbert, Lawrence, Ridder
RB: Walker, Swift, Akers, Sanders, Penny, Montgomery
WR: George Pickens, DJ Moore, Chris Godwin, Chris Olave, Kadarius Toney, Laviska Shenault, Donovan Peoples Jones
TE: Hockenson, Fant, Everett
Picks: 1.05, 2.02
View Poll

"Republicans got outsmarted by a President who can't find his pants." - Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) losing her mind over the debt ceiling deal

A House (Like, Seriously) Divided

Oh, to be a fly on the wall in Congress this week.

After far too many painstaking months of brinkmanship and hostage demands from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the deal he reached with President Biden finally advanced in the House of Representatives. First, on Tuesday night, the House Rules Committee narrowly passed rules of debate (the procedural motion that will allow members to vote on a final bill) on a 7-6 vote. Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Ralph Norman (R-SC) defected, joining all of the committee’s four Democrats in opposition.
Second, the agreement to lift the nation’s debt limit (with a considerable list of right-wing strings attached) cleared its second major procedural hurdle on Wednesday, when the vote to start debate on the bill passed 241-187. McCarthy sounded extremely confident that the next vote, which will happen on Wednesday night, will succeed, insisting “It’s going to become law.” Okay Kevin, whatever you say.
Members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus have already made a big show of their opposition to the deal, which they say does not go far enough in ~~hurting the poor~~ cutting federal spending, which, I cannot stress enough, they do not actually care about. The GOP’s ultra-right flank is actually mad that defense spending did not increase enough. That’s right, $886 billion for defense in 2024 (the only area of the budget to get more than a one percent increase) simply isn’t enough because…China is building up its military?

Despite GOP infighting, preliminary counts suggest that the deal has enough support to pass in the House. Here’s why.

Republicans led by McCarthy got Biden to agree to additional work-requirements for able-bodied Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients, but Biden got McCarthy to agree to reduce those requirements for more vulnerable recipients such as veterans and homeless people. Add it all up and the Congressional Budget Office projects that the number of people eligible for SNAP will actually increase by almost 80,000 Americans. Work requirements for food assistance and other government aid were first put into place under the now-maligned “Welfare Reform” in 1996 (thanks, Bill Clinton).
Even if the agreement passes in the House of Representatives, it still faces delays in the Senate, unless Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer can convince their members to expedite a final vote on it. Emerging from a Senate GOP lunch to discuss the debt ceiling on Wednesday, which Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said, “I’m just relieved nobody stabbed each other in there.” Sounds like everything is going great!

It’s worth noting that many progressives on the other side of the aisle are not happy with the deal, either. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) released a statement saying that the best thing about the deal was that it could have been “much worse” and was a significant improvement from the original GOP proposal, but because of the cuts to non-defense spending, the IRS, and other areas, he “cannot vote for this bill.” Sanders called the bill “unnecessary” and underscored that Biden “has the authority and the ability to eliminate the debt ceiling today by invoking the 14th Amendment.” Nevertheless, the bill will likely pass, and the rest of us are tasked with making sure the damage is undone and Democrats never let themselves concede ransoms to the GOP again—for real this time. [singing] “I’m proud to be an American…”

Look No Further Than Crooked Media

Don’t miss Lovett or Leave It at Dynasty Typewriter in Los Angeles on June 8!
Expect games, sketches, perfect jokes, jokes that were worth a shot, and an overall great fucking time while Jon Lovett and his hilarious friends Ronnie Woo, Michaela Watkins, Brendan Scannell, and Oscar Montoya rant the night away.
Get your tickets here!

Under The Radar

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder and leader of the Wagner mercenary group, announced on Wednesday that he has asked prosecutors to investigate whether senior Russian defense officials have committed crimes during or before the war in Ukraine. The former restaurateur who last week jokingly referred to himself as “Putin’s butcher” is a bit of an unpredictable figure, and this development is the most overt public challenge to Putin’s top military officials including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. Prigozhin has spent months insulting the two men at the top of the Russian war effort and accusing them of deception, questioning their allegiance to the (horrible, evil) cause. The Wagner group is on the front lines of the Russian assault on Ukraine, particularly in the eastern city of Bakhmut, and Prigozhin has repeatedly slammed senior Kremlin officials for blocking media coverage of him and his private army.

What Else?

DOJ special counsel Jack Smith is investigating disgraced former president Trump’s firing of Christopher Krebs, the Republican cybersecurity official who issued a statement calling the 2020 election “the most secure in American history.”
An audio recording of a summer 2021 meeting in which Trump references holding onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran has been obtained by federal prosecutors. This admission flies in the face of his argument that he declassified everything.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) kicked off his first major presidential campaign event in Iowa and used the occasion to bash disgraced former president Donald Trump for his “[decision] to move left” on some issues. Lol.
Govs. Glenn Younkin (R-VA) and Henry McMaster (R-SC) signed executive orders that will send members of the Virginia and South Carolina National Guard to the southern border to support a Republican crackdown at the border led by Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX).
That ‘70s Show actor Danny Masterson was found guilty of two out of three counts of rape on Wednesday in his retrial. Prosecutors said Masterson forcibly raped three women in his home between 2001 and 2003, and used his position in the Church of Scientology to avoid consequences for the past two decades. (All three women were also members of the church at the time.)
Eighty-three year old Al Pacino is expecting a baby with his 29-year-old girlfriend. Okay! Gross!
Donald Trump’s on-again-off-again little bitch boy Chris Christie will reportedly announce his candidacy for president next Tuesday.
Another GOP failson, former Vice President Mike Pence, will also be announcing his presidential campaign next week.

Be Smarter

Meta said on Wednesday that it would remove news content from Facebook in California —the company’s home turf—if the state passes the California Journalism Preservation Act. The proposed bill would require online platforms to pay a “journalism usage fee” to news outlets whose work appears on the platforms, a corrective measure aimed at reversing the precipitous decline in local news. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone derisively called the payment structure a “slush fund” that would primarily benefit “big, out-of-state media companies under the guise of aiding California publishers.” The company has been fighting similar battles over compensation for news publishers at the federal and international level for some time now. Facebook infamously refused to go dark in the face of an international consensus concluded that the platform fueled the 2018 genocide, but when Australia floated a law similar to the one being considered in California, it was lights out the next day.
Crooked Media political contributor and resident Big Tech expert Max Fisher, who has reported on Facebook extensively, had this to say: “Facebook has repeatedly refused to so much as throttle its algorithm when its platform is demonstrably contributing to an ongoing genocide, but it showed in Australia in 2021, and is likely to show again soon in California, that it will hit the off button without hesitation when the one thing it does care about gets threatened: money. The company is perfectly willing to shut off citizens from vital, life-saving services in the process of coercing whole populations to protect its bottom line.”

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Light At The End Of The Email

The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that two statewide abortion bans are unconstitutional because they violate the inherent right of pregnant patients to terminate pregnancies to save their own lives.
Twitter is now worth only 33 percent of what CEO Elon Musk and his investors paid for it less than one year ago. I guess that’s what happens when you’re a business genius.
Minnesota became the 23rd state to legalize recreational marijuana. The Land of 10,000 Lakes is using its one-seat Democratic majority in the state legislature to run laps around other blue states and enact a robust progressive agenda.

Enjoy

Microplastics Enjoyer on Twitter: "Ted Kacyznski proved what lengths you have to go to in order to get your name pronounced right if you're Polish"

A side by side data comparison of:
2022 DeSantis Florida Midterm Election - "DeSantis FL"
2020 Trump Nationwide Election - "Trump Nationwide"
2020 Trump Florida Election - "Trump FL"

Independents: 54% DeSantis FL, 41% Trump Nationwide, 43% Trump FL
Moderates: 45% DeSantis FL, 34% Trump Nationwide, 40% Trump FL
Democrats: 5% DeSantis FL, 5% Trump Nationwide, 5% Trump FL
White: 65% DeSantis FL, 58% Trump Nationwide, 62% Trump FL
Black: 13% DeSantis FL, 12% Trump Nationwide, No-data Trump FL
Latino: 58% DeSantis FL, 32% Trump Nationwide, No-data Trump FL
Asian: 34% Trump Nationwide, No other data available.
Midwest Region: 51% Trump Nationwide, No other data available.
Men: 64% DeSantis FL, 53% Trump Nationwide, 54% Trump FL
Women: 53% DeSantis FL, 42% Trump Nationwide, 48% Trump FL
Suburban: 58% DeSantis FL, 48% Trump Nationwide, 55% Trump FL
Urban: 56% DeSantis FL, 38% Trump Nationwide, 44% Trump FL
Rural: 70% DeSantis FL, 57% Trump Nationwide, 61% Trump FL
White Women: 58% DeSantis FL, 55% Trump Nationwide, 60% Trump FL
White Men: 72% DeSantis FL, 61% Trump Nationwide, 65% Trump FL
No College Education: 60% DeSantis FL, 50% Trump Nationwide, 56% Trump FL
White Voters No Degree: 70% DeSantis FL, 67% Trump Nationwide, 66% Trump FL
First Time Mid-term Voter: 59% DeSantis FL, First Time Voted: 37% Trump Nationwide, 47% Trump FL

All Data is from 2020 CNN Exit polls and 2022 CNN Exit Polls.

Discussion:
Can Florida's results be replicated nationwide? Is an urban area of Florida representative of an urban area of Michigan? Are first time voters in Florida representative of first time voters in Michigan?
The Great Blue Wall, which had safely been considered Democrat since 1992, fell thanks to President Trump's appeal with anti-war working-class Obama voters. Wikipedia states that 13% of Trump Voters previously voted for Obama. Many working class blue Obama areas turned red. Will DeSantis win over these working class Rustbelt voters?
1/3rd of Arizona Voters are Independent. How do Florida Independent voters compare to Arizona Independent voters?
12% of Bernie Sanders supporters voted for Trump according to Wikipedia. This figure is far higher than the 5% of Democrat voters who voted for Trump nationwide. So, in which states do these disaffected voters reside? Florida? The Rustbelt? Somewhere else? Will they like DeSantis as much as they liked Trump? Will DeSantis challenge the system like Trump did?

Hey! i'm jay. i'm a minor and prefer to rp here or on instagram (Roleplay_sanders_sides) I dont mind what we do. I prefer to play logan or janusm but will play anyone.

I hope that this post will be of interest to fans of the Warhammer 40 000 universe.
Although sexuality doesn’t play a vital role in stories and novels devoted to this universe some authors do pay attention to it. At least some of them make passing references. Sometimes they mention bisexuality or give hints of it.
The 1st example is “Shadow Play”, which is a short story by Rob Sanders (Black Library Weekender Anthology). Lelith Hesperax is one of the most famous characters among Dark Eldars, known as the Queen of Knives. She was accompanied by a female courtesan. According to inquisitor Czevak “from their body language the dark eldar were lovers, with the second the seeming senior of the pair.” (Lelith was supposed to be senior).
The 2nd example is “Menshad Korum”, which is a short story by C.S. Goto. Yhuki was Lelith Hesperax’s servant. She obviously admired her mistress. “Lelith swept passed her servant, her long hair caressing Yhuki's naked shoulders and fanning into a wake behind her. Yhuki fought to resist the need to touch the queen's legs as they slid through the eddying air at her side.” It is a very atmospheric scene. Later Yhuki wasn’t able to resist temptation and “her hand slid across the base of the throne and her fingers crawled onto the skin of Lelith's exquisite calf, picking their way between the complex straps of black psychoplastic that snaked their way up the queen's legs. Lelith let out a breath of pleasure and reached down to Yhuki, drawing her face up along her body.”
I think that Lelith is more than likely bisexual because she is said to be an occasional courtesan of Overlord Asdrubael Vect. Besides, Dark Eldar explore all arts of pleasure including heterosexuality.
The 3rd example is “Fulgrim”, which is a novel by Graham McNeill and the fifth book in the Horus Heresy Series. Bequa Kynska was a musician and composer of note taken under Primarch Fulgrim’s patronage. She seduced both men and women and wasn’t used to denial.
What’s your opinion? Do you know some other scenes or hints of bisexuality?

Hello new/returning player! Whether you're considering buying or you've just installed it and don't know where to start, there's a good chance you have some questions about the game. I've been playing pretty much since launch, and since the Discord imploded and the in-game tutorial kinda sucks, I figured this would be a good place to put together a comprehensive guide to everything you need to know about Railroads Online. Feel free to scroll through the headings to find what you're looking for!

Is it worth the money?
Railroads Online is exactly what it says on the tin and exactly what you see in the trailer. There are railroads, they are online, and you do have complete freedom to build your own railroad in a sandbox environment. If that's your cup of tea, try it! Steam's refund policy allows you to refund the game if you have less than 2 hours played and you've owned it for less than 2 weeks, so even if you don't like it when you start, you have a safety net. That said, this game is in early access. And, the regularly-updated branch is a beta to the early access, so it is seriously lacking polish in certain areas. This game is physics-based, and that can take a toll on performance for trains longer than a dozen cars, and the Beta branch reportedly has some people's GPUs on their knees. Updates also regularly introduce bugs, ranging from mildly amusing to make-sure-you-back-up-your-save-file. For some people that sort of thing is understandably not worth $35, while for others it gives the game character. I've gotten close to 10 hours of playtime for every dollar I spent on it, so obviously I'd be inclined to say it's worth it, but everybody's experience will be different.

Note: The following guide is geared towards the Beta version of the game. This version has the most features, looks the best, and receives regular updates, though there are a number of known performance and stability issues. The majority of it still applies to both versions of the game regardless, though the largest changes have been to track laying.

Getting Started

Warning: Remember, this is Railroads Online. There is no "offline" mode, strictly speaking, but you can drag the "player limit" slider down to 1. If you're going to play with other people, use a password. If you ever forget to, and someone comes in and undoes all of your hard work, you will never forget again. You have been warned!

Your first railroad
So, you've launched the game! Congratulations! Now what? Well, it's probably good to get yourself oriented first.
The game spawns you in on the spawning platform. The three tracks you've spawned next to are permanent, and they are where new equipment spawns when you purchase it. You are given Betsy, a flatcar, and $2000 for free, and the rest is left up to you.
Before you run any trains, you'll need to build some track to run them on. Take care here, because there is no edit tool; if you build something, the only way to change it is to delete sections and rebuild. Measure twice, cut once, and make it look nice the first time so you don't have to redo it later. Or something.
Press G to bring up the majority of your sandbox tools: Track Construction, Facilities, Locomotives (the shop), Demolish, Rerail, and Logging, plus the Respawn button. I will cover all of these tools in time, but for now, all you need to be familiar with are the Track Construction tab, the Demolish tool, and the Logging tool.

Track Construction
Track laying in this game has been... fucky... for a long time. It's a LOT better now than it used to be, but I still recommend downloading RROx (Railroads Online Extended) and using the fast sprint cheat when you're building. It will save you hours (not to mention the other features it offers).
First of all, everything in this game except for rolling stock is FREE! Go nuts! Want to triple-track the main? You can! Want to fill the entire southern half of the map with water towers? Your call! Fun first, safety third. Anyway:

In the Track Construction menu, you will be greeted by a bunch of track options. Feel free to place them wherever to get an idea of what they are.
The first row is, of course, 3 foot narrow-gauge rail. The I, II, and III varieties are identical except for the amount of ballast. I has some, II has a bit more, and III has a lot. On cliff faces, too much ballast can cause ugly clipping, so it's best to use tier I when you can and step it up if it's too short. The game will not let you place a node if the spline is not supported by ground or some other structure at every point.
The default building mode is spline mode. Click once to place the first node, and click somewhere else to place the second node. Boom! You've placed your first track segment. If you click on the ground, it will face whatever direction your UI currently says it's facing, but if you click on another piece of track it will do its best to connect to the other node as smoothly as possible. This can result in some janky turns if you're not careful, so keep that in mind. There are keybinds to rotate the endpoints to face the direction you want them to. Track will not snap to another track unless you see the glowing chain link icon above it. If you don't see it at first, walk around a little, staring at the desired connection point until you trigger the hitbox.
The other building mode is circle mode. It does what it says on the tin– your track will follow a circular arc with the radius you specify. Use smaller segments if you can, because for some reason the angles get weird if you try to do more than 90° in a single segment. In this mode, you can snap to existing track on your first click, but it will not snap to another track for your second click because it only cares about following the circle. This build mode is useful for a number of reasons, not least of which being the ability to see what your maximum turning radius is. A 30 meter radius is the minimum, but on your main line you should aim to stay above 60-100 meters to avoid derailments at high speeds.
Next in the menu: switches. If you know what trains are, you probably know what switches are. In RRO, if a switch is pointing one way, and you come in from the other, it will automatically align with you to let you through, unless A.) you are in a handcart, or B.) it is the 3-way stub switch. Also note that they are not perfect mirror images of each other (not sure how they managed to mess that up but oh well), which may cause problems when creating complex structures like yards.
The 90° crossover piece is your friend when designing parallel tracks. You can chain them together to ensure equal spacing, matching angles, or you can simply use them as placeholder nodes to snap your track to if you need to delete part of it. Two crossover pieces are far enough apart for two trains to pass each other comfortably, so it's handy for smoothing your double-tracks, if you choose to build them. The 45° crossover piece is also good, for when you want a spacer piece that's slightly longer than the 90°, or if you don't want your simple wyes to be a hundred feet across. (Still waiting on that 10° crossover, Astragon.)
Turntables are what you expect them to be. The plain Turntable I is small enough to fit in some tight spaces like yards, but a lot of locomotives will only fit on Turntable II. Turntables have historically been a bit buggy, particularly if you reload a save while something is on it, so be wary.
The bumper is a bumper. 'Nuff said.
Embankments are ballast without the rail. They're nice as decoration around the base of certain structures, or as filler in between the tracks in yards, or as ballast for bumpers and crossovers. You can also access a similar trackless version of the stone wall by using its drop-down menu.
Bridges and stone walls work exactly the same as ballast track: they will not allow you to place a node if the spline is not supported everywhere. However, there is a workaround for this: nodes can be supported by ballast. If you use small enough segments, 3 Ft Rail III can be used to cross gaps using just the previous segment's ballast as support. If you fill the gap with ballast, you can place your bridge on top of it, and then remove the ballast later. You can pretty it up with some stone walls as supports, if you want to.

And that's everything currently in the Track Construction menu! The Engine Shed and the Coaling Tower also have small pieces of track, but they are kept in the Facilities menu.
Note: You can make it to pretty much every industry in the game with less than a 3% grade. In real life, this is considered pretty steep, but in-game you can get away with even steeper track if you can't be bothered to work out the best path.

Demolish Tool
The demolish tool is delightfully simple. It deletes things! By default, it only deletes rail, but that can be changed with the drop-down menu. Be very careful using the "All" option-- you could accidentally delete your rolling stock.

The Logging Tool
The logging tool will probably be your second most-used tool, right after track construction, because everywhere you want to place track, there are trees in the way. You can click almost anywhere on the tree to remove it, and it does this for free, but you might have trouble removing a tree if the bottom two-thirds of it are buried in ballast. If spam-clicking feels tedious, you can hold down the mouse button until the saw finds a part of the trunk that it likes.

That should be everything you need to know to build your first railway!

Industries

In Railroads Online, your objective is money. Moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoney. But u/Embite, I hear you ask, how do I GET money? Well, I'm glad you asked! The answer is industries.
There are 9 industries in RRO, which you can see on the map: the Smelter, the Sawmill, the Logging Camp, the Freight Depot, the Iron Ore Mine, the Oil Field, the Ironworks, the Refinery, and the Coal Mine.
Each industry has inputs and outputs. For example, the Logging Camp has two output platforms: one for logs and one for cordwood. To load a car with the output, simply position your railcar where the crane drops the cargo and click the crane to start loading. For some outputs like the iron mine, there's a chute instead of a crane, but it's the same idea. When you unload a car, the cargo teleports to the side you clicked on, so make sure you're standing on the platform that you want to deliver to.
The inputs and outputs for each industry is listed in the table below.

Location	Input	Output
Freight Depot	Anything	Nothing
Logging Camp	Nothing	Logs, Cordwood
Sawmill	Logs	Beams, Lumber
Iron Ore Mine	Beams, Lumber	Iron Ore
Smelter	Iron Ore, Cordwood	Raw Iron, Rails
Coal Mine	Beams, Rails	Coal
Ironworks	Lumber, Raw Iron, Coal	Steel Pipes, Tools
Oil Field	Beams, Steel Pipes, Tools	Crude Oil
Refinery	Lumber, Steel Pipes, Crude Oil	Oil Barrel

You should notice a few things:

Logging Camp has no inputs. This is where the supply chain of RRO starts. The lumberjacks do all of their work for free, and they will never run out of logs, or cordwood.
Freight Depot (the big warehouse near spawn) has no outputs. This is where you can return to sell whatever products you've collected and turn them in for straight cash. You get the same amount of money regardless of which buyer you send cargo to, so it's recommended that you try to deliver to another industry whenever possible, since you get money AND more cargo to sell, rather than just the money. If all you need is money though, the Freight Depot is where to go.
There is a clear progression from one industry to the next. I've ordered the table so that once you've connected to one industry in the list, your railroad will have access to all of the cargo needed for the next industry down.

While it's best to try and deliver to new industries whenever possible, sometimes (especially early on) you will simply run out of money for all the new railcars you need to haul the stuff. For the early game, my best suggestion is to run beams from the sawmill straight to the freight depot. Stake flats (which carry beams) are among the cheapest rolling stock, and each carload is worth $72, compared to $60 for a flatcar of logs. You only need 3 beams per car, so it's fast to load and unload. While cordwood is also easy to do, with each carload worth $80, each flat is much more expensive to buy, and each car carries 8 units of cordwood, making the loading time much longer. Plus, many more industries use stake flats than the cordwood flats, so you will be investing in the future of your railroad as you go.
Another way to make money in RRO is via Firewood Depots and Coaling Towers, which brings us to the next available construction tool,

Facilities
Facilities are buildings you place down yourself to facilitate the management of your railway. At the top of the menu are the Sand House, the Firewood Depot, and the Coaling Tower. They're very self-explanatory: The Sand House contains sand to refill your locomotive's sander, the Firewood Depot is where you restock on firewood, and the Coaling Tower is where you restock on coal. The Sand House is, as far as I can tell, unimplemented as of 5/29/2023, but the others are very important. In RRO, you need to produce the fuel that runs your railroad.
Firewood Depots are easy to stock, not least of all because they spawn in full of firewood, in case you run out in the middle of nowhere. To refill a Firewood Depot that has been exhausted, you simply unload any form of wooden cargo (logs, lumber, beams, or cordwood) onto the side of the platform that doesn't have firewood on it. When designing your yards, it's always smart to make space for a firewood depot, because the platforms are spaced far apart and most locomotives in RRO run on firewood.
Coaling towers do not spawn in stocked with coal, and coal is not available until about half of the map is connected by your railroad, so coal-fired locomotives will be a late-game commodity. Once you have access to them, though, they are restocked in much the same way as firewood depots.
Water towers are also important. Without water, your trains have no steam, so place these wherever they're convenient. They refill slowly on their own.
Engine sheds are purely cosmetic in this game, since the locomotives don't require servicing or shelter. They are, however, available in a variety of nice paint schemes, and a roundhouse is a great way to spruce up any boring-looking switching yards.
The last facility is the Telegraph Office, which is the most convenient structure in the game. Wherever on the map you place one, your map will be updated with a brown box with a T in it. Clicking his box allows you to teleport to any telegraph office from anywhere else in the game, saving you a lot of walking between industries and yards.

Locomotives (the shop), and Companies
The shop is where you use your hard-earned money to buy locomotives and rolling stock. You can check your funds in-game by pressing P. The "tier" of an item is the level your player needs to be in order to purchase it. Your level increases every time you deliver cargo to an industry. When other players join your game, they can join your company by pressing Tab and clicking "Join Company" next to your name. When they do this, any delivery they make will count as a delivery for you, not them, which increases your money and XP much faster than doing it all alone. Employment is forgotten when the player relogs.

Rerailing
Rerailing is finicky. Basically, you click "rerail," spam LMB on whatever you're trying to rerail until its name appears in the UI, and then walk around looking at track until it appears where you want it to. You can flip it around with LMB, and then drop it with RMB. Rerailing on switches currently seems to be a little broken.

Respawning
This option will send you back to the spawn yard if you ever manage to get stuck. It was more useful before telegraph offices were added, and most of the gamebreaking ways to get stuck have been patched, but if you want to use it you simply click and hold until you respawn.

Trains!!!!!!1!1!!!

Now, with a line of track connecting your spawning yard with the logging camp, you're ready to finally fire up your Porter 0-4-0 and run some trains! In case you're new to operating a steam locomotive, here's a quick rundown of the controls:

Controls
First, open up the firebox and throw a few logs on the fire. Pick up logs with LMB, look at the firebox until the UI displays its temperature in the top left, and throw with RMB. You can throw logs back onto the pile if you picked up too many (you can hold up to 5 at once). Now you have to wait for the fire to heat up, which then makes the boiler heat up, and then you will finally see the dial on your pressure gauge increase. Once you've got pressure, you can move the locomotive.
The big lever above the firebox is the regulator, aka the throttle. It basically controls how fast your built-up steam enters the cylinder, or in other words, how much power you're sending to the piston, and by extension, the wheels.
The lever coming out of the floor is the reverser (or the Johnson bar), which controls at what point in the cylinder's stroke steam is allowed to enter the chamber. All the way forward means that steam comes in anytime it would push the wheels forward, and all the way back means that steam comes in anytime it would push the wheels backwards. In between, it controls whether the steam flow is constant, or if it comes in short bursts. Or, at least, that's how it works in real life. IRL you can achieve more efficient steam usage by setting the reverser bar near the middle and letting the regulator stay open; however, in RRO, as far as I can tell it simply multiplies the % the regulator is open and the % that the reverser is set and uses that number as the "go amount." So, for all intents and purposes, the reverser is just another regulator (in RRO).
The lever to the right of that is the brake. Betsy (i.e. the Porter 0-4-0) has a mechanical brake, meaning it applies braking force as long as you have it on. In some locomotives, though, the brakes are powered by a steam-powered compressor, which you need to activate yourself via a valve somewhere, or else your brakes will have no effect.
The whistle and the bell do as you expect. There is another handle which opens the cylinder cocks, which as of 5/29/2023 is purely cosmetic, as are the sanders. IRL, cylinder cocks are used to blow condensed water out of the cylinders, and sanders are used for extra traction in slippery conditions.
Finally, most locomotives have lamps that you can turn on and off with LMB, or by using the steam-powered generator, if it has one.
And that's pretty much it! Different locomotives have different features, and levers are often in slightly different places, but they all operate on the same general principles. Locomotives are also often specialized for a particular job. For example, engines like the Eureka are specialized for high speeds with low power, while engines with shorter wheel bases like the D&RGW Class 48 are specialized for sharp turns and yardwork, while the geared locomotives like shays and heislers are specialized for steep tracks in mountainous terrain. You can find a number of resources online to find statistics for each of the different RRO locomotives.

Coupling
The 3 foot narrow-gauge railway in RRO uses what is called "Link and pin" coupling, which uses, unsurprisingly, links and pins. To couple two cars together, you need enough space to fit a link between them. Press LMB to insert a link in the coupler. Only one car should have a link. Once the link is in place, push the cars together and use RMB to place a pin in both couplers. Et voila! Your train is now longer.
Tender locomotives have unique couplers. First of all, instead of a link, tenders are connected to the cab by a drawbar. Press LMB on the tender, then back up the locomotive and use RMB to hitch it to the drawbar with a pin. For locomotives with cowcatchers, the front is outfitted with a drawbar as well, which can be extended and retracted with LMB. This link is weaker than the usual link-and-pin, so only use this for short, slow trips or yardwork.

External Tools

While straight-up modding RRO is currently very difficult, there do exist certain external tools to help provide you with a more enjoyable experience with a game that is, at times, excessively grindy.
RROx
RROx, or Railroads Online Extended, is by far the most useful RRO extension I've come across. It offers a real-time minimap (that maps your rail lines for you!), remote control of locomotives, cranes, and switches, unrestricted teleporting, cheats like free money, fast-sprint and flight, as well as optional access to all of these features for other RROx users that join your game. It even provides everything necessary to create a plugin of your own, if you're so inclined.

Railroad Studio
railroad.studio is a free online save file editor for RRO. With it you can replace trees, rename/repaint locomotives and rolling stock, delete track, cheat in money, etc. Currently the go-to save editor.

Technical Bits

Just some extra technical bits that are worth knowing:

A lot of the game's files are stored in your AppData/Local folder under the name arr, a name inherited from the devs' previous game, American Railroads.
Your save files are stored in %localappdata%\arr\Saved\SaveGames.
A number of config settings are stored in plaintext .ini files in arSaved/Config/Windows, where you can edit settings like the maximum view distance beyond what is usually allowed. The maximum setting typically allowed is 3, but I've increased this to 10 without any notable performance drop. Nevertheless, edit settings beyond supported values at your own risk. The game needs to be restarted for settings changed in this way to take effect.

Miscellaneous Tips

All controls can be rebound in the controls menu.
You can change your POV with V, and you can lean left and right with R and T.
If you prefer to drive with the GUI instead of in first person, you may have an easier time finding the button prompt by standing in front of the locomotive rather than inside it.
Placing a switch, then a 45° on the turnout, and finally another switch so that the straight edge is parallel with your first switch, creates two lanes that are far enough apart to fit the switch's lever on the inside.
If you back far enough away, track and ballast hitboxes will despawn and let you place things inside of them.
There is a large, flat plateau northeast of the smelter that is a convenient place for a yard connecting the smelter, iron mine, and coal mine.
There is a lot of space for a yard just over the hill west of the freight depot.
The un-deletable track southeast of the spawning track is for the shop.
The game keeps a list of every tree you've cut down and uses this to load the map, which (allegedly) makes the game take longer to load if you cut more trees than you need to. Use a save file editor like railroad.studio to replace missing trees.
The walkway on Bridges II is always on your left as you build it.
You can snap track to turntables if you rotate it to where you want the connection to be.
Firewood depots only replenish the piles if every pile is missing at least 5 logs.
If you're strapped for cash, loading a car with logs and then immediately unloading that car to a firewood depot on the other side is fast, easy money. This is pretty cheaty though, so you might as well save yourself some time and just use a save file editor.
A switch's turnout is about 10 degrees.
Locomotives don't respond to changes in the controls until a 1-second timer counts down. The timer resets every time you make a change, but letting go (releasing left-click) applies the change immediately.

That's pretty much everything I've got. I hope that this guide has been of use to you! If I forgot something, got something wrong, or you have an idea for how to improve this guide, feel free to leave it as a comment below. Happy railroading!

Hey everybody! I’m new here and only a casual fan of Sander's sides, but I’m making a keychain as a birthday present for a friend, they might even see this in which case hi :)
Any recommendations for fanart, symbols etc I could use? Thank you all!

Getting Started
I am just getting started and working out of a garage. The plan is to take pallet wood and turn it into tables and stuff to sell and as a side hustle and also just for fun. I have a reliable source of pallets near my home and am equipped with a drill, standard 10’ miter saw (Not sliding), random orbit sander, few pipe clamps and various hand saws,
I plan on buying a nice m18 jigsaw just because of its versatility. I would get a circular saw but it can only do straight cuts and I know I’ll have to get one eventually but with a straight cut jig I can make in a minute the jigsaw is more versatile, even though it is slower on the straights.
I also am thinking of buying a electric hand plane, specifically the Bosch one. I have thought about using it to mill the boards somewhat flat, and then gluing the wide faces together to make a really thick slab and then using the electric hand plane to make that into a manageable thickness.
I can’t afford a table saw or planejointer and I don’t really have space for either
I kinda just want someone to tell me this will work so I can pull the trigger without too much more hesitation

I am just getting started and working out of a garage. The plan is to take pallet wood and turn it into tables and stuff to sell and as a side hustle and also just for fun. I have a reliable source of pallets near my home and am equipped with a drill, standard 10’ miter saw (Not sliding), random orbit sander, a few pipe clamps and various hand saws,
I plan on buying a nice m18 jigsaw just because of its versatility. I would get a circular saw but it can only do straight cuts and I know I’ll have to get one eventually but with a straight cut jig I can make in a minute the jigsaw is more versatile, even though it is slower on the straights.
I also am thinking of buying a electric hand plane, specifically the Bosch one. I have thought about using it to mill the boards somewhat flat, and then gluing the wide faces together to make a really thick slab and then using the electric hand plane to make that into a manageable thickness.
I can’t afford a table saw or planejointer and I don’t really have space for either
I kinda just want someone to tell me this will work so I can pull the trigger without too much more hesitation

I made the first part of this weeks ago, sorry for the delay.
Indiana: One of the more surprising retirement announcements so far has been that of first-term Senator Mike Braun, who is leaving Washington for a crack at his state's governorship. And he seems to be the early favorite, although he hasn't cleared the field by any means. With her boss term-limited, Lt Governor Suzanne Crouch is gunning for a promotion, and already has the support of two representatives- one of them Greg Pence, the older brother of the former vice president. Former Representative Trey Hollingsworth, who retired from his South Indiana House seat last year, is also considering a run. On the Democratic side, I'm getting a bit of deja vu from Oklahoma- former Republican State Superintendent Jennifer McCormick has switched parties and is now seeking the Democratic nomination (although unlike Joy Hoffmeister, she has been less public about her reasoning for changing parties). And if either Evan Bayh or Joe Donnelly want to stage a political comeback, this might be their last chance for a while. None of the candidates so far are standouts, so Safe R, although the entrance of one of the former senators could make it interesting.
West Virginia: With party-switching incumbent Jim Justice termed out and running for Senate, the top job in the Mountain State is up for grabs. The Republican primary is getting interesting. Politics is often a family business in West Virginia, and that's on full display here with the sons of both Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and Rep. Carol Miller jumping in. Three statewide officials have also joined the race- state auditor JB McCluskey, Attorney General Pat Morrisey (who lost to Joe Manchin in 2018), and Secretary of State Mac Warner. (Sidenote on the family thing- Mac Warner's three brothers all have their own political careers. Kasey was a US Attorney, Kris chaired the WV GOP, and Monty ran for governor in 2004.) Ex-Representatives David McKinley and Evan Jenkins are also reportedly considering bids. On the Democratic side, Joe Manchin has ruled out the possibility of a return to his old job. The top contenders so far are Huntingdon mayor Steve Williams and 2020 nominee Ben Salango, the worst-performing Democratic governor nominee in state history. The only way I can see Democrats being remotely competitive is if they convince Richard Ojeda to run, and even then, whoever emerges from the messy Republican primary is pretty likely to win. Safe R.
North Carolina: This will be short, as this race is the most discussed. For good reason, too- it's the only swing state here. Incumbent Democrat Roy Cooper is term-limited, and the Democrats have all lined up behind AG Josh Stein, Cooper's protegee and successor in that role. Meanwhile, the Republican frontrunner is Lt Gov Mark Robinson, a... controversial figure known for his conspiratorial beliefs about the pandemic and some truly vile statements regarding LGBT people. He's also made some statements suggesting he believes in a Jewish cabal controlling the world. However, the NC Republicans aren't all sold on him. He's facing a challenge from Treasurer Dale Folwell and ex-Rep Mark Walker. Stein is a solid recruit, Robinson has some huge liabilities from his past statements, so this race will probably be bluer than the presidential race, which is already going to be close. Lean D.
Delaware: 2024 is looking to be a major shakeup for Delaware politics, with Gov John Carney term limited and Sen Tom Carper retiring. Carper has endorsed the state's lone Representative, Lisa Blunt Rochester, to take his seat. Assuming she takes the offer, and she has no reason not to, that means an open Senate seat, House seat, and governorship. Matt Meyer, the executive of New Castle County (which holds a majority of the state's population), is probably going to run. Meyer has governed as a progressive, raising the minimum wage for public employees to 15 dollars an hour, making New Castle County a sanctuary county for immigrants, and getting into fights with police unions. Lt Gov Bethany Hall-Long and AG Kathy Jennings are possible alternatives, probably getting support from Delaware's establishment. On the Republican side, there is basically no bench there. It's probably going to be some no-name state legislator or local official. Safe D.
Vermont: Everything in this race hinges on whether or not Phil Scott runs for a fifth term. He's been in office for eight years, and despite being a Republican in the nation's bluest state in a time of increasing partisanship, he keeps winning by larger and larger margins. Last year, he swept every municipality in the state, and I'm not sure how long it's been since that happened. If he's in for another two years, he'll face only token opposition and cruise to reelection. If he retires, then his party will have a tough time finding a replacement. I don't think it'd be impossible for a non-Scott Republican to hold the seat, but it would be difficult. Republicans would be smart to find a successor before Scott retires- possibly Christina Nolan? Meanwhile, the Democrats could very well see a battle royale amongst the other statewide executive positions- one in which the endorsements of Bernie Sanders, Pat Leahy, and Peter Welch would probably prove decisive. Safe R if Scott runs, Safe D if he doesn't.
New Hampshire: Similarly to its western neighbor, popular Gov Chris Sununu's decision to run for another term or to retire will determine everything else about it. While Sununu's popularity seems to have peaked in 2020, with the Republican legislative majorities that came off his coattails that year forcing him to take more decisive stands on controversial issues, he's still very well liked and would easily win another term if he so chose. If not, a variety of politicians will probably throw their hats into the ring. Senate President Chuck Morse has said that he'll run if Sununu doesn't, although former Sen Kelly Ayotte and 2022 Senate nominee Don Bolduc have also been suggested as candidates. Meanwhile, the Democrats are probably going to run Manchester mayor Joyce Craig regardless of Sununu's decision, although if he retires others might join the fray for an actual chance to win the governorship. Oh, and the state legislature probably flips next year. Safe R if Sununu runs, lean D if he doesn't.
Washington: Yeah, I kinda have to redo this one after Jay Inslee announced his retirement. Two statewide officials have entered the race already, AG Bob Ferguson and Commissioner of Public Lands Hillary Franz. Ferguson's endorsement list is a veritable who's who of Washington politicians, so he's got the inside track for a spot on the November ballot. Who he'll end up facing depends on how many other people join in- if no other notable Democrats run, Franz has a decent shot at the #2 slot, while if the Republicans unite behind a single candidate, they reach the second round. Either way, Ferguson probably wins (seriously, look at this list). Safe D, >1/3 shot of a double Dem November ballot.
Yeah okay, maybe people don't talk much about these races because most of the drama is between state-level politicians nobody outside the state has heard of, and it's all in the primaries.

USAgent and the USAvengers

Volume 4: Healing
Passover Special
Written by: u/DarkLordJurasus
Edited by: u/PresidentWerewolf and u/Predaplant

I look out at the highway, the sound of the radio blending into the noise of cars on asphalt. Up ahead is a sign for a rest stop in half a mile. For a moment, I debate not saying anything, merely shifting my aching leg to try letting it straighten and allow the car to continue forward. Walter is stressed enough as is; being trapped in New Jersey traffic will only make it worse.
I grab ahold of the front seat passenger chair, and attempt to shift my body to a more leaning position. I get one leg up before letting out a moan. Pain blossoms through my oblique muscles as I stop.
Hearing me, Walter asks, “Are you okay?”
Shifting back into the sitting position, I wave him off, “Yea, yea. I’m fine. Healing just sucks. Can we possibly stop soon? I need to stand up and walk off my soreness.”
Doug gives a curt nod, quickly putting on his right blinker to change lanes. Walter doesn’t immediately respond. For a moment, he is quiet, and then he says, “Listen, if you aren’t feeling up to the trip, it's okay. There is a Passover Seder hosted by a synagogue near our base, I can go there for the holidays.”
I quickly reply, “No, I’m fine. We calculated the time for a lot of stops and the doctor said as long as I walk around every hour to hour and a half, I should be fine.”
Trying to lighten the mood, Doug added on, “Yea. I was promised a chance to try your mom’s homemade macaroons. You aren’t taking that away from me.”
All Walter replied with was a hesitant, “Okay.”
It’s strange, Walter’s response. Well, his hesitation in general is weird. Is he worried to see his parents again? It would be the first time he saw them since becoming Stingray, but that isn’t it. His hesitation mostly comes around Doug and me coming. It can’t be him trying to keep us away from his Jewish identity. He’s the one who invited us, and he had never been shy about discussing his beliefs before.
I try to brush the thought from my mind. I don’t want to push Walter. If he is feeling so uncomfortable now, any attempt to figure out what he is thinking will only lead to him getting defensive. Instead, I just let it go, pretending I haven’t noticed his weird behavior, and listen to the news.
In business news, earlier today Tinkerer Technologies announced their initiative to begin making technology that will help protect private citizens from superhuman threats. This corresponded with a press statement by company founder Phineas Mason.
In the statement, Phineas wrote, “Tinkerer Technologies is not trying to disparage the technology being created on behest of the US government in regards to the danger superhumans may pose. It must be remembered that Tinkerer Technologies were the main industry working with the government on the USAvengers project and had a direct hand in both the Detroit Steel armor and the Modern American Initiative. The problem is, Sentinels and the USAvengers can only be part of the solution. A situation with a superhuman can turn volatile in a moment. We’ve seen this with both dangerous, violent criminals and innocents who lost control of their powers. As such, it is imperative that the average citizen has the tools to neutralize deadly situations as they wait for the police, a Sentinel, or the USAvengers to arrive.”
Walter turns off the radio at this, his back straight as a pencil. At the same time, he begins to pull into the parking lot of the rest stop. He parks the car in silence, the fact he turned off the radio not mentioned by anyone in the car. We all know why. The wording was polite, but the message behind Phineas’ words are clear: mutants are dangerous and should be feared.
As the car stops, Doug clears his throat and says, “I’m going inside to the bathroom and to grab an Iced Tea for the road. Anyone want anything?”
Walter responds, “I’m good.”
Doug merely looks at Walter for a moment, I can’t see his eyes, but I can only guess he was looking him over, worried about Walter’s behavior. After a moment, Doug nods and turns back to me, “You want anything?”
“Sure,” I reply, “Grab me a coffee.”
Getting out of the car, Doug double checks, “Two milk, one Splenda?”
I hum in the affirmative. Doug closes the door to the car and begins to walk towards the rest stop.
I move to leave the car myself, my hand unclasping the seatbelt from its holder. Taking a deep breath, Walter says, “Wait…I…we need to talk before you get out.”
I’m silent, unsure what to say or do in this situation. I’m worried, what’s going on? Why is Walter so nervous?
Walter’s hands drift from the steering wheel to his side, limp. “Two days ago my mom called me. Originally we thought my grandpa wasn’t coming to Passover. For as long as I knew him, he always flew to Israel for Passover specifically and celebrated the holiday with his sister’s family. Earlier last week his sister’s daughter called him to cancel. It seems that one of my cousins just had a preemie and Passover took a backseat as they are dealing with the surprise of having the child early.”
“Why is this a bad thing?” I ask.
Walter sighs, “It’s not, I love my grandpa, he’s great, he’s just, well he is so far liberal that we used to joke Bernie Sanders went to him for policy ideas. When I told him I wanted to go to a military college, he spent over a year trying to convince me otherwise. He even offered to pay for all 4 years of my college out of his own pocket just to stop me.”
Understanding sinks in; his grandfather is not going to like me, not in the slightest. The only thing I can say in response is, “Oh.”
Walter looks down, “Yea. He is probably going to challenge you. Mom said he promised to not make a scene, but to him, anything short of not punching you like he is Captain America punching Hitler is not making a scene.”
“Do you not want me to go?” I ask, trying to keep the nervousness out of my voice. I know Walter is still wary of me due to my usage of the M-slur, not that I could blame him. If I was him, I would have dropped me as a friend as soon as I got out of a coma. I don’t want to cause conflict, and I would understand if Walter doesn’t feel comfortable with me there, all things considered, but it would still hurt. I can currently only count three people as my friends, and with how badly I screwed up my friendship with Lemar, I hate the idea that my friendship with Walter is also irreparable.
“No.” Doug says quickly, almost too quickly, “It’s not like that. It’s just, I know you are planning to go to group therapy with Lemar to work out your issues, and I don’t want you to be placed into a situation where a stranger confronts you over your actions before you're ready for it. If you don’t feel up to being interrogated, then I can easily turn this car around and we can claim the flu or some other bullshit.”
I think about what Walter said. He’s not entirely wrong. While I know what I said is wrong, and I know that it was derogatory and discriminatory, I also know that I haven’t done enough to fix the issue. I’ve thought about that day often, my mind replaying the events over and over, but I haven’t verbalized much of it to others. I can play out the words I will say when questioned on it, but that means nothing when emotions run high. Wasn’t it during high emotions that I showed my true colors in the first place?
My hand is shaking, from my emotions or from the lack of movement, I’m not quite sure. I don’t think I can do this, I barely was coherent enough to discuss it with my friends, how can I try speaking about it in front of others? Would I try explaining it after I apologize, to further go into how I am trying to work harder in the future to change, or would that be considered justifying the behavior? For a moment, the thought of turning the car around sounds like the right choice. Walter is right, I’m not ready for a confrontation, I don’t think I’ll ever be ready.
And yet, I also know turning the car around is impossible. Ignoring how selfish it would be to Walter, the fact of the matter is that I can’t keep running from the backlash. I can’t keep pretending that the real world consequences to my actions will avoid me. I have to face the music.
“I want to go.” I manage to gasp out in a whisper. Instantly, I feel better and I feel worse. It feels like a weight has been lifted, like I’m no longer testing fate or Odin or anyone else who might exist, but at the same time, a new tension builds anticipation. This is not going to be fun, but it’s something I need to do.
—---------------------
Two days later, the three of us arrive at Walter’s parents’ house dressed up. Even from the other side of the door, I can easily hear the noises of children yelling and oven alarms going off. On my head is a yarmulke, a small brown cap. Walter did tell Doug and me that it was okay for us not to wear it, but if I’m being invited to celebrate someone’s culture and religion, I want to be as respectful as possible while doing so.
Walter knocks on the door and a young woman comes to the door. She looks younger than Walter, maybe in her mid to late thirties. She wears a dark blue dress with a silver Star of David necklace. Seeing David, she hugs him. “It’s good to see you. Mom was terrified when you disappeared and then showed up as a superhero.”
Blushing a bit, Walter responds, “You know I would have told you guys if I could.”
The girl smiles softly. “I know that, but try telling that to mom.”
Walter stops for a moment, his body freezing. “Fuck,” he says before running inside, calling for his mother.
Seeing Doug’s and my confusion, the girl explains, “There’s no more powerful force than a Jewish mother’s guilt, and for the stunt you guys pulled, well Walter is going to be reminded of that fact.”
Awkwardly I nod, my hands almost trapped at my side. It’s hard enough for me to lie to Lemar about why I disappeared for months on end; I didn’t even think of how hard it was for Walter to lie to his family.
Doug, either recovering from the awkwardness first or not having felt it in the first place, holds out his hand, “Hi, I’m Doug.”
Shaking his hand, the woman replies, “Detroit Steel right?” Not waiting for a response, she continues, “I’m Alli.”
My mind instantly clicks. This is Walter’s younger sister, the one who is a Social Studies teacher in Pennsylvania. Holding out my own hand, I say, “I’m John.”
Alli’s smile gets slightly tighter, her lips paling from tension, “Welcome to our house.” She turns around and quickly gestures for us to get inside. The fact she didn’t shake my hand isn’t lost on me, but if passive-aggressiveness is the worst of my treatment tonight, well, it would be more than I deserve.
Walking inside, we are on a small wooden platform, a single step to the left required to get to the downstairs, a staircase in front of us exiting into the living room. A young kid runs by and runs over my foot. I let out a small gasp as pain reverberates up my leg. I lean harder on my cane.
“Baruch Lavie Melamed! Apologize this instant.”
The young boy stops and stares at me. I feel tears welling in my eyes from the pain, but I try my best to keep my face clean. “Sorry for running over your foot.”
Trying to keep the pain from bleeding into my voice, I respond, “It’s fine.”
My voice must not have been as nonchalant as I hoped as both Alli and Baruch stay still for a moment before Alli nods and says, “Go back to playing.”
The kid's mouth splits in half with a smile and he runs off. Alli turns to me, her expression changed to one much softer, “Are you okay?”
I close my eyes for a minute, my leg pulsating. Opening them again, I wave her off, “Yea, barely even felt it.”
It’s obvious she does not believe me, her eyes frozen on my hunched over form. I mentally hold my breath; I don’t want her to come and help. I don’t need the pity, I can’t handle the pity. I’m goddamn USAgent, if she has to pity someone, I can show her hundreds of people who need it more. I’d rather she treat me with the disdained indifference of before, it's what I deserve after all.
Doug comes to my rescue, grabbing ahold of my elbow and saying, “It’s fine, I’m used to carrying his dead weight.” He says it with a slight chuckle, one that is so forced, it almost sounded like a cough.
Alli nods and begins to walk up the stairs. I go to follow, but Doug doesn’t move. In my ear, he whispers, “Listen, if you can’t handle this, we can go. I’ll drive you back to the hotel and pick up Walter later.”
I whisper back, “I’m good.”
Doug nods and begins to help me up the stairs, “Please don’t push yourself. The last thing we need is for you to backtrack.”
I give my own nod, wondering if Doug meant physically or mentally backtracking.
—-----------------------
An hour later, we are all gathered around a large table, prayer books in hand, as Walter and his family chant Hebrew and English. My book is open, and I attempt to make the same sounds coming out of everyone else’s mouths, but my heart isn’t in it. I’m too busy looking at the table through the corner of my eyes.
Once again, I have to wonder: how selfish am I truly? I knew Walter had a big family, unlike Doug and myself, but I never truly thought of how much he had to give up for the USAvengers. Sure, being in the military requires sacrifices, but the USAvengers is more. How many secrets has he had to keep from his loved ones? How does he feel knowing they can be at risk due to his role as government hero?
Glancing around the table, my eyes freeze at an older man. He wears a full black suit with a dark blue yarmulke and a white scarf like object that Alli told me earlier was a tallit. His eyes meet mine, the dark brown pupils dilating, the same glare he has been giving me all night reappearing.
I learned that he is the grandpa, Benjamin Newell, and while silent towards me, his disgust is extremely evident. I don’t fault him though. Walter explained to me last night that his brother and parents died in the Holocaust, and that since then, his grandfather has fought against injustice and bigotry.
I attempt to stare down at the book, but it is too late as Benjamin clears his throat, his eyes never leaving mine.
The prayer, I believe it is called the Four Questions, is stopped as everyone turns to look at him. He closes his book and puts it down, his movement demanding a presence.
“Well,” he says slowly, spit pooling in the corners of the mouth, “I’m done ignoring the elephant in the room.”
Walter’s mom, Leia Newell, is quick to admonish her father, but he cuts her off, “No. If one breaks bread with a Nazi, they are a Nazi. I’m not breaking matzah with a bigot, especially not during a sacred holiday.”
I nod my head, “I understand that.” All the desire I had to explain or justify myself disappears immediately as I realize how wrong it would be to do so here. This isn’t a family dinner, this is a holiday, and I, an outsider, am harming it by making others uncomfortable. There are times and places to make a stand, but today is not one of them.
I turn to Leia and say, “Thank you for inviting me.”
I grab my cane and Doug gets up, supporting me by my elbow. Benjamin scoffs, “Look at him, another bigot who can’t deal with conflict. Go back to hurting the innocent.”
Walter gets up also, his chair scratching against the wooden floor, “I knew this was a bad idea. I knew that you wouldn’t give John a chance to show that he is working to be better. I just thought you would do it before or after we eat, not ruin dinner in the process.”
Benjamin laughs, “I’m sorry Walter, I know he is your friend, and I respect that, but cut the crap about him trying to be better. If he was trying, he would stop sullying the legacy of Captain America and quit. Captain America was a man who had the first segregated battalion. Captain America came and prayed at synagogues all throughout the country in protest when America forced Jewish refugees back to Germany. Your friend runs when someone points out his bigotry.”
I stop walking and turn around, the movement so fast that my cane hits my leg in the process. I’m tired of being compared to Steve fucking Rogers, the man with the goddamn plan. I’m tired of seeing him in my dreams, admonishing me, I’m tired of living in his shadows.
“You’re right.” I say, my eyes meeting his, “I’m not Captain America, there will never be another Captain America. I’m not the perfect representation of the dream of an united America, I’m a flawed human being.”
“So quit.” Benjamin replies.
This time I laugh, a bitter taste on my tongue, “You think that will fix anything? The USAvengers project is too expensive to fail, and I can assure you, the next guy will be much worse to supers than I can ever dream of being. Kelly’s support and power has only grown since the Power Broker appeared, and there is no chance in hell that he won’t be picking the next USAgent. At least I’m trying to get past my biases and prejudices, I can assure you the next guy won’t put in the same effort.”
“If you are trying to be better, why run with your tail behind your legs? Explain that, talk to us, running is for cowards who can’t take living in the real world.”
Looking down, I say, “I was trying to not ruin your dinner.”
Benjamin responds, “Well, according to this one,” he points his finger at Walter, “I already did so, so you might as well explain yourself.”
I nod and say, “I’m scared. Mutants, superhumans, they can do things no one else can, and I wouldn’t be able to stop them. I’d be defenseless, and that terrifies me. I know logically it is unfair, that very few superhumans are powerful enough to kill others with no effort, and out of that small population, even fewer are violent, but the heart often doesn’t listen to the mind. I was at ground zero for Ultron, and I saw the strength and brutality of both superhumans, and the foes they fight, and despite my military training, I was unable to do anything.”
Benjamin opens his mouth to respond, but I continue, “Me saying a slur, it was a long time coming, I just refused to see it. I hid my fear of supers, refusing to talk about the Avengers or vigilantes like Spider-Man before I became USAgent. I told myself this was due to my anger at not being helped during the Ultron Incident, and that was definitely part of it, but that fear was there all along. Then I became USAgent, I thought my fear would disappear, I would be able to defend myself and others, but then the dinosaurs attacked New York. I almost died on three occasions, and yet I saw the supers I fought with kill and slaughter the dinosaurs like they were tissue paper. I was already close to a panic attack upon realizing my friends were probably turned into dinosaurs, but the realization, that despite everything, I’m still too weak to protect myself and those I care about, well it broke me, and a disgusting and dark part of myself, a part of myself I hope I never see again, came out.”
Benjamin eyes me up and down before saying, “Fear does not justify bigotry.”
“I know.” I respond softly.
He continues, “What you did is despicable.”
“I agree.” I say.
He leans forward, “Most people don’t get second chances, and very few deserve a third chance. Do you understand that?”
I shake my head, “I do. I won’t let you, or my friends down.”
Sitting back in his seat, he smiles, “Well then, sit down, the soup is getting cold and I want to eat before midnight.”

Okay so I was rewatching some Sanders Sides (like always). Specifically, ‘SvS Redux’. I noticed this when I watched the episode but after more recent videos I started going on a little tangent about reasons I think Deceit is up to something (I think this best counts as a theory). Maybe he’s also working with Remus, who knows.
During the “boss battle” part, Deceit convinces Patton and Thomas that they don’t have any grasp on moral issues and to start thinking more selfishly. I’m not saying that I agree with the things that Patton was doing and saying in this episode, but I AM saying that this makes Patton start to doubt himself. He’s a relatively trusting person and he feels like he isn’t doing good at his job as Thomas’s morality, so he listens to Deceit.
Quick flashback, let’s remember that back in ‘Can Lying Be Good’ the sides criticized Roman for too easily believing Deceit/ taking his words at face value. Then again in ‘SvS’ he gives him tips on how to better disguise himself as Logan, and he gets criticized once more.
Taking that into account, suddenly it seems like he’s finally doing what everyone wants him to. He’s taking a stand against Deceit, not believing him, and suddenly he’s on his own once again. Now the bananaconda SHOULD be listened to and this contributes to Roman feeling like he isn’t good enough because he tries to do what they tell him to but now he’s wrong again. This is something that we know he really struggles with. He wants everything to be perfect and he feels like it all hinges on him, which is why he’s always apologizing for stuff.
So Roman is getting worked up, desperately trying to get Thomas and Patton to listen to him. (This is just me reading into it a little and probably projecting but:) He probably feels like if he isn’t part of the conversation, he’s basically “lost” everything. So then he points out that Deceit could decide that they’ve put enough good in the world or that its not time to stop being selfish yet. Then we see Deceit brush off the question, and he glances at Thomas like he’s nervous about this line of questioning.
Then Deceit does his name reveal, and yes Roman reacted badly. However, adding on to that, Janus compared him to Remus. This is a huge deal because Roman has said that the Duke is everything he doesn’t want to be, so this remark effectively shuts him down. Not only does it shut Roman down, but it also pushes him away from the rest of the sides because he causes so much distress for both Virgil and Patton. We also see them avoid eye contact with Roman after Deceit says that. That comparison hit something at the base of the group and everything seems like it’s starting to crumble.
Roman leaves, left feeling like he isn’t Thomas’s hero anymore and like he’s not good enough. He’s successfully separated from the group.
(This is a bit of a reach but) We haven’t really seen much of Virgil recently and when we have he’s been with Roman, who’s now in a bad place, which could in turn separate him from the others as well.
Now, the reason I think he could also be kind of teaming up with Remus is because of the most recent intrusive thoughts video, which made the orange (whatever that means) in Logan come out. Now Logan might begin to doubt himself. Also, he has done his best to say that he isn’t emotional but he obviously has feelings. Just like Virgil can be excited, Roman has his own feelings, etc.
Putting this all together, I feel like it would be harder for Logan to be that thing for the sides to hold on to if he isn’t completely sure of himself.
The sides are all separated. Why?
I actually don’t know. I do think its possible that it is for beneficial reasons but Janus and Remus don’t know how to do these things in any way other than deceit.

Haven’t watched Sanders Sides in a while but just had an idea and wanted to post it just in case I call it.
I’ve seen some people say stuff like “wrath,” but I can’t see much of an argument for wrath ever being in the right, especially not an argument that’d last for four parts.
It also seems like the Orange Side has some connection with Logan, or at least, Logan was overcome by the side a bit when confronting Remus.
So I think the Orange Side is Justice.
Logan may have felt justified to speak out against Remus, it certainly feels like he was in the right. All logic says that he should have been listened to. Logic feels like it can be connected to justice. It could be said that people justify normally immoral actions through a twisted sense of logic.
Maybe Justice could be the first Side whose name matches their representation, since Justice is a real name. I think orange as a color fits the idea of Justice, what do you think? Can’t wait to see what it is either way, and I’m crossing my fingers that I’m right!
Plus, Orange Justice is the name of a Fortnite emote. What other proof do you need?

My answer for offense is Emmanuel Sanders, who played with Big Ben, Peyton, Jimmy G, Drew Brees, and Josh Allen. 3 HOFers, a top 5 QB today, and although Jimmy G isn’t in the same tier, he still has a SB appearance.
The defensive side of the ball is definitely more wide open since they obviously don’t have to be teammates.

Basically a dremel equivalent of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIOhdHGaB9g
I currently have zero power tools other than a cordless drill. I want to be able to do more woodworking and a little diy metal cutting/grinding.
I've got this idea that I can buy a single dremel or rotary tool and a ton of attachments to make a full woodshop using a single corded rotary tool.
Particularly I want to be able to drop the tool into a series of jigs. Or workstations that it screws into securely. There's a pre-made drill press, router, and router table workstation I can buy. I know dremel makes a 1-1/4 crosscut blade so with a tool holding jig I could make a replacement saw for cutting long straight cuts in plywood, or even fixed for crosscutting things up to 2.5in deep of you cut from both sides. It has orbital sander attachments and could also be fixed in place to make one of those fixed spinning plate sanders.
This will certainly be slower and weaker than buying the ideal tools for the job but I want to save money by buying a single tool, especially since I don't know that ill actually be doing as much woodworking as I think. I want lots of capabilities better than my hand tools for cheap so I can test out ideas without spending hundreds on new tools.
Which specific one should I buy for that purpose and how terrible is this idea?
I figure important features will be a relative strong motor, a corded not cordless tool, an easy attachment point, and a good ecosystem of existing attachments like the drill press.

For full context, please read Season 2 and Volume 3: Exodus.

Weeks after the Odessa Pandemic, Nathan renews his political career while being haunted by his father Arthur. Matt investigates a murder committed by Sylar and contacts Peter, who's been hunting Sylar with his help. Hiro is given an encrypted hard drive in his fathers will, which gets stolen by a speedster named Daphne Millbrook. Claire lives with her family in Salt Lake, when she gets attacked by Sylar and Monroe. Angela has a disturbing dream about the Heroes being massacred by a gang led by Monroe. Hiro and Ando pursue Daphne and plan her capture. Sylar attacks the Company, killing Bob and causing Elle to release an electrical charge that allows the Level 5 prisoners to escape. Angela becomes the new head of the Company, and fires Elle. Nathan enlists Meredith to protect Claire after her attack. Political adviser Tracy Strauss discovers her powers when she kills a reporter that threatens to run a story about her being Niki Sanders.
Tracy travels to New Orleans to learn more about Niki, where she meets Micah and Monica. Claire works to regain her confidence with Meredith's help. Angela recruits Peter and Matt to find the prisoners, forcing them to work alongside Howard Clarke. Hiro and Ando follow Daphne to Germany, where she steals another drive from the Haitian. Knox, Flint, Jesse and the German commit a bank robbery, where they plan revenge on Noah Bennett (not knowing he's dead). Tracy, Micah and Monice learns that Niki and her were genetically engineered clones. Hiro and Ando are recruited by Angela, who reveals the hard drives contain everything about the Company, including the identities of people with abilities. Claire learns about the escape and goes after Eric Doyle. Daphne is ordered by Maury Parkman (posing as Linderman) to break out Flint, Jesse and Knox. She brings them to Pinehearst, where they meet Adam and Sylar.
With Peter's and Clarke's help, Claire and Meredith defeat Eric Doyle. Nathan and Tracy grow close. Hiro and Ando travel to Africa, where they meet the precog Usutu. Daphne tries to recruit Matt at Maury's behest. Monica and Mohinder is brought back into the fray when Molly and Micah are kidnapped by Pinehearst. Angela is attacked by Maury, causing Peter to visit Pinehearst. When he arrives, he is overwhelmed and violently beaten by Knox, Flint, Jesse, Adam, Maury and Sylar. Mohinder and Monica are forced to work for Pinehearst as Micah decrypts the hard drives. Peter's powers are suppressed by Mohinder. Daphne is ordered to kill Matt but can't. Hiro goes on a "vision quest" to understand the threats Usutu talks about. Elle loses control over her ability, and goes to Pinehearst with Claire. Monica and Micah try to sneak Peter out but are ambushed by Sylar. Elle reveals she lied and joins Sylar in his attack on the escaping four.
Hiro's drug induced "vision quest" sends him to days after Odessa when Adam met Sylar and offered him a partnership. Despite Sylar's initial attempt to kill him, the two agree to work together. The two conspire at Pinehearst, a biotech company that Linderman and Arthur Petrelli founded to help advance Adam's plans. Adam hires Maury to reach out to Nathan as Arthur, in order to manipulate him into following their plans. Adam and Sylar track Daphne and use Maury to hire her to grab the hard drives. After Elle's fired from the Company, Sylar convinces her to join Pinehearst. After Daphne breaks the others out of Level 5, Adam and Sylar give them a chance of godhood, which they happily agree to. Adam tells them his plan to build an army of superhumans and take over the world. In the present, Hiro wakes up and realizes they must warn the others. He and Ando discover Usutu's decapitated body before being wounded by Adam.
Hiro teleports him and Ando back to Japan to recover. Peter, Claire, Monica and Micah warn Nathan and Tracy. Matt helps Angela and Daphne sides with the Heroes. Tracy visits Pinehearst and states that she can persuade Nathan to join provided they're given protection. Flint, Knox and Jesse try to kill Peter, Claire, Monica and Micah. Mohinder is forced to make a bioweapon that targets people through their DNA. Claire and Monica train with Howard Clarke. Peter and Nathan attempt to recruit the Haitian before being embroiled in his fight with the escaped prisoner Baron Samedi. Hiro accidentally teleports to Kansas with Matt, Daphne and Ando searching for him. Elle and Sylar go the hunt for Claire and Monica, while Knox, Flint and Jesse are ordered to kill Matt and Daphne. Elle and Sylar catch up to Claire and the others, but discover their powers are inexplicable gone. Claire is shot while Clarke gives chase. The other Heroes lose their powers.
Monica takes Claire to a hospital but she dies from infection. Howard catches and kills Sylar. Everybody's powers return and Claire survives. Nathan and Peter help the Haitian defeat Samedi. Hiro and the others manage to evade the three. Sylar and Elle attack Claire and her family, Howard and Monica before Hiro teleports them away. Adam reveals he knows Mohinder manipulated the weapon to only temporarily disable the powers but calls it a success and moves to the final phase of testing. Nathan arrives at Pinehearst, willing to help but wants to be independent with his presidency. The Heroes begin to plan their next move with Nathan as their undercover spy. Mohinder manipulates Sylar by revealing Adam disabled his powers. Sylar kills a woman named Sue Landers for her power to detect lies. Adam tests his weapon on soldiers Tracy provided, killing them all. He has Mohinder reprogram the weapon to target the U.S. Congress.
Adam orders Mohinder to be killed but he manages to escape. Mohinder warns the others about the weapon. Sylar confronts Monroe, who tells him the truth and renew their partnership. Nathan begins to question the very nature of their abilities. Peter leads Hiro, Monica, Nathan, Mohinder, Daphne and the Haitian in an assault on Pinehearst, while Claire, Matt, Micah, Howard, Angela, Meredith clash against Sylar and Elle at the Company headquarters. As the Heroes and Villains clash in Pinehearst, Mohinder works to deactivate the weapon. Tracy switches sides, killing Knox to save Nathan. Peter and Hiro face against Adam, managing to kill him as the Haitian blocks his powers. Sylar and Elle continue their assault, with Sylar trying to manipulate the others. Flint's flames grow out of control, killing Jesse and himself while destroying the Pinehearst labs. Howard convinces Elle to turn on Sylar and he is defeated by Claire. The group besides Meredith escape the burning headquarters. Nathan declares that people with powers are too dangerous left unchecked. Weeks later, Nathan meets with the President to discuss the potential dangers of superpowers and asks for a specialized unit to place the superhumans in a specialized facility to contain them.

Sanders sides

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