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Courage, Dear Heart

@walkinginland / walkinginland.tumblr.com

Julia - US - she/her - ace - interpreter - multifandom
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Reblogged

WIP Wednesday

Tagged by @glorious-spoon 💗

Do I know where I’m going with this? Kind of and yet also not really! Thanks for asking!

Champagne is the last thing Buck is craving when he drags himself up the stairs of his apartment after a night spent watching the citizens of LA suffer the consequences of some of the worst decisions he’s ever seen. New Year’s Eve is always like that–some people can’t help but treat the end of the year like the end of the world–but the car accidents and overdoses and exploded fingers are hanging heavier on Buck’s shoulders than they have before. Even the familiar post-shift ache in his body feels less like the accomplishment and reassurance of his own strength that it usually is and more like another repetition of a cycle that will never end. The year will always end like this. People will always die. Buck will always hurt.
That cynicism sits in his stomach like a questionable convenience store sandwich. It doesn’t belong and his system is already starting to revolt. Eventually Buck will purge it–if it hasn’t poisoned him too badly in the meantime.

I drifted into this kinda melancholy bleh tone that I’m not overly fond of, but I think if I can make something pop in the jumble of scrabble tiles that makes up the next paragraph then it might work.

Cory Booker has been talking in the senate for over 20 hours now

He’s not filibustering. He’s protesting the current administration.

For those of you from outside the US or those of you who didn’t pay attention in government class, in the US senate there’s really no limit to the amount of time a senator can speak. So sometimes if they don’t want a bill to pass they just. Don’t stop talking. To hopefully get past the deadline to vote on a bill. This is called filibustering.

Senator Cory Booker isn’t doing that. He’s disrupting “the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able”. Just in protest. This doesn’t usually happen.

He’s less than 20 minutes away from breaking the record of the longest speech given on the senate floor

Cory Booker has officially broken Strom Thurmond’s record for longest speech on the senate floor and he’s still going

For those of you wondering what he’s been talking about this whole time, his staff wrote down a bunch of stuff for him to read like stories from people across the political spectrum opposed to what the administration is doing. He’s also been telling personal anecdotes about meeting important civil rights leaders and other democratic senators have been pausing him for “questions” but the questions have been as long as a small speech and have both served the purpose of giving him a second to sit down and updating him on the news that he’s been missing while he’s been talking.

He has yielded the floor at 25 hrs and 4 mins. His eyes are so wide they look like they’re going to bug out of his skull so I don’t blame him for stopping. He said to go out and get in some good trouble.

Addition for those unaware: Cory Booker is black. Strom Thurmond set the previous record about 70 years ago in protest of civil rights. Booker spent much of the time I was watching talking about the importance of working together for the people and the idea that it's not "left versus right but right versus wrong."

The new record speech is on the right side of history.

Minor correction: the questions from other Democrats did not allow him to sit down as he must remain standing and at his desk in order to retain the floor. Additionally, I believe the final time was 25 hours and 7 minutes.

Self correction: final time 25 hours 5 minutes.

He spoke about John Lewis, former Senator and Civil Rights activist/leader/hero as he broke that record. He drew inspiration from John Lewis and his motto or rally cry of "good trouble" and that he didn't know what John Lewis would do in this moment, but it wouldn't be nothing. So let's cause some good trouble.

Also, Strom read from the encyclopedia and such to waste time during his filibuster. Cory Booker did not stray from current events, aside to tell little stories or thank fellow members. He ended by thanking the pages, the clerks, the staff, for being there.

I highly recommend watching various clips that are going around.

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