Very, very interesting! I always thought that this world was quite interesting. I was a reader of Tantalus in Tartarus, and so I was wondering if it might be okay to ask a few questions regarding this world?ASSASSINATION OF THOMAS E. DEWEY
Considered one of the seminal acts of American history during the 20th Century, the assassination of President Thomas E. Dewey in the December of 1955 marked a major turning point in the First Civil Rights Era (1949 to 1961), partially leading to the demise of the Jim Crow Era through the passage of the Civil and Voting Rights Acts (1957/60 and 1958 respectively), in addition to providing the federal government a casus belli to actively pursue decisive action against the Ku Klux Klan over the course of the late-1950's. In addition, the event marked a profound cultural change in the United States which saw many citizens (outside of the South) breaking out of their ambivalence towards the goals of the Civil Rights Movement, resulting in more public action and protests against Jim Crow laws across the country, leading in-part to escalation of violence during the First Civil Rights Era as well as the the worldwide Protests Movements of 1956 – all of these events being traceable back to the husband and wife that conspired to kill President Dewey on that Winter Day of 1955; Virgil and Elisa Haines.
Their story begins at the close of the Korean War (1950 – 1954); in Washington, President Dewey had been searching for a decisive act from his administration which would win-back public trust in his Presidency after much of it was eroded by the chaotic and sanguine conflict on the Korean Peninsula. With opinion polls languishing around 45% and his administration having already pushed-through tax, welfare, and public housing reform, Dewey turned to fulfil one of the primary planks of his 1948 and 1952 platforms; civil and voting rights for African-Americans in the Southern states. Throughout his first term and much of his second Dewey was consistently hamstrung on the issue of civil rights by conservative elements in both the Republican and Democratic Parties within Congress, and though he had forced through some significant reforms (most importantly the desegregation of the American Military in 1949), the President still sought to decisively end the Jim Crow laws and win-back the support of the American people. In early-1954, he received his rallying cry in the form of Monroe v. Missouri, the Supreme Court decision which ended the doctrine of 'separate-but-equal' in schools across the country.
Buoyed by landmark case, President Dewey began turning his previous five-years of rhetoric into a countrywide push for civil rights in late-1954 when he came out decisively in favour of legislation which would integrate the Jim Crow South and result in voting rights for African-Americans. Attacked by Southern (and some non-Southern) Democrats as well as conservatives within his own Republic Party, many considered Dewey's abrupt shift in rhetoric from shallow-to-outright support of the Civil Rights Movement to be premature and ill thought-out; vitriolic Southerners in Congress signing the Southern Manifesto in early-1955 which swore them to uphold support for the Jim Crow laws and oppose any legislation coming out of the White House which would lead to the implementation of voting rights or integration.
Enter Virgil and Elisa Haines; both being born into desperately poor, conservative Virginian households, a 22 year-old Virgil first met the 16 year-old Elisa (then-named Simpson) in 1950 through mutual friends. Quickly developing a close and emotional relationship, the couple began performing a series of spree robberies in the Summer of 1951 - Virgil having been an experience gas station robber since 1948 - with the majority of their crimes being perpetrated in Southern Virginia around the cities of Petersburg and Richmond. Around the same time the couple began living in an apartment in Petersburg after Virgil gained a job as an inexperienced smith in the Appomattox Iron Works, with both continuing their series of small-time gas station robberies up until the November of 1951 when Virgil was apprehended by police in Chester and incarcerated for 8 months; Elisa, now smitten by Virgil, marrying him whilst he remained imprisoned.
After Virgil was released in mid-1952, the couple began to grow more violent in both their robberies and their marriage; a close friend of the pair once stating that Virgil would "never pass an entire day without taking the frustrations of work and crime out on his wife". Elisa is said to have felt restrained by her husband throughout the early-1950's, though in spite of the increasing violence within her relationship she nevertheless remained by his side during his run-ins with law enforcement and station robberies. In addition to this growing violence, Virgil had also began cultivating ties to the KKK during-and-after his time in jail with the couple (though most commonly Virgil) attending the growing meetings of a Virginian branch of the organisation during the early stages of the Civil Rights Era. Through his ties with the Petersburg KKK (which was headed by the local sheriff, George Marshall), Virgil often saw many police officers turn a blind eye to his robberies of African-American-operated gas stations, as well as the frequent beatings he inflicted on the stations' occupants (some of which involving other members of his local KKK).
In early-1953, both Virgil and Elisa were apprehended by police near Richmond after they stole $80 from an African-American owned gas station; Elisa being jailed for 5 weeks, Virgil for 3 months. After their respective releases, both agreed to lay low in Petersburg for the immediate future, during which time Virgil began to grow more integrated into the local KKK which resulted in him leading more 'beating parties' against local African-Americans for any transgressions. In the October of 1953 Virgil was fired from his low-paying job at the iron works, the man and his wife returning to station robberies and petty theft; Virgil becoming slowly more radicalised against African-Americans as a result of his time in the KKK and the poor conditions he was living under. This culminated in the December of 1953 when he and several other members of the KKK lynched a 15 year-old African-American student for supposedly winking at an 18 year-old white woman. After being the only member of that mob to be apprehended, Virgil was once again incarcerated for a year (his ties to the local sheriff and the KKK being unable to save him from persecution).
During her husband's third imprisonment, Elisa kept her head above water by engaging in several acts of petty theft throughout her Petersburg neighbourhood; her husband's release in late-1954 ushering in another series of gas station robberies after the couple moved into a poor district in Charlottesville in early-1955. Around this time, the perpetually poor and increasingly cynical Virgil began plotting what would ultimately become the conspiracy to kill Thomas E. Dewey; the President's campaign for integration and civil rights growing as he pushed for legislation that would help in abolishing the Jim Crow laws. In mid-1955, the Dewey Administration announced that the President and Vice President would begin 'engaging with the people of the South', with Dewey poised to lead a speaking campaign which would sweep the Upper South in an attempt to win over local support for the Civil Rights Movement. The first of these public speeches was to be held on December 9, 1955 in Baltimore; the date and location providing Virgil Haines the perfect opportunity to strike.
Purchasing his uncle's 1949 FN Model rifle, Virgil put into action his plan to kill the President; together with his wife, the couple travelled to Baltimore and the Druid Hill Park where Dewey was to be speaking. Once in the city, Virgil scaled a synagogue undergoing repairs which overlooked the Liberty Pavilion in which the "mongrel integrationist Dewey" would be speaking; this turn-of-events being lucky for the conspirators as an open synagogue would preclude the opportunity to fire on the President from a height. In addition to this luck, the Haines' had also found themselves arriving two hours late in the city, though they would come to find President Dewey still at the Liberty Pavilion surrounded by onlookers. Elisa Haines took up her position within the crowd all the while Virgil awaited the signal from his wife; ten minutes passing before a break in Dewey's speech led Elisa to scream out the now immortal phrase, "Mr. President, watch out!". Distracted by the call from the crowd, Dewey looked around cautiously for a moment before two bullets rang-out; one passing through the President's neck and the second through his lungs - the two conspirators escaping in the chaos that followed immediately afterwards, with Elisa driving herself and her husband back to Charlottesville. Meanwhile, despite lingering on for several more minutes just in time to reach the local hospital, Thomas Dewey would ultimately succumb to his wounds later that day. The President of the United States was dead.
It didn't take too long for Virgil and Elisa Haines to be caught; at 6:40 pm whilst nearing the Maryland-Virginia state border, patrol officers mobilised by state government in the wake of the President's assassination pulled the speeding Elisa to the side of the road and searched the car and it's frantic occupants; the discovery of Virgil's rifle on the underside of the car leading the officer to detain both suspects. In conjunction with the jailing of the Haines', Vice President Earl Warren was inaugurated into the office of the Presidency at the Government House in Annapolis where he was staying during Dewey's trip to Baltimore; the new President announcing that the perpetrator of one of "history's greatest crimes" would be captured and persecuted until the full jurisdiction of the law; Warren going further in stating that he would continue Dewey's pro-integration, pro-civil rights campaign which formed the crux of the late-President's speaking tour in the Upper South.
Over the following number of days, the investigation into Dewey's murder began to coalesce around the two suspects detained shortly following the shooting of the President; both Virgil and Elisa being initially unwilling to talk or give any evidence to the local police department; the media releasing the first information regarding the two suspects on December 16 after the couple's house in Charlottesville was tracked-down and ransacked for evidence by federal officers. Shortly thereafter, the Haines' history of crime became well-known to investigators, with Virgil's history of racial violence, radical beliefs, and membership in the Ku Klux Klan being released to the public as soon as it became known. Shortly thereafter, under the increasing pressure from the FBI to give them any evidence of wrong doing in regards to Dewey's assassination, Elisa Haines finally caved in late-December and announced to officers that both she and Virgil had conspired together to kill the President; Elisa announcing that whilst it was a radical decision of their part, it was necessary to "protect the Southern way of life", and that she neither regretted assassination nor wished to apologise on her husband's behalf.
With both the admission of guilt from Elisa and Virgil's history being thoroughly worked-through by federal investigators, the media circus surrounding the Haines court case began in earnest in the January of 1956. In conjunction with the ongoing election (which would see President Warren seek to win his own term against a Democratic candidate in Estes Kefauver), as well as the Protests of 1956 (of which the Civil Rights Movement featured prominently), the Haines court case was seen as just another battlefield in the fight for civil rights, with federal prosecutors seeking the death penalty for both defendants. Meanwhile, small-but-vocal groups in the South formed around Virgil and Elisa, with many more radical citizens believing them both to be 'martyrs' who fought the federal government in the name of segregation and Jim Crow; these groups (which included the KKK) being harassed by many in the public, media, and federal government for condoning the senseless murder of President Dewey. As the year moved on and the evidence against the Haines' racked-up, the court case culminated in early-September with the court returning their final verdicts; the death penalty for both Virgil and Elisa, both being the first people in the state of Maryland to be executed by means of a gas chamber.
Today, Virgil and Elisa Haines remain a major element within American culture, with movies, books, music, and conspiracies all being created in relation to them and their crimes. The Haines' have in recent years risen to the point of fame and infamy rivalled only by figures such as Benedict Arnold and John Wilkes Booth, though the story of Virgil and Elisa have captured the minds of the American public more-so as a result of their complex, passionate, though violent relationship (this aspect perhaps best illustrated in the 1975 movie To Kill A President), as well as the integral part they played in shifting American opinions in regards to civil rights in spite of their act in defiance against it. Thomas Dewey's death, whilst devastating to many Americans, nevertheless united much of the country in a way not seen since World War 2; President Warren receiving much praise during his administration (1955 – 1961) for his remembrance of Dewey's legacy by managing to pass monumental civil rights legislation through Congress which overturned half-a-century of Jim Crow segregation in the South. In addition, federal action against the KKK increased during the late-1950's, partly out-of President Warren's attempts to force through his integrationist policies, though more-so out of revelations that Virgil Haines was an important and influential member one of the country's largest KKK organisations; several groups being forcibly dissolved in the wake of Dewey's assassination.
Whilst the rate of integration would slow over the course of President Johnson's presidency (1961 – 1969), the foundations for 'total integration' which occured under the Bush Administration (1969 – 1973) were laid as a result of President Warren's efforts and, unfortunately, the assassination of Thomas E. Dewey. Today the 34th President remains, like Abraham Lincoln, a martyr for the cause of civil rights, his assassins perhaps doing more than any before to spur-on civil rights legislation in their vain attempt to maintain Jim Crow through political murder. Whilst some claim that the shooting of the President was a conspiracy by communists/the civil rights movement/the federal government to help enact civil rights, or that Virgil and Elisa were 'merely' attempting to protect states' rights from an authoritarian federal government, many more individuals today look-on to the Haines' and the Dewey assassination as a quintessential case study in how hatred, racial supremacism, and radicalism can poison any mind into performing the most drastic of acts.
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BYRNESIVERSE
Alternate Wikipedia Infoboxes IV (Do not post Current Politics Here)
- Thread starter Glide08
- Start date
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Very, very interesting! I always thought that this world was quite interesting. I was a reader of Tantalus in Tartarus, and so I was wondering if it might be okay to ask a few questions regarding this world?
Very, very interesting! I always thought that this world was quite interesting. I was a reader of Tantalus in Tartarus, and so I was wondering if it might be okay to ask a few questions regarding this world?
TheHolyInquisition
Banned
Come on dude, there was just a post about this.
Don't hit reply on the whole post just highlight a bit and reply to that.
Thanks for the support, and yes, you can ask any questions regarding the world; however, it'll be better if you posted it in the new thread HERE.
Thanks!
I'd love to, but that series isn't over yet! The creators said they might go up to season 5 to complete the story! And Season 2's ending, which I won't spoil here, suggested more danger and destruction will befall the town. How can I make a wiki box for something that hasn't happened yet? We won't know what happens to the town in 1983 (which would determine how it'd be presented on a wiki article in the present) until the series concludes! Sorry (I say in th nicest way)...
Thank you the compliment!
I'm actually referring to the events of some Stephen King books.
(when I was younger, I tried reading some of them, but "It" has over a thousand pages - I only got 1/5th of the way through)
Thanks for the compliment!
--------------------------------
While I'm here...
Confusing Campaigns
Rand enters politics early, but doesn’t give his running mate selection a second thought:
The compromise/unity ticket that nobody liked, nor wanted:
A literal “who’s who” in politics:
"Nepotism? What’s That?":
Well at least these two aren’t related:
Wait, who’s leading the ticket again?:
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I'm going to start working the federal results for the "X-in-Canada" series, but first, here's this, the ultimate X-in-Canada that will definitely be in the federal series and is not at all a joke:
The 2018 Bhutan general election was the 20th election held in Canada's remote Himalayan province. The government of Premier Jigme Thinley's Bhutanese People's Party (BPP) sought re-election, seeking to be the first non-Liberal government in Bhutan to achieve such a feat. Thinley had performed ably in the ten years since he had taken office, but the long political fights over social issues and the government's attempt to increase the scope of the Notwithstanding Clause to allow for the re-criminalization of homosexuality in Bhutan had damaged his reputation in both the province, whose views on homosexuality had become increasingly liberalized since the end of the 20th century, and in the eyes of Ottawa.
The Liberals, led by Tshering Tobgay, saw the opportunity to regain the party's role as the dominant party in Bhutan, although without the unofficial endorsement and support of the Lieutenant Governor Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the traditional "Dragon King" whose family had, by political convention, always been appointed to the lieutenant governor's position regardless of prime minister. The young Lieutenant Governor had eschewed his family's traditional support of the Liberal machine in favor of being a strictly non-partisan symbol and thus, had allowed traditional Bhutanese to pick their own government without pressure. Tobgay had managed to convince former New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Dorji Choden to cross the floor to join the Liberals shortly after the 2013 election and went into the election campaign hoping to see his party overwhelmingly take the anti-BPP vote.
The NDP under new leader Lily Wangchuk, however, had other plans. Their plans to improve the "gross provincial happiness", including a generous program of childcare, infrastructure spending in remote areas and effort to increase the opportunity for women and girls to attend schools halted and then reversed the expected decline after Choden's defection. Thinley, having lost his political luster after ten years in power, had a spot of hope, but even with younger Bhutanese, especially younger female voters, flocking to the NDP, the Liberals consistently led in the polls before election day.
Once the results became clear, the Bhutanese people could only smile at just how truly Canadian they were.
The BPP and Liberals had almost exactly flipped the number of seats each party had at the beginning of the previous parliament, with the Liberals' voting efficiency and first-past-the-post enabling them to win over 70 percent of seats on 42 percent of the vote. The NDP, for its part, managed to win one more seat over their 2013 performance, but Wangchuk narrowly failed to make it into the National Assembly.
The new premier has a strong mandate, and has begun to act on it. Premier Tobgay, after considerable debate, has recently decided to end the challenge to expand the Notwithstanding Clause, and has begun to strengthen the environmental policies of the Thinley goverment to the point where Bhutan plans to be "carbon-negative" by 2025. With Bhutan rarely deviating from its national assembly sit for its full duration and a healthy majority, it seems like the Liberals will have five years to prove if they are deserving of a renewed mandate, this time without help from the Dragon King.
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X-in-Canada
Minnesota
Dakota
Alaska
Wisconsin
Maine
Oregon
Montana
New Hampshire
Michigan
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The 2018 Bhutan general election was the 20th election held in Canada's remote Himalayan province. The government of Premier Jigme Thinley's Bhutanese People's Party (BPP) sought re-election, seeking to be the first non-Liberal government in Bhutan to achieve such a feat. Thinley had performed ably in the ten years since he had taken office, but the long political fights over social issues and the government's attempt to increase the scope of the Notwithstanding Clause to allow for the re-criminalization of homosexuality in Bhutan had damaged his reputation in both the province, whose views on homosexuality had become increasingly liberalized since the end of the 20th century, and in the eyes of Ottawa.
The Liberals, led by Tshering Tobgay, saw the opportunity to regain the party's role as the dominant party in Bhutan, although without the unofficial endorsement and support of the Lieutenant Governor Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the traditional "Dragon King" whose family had, by political convention, always been appointed to the lieutenant governor's position regardless of prime minister. The young Lieutenant Governor had eschewed his family's traditional support of the Liberal machine in favor of being a strictly non-partisan symbol and thus, had allowed traditional Bhutanese to pick their own government without pressure. Tobgay had managed to convince former New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Dorji Choden to cross the floor to join the Liberals shortly after the 2013 election and went into the election campaign hoping to see his party overwhelmingly take the anti-BPP vote.
The NDP under new leader Lily Wangchuk, however, had other plans. Their plans to improve the "gross provincial happiness", including a generous program of childcare, infrastructure spending in remote areas and effort to increase the opportunity for women and girls to attend schools halted and then reversed the expected decline after Choden's defection. Thinley, having lost his political luster after ten years in power, had a spot of hope, but even with younger Bhutanese, especially younger female voters, flocking to the NDP, the Liberals consistently led in the polls before election day.
Once the results became clear, the Bhutanese people could only smile at just how truly Canadian they were.
The BPP and Liberals had almost exactly flipped the number of seats each party had at the beginning of the previous parliament, with the Liberals' voting efficiency and first-past-the-post enabling them to win over 70 percent of seats on 42 percent of the vote. The NDP, for its part, managed to win one more seat over their 2013 performance, but Wangchuk narrowly failed to make it into the National Assembly.
The new premier has a strong mandate, and has begun to act on it. Premier Tobgay, after considerable debate, has recently decided to end the challenge to expand the Notwithstanding Clause, and has begun to strengthen the environmental policies of the Thinley goverment to the point where Bhutan plans to be "carbon-negative" by 2025. With Bhutan rarely deviating from its national assembly sit for its full duration and a healthy majority, it seems like the Liberals will have five years to prove if they are deserving of a renewed mandate, this time without help from the Dragon King.
-------------------
- This is so non-canon.
- No, I'm not making any more joke X-in-Canada boxes for this series, no matter how funny it would be to see Central African Republic-in-Canada.
X-in-Canada
Minnesota
Dakota
Alaska
Wisconsin
Maine
Oregon
Montana
New Hampshire
Michigan
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I'm aware that you're reffing a bunch of SK's stuffs, but I was asking cuz, as I understand it, the book, miniseries, and film versions of It all have different dates.
I've changed it up a bit, added some more baronial titles and differenced it more appropriately.
Boy the TV debates there must have been riveting.
Great box nonetheless, I have to say it is amazing you could find politicians to put in for each party there.
At this point you should just lean in to things and make a Canada-in-Bhutan. Think of the possibilities!
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Just out of curiosity, how did you create those Bhutanese ridings?
The Existing Bhutanese NA constituencies, I guess...
Also, [fanrage: ON] Y NO ISRAEL IN CANADA?
But there are only 47 Bhutanese constituencies in our timeline, and this Bhutan-in-Canada has 49.
Is there a secret Boundary Assistant-style website for Bhutan?
Lilies & Lions
Charles VII (22 February 1403 – 21 April 1429) was the self-proclaimed King of France following his father's death late in 1421.
In the midst of war with the Kingdom of England, Charles VII inherited the throne of France under desperate circumstances. Armies of the Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Burgundy occupied Guyenne and northern France, including Paris, the most populous city, and Reims, the city in which the French kings were traditionally crowned. In addition, his father Charles VI the Mad had disinherited him in 1420 and recognized Henry V of England and his heirs as the legitimate successors of the French crown instead. At the same time, a civil war raged in France between the Armagnacs (supporters of the royal House of Valois) and the Burgundians (supporters of the House of Valois-Burgundy allied to the English).
With his court removed to Bourges, south of the Loire River, Charles was disparagingly called the “King of Bourges”, because the area around this city was one of the few remaining regions left to him. Seeing little other choice at legitimacy, Charles had himself crowned king following his father's death in 1421. His bitter rival, the now proclaimed Henry II, King of France, was quick to pursue.
Charles died in battle near the city of Vienne in 1429; his death secured the succession for Henry, and ended the age of Capet rule in France.
In legacy, Charles' short, tumultuous reign is painted as one of great ruin to the House of Valois.
~~~ LILIES & LIONS ~~~
Henry of Luxembourg (25 September 1397 – 9 April 1471) was a Duke of Milan, as well as the crowned King of the Lombards, and the first from the Imperial House of Luxembourg. He was the second-born son of Emperor Sigismund I and Mary of Hungary.
Whilst his brother focused upon succeeding as Emperor, Henry was dispatched by Sigismund in 1445 to seize the Duchy of Milan due to the death of Filippo Maria Visconti. As a result of this war, Henry brought about Imperial dominance to the north of Italy.
I'm super, super happy with it. The moment I added the new torteaux, I knew exactly how it needed to look. That was a brilliant suggestion!
Charles VII (22 February 1403 – 21 April 1429) was the self-proclaimed King of France following his father's death late in 1421.
In the midst of war with the Kingdom of England, Charles VII inherited the throne of France under desperate circumstances. Armies of the Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Burgundy occupied Guyenne and northern France, including Paris, the most populous city, and Reims, the city in which the French kings were traditionally crowned. In addition, his father Charles VI the Mad had disinherited him in 1420 and recognized Henry V of England and his heirs as the legitimate successors of the French crown instead. At the same time, a civil war raged in France between the Armagnacs (supporters of the royal House of Valois) and the Burgundians (supporters of the House of Valois-Burgundy allied to the English).
With his court removed to Bourges, south of the Loire River, Charles was disparagingly called the “King of Bourges”, because the area around this city was one of the few remaining regions left to him. Seeing little other choice at legitimacy, Charles had himself crowned king following his father's death in 1421. His bitter rival, the now proclaimed Henry II, King of France, was quick to pursue.
Charles died in battle near the city of Vienne in 1429; his death secured the succession for Henry, and ended the age of Capet rule in France.
In legacy, Charles' short, tumultuous reign is painted as one of great ruin to the House of Valois.
~~~ LILIES & LIONS ~~~
Whilst his brother focused upon succeeding as Emperor, Henry was dispatched by Sigismund in 1445 to seize the Duchy of Milan due to the death of Filippo Maria Visconti. As a result of this war, Henry brought about Imperial dominance to the north of Italy.
I'm super, super happy with it. The moment I added the new torteaux, I knew exactly how it needed to look. That was a brilliant suggestion!
Kenst
Banned
Thanks!
I'd love to, but that series isn't over yet! The creators said they might go up to season 5 to complete the story! And Season 2's ending, which I won't spoil here, suggested more danger and destruction will befall the town. How can I make a wiki box for something that hasn't happened yet? We won't know what happens to the town in 1983 (which would determine how it'd be presented on a wiki article in the present) until the series concludes! Sorry (I say in th nicest way)...
Thank you the compliment!
I'm actually referring to the events of some Stephen King books.
(when I was younger, I tried reading some of them, but "It" has over a thousand pages - I only got 1/5th of the way through)
Thanks for the compliment!
--------------------------------
While I'm here...
Confusing Campaigns
Rand enters politics early, but doesn’t give his running mate selection a second thought:
The compromise/unity ticket that nobody liked, nor wanted:
A literal “who’s who” in politics:
"Nepotism? What’s That?":
Well at least these two aren’t related:
Wait, who’s leading the ticket again?:
Possibly the most beautiful thing on AH.com.
No worries. Arms ideas and variants is a minor obsession of mine. You can bet on me commenting where improvements are needed
.Definitely following your series!
- Status