• this post is my opinion on this topic
• don't comment "get a life" or any other insults cuz lol y'all love scaling
• you all can read it if you want and give your own opinions

"Michikatsu was second to Yorichi" "He has 2nd strongest breathing style" "He was unrivalled by any other Hashira of his era" etc...

1. An Old Yorichi (who is arguably as fast as his Teen Self cuz he was stated to be as strong as ever) could still speedblitz Kokushibo (a 50+ years more experienced, far better stats Michikatsu)... So the "2nd to Yorichi" is valid but still kind of invalid as the gap is VERY HUGE... Michikatsu could never reach Yorichi not even close to him, he was just 2nd strongest in his Era... And this has NO correlation with how strong he is compared to Gyomei...

"But they were the only generation to ever get close to defeat Muzan" stated by Ubuyashiki's wife... That makes them op af? No, it was shown that it was Yorichi who did that... Every other was destroyed by Muzan as Muzan stated himself and he was even tired of demon slayers cuz of how fodder they were... It was YORICHI who almost defeated him... The others once again did nothing but blame Yorichi for shi...
So this literally shows us how the "2nd to Yorichi" statement has no validation when compared to current gen Hashiras...
Also techniques gets better and evolve as time passes, so the new Hashiras automatically ARE better in skills (my HeadCanon, ignore it)...

1. 2nd strongest breathing style is as valid as the previous one... Same arguments here...

Also before becoming demon, Michikatsu has only 6 forms (without long sword) and don't have the moon blades giving him better range and offence + he don't have the 400+ years of exp which made his technique more refined... Michikatsu's breathing style is FAR WEAKER than Kokushibo's which is still FAR WEAKER than Yorichi's...

1. Cuz he was stronger than the others? Yeah, the others were most likely fodder as Muzan considered them...

NOW GYOMEI'S ARGUMENTS

1. Gyomei in BASE was able to keep up with Base Kokushibo (who is LOT STRONGER than Michikatsu)...

"but he got slashes on his forehead" that after they clashed multiple blows... Makes him lot faster than Michikatsu can ever imagine tbh...
Kokushibo in rage trying to kill off Gyomei cuz Gyomei trash talked him jumped at Gyomei... But Gyomei was able to block it...
Idk how Michikatsu is even touching Gyomei if a serious bloodlusted Base Koku could not...
Well this pretty much proves that Gyomei bodies Michikatsu but there's more to it...

1. Koku had STW all the time but Gyomei could still keep up, he could avoid getting hit but Gyomei with assistant of Sanemi (Sanemi was getting saved by Gyomei all time) could hit Koku...

So saying that Michikatsu has STW is irrelevant asf... I doubt he does cuz he was very inferior to Yorichi and there's no statement about it? So no proof of it...

1. Marked Gyomei was blocking all the long sword forms of Kokushibo while saving Sanemi too... Michikatsu will get chopped into pieces against a Base Kokushibo 😭 don't even tell me he stands a chance cuz Koku is just Michikatsu but FAR MUCH BETTER

"KOKUSHIBO WAS NOT SERIOUS"
Idk Kokushibo having nerves on his head, instantly jumping at Gyomei to finish him off cuz Gyomei just trash talked him literally means he was serious and bloodlusted...
Idk how you guys even say he wasn't serious when he literally was spamming the shit out of his long sword techniques which could speedblitz and oneshot Sanemi if not for Gyomei's reflexes and combat speed...
Koku had to push a little bit more to blitz Base Sanemi with blood effect... Base Koku clearly got serious when he tried to finish Gyomei off... And with Long Sword he was spamming all his attacks to kill them and he was kinda succeeding cuz Gyomei could keep up but he won't last for hours cuz he don't have demon stamina and other buffs...
Also why would he not be bloodlusted? He is there to stop them reaching Muzan, he was literally there to kill them and stop them...
CONCLUSION:-
Long Sword Kokushibo's Attack Speed >~ Marked Gyomei's Overall Speed
Base Kokushibo >~ Base Gyomei (literally matched a serious Base Koku and clashed multiple times, got hit but that doesn't makes him a lot weaker but relatively lower)
Base Kokushibo (Michikatsu but with 400+ years of experience, far much stronger physical prowess which surpasses that of any demon slayer, active STW, BDA to make moon blades which amps his breathing style and gives him a far better range and AP)
And now comes out 2nd to Yorichi, Michikatsu
Base Kokushibo > can't spam '>' for that hundreds of time > Michikatsu
Gyomei dogs Michikatsu in Base

I was told by the mods of relationships to post this here instead. I appreciated all the kind words on my original post and I’m hoping to get more support here as well to help me feel better:
I haven’t been able to process any of the emotions but I’m making this post in hopes that talking about it will help me do that, I think.
Basically, today I went to go visit my father who lives a little over an hour away for the long weekend. While I’m here, something possesses me to check my bf’s ig, and I notice that his ex (that he told me he was briefly married to before she cheated on him while on vacation alone) had liked his pictures.
We had had arguments before about this ex repeatedly reaching out and clearly trying to get back together, but he told me that he had blocked her on everything at this point. He told me he wasn’t interested in being with her and was all in with me.
So, I ask gently about why she was liking his photos when I thought she was blocked, and told him that I wanted to know the truth about what was going on. So he tells me that she dropped a bomb on him all of a sudden and he needs to speak with me asap.
Over the phone, he tells me she just called him (clearly she was not blocked on anything) to tell him she was coming tomorrow morning to work things out. She told him her current fiancé had beat her and she needed to get out, and that SHE NEVER FILED THE MARRIAGE ANNULMENT AND WAS STILL LEGALLY HIS WIFE. Yes friends, she was engaged to another man while still being legally married to my bf. He tells me she had legal rights to live with him because of that and I could do whatever I wanted with that information. He told me he had no idea she didn’t file the papers, and he was sorry and felt terrible.
Thinking he didn’t actually want her to come but just didn’t know his legal rights, I started to advise him on the fact that he could say no to her coming over. But then I realize I should ask, “do you want to make up with her?”
He tells me he doesn’t know and because he doesn’t know I should leave him because I “deserve better”. I agree that I deserve better so I thank him for his honesty and say that I’ll plan on leaving in a couple of weeks.
At this point I’m shaking due to the shock of everything that just happened in a matter of 5 minutes. Less than 24 hours ago we were happily discussing baby names, discussing our future wedding, and planning on moving out of state together for one of the jobs he’s interviewing for.
A few minutes later I realize I should also ask, “what’s going to happen after she comes tomorrow?” And he says, “SHE WILL PROBABLY WANT TO STAY”. F***king hell. Now it hits me that I don’t have 2 weeks to pack, I have to gtfo asap.
I called his dad to ask him if he could please try to talk some sense into his son or daughter in law. That I am happy to leave and let them sort out their situation, but I need time to find a new place to stay and to move out. His dad is equally shocked and is totally on my side about the matter and spills a lot of tea…most noteworthy tea is that his son knew that she never filed the papers, and that she’s likely lying about her fiancé beating her considering the fact that she also lied saying that his son did the same when they were on bad terms. His dad calls me a few minutes later saying his attempt to talk to his son didn’t work, basically he said that he is willing to cut ties with his father over this situation.
So now I tell MY father the whole situation, and my dad is nice enough to immediately offer to help me end this. We went tonight to pick up my cat, a few valuables, and all of my important documents from the apartment because the ex is coming in the morning and I didn’t want this toxic person having access to those things. I am going in a uhaul truck with my dad and some of his friends to get all my other stuff tomorrow.
I’ve never been dumped in such a terrible way by anyone, let alone someone I didn’t do anything to. I’m in shock still and I’m scared of how I’ll feel when the emotions finally start hitting me.
If you’ve read this far, thank you. Thank you for letting me vent into the void.
TL;DR: Today I learned my boyfriend is still legally married to his ex wife and she is coming over to our apartment tomorrow to live with him and patch things up. He told me I can do whatever I want but that he won’t tell her not to come. I’ve essentially been kicked out and dumped out of nowhere and I am in shock.

I met this girl, H, on a video game about 8 years ago. We became best friends pretty quickly. She was misdiagnosed for most of her life, she was diagnosed as bipolar but 2 years ago the diagnosis was switched to borderline personality disorder. She often cuts herself. It was a lot worse when we were teenagers, but she continues to harm herself. She has been to multiple institutions, some voluntarily, and most were around 6 months. We both live on the east coast but a few states away. We had plans to meet for the first time next month, but I cancelled because I cant take the time out of work and I honestly didnt think I could handle being around her constantly for a week straight.
She has had very bad experiences with men. When she was 19 she was in an abusive relationship and almost got married to the guy, I believe he was 25. Currently she is dating her sugar daddy, a 52 year old. This never sat right with me, and I have posted about their relationship before but I was told I'm a jealous cunt because that man probably makes her orgasm a lot more than someone her age could. I am pretty damn certain that man is living a double life and has a wife somewhere, but I wont get into it. Her family is pretty messed up, her mom told her to kill herself many times. The only stability she has in her life is with her twin sister. They are very close, and I am happy she has such a great relationship with her sister.
Our friendship has been on and off, we would play and speak constantly for two years and then something would happen and she would not talk to me for a year. We rekindled in September of last year and have talked often since then. In the time that I wasn't speaking with her, she was with the abusive ex and something changed in her mind. She wasnt the same person I used to play with. Maybe its just her maturing.
The last few months I have been talking to her have been unbearable. She often times corrects me if I mispronounce something, click the wrong card in the game, or say something she doesnt like. If my POV isnt the same as hers then its wrong. If we disagree with something, her opinion is always the better one. The foods I like are "disgusting and repulsive" to her, and she doesnt understand how I can eat them. I am jewish and she often times makes fun of my religion, and likes to point out the extremes in my religion. For example, she sent me an article about a pedophilic rabbi. Literally every religion has their cults and crazies. I dont know if this is her illness coming out or if this is just how she is now. She always thinks she is superior, including the one year age gap we have. She got pretty shitty with me the other day because I told her we could use a portal to get somewhere in the game faster, and she goes "I KNOW" in a rude and condescending voice. I never treat her like that and I always put her on a pedestal because of her mental illness so it was just a shock. Her rudeness and snarky comments lately have been enough for me to call the friendship quits. She was extremely poor growing up until about a year ago when she got a job and then got her millionaire sugar daddy, she lost all her humbleness.
My question is, how do I stop being friends with someone so suicidal and so mentally unstable? If I were to type something out explaining why I was ending the friendship, she would either beg me to stay or cuss me out. If I were to block her on everything she would probably make her sister come after me. I love her so much it really sucks that she has changed so drastically, but I really think I have to end it for my own mental health.

My life the last year had been hell. I've been fighting mental health issues most of my life but it's the worse it's ever been. I've tried to take my life 3 times all unsuccessful. I'm such a failure I can't even kill myself. It started in August. My wife left me, Because of my mental health she was the main money maker n in on disability. I slept in my car for a week until I found a room to rent since I don't get enough for my own place and it all goes down hill. My kids stop talking to me n block me on every thing n I have no idea why. I have physical disabilities that make it hard to work on top of the mental but I'm trying. I'm in physical pain always humid n wet days make it so much worse. I eat seldom because most of the money I get goes to rent. I have no family, no friends nothing. I'm beyond poor, lost my car most of the possessions no future outlooks except my disabilities getting worse and have been told eventually I'll lose the use of my legs and my hands are starting. I grew up poor and struggled to get out of it. I finally did than all these ailments happened but it's ok because I have a loving spouse who I supported for decades. Now after she is set up n great job she leaves me. I have never felt such betrayal n hopelessness. I'm right back to where I was as a teen poor n no future. I failed as a husband, a father my career and I've lost everything. I'm even a failure at suicide. I just wish I could go to sleep n not wake up.. I'm looking into maid but knowing my luck I won't get approved. I just want all this suffering to end. I have no purpose anymore. I just exist n it's not enough

I have decided to block of any news whether on Internet, TV or radio. Ultimately whether I read it or know about, nothing is going to change except blissful ignorance or anxiety levels. I can't do this anymore, it's too toxic and it's not like I will leave the country even if gets worse - my wife is too close to her family to ever leave SA. I will still engage on the sub but only on non political posts.

Ok I need advice. I'm trying to figure out if she cheated or if I'm being paranoid. We have been together for 9 years, married 4 years. I have a strong gut feeling she cheated which I know is worth something but I don't have proof.
About her: she's 28, fit, cute, and a personal trainer at a large gym. She is incredibly outgoing and the life of every party. Literally everyone she meets loves her. She is so nice and laughs at everything. Unfortunately I think guys often interpret that as flirting even when she isn't. Still, she is very sexual and had 25 partners by the time she was 19, which is when we met.
We have an amazing relationship and we've been incredibly happy. We have a lot of freedom and live a very full life.
Now the story: This started about 3 years ago. So she starts working at this large gym. Of course everyone loves her, and she's a main character in the personal training department right away. She tells me stories after work, talks about the other trainers (mostly guys), all very innocent. I've never been threatened when she talks about other guys because she's so obviously not interested and because I'm quite a catch. Tall, muscular, very successful.
But then she starts talking about one trainer in particular, and her tone and body language are just different. Almost like she knows she shouldn't be talking about him. Like she's feeling me out.
He's older (40) but fit and decent looking as he's a personal trainer. She mentioned to me how he won a physique competition, and I just wasn't that impressed. I said I thought it was weird he's a trainer at 40yo and not married. She was quick to point out he's nice and has a gf. I 100% got a vibe this is a work crush.
Few weeks later we host a department party at our house and all the trainers come over. This guy approaches me and kind of sizes me up right away in the backyard asking about how far the property line goes (not a huge yard). He then goes on to say how wonderful my wife is and how she is a ray of sunshine and that I'm a lucky guy.
More weeks go by and he doesn't come up in conversation much like the other trainers do, which is odd, because they definitely talk, and they are definitely both main characters at the gym. When he does come up, again, it's not like when she talks about other guys. It's like she's walking on eggshells and watching my reaction.
Also weird is often times I'd look at her snapchat location while she's at work, and it would be a few blocks away from the gym in the neighborhood. I chalked it up to a bad approximate location. But now that I think about it, the snapchat location seems to be pretty laser accurate.
So this goes on for a year, then we move away for 2 years. We just moved back and joined the gym as members. We go to the gym together and everyone is so happy to see her. 15 min conversations everytime we bump into someone. A week or two later we are both lifting weights, and the guy is in the gym too. I catch him looking at me several times but he never approaches either of us which is very weird. Again she's been gone 2 years and everyone else comes running up. The next day she goes to the gym by herself and when she gets back, she tells me she saw him and they caught up and that he didn't want to interrupt our workouts the day before.
So far just a feeling, right? That's why I never asked. Well yesterday we were getting ready for the gym and I said we should fuck first as she was down to a sports bra and panties. She said let's do it after. I said how about before, during, and after? She laughed and said "during?" I said yea, there must be a good spot, what do you think off the top of your head? She immediately replied "idk, behind the basketball court.." she didn't have to think at all and wasn't trying to come up with ideas. She didn't throw it out there like that would be fun or crazy. Almost more like she stated it as fact.
So I said, oh whats back there? She said there is a personal training storage room but you have to be a trainer to get in.
This is what is finally making me think these can't be coincidences. I don't want to be toxic, but I checked her phone after this and she has innocent text history with lots of trainers, and while she does have his number, not one text? Why have his number then? I'd think they'd have texted about something innocent at least once.
Ok that's my story. Am I crazy? What should I do?
‐-----‐-----
EDIT: More back story. It's not the first suspicion I've had. When we started dating she was a freshman in college. She went home for the summer right after we started dating and she had a group of 4-5 male friends she hung out with all summer. They all live in her neighborhood, one directly across the street which is where they all hung out. Talked about them a lot. I know she slept with one of them prior to our relationship. Anyway as we started dating longer, I went to meet her parents and over the years I've been there a lot of course. Yet she's never introduced me to them once and basically ended the friendships. It's crossed my mind that she cheated on me that summer. I guess I wasn't concerned because we'd been dating for like a week and then she immediately moved away for the summer.
That fall when she moved back she was still pretty crazy, making out with girls at parties, etc but settled down after about a year of dating. This was all so long ago, not sure if it matters.

I want to present my theory that the show may establish a situation wherein Octavia is going to choose to side with Stella and place the blame on her family's divorce and subsequent disintegration squarely on Stolas (and Blitzo by extension). This will likely occur due to Stella, aided by Andrealphus, twisting Octavia's limited view of events to paint Stolas as being at complete fault for all her families' troubles while exonerating Stella.
Following the latest episode, and the statement given by Andrealphus that they need to think of an alternative plan regarding how to deal with Stolas due to Octavia being set to inherit Stolas' power and position if he dies, I've started thinking that this might be what the show is going to head towards.
My evidence to support this theory is noted below.
Firstly, Octavia does not share the viewers perspective of the events of the show. This has to be remembered at all times, Octavia lacks the true insight towards Stolas' inner thoughts and actions, as well as the greater context of what is happening that we do.
In S1E2, S2E1 and S2E2, Octavia witnesses' events that would allow Stella to paint Stolas as being the hostile parent. This includes:

• She witnesses Stella being violent towards Stolas only after she exclaims that Stolas is sleeping with an Imp, with Stolas nonchalantly confirming this is true while being casual and unapologetic about being caught.
  
• Stolas constantly appears unapologetic towards having "cheated" on Stella whilst offering no justification or defense for his actions, to the contrary he would appear to be proud of his act.
  
• Stolas goes out of his way to forcibly invite Blitzo into his families' affairs, even to the detriment of spending time with Octavia. Adding to the above point, Stolas' willingness to force Blitzo into personal affairs can be interpreted as him placing Blitzo above Octavia and the family in spite of his verbal declarations to the contrary.
  
• Stolas constantly fails to offer any genuine reason as to why he is seemingly cheating on Stella, typically stammering or side-stepping an explanation when confronted and offering mere verbal platitudes and reassurances.
  
• Stolas appears more interested in fighting with Stella than being with Octavia.
  
• Stolas appears to take great pleasure in forcing Stella out of their shared home while instructing his staff to violently throw out her personal belongings.
  

In reality, based on what we as the audience know, Stolas has spent most of his marriage concealing his conflict with Stella from Octavia, and only in the last year (or so) has the cracks of his marriage with Stella publicly fallen apart. We know that Stella is responsible for the destruction of this relationship. With Stolas having done everything in his power to maintain the facade of a working marriage for Octavia's benefit. All this in the face of multiple attempts by Stella to have Stolas murdered.
However, the perspective from Octavia, as evidenced above and being the circumstances that Stella and Andrealphus will reinforce, would be that her father has suddenly and seemingly without reason openly and flauntingly started cheating on her mother within the last year, enjoyed constantly fighting with her, had begun to ignore Octavia while seemingly also being overtly happy at kicking Stella out of their shared home. Octavia would be led into believing, based on everything she has seen, that it is in fact Stella being abused by Stolas while she is being openly cheated on by him.
This is also putting aside the fact that children often do not become aware of their parents' relationship failing until the divorce occurs, especially if the parents go out of their way to hide it, and that Octavia is further fuelled by fears she will be abandoned by Stolas who will elope with his Imp lover.
Essentially, we the audience know the truth, however Octavia does not.
Taking all of this knowledge, it becomes possible to see how Stella and Andrealphus could instill the belief into Octavia that Stolas is all to blame for the break-up of the family, with them insinuating he wants to destroy their family, cast aside his royal duties, abandon his wife and daughter and run away with some home breaker Imp.
I feel this would tie very well into Andrealphus’s motivations, as the show seems to be implying he wants to usurp Stolas’ powers for himself, thus him being able to control Octavia and place himself into a trusted position as her “advisor” thanks to his convincing her of the “truth” of Stolas would likely give him the ability to manipulate and eventually steal Stolas’ power from Octavia.
That's my theory. Octavia will side with Stella against Stolas. I would then assume the show will pivot towards the group trying to convince Octavia of the truth of the situation, of her learning the truth herself, or maybe it becomes a permanent long-term plot point that lasts for seasons to come. Now whether this event would occur as an end of season cliffhanger, or something resolved in a two-parter is beyond my ability to guess.
COUNTERPOINTS

• Stella blatantly ordered Stolas' assassination in front of Octavia: In that scene Octavia was seemingly ignorant of what was going on, as she was listening to loud music on her earphones and otherwise not paying attention.
  
• Loona emphasized to Octavia that Stolas is doing the best he can: Words of comfort that will start to feel hollow or misplaced as Stella/Andre pour poison into Octavia's ears, she will likely believe her family's arguments over that of the daughter of the man her father is cheating on.
  
• Stolas has reassured Octavia he will always be with her: A child always wants to be loved and confided with, but her being bombarded with "evidence" by Stella that Stolas' actions betray the "truth" that he really does not care may cause her to doubt or reject Stolas' words.
  
• Stolas was almost murdered by Striker and hospitalized, who was hired by Stella: It's not guaranteed Stolas will even admit to Octavia that her mother is trying to have him murdered in an effort to spare her the emotional turmoil, even if he does Stella can counter that Striker is just some anti-goetia rebel Imp who hunts royalty and deny any involvement. With all the other "evidence" Stella presents to Octavia, she may simply not believe the argument that Striker was hired by Stella, believing it to be just another lie.
  
• Stella has likely been a bad mother towards Octavia throughout her upbringing: As of S2E4 we don't have strong evidence telling us what the true state of Stella and Octavia's relationship is or their true opinions towards each other, the strongest evidence available that might support Stella having a known history of being a bad mother is that Stella made Stolas check on Octavia's when she was crying as a child, but I don't see this as evidence of Stella being abusive but more her just being fatigued. It is also not uncommon for Mothers to make the Husbands check their children during the night.
  
• Octavia has forgiven Stolas on several occasions: Children want stability, it makes sense that Octavia would be wishing to forgive her father if it might return a semblance of stability to her life.
  

I’m interested in hearing other people’s thoughts on this theory. Thank you for reading.

1
I live in a suburb surrounded by forest. My house is in a row of other properties built next to a tree line. The neighborhood was always quiet. The sounds of crickets, birds, and sight of black bears were routine on most summer days.
The scenic area was something I was always grateful for. I lived completely alone since the death of my parents. An accidental fire took both of their lives. Once I collected my inheritance, I relocated to a much more peaceful region. I had always fantasized about moving there.
I tried to start a relationship with Samantha. I had gone to High School with her sixteen years before. She had gone on to become a respected Detective. My attempt at something long lasting with her failed. She was too career oriented. I was reeling from grief. Focusing on building something meaningful with her was a pipe dream.
Things around my community changed once the Murphy family went missing.
The first sign that something was off on that Wednesday was how their blinds had closed. Their silver Chevy Chrysler remained parked in the driveway.
A tennis instructor at the country club noticed the wife of that house did not show up for the program. He called their number to make sure everything was alright. When no one responded, he notified the authorities. Rumors abounded immediately among the home owners association about an alleged affair. The gossip only furthered when the married couple and their three kids were not found in the abode.
I watched from my balcony as the patrolmen roped the place off with caution tape. The domicile was a three story building with brick chimney’s and a few peaked roofs in the style of English towers. They were beige, light blue and crimson.
On the morning of the Murphy’s desertion of society, the architecture became a hollow image. It was one that was once filled with activity and life.
The law did what they could. Any success they may have had in the investigation was secret. A few months passed by and they removed the caution tape.
I followed the on-line police logs. The weather was pristine and clear the day they vanished. The fact that there were no witnesses to what direction they may have gone disturbed me.
I had heard how the man, Frank Murphy, had a bit of a temper and always had a bourbon in hand. I had heard mutual friends describe him as an alcoholic in denial of his servitude to liquor. He was an indignant individual who knew no true repercussions for his behavior. He always had bail money from a software company he founded and sold a long time ago.
I was never close to that family, but I peered out at their vacant house far more than I ever had. I was in need of an answer. What could have happened?
2
I called Samantha one evening as I sat on my bed, wondering how she would respond to my reaching out. We were never argumentative or on bad terms. I still worried about her reaction, and hoped it would not be a dismissive one.
I heard her say hello. Her voice still impressed me. I had almost forgotten how silky her tone was. I knew it could change to a much firmer pitch when she was interviewing a suspect.
“Hi, Sam. I’d like to know if you’d be free tomorrow for a cup of coffee. We can go to that place, The Bean Field, off Pond road. It’s been a while and I know you have a lot to tell me about what’s new in your life.”
There was a pause on the other end, and for a second a bout of anxiety hit me. I judged my own words as robotic, stilted, and sure to push her away. I reasoned she was summoning an excuse to get out of having to interact with me. How dare I presume she would even entertain the notion of having a meeting.
“That sounds great,” she said. “Tomorrow is my day off, luckily for you. I’m in the middle of an incident right now. It’s a five car pile-up about forty minutes from where you live. I’ve gotta run. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
When she hung up, I was triumphant. I looked at our old text conversations. I realized we had not been in communication with each other for over twelve months. Now was my opportunity to reconcile that gap of unintended avoidance. I knew it would be an undeserved opportunity.
3
I sat outside of the cafe the next morning at a black metal table. I had a view of rolling hills dotted with trees. A highway with multitudinous shrubberies sat on either side of it. I sipped a piccolo latte while waiting for her.
When she arrived and stepped out of her hatchback in the parking lot, her appearance floored me. She had not dressed up for our supposed date, but that did not make a difference. She had arrived from the gym and wore shorts and a top set. She donned a gray and green hoodie.
She sat across from me and reached for the menu.
“Can you go to the front and order me avocado toast?” Samantha asked. “I’ll also take a mocha with a few shots of espresso. Please.”
I did exactly that. When I returned with her items, she apologized for consuming her meal in less than two minutes.
“I hadn’t eaten since five PM yesterday,” she said between sips.
“I understand,” I said. “I doubt you ever have a consistent schedule anymore.”
“You’re right, but that’s why I have to enjoy my free time when I can.”
We settled into talking about what had happened since we last saw each other. I referenced my trying to learn another language (French) with the hopes of moving to Europe or Canada.
After fifteen minutes of small talk, I asked her about work, but I did so with caution. It started with me wondering about what the call she was on when we were on the phone was about.
“A drunk driver blew a stop sign and hit two other vehicles,” she said. “It was ugly. A few people died. We’ll see if the man in silk pajamas gives him the proper sentence or a traffic citation.”
“You know, I’m curious about what happened to the Murphy’s, if they’re hurt or not.”
“You and everyone else,” she said. “We’ve been getting so many witness accounts, and so far they’ve all been bogus. All I know is what I saw when I got there.”
“I didn’t know you were one of the responders,” I said.
“Yeah. Something about the place was off from the moment I walked in. I found heavy items in placed they should not have been in. The toolbox was not in the garage but on the second story. A disassembled snowblower lay scattered everywhere in pieces. The oven door was on their bed. Frank Murphy was not the strongest guy in the world, either. For him to cause the kind of property damage I saw doesn’t make a lot of sense. At the risk of sounding crazy, inexplicable things happened when I was there.”
“Like what?”
“I was under the impression that something was playing a trick on me. Electrical outlets sparked a few times out of nowhere. The ceiling fan would go from still to spinning when I looked up at it. Books would fall off of the shelves. A volume on black magic, of all things, almost hit the top of my head when I walked on by. Another book about fairies collapsed with it.”
“So the home intruder set up a bunch of weird diversions,” I said. “I’ve heard of that before. These killers or kidnappers want the victims to think there was more than one of them. It’s so their account’s disputed in court.”
I’ll tell you right now,” she said, “we didn’t find any outside DNA.”
“So it’s a case of family annihilation,” I said as I took a long swig of my beverage. “I don’t know if you can substantiate the facts, but a few people have said that Emily had a big life insurance policy. Frank knew about. He may have been using steroids and having an affair, and that could have contributed to-“
It occurred to me that she eyed me with suspicion, as though I was digging too deep. I could also tell she regretted letting information about the forensic results slip.
She stood up and stared at me with a flash of anger in her eyes.
“I thought you wanted to piece something back together with me,” she said. “I didn’t know you wanted to play armchair investigator like every true crime fan. You know, your parents were kind. I wish you’d follow their example. I’ll let you get the bill.”
She walked back to her vehicle and I knew it would be a while before we conversed again.
Later that night, I stared out my window at the Murphy home. I saw a star shoot across the sky, and it almost seemed ready to plummet into the side of their house.
4
The next evening, I took a walk around the suburb. I spotted a thin line of dried red fluid along a path which led into the woods.
I was attempting to get in some movement to get my mind off of the events of the day before. Negativity and self-deprecation were all-consuming. I felt the need for a long saunter to try and release some of the meandering and pessimistic energy I accrued.
When I saw the carmine ribbon along the dark soil, a sense of worry filled me. I was not that far removed from a cul-de-sac with palatial manors a block away. There was no way I could speculate on me being the first to see it.
Could it be a hint where they are? I thought.
The notion seemed absurd, a reach.
I had read in the local newspaper that there was an uptick in bobcat sightings due to recent wildfires. The animals relocated during prior summers. I reasoned it could have been a house pet which became a victim after it got snatched away into the overgrowth.
I followed it, and the uneven road of red stretched on past many bushes and over logs. A shrill chirping in the background became louder. I moved between two conifers with petrified wood and found myself in a part of the forest I had never been in.
There were so many branches that it blacked out the falling sun. Ahead of me was a clearing. A swarm of gnats and mosquitos descended upon it. The sea of insects soared together in chaotic unison as a wave among the sedges and lichen.
I looked towards the right of the meadow and saw a ramshackle tree house. I trailed the red line towards it. I peered in through one of the windows and saw a statue of a woman with wings. I knew she was not an angel. There was no halo, nor were her organs of flight feathery, but rather they were thin and bat-like.
I entered the place knowing the danger I was putting myself in. I had tracked mud in and was oblivious to the incriminating actions I partook in. I was trespassing and risking stumbling into whoever may have owned the land. My curiosity got the better of me and caused me to keep moving forward.
The room was sparse but decorated. The walls had carvings of men and women, also with wings. Their bodies held yogic-like positions as they reached out to one another mid-air.
A piece of parchment with a few words sat in the corner. I picked it up and read it:
‘Humans are the greatest living beings to play tricks on. Especially when they go through a time of drought and extreme cold.’
I sat it down where I found it, unsure of what to make of it.
I touched the central figure’s neck. The chiseling was not only cold, but below freezing, as though I had submerged my hand in a polar pool.
The noise of some kind of bird attempting to escape a confined space reverberated below me.
Something brushed against my leg. I looked down and saw an army of glow bugs float up between the cracks, and they circled around me. They were like dragon flies. At the time I had labeled them as such, but in reality their shapes were far too humanoid.
I walked back home. I went to bed and slept. I was still perturbed at the wine-colored avenue and cabin.
I awoke in the middle of the night after something tapped at my walls from the outside. I peered out and saw the Murphy home, and observed how the blinds over their casements were wide open. A hive of mites filled every inch of the interior.
5
I found the decomposing body of a chipmunk stuffed into the tailpipe of my vehicle the next day.
This horrified me, because the deliberation of the act was too evident to ignore. While I did have a surveillance camera on my porch, the coverage of my vehicle was non-existent. I calmed myself down by thinking it was likely a tempestuous child. I retrieved a pair of medical gloves and disposed of the creature before going on with the errand. The rotting body had a horrible smell. It was like an onion left out in humidity for days, and my stomach turned as I sealed it off in the garbage with the lid.
The next morning, I looked in my closet. Some of my favorite shirts had disintegrated. Holes and patches of destroyed fabric littered them. I found it odd, and even searched on-line for possible answers before I decided it had to be a moth infestation. I sprayed lavender. Information on a website statEd that was a cure-all, but the problem persisted. It bothered me that I had not seen a single aphid, but I pushed that concern away.
A few days afterward, when I had tossed my disheveled pieces of attire, the power in my house went out. This was not such an unusual occurrence during the heavy winter months. For it to occur in the summer was strange.
It was a rolling blackout. Once my house had electricity again, I noticed how someone moved items around.
Something turned my kitchen table on its side and stuffed into a part of the kitchen I would have never placed it in.
I grabbed a butcher knife and did a sweep of the premises, and I did not find anything. There were no footprints or signs of anything else tampered with. When I got to the second story, birds nested along the tree tops, and the repugnant odor of fish attacked me.
My allergies became insufferable over the next month. Nothing purchased over the counter which helped it.
6
I went to the beach on an overcast day. After roughly half a mile of walking, I saw an illustration someone had drawn in the sand with a stick. It was of a being with airfoils.
A light precipitation had fallen earlier. As I trailed along the former part of the sand, a glint in the corner of my eye caught my attention. I looked out at the water and saw what appeared to be a light blue outline of wings beneath the surface.
A phosphorescent wall of creatures surrounded me.
As the days march on, I know I am stalked by something I cannot rebel against, let alone have any agency or autonomy over. My pillowcases have shredded, the pipes in my basement have burst, and someone left me a gift at my front door. When I opened it, I saw mice scurry away. It was a book, and it was one about the history of fairies.
I picked it up and had to blow the dust off of it. Someone had stolen it from a musty subterranean chamber and brought it here.
I theorized that it was Samantha, passive aggressive with her disappointment in me. Yet I flip through its pages and find it all too familiar. I cannot help but wonder if this is a sign of something far more dangerous.

I live in a suburb surrounded by forest. My house is in a row of other properties built next to a tree line. The neighborhood was always quiet. The sounds of crickets, birds, and sight of black bears were routine on most summer days.
The scenic area was something I was always grateful for. I lived completely alone since the death of my parents. An accidental fire took both of their lives. Once I collected my inheritance, I relocated to a much more peaceful region. I had always fantasized about moving there.
I tried to start a relationship with Samantha. I had gone to High School with her sixteen years before. She had gone on to become a respected Detective. My attempt at something long lasting with her failed. She was too career oriented. I was reeling from grief. Focusing on building something meaningful with her was a pipe dream.
Things around my community changed once the Murphy family went missing.
The first sign that something was off on that Wednesday was how their blinds had closed. Their silver Chevy Chrysler remained parked in the driveway.
A tennis instructor at the country club noticed the wife of that house did not show up for the program. He called their number to make sure everything was alright. When no one responded, he notified the authorities. Rumors abounded immediately among the home owners association about an alleged affair. The gossip only furthered when the married couple and their three kids were not found in the abode.
I watched from my balcony as the patrolmen roped the place off with caution tape. The domicile was a three story building with brick chimney’s and a few peaked roofs in the style of English towers. They were beige, light blue and crimson.
On the morning of the Murphy’s desertion of society, the architecture became a hollow image. It was one that was once filled with activity and life.
The law did what they could. Any success they may have had in the investigation was secret. A few months passed by and they removed the caution tape.
I followed the on-line police logs. The weather was pristine and clear the day they vanished. The fact that there were no witnesses to what direction they may have gone disturbed me.
I had heard how the man, Frank Murphy, had a bit of a temper and always had a bourbon in hand. I had heard mutual friends describe him as an alcoholic in denial of his servitude to liquor. He was an indignant individual who knew no true repercussions for his behavior. He always had bail money from a software company he founded and sold a long time ago.
I was never close to that family, but I peered out at their vacant house far more than I ever had. I was in need of an answer. What could have happened?
*
I called Samantha one evening as I sat on my bed, wondering how she would respond to my reaching out. We were never argumentative or on bad terms. I still worried about her reaction, and hoped it would not be a dismissive one.
I heard her say hello. Her voice still impressed me. I had almost forgotten how silky her tone was. I knew it could change to a much firmer pitch when she was interviewing a suspect.
“Hi, Sam. I’d like to know if you’d be free tomorrow for a cup of coffee. We can go to that place, The Bean Field, off Pond road. It’s been a while and I know you have a lot to tell me about what’s new in your life.”
There was a pause on the other end, and for a second a bout of anxiety hit me. I judged my own words as robotic, stilted, and sure to push her away. I reasoned she was summoning an excuse to get out of having to interact with me. How dare I presume she would even entertain the notion of having a meeting.
“That sounds great,” she said. “Tomorrow is my day off, luckily for you. I’m in the middle of an incident right now. It’s a five car pile-up about forty minutes from where you live. I’ve gotta run. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
When she hung up, I was triumphant. I looked at our old text conversations. I realized we had not been in communication with each other for over twelve months. Now was my opportunity to reconcile that gap of unintended avoidance. I knew it would be an undeserved opportunity.
*
I sat outside of the cafe the next morning at a black metal table. I had a view of rolling hills dotted with trees. A highway with multitudinous shrubberies sat on either side of it. I sipped a piccolo latte while waiting for her.
When she arrived and stepped out of her hatchback in the parking lot, her appearance floored me. She had not dressed up for our supposed date, but that did not make a difference. She had arrived from the gym and wore shorts and a top set. She donned a gray and green hoodie.
She sat across from me and reached for the menu.
“Can you go to the front and order me avocado toast?” Samantha asked. “I’ll also take a mocha with a few shots of espresso. Please.”
I did exactly that. When I returned with her items, she apologized for consuming her meal in less than two minutes.
“I hadn’t eaten since five PM yesterday,” she said between sips.
“I understand,” I said. “I doubt you ever have a consistent schedule anymore.”
“You’re right, but that’s why I have to enjoy my free time when I can.”
We settled into talking about what had happened since we last saw each other. I referenced my trying to learn another language (French) with the hopes of moving to Europe or Canada.
After fifteen minutes of small talk, I asked her about work, but I did so with caution. It started with me wondering about what the call she was on when we were on the phone was about.
“A drunk driver blew a stop sign and hit two other vehicles,” she said. “It was ugly. A few people died. We’ll see if the man in silk pajamas gives him the proper sentence or a traffic citation.”
“You know, I’m curious about what happened to the Murphy’s, if they’re hurt or not.”
“You and everyone else,” she said. “We’ve been getting so many witness accounts, and so far they’ve all been bogus. All I know is what I saw when I got there.”
“I didn’t know you were one of the responders,” I said.
“Yeah. Something about the place was off from the moment I walked in. I found heavy items in placed they should not have been in. The toolbox was not in the garage but on the second story. A disassembled snowblower lay scattered everywhere in pieces. The oven door was on their bed. Frank Murphy was not the strongest guy in the world, either. For him to cause the kind of property damage I saw doesn’t make a lot of sense. At the risk of sounding crazy, inexplicable things happened when I was there.”
“Like what?”
“I was under the impression that something was playing a trick on me. Electrical outlets sparked a few times out of nowhere. The ceiling fan would go from still to spinning when I looked up at it. Books would fall off of the shelves. A volume on black magic, of all things, almost hit the top of my head when I walked on by. Another book about fairies collapsed with it.”
“So the home intruder set up a bunch of weird diversions,” I said. “I’ve heard of that before. These killers or kidnappers want the victims to think there was more than one of them. It’s so their account’s disputed in court.”
I’ll tell you right now,” she said, “we didn’t find any outside DNA.”
“So it’s a case of family annihilation,” I said as I took a long swig of my beverage. “I don’t know if you can substantiate the facts, but a few people have said that Emily had a big life insurance policy. Frank knew about. He may have been using steroids and having an affair, and that could have contributed to-“
It occurred to me that she eyed me with suspicion, as though I was digging too deep. I could also tell she regretted letting information about the forensic results slip.
She stood up and stared at me with a flash of anger in her eyes.
“I thought you wanted to piece something back together with me,” she said. “I didn’t know you wanted to play armchair investigator like every true crime fan. You know, your parents were kind. I wish you’d follow their example. I’ll let you get the bill.”
She walked back to her vehicle and I knew it would be a while before we conversed again.
Later that night, I stared out my window at the Murphy home. I saw a star shoot across the sky, and it almost seemed ready to plummet into the side of their house.
*
The next evening, I took a walk around the suburb. I spotted a thin line of dried red fluid along a path which led into the woods.
I was attempting to get in some movement to get my mind off of the events of the day before. Negativity and self-deprecation were all-consuming. I felt the need for a long saunter to try and release some of the meandering and pessimistic energy I accrued.
When I saw the carmine ribbon along the dark soil, a sense of worry filled me. I was not that far removed from a cul-de-sac with palatial manors a block away. There was no way I could speculate on me being the first to see it.
Could it be a hint where they are? I thought.
The notion seemed absurd, a reach.
I had read in the local newspaper that there was an uptick in bobcat sightings due to recent wildfires. The animals relocated during prior summers. I reasoned it could have been a house pet which became a victim after it got snatched away into the overgrowth.
I followed it, and the uneven road of red stretched on past many bushes and over logs. A shrill chirping in the background became louder. I moved between two conifers with petrified wood and found myself in a part of the forest I had never been in.
There were so many branches that it blacked out the falling sun. Ahead of me was a clearing. A swarm of gnats and mosquitos descended upon it. The sea of insects soared together in chaotic unison as a wave among the sedges and lichen.
I looked towards the right of the meadow and saw a ramshackle tree house. I trailed the red line towards it. I peered in through one of the windows and saw a statue of a woman with wings. I knew she was not an angel. There was no halo, nor were her organs of flight feathery, but rather they were thin and bat-like.
I entered the place knowing the danger I was putting myself in. I had tracked mud in and was oblivious to the incriminating actions I partook in. I was trespassing and risking stumbling into whoever may have owned the land. My curiosity got the better of me and caused me to keep moving forward.
The room was sparse but decorated. The walls had carvings of men and women, also with wings. Their bodies held yogic-like positions as they reached out to one another mid-air.
A piece of parchment with a few words sat in the corner. I picked it up and read it:
‘Humans are the greatest living beings to play tricks on. Especially when they go through a time of drought and extreme cold.’
I sat it down where I found it, unsure of what to make of it.
I touched the central figure’s neck. The chiseling was not only cold, but below freezing, as though I had submerged my hand in a polar pool.
The noise of some kind of bird attempting to escape a confined space reverberated below me.
Something brushed against my leg. I looked down and saw an army of glow bugs float up between the cracks, and they circled around me. They were like dragon flies. At the time I had labeled them as such, but in reality their shapes were far too humanoid.
I walked back home. I went to bed and slept. I was still perturbed at the wine-colored avenue and cabin.
I awoke in the middle of the night after something tapped at my walls from the outside. I peered out and saw the Murphy home, and observed how the blinds over their casements were wide open. A hive of mites filled every inch of the interior.
*
I found the decomposing body of a chipmunk stuffed into the tailpipe of my vehicle the next day.
This horrified me, because the deliberation of the act was too evident to ignore. While I did have a surveillance camera on my porch, the coverage of my vehicle was non-existent. I calmed myself down by thinking it was likely a tempestuous child. I retrieved a pair of medical gloves and disposed of the creature before going on with the errand. The rotting body had a horrible smell. It was like an onion left out in humidity for days, and my stomach turned as I sealed it off in the garbage with the lid.
The next morning, I looked in my closet. Some of my favorite shirts had disintegrated. Holes and patches of destroyed fabric littered them. I found it odd, and even searched on-line for possible answers before I decided it had to be a moth infestation. I sprayed lavender. Information on a website statEd that was a cure-all, but the problem persisted. It bothered me that I had not seen a single aphid, but I pushed that concern away.
A few days afterward, when I had tossed my disheveled pieces of attire, the power in my house went out. This was not such an unusual occurrence during the heavy winter months. For it to occur in the summer was strange.
It was a rolling blackout. Once my house had electricity again, I noticed how someone moved items around.
Something turned my kitchen table on its side and stuffed into a part of the kitchen I would have never placed it in.
I grabbed a butcher knife and did a sweep of the premises, and I did not find anything. There were no footprints or signs of anything else tampered with. When I got to the second story, birds nested along the tree tops, and the repugnant odor of fish attacked me.
My allergies became insufferable over the next month. Nothing purchased over the counter which helped it.
*
I went to the beach on an overcast day. After roughly half a mile of walking, I saw an illustration someone had drawn in the sand with a stick. It was of a being with airfoils.
A light precipitation had fallen earlier. As I trailed along the former part of the sand, a glint in the corner of my eye caught my attention. I looked out at the water and saw what appeared to be a light blue outline of wings beneath the surface.
A phosphorescent wall of creatures surrounded me.
As the days march on, I know I am stalked by something I cannot rebel against, let alone have any agency or autonomy over. My pillowcases have shredded, the pipes in my basement have burst, and someone left me a gift at my front door. When I opened it, I saw mice scurry away. It was a book, and it was one about the history of fairies.
I picked it up and had to blow the dust off of it. Someone had stolen it from a musty subterranean chamber and brought it here.
I theorized that it was Samantha, passive aggressive with her disappointment in me. Yet I flip through its pages and find it all too familiar. I cannot help but wonder if this is a sign of something far more dangerous.

A couple months back I made a post sharing my experience here with people like you who have been through something like me. I tried my best to be positive and give hope even when I wasn’t fully there yet. But today, I can honestly say, after only 1 year of my then wife cheating on me, I am the happiest I have ever been in a very long time.
I go to therapy every week, my business is doing well and growing, I work out when I can (no pressure), and hinge let me meet someone who’s spectacular, well together and does things I never thought anyone would ever want to do for me. I can honestly say it has gotten better. For me at-least anyways, my ex has gained weight, emailed me, spied on me, liked my Facebook photos from a mutual friends Facebook account meanwhile she’s still blocked on everything.
I’m here again I think to tell you that, self investing, self improvement is the high road. It’s the road you should take. Even we you feel like it’s a bad investment, invest. Work on you, bet on you, be kind to yourself, block your ex and ask for help. Oh and drink more water.
I hope you all have a great Sunday! Thank you for sharing your stories and keeping me going through the darkest times of my life.

Today was the anniversary of Bud’s death again. Momma and I went to see him. Took some fresh flowers.
We buried him under a nice shade tree, you know. Wanted him to have some shade. Good shade’s important here, as hot as the sun gets.
Put a nice bench under it. Black Italian marble, with words from a poem etched/carved into it in white. On a solid concrete base, so it wouldn’t settle.
Weren’t any benches in that newer part of the place when we put him there. Lots of ‘em now. People liked it, wanted to know where we’d gotten it. So a number of benches now.
He used to be alone, too, but has plenty of company now. Getting a little crowded, in fact.
Tree has grown considerable. You can lean back comfortably against the trunk now. Use it as a backrest. Sit and visit for a while.
Gonna get a little sleep soon. Then tomorrow/today, I’m gonna go and set out some flags again. For Bud had his friend Sal. Like we do every year.
Sal was a friend of his. Marine. Killed by sniper fire just before he was due to return home.
Bud was on leave, and he and other friends of both of them were planning a welcome home party to celebrate his safe return. On hand to bury him instead. Left a young wife and child.
The two of them lie within easy sight of each other.
Been a bitch of a day. Ever feel like just sayin’ “Fuck all this?”
But tomorrow be better. Or the day after. Or the one after that. If not, well then fuck that, too.
Find something funny:
I chased a fire truck down a busy street once. Simple misunderstanding. We’d been checking hydrants all day. Pulled up to another one, and I got off. Hydrant wrench in one hand, cheater pipe in the other.
And the fuckers took off and left me standing on the curb. Had just stopped for a fucking red light.
And so the race was on. Chased ‘em for a few blocks. Was gaining, and though I’d catch up when they stopped at another red light. But the fucker turned green.
But you know, people were getting the fuck out of my way?
Had to use a pay phone (remember those) to call the station and have ‘em come pick my dumb ass up. Lt was relieved and pissed at the same time: “We were just gonna come back and look for you. Though you’d fallen off somewhere.”
Bastards never let me live that one down. Ten years later I was still having new probies coming up and asking: “Lt, are you the one that …….?”
“Yeah, it was me. Now go clean the truck.”
“We just did.”
“Well, clean it again.”
Between that and my unfortunate love affair with trees and inanimate objects, a ditch that had been put in the wrong place, and a pumper truck that there was some concern that we might lose one night (stuck in the mud much too close alongside the railroad tracks with a freight inbound) that occasioned frequent vehicle repair, replacement of bay doors, and minor damage to a certain Federal building one afternoon, I was a legend in my own time. Made the Captain curse on three different occasions, and he was a calm, deeply religious man who didn’t believe in it. Nobody else ever pissed him off quite that much that I know of.
Was finally suggested that I take the Lt’s exam. The Department hierarchy were fairly insistent. Wanted to get me out of the Driver’s seat, I suppose. I was becoming too expensive.
I’d asked the Captain once if I could be assigned to an aerial truck. Always wanted to drive one of the Big Boys. He calmly asked if I’d lost my mind, and said not if he could help it. Then something about “Not while I’m alive”, sounded like. But a little under his breath, so I can’t be sure.
Got told to “Slow the fuck down!!” so many times that I was frankly getting tired of hearing it. That’s what the horn, siren, and spinny-twirly lights were for, after all. If you weren’t enjoying your job, you were doin’ it wrong.
I was the only one who passed it, and I hadn’t cracked a book……..Might have been rigged (desperate times call for desperate measures sometimes, after all).
But I was a surprisingly good Lt. Everyone has their niche.
I’m told that the stories are still told; passed down. Usually starting along the lines of “There was this one Lt……..”, and being greeted, more or less, with “Bullshit. You’re lying.”
But it’s good to be remembered for Something.

Below you will find a weekly reminder of our Rules and partial FAQ. It's definitely a long read, but it's worth your time, especially if you are new to the community, or dropping by as a result of a link you found elsewhere. We periodically revise our rules, this weekly notice will help keep you informed of any changes made.
NOTE: These rules are guidelines. Some moderation discretion is to be expected.

Community Rules

1. Kindness Matters

Advise, don't criticize.

• Post with empathy, thoughtfulness, and constructive commentary rather than judgment. Don't be an asshole.
• Name-calling, slurs (including gender or race based slurs), and insults towards other community members will not be tolerated. Do not attack others for their personally held values, custody situation, marital status, physical distance from stepkids, or economic status; or on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, age, religion, or ethnicity.
• No name-calling toward children, including the above-mentioned insults or the term "skids", or terms such as "mini-wife" or "mini-husband."
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• This is a support sub, not a judgement sub, assholes are not tolerated. Comments with terms used in other subs to pass judgement on assholes will be removed.

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• Bickering, nitpicking, and thread derailment will not be tolerated and will be subject to removal at moderator discretion.
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No backseat modding.

• If you see someone breaking the rules, report the post or comment to the mods rather than engaging them in an argument. Failure to do so may be subject to comment removal at moderator discretion.
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• If you think someone is a troll or previously banned user, either use the report function or message the mods to direct their attention to the issue.

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No userpings or links.

• Tagging/pinging users or other subreddits in an attempt to bully, harass, or complain will not be tolerated. Do not tag other subs, ever.
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Nobody knew what they were getting into.

• Comments like "You knew what you were getting into", "Love them, love their kids!", "They're a package deal!" and "You have to love them like your own!" will be removed.
• Comments suggesting that OP is not cut out for stepparenting will be removed at moderator discretion.
• Comments like "This is just a part of parenting, deal with it!" will be removed at moderator discretion.

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We have zero tolerance for trolls.

• This is a support sub. Our subscribers do not have the time, nor inclination, to provide support to internet trolls. Posts that are suspected to be trolling attempts will be immediately removed, and the poster banned.
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Use discretion when posting.

• We highly recommend using a separate account for support subs to help prevent being doxxed. Do not post any information that may allow others to figure out your identity.
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• Do not link to social media or any articles/blogs where you or another user on the sub is mentioned by name.

8. No More than 2 Posts per 24 hours

Use the daily threads.

• We are not a huge sub, but we are no longer a small sub. If you have multiple grievances to air, use the daily discussion threads instead of multiple posts.

9. Follow Reddiquette

Remember the human.

• Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life.
• Read it in full here.
• Downvoting is reserved for comments that don’t contribute, and shouldn't be used to indicate disagreement.
• If you believe someone is in violation of the subreddit rules, please either use the report function or message the mods to direct their attention to the issue.
• Suspected brigading will be reported to reddit admins.

10. No Porn, Spam, Blogs, or Research Studies/Surveys Without Mod Approval

Just don't.

• This is a SFW subreddit. Posting pornography will result in immediate post removal and permanent ban.
• Advertising on the subreddit (outside of Reddit's own advertising) is not allowed.
• No personal blog posts are allowed without express moderator permission.
• No advertising without prior mod approval.
• No asking for money/posting fundraisers/etc.
• For links to parenting research studies or surveys, please message the mods for permission before posting.

11. Disputes in Modmail Only

Don't argue with the mods on the sub.

• Any issues specifically related to how a mod is moderating should be addressed to the full moderating team via mod mail. This ensures that all mods are aware of any concerns and prevents disintegration of the topic thread at hand.
• This means to do not message or send chat requests to individual mods. All discussion and complaints about mod actions need to be done in mod mail ONLY. Failure to follow this rule can result in an immediate permanent ban.
• Comments in threads asking about mod decisions are subject to removal without notice.

12. Moderator Actions

We aren't kidding.

• Users are expected to know the rules before posting. If you are warned or banned for violating the rules, ignorance is not an excuse.
• Moderators will remove posts and comments and/or lock threads in accordance with the rules above. Typically this happens when threads have gone off-topic in a way that is not productive for the OP, or comments overall have become contentious or disrespectful.
• If a poster continues to argue or to willfully violate these rules, temporary and permanent ban procedures will be followed. Any attempts to avoid or bypass temporary bans will result in a permanent ban. User bans will not be discussed in the sub. Questions posted about user bans are subject to removal and the poster subject to warning/ban procedures. The mod team will not discuss a specific user ban with anyone other than the user involved.
• New accounts are subject to manual approval until they are no longer deemed "new" by the mod team. This helps to weed out trolls and ban evaders.
• We rely on Automoderator to scan for specific words and phrases that are not welcome here and notify the mod team to review the comment or post. This includes slurs of any type and platitudes such as "Love them as your own!"
• The mod team uses a combination of blacklisting and banning when dealing with trolls.
• We employ the use of a bot that automatically bans anyone who comments in subs that have historically harassed our users. If you are picked up by the bot for telling trolls to get fucked, reach out via mod mail and we'll get you sorted out.
• The rules above as well as ban procedures are considered guidelines only; some deviation may be necessary on a case by case basis and/or at the mod team's discretion.

13. Ban Procedure

These actions are at moderator discretion.

• Pornography will result in an automatic permanent ban.
• Extremely egregious content will result in an immediate permanent ban.
• You may receive a 7 or 30 day temporary ban for first and second rule violations, depending upon severity.
• Continued rule violations will result in a permanent ban.
• Willful attempts to avoid or bypass temporary bans will result in a permanent ban.
• We recognize the reddit site-wide rules of using alt names to get around bans and will ban those as well as report them to reddit admins.

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​

FAQ - About the Rules

What does Kindness Matters mean?

• Shortest version? Don't be an asshole. People come here for support and advice, they do not come here to be yelled at or told they are the reason everything is going sideways. There are ways to point out that someone may want to do some reflection on their own actions and reactions without being an asshole about it.
• The purpose of this subreddit is to provide support and a sense of belonging for struggling stepparents. We aren't here to pass judgement, but rather to offer support, empathy, and constructive commentary. That does not include "hard truths" or "tough love." Stepparents get enough of that in every other subreddit, we're not passing it out here. Be respectful.
• Remember, most people aren't going to come to a sub like this when everything is going great and everyone is getting along. People are coming here when they are down, when they are feeling defeated and stretched to the limit. Kicking someone when they are down is shitty behavior and we don't tolerate it.

What about being kind to the kids?

• "Won't somebody think of the children?" Pearl clutching isn't needed here. If you read the Kindness Matters rule closely, you will see that there is a clause in there about name calling children. We don't allow it. We also don't allow people rolling in telling OP that they feel sorry for their stepkids because OP is feeling overwhelmed and overloaded.
• If anyone is advocating slapping, spanking, or any other form of violence, report the comment immediately. We do not advocate violence towards children of any sort. The mod team does not advocate any sort of physical punishment at any time.
• Venting about behaviors is not the same as insulting the kids. However, if you see a post or comment where kids are being name called or dragged to the point of no return, use the report button. We try to catch the posts and remove them before they hit the sub, but we cannot see every comment without your help. Use the report button to bring problematic comments to our attention. Don't engage in a war of words on our subreddit.

Why is this sub such an echo chamber?

• Not allowing contributors to pile on and tell OP that they are a terrible human being who should never be around children does not equate to being an echo chamber. Many contributors here will offer OP suggestions to help them work through their resentments and frustrations, and the most egregious situations are called out. We simply ask that it be called out with respect.
• If you feel that a post is simply too much for you to handle without following the rules, move on to another post.
• If you believe that a post itself is crossing the rules report it. If the mod team has approved the post, it is because the mod team believes that the OP needs help from the community or needs a moment to vent and move on from their vent. That does not give you license to pile on disrespectfully. Unless it is proven that OP is a bot, assume that OP is a human being with real thoughts and feelings and has posted from a place of vulnerability.

Why can't I tell OP that they are an asshole?

• Because this isn't a judgement sub. We aren't AITA, we don't want to be AITA.
• Comments with terms like YTA, NTA, ESH, NAH will be removed.
• Don't start your posts with INFO either. We generally recognize that as a fishing attempt for more information to pass judgement on OP, and again, we are not a judgment sub.

But OP asked if they were an asshole?!

• Their post somehow got past our automoderator. Just use the report button. We will address it with OP.
• If you've asked if you are an asshole, a-hole, a*hole, a**hole, whatever, don't be surprised if your post is removed without warning. This isn't a judgment sub. If you want judgment, you know where to go.

What is a gendered slur?

• While it seems that everyone understands what racist slurs are, people struggle understanding the concept of gendered slurs. Generally speaking, we are talking about derogatory nouns or verbs that are used to negatively describe people or situations based on gendered terms.
• We've gone back and forth on this a few times, and the truth is, we get it, it's your safe space and you want to be able to vent about BM/BD how you want to vent about them, without us telling you how to vent about them. Fair enough. Vent away. What we are going to stick to here how people are referring to other users and to stepchildren.
• Examples that are not allowed:
  • "My SD is such a little bitch."
  • "She dresses/acts like a slut."
  • "My SS acts like a pussy."
  • "My SS is such a beta male."
  • "You are all fucking whores."
  • "Any dude who is raising some sluts kids is a cuck!"
  • "Little Lord Fauntleroy over here thinking he runs the house!"
  • "You're just the bangnanny, get used to it."
• Don't call users here names, don't call stepchildren names.
• Masking the term with asterisks or other neat little tricks might get you around the bot, but if we see it, we're removing it and quite possibly giving you a time out. The intended word is still there and you deliberately tried to skate the rule.
• As there is not enough space to list every term that is offensive and does not belong, nor every situation in which term or phrase may be allowable in context, this rule is enforced based on moderator discretion.

Seriously? You are the language police now?

• We're here to talk about stepparenting. And we would like for that to happen in a respectful way. Attacking each other doesn't help. Belittling stepchildren draws in trolls who don't understand your frustration, all they see is an evil stepmonster talking shit on the internet about a poor, innocent baby. Yes, even if that "poor, innocent baby" just robbed you blind and set fire to the house on their way out the door. That's just how it goes.
• We are aware that this is a relatively new rule and a lot of older posts and comments contain a lot of problematic language, including some from mods themselves. We are growing and evolving, and rules change as the sub grows and evolves.

What does No Drama really mean?

• Pretty much what it says, do not bring drama from other subs into this sub. Do not engage in vote brigades. Do not try to incite other subscribers to riot in a different sub. Don't follow posters into this sub from other subs to continue to harass them. Do not badger someone or derail threads. Do not harass community members because you don't agree with them. There's enough drama in the daily lives of subscribers, more isn't needed.

What is thread derailment?

• When a comment chain has devolved to the point where all you are doing is arguing back and forth with someone about the same thing over and over again, you have derailed the thread. Also known as bickering. It's what children do. We assume if people are in a stepparent role they are adults. We expect you to act like it.
• If you aren't a stepparent, or in a stepparenting role, consider that perhaps this subreddit isn't for you. If you want to participate, do so with respect. Thread derailment, arguing, bickering, and nitpicking are not allowed.

But what if they didn't answer my question?

• No one has to answer your questions. This is a support sub, not an inquisition. Jumping on a bandwagon with "OP is evading the question" in a 20 comment long chain is the epitome of thread derailment. You'll find more information about trolling below and how this might be considered such.

Why am I being silenced? I'm just asking for a back and forth!

• Thread derailment, badgering, and nitpicking are considered harassment. Continued harassment of either community members or mods will get you banned.

Why can't I look at someone's post history and comment about it?

• No mod in the history of this sub has ever once said post histories are forbidden. What we do frown upon is using someone's post history to attack, belittle, or otherwise harass someone.
• Example Post: "My stepkid's mom really hates me. How can I make this better?"
  • Okay: "Based on the timeline and your post history, it looks like this may have started as an affair. Unfortunately there's going to be outstanding issues for a long time due to that. Try focusing on yourself and how you can move forward without worrying about how someone else feels about you."
  • Not Okay: "Holy shit! You were the OW! What the hell do you expect, homewrecker?!"
• Example Post: "I am completely overloaded and feeling very down about myself."
  • Okay: "In your post history you mentioned that your spouse wasn't really helping around the house. Has that changed at all?"
  • Not Okay: "LOL, you already got the answers you need in your post on relationships. You are stupid for sticking with your lazy spouse."

Why can't we crosspost stuff to other subs?

• We can't stop you from doing so. The problem isn't that something has been crossposted, it's when the community that it's been crossposted to feels the need to come over here and harass OP. When we see that happening, we lock the post and start passing out bans. If you did the crossposting, you'll be banned. If you participated in the brigading, you'll be banned.

What if it's my own post?

• Again, we can't stop you from doing so. We prefer that you don't technically crosspost, but rather just copy and paste your post. Why? Because inevitably the above will happen. Redditors from other subs will follow you back to /stepparents and start attacking users here. It just happens.

What is "brigading"?

• Reddit defines vote manipulation and brigading as follows:
• Using multiple accounts, voting services, or any other software to increase or decrease vote scores.
• Asking people to vote up or down certain posts, either on Reddit itself or through social networks, messaging, etc. for personal gain.
• Forming or joining a group that votes together, either on a specific post, a user's posts, posts from a domain, etc.
• We, along with pretty much every other subreddit that has ever had to deal with this nonsense, further define brigading as this: You saw a post on another sub that linked to our sub either via a link in a comment or a crosspost. It was basically saying something along the lines of "OMG, check out these assholes over on /stepparents! They literally hate all their stepkids!" And then you and your friends come over and start hammering on OP and telling OP how much they suck. Congrats, you have just participated in a brigade.

What is this whole Report, Don't Rant thing about?

• If you see a post or comment that breaks the rules, instead of engaging, report it. When you report it, it sends notification to the mod team. We will act on it where appropriate. Engaging with bad faith users may result in your comments being removed. If you repeatedly do so, you may end up being banned.

What if I see an obvious troll?

• Report it.

What if they are being really mean in comments?

• Report it.

What if they are harassing me in private messages?

• Step 1: Report them to admins. You can report harassment to reddit by using this link or send a DM to reddit admins. Include the link to the DM, admins can see your inbox and providing a direct link is helpful for them to weed out bad actors.
• Step 2: Block the person so they cannot directly contact you again.
• Step 3: Send us a mod mail and let the mod team know. Tell us who they are and what they said, send us a screenshot if you can - admins can see your DMs, mods can't. We'll take action where necessary by banning from the sub if they aren't already banned.

What do you mean by No Naming & Shaming?

• Just as we prefer to not be linked to or crossposted from, we do not allow linking to or calling out other subs by name. If you see something you want to share, say it's a hot post that has hit the front page and a stepparent is being absolutely flayed, just refer to it as "that hot post that hit the front page." If you want to complain about other places in general, "other parenting/advice/judgement subs" will suffice. Absolutely under no circumstances should you link to anywhere else.

I can't link to other subs?

• Do not directly link to another sub. (e.g.: "/insertsubnamehere is ridiculously hostile to stepparents!")
• Do not name other subs. (e.g.: "I won't link to it directly, but insertsubnamehere is ridiculously hostile to stepparents!")
• Do not abbreviate other subs. (e.g.: "I know that ISNH is ridiculously hostile to stepparents!")

I can't ping other users?

• Do not summon another user with a username ping/tag. (e.g.: "insertusernamehere was being an asshole.")
• If you are agreeing with someone, it is okay to link to them. (e.g.: "I agree with insertusernamehere, you need to take a couple of steps back and reflect on this.")

What does No Platitudes mean?

• Sanctimonious, overused clichés that grossly oversimplify the stepparenting experience are neither wanted nor allowed here. We have all heard it a thousand times before, we don't need to hear it again. It's not nearly as insightful and wise as some would like to think.

Why don't you people understand it's a package deal?

• Any comment that suggests that OP should have known what they were getting involved with, or that they needed to understand that the kids were part of some package they needed to accept before signing up for marriage is subject to immediate removal.
• This is one of the most insensitive things you can say to a stepparent. Most stepparents were aware of the children, but they were probably not aware of all of the family dynamics.

Why can't you just love them like they are your own?

• Demanding that a stranger you do not know love children that are not biologically theirs as if they were theirs can be incredibly damaging to someone who is already in a vulnerable situation. Any comment that falls along these lines will be removed.

What do you mean by No Trolling? I was just...

• No means no. No trolling. No pretending to be a stepparent and then whipping out the Greatest Hits Bingo Card of The Worst Stepparent in the History of Stepparents. We see you. We've seen you a thousand times.

What does "concern trolling", "gish-galloping", and "sealioning" have to do with stepparenting? This isn't a debate sub, why are you using debate terms?

• That's absolutely right, this isn't a debate sub. And yet, here we are, day after day, having to defend ourselves against this sort of thing. So, enough. No more. Usage of any of these things will get you banned.

What is "Concern Trolling?"

• A concern troll is someone who disingenuously visits sites of an opposing ideology to disrupt conversation by offering unwanted advice on how to solve problems which do not really exist.
  • Example Post: OP expresses concern that she will feel, and possibly act, differently towards her stepchildren after her husband decides that no, he doesn't want anymore children after all.
  • Example Concern Troll pulled from actual mod mail after their comment was removed: "Possible child abuse claims need to be sorted out well before whatever empathy you believe the OP was looking for."

What is a "Devil's Advocate"?

• "I'm just playing devil's advocate here, but have you considered that maybe BM is just really tired and needs a break, too?" BM has dozens of different mom based subs alone on reddit she can complain on, this sub is for stepparents. The stepparent doesn't need to consider that maybe BM is just really tired and needs a break.

"Gish-galloping?" What does that even mean?

• The Gish Gallop is the fallacious debate tactic of drowning your opponent in a flood of individually-weak arguments in order to prevent rebuttal of the whole argument collection without great effort. The Gish Gallop is a conveyor belt-fed version of the on the spot fallacy, as it's unreasonable for anyone to have a well-composed answer immediately available to every argument present in the Gallop.

And "sealioning?" What's that?

• Sealioning involves jumping into a conversation with endless polite, reasonable questions and demands for answers, usually of entry-level topics far below the actual conversation (e.g. "please prove sexism exists"). This tactic differs little from harassment; instead of discussion, the point is to derail discussion, receive criticism (for their ignorance) so as to look like a victim, or to make someone feel overwhelmed and quit talking.

Who gets to define what is considered asshattery?

• The mod team, of course! If we feel that comments are out of line, are trolling, are leading up to a fight or "just asking questions", we are going to remove them and most likely ban the offender.

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​

FAQ - Sub Questions

Posting Guidelines for Stepparents

• Body text is required, we suggest you use line breaks between paragraphs as a wall of text is difficult to read. Posts that have only a title are likely to be removed. Instead of using names (even fictitious ones), try to use the sub acronyms. It helps our users to follow along if you use the acronyms and not names.
• Assign a post flair that accurately describes what your post is about and what you are seeking. If you are posting an update from a previous post, include a link to that post.
• Flairs are applied to posts to determine what a person is looking for. When submitting a new post, you should choose a flair that specifies if you are looking for advice, support, etc. The following link flair is available and is color coded with side bar links so that you can search by flair:
  • Advice - For when you are specifically asking for advice or help.
  • Announcement - Mod Use Only, for subreddit announcements.
  • Daily (Formerly TTP) - Mod Use Only, for our daily discussion threads.
  • Discussion - A little advice, a little "How does your family handle this?"
  • JustBMThings - Pretty sure this is self explanatory!
  • Legal - Asking for legal advice? Tag it with this!
  • Miscellany - Just a sort of off topic thing? Use this tag.
  • Resource - Sharing a good resource or asking for one? This is the tag you need!
  • Support - For those days when you want nothing but a good old fashioned cry and some community love.
  • Update - Updating us on something that you posted about previously? Use this one!
  • Vent - We all need to vent sometimes. Respect the tag as a vent. This isn't how OP talks all day every day.
  • Win! - Celebrate those wins with us with this tag!
  • Megathread - Mod Use Only, for large mega threads (typically around major calendar events.)

Posting Guidelines for Bioparents

• Stepparents is a support community for stepparents, by stepparents. As bioparents, you may want to have more insight into how the stepparent in your life feels or thinks. You may have questions on how to ease the transition for your partner. However, please keep in mind that this community was not created for you. It was created for your partner or your ex's partner. If you are seeking support on how to deal with a stepparent, there are other subs more suited for your situation and your post is subject to removal.
• There are some posts from bioparents we will accept:
  • Seeking advice on how to support your partner as they navigate stepparenting
  • Seeking resources to help you better support your partner
  • Seeking resources for your partner
• There are some posts from bioparents we will not accept:
  • Complaints about how the stepparent is too involved in your kids lives
  • Vents about how the stepparent is not involved enough in your kids lives
  • "Cautionary tales" advising stepparents to back off
  • Seeking advice on how to tell the stepparent to back off
  • The Do's and Dont's of Stepparenting
  • How your kid's stepmom is literally The Worst
• Comments from bioparents that are helpful and supportive are welcome and appreciated. Comments from bioparents that are not helpful or supportive are not welcome and subject to removal. There are several other subs that may meet the needs of bioparents better than we can. We recommend /coparenting, /parenting, /parents, /blendedfamilies, and /singleparents as starting points.

Guidelines for Stepkids

• At this time, we do not generally accept posts from stepkids. Comments from stepkids that are helpful and supportive are welcome and appreciated. Comments from stepkids that are not helpful or supportive are not welcome and subject to removal. If you are a stepkid seeking support, we highly recommend /stepkids. It is a very supportive community specifically for stepkids. We also recommend /blendedfamilies as another potential group for support.

What the heck are all these acronyms? I'm confused!

• Check out the Common Acronyms wiki page. We try to keep this updated as new terms are introduced to the sub.

Why aren't my posts or comments showing up?

• New posters and accounts go through a waiting period before their posts will show in the sub and the comments on posts automatically. During the new account approval period the mod team will check posts to be sure you aren't attempting to circumvent a ban with a shiny new account. Please be patient while the timer runs down on your "new" status and the mod team approves your posts and responses.

Why was my comment removed?

• Comments are removed when they do not follow the rules of the sub. These rules are published in several places for your reading pleasure.
• Comments are removed at moderator discretion. In some cases your comment may be removed while another remains up. If you find this to be the case, and you believe the comment to be violating the rules, instead of arguing with mods or demanding they remove the additional comments, just report it.

This comment/post is really offensive! Why is it still up?

• All moderators are volunteers and have busy real lives. Sometimes things get past us. The best thing you can do is report anything you find offensive or inflammatory. It's the quickest and most reliable way of alerting us to an issue.

I've received a hurtful/unwanted PM from someone about my recent post. What should I do?

• If you receive an unwanted/hurtful PM from a name you don't recognize, please report it to Reddit Admins using our handy pre-populated form. Be sure to include the permalink to the message. We've been dealing with a few unhappy folks who like to attack stepparents, and reporting it to the admins is the only way to make it stop.

What are the general moderator guidelines?

• Users are expected to know the rules before posting. If you are warned or banned for violating the rules, ignorance is not an excuse.
• Moderators will remove posts and comments and/or lock threads in accordance with the rules above. Typically this happens when threads have gone off-topic in a way that is not productive for the OP, or comments overall have become contentious or disrespectful.
• If a poster continues to argue or to willfully violate these rules, temporary and permanent ban procedures will be followed. Any attempts to avoid or bypass temporary bans will result in a permanent ban. User bans will not be discussed in the sub. Questions posted about user bans are subject to removal and the poster subject to warning/ban procedures. The mod team will not discuss a specific user ban with anyone other than the user involved.
• New accounts are subject to manual approval until they are no longer deemed "new" by the mod team. This helps to weed out trolls and ban evaders.
• We rely on Automoderator to scan for specific words and phrases that are not welcome here and notify the mod team to review the comment or post. This includes slurs of any type and platitudes such as "Love them as your own!"
• The mod team uses a combination of blacklisting and banning when dealing with trolls.
• We employ the use of a bot that automatically bans anyone who comments in subs that have historically harassed our users. If you are picked up by the bot for telling trolls to get fucked, reach out via mod mail and we'll get you sorted out.
• The rules above as well as ban procedures are considered guidelines only; some deviation may be necessary on a case by case basis and/or at the mod team's discretion.

I've been wrongly banned/Why can't I comment here?

• Due to an influx of harassment from users with specific user histories, we have employed a user history ban bot as described above. If you think this has affected you and wish to appeal, please message the mods.

Why was I banned without warning?

• There are numerous reasons that the mod team might opt to move perm banning without warning. Message the moderators if you have specific questions.

Only thing keeping me alive is my pet. The last 5 years my life became a comfortable one to almost homeless. 5 years ago this winter my wife kicked me out of my very home because I told her I was bi sexual. I told her because we were having our very first kid and it's the only thing I've kept to myself. I was still much in love with her, she was ok with it at first then her mother came into the picture. Honestly don't know what I'm going to do, I went back to school because the place I was renting was only 550$ a month. With my loans and part time job I was able to graduate last year. I though things would look up for me since I got my diploma. I was able to find a job quite quickly but the pay was on the low end for the diploma I just did. But I took it as I needed work, I never got a 3 month evaluation and was with the company for 2 years. In that time I was ask to leave the apt I was in because they were doing Reno's. I said well I'm working so I took a spot closer to work. However it was not cheap, this is when the apts started to sky rocket. At my first year of my job with no performance review I mentioned to my boss about one. But nothing was done untill one week this year were they gave me a raise, then found out I was gay and I was promptly laid off and replaced. I have human rights involved and its in the courts hands now as I had proof. And email chain. Well now I was laid off my income insurance is not covering ally bills, choosing between eating, heat and light or my medication. I have the student load people down my neck because I can't make any payments, my ex wife is trying to garnish my EI but while I was working I was paying double the amount required giving me a few months I case this happened. I got a letter of disconnect for my heat and light on Friday with a disconnect date for this Tuesday. They want a full payment of $876 or I'll be cut off. I received a email for my internet that my internet will be cut off on June 9th if I don't pay them 98$ by June 6th. I am sparing my medication as it's costing me 143$ a week, I relied heavily on my medical insurance. I was just accepted into the drug card program here so starting Monday I only have to pay copay of 31$.
I've been hanging on by a thread since January, I stopped receiving emails and phone calls to the places I applied too. I have a feeling my old boss is retaliating because he has to deal with human rights.
Theirs nothing for me anymore, I can't afford all these depts. I have 2 months tops left before I get evicted. I have no where to go, homeless shelters are over full. My dog needs surgery where I was saving money for but since I lost my job I started a GoFundMe. But so far it's only covered her pre-op apt. I tried to do so much good in this world, I never asked for much. I spent my off work time being a volunteer firefighter, seen things I can't unsee, smelled horrible things that are so vivid. I was even in the military when I was 18. My ex wife took my house, my daughter, everything I owned down to my clothes. When I try too see my daughter my ex wife refuses and I had to get a lawyer. It's been a full year that she had me blocked and won't even send me a pic.
I've sold everything I have, I only have my computer to help me job seek. I work in IT. I have a endless impending doom feeling constantly. I lost my value, I can't get out of this hole. I'm don't fighting. Only a miracle can save me now. I hope my next life is not this horrible.

Daniel LaRusso

"So, karate's fighting. You train to fight"
"That what you think?"
"...No"
"Then why train?"
"So I won't have to fight"

Born in Newark, New Jersey in 1966, Daniel LaRusso lived there until his mother moved the two out to Reseda, California in 1984. Upon arriving in Reseda, Daniel made quick foes with the Cobra Kai karate dojo, especially top student Johnny Lawrence and sensei John Kreese. While taking a beating from the Cobra Kais after a school dance, Daniel was saved by Mr. Miyagi, the handyman at his apartment complex. Daniel was taught karate by Mr. Miyagi, entering a lifelong friendship with the man. After winning the All-Valley Karate Tournament two years in a row, Daniel went on to marry a woman named Amanda, have two kids, and open a car dealership. When Johnny reopened the Cobra Kai dojo, Daniel opened the Miyagi-Do karate dojo in order to train new students.
Source Key

Miyagi-Verse

The "Miyagi-Verse'' is a term coined by the Cobra Kai showrunners to describe the storyline of the four Karate Kid movies and Cobra Kai. Feats from the Miyagi-Verse and media adapting it (i.e. the novelizations) will be in this section.

General

• Becomes stronger and faster than he was before after doing more training under Mr. Miyagi^3N23

Strength

Teen

• Knocks over Mr. Miyagi in catcher's gear with a punch^KN23
• Throws Johnny^C4
• Chops through six plates of ice^K2
  • In the novelization he chops three thick cakes of ice in half^2N13
• Knocks out a man with a gut punch^K2
• Throws a man into a cabinet, breaking it^K3
• Breaks a 2x4 with a kick, then breaks boards with punches^K3
  • In the novelization, Daniel breaks a 2x4 with a kick, slices through a 2x4 with the back of his arm, and punches through a 2x4 like it was paper^3N19

Adult

• Uses the Crane Kick to knock Terry SIlver into a glass display hard enough to shatter it^!

Durability/Endurance

Teen

• Gets beat up by Johnny^K
  • Novelization^KN3 - Comic^C1
• Gets into a fight with Johnny^C1
• Not too badly hurt after taking a tumble down a hill^K
• Gets slammed by a wave into a piling^KN23
• Takes a kick from a karate student to the shoulder that lifts him out of the ring^KN26
• Fights Johnny on a damaged leg^K
• Takes a kick to the face from Johnny^KN28
• Takes multiple hits from Chozen, who breaks part of a stone statue with a kick, and continues to fight^K2
• Takes hits from Mike Barnes, including getting tossed into a pallet hard enough to break it^K3
  • Barnes breaks bricks with his strikes^K3
• Takes multiple hits from Barnes (who is attempting to inflict as much damage as possible on Daniel during the match) and continues to fight^K3
• Gets thrown through shoji screens and a display case by Barnes^3N12
• Takes more hits from Barnes^3N22

Adult

• Takes several hits from Johnny, including getting kicked into a TV^S2E10
• Takes a kick from and gets tackled through a window by Kreese^S3E10
• Walks across burning coals^S4E2

Speed/Agility

Teen

• Catches a fly with chopsticks^K
  • Novelization^KN16
• Dodges a karate student's attack and retaliates with a kick^K
  • Does it again with a punch^K
• Dodges strikes from Johnny with "lightning reflexes"^KN28
• Dodges another kick from Johnny^C4
• Knocks Chozen to the ground, then collects the money he dropped and runs from the building before Chozen can stand up^2N15
• Rolls out of the way of a flying kick from Chozen, then stands up and grabs Chozen in midair to slam him to the ground^2N23
• Dodges several strikes from Mike Barnes^K3
• Balances on the bow of a boat while practicing his blocking^K
• Practices balance by kicking waves at the beach^KN19
• Climbs down a pole in a typhoon with a child clinging to his back^K2

Adult

• Dodges and blocks blows from Johnny^S3E2
• Dodges, strikes, and catches balls from a pitching machine^S4E2
• Climbs a hanging chain^S4E2

Skill/Misc

Teen

• Performs the Crane Technique^K
  • Mr. Miyagi says that if performed correctly, there is no defense against it^K - Chozen does defend against it,^K2 but it is unclear if Daniel was performing it correctly in this instance
    • Novelization^KN 28 - Comic^C4
• Performs the Drum Technique to divert and counter each of Chozen's strikes^K2
  • In the novelization, the Drum Technique is said to increase striking power^2N11
• Wins the Under 18 All-Valley Karate Championship^K
  • Wins a second time^K3
    • The tournament is only open to students brown-belt level and above^K
• Defeats Chozen^K2
  • Novelization^2N23
    • Chozen is Sato's best student and took on four karate students at once^K2
• Learns how to block strikes under the guise of Mr. Miyagi having him do chores around the house^K
  • Novelization^KN18
• Ducks Johnny's kick then sweeps his leg to bring him to the ground^K
  • Comic^C4
• Flips Chozen while being choked by him^K2
• Counters Mike Barnes' strike^K3
  • Novelization^3N24
• Knows a little bit of Japanese^2N9

Adult

• Trains with Chozen to learn Miyagi-Do karate's secret pressure points,^S3E5 which he uses to defeat Kreese^S3E10
  • Uses the pressure points to paralyze Johnny's arm^S4E5
• Ties with Johnny in a match^S4E5
• Beats up a group of hockey players^S4E2
• Beats up some thugs that jump Robby^S2E4
• With Johnny, fights a group of thugs in a chop shop^S3E2
• Kicks a cup out of a man's hand^S1E4
• With his wife, meets his dealership's sales quota in one day^S2E3
• Loses a fight to Terry Silver^S5E5 but later beats him, though Terry had previously fought Chozen that night^S5E10

Teaching Ability

• Teaches Robby Keene how to block strikes under the guise of him doing chores^S1E7
• Teaches Samantha how to block with a bo staff using a fishing lesson^S3E7
• Under his tutelage, Robby gets second in the Under 18 All-Valley Karate Championship after only training for a few months^S1E10

Other Media

The Karate Kid (1989 Cartoon)

Strength

Striking

• Shatters an ice sculpture with a flying kick^KE10
• Kicks a dead tree in half^KE12
• Leaps into the air, kicking a tree branch to launch it at a jaguar^KE1
• Breaks a section of a fence with a jump kick^KE3
• Breaks a wooden post with a kick^KE8
• Kicks a molasses barrel in half^KE12
• Kicks his way out of a crate filled with fish^KE3
• Breaks a stool in half with a kick^KE6
• One shots a hunter with a vaulting kick^KE1
• Kicks a gourd into a boy hard enough to break it^KE1
• Hits the shrine out of a building using a hockey stick^KE10
• Kicks a skateboard in half^KE13
• While shrunken, kicks away a phone receiver^KE13
• While shrunken, launches a flower with a kick^KE13
• Kicks through rocks covering the mouth of a cave^KE9
  • The glowing shrine indicates that Daniel was likely receiving power from it, but unlike previous people who were empowered by the shrine,^KE2 Daniel lacks magic aura and glowing eyes. So maybe he wasn't being amped I don't know.

Other

• Pushes back a falling tree with his legs^KE2
• With Taki, pushes a boulder off of Mr. Miyagi's leg^KE7
• Clashes hockey sticks with magic-enhanced Sasha^KE10
  • Sasha could hit a hockey puck hard enough to carry the two people that tried to block it back^KE10
• Throws a man across a bar^KE6
• Throws a man in samurai armor while driving by on a motorcycle^KE8
• Launches a magic clone of a man with a kick and throws another into a strength test hard enough to ring the bell^KE3

Durability

• Gets checked into a wall by magic-enhanced Sasha^KE10
• Takes a kick from a karate student^KE2
• While being pulled by a speedboat, gets flung through the air and lands on a chair^KE4
• Ok taking a tumble down a rocky hill^KE9

Speed/Agility

Dodging/Movement

• Dodges a whip strike^KE6
• Dodges an attack from a magic-enhanced enemy^KE2
• Dodges sword swings from a magic-enhanced foe^KE5
• Dodges strikes from a karate student^KE2
• Dodges attacks from a man using a staff^KE7
• Jumps over a motorcycle^KE8
• Cuts onions quickly^KE6

Agility

• Springs into the air off of the shoulders of a foe^KE2
• Flips over rollercoaster tracks to grab papers before the car can run them over^KE3
• Jumps off a bridge to grab onto a rope on a boat^KE4
• Jumps out of a window onto a balcony, then to the ground^KE4
• Jumps off of a car through the window of a passing truck^KE4
• After being launched into the air, swings on a flag and grabs a man before he can fall, returning to the ground by sliding down a pole^KE5
• Parkours on top of market stalls then leaps onto a horse^KE6
• Leaps up to grab onto a stone lion then swings into the air off of its paw^KE5
• Leaps up to a piece of wood being lifted by a crane, drops down onto a wagon passing underneath, then jumps from the back of the wagon to the horse pulling it^KE5
• Jumps down levels of a castle set^KE5
• Backflips after tripping on a log, catching the girl who was balancing on his shoulders^KE7
• Jumps high into the air^KE5
• Quickly makes his way to the deck of the ship from where he was climbing up the mast^KE11
• While shrunken, swings from a shoelace and bounces off a racket^KE13

Skill

Combat

• Disarms a hunter running at him with a spear^KE1
• Disarms a crook running at him with a poker^KE4
• Fights a tribal chief^KE1
• Easily takes down two hunters^KE7

Other

• Juggles a gourd^KE1
• Wins a log run while training^KE1
• After a hockey player hits a rock at him, Daniel smacks it out of the air into a tree's branches to knock down snow on the hockey player^KE10
• Kicks a raft so a falling girl lands on it^KE11

Video Games

Teen

• One shots goons^AK
• Chops through six ice blocks^AK
  • Chops through five^MK
• Catches several flies with chopsticks^AK
• Dodges a swinging hammer several times^AK

Adult

Note that some feats from Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues are performed by other characters, but all playable characters can perform the same physical feats.

Strength

• Player characters can break crates, phone charging stations, and wooden railings with their strikes^CK
• Slams enemies into cars hard enough to damage them^CK
• Can launch enemies using a weapon like a bat^CK
• Can crack the ground using a weapon like a guitar^CK
• Breaks prize cabinets by slamming enemies into them^CK
• Slams an enemy into a giant stuffed octopus, leaving them half sticking out^CK
• Throws enemies into arcade basketball hoops^CK
• Slams an enemy on a foosball table then strikes them, damaging the table underneath^CK
• Breaks a large display case by slamming an enemy into it^CK
• Slams an enemy into a sunglasses stand, breaking it^CK
• Damages a hot dog cart by slamming an enemy into it^CK
• Throws enemies high into the air over a fence^CK
• Strikes a locker door and cause it to collide with an enemy's head hard enough to bend^CK
• Slams an enemy onto a wooden table hard enough to break it^CK
• Slams an enemy into a cafeteria bar, breaking the glass^CK
• Slams an enemy into a jukebox, knocking out records^CK
• Rocks a tree planter by slamming an enemy into it^CK
• Knocks down shelves at a comic store by slamming an enemy into the wall^CK
• Slams an enemy into a group of gumball machines, breaking some^CK
• Damages a cotton candy machine by slamming an enemy into it^CK
• Warps a gas pump by slamming an enemy into it^CK
• Can knock around a enemy so heavy he cracks the ground when he lands after jumping^CK
• Breaks a tabletop in half and bends the metal pole by slamming an enemy into it^CK
• Kicks around a motorcycle^CK
• Damages a sign by slamming an enemy into it^CK
• Slams an enemy's face onto a table, bending it^CK
• Slams an enemy into the tournament bracket wall, knocking down the namecards^CK
• Throws an enemy through a screen^CK
• Throws enemies into banners, knocking them off the ceiling^CK
• Breaks a trophy case by slamming an enemy into it^CK
• Throws an enemy through a wood fence^CK

Durability

• Takes a kick from Kreese, who makes a large crater in the ground^CK
• Can get hit by cars during a boss fight^CK
• Can get hit by cars that fall from the sky and explode during a boss fight^CK
• Can get hit with several molotov cocktails during a boss fight^CK
• Can get hit by an enemy that cracks the ground with his blows^CK
  • Parrying the attack greatly reduces damage and negates knockback^CK
• Can get hit by and parry attacks from an enemy that cracks the ground by landing after jumping into the air^CK

Speed/Skill

• Can parry strikes from enemies^CK
• Kicks an enemy into a photo booth as they leap^CK
• Kicks an enemy into a portapotty as they leap^CK
• Hits an enemy on the edge of a pool, sending them flying so they land on an intertube^CK
• Kicks an enemy into a stack of surfboards as they leap^CK
• Throws an enemy into a training dummy such that it wraps around anthem^CK

Misc

• Kicks an enemy into a car lift, knocking the car down^CK
• Stuffs an enemy in a giant rat head mini golf prop^CK

Skills

Personal

• Ice Dunk: Leaps over an enemy, smashing an ice block on them that freezes them sold^CK
  • Upgrade: Increases damage by 20%
    • Skill Tree Branch 1
      • Frozen enemies take damage over time
      • Increases freeze duration
      • Increases freeze damage and duration
    • Skill Tree Branch 2
      • Increase the area by 20%
      • Reduces cooldown
      • Increases freeze damage and duration
• Icicle Fury: Releases a flurry of ice spikes forward^CK
  • Upgrade: Adds a final, stronger hit to the end
    • Skill Tree Branch 1
      • Hits slow enemies
      • Slow duration increased
      • Nearly freezes enemies and deals damage over time
    • Skill Tree Branch 2
      • Adds two more hits
      • Increases final hit damage
      • Increases final hit damage further
• Ice Wall: Raises a wall of ice in front of him from the ground that launches foes^CK
  • Upgrade: Creates a wall behind him as well
    • Skill Tree Branch 1
      • Pushes the wall in front forward
      • The wall explodes after a moment - Better view
      • The explosion freezes enemies and does damage over time
    • Skill Tree Branch 2
      • Creates a second wall in front of him
      • Creates a third wall in front of him
      • Creates a fourth wall in front of him
• Focus Heal: Heals himself after focusing for a moment^CK
  • Upgrade: Reduces the cooldown
    • Skill Tree Branch 1
      • Heals nearby allies as well
      • Increases the amount healed and area of healing
      • Increases the amount healed and area of healing further
    • Skill Tree Branch 2
      • Reduces cast time and adds a 30% speed buff
      • Reduces cooldown further
      • Instantly heals and buffs speed for 10 seconds
• Miyagi's Crane Kick: After filling the ultimate meter, Daniel performs the Crane Kick, launching a giant ice crane forward that leaves a trail of ice spikes^CK

Dojo

• Icicle Jump: Summons an icicle below him that launches enemies into the air^CK
  • Upgrade: Reduces cooldown
    • Skill Tree Branch 1
      • Makes the icicle bigger
      • Increases damage
      • Makes the icicle much bigger
    • Skill Tree Branch 2
      • Summons another icicle from the ceiling
      • Summons a third icicle on the floor
      • The first icicle freezes enemies
• Frozen Lotus: Makes a lotus of ice spikes sprout from the ground^CK
  • Upgrade: Drags enemies in while channeling
    • Skill Tree Branch 1
      • Slows enemies
      • Causes damage over time
      • Doubles the slow duration and damage over time
    • Skill Tree Branch 2
      • Reduces channeling time
      • Reduces cooldown
      • Reduces cooldown further
• Frozen Path: Conjures a path of frozen line forward^CK
  • Upgrade: Freezes enemies
    • Skill Tree Branch 1
      • Adds an additional hit
      • Adds another additional hit
      • Adds another additional hit and doubles damage
    • Skill Tree Branch 2
      • Creates a second parallel line
      • Creates another parallel line
      • Reduces cooldown
• Wax On, Wax Off: Moves forward while releasing a flurry of palm strikes^CK
  • Upgrade: Slows enemies
    • Skill Tree Branch 1
      • Releases a tornado of icy wind at the end
      • The tornado pierces enemies
      • The hits and tornado completely freeze enemies
    • Skill Tree Branch 2
      • Makes an explosion at the end that damages the ground
      • Increases damage
      • Increases the damage of the explosion

Defying a last-minute appeal by former President Donald Trump, the Texas House voted overwhelmingly Saturday to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton, suspending him from office over allegations of misconduct that included bribery and abuse of office.

The vote to adopt the 20 articles of impeachment was 121-23.
The stunning vote came two days after an investigative committee unveiled the articles — and two days before the close of a biennial legislative session that saw significant right-wing victories, including a ban on transgender health care for minors and new restrictions on public universities’ diversity efforts.
The vote revealed substantial divisions within the Republican Party of Texas — the largest, richest and most powerful state GOP party in the United States. Although the party has won every statewide election for a quarter-century and has controlled both houses of the Legislature since 2003, it has deep underlying fissures, many of them exacerbated by Trump’s rise and influence.
Few attorneys general have been as prominent as Paxton, who made a career of suing the Obama and Biden administrations. One of Trump’s closest allies in Texas, along with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Paxton unsuccessfully sued to challenge the 2020 presidential election results in four states.
Attention now shifts to the Texas Senate, which will conduct a trial with senators acting as jurors and designated House members presenting their case as impeachment managers.
Permanently removing Paxton from office and barring him from holding future elected office in Texas would require the support of two-thirds of senators.
Impeachment was supported by 60 Republicans, including Speaker Dade Phelan and all five of the representatives from Collin County — where Paxton and his wife have lived for decades. All 23 votes in opposition came from Republicans.
Afterward, Paxton called the vote “illegal, unethical, and profoundly unjust,” adding that he looked forward to a quick resolution in the Senate.
The move to impeach came less than a week after the House General Investigating Committee revealed that it was investigating Paxton for what members described as a yearslong pattern of misconduct and questionable actions that include bribery, dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice. They presented the case against him Saturday, acknowledging the weight of their actions.
“Today is a very grim and difficult day for this House and for the state of Texas,” Rep. David Spiller, R-Jacksboro, a committee member, told House members.
“We have a duty and an obligation to protect the citizens of Texas from elected officials who abuse their office and their powers for personal gain,” Spiller said. “As a body, we should not be complicit in allowing that behavior.”
Paxton supporters criticized the impeachment proceedings as rushed, secretive and based on hearsay accounts of actions taken by Paxton, who they said was not given the opportunity to defend himself to the investigating committee.
“This process is indefensible,” said Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, who complained that the vote was taking place on a holiday weekend before members had time to conduct a thorough review of the accusations. “It concerns me a lot because today it could be General Paxton, tomorrow it could be you and the next day it could be me.”
Saturday’s vote temporarily removes a controversial but influential Republican figure in Texas and nationally. He has led an office that initiated lawsuits that overturned or blocked major Biden and Obama administration policies, particularly on immigration; sought to reverse Trump’s electoral defeat in 2020; aggressively pursued voter fraud claims; and targeted hospitals that provided gender care to minors.
The Legislature had impeached state officials just twice since 1876 — and never an attorney general — but the House committee members who proposed impeachment argued Saturday that Paxton’s misconduct in office was so egregious that it warranted his removal.
“This gentleman is no longer fit for service or for office,” said committee member Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston. “Either this is going to be the beginning of the end of his criminal reign, or God help us with the harms that will come to all Texans if he's allowed to stay the top cop on the take, if millions of Texans can’t trust us to do the right thing, right here, right now.”
Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, a member of the investigative committee, used his presentation time to criticize Paxton for calling representatives as they worked on the House floor to “personally threaten them with political consequences in the next election” if they supported impeachment.
Speaking against impeachment, Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, called the process “wrong.”
“Don’t end our session this way. Don’t tarnish this institution,” Tinderholt said. “Don’t cheapen the act of impeachment. Don’t undermine the will of the voters. Don’t give Democrats another victory handed to them on a silver platter.”
The vote came as hardline conservatives supportive of Paxton’s aggressive strategy of suing the Biden administration were lining up in support of him. Trump — a close political ally to Paxton — blasted the impeachment proceedings as an attempt to unseat “the most hard working and effective” attorney general and thwart the “large number of American Patriots” who voted for Paxton.
Trump vowed to target any Republican who supported impeaching Paxton, adding after the vote: “What is our Country coming to?” In the evening, he called Abbott “missing in action,” asking followers on his Truth Social network, “Where is the Governor of Texas on his Attorney General’s Impeachment?”
As lawmakers listened to the committee members make their case, Paxton took to social media to boost conservatives who had come to his defense, including Trump, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, and conservative radio host Grant Stinchfield, who tweeted, “Kangaroo Court in Texas.”
About 90 minutes into the debate, the official Twitter account of the Texas attorney general’s office began tweeting at members of the committee to challenge some of the claims being made.
“Please tell the truth,” the agency’s account said.
Under the Texas Constitution, Paxton is suspended from office pending the outcome of the Senate trial. The Senate had recessed before the House voted to impeach, and Patrick, who presides over the Senate, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about a timeline for an impeachment trial.
Because Paxton was impeached while the Legislature was in session, the Texas Constitution requires the Senate to remain in Austin after the regular session ends Monday or set a trial date for the future, with no deadline for a trial spelled out in the law.
The constitution also allows the governor to appoint a provisional replacement. Gov. Greg Abbott had not weighed in on the calls to impeach Paxton and his office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
Impeachment represents the greatest political threat to date for Paxton, who has been reelected twice despite a 2015 indictment for felony securities fraud and an ongoing federal investigation into allegations of official misconduct that began in 2020.
The impeachment vote capped a tumultuous week at the Capitol. From Tuesday to Thursday:
Paxton abruptly accused Phelan of presiding over the chamber while drunk and demanded that he resign.
The House General Investigating Committee revealed it had been investigating Paxton in secret since March.
The committee heard a three-hour presentation from its investigators detailing allegations of corruption against the attorney general.
The committee’s three Republicans and two Democrats voted to forward 20 articles of impeachment to the full House.
Paxton, who was comfortably elected to a third term last year, made a rare appearance before assembled reporters Friday to criticize the process, saying he was not given a chance to present favorable evidence. He called impeachment an effort by Democrats and “liberal” Republicans to remove him from office, violating the will of voters and sidelining an effective warrior against Biden administration policies.
“The corrupt politicians in the Texas House are demonstrating that blind loyalty to Speaker Dade Phelan is more important than upholding their oath of office,” Paxton said. He added, “They are showcasing their absolute contempt for the electoral process.”
Many of the articles of impeachment focused on allegations that Paxton had repeatedly abused his powers of office to help a political donor and friend, Austin real estate developer Nate Paul.
In fall 2020, eight top deputies in the attorney general’s office approached federal and state investigators to report their concerns about Paxton’s relationship with Paul.
All eight quit or were fired in the following months, and most of the details of their allegations against Paxton were revealed in a lawsuit by four former executives who claim they were fired — in violation of the Texas Whistleblower Act — in retaliation for reporting Paxton to the authorities. Paxton’s bid to dismiss the lawsuit is awaiting action by the Dallas-based 5th Court of Appeals.
According to the lawsuit, the whistleblowers accused Paxton of engaging in a series of “intense and bizarre” actions to help Paul, including intervening in an open-records case to help Paul gain documents from federal and state investigations into the real estate investor’s businesses. They also accused Paxton of directing his agency to intervene in a lawsuit between Paul and a charity, pushing through a rushed legal opinion to help Paul avoid a pending foreclosure sale on properties and ignoring agency rules to hire an outside lawyer to pursue an investigation helpful to Paul’s businesses.
In return, the whistleblower lawsuit alleged, Paul paid for all or part of a major renovation of a home Paxton owns in Austin. Paul also helped Paxton keep an extramarital affair quiet by employing the woman Paxton had been seeing, the lawsuit said, adding that the attorney general may also have been motivated by a $25,000 contribution Paul made to Paxton’s campaign in 2018.
In their report to the House General Investigating Committee on Wednesday, the panel’s investigators concluded that Paxton may have committed numerous crimes and violated his oath of office.
Investigators said possible felonies included abuse of official capacity by, among other actions, diverting staff time to help Paul at a labor cost of at least $72,000; misuse of official information by possibly helping Paul gain access to investigative documents; and retaliation and official oppression by firing employees who complained of Paxton’s actions to the FBI.
The articles of impeachment accused Paxton of accepting bribes, disregarding his official duties and misapplying public resources to help Paul.
The articles also referred to felony charges of securities fraud, and one felony count of failing to register with state securities officials, that have been pending against Paxton since 2015, months after he took office as attorney general. The fraud charges stem from Paxton’s work in 2011 to solicit investors in Servergy Inc. without disclosing that the McKinney company was paying him for the work.
The impeachment articles also accused Paxton of obstruction of justice by acting to delay the criminal cases with legal challenges and because a Paxton donor pursued legal action that limited the pay to prosecutors in the case, causing further delays “to Paxton’s advantage.”
Taken in total, the accusations showed a pattern of dereliction of duty in violation of the Texas Constitution, Paxton’s oaths of office and state laws against public officials acting against the public’s interest, the impeachment resolution said.
“Paxton engaged in misconduct, private or public, of such character as to indicate his unfitness for office,” the articles said.
An attorney general had never before been impeached by the Legislature, an extraordinary step that lawmakers have reserved for public officials who faced serious allegations of misconduct. Only two Texas officials have been removed from office by Senate conviction, Gov. James Ferguson in 1917 and District Judge O.P. Carrillo in 1975.
If Paxton is to survive, he will need to secure the support of 11 senators. With the 12 Democratic senators likely to support his removal, any votes for acquittal would need to come from the 19 Republican members.
Several Republican senators issued statements Saturday evening warning constituents and others that their role as jurors in the upcoming impeachment trial prohibited them from discussing the case. In a television interview Thursday, Patrick said merely that he believed senators would be responsible jurors and “do their duty.”
A complicating factor is Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, Paxton’s wife. State law requires all senators to attend an impeachment trial, though whether she will recuse herself from voting is unclear.
Paxton’s political base lies in the far-right faction of the Republican Party, where he has positioned himself as a champion of conservative causes and a thorn in the side of Democratic President Joe Biden. Paxton has criticized his opponents as RINOs (Republicans in name only) who “want nothing more than to sabotage our legal challenges to Biden’s extremist agenda by taking me out.”
He also retained the backing of the state Republican Party, led by former state Rep. Matt Rinaldi, who frequently attacks Republicans he considers to be insufficiently conservative. On Friday, Rinaldi said the impeachment was Phelan’s fault for allowing Democrats to have too much influence in the House.
“The impeachment proceedings against the attorney general are but the latest front in the Texas House’s war against Republicans to stop the conservative direction of her state,” Rinaldi said in a statement.
Paxton also has maintained a close relationship with Trump and filed an unsuccessful U.S. Supreme Court challenge to the 2020 presidential election. Paxton also spoke at Trump’s rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, shortly before the president’s supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol.
Ken Paxton has plagued Texas for far too long. I'm glad to see a modicum of justice being done.