continued Thatfucker discussion

[anonniemouse]

Since we've been kicked off FFA for the week, please feel free to continue the anon discussion here. Apologies if this is a big flop - I've never made a DW community before!

The rules are vaguely the same as they are over on FFA. Please refrain from being too much of an asshole, making personal attacks, posting identifying information or engaging in transfail.

ETA: If there's information you'd like to see archived (journal/blog posts related to Andy, etc.), please dump it here and link to it from the main post for discussing.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I'm curious to know how many posters here have actually met/know TF?

[(Anonymous)]

I met him once briefly--I had a friend who was in the posse. She is thankfully out now, though not w/o issues. I honestly thought about creating an FB support group for "Friends of Recovering TF Survivors," but obviously it occurred to me that would "out" our friends' identities, & that wasn't going to help anyone.

Whatever happened to Delwynmarch?

[(Anonymous)]

I've been away for a while; I just went through my following list on Tumblr and realized they'd been inactive for over six months. Did something happen or did they just quietly fade away?

Re: Whatever happened to Delwynmarch?

[(Anonymous)]

This probably has to do with our both having mothers with NPD, but I really liked Delwyn. Did he get abrasive at times? You bet. But I never thought of him as "bullying," and he did have a unique perspective on the TF situation. (YMMV.) I hope he's just busy with real-world things.

Episode 10

[(Anonymous)]

So has anyone else watched the season finale yet? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GmnSWFU6jM

Re: Episode 10

[(Anonymous)]

I'm curious for recaps of the remainder of the season. I can't bring myself to watch it, but I would like to know how it went.

Thought this was interesting

[(Anonymous)]

http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/how-stories-deceive

The general MO of the con artist in this article (apparently it's a chapter from a book, which I'm interested in checking out now) sounded very familiar -- taking advantage of people with a disturbing, tragic past (hers usually involved sexual abuse of some kind).

Some might call Sammy a pathological liar—someone who is mentally incapable of telling the truth and in the throes of an illness. And, in one sense, that’s true. There’s no denying her proclivity for telling lies. The difference is that, for con artists like Sammy, lying is not a pathology; Sammy, you may recall, received a clean mental bill of health. It’s a deliberate choice. Pathological liars lie for no reason at all. For them, lying is a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder, or may point to a deeper psychopathy. (Indeed, pathological lying is listed as a symptom on the Psychopathy Checklist.) Con artists lie for a very specific reason: personal gain, financial or otherwise. They lie to set the play in motion, so that they can gain your confidence and then lead you down a reality of their making.

Re: Thought this was interesting

[(Anonymous)]

da

Who makes up a history of sex trafficking? What kind of person do you need to be?

Weirdly, this is the con/lie that's been pitched to me more than any other in my life: people who lie, sometimes elaborately, about having been raped/sexually abused/molested. I'm guessing "what kind of a person do you need to be?" is no more than "someone perceptive who wants guaranteed sympathy".

[(Anonymous)]

I'm sure everyone here has been following the teablogger's Viva La Cosplay analysis, but having struggled to come up with anything to say about those videos, I'm even more appreciative than usual of how detailed and insightful their posts are. TlDr: teablogger rocks the world.

[(Anonymous)]

Seconded. Especially because something bothered me when I watched his clip in the first episode (and got bored...) and had a difficult time articulating why. TeaBlogger put it into words. And saved me from having to watch all the way through.

[(Anonymous)]

So I've never met Blake or had any correspondence with him at all, but I briefly followed his Destiel meta when I inched back into SPN for a hot minute circa seasons 7-8, and holy shiiiit. I had this instinct that he was a melodramatic teen based on his mental health posts, which were brimming with absurd inaccuracies, but I'm actually shocked that he's a grown-ass man with a fifteen-year history of abuse and BS.

BTW, I'm an MD IRL, not a psychiatrist but young enough that I remember my rotations through psychiatry medical teams and inpatient/emergency psych units, and his talk about schizophrenia and psychosis were always deeply trope-y, like he did all his research by watching "docudramas" and reading novels/watching movies about Hollywood schizophrenics.

For example, I remember an elaborate post about how he was stressed out and rationing his meds and starting to see Neville or something, and I knew it had to be shit because if he was schizophrenic and decompensated to the point where he was actively hallucinating (both visual and auditory hallucinations), then there's no way he would have had enough insight to write a coherent, woe-is-me tumblr posts about his plight.

I almost spoke out that time, but I've always been a fandom lurker so I didn't think I'd make a dent in the people he was fooling. I also wondered if maybe I wasn't been too harsh. As I said above, I'm not a psychiatrist, so I don't pretend that my knowledge of schizophrenia is without faults. I let myself consider the possibility that maybe, just maybe, it was possible for a schizophrenic who'd been in treatment long enough to retain insight while in the middle of a psychotic break, never mind that my instincts screamed something was off. I mean, who would lie about being schizophrenic? For what reason?

But anyway. I'm glad I ran into this rabbit hole (I don't even remember how exactly I ended up here two days ago since it's been more than a year since I even stopped by his tumblr). I'm glad I found this blog if only to be vindicated about my suspicions.

[(Anonymous)]

I think what I found most eye-opening, as someone who experiences psychotic breaks, was how hard it seems to be for people to understand what it's like. Even when it was explained in really simple language, like "it feels real", and "there's consistent internal logic, even if it makes no sense fom the outside".

[(Anonymous)]

Whenever Andy gets particularly posty I always wonder what he's trying to deflect attention from. Right now he's suddenly busy on Facebook (including reposting some VERY emotional things like the mother of an organ donor hearing her child's heartbeat) and I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

[(Anonymous)]

Ha, and now the whole whack of posts from the last 48 hours have been locked. Nice work, Andy.

That SPN LARPing event

[(Anonymous)]

So I don't see anywhere if that Croatoan season finale "convention" that cost $100 per person ever happened, or if people ever actually paid. Did it fall through? Any horror stories?

I would go to thanfiction's tumblr itself, but I don't want to give it traffic. Besides, I doubt anything there would be honest anyway.

Re: That SPN LARPing event

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, it was cancelled following PSAs detailing why it was probably not a good idea to give thanfiction a bunch of money and then hang out in the woods with him.

(frozen comment)

[(Anonymous)]

https://www.gofundme.com/vtqsunxg found this today. Not sure what type of surgery he needs, hopefully it's not something made up.

(frozen comment)

[(Anonymous)]

One of the people who donated commented: "I know it's not much, but i hope this helps. Everyone deserves to feel at home in their own skin! You've got this, and we're got your back!"
This kind of feels more like a transitioning thing than like a ~heart condition~, so my instinct here, in the absence of more information, is to stop digging.

(frozen comment) Goal met

[(Anonymous)]

Update: Andrew spoke with the doctor, who had two dates available to him, sometime in the summer when he would be unable to because of an internship and March 8th. He began posting frantically, saying that he needed the money to pay for it in a few hours time. His parents have just purchased a new house and would be unable to help him. He posted that Meg attempted to take out a loan on his behalf, but she didn't have the credit. He added that even if he met the goal on gofundme, that he wouldn't receive the money in time.

Sometime after that, he announced that someone was loaning him the money to pay for it and that he was on his way to pick it up, and that he would be raising money via gofundme to pay this person back.

My question, for any anons who know more about this stuff: is it hard to find surgeons who perform this surgery? If the only option was a date that was impossible, couldn't he have sought another surgeon? That is honestly what seems a little off about all this to me. He was well on the way to getting the money through crowdfunding, so the fact that someone also paid him in cash for it, given his history, seems so strange. But I'm personally not familiar with how the medical system works for people who are trans, so my concern could be unwarranted.

(frozen comment) Re: Goal met

[anonymod]

Do you folks mind taking discussion of this to the Gloves Off post and posting a link to it here? I think it's important to have a space where people can keep tabs on this as it develops, given Andy's past sketchy fundraising past and love of using personal issues (real or invented) to manipulate, but I also think this is a very fine line that is already pretty fraught and would prefer to not have to moderate it.

Here's the main Gloves Off post, feel free to post a link here to the specific subthread so interested anons can find it: http://tf-talk.dreamwidth.org/1245.html

Discussion of Andy's fundraising has moved! (link here)

[anonymod]

Reposting this so it's visible and clickable, with a thanks to the anon who made the new subthread -

Discussion about Andy's recent fundraising can be found in Gloves Off, over here: http://tf-talk.dreamwidth.org/1245.html?thread=871645#cmt871645

Note that the Gloves Off post is NOT a free-for-all and will still be modded for slurs, namecalling, doxxing and trolling. But fair warning that it will not be moderated for discussion of issues some find triggering (trans issues, mental illness, etc.) and that if you choose to participate there, you do so at your own risk.

I have frozen the other 2 threads in this post about this, but you're welcome to repost those comments there to discuss, link to them, whatever.

Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

http://watchfulnonny.tumblr.com/post/141663737032/breadcrumbs-bucky-and-cosplay

Andy might be "channeling" again.

[(Anonymous)]

If this is for real, then he's a far bigger idiot than I thought. Which is completely possible. I really thought he knew better than to try harvesting the soil he salted himself again, but if he wants to be idolized and other techniques aren't working then I guess it's plausible he'd dust off this old standby.

A Distant Soil

[(Anonymous)]

Does anyone have a transcript of Colleen Doran's posts on TF?

Re: A Distant Soil

[(Anonymous)]

I have one of them ("Amy Player is Andrew Blake, and an even bigger conning slimeball than Rob Granito", updated 10/5/11). It's mainly a rehash of things that Turimel and others have posted. At the time, it was helpful in that a big name in sci-fi/fantasy was talking about Andy and drawing attention to the sketchiness going on with IAP. In the comments, Doran also went into a bit of detail about the Williamsburg area that debunked Andy's claims of rural isolation.

The problem is that the post and comments contained several inaccuracies that Andy has used to his advantage over the years, as well as a lot of unhelpful cissexism and a little insulting language about the other IAP hikers. I'm not sure how useful the post is at this point, except as a curiosity.

Regarding Channeling

[(Anonymous)]

This is like a drug to Andy. I really believe he needs this like most people need a caffeine fix. If you consider his history, the timing really is very deliberate, and fits perfectly with his love of "hiding things in plain sight." Right now, everyone is paying attention to his surgery and GoFundMe, so he probably thinks now is a good time to try this on a new fandom. It's been said many times that he might go for MCU, and Bucky is tailor made for his usual shenanigans. I really believe he is addicted to these behaviors. When it eventually blows up, and it will, he could even potentially blame it all on post surgery medication. I hope I'm wrong about this, but I don't think so. The only way to limit the damage is to keep people informed as this unfolds, and hope someone listens. Keep up the good work Awareness Bloggers!

Re: Regarding Channeling

[(Anonymous)]

I think he's faking. Not faking the channeling, but faking that he's going to try it again. That way, when he pulls out of it and 'overcomes his delusions' it will appear that he's really trying and so desperately doesn't want to hurt people anymore.

It's possible CFC knows this, and that's why she's laying low despite the disturbing signs.

Apropos of nothing...

[(Anonymous)]

I just read Andy's liveblog of Winjennster's fic "Cooking With Gas" and...what a fucking douchebag.

http://andythanfiction.tumblr.com/tagged/cooking+with+gas

It's full of condescension and insults thinly disguised as compliments, and self-aggrandizement and gender essentialism disguised as SJ enlightenment. Classic Andrew Blake, really.

Re: Apropos of nothing...

[(Anonymous)]

I remember when he posted is review of Cooking With Gas--a fic I never read by an author I don't know--and it INFURIATED me. I mean, I was utterly appalled that he would call Winjennster a friend, state that he was doing this precisely because he was her friend, and write something so ugly. I remember thinking that the pour author must have been so fucking humiliated and upset to have *that* all over Tumblr--but she continued to be his friend for months after that.

He's so fucking gross.

does anyone else pity this dude?

[(Anonymous)]

I've been reading this unbelievable saga for a while now, and I'm wondering if anyone else feels sorry for this dude. I've never had any contact with him except for reading a few of his meta post (I thought they were ok when it was just a fan talking about a show he liked, if maybe a little too proud of being a dude in fandom).

But to see that this grown adult has spent like half his life underachieving and failing in real life, possibly faking or exaggerating mental illnesses to excuse his failures and his abuse, all the while pretending to be extraordinary fictional characters? Not even characters he came up with, but characters he cribbed from other people. I love fanfic, but I think that if I ever wanted to creepily roleplay some badass to the point of convincing vulnerable people that it's "true", I'd at least create my own original characters.

Reading stories about the stuff he says gives me severe secondhand embarrassment. It's truly deeply pathetic. Andythanfiction, if you lurk in this com, you're a sad cockroach to anyone outside the smalls circles of people you manage to manipulate.

To I suppose that to someone like him, fooling even a small number of people feels like titanic accomplishment.

Re: does anyone else pity this dude?

[(Anonymous)]

I don't pity abusers. I think he's pathetic, but I don't pity him or feel sorry for him. He's a self-proclaimed rapist.

So, Andy has "watchers" again. Remember when he promised that would never happen again?

[(Anonymous)]

From here:

http://watchfulnonny.tumblr.com/post/141726632212/yesterday-andrew-responded-to-my-post-well-he

I... stay in close contact with several friends to help discuss choices and remind myself they ARE choices and this is fiction.

If you need people to remind you that you're writing fanfiction, not receiving actual memories or tapping into some alternate dimension, your grasp on reality is already tenuous and slipping.

Let's stroll down memory lane, shall we?

http://andythanfiction.tumblr.com/post/86490759067/do-you-really-have-a-cult-like-that-tumblr-post

Constants and Watchers
What I did then - When I was receiving messages from other dimensions or channeling spirits/characters, I often had extended blackouts or periods of memory loss. Rather than taking this as the massive fucking warning sign it was, I recruited friends to act as aids. One of them had to be with me at all times, practically 24/7/365 in case I “had a knock” and they were responsible for supervising the episode and then letting me know exactly what happened.

Why it was wrong - I basically turned completely untrained friends into the full time care team for a dangerously unstable hallucinating individual. “Others” could be violent, distraught, disoriented, and were almost completely unpredictable, sometimes putting my friends into dangerous, stressful, and just plain uncomfortable situations that they felt fully responsible for not only managing, but hiding from those who didn’t know “what I was” and reporting back to me when it ended minutes…or hours…or days later.

What I’m doing differently - Thank pharmaceuticals this doesn’t happen any more. If it did, however, I understand that it is under no circumstances something that is in any way right to put on laymen…especially if they think it’s real! Therefore I’ve made sure that my friends know if I start acting strangely or don’t seem to think I’m myself, they need to just keep me safe long enough to get ahold of my parents and/or call for professional help, NOT supervise it, guide it, or make friends with it.

So now, we have Andy's inner circle essentially supervising him to make sure he doesn't cross the line into psychosis while roleplaying. The fact that he even considers this a possibility, and still persists in this activity, is highly irresponsible to say the least. (FYI, I don't believe Andy's ever lost touch with reality the way he claims, nor do I believe he is a diagnosed Schizophrenic.) But let's entertain that possibility and say he is.

Are these people psychiatrists? Are they trained to identify the signs and symptoms of mental illness? I'm guessing not. So once again, you have lay people supervising Andy to make sure he doesn't get in trouble or descend into a full-blown psychotic episode.

All this while he's having "spooky experiences", doesn't "know how I know what I know", and his "brain has a very difficult time separating what it generates from what is experiences."

http://watchfulnonny.tumblr.com/post/141663737032/breadcrumbs-bucky-and-cosplay

I mean sure, he says he must have read it somewhere, but if he truly accepted that, then he would know how he "knew" it. There'd be no reason to think there was anything spooky or eerie going on, particularly something as mundane as "remembering" the flavours of cheese, tomato and pepper. Anyone reading this right now can probably imagine those flavours or their combination.

But don't worry, CFC (the one who blamed Abbey for not realizing Andy was "mentally ill") is on the case:

http://watchfulnonny.tumblr.com/post/141663737032/breadcrumbs-bucky-and-cosplay

Andy: "I'm also super relieved and grateful to have you specifically on my facebook... you better than anyone else would recognize the signs if I was sliding"

Someone remind me if CFC bought into the DAYD cult or not. Apparently she remembers JFK being president, which is "funny" because he died before she was born. It's not like we live in a culture saturated with documentaries, films, and all sorts of media about JFK's presidency anything. These people have very woo-ish ideas about the nature memory.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Woo

Re: So, Andy has "watchers" again. Remember when he promised that would never happen again?

[(Anonymous)]

Formatting fail. Whoops. Most of that shouldn't be italicized.

Quick Captain American link round-up

[(Anonymous)]

Uh, not sure if this is the right place for it; if so, I apologize for it. But since it looks like Blake's gotten into Captain America, I figured I'd pull up some links to show how he's been getting involved since 2012, when Avengers came out.

First thing I can find is him requesting specifically Avengers commissions, and then there's July 2012, when he did this Captain America sketch, which tracerthanfiction later mocked: http://thanfiction.deviantart.com/art/All-American-316222713

Then he starts pulling his bullshit, "Oh, my grandfather's veteran friend is interested in talking about Steve Rogers and sexuality," stuff: http://andythanfiction.tumblr.com/post/34401905714/there-was-no-sex-ed-almost-nobody-got-the

In December, he drew this picture and wrote this "letter" to Tiny Princess Captain America: http://thanfiction.deviantart.com/art/Tiny-Princess-Captain-America-341289184 On tumblr, he specifically asks the parents of Tiny Princess Captain America to bring it to her. http://andythanfiction.tumblr.com/post/35626567200/because-i-know-how-things-in-massively-popular

Two years ago, you have this: http://andythanfiction.tumblr.com/post/82537232755/i-guarantee-you-one-of-the-many-reasons-steve-was (The tags are, "this post is brought to you by I had my first cigarette at age 10, and would give my fucking right arm to James Buchanan Bucky Barnes in approximately 0.000000001 seconds to have one now.") Has juvenile smoking been part of Andy's narrative before?

And then you have him going around making an MCU roleplay blog in 2015: http://kumquatwriter.tumblr.com/post/115759785673/i-am-a-pretty-popular-stevebucky-writer-and-i

Along the way, he made cracks about crossovers between Supernatural and Avengers--with posts about Steve and Castiel talking, Thor having Sam Winchester's hairdresser, and so on. http://andythanfiction.tumblr.com/post/36131795188 and http://andythanfiction.tumblr.com/post/67545563750

So yeah, pretty sure he's been doing this for a while.

Re: Quick Captain American link round-up

[(Anonymous)]

SA

Oh, and a stream of anon love on tumblr, pretending to be various Avengers. http://andythanfiction.tumblr.com/post/74368251731/best-anon-series-ever Because that's not a shitty thing to do with someone claiming to have trouble differentiating fiction and reality AT ALL. (If Blake didn't send it to himself that is.)

So I met Thatfucker

[(Anonymous)]

I met Andy recently through one of his friends. I didn't know much about him at the time but tumblr turned up a whooooole bunch of stuff when I went to his page. And here I am.

People who have met Andy in real life: do you find he has a really strange affect? Like a kind of false friendliness? There's something about him that creeped me out even before I knew his whole history. Like, he'll stare really intently into your eyes and smile and then try to emote sincerity and interest in a way that just... I don't know, it's off.

I'm so sorry to everyone he's hurt. I'm glad you've managed to put your lives back together and I wish you the best.

Re: So I met Thatfucker

[(Anonymous)]

Never met him in person, but I don't need to in order to know what you mean. For those who haven't had the displeasure, here's some shining examples of Andy attempting to emote and failing:

https://sendvid.com/q71q02vx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYbxPB1bxb0 - Particularly 2:45 to the end.

[(Anonymous)]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/609042205878395/permalink/984830108299601/

I find this pretty unnerving for reasons I can't articulate. Link is to a photoset of Andrew cosplaying Bucky at what looks like some kind of children's event at a Barnes and Noble.

[(Anonymous)]

A chronic abuser is engaging in an activity (pretending to be a fictional character) that he used to lure in his victims, and he's doing it in the presence of children, whose parents have no flipping idea who he is.

Andy also has a history of being creepy around kids, and weird about childhood in general. Not in a sexual way, but in the sense that he uses them to manipulate his victims. See for example:

-The creepy "Ocean" audio that Andy had a friend make about his trip to the beach with one of Brittany's relatives (I believe, correct me if I'm wrong). Why? Who knows.

-Andy getting WJ's son to say he was gay, which apparently wasn't true, so he could call WJ a shit mother when she didn't believe it.

-Andy claiming Abbey stole His Son, A Sparrow, who was retconned into a human child called "Connor", I believe.

-Every one of Andy's weird, pseudo-infantile others that say shit like "Kookie Bookie" and speak absolutely nothing like an actual child.

-Andy's offensive, obviously bullshit story about a black child thinking Nick Fury was "the Avenger's pimp".

On The History of Superhero Channeling

[(Anonymous)]

Hey all, it's KumquatWriter here. I wanted to ask if y'all think it's relevant that the "third act" of my life with him was all about superheros. They were pseudo X men with mutant powers, but he had a genetic explanation - one that conveniently also served to create a handy "sorting" system for pretty much everyone on earth. I don't know anything about the current superhero franchises - I've only seen the original X-men trilogy. So I don't know if it's something that would still be relevant to what he's doing. I may write a full post of it if it's something that could tie in to his current hunting grounds. I don't want to put myself back in his - or his followers' - cross hairs yet again (though I accept that it's pretty much inevitable even if I don't talk).

Is it worth going deeper into his original (as far as I know) dive into superheroes?

Thanks,
KQ

Re: On The History of Superhero Channeling

[(Anonymous)]

I think it could be relevant, if you're up to it KQ!

Just gonna leave this here...

[(Anonymous)]

Andy posted this on his Facebook recently, and it really creeped me out. Watch out fellow con goers..."The final version of this Winter Soldier hand is washable and waterproof, has full dexterity, and is very smooth, with ridges at regular intervals along the fingers. This has brought me to hypothesis that would likely not be impossible to test at con, but definitely mean I'm going to the special hell."

Re: Just gonna leave this here...

[(Anonymous)]

Isn't the "special hell" as originated in Firefly for child molesters and people who take sexual advantage of others?

Links

[(Anonymous)]

Does anyone know where I can find the Google doc that had all the links to various discussions and threads about Andy? Also is there any way to search for old threads on fail_fandomanon to find any discussions about Andy? (I haven't checked FFA since this place opened and was wondering if he still got mentioned there or if everyone who was interested in talking about him just emigrated here after the ban.)

Re: Links

[(Anonymous)]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dfiOupqs49qkRHW6vlztspCH7Q4Kp8ZX6wB-xRWCu6U/pub

[(Anonymous)]

I just spotted an appearance by Andy on a radio show blog when he was at AwesomeCon last year. It's in the Pit: http://tf-talk.dreamwidth.org/600.html?thread=954712#cmt954712

As usual, Andy built himself up while denigrating other cosplayers: "There are a million Jon Snows and you can’t throw a rock at a convention without hitting a Daenerys." There are quite a few people who've done Viserys, too, and I've seen the crowned version done better. But just keep telling yourself what a special snowflake you are, Andy.

I have good reason to be confident that Andy won't get anywhere with well-known, established costume shops, but I worry that he'll get involved with a group that's newer to the scene and end up fucking them over like he has everyone else in his life.

[(Anonymous)]

I’m going back to school, re-careering

And what, pray tell, was his first career? I mean, aside from living parasitically off his friends and family.

[(Anonymous)]

So some changes at web archive today allowed me to browse the thanfiction deleted lj, which is usually blocked by robots.txt.

And there are some gems. Gonna be sticking them in the pit, but here's one about Andy's grandfather. You know, this one, who was born Missouri Valley, IA and lived in the US all his life:

http://www.bucktroutfuneralhome.net/obituary/william-chambers/

His other grandfather passed away in 1989 and would have been in no position to rave about Obama.

Keep in mind Andy kept up his story about Oirish grandpa even after he claimed to be fully medicated and lucid, so he cannot claim it was just another delusion.

Without further ado:

https://web.archive.org/web/20090806014602/http://thanfiction.livejournal.com/255395.html?

I wish, I really wish that I could offer a recording of this, but I will have to do the best I can at re-assembling it from notes and memory. Oh, but my grandfather is blessed with the Irish tongue…this is what happened when he went up before the judge.

“I’d ask you, your honor, if you fancy that it means anything to most of the folk what come by your courtroom? The flag, and the whole bit with the Bible and the oath at the start. I’m thinking not, and sad it makes me, and all the more so that it truly seems there’s a push by those who’re supposed to be most for the law to make it so. Since first they took me in, all I’ve been hearing on all sides is how I can get out of what I done. Me age, me health, that I were angry, that I’d started a new medicine, pleading me out of me head, this and that and fine load of malarkey. For it seems it’s fair assumed that the object of this game – and ain’t treated like justice, ‘tis treated too much like a game – is to get out with the least punishing possible, whether you did or what you did or why you did be damned. Lawyer’ll grease you up slippery’s an eel in an oil well and put your hand on the Bible, sir, for need not pray t’Jesus get you out when there’s loopholes plenty by man.

I’ll have none of it, and that don’t make me mad or senile, it makes me a man who don’t have to have no shame with his hand on the Bible, and a man who knows better than the most of you what you’re taking for granted from that flag in the corner.

Now, true it is that as I’m getting along in years, oh, I miss Eire. Most times I’d trade happily enough for the green, white, and gold, and all the better if it stood for all it should, Union Jack be rolled tight and use to bugger Cromwell’s ghost, if you pardon me. But when I’m in a courtroom, I want be seeing the stars and stripes.

It’s something you take for granted, but when I shot off that gun, I weren’t arrested because I were Irish, because I were Catholic, because of what I believe or whether I kneel when I pray or whether me neighbor likes me face and I’ve bribed enough this week to the Peelers. I were arrested because I bloody discharged a damned firearm fourteen sodding times in vicinity of a residence and sent eight squirrels to justify their worthless hides to their maker besides. Aye, and I did hit the copper. Don’t like coppers, were mad at the squirrels. But don’t liking someone ain’t never been no excuse for assault before the law, and being mad ain’t never justified anything ‘cept shooting the bastard cuckolding you. I did wrong, I did it in me right head, and there’s should be the end of it.

If this country’ll do me the honor to not do me an injustice because of me age, me creed, me color, or me faith, then I’d fair owe it the same respect to not try none of the same to wiggle me way out. All men are created equal here, and when as fallible sinners we wrong that, we’ve means and will and way here to right it again. No niggers, dogs, or Irish they once said. Hoping I am that Obama and Biden got copies of one of those in the White House now. One for the dog, too.

All men created equal, judged by what we do not who we are. That’s what I’m asking for, your honor. Not to be pitied, not to be exempted, but to be judged, as judge you are, for what I did. I’m standing front of the stars and stripes, sir, to what I’m assuming you’ve made your own oath, and I’m demanding me rights no matter how many people try to talk me out of it.”

He was given firearms classes, 90 days minus time served, two years probation, and a round of applause

Really, Thanfiction? "And then there was applause?" Pffft.

Notable comments:

clearly you come by it honestly.

[info]thanfiction
No question where I get the crimson and gold.
~

That was just... wow. Your grandfather sounds like an amazing person. I can't tell you how awesome it is to know that there are people out there who are that honest.

And you definitely do come by it honestly.

[info]thanfiction
Well, I don't know about that ;) "Keep by your word, don't cheat at cards or women, and the rest, ah, 'tis between ya and the angels.

Found a pic of Andy's grandfather.

[(Anonymous)]

http://i.imgur.com/SjaSB61.jpg