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Posted by keysandneedles

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A conclave university AU that no one asked for.

Thomas is a history major with a very specific interest in the political history of the papal state. He is also extremely sleep deprived and it has been too long since he has felt anything. In a moment of desperation Thomas finds himself in the back of the local church on a saturday night.

Vincent is a young social worker with a lot of love to give, but no one to call his own yet, but trusting God to guide him.

Aldo and Geffredo have declared themselves arch rivals, even if their not in the same major... Guilio finds it suspicious.

Ray, Willi and Agnes meet every saturday night to watch movies, talk trash and get high.

Words: 403, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

divine bliss

30 June 2025 20:25
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Posted by xenolinguist

by

Still trying to get the sleep out of his system, he stretched his legs and arms, and for one amusing moment he had the picture of a stretching cat in his m– Christ almighty, what is that?

Aldo did not have any particular expectations when it comes to stretching out his limbs in bed, but admittedly, one would usually be not grazing another body. A body that was a man, who was in Aldo’s bed, who was still seemingly sound asleep and buried comfortably in his pillows. All while Aldo himself was shirtle- oh God.

Words: 3949, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

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Posted by Marcie Jones

In the final days of Pride month, celebrations rang out around the country and the world, and conservatives can suck a lemon and sit on a tack about it!

Perhaps the most poignant Pride parade of all was in Budapest on Saturday, which was Hungary’s biggest ever, with around 200,000 people! There, any public assembly supporting LGBTQ+ rights has been outlawed under the rule of their waxy, liver-spotted authoritarian Prime Minister-for-life Viktor Orbán, who insists that gay and trans people are all pedophile criminals who must be driven back into the closet for the sake of the children. Where have we heard that before? Oh yeah, from the six illegitimate partisan hack fascist ghouls on the Supreme Court last week, and every right-wing conservative nut since forever. Hey, what number are they up to on that Right-Wing Sexual Predator spreadsheet? Oh, 1,436? Okay then.

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Anyway, against Orbán’s wishes, the Mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karácsony, sanctioned the parade anyway, as a municipal event. Orbán even deployed facial-recognition technology to deter marchers, with cameras mounted on lampposts, and threatened arrests and fines, but the crowd was not deterred. Some even waved for the cameras. Look at those happy crowds!

And to be extra dicks about it, Hungarian authorities granted permits for opposition protesters to gather at the end of a bridge, trying to force a confrontation. But police separated the crowd from all three of its haters, and no confrontation happened.

Could it be that a tipping point of people are getting sick enough of Viktor Orbán’s crap?

Orbán is up for re-election next year, and he’s scrambling to try to crack down on any opposition speech. His main rival, Péter Magyar of the TISZA party snipped, "Viktor Orbán became the king of Pride in Europe yesterday, because no one else has ever managed to mobilise such a large crowd for a demonstration against himself by inciting hatred." Burn!

Orbán has been a right-wing darling in the US, ever since Roy Cohn and Roger Stone’s guru, Arthur Finkelstein, helped him successfully devise the art of culture-war squealing about gay people, immigrants and (((GEORGE SOROS))), then swoop in for a power grab, 15 years ago. Since then, he’s been a guest at CPAC and the Heritage Foundation, crowing about the “illiberal democracy” he’s made in Hungary, and for sleepovers at Donald Trump’s Florida fascist flophouse more than once, where he ogled Melania and awkwardly jammed to classic rock.

Read more about all that here!



The day he’s run out of office will be a happy and gay one indeed. Let us laugh at Orbán stomping his tiny little foot and calling the march “disgusting and shameful," and whining that the marchers were from Brussels. About 70 members of the European parliament did attend:

Brussels has issued an order that there must be a Pride in Budapest. Their puppet politicians have carried out the order. This is proof of what life would be like if our country were not run by a national government defending our sovereignty. Orders from Brussels, puppet politicians in Budapest in hats, TISZA, [social democrat] DK and Karácsony [Mayor of Budapest] voters in the streets.

People dancing to music and happy in the streets, how terrible!

Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs claimed on X that the crowd was sent by Brussels.

At Brussels’ command, the opposition once again staged the Pride parade this year!  It cost hundreds of millions of forints. There’s money for this — but not for trams, for BKV, or to solve Budapest’s traffic chaos.  It’s now crystal clear: with Pride, the opposition incited against laws they don’t like, mocked Hungary’s sovereignty, and — with foreign backing — tried to force woke culture onto us.  Their real goal is to dismantle everything Hungary has built over the past 15 years — especially the measures that support families and protect children.  We are proud that Hungary was the first EU country to put child protection first — and to say no to this madness.  Because this is how they think:  Pride matters more than Budapest.  Brussels matters more than Hungary.  LGBTQ ideology matters more than the family.

Pathetic.

Meanwhile, back in America, in spite of many grinchy fairweather corporations pulling back their contributions this year, Pride came, just the same. Shame on you, Amtrak, Anheuser-Busch, Benefit Cosmetics, Boeing, Booz Allen Hamilton, Citi, Comcast/Xfinity, Deloitte, Diageo, Garnier, Goldman Sachs, Lowe’s, Mastercard, Meta, Nissan, Pepsi, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Skyy Vodka, Target, Visa and Walmart! And good for you Disney, Bank of America, Starbucks, L’Oreal and Deutsche Bank (never thought we’d say that).

In Minnesota, after the dicks at Target pulled their $50k contribution, supporters were able to crowd-fund more than twice that amount.

San Francisco’s parade attracted more than a million people and raised enough to deploy a four-mile rainbow-laser Bat Signal, and the Dyke March returned after a six-year hiatus. The theme was “Queer Joy is Resistance.”

And if you’ve never been to Pride in the Castro, put it on your bucket list, because those pride puppies don’t tone it down for anybody. Watch the whole parade, why not?

Over in New York on Sunday, Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani set conservative triggers ablaze marching with Attorney General Leticia James, while waving a trans pride flag. Current Mayor Eric Adams marched too, and got a middle-fingers-and-boos reception, while Andrew Cuomo stayed home.

Here’s a heartwarming compilation.

St. Petersburg Florida, get it, ladies!

Chicago’s parade was among the largest of them all, with nearly a million people estimated attending, and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker marching.

A post shared by @nbcchicago

Watch it all!

And Seattle was graced with big, bold crowds too. The theme was “Louder.”

A very good theme. Fascists hate nothing more than a proud, happy, dancing crowd that’s unafraid of them. Let’s all celebrate Pride throughout the year by rubbing joy in their miserable, angry faces, as often and loudly as possible!

P.S. Bonus footage, from the first gay pride parade and “gay-in” in 1970, commemorating Stonewall the year before. Enjoy!

And now, having delivered an actual happy post to you, this is your OPEN THREAD.

[Washington Post archive link]

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21 June 2025 02:44
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Posted by CodenameCarrot

by

“They went for the baby, Karla Hysopi raised hell, so they took her too.”

– Barrayar, Chapter 13

2012 Winterfare Exchange Prompt inspired:

trope's prompt:

"Mistress Hysopi and Bothari co-parenting. What does she think of him, to agree to this arrangement? As Elena gets older, do they strategize, or are they working on parallel tracks?"

Words: 452, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

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Posted by amallie

by

Майлзу поручают задание, которое полностью соответствует его официальной должности в СБ. Что может пойти не так в обычной работе курьера?

Words: 2613, Chapters: 1/1, Language: Русский

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Posted by SB Sarah

We made a Libro.fm Audiobook Playlist of our Top Recommendations! And this graphic doesn’t contain all of them – there’s a bunch more!

If you’ve got car rides, long commutes, or a list of chores to do, we’ve gathered some of our all-time-favorite audiobooks, including romance, mystery, and some nonfiction.  We picked the first books from some outstanding series, some nonfiction that will truly fascinate you, and some that are just extremely fun.

Not only that – but Libro.fm has made it possible for me to give away three audiobooks from our playlist! 

Blue padded over hear headphones

Comment below with which book you’d want, and what you’ll be doing while you listen! 

If you want to comment in support of our selections, we’d love that, too!

Plus, if you’ve been thinking of joining Libro.fm, here are a few things to know:

Standard disclaimers apply: We are not being compensated for this giveaway. Must be over 18 and ready to wear headphones, earbuds, or maybe just whole house surround sound the audiobook – we don’t judge! Open to international residents where permitted by applicable law. Entries will end around noon on Thursday 3 July 2025, and winners will be announced and notified shortly afterward.

Good luck and happy listening!

pick-n-mix

30 June 2025 15:39
jadelennox: Elephants and giraffes comic: "I'm eating a whole leprechaun" (sgnp: leprechaun)
[personal profile] jadelennox

Poll #33308 choices of varying difficulty
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10


pick one science!

View Answers

space
8 (80.0%)

dinosaurs
2 (20.0%)

pick one plastic pal who's fun to be with!

View Answers

murderbot
1 (10.0%)

lieutenant commander data
2 (20.0%)

lieutenant commander murderbot
1 (10.0%)

murderdata
6 (60.0%)

pick one cat!

View Answers

a cat who does crimes
0 (0.0%)

a cat who does naps
1 (10.0%)

trick question, they're the same cat
9 (90.0%)

pick one poll type!

View Answers

radio button
1 (10.0%)

ticky boxes
8 (80.0%)

free text answer
0 (0.0%)

scientifically constructed and balanced poll with an IRB approval and crosstabs
1 (10.0%)

pick one brassica!

View Answers

brussels sprouts
0 (0.0%)

box choy
1 (10.0%)

cauliflower
2 (20.0%)

turnip
0 (0.0%)

kohlrabi
0 (0.0%)

mustard
0 (0.0%)

sauerkraut
2 (20.0%)

candytuft
0 (0.0%)

horseradish
4 (40.0%)

purple pickled horseradish, maybe with a little charoset
1 (10.0%)

pick one way to feel better!

View Answers

petting the cat
1 (10.0%)

eating cheese
0 (0.0%)

throwing your phone into the fires of mount doom
0 (0.0%)

medication
1 (10.0%)

looking at pictures of nebulas
1 (10.0%)

throwing the technology of your choice into the fires of mount doom
0 (0.0%)

petting this other cat
2 (20.0%)

doing crimes
1 (10.0%)

reading
1 (10.0%)

writing
0 (0.0%)

'rithmetic
0 (0.0%)

digging in the dirt
1 (10.0%)

listening to music
0 (0.0%)

being in the ocean
1 (10.0%)

throwing mount doom into the fires of mount doom, just to see if you can create a singularity via recursive destruction
1 (10.0%)

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Posted by Mike Glyer

Dream Foundry today announced the 2025 finalists of its contests for speculative fiction writers and artists.  The Art Contest and Writing Contests are open to relatively new artists and writers.  The finalists for each category are: Writing Contest Art Contest The finalists’ entries have been sent to … Continue reading
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Posted by Mike Glyer

The Montréal 2027 Worldcon Bid announced on June 29 that CanSmof, its sponsoring organization, has confirmed Darin Briskman as interim bid co-chair while adding Bruce Farr as a new co-chair. Terry Fong, the original bid chair, stepped down for personal … Continue reading
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Posted by magic8ballzz

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In the heart of a barren wasteland, under an ominous sky, stood a coliseum that echoed with the whispers of countless battles.Today, it was the setting for a one-on-one death match that had sent ripples through the fabric of the universe: Vito Corleone, the legendary godfather of the Corleone crime family, versus Steve Urkel, the lovable nerd from the sitcom *Family Matters*.The stakes were high, and the rules were absolute—one must die, and the other would emerge victorious.

Words: 1228, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 390 of Fandom Character Death Match Tournament

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Posted by magic8ballzz

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In a realm where universes collide, a multi-fandom death match tournament was set in motion, drawing characters from different realities to fight to the death.It was a stage of chaos, where honor and vengeance intertwined, and the only rule was a simple yet brutal one: one must die for the other to emerge victorious.Among the combatants were Vito Corleone, the legendary Godfather of the Mafia, and Beatrix Kiddo, the vengeful assassin known as the Bride.Their fates were sealed; one would walk away, and the other would fall.

Words: 1454, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 387 of Fandom Character Death Match Tournament

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Posted by magic8ballzz

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The arena was a sprawling expanse of chaos, a multi-fandom death match tournament where characters from all walks of fiction clashed in epic confrontations.It was a night like no other, with the crowd roaring in anticipation of the next battle.This time, the fighters were two unlikely adversaries: Groot, the towering sentient tree from the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Vito Corleone, the legendary godfather from Mario Puzo's "The Godfather."

Words: 1430, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 381 of Fandom Character Death Match Tournament

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Posted by magic8ballzz

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The air was thick with tension as the lights dimmed inside the underground arena, a hidden gem of brutality where legends clashed for supremacy.A circular pit, surrounded by an eclectic crowd of onlookers from various worlds, buzzed with anticipation.Tonight's main event was a one-on-one death match between two titans of the underworld: Vito Corleone, the revered Don of the Corleone family, and Tony Soprano, the brash, modern mob boss of New Jersey.The stakes were high—one must die for the other to emerge victorious.

Words: 1013, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 370 of Fandom Character Death Match Tournament

Crafts

30 June 2025 15:29
unicornduke: (Default)
[personal profile] unicornduke
Hey all, if you'd like to join the crafting hangout, it is tonight from 6-8pm ET!
 
Video encouraged but not required!
 
Topic: Crafting Hangout
Time: Mondays 6:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
 
Join Zoom Meeting
 
Meeting ID: 973 2674 2763

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Posted by Gary Legum

Hey look, it’s Steve Doocy and Wrong Arm Ron checking out Auschwitz South.

The year is 1936. German citizens that the Nazi Party arbitrarily deems criminals or undesirables are being disappeared to Dachau concentration camp, where they are imprisoned in the most inhumane conditions. They do not know how long they will be there, and they have no legal recourse to contest their detention.

Back home, the prisoners’ loved ones have no idea where they are. Or if they know, they cannot visit or get in touch in any way. They are terrified of the unknown suffering their loved one is enduring, sure that he will get sick and die, and the Nazis won't even bother to tell them.

Please subscribe to Wonkette, where every day brings fresh atrocities.

Meanwhile, the Nazi Party is so proud of itself that it’s selling fucking T-shirts with slogans like “Dachau ain’t just an animal you milk!”

Now imagine it is 2025 and the Republicans are building a concentration camp in the middle of the Florida Everglades where they plan to imprison thousands of migrants and foreigners being scooped up by the ICEstapo. And they are so fucking proud of it that the Florida GOP is selling T-shirts and beer koozies with the prison’s cutesy appellation “Alligator Alcatraz” stamped on them. Sure, it’s an inhumane prison camp, but that is no reason to skip making a little profit off the merchandising!

You can buy these allegedly made in the USA products in the Florida GOP’s online store. Maybe pick up a “Gulf of America” coffee mug while you’re at it, in case you still owe Dad a Father’s Day gift.

The Department of Homeland Security, which is contributing funding for the camp, is also proud of the incredible effort by the state of Florida to dump thousands of people in a remote stretch of the Big Cypress National Preserve in the middle of the Everglades, on the theory that the government can let the alligators in the surrounding swampland do most of the security work, much like San Francisco Bay was supposed to deter escape attempts from Alcatraz. Which, so far as we know, has not yet been reopened as a migrant detention facility.

Over the weekend, DHS let us know how proud:

Homeland Security tweet: Coming Soon! (with AI picture of alligators wearing ICE baseball caps)

No word on whether these images are going to be sold on T-shirts, but we will be completely unsurprised if they are. The money Kristi Noem spends on Rolexes and blowouts before photo ops has to come from somewhere!

The camp itself is the result of an executive order signed by Florida’s angry pipsqueak of a governor, Ron DeSantis. The governor had signed an executive order during Joe Biden’s presidency declaring a state of emergency because of the alleged crisis of undocumented migrants flooding the state, which allows him to sidestep literally every good-government rule in existence.

From the Associated Press:

The orders grant sweeping authority to the state’s head of emergency management, Kevin Guthrie, including the power to suspend “any statute, rule, or order” seen as slowing the response to the emergency, and the ability to place select law enforcement personnel from across the state under his “direct command and coordination.”

DeSantis has renewed this order every few months and used it to approve the building of Alligator Alcatraz (we swear, we cannot find an official name for it]. Using executive orders has allowed the state to fast-track construction and avoid purchasing laws that would make the awarding of whatever contracts have gone to third parties to build and maintain the camp a transparent process.

This has all been to the chagrin of, in no particular order: Native American tribes that live in the area and for whom this is sacred land; criminal justice and human rights advocates who condemn as “inhumane” this plan to dump thousands of migrants in the middle of an isolated, mosquito-infested swamp; and ecologists and environmentalists who worry about the effects on the Everglades’ delicate ecosystem and are mad that the camp is being built with no environmental impact review.

Also, let us not forget: state Democrats angry about the abuses of power DeSantis is relying on for authority to build the camp; the Miami-Dade County government, which saw the state appropriate the county-owned and little-used one-runway Training and Transition Airport as the site of the camp; the Everglades tourism industry, which worries this camp makes the area unwelcoming to hikers and airboat tours; and ordinary humans who are just plain disgusted by the Trump administration’s entire migrant detention plans to begin with.

We’re guessing the wildlife in the Everglades isn’t real thrilled either, but have you ever tried asking a question of a pissed-off twenty-foot Burmese python? They tend to be pretty close-mouthed, except for the time they might take to unhinge their mouths and slowly swallow you.

The fact that the concentration camp is being built on the site of an airport is important, according to DeSantis, because the one runway is large enough to accommodate planes as big as a 747. So the place really becomes a one-stop processing facility. ICE can take off and land its deportation flights there, and activists won’t have time to rush to court and get a judge to order any buses carrying those migrants to turn around and return to a holding facility, as has happened in Texas.

The most remarkable part of this, to us, is that NBC News reports this camp was set up in one week. Florida was able to accomplish this so fast because the facility is the same sort set up to house emergency personnel responding to hurricanes, a practice the state’s emergency management department has a lot of experience with. Good thing it’s not hurricane season or anything, so these resources aren’t likely to be needed anytime in the immediate future!

DeSantis gave Fox’s Steve Doocy a tour of the camp, where the migrants will be housed in open-air tents. (But don’t worry, the tents are air-conditioned!)

Man, DeSantis is proud of himself, he’s practically bursting out of his tiny shoes.

The camp will be up and running and receiving its first detainees by this Wednesday. Eventually, the plan is to have as many as 5,000 people being housed here in the open-air tents while Ron DeSantis is back in his air-conditioned governor’s mansion in Tallahassee basking in the glow of his own self-importance.

And you know who might visit the camp on Tuesday for its official opening? Oh, you know who! Big babbling dipshit, orange, looks like the Crypt Keeper if the Crypt Keeper had been sitting in the sun for too long without sunscreen. You know the guy. According to DeSantis, Air Force One can land right on that runway from whence all the deportation flights will soon depart.

Environmental groups did file a lawsuit a couple of days ago to try and stop construction of the camp. As of this writing, there is no word on whether a judge is going to step in.

Imagine if the Nazis had sold an Aushchwitz T-shirt silk-screened with the words “Arbeit macht frei” or a Treblinka T-shirt reading, “I said the Führer sucked, and I was here in the blinka an eye!” Somewhere in hell, Hitler is kicking himself for not having this idea.

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[Associated Press / NBC News]

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Chat corner: Free-for-all

30 June 2025 21:04
annathecrow: screenshot from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. A detail of the racing pod engines. (sw: pods)
[personal profile] annathecrow posting in [community profile] dreamwars

Welcome to your weekly free-for-all chat post. Anything SW-related is fair game.

Have fun!

anehan: Tang Lian from The Blood of Youth (The Blood of Youth: Tang Lian salutes)
[personal profile] anehan
I'll Have What He's Having by Adib Khorram
M/M romance. DNF'd in chapter 7. No complaints about the plot, the setting, the characters, etc. The reason for the DNF was the amateurish writing. It's got infodumping, characterisation with a capital C, cringy sex. I felt like I was reading Khorram's daydream about what a cool life would be like. And the frustrating thing is that I think all of these issues were solvable with the help of a good editor. As it is, it's not worth bothering with.

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer
This, on the other hand, is extremely worth bothering with, because it's fantastic. Sci-fi mystery/thriller, with a smattering of M/M romance. I recommend not spoiling yourself for the plot twist beforehand, though from experience I can say that even if you do get spoiled, it's still worth reading.

A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett
The second book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series, and just as good as the first. Mystery with thoughtful depictions of power, responsibility, and the danger of good intentions.

The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett
DNF'd at 16%. This isn't so much an anti-rec as it is a warning, because I think The Game of Kings really requires you to have a better grasp of British history -- especially the Anglo-Scottish Wars -- than I do. It assumes you have a lot of background knowledge about the people and the events, and if you don't, it's often dull reading. It might have got more interesting later on, but there are too many books I really want to read for me to bother finding out.

Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy
As far as I can remember, the only work by a Russian author that I'd ever read before this was a short story by Anton Chekhov, which we had to read at school. The reason I picked Kreuzer Sonata up was because I was going to see a ballet based on it soon after, and I'm glad I did. It deals with domestic violence, and yet it's a surprisingly easy read. Anyway, I've now read both a short story and a novella by a famous Russian author. What's next, a whole novel?

(The ballet was good, too, though I think the choreographer had mostly missed the point of the novella.)

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