Never Know by Primary 1 feat. Harry Tuttle
The latter is not to be confused with the debonair freedom fighting freelance heating engineer played by Robert DeNiro in 1985’s Brazil.
I saw the Never Know music video set in the desert (and/or sand dunes?) in early 2010’s and digged it, but cannot find it anywhere! Calling all sleuths to dig it for the greater good.

Hello! Here we are again, back for another ATLA commentary.
Before we get started I do want to point out that I’m numbering and labeling episodes according to how they appear on Netflix. Episode 12, as I understand it, is actually two episodes. However, since they’re presented as one thing here, that’s how I’m watching it.
Brief update on other projects: I thought I’d try watching the first Harry Potter movie, but realized it’s two and a half hours long. That’s, at the bare minimum, five hours of commentary writing. So… yeah, we’re gonna hold off on that lol I’m also considering watching a superhero/comic book show called The Boys, because I accidentally caught part of a trailer for it that my girlfriend was watching and it looks very interesting. I’ll be doing the new Game of Thrones commentary next, not sure when exactly.
Okay, let’s go!
Episode 12- The Secret of the Fire Nation

1. Well that’s a heck of a title! I hope we learn something juicy!

It’s nice to see Aang and Katara bending for fun, thought I’m surprised Aang is so willing to encase himself in a block of ice. You’d think he’d have some trauma from that lol But also, I love Katara’s hair when she lets it down.
Yeah… I’m kind of surprised Aang is taking Appa’s loss as well as he is, considering how he reacted last episode. Since Sokka is talking about walking to Ba Sing Se, I take it they’re not going to be spending time looking for him? But then, didn’t the sandbenders say they sold him to a merchant from Ba Sing Se? Maybe he’s there, and Aang’s banking on that hope.

1. I know I keep applying real-world logic to a cartoon show, but wouldn’t Ba Sing Se get awfully crowded if they’re constantly taking in refugees from the rest of the Earth Kingdom? Iroh put the city under siege for almost two years. What if the Fire Nation does that again? More mouths to feed makes starvation quicker!

Iroh and Zuko are refugees. I still can’t get over that irony lol Hey, it’s Jet! My goodness, he’s onscreen for less than ten seconds and he’s already planning a robbery. He and Zuko are going to get along just fine, aren’t they?
The cabbage merchant! Always a delight to see him and his cabbages! Also hilarious that a bunch of people are impersonating Aang (thought it probably would be less hilarious if any of them met Azula). If passports are necessary, how did Zuko and Iroh get tickets? Also, good on Toph for taking advantage of her privilege lol
Hey! I think that’s Suki! Her eyes are drawn really distinctively and her voice sounds familiar! Two seconds after pressing play: it is Suki! Don’t you just love my long winning streak of figuring things out right before they let us know? Lol

1. Glad to see ATLA Suki appreciates Sokka’s muscles just as much as NATLA Suki lol

Someone took the pregnant family’s tickets and belongings. Is that how Zuko and Iroh got their tickets? Zuko’s robbed families before, so I wouldn’t put it past him.
Well damn, Suki got her armor and makeup on real quick, didn’t she? Hm… Sokka’s worried about her. I think Suki’s going to interpret that as him being sexist again but he’s probably traumatized from losing Yue. He’s been through way too much to still be sexist. If he still had a misogynistic bone in his body, Toph would have beaten it out of him by now.

1. Well the Serpent’s Pass looks terrifying. Also, this pregnant lady took one look at some scratched graffiti saying “Abandon Hope” and immediately started crying, saying “How can we abandon hope? It’s all we have!” Like… come on, lady lol Just because you see graffiti telling you to do something doesn’t mean you have to, otherwise I would have called quite a few people for a good time by now.

Hope is a distraction, huh? I guess I can see the logic of that from a practical application perspective. But it’s kind of a depressing philosophy for a monk to have.
Holy shit! Nope, I would not be walking along a cliff path that narrow! I will build a rowboat and paddle my way to Ba Sing Se.
Toph is really carrying the team (and some refugees too) this episode.

1. There’s a fine line between being protective and being smothering and Sokka has hopped, jumped, and skipped right over it.

Zuko’s not wearing his blue spirit mask. Not that he needs it, he and Jet work together like cogs in a machine. Ironic lol
Ow! Geez, that rejected hug hurt me lol Katara’s right though. Bottling up emotions just makes them worse in the long run. You have to allow yourself to feel bad sometimes. Granted, you can’t fly off the handle like he did last episode, but that’s a reaction. You can control your reactions, but you can’t control your feelings.
“It’s a beautiful moon.” “Yeah, it really is.” Okay, I know Sokka said last episode that Yue is the moon, but he was tripping on peyote. Does he actually believe that Yue is the moon now? Is Yue the moon now? I interpreted her death as he sacrificing herself to bring the moon spirit back to life, not to become the new moon spirit.
“Who is this guy? Is he taller than me?” Dude, we were having a moment. Damn it, just kiss her! Well actually, the moon’s right there so if Yue really did turn into the new moon spirit, it might be a tad awkward to kiss in front of her. But what’s he gonna do, only ever show intimacy during the day?

1. Um… I’m probably reading too much into this Smellerbee scene with Iroh and Longshot and I’m almost hesitant to say what I’m thinking because I can just imagine the backlash I could get for voicing it. And it’s not like ATLA has had great LGBTQ representation up to this point, so… Yeah, I’m probably just seeing things that aren’t there.

You know, I’ve never really cared a lot about Jet as a character (in fact, I’m kind of surprised to see him again. I figured he’d be a one-off character) but I am really enjoying his scenes with Zuko and Iroh. They have so much in common, which is probably the point of this whole juxtaposition. If he only knew who they really were lol
Of course Iroh believes in second chances. He’s the best. And also, he’s living proof that some people deserve a second chance.

1. Uh… Katara parting the sea while leading refugees to safety invokes a certain comparison, doesn’t it? But can I just say that I love how her solution to crossing the gap is to literally walk through the ocean instead of making a raft out of ice and floating across. She just never misses an opportunity to flex on everyone, does she? Lol

Momo continuing his pattern of trying to kill every small animal he sees is something I’ve come to treasure.
Is that the unagi?! I think that’s what it’s called/spelled but I haven’t seen that episode in a while. It would be fitting if Suki and the sea serpent both share the same episodes lol No that’s not the unagi. It’s a different color. Um… what exactly was Sokka planning to do if the sea serpent actually accepted his offer and ate Momo? Considering how he reacted to losing Appa, I don’t think Aang would be too happy with him.
Oh, now she’s making an ice bridge. Not as much of a flex as maintaining an air bubble so they plumb the depths but it is faster. Oh, Toph can’t see on ice. And she can’t swim? An earthbender not being able to swim feels like a stereotype for some reason, even though I have absolutely no reason to think that lol
“You can go ahead and let me drown now.” That’s gonna be a favorite joke of mine, I just know it lol And I’m pretty sure this is probably a jumping point for a Sokka/Toph ship. What does the community call that? Soph? Tokka? (How old is Toph, anyway? Probably Aang’s age, right? That’s… probably not an appropriate ship then)

1. Why does Ba Sing Se’s wall remind me of The Wall from Game of Thrones? Obviously not made of ice though lol

Okay, time for ATLA’s viewers to experience the miracle of childbirth!

1. Like I said earlier, ATLA isn’t heavy on the LGBTQ representation, but I swear I’m picking up on some tension and chemistry between Jet and Zuko (Juko? Jeko? Zet?). And now half of Jet’s little group is an LGBTQ allegory for me lol Even the dialogue between Jet and Zuko in this scene is slightly suggestive.

So… can Katara waterbend the baby out or…
Baby Hope, eh? Probably not a super common name in this world.
Oh? Was that Aang’s way of telling Katara he loves her without actually saying it? Aww. And hey, he’s heading off on his own to search for Appa. Which… honestly kind of feels like he should have been doing that this whole time lol
Yes! Get some, Sokka! Wait, nevermind. I fucking hate that line. Ugh No! I’m not gonna be a bitter old lady on this watch-through! They’re kissing and it’s very sweet and I love that for them!
Um… there’s a giant metal dildo on the way to penetrate Ba Sing Se! Lol but seriously, how technologically advanced is the Fire Nation? A giant mobile drill of that scale would be a marvel of engineering even by our modern standards.

1. Well hey, there’s the title card letting me know when the next episode starts.

Woah, the way the drill moves is so cool! I’m legitimately wondering if such a thing would actually be possible in our world with our physics. I don’t know why we would want to, but still. And of course Azula’s leading this attack. She gets all the best opportunities. And she’s smart too! The war minister guy is dismissive of the earthbenders, believing his drill to be impervious to earthbending attacks. You can practically smell the hubris. But Azula leaves nothing to chance and she sends her girls out to neutralize any potential threat.
And this is why we love Azula. She’s not just a scary villain, she’s a competent villain.

1. And the Earth Kingdom general shares the War Minister’s hubris. Why are the people in charge always the worst people to be in charge? Also, I love that Toph is the one to point out that Iroh broke through the wall.

So the Earth Kingdom’s elite Terra Team force were taken out by two teenage nonbenders from the Fire Nation in about twenty seconds. How have they lasted this long? Lol (I say two, but let’s be honest. Ty Lee’s doing the heavy lifting here)
Yes! I love that they acknowledge Sokka as the “Idea Guy”!
Iroh has got rizz for days lol I’m kind of surprised he only ever had one son. Jet wants to recruit Zuko. I’m totally down for that! They’re such an interesting pair!

1. I really love that Katara, whose probably the best waterbender in the world at this point, respects Ty Lee enough to recognize how dangerous she is. And Sokka had an idea! They’re going to take down the drill from the inside. Because how the hell else are they going to stop something that big?

Again with the underestimation! I swear Azula’s the only competent person in the entire Fire Nation military since Iroh retired.
Okay, engineer Sokka figured it out. It’s all a little too easy, isn’t it?

1. Ah shit, Jet just realized the truth, because Iroh used firebending to heat up his tea lol I think he’s getting a little too relaxed.

Okay, just the fact that they slice through metal with water at all is pretty impressive. And the drill has reached the wall, and Azula still doesn’t look impressed.
Oh yeah, I guess this is a pretty high stakes battle for them, huh? If they lose Ba Sing Se, they basically lose the entire Earth Kingdom, right? Omashu’s already fallen, the smaller villages and whatnot have no real defense. Ba Sing Se is the last big puzzle piece to world domination (aside from the water tribes, but they’re so isolated they’re not really a threat).
I love that Toph’s nickname for Aang is Twinkle Toes. Also I laughed at the War Minister’s face when he was side-eyeing Azula just then. +That’s the face of a man who’s about to be punished!

1. lol Sokka’s the only one with more rizz than Iroh! Maybe a legitimate battle strategy here would be to woo Ty Lee into switching sides? Aside from Azula she seems to be the most dangerous one. No offense to Mai, but she is kind of the odd woman out here.

Oh please let me get Aang and Azula 1v1! I really badly want to see how he fares against her without everyone else helping him. He’ll probably have to use the Avatar State to defeat her.
Ty Lee dives into the slurry after Katara and Sokka while Mai refuses. Yeah, Mai is the weak link here in Ozai’s Angels (I love that name, by the way).

1. Did Aang seriously think the general was going to hear him from that high up? Lol Toph’s helping Katara bend the slurry (how convenient that it’s both water and earth!). Ty Lee’s still trapped in it and the drill is about to blow. If I hadn’t learned my lesson on the last post, I’d probably be worried she might die in the explosion. But this is a kid’s show, she’ll be fine.

Here we go! Aang vs Azula! Her fighting style is so elegant. Every move she makes feels on purpose, if that makes sense. Like, whenever Aang fought Zuko, Zhao, or NPC firebenders their style is a little more chaotic and fearsome and rawr, you know? But Azula’s totally calm. Everything she’s doing feels calculated, and it’s working! If she hadn’t had to dodge that boulder after blasting Aang back she might have been able to deliver a finishing blow!
She beat him! He’s unconscious! Okay, well not anymore lol See… that right there was hubris (actually, it was kid’s show writing but whatever)! He was out for like fifteen seconds. She should have roasted him where he lay instead of picking him up and gloating.
Another fight with Azula ends in a draw with neither one beating the other! I’m starting to get a little peeved with all this edging lol but that was great! Azula is an absolute beast!

1. Okay, the way Aang hammered that rock spike into the drill was pretty epic. Mai’s “We lost” (and thank you for your contribution to the fight, Mai lol) is interesting. It’s true, they did lose. Not in the combat sense, Aang couldn’t beat Azula, but he didn’t have to. He just had to hold her off. Maybe that’s kind of a metaphor for the Fire Nation military in general. It’s very powerful, but it’s also marred by incompetence and weaknesses. Many of its generals are prideful and blind to their own weaknesses, or just outright incompetent. Look at this fight: even Mai just kind of gave up halfway through. If Ty Lee wasn’t trapped in the slurry, she might very well have been able to beat Katara, Sokka, and Toph, especially since they don’t Appa this time to bail them out. And if Mai had been with her, she might have been to break Katara’s concentration with a thrown weapon, thus freeing Ty Lee from the slurry.

I wondered how the Earth Kingdom lasted so long and maybe that’s just it. They can’t beat the Fire Nation, but they don’t have to. They just have to hold them off and the Fire Nation’s own shortcomings will end up beating themselves. It’s a hundred year stalemate.

1. Looks like Jet’s going to be causing a problem for Iroh and Zuko. I wonder if his relationship with them is what’s going to finally let him realize that not all Fire Nation people are inherently evil?

Hey, that’s Baby Hope! And Iroh gets to fawn over her too and I love that for him. You know, if Aang defeats the Fire Nation in a timely manner, Hope might actually get to grow up in a world at peace. Well, kind of. I’m sure there’s going to be massive issues with racism from generations of propaganda painting the other side as inhuman, huge demands for reparations, not to mention the territories the Fire Nation currently occupies. It’s been so long that there must be at least two generations of Fire Nation citizens who were born in and grew up in the Earth Kingdom, and I’m sure there’s been interbreeding with the Earth Kingdom people, because that’s what always happens with colonizers. Once they become established, genocide is pretty much the only way to get rid of them, and I doubt the Avatar is going to allow that.
So Hope’s probably going to grow up in pretty interesting times!
Um… is Ba Sing Se a city or is it a little walled country? Cuz all I see are farms and plains!
Katara, I love you, but you’re wrong. Team Avatar is going to catch on because it’s awesome, and that’s that.
Episode 13- City of Walls and Secrets

1. Oh, there’s an inner wall. So Ba Sing Se is kind of like the country in Attack on Titan! Oh yeah, in all of the excitement I almost forgot about Appa. Seriously, how many episodes has he been missing now? Damn, now that’s a city!

Yeah… something’s up with Joo Dee.
Walls inside that help maintain order? You mean walls that protect the rich and elite from the dirty poors? Lol Oh, Katara just confirmed it. They pen up all the poor people into a walled ghetto.

1. lol when Iroh’s talking about someone bringing home a lady friend, does he mean himself? Or Zuko? It is really interesting how their views of Ba Sing Se differ though. Iroh’s talking about getting a home, socializing, building a life, and he’s even found them jobs! Zuko sees the same situation as a prison.

Well, I’m glad Jet’s turning over a new leaf by letting the authorities handle things. Too bad I don’t trust the authorities to be any better.
Toph knows what’s up. Joo Dee is purposefully brushing Sokka off and distracting the group. I’m not sure why at the moment, but something is clearly up.

1. Of course they’re going to work in a tea shop! Lol Zuko’s right btw, all tea is hot leaf juice. Well, except for the teas that are hot root juice.

The cultural authority of Ba Sing Se, who guard their traditions and are called the Dai Li. Yeah… maybe it’s my conservative religious upbringing but when I hear about people “guarding their traditions” I immediately think of abuse, propaganda, and oppression. Generally people who are obsessed with traditions tend to be conservatives, who by their very nature cannot allow progress or improvement.
Someone important is trying to keep them under constant surveillance and prevent them from seeing the Earth King. In NATLA, there were spies in Omashu. Since Ba Sing Se is much bigger and more important, I imagine it’s riddled with Fire Nation spies as well, and somebody high ranking might be a traitor.

1. Joo Dee is kind of scary lol and clearly the citizens are terrified of her. But what’s interesting to me is that she’s preventing them from giving information about Appa, which suggests that whoever is stopping them from seeing the Earth King also has Appa. But why? What would be the point of keeping Aang away from Appa? Is it to restrict his mobility and make him easier to capture?

So people aren’t allowed to talk about the war, and the Dai Li seem to be responsible. But why? If everyone knows there’s a war going on anyway, why keep people from talking about it?
It’s lucky that Iroh borrowed his neighbor’s spark rocks, but why would he refrain from firebending in what he assumes is privacy? Unless he knows he’s being watched.

1. Huh, is the king’s pet bear the first normal animal on the show? Lol I am digging this undercover plan though.

I love that this show lets its characters try on different looks from time to time, even if they are mostly the same outfits. Katara and Toph’s high society get-ups are gorgeous!
The lost boys- I mean, freedom fighters are turning on Peter Pa- I mean, Jet. The weird thing is… he’s right! They are firebenders! But his behavior still isn’t healthy!

1. Okay, let’s go! Jet’s hurling accusations and attacking them in public! And now Zuko’s fighting back with swords. It’s the duel of the dual-wielders! Honestly, this is probably good for Zuko. He needs to blow off some steam after everything he’s been through.

Well how about that? Security at the palace is actually competent and Toph can’t bluff her way in.
This Long Feng guy is cultural minister to the king, which means he’s probably the bad guy! And also we haven’t met any other high ranking government officials with names, so he’s currently the only option lol

1. Geez, Zuko straight up intended to decapitate Jet right there. If Jet were a little slower, he would have! Man, I hope they do this fight scene in NATLA.

Uh-oh, scary lady Joo Dee is the scared one now. But can I just say how much I like her facial expressions?
Yeah… can’t blame them for arresting Jet. He did look like a crazy person.
The Dai Li’s specific brand of earthbending is very cool! It almost doesn’t seem like bending at all, if that makes sense. The stones they use are like a part of their own body. And of course Long Feng is their leader.
Okay I get the king is just a puppet and Long Feng is the real rule of the country, but I still don’t understand why he doesn’t allow mention of the war in the city. I mean, it’s common knowledge! A significant portion of their population are literally refugees fleeing war! Who doesn’t know
Oh… is it the king? Does the king just not know there’s a war happening and Long Feng keeps it from him so he can stay in charge? I mean, that’s still a stretch but it would explain why he doesn’t want Team Avatar talking to the king.

1. Jet is being hypnotized. Also, I do want to point out that I have seen “There is no (whatever) in Ba Sing Se” many times in the wild lol it’s nice to see where it comes from!

Ah… Long Feng is holding Appa as leverage over Aang.
I didn’t think Joo Dee could be any scarier but here we are! This episode almost has horror movie vibes.
Concluding thoughts: This was a fantastic couple/throuple of episodes! I loved seeing Suki again, and I really enjoyed how the refugee subplot ties so perfectly in with Iroh and Zuko. The whole drill sequence was probably the best “action” the show has had thus far and that’s saying something. It’s also nice to have my suspicions that the Earth Kingdom has its own corruption problems and bad guys confirmed.
I have a new theory to replace my “Iroh’s going to die theory”. They’ve been showing us all season how Zuko isn’t really cut out for life on the run, whereas Iroh embraces it. I think they’re driving to a separation between Zuko and Iroh. He may not have died, but narratively speaking Zuko and Iroh have to part ways permanently or semi-permanently for his character to grow. Iroh has been propping him up and supporting him this whole time, now it’s time for Zuko to leave the nest and become his own person.
My new theory is that Iroh will enjoy his new life in Ba Sing Se so much that he elects to stay there permanently, whereas Zuko is too restless to do so. He can’t go back to the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom will not accept him, so his only choice is to join Team Avatar, where he will likely end up teaching Aang firebending.
And to expand further on a previous theory of mine, which was: Azula will kill or depose Ozai. I’ve accepted at this point that death is off the table. Kid’s show and all that. But I noticed something… lots of people were quick to say that Azula would never kill Ozai. But not one person has said she wouldn’t depose him in those refutations (unless I’m misremembering but I don’t think I am). Since you all know not to hint at things or spoil them, I think your eagerness to point out that she won’t kill Ozai is an attempt to mislead me into thinking the whole theory is wrong so I’ll be surprised when she ends up deposing (not killing) him. I mean, I could be wrong but I have a strong feeling that the final villain is going to be Fire Lord Azula, with Ozai in exile somewhere (that would be fitting! The man who banishes his own son ends up being banished himself!).
Maybe that will even be the conclusion of Zuko’s arc! While Aang goes off to save the world from Azula, Zuko splits up to confront Ozai himself! Where we are in the show right now, it really does feel like Azula is Aang’s primary antagonist whereas Ozai is Zuko’s primary antagonist.
By the way, from here on out, no confirming or denying my theories either way, okay? Let it unfold naturally, and let me figure things out on my own. I mean, where’s the fun in just giving me the answers?
And also, some of you could be a little nicer with your criticisms. I had to block someone last time I posted and I don’t want to do that anymore. It’s fine to disagree with me, it’s fine to explain why you disagree with me. Hell, most of you do! I don’t mind that, I like that we all have different views of things even if I don’t agree. It makes things interesting! But don’t talk down to me, don’t use belittling language, don’t be disrespectful. Whenever I don’t like something about ATLA (or like something about NATLA) some of you seem to take it as a personal insult or something.
Just be polite, that’s all I ask.
Okay, I’ll see you same time next week probably!

Hello! Here we are again, back for another ATLA commentary.
Before we get started I do want to point out that I’m numbering and labeling episodes according to how they appear on Netflix. Episode 12, as I understand it, is actually two episodes. However, since they’re presented as one thing here, that’s how I’m watching it.
Brief update on other projects: I thought I’d try watching the first Harry Potter movie, but realized it’s two and a half hours long. That’s, at the bare minimum, five hours of commentary writing. So… yeah, we’re gonna hold off on that lol I’m also considering watching a superhero/comic book show called The Boys, because I accidentally caught part of a trailer for it that my girlfriend was watching and it looks very interesting. I’ll be doing the new Game of Thrones commentary next, not sure when exactly.
Okay, let’s go!
Episode 12- The Secret of the Fire Nation

1. Well that’s a heck of a title! I hope we learn something juicy!

It’s nice to see Aang and Katara bending for fun, thought I’m surprised Aang is so willing to encase himself in a block of ice. You’d think he’d have some trauma from that lol But also, I love Katara’s hair when she lets it down.
Yeah… I’m kind of surprised Aang is taking Appa’s loss as well as he is, considering how he reacted last episode. Since Sokka is talking about walking to Ba Sing Se, I take it they’re not going to be spending time looking for him? But then, didn’t the sandbenders say they sold him to a merchant from Ba Sing Se? Maybe he’s there, and Aang’s banking on that hope.

1. I know I keep applying real-world logic to a cartoon show, but wouldn’t Ba Sing Se get awfully crowded if they’re constantly taking in refugees from the rest of the Earth Kingdom? Iroh put the city under siege for almost two years. What if the Fire Nation does that again? More mouths to feed makes starvation quicker!

Iroh and Zuko are refugees. I still can’t get over that irony lol Hey, it’s Jet! My goodness, he’s onscreen for less than ten seconds and he’s already planning a robbery. He and Zuko are going to get along just fine, aren’t they?
The cabbage merchant! Always a delight to see him and his cabbages! Also hilarious that a bunch of people are impersonating Aang (thought it probably would be less hilarious if any of them met Azula). If passports are necessary, how did Zuko and Iroh get tickets? Also, good on Toph for taking advantage of her privilege lol
Hey! I think that’s Suki! Her eyes are drawn really distinctively and her voice sounds familiar! Two seconds after pressing play: it is Suki! Don’t you just love my long winning streak of figuring things out right before they let us know? Lol

1. Glad to see ATLA Suki appreciates Sokka’s muscles just as much as NATLA Suki lol

Someone took the pregnant family’s tickets and belongings. Is that how Zuko and Iroh got their tickets? Zuko’s robbed families before, so I wouldn’t put it past him.
Well damn, Suki got her armor and makeup on real quick, didn’t she? Hm… Sokka’s worried about her. I think Suki’s going to interpret that as him being sexist again but he’s probably traumatized from losing Yue. He’s been through way too much to still be sexist. If he still had a misogynistic bone in his body, Toph would have beaten it out of him by now.

1. Well the Serpent’s Pass looks terrifying. Also, this pregnant lady took one look at some scratched graffiti saying “Abandon Hope” and immediately started crying, saying “How can we abandon hope? It’s all we have!” Like… come on, lady lol Just because you see graffiti telling you to do something doesn’t mean you have to, otherwise I would have called quite a few people for a good time by now.

Hope is a distraction, huh? I guess I can see the logic of that from a practical application perspective. But it’s kind of a depressing philosophy for a monk to have.
Holy shit! Nope, I would not be walking along a cliff path that narrow! I will build a rowboat and paddle my way to Ba Sing Se.
Toph is really carrying the team (and some refugees too) this episode.

1. There’s a fine line between being protective and being smothering and Sokka has hopped, jumped, and skipped right over it.

Zuko’s not wearing his blue spirit mask. Not that he needs it, he and Jet work together like cogs in a machine. Ironic lol
Ow! Geez, that rejected hug hurt me lol Katara’s right though. Bottling up emotions just makes them worse in the long run. You have to allow yourself to feel bad sometimes. Granted, you can’t fly off the handle like he did last episode, but that’s a reaction. You can control your reactions, but you can’t control your feelings.
“It’s a beautiful moon.” “Yeah, it really is.” Okay, I know Sokka said last episode that Yue is the moon, but he was tripping on peyote. Does he actually believe that Yue is the moon now? Is Yue the moon now? I interpreted her death as he sacrificing herself to bring the moon spirit back to life, not to become the new moon spirit.
“Who is this guy? Is he taller than me?” Dude, we were having a moment. Damn it, just kiss her! Well actually, the moon’s right there so if Yue really did turn into the new moon spirit, it might be a tad awkward to kiss in front of her. But what’s he gonna do, only ever show intimacy during the day?

1. Um… I’m probably reading too much into this Smellerbee scene with Iroh and Longshot and I’m almost hesitant to say what I’m thinking because I can just imagine the backlash I could get for voicing it. And it’s not like ATLA has had great LGBTQ representation up to this point, so… Yeah, I’m probably just seeing things that aren’t there.

You know, I’ve never really cared a lot about Jet as a character (in fact, I’m kind of surprised to see him again. I figured he’d be a one-off character) but I am really enjoying his scenes with Zuko and Iroh. They have so much in common, which is probably the point of this whole juxtaposition. If he only knew who they really were lol
Of course Iroh believes in second chances. He’s the best. And also, he’s living proof that some people deserve a second chance.

1. Uh… Katara parting the sea while leading refugees to safety invokes a certain comparison, doesn’t it? But can I just say that I love how her solution to crossing the gap is to literally walk through the ocean instead of making a raft out of ice and floating across. She just never misses an opportunity to flex on everyone, does she? Lol

Momo continuing his pattern of trying to kill every small animal he sees is something I’ve come to treasure.
Is that the unagi?! I think that’s what it’s called/spelled but I haven’t seen that episode in a while. It would be fitting if Suki and the sea serpent both share the same episodes lol No that’s not the unagi. It’s a different color. Um… what exactly was Sokka planning to do if the sea serpent actually accepted his offer and ate Momo? Considering how he reacted to losing Appa, I don’t think Aang would be too happy with him.
Oh, now she’s making an ice bridge. Not as much of a flex as maintaining an air bubble so they plumb the depths but it is faster. Oh, Toph can’t see on ice. And she can’t swim? An earthbender not being able to swim feels like a stereotype for some reason, even though I have absolutely no reason to think that lol
“You can go ahead and let me drown now.” That’s gonna be a favorite joke of mine, I just know it lol And I’m pretty sure this is probably a jumping point for a Sokka/Toph ship. What does the community call that? Soph? Tokka? (How old is Toph, anyway? Probably Aang’s age, right? That’s… probably not an appropriate ship then)

1. Why does Ba Sing Se’s wall remind me of The Wall from Game of Thrones? Obviously not made of ice though lol

Okay, time for ATLA’s viewers to experience the miracle of childbirth!

1. Like I said earlier, ATLA isn’t heavy on the LGBTQ representation, but I swear I’m picking up on some tension and chemistry between Jet and Zuko (Juko? Jeko? Zet?). And now half of Jet’s little group is an LGBTQ allegory for me lol Even the dialogue between Jet and Zuko in this scene is slightly suggestive.

So… can Katara waterbend the baby out or…
Baby Hope, eh? Probably not a super common name in this world.
Oh? Was that Aang’s way of telling Katara he loves her without actually saying it? Aww. And hey, he’s heading off on his own to search for Appa. Which… honestly kind of feels like he should have been doing that this whole time lol
Yes! Get some, Sokka! Wait, nevermind. I fucking hate that line. Ugh No! I’m not gonna be a bitter old lady on this watch-through! They’re kissing and it’s very sweet and I love that for them!
Um… there’s a giant metal dildo on the way to penetrate Ba Sing Se! Lol but seriously, how technologically advanced is the Fire Nation? A giant mobile drill of that scale would be a marvel of engineering even by our modern standards.

1. Well hey, there’s the title card letting me know when the next episode starts.

Woah, the way the drill moves is so cool! I’m legitimately wondering if such a thing would actually be possible in our world with our physics. I don’t know why we would want to, but still. And of course Azula’s leading this attack. She gets all the best opportunities. And she’s smart too! The war minister guy is dismissive of the earthbenders, believing his drill to be impervious to earthbending attacks. You can practically smell the hubris. But Azula leaves nothing to chance and she sends her girls out to neutralize any potential threat.
And this is why we love Azula. She’s not just a scary villain, she’s a competent villain.

1. And the Earth Kingdom general shares the War Minister’s hubris. Why are the people in charge always the worst people to be in charge? Also, I love that Toph is the one to point out that Iroh broke through the wall.

So the Earth Kingdom’s elite Terra Team force were taken out by two teenage nonbenders from the Fire Nation in about twenty seconds. How have they lasted this long? Lol (I say two, but let’s be honest. Ty Lee’s doing the heavy lifting here)
Yes! I love that they acknowledge Sokka as the “Idea Guy”!
Iroh has got rizz for days lol I’m kind of surprised he only ever had one son. Jet wants to recruit Zuko. I’m totally down for that! They’re such an interesting pair!

1. I really love that Katara, whose probably the best waterbender in the world at this point, respects Ty Lee enough to recognize how dangerous she is. And Sokka had an idea! They’re going to take down the drill from the inside. Because how the hell else are they going to stop something that big?

Again with the underestimation! I swear Azula’s the only competent person in the entire Fire Nation military since Iroh retired.
Okay, engineer Sokka figured it out. It’s all a little too easy, isn’t it?

1. Ah shit, Jet just realized the truth, because Iroh used firebending to heat up his tea lol I think he’s getting a little too relaxed.

Okay, just the fact that they slice through metal with water at all is pretty impressive. And the drill has reached the wall, and Azula still doesn’t look impressed.
Oh yeah, I guess this is a pretty high stakes battle for them, huh? If they lose Ba Sing Se, they basically lose the entire Earth Kingdom, right? Omashu’s already fallen, the smaller villages and whatnot have no real defense. Ba Sing Se is the last big puzzle piece to world domination (aside from the water tribes, but they’re so isolated they’re not really a threat).
I love that Toph’s nickname for Aang is Twinkle Toes. Also I laughed at the War Minister’s face when he was side-eyeing Azula just then. +That’s the face of a man who’s about to be punished!

1. lol Sokka’s the only one with more rizz than Iroh! Maybe a legitimate battle strategy here would be to woo Ty Lee into switching sides? Aside from Azula she seems to be the most dangerous one. No offense to Mai, but she is kind of the odd woman out here.

Oh please let me get Aang and Azula 1v1! I really badly want to see how he fares against her without everyone else helping him. He’ll probably have to use the Avatar State to defeat her.
Ty Lee dives into the slurry after Katara and Sokka while Mai refuses. Yeah, Mai is the weak link here in Ozai’s Angels (I love that name, by the way).

1. Did Aang seriously think the general was going to hear him from that high up? Lol Toph’s helping Katara bend the slurry (how convenient that it’s both water and earth!). Ty Lee’s still trapped in it and the drill is about to blow. If I hadn’t learned my lesson on the last post, I’d probably be worried she might die in the explosion. But this is a kid’s show, she’ll be fine.

Here we go! Aang vs Azula! Her fighting style is so elegant. Every move she makes feels on purpose, if that makes sense. Like, whenever Aang fought Zuko, Zhao, or NPC firebenders their style is a little more chaotic and fearsome and rawr, you know? But Azula’s totally calm. Everything she’s doing feels calculated, and it’s working! If she hadn’t had to dodge that boulder after blasting Aang back she might have been able to deliver a finishing blow!
She beat him! He’s unconscious! Okay, well not anymore lol See… that right there was hubris (actually, it was kid’s show writing but whatever)! He was out for like fifteen seconds. She should have roasted him where he lay instead of picking him up and gloating.
Another fight with Azula ends in a draw with neither one beating the other! I’m starting to get a little peeved with all this edging lol but that was great! Azula is an absolute beast!

1. Okay, the way Aang hammered that rock spike into the drill was pretty epic. Mai’s “We lost” (and thank you for your contribution to the fight, Mai lol) is interesting. It’s true, they did lose. Not in the combat sense, Aang couldn’t beat Azula, but he didn’t have to. He just had to hold her off. Maybe that’s kind of a metaphor for the Fire Nation military in general. It’s very powerful, but it’s also marred by incompetence and weaknesses. Many of its generals are prideful and blind to their own weaknesses, or just outright incompetent. Look at this fight: even Mai just kind of gave up halfway through. If Ty Lee wasn’t trapped in the slurry, she might very well have been able to beat Katara, Sokka, and Toph, especially since they don’t Appa this time to bail them out. And if Mai had been with her, she might have been to break Katara’s concentration with a thrown weapon, thus freeing Ty Lee from the slurry.

I wondered how the Earth Kingdom lasted so long and maybe that’s just it. They can’t beat the Fire Nation, but they don’t have to. They just have to hold them off and the Fire Nation’s own shortcomings will end up beating themselves. It’s a hundred year stalemate.

1. Looks like Jet’s going to be causing a problem for Iroh and Zuko. I wonder if his relationship with them is what’s going to finally let him realize that not all Fire Nation people are inherently evil?

Hey, that’s Baby Hope! And Iroh gets to fawn over her too and I love that for him. You know, if Aang defeats the Fire Nation in a timely manner, Hope might actually get to grow up in a world at peace. Well, kind of. I’m sure there’s going to be massive issues with racism from generations of propaganda painting the other side as inhuman, huge demands for reparations, not to mention the territories the Fire Nation currently occupies. It’s been so long that there must be at least two generations of Fire Nation citizens who were born in and grew up in the Earth Kingdom, and I’m sure there’s been interbreeding with the Earth Kingdom people, because that’s what always happens with colonizers. Once they become established, genocide is pretty much the only way to get rid of them, and I doubt the Avatar is going to allow that.
So Hope’s probably going to grow up in pretty interesting times!
Um… is Ba Sing Se a city or is it a little walled country? Cuz all I see are farms and plains!
Katara, I love you, but you’re wrong. Team Avatar is going to catch on because it’s awesome, and that’s that.
Episode 13- City of Walls and Secrets

1. Oh, there’s an inner wall. So Ba Sing Se is kind of like the country in Attack on Titan! Oh yeah, in all of the excitement I almost forgot about Appa. Seriously, how many episodes has he been missing now? Damn, now that’s a city!

Yeah… something’s up with Joo Dee.
Walls inside that help maintain order? You mean walls that protect the rich and elite from the dirty poors? Lol Oh, Katara just confirmed it. They pen up all the poor people into a walled ghetto.

1. lol when Iroh’s talking about someone bringing home a lady friend, does he mean himself? Or Zuko? It is really interesting how their views of Ba Sing Se differ though. Iroh’s talking about getting a home, socializing, building a life, and he’s even found them jobs! Zuko sees the same situation as a prison.

Well, I’m glad Jet’s turning over a new leaf by letting the authorities handle things. Too bad I don’t trust the authorities to be any better.
Toph knows what’s up. Joo Dee is purposefully brushing Sokka off and distracting the group. I’m not sure why at the moment, but something is clearly up.

1. Of course they’re going to work in a tea shop! Lol Zuko’s right btw, all tea is hot leaf juice. Well, except for the teas that are hot root juice.

The cultural authority of Ba Sing Se, who guard their traditions and are called the Dai Li. Yeah… maybe it’s my conservative religious upbringing but when I hear about people “guarding their traditions” I immediately think of abuse, propaganda, and oppression. Generally people who are obsessed with traditions tend to be conservatives, who by their very nature cannot allow progress or improvement.
Someone important is trying to keep them under constant surveillance and prevent them from seeing the Earth King. In NATLA, there were spies in Omashu. Since Ba Sing Se is much bigger and more important, I imagine it’s riddled with Fire Nation spies as well, and somebody high ranking might be a traitor.

1. Joo Dee is kind of scary lol and clearly the citizens are terrified of her. But what’s interesting to me is that she’s preventing them from giving information about Appa, which suggests that whoever is stopping them from seeing the Earth King also has Appa. But why? What would be the point of keeping Aang away from Appa? Is it to restrict his mobility and make him easier to capture?

So people aren’t allowed to talk about the war, and the Dai Li seem to be responsible. But why? If everyone knows there’s a war going on anyway, why keep people from talking about it?
It’s lucky that Iroh borrowed his neighbor’s spark rocks, but why would he refrain from firebending in what he assumes is privacy? Unless he knows he’s being watched.

1. Huh, is the king’s pet bear the first normal animal on the show? Lol I am digging this undercover plan though.

I love that this show lets its characters try on different looks from time to time, even if they are mostly the same outfits. Katara and Toph’s high society get-ups are gorgeous!
The lost boys- I mean, freedom fighters are turning on Peter Pa- I mean, Jet. The weird thing is… he’s right! They are firebenders! But his behavior still isn’t healthy!

1. Okay, let’s go! Jet’s hurling accusations and attacking them in public! And now Zuko’s fighting back with swords. It’s the duel of the dual-wielders! Honestly, this is probably good for Zuko. He needs to blow off some steam after everything he’s been through.

Well how about that? Security at the palace is actually competent and Toph can’t bluff her way in.
This Long Feng guy is cultural minister to the king, which means he’s probably the bad guy! And also we haven’t met any other high ranking government officials with names, so he’s currently the only option lol

1. Geez, Zuko straight up intended to decapitate Jet right there. If Jet were a little slower, he would have! Man, I hope they do this fight scene in NATLA.

Uh-oh, scary lady Joo Dee is the scared one now. But can I just say how much I like her facial expressions?
Yeah… can’t blame them for arresting Jet. He did look like a crazy person.
The Dai Li’s specific brand of earthbending is very cool! It almost doesn’t seem like bending at all, if that makes sense. The stones they use are like a part of their own body. And of course Long Feng is their leader.
Okay I get the king is just a puppet and Long Feng is the real rule of the country, but I still don’t understand why he doesn’t allow mention of the war in the city. I mean, it’s common knowledge! A significant portion of their population are literally refugees fleeing war! Who doesn’t know
Oh… is it the king? Does the king just not know there’s a war happening and Long Feng keeps it from him so he can stay in charge? I mean, that’s still a stretch but it would explain why he doesn’t want Team Avatar talking to the king.

1. Jet is being hypnotized. Also, I do want to point out that I have seen “There is no (whatever) in Ba Sing Se” many times in the wild lol it’s nice to see where it comes from!

Ah… Long Feng is holding Appa as leverage over Aang.
I didn’t think Joo Dee could be any scarier but here we are! This episode almost has horror movie vibes.
Concluding thoughts: This was a fantastic couple/throuple of episodes! I loved seeing Suki again, and I really enjoyed how the refugee subplot ties so perfectly in with Iroh and Zuko. The whole drill sequence was probably the best “action” the show has had thus far and that’s saying something. It’s also nice to have my suspicions that the Earth Kingdom has its own corruption problems and bad guys confirmed.
I have a new theory to replace my “Iroh’s going to die theory”. They’ve been showing us all season how Zuko isn’t really cut out for life on the run, whereas Iroh embraces it. I think they’re driving to a separation between Zuko and Iroh. He may not have died, but narratively speaking Zuko and Iroh have to part ways permanently or semi-permanently for his character to grow. Iroh has been propping him up and supporting him this whole time, now it’s time for Zuko to leave the nest and become his own person.
My new theory is that Iroh will enjoy his new life in Ba Sing Se so much that he elects to stay there permanently, whereas Zuko is too restless to do so. He can’t go back to the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom will not accept him, so his only choice is to join Team Avatar, where he will likely end up teaching Aang firebending.
And to expand further on a previous theory of mine, which was: Azula will kill or depose Ozai. I’ve accepted at this point that death is off the table. Kid’s show and all that. But I noticed something… lots of people were quick to say that Azula would never kill Ozai. But not one person has said she wouldn’t depose him in those refutations (unless I’m misremembering but I don’t think I am). Since you all know not to hint at things or spoil them, I think your eagerness to point out that she won’t kill Ozai is an attempt to mislead me into thinking the whole theory is wrong so I’ll be surprised when she ends up deposing (not killing) him. I mean, I could be wrong but I have a strong feeling that the final villain is going to be Fire Lord Azula, with Ozai in exile somewhere (that would be fitting! The man who banishes his own son ends up being banished himself!).
Maybe that will even be the conclusion of Zuko’s arc! While Aang goes off to save the world from Azula, Zuko splits up to confront Ozai himself! Where we are in the show right now, it really does feel like Azula is Aang’s primary antagonist whereas Ozai is Zuko’s primary antagonist.
By the way, from here on out, no confirming or denying my theories either way, okay? Let it unfold naturally, and let me figure things out on my own. I mean, where’s the fun in just giving me the answers?
And also, some of you could be a little nicer with your criticisms. I had to block someone last time I posted and I don’t want to do that anymore. It’s fine to disagree with me, it’s fine to explain why you disagree with me. Hell, most of you do! I don’t mind that, I like that we all have different views of things even if I don’t agree. It makes things interesting! But don’t talk down to me, don’t use belittling language, don’t be disrespectful. Whenever I don’t like something about ATLA (or like something about NATLA) some of you seem to take it as a personal insult or something.
Just be polite, that’s all I ask.
Okay, I’ll see you same time next week probably!

This past week in Disclosure:

May 6 – Rep. Grothman reveals he hasn't been approached regarding plans for an upcoming hearing on UAP/USOs
Rep. Glenn Grothman – Chair, House Oversight National Security, the Border, & Foreign Affairs Subcommittee – seemed to be unaware of Rep. Luna/Burchett's intention to host a public hearing on UAP (with a specific focus on USO, i.e. Unidentified Submerged Objects).

May 7 – HASC Chair Mike Rogers denies gutting the Schumer-Rounds UAP amendment
Speaking with Askapol, Rep. Rogers (who some commentators blamed for the watering down of the UAP amendment language in late 2023) denied these allegations.

May 9 – the Hill publishes an article covering Senatorial interest in the UAP topic
An opinion piece on the Hill covers the efforts various top Senators have made to investigate purported UAP crash retrieval/reverse engineering programs since 2011.
The Senators include former fighter pilot and famed astronaut John Glenn (D-Ohio); Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who observed a UFO as a World War II pilot; Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), then-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.); Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.).
May 9 – Rep. Burchett indicates plenty of work on the UAP topic is still going on behind the scenes
In a post from James Fox, Rep. Burchett confirmed that "we will be having some more [UAP-related] hearings, and we will be getting some more stuff out".
May 10 – Ross Coulthart indicates the ICIG investigation into David Grusch is still ongoing
In his most recent podcast appearance, Ross Coulthart claims an active ICIG investigation into David Grusch's UAP-related allegations is still underway. Some of Grusch's "informant base" have allegedly recently been questioned by the IC Inspector General.
May 11 – AARO confirms it has yet to receive information on ‘Drone’ incursions over Langley Air Force Base
As covered in the latest article from the Liberation Times, a spokesman from AARO (the Pentagon's UFO office) stated that the office "has not yet received a report or any information on this incident."
The incident in question involved mysterious 'drone' swarms that harangued Langley Air Force Base throughout December 2023.

None of the incursions appeared to exhibit hostile intent but anything flying in our restricted airspace can pose a threat to flight safety. The FAA was made aware of the UAS incursions."

Things to look out for in the near future:

May

• According to Senator Gillibrand – a public hearing in line with AARO's latest report can be expected soon, saying –"I'll probably have another hearing aligned with that public report.”

Beyond/currently unknown

• Following the UAP hearing on the 26th of July, Members of Congress have called for a select committee with subpoena authority, to “go about the task of collecting information from the Pentagon and elsewhere” on unidentified flying objects. There have been conflicting messages from various Members of Congress on whether this is likely to happen anytime soon. Note – a select subcommittee was formally requested on March 13th.
• Reps. Moskowitz, Luna, and Burchett have repeatedly stated their intent to hold field hearings to overcome stonewalling from the Pentagon and military establishment"I think we [Congress] should try to get into one of these places [housing UAP evidence]...and if they won't let us in I think we should have a field hearing right outside the building...and the military will have to explain why that is." – Rep. Moskowitz (D)It is currently unknown when exactly we might expect that to occur, however as of Jan 12 – Rep. Luna confirmed:"I feel confident that we have enough evidence to move forward with our first field hearing. . We will be announcing details soon."
• Several journalists have indicated that first-hand witnesses of the alleged UAP legacy programs are in the process of providing testimony/evidence to the relevant authorities (e.g. the IC IG) and/or are on the verge of making public statements in the near future (Example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4)
• David Grusch has received additional clearances through DOPSR to discuss some of his (alleged) first-hand knowledge of Legacy programs. He has mentioned he may be covering more of this information in an upcoming Op-Ed
• Some commentators have speculated that the architects of the UAPDA (e.g. Sens. SchumeRounds et al) are working diligently behind the scenes to continue furthering serious legislative UAP transparency efforts

Skimmed through this post but need a quick refresher on how we got to this point? Check out this handy Disclosure Timeline to get up to speed.

This past week in Disclosure:

May 6 – Rep. Grothman reveals he hasn't been approached regarding plans for an upcoming hearing on UAP/USOs
Rep. Glenn Grothman – Chair, House Oversight National Security, the Border, & Foreign Affairs Subcommittee – seemed to be unaware of Rep. Luna/Burchett's intention to host a public hearing on UAP (with a specific focus on USO, i.e. Unidentified Submerged Objects).

May 7 – HASC Chair Mike Rogers denies gutting the Schumer-Rounds UAP amendment
Speaking with Askapol, Rep. Rogers (who some commentators blamed for the watering down of the UAP amendment language in late 2023) denied these allegations.

May 9 – the Hill publishes an article covering Senatorial interest in the UAP topic
An opinion piece on the Hill covers the efforts various top Senators have made to investigate purported UAP crash retrieval/reverse engineering programs since 2011.
The Senators include former fighter pilot and famed astronaut John Glenn (D-Ohio); Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who observed a UFO as a World War II pilot; Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), then-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.); Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.).
May 9 – Rep. Burchett indicates plenty of work on the UAP topic is still going on behind the scenes
In a post from James Fox, Rep. Burchett confirmed that "we will be having some more [UAP-related] hearings, and we will be getting some more stuff out".
May 10 – Ross Coulthart indicates the ICIG investigation into David Grusch is still ongoing
In his most recent podcast appearance, Ross Coulthart claims an active ICIG investigation into David Grusch's UAP-related allegations is still underway. Some of Grusch's "informant base" have allegedly recently been questioned by the IC Inspector General.
May 11 – AARO confirms it has yet to receive information on ‘Drone’ incursions over Langley Air Force Base
As covered in the latest article from the Liberation Times, a spokesman from AARO (the Pentagon's UFO office) stated that the office "has not yet received a report or any information on this incident."
The incident in question involved mysterious 'drone' swarms that harangued Langley Air Force Base throughout December 2023.

None of the incursions appeared to exhibit hostile intent but anything flying in our restricted airspace can pose a threat to flight safety. The FAA was made aware of the UAS incursions."

Things to look out for in the near future:

May

• According to Senator Gillibrand – a public hearing in line with AARO's latest report can be expected soon, saying –"I'll probably have another hearing aligned with that public report.”

Beyond/currently unknown

• Following the UAP hearing on the 26th of July, Members of Congress have called for a select committee with subpoena authority, to “go about the task of collecting information from the Pentagon and elsewhere” on unidentified flying objects. There have been conflicting messages from various Members of Congress on whether this is likely to happen anytime soon. Note – a select subcommittee was formally requested on March 13th.
• Reps. Moskowitz, Luna, and Burchett have repeatedly stated their intent to hold field hearings to overcome stonewalling from the Pentagon and military establishment"I think we [Congress] should try to get into one of these places [housing UAP evidence]...and if they won't let us in I think we should have a field hearing right outside the building...and the military will have to explain why that is." – Rep. Moskowitz (D)It is currently unknown when exactly we might expect that to occur, however as of Jan 12 – Rep. Luna confirmed:"I feel confident that we have enough evidence to move forward with our first field hearing. . We will be announcing details soon."
• Several journalists have indicated that first-hand witnesses of the alleged UAP legacy programs are in the process of providing testimony/evidence to the relevant authorities (e.g. the IC IG) and/or are on the verge of making public statements in the near future (Example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4)
• David Grusch has received additional clearances through DOPSR to discuss some of his (alleged) first-hand knowledge of Legacy programs. He has mentioned he may be covering more of this information in an upcoming Op-Ed
• Some commentators have speculated that the architects of the UAPDA (e.g. Sens. SchumeRounds et al) are working diligently behind the scenes to continue furthering serious legislative UAP transparency efforts

This past week in Disclosure:

May 6 – Rep. Grothman reveals he hasn't been approached regarding plans for an upcoming hearing on UAP/USOs
Rep. Glenn Grothman – Chair, House Oversight National Security, the Border, & Foreign Affairs Subcommittee – seemed to be unaware of Rep. Luna/Burchett's intention to host a public hearing on UAP (with a specific focus on USO, i.e. Unidentified Submerged Objects).

May 7 – HASC Chair Mike Rogers denies gutting the Schumer-Rounds UAP amendment
Speaking with Askapol, Rep. Rogers (who some commentators blamed for the watering down of the UAP amendment language in late 2023) denied these allegations.

May 9 – the Hill publishes an article covering Senatorial interest in the UAP topic
An opinion piece on the Hill covers the efforts various top Senators have made to investigate purported UAP crash retrieval/reverse engineering programs since 2011.
The Senators include former fighter pilot and famed astronaut John Glenn (D-Ohio); Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who observed a UFO as a World War II pilot; Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), then-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.); Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.).
May 9 – Rep. Burchett indicates plenty of work on the UAP topic is still going on behind the scenes
In a post from James Fox, Rep. Burchett confirmed that "we will be having some more [UAP-related] hearings, and we will be getting some more stuff out".
May 10 – Ross Coulthart indicates the ICIG investigation into David Grusch is still ongoing
In his most recent podcast appearance, Ross Coulthart claims an active ICIG investigation into David Grusch's UAP-related allegations is still underway. Some of Grusch's "informant base" have allegedly recently been questioned by the IC Inspector General.
May 11 – AARO confirms it has yet to receive information on ‘Drone’ incursions over Langley Air Force Base
As covered in the latest article from the Liberation Times, a spokesman from AARO (the Pentagon's UFO office) stated that the office "has not yet received a report or any information on this incident."
The incident in question involved mysterious 'drone' swarms that harangued Langley Air Force Base throughout December 2023.

None of the incursions appeared to exhibit hostile intent but anything flying in our restricted airspace can pose a threat to flight safety. The FAA was made aware of the UAS incursions."

Things to look out for in the near future:

May

• According to Senator Gillibrand – a public hearing in line with AARO's latest report can be expected soon, saying –"I'll probably have another hearing aligned with that public report.”

Beyond/currently unknown

• Following the UAP hearing on the 26th of July, Members of Congress have called for a select committee with subpoena authority, to “go about the task of collecting information from the Pentagon and elsewhere” on unidentified flying objects. There have been conflicting messages from various Members of Congress on whether this is likely to happen anytime soon. Note – a select subcommittee was formally requested on March 13th.
• Reps. Moskowitz, Luna, and Burchett have repeatedly stated their intent to hold field hearings to overcome stonewalling from the Pentagon and military establishment"I think we [Congress] should try to get into one of these places [housing UAP evidence]...and if they won't let us in I think we should have a field hearing right outside the building...and the military will have to explain why that is." – Rep. Moskowitz (D)It is currently unknown when exactly we might expect that to occur, however as of Jan 12 – Rep. Luna confirmed:"I feel confident that we have enough evidence to move forward with our first field hearing. . We will be announcing details soon."
• Several journalists have indicated that first-hand witnesses of the alleged UAP legacy programs are in the process of providing testimony/evidence to the relevant authorities (e.g. the IC IG) and/or are on the verge of making public statements in the near future (Example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4)
• David Grusch has received additional clearances through DOPSR to discuss some of his (alleged) first-hand knowledge of Legacy programs. He has mentioned he may be covering more of this information in an upcoming Op-Ed
• Some commentators have speculated that the architects of the UAPDA (e.g. Sens. SchumeRounds et al) are working diligently behind the scenes to continue furthering serious legislative UAP transparency efforts

Skimmed through this post but need a quick refresher on how we got to this point? Check out this handy Disclosure Timeline to get up to speed.

This past week in Disclosure:

May 6 – Rep. Grothman reveals he hasn't been approached regarding plans for an upcoming hearing on UAP/USOs
Rep. Glenn Grothman – Chair, House Oversight National Security, the Border, & Foreign Affairs Subcommittee – seemed to be unaware of Rep. Luna/Burchett's intention to host a public hearing on UAP (with a specific focus on USO, i.e. Unidentified Submerged Objects).

May 7 – HASC Chair Mike Rogers denies gutting the Schumer-Rounds UAP amendment
Speaking with Askapol, Rep. Rogers (who some commentators blamed for the watering down of the UAP amendment language in late 2023) denied these allegations.

May 9 – the Hill publishes an article covering Senatorial interest in the UAP topic
An opinion piece on the Hill covers the efforts various top Senators have made to investigate purported UAP crash retrieval/reverse engineering programs since 2011.
The Senators include former fighter pilot and famed astronaut John Glenn (D-Ohio); Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who observed a UFO as a World War II pilot; Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), then-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.); Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.).
May 9 – Rep. Burchett indicates plenty of work on the UAP topic is still going on behind the scenes
In a post from James Fox, Rep. Burchett confirmed that "we will be having some more [UAP-related] hearings, and we will be getting some more stuff out".
May 10 – Ross Coulthart indicates the ICIG investigation into David Grusch is still ongoing
In his most recent podcast appearance, Ross Coulthart claims an active ICIG investigation into David Grusch's UAP-related allegations is still underway. Some of Grusch's "informant base" have allegedly recently been questioned by the IC Inspector General.
May 11 – AARO confirms it has yet to receive information on ‘Drone’ incursions over Langley Air Force Base
As covered in the latest article from the Liberation Times, a spokesman from AARO (the Pentagon's UFO office) stated that the office "has not yet received a report or any information on this incident."
The incident in question involved mysterious 'drone' swarms that harangued Langley Air Force Base throughout December 2023.

None of the incursions appeared to exhibit hostile intent but anything flying in our restricted airspace can pose a threat to flight safety. The FAA was made aware of the UAS incursions."

Things to look out for in the near future:

May

• According to Senator Gillibrand – a public hearing in line with AARO's latest report can be expected soon, saying –"I'll probably have another hearing aligned with that public report.”

Beyond/currently unknown

• Following the UAP hearing on the 26th of July, Members of Congress have called for a select committee with subpoena authority, to “go about the task of collecting information from the Pentagon and elsewhere” on unidentified flying objects. There have been conflicting messages from various Members of Congress on whether this is likely to happen anytime soon. Note – a select subcommittee was formally requested on March 13th.
• Reps. Moskowitz, Luna, and Burchett have repeatedly stated their intent to hold field hearings to overcome stonewalling from the Pentagon and military establishment"I think we [Congress] should try to get into one of these places [housing UAP evidence]...and if they won't let us in I think we should have a field hearing right outside the building...and the military will have to explain why that is." – Rep. Moskowitz (D)It is currently unknown when exactly we might expect that to occur, however as of Jan 12 – Rep. Luna confirmed:"I feel confident that we have enough evidence to move forward with our first field hearing. . We will be announcing details soon."
• Several journalists have indicated that first-hand witnesses of the alleged UAP legacy programs are in the process of providing testimony/evidence to the relevant authorities (e.g. the IC IG) and/or are on the verge of making public statements in the near future (Example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4)
• David Grusch has received additional clearances through DOPSR to discuss some of his (alleged) first-hand knowledge of Legacy programs. He has mentioned he may be covering more of this information in an upcoming Op-Ed
• Some commentators have speculated that the architects of the UAPDA (e.g. Sens. SchumeRounds et al) are working diligently behind the scenes to continue furthering serious legislative UAP transparency efforts

This past week in Disclosure:

May 6 – Rep. Grothman reveals he hasn't been approached regarding plans for an upcoming hearing on UAP/USOs
Rep. Glenn Grothman – Chair, House Oversight National Security, the Border, & Foreign Affairs Subcommittee – seemed to be unaware of Rep. Luna/Burchett's intention to host a public hearing on UAP (with a specific focus on USO, i.e. Unidentified Submerged Objects).

May 7 – HASC Chair Mike Rogers denies gutting the Schumer-Rounds UAP amendment
Speaking with Askapol, Rep. Rogers (who some commentators blamed for the watering down of the UAP amendment language in late 2023) denied these allegations.

May 9 – the Hill publishes an article covering Senatorial interest in the UAP topic
An opinion piece on the Hill covers the efforts various top Senators have made to investigate purported UAP crash retrieval/reverse engineering programs since 2011.
The Senators include former fighter pilot and famed astronaut John Glenn (D-Ohio); Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who observed a UFO as a World War II pilot; Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), then-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.); Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.).
May 9 – Rep. Burchett indicates plenty of work on the UAP topic is still going on behind the scenes
In a post from James Fox, Rep. Burchett confirmed that "we will be having some more [UAP-related] hearings, and we will be getting some more stuff out".
May 10 – Ross Coulthart indicates the ICIG investigation into David Grusch is still ongoing
In his most recent podcast appearance, Ross Coulthart claims an active ICIG investigation into David Grusch's UAP-related allegations is still underway. Some of Grusch's "informant base" have allegedly recently been questioned by the IC Inspector General.
May 11 – AARO confirms it has yet to receive information on ‘Drone’ incursions over Langley Air Force Base
As covered in the latest article from the Liberation Times, a spokesman from AARO (the Pentagon's UFO office) stated that the office "has not yet received a report or any information on this incident."
The incident in question involved mysterious 'drone' swarms that harangued Langley Air Force Base throughout December 2023.

None of the incursions appeared to exhibit hostile intent but anything flying in our restricted airspace can pose a threat to flight safety. The FAA was made aware of the UAS incursions."

Things to look out for in the near future:

May

• According to Senator Gillibrand – a public hearing in line with AARO's latest report can be expected soon, saying –"I'll probably have another hearing aligned with that public report.”

Beyond/currently unknown

• Following the UAP hearing on the 26th of July, Members of Congress have called for a select committee with subpoena authority, to “go about the task of collecting information from the Pentagon and elsewhere” on unidentified flying objects. There have been conflicting messages from various Members of Congress on whether this is likely to happen anytime soon. Note – a select subcommittee was formally requested on March 13th.
• Reps. Moskowitz, Luna, and Burchett have repeatedly stated their intent to hold field hearings to overcome stonewalling from the Pentagon and military establishment"I think we [Congress] should try to get into one of these places [housing UAP evidence]...and if they won't let us in I think we should have a field hearing right outside the building...and the military will have to explain why that is." – Rep. Moskowitz (D)It is currently unknown when exactly we might expect that to occur, however as of Jan 12 – Rep. Luna confirmed:"I feel confident that we have enough evidence to move forward with our first field hearing. . We will be announcing details soon."
• Several journalists have indicated that first-hand witnesses of the alleged UAP legacy programs are in the process of providing testimony/evidence to the relevant authorities (e.g. the IC IG) and/or are on the verge of making public statements in the near future (Example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4)
• David Grusch has received additional clearances through DOPSR to discuss some of his (alleged) first-hand knowledge of Legacy programs. He has mentioned he may be covering more of this information in an upcoming Op-Ed
• Some commentators have speculated that the architects of the UAPDA (e.g. Sens. SchumeRounds et al) are working diligently behind the scenes to continue furthering serious legislative UAP transparency efforts

Skimmed through this post but need a quick refresher on how we got to this point? Check out this handy Disclosure Timeline to get up to speed.

This past week in Disclosure:

May 6 – Rep. Grothman reveals he hasn't been approached regarding plans for an upcoming hearing on UAP/USOs
Rep. Glenn Grothman – Chair, House Oversight National Security, the Border, & Foreign Affairs Subcommittee – seemed to be unaware of Rep. Luna/Burchett's intention to host a public hearing on UAP (with a specific focus on USO, i.e. Unidentified Submerged Objects).

May 7 – HASC Chair Mike Rogers denies gutting the Schumer-Rounds UAP amendment
Speaking with Askapol, Rep. Rogers (who some commentators blamed for the watering down of the UAP amendment language in late 2023) denied these allegations.

May 9 – the Hill publishes an article covering Senatorial interest in the UAP topic
An opinion piece on the Hill covers the efforts various top Senators have made to investigate purported UAP crash retrieval/reverse engineering programs since 2011.
The Senators include former fighter pilot and famed astronaut John Glenn (D-Ohio); Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who observed a UFO as a World War II pilot; Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), then-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.); Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.).
May 9 – Rep. Burchett indicates plenty of work on the UAP topic is still going on behind the scenes
In a post from James Fox, Rep. Burchett confirmed that "we will be having some more [UAP-related] hearings, and we will be getting some more stuff out".
May 10 – Ross Coulthart indicates the ICIG investigation into David Grusch is still ongoing
In his most recent podcast appearance, Ross Coulthart claims an active ICIG investigation into David Grusch's UAP-related allegations is still underway. Some of Grusch's "informant base" have allegedly recently been questioned by the IC Inspector General.
May 11 – AARO confirms it has yet to receive information on ‘Drone’ incursions over Langley Air Force Base
As covered in the latest article from the Liberation Times, a spokesman from AARO (the Pentagon's UFO office) stated that the office "has not yet received a report or any information on this incident."
The incident in question involved mysterious 'drone' swarms that harangued Langley Air Force Base throughout December 2023.

None of the incursions appeared to exhibit hostile intent but anything flying in our restricted airspace can pose a threat to flight safety. The FAA was made aware of the UAS incursions."

Things to look out for in the near future:

May

• According to Senator Gillibrand – a public hearing in line with AARO's latest report can be expected soon, saying –"I'll probably have another hearing aligned with that public report.”

Beyond/currently unknown

• Following the UAP hearing on the 26th of July, Members of Congress have called for a select committee with subpoena authority, to “go about the task of collecting information from the Pentagon and elsewhere” on unidentified flying objects. There have been conflicting messages from various Members of Congress on whether this is likely to happen anytime soon. Note – a select subcommittee was formally requested on March 13th.
• Reps. Moskowitz, Luna, and Burchett have repeatedly stated their intent to hold field hearings to overcome stonewalling from the Pentagon and military establishment"I think we [Congress] should try to get into one of these places [housing UAP evidence]...and if they won't let us in I think we should have a field hearing right outside the building...and the military will have to explain why that is." – Rep. Moskowitz (D)It is currently unknown when exactly we might expect that to occur, however as of Jan 12 – Rep. Luna confirmed:"I feel confident that we have enough evidence to move forward with our first field hearing. . We will be announcing details soon."
• Several journalists have indicated that first-hand witnesses of the alleged UAP legacy programs are in the process of providing testimony/evidence to the relevant authorities (e.g. the IC IG) and/or are on the verge of making public statements in the near future (Example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4)
• David Grusch has received additional clearances through DOPSR to discuss some of his (alleged) first-hand knowledge of Legacy programs. He has mentioned he may be covering more of this information in an upcoming Op-Ed
• Some commentators have speculated that the architects of the UAPDA (e.g. Sens. SchumeRounds et al) are working diligently behind the scenes to continue furthering serious legislative UAP transparency efforts

This past week in Disclosure:

May 6 – Rep. Grothman reveals he hasn't been approached regarding plans for an upcoming hearing on UAP/USOs
Rep. Glenn Grothman – Chair, House Oversight National Security, the Border, & Foreign Affairs Subcommittee – seemed to be unaware of Rep. Luna/Burchett's intention to host a public hearing on UAP (with a specific focus on USO, i.e. Unidentified Submerged Objects).

Matt Laslo: “You know I’m gonna ask about UAPs. So I heard that UAP Caucus, [Reps.] Burchett and Luna, have a former Navy…”
Glenn Grothman: “Have what?”
ML: “Have a Navy pilot they wanna bring in for the open hearing.”
GG: “They haven't talked to me about it.”

May 7 – HASC Chair Mike Rogers denies gutting the Schumer-Rounds UAP amendment
Speaking with Askapol, Rep. Rogers (who some commentators blamed for the watering down of the UAP amendment language in late 2023) denied these allegations.

ML: “Was curious: do you know what happened toChuck Schumer's UAP amendment in the NDAA last year? Was that you who was working on the reforms?”
MR: “No, it wasn't me working on it. I can't remember. I can't remember how it ended up.”
ML: “Was it Turner — Chair Turner?”
MR: “I don't remember. I mean, I just don’t.”

May 9 – the Hill publishes an article covering Senatorial interest in the UAP topic
An opinion piece on the Hill covers the efforts various top Senators have made to investigate purported UAP crash retrieval/reverse engineering programs since 2011.
The Senators include former fighter pilot and famed astronaut John Glenn (D-Ohio); Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who observed a UFO as a World War II pilot; Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), then-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.); Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.).
May 9 – Rep. Burchett indicates plenty of work on the UAP topic is still going on behind the scenes
In a post from James Fox, Rep. Burchett confirmed that "we will be having some more [UAP-related] hearings, and we will be getting some more stuff out".
May 10 – Ross Coulthart indicates the ICIG investigation into David Grusch is still ongoing
In his most recent podcast appearance, Ross Coulthart claims an active ICIG investigation into David Grusch's UAP-related allegations is still underway. Some of Grusch's "informant base" have allegedly recently been questioned by the IC Inspector General.
May 11 – AARO confirms it has yet to receive information on ‘Drone’ incursions over Langley Air Force Base
As covered in the latest article from the Liberation Times, a spokesman from AARO (the Pentagon's UFO office) stated that the office "has not yet received a report or any information on this incident."
The incident in question involved mysterious 'drone' swarms that harangued Langley Air Force Base throughout December 2023.

"The installation first observed UAS [uncrewed aerial systems] activities the evening of December 6 [2023] and experienced multiple incursions throughout the month of December. The number of UASs fluctuated and they ranged in size/configuration.

None of the incursions appeared to exhibit hostile intent but anything flying in our restricted airspace can pose a threat to flight safety. The FAA was made aware of the UAS incursions."

Things to look out for in the near future:

May

• According to Senator Gillibrand – a public hearing in line with AARO's latest report can be expected soon, saying –"I'll probably have another hearing aligned with that public report.”

Beyond/currently unknown

• Following the UAP hearing on the 26th of July, Members of Congress have called for a select committee with subpoena authority, to “go about the task of collecting information from the Pentagon and elsewhere” on unidentified flying objects. There have been conflicting messages from various Members of Congress on whether this is likely to happen anytime soon. Note – a select subcommittee was formally requested on March 13th.
• Reps. Moskowitz, Luna, and Burchett have repeatedly stated their intent to hold field hearings to overcome stonewalling from the Pentagon and military establishment"I think we [Congress] should try to get into one of these places [housing UAP evidence]...and if they won't let us in I think we should have a field hearing right outside the building...and the military will have to explain why that is." – Rep. Moskowitz (D)It is currently unknown when exactly we might expect that to occur, however as of Jan 12 – Rep. Luna confirmed:"I feel confident that we have enough evidence to move forward with our first field hearing. . We will be announcing details soon."
• Several journalists have indicated that first-hand witnesses of the alleged UAP legacy programs are in the process of providing testimony/evidence to the relevant authorities (e.g. the IC IG) and/or are on the verge of making public statements in the near future (Example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4)
• David Grusch has received additional clearances through DOPSR to discuss some of his (alleged) first-hand knowledge of Legacy programs. He has mentioned he may be covering more of this information in an upcoming Op-Ed
• Some commentators have speculated that the architects of the UAPDA (e.g. Sens. SchumeRounds et al) are working diligently behind the scenes to continue furthering serious legislative UAP transparency efforts

Skimmed through this post but need a quick refresher on how we got to this point? Check out this handy Disclosure Timeline to get up to speed.

This past week in Disclosure:

May 6 – Rep. Grothman reveals he hasn't been approached regarding plans for an upcoming hearing on UAP/USOs
Rep. Glenn Grothman – Chair, House Oversight National Security, the Border, & Foreign Affairs Subcommittee – seemed to be unaware of Rep. Luna/Burchett's intention to host a public hearing on UAP (with a specific focus on USO, i.e. Unidentified Submerged Objects).

May 7 – HASC Chair Mike Rogers denies gutting the Schumer-Rounds UAP amendment
Speaking with Askapol, Rep. Rogers (who some commentators blamed for the watering down of the UAP amendment language in late 2023) denied these allegations.

May 9 – the Hill publishes an article covering Senatorial interest in the UAP topic
An opinion piece on the Hill covers the efforts various top Senators have made to investigate purported UAP crash retrieval/reverse engineering programs since 2011.
The Senators include former fighter pilot and famed astronaut John Glenn (D-Ohio); Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who observed a UFO as a World War II pilot; Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), then-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.); Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.).
May 9 – Rep. Burchett indicates plenty of work on the UAP topic is still going on behind the scenes
In a post from James Fox, Rep. Burchett confirmed that "we will be having some more [UAP-related] hearings, and we will be getting some more stuff out".
May 10 – Ross Coulthart indicates the ICIG investigation into David Grusch is still ongoing
In his most recent podcast appearance, Ross Coulthart claims an active ICIG investigation into David Grusch's UAP-related allegations is still underway. Some of Grusch's "informant base" have allegedly recently been questioned by the IC Inspector General.
May 11 – AARO confirms it has yet to receive information on ‘Drone’ incursions over Langley Air Force Base
As covered in the latest article from the Liberation Times, a spokesman from AARO (the Pentagon's UFO office) stated that the office "has not yet received a report or any information on this incident."
The incident in question involved mysterious 'drone' swarms that harangued Langley Air Force Base throughout December 2023.

None of the incursions appeared to exhibit hostile intent but anything flying in our restricted airspace can pose a threat to flight safety. The FAA was made aware of the UAS incursions."

Things to look out for in the near future:

May

• According to Senator Gillibrand – a public hearing in line with AARO's latest report can be expected soon, saying –"I'll probably have another hearing aligned with that public report.”

Beyond/currently unknown

• Following the UAP hearing on the 26th of July, Members of Congress have called for a select committee with subpoena authority, to “go about the task of collecting information from the Pentagon and elsewhere” on unidentified flying objects. There have been conflicting messages from various Members of Congress on whether this is likely to happen anytime soon. Note – a select subcommittee was formally requested on March 13th.
• Reps. Moskowitz, Luna, and Burchett have repeatedly stated their intent to hold field hearings to overcome stonewalling from the Pentagon and military establishment"I think we [Congress] should try to get into one of these places [housing UAP evidence]...and if they won't let us in I think we should have a field hearing right outside the building...and the military will have to explain why that is." – Rep. Moskowitz (D)It is currently unknown when exactly we might expect that to occur, however as of Jan 12 – Rep. Luna confirmed:"I feel confident that we have enough evidence to move forward with our first field hearing. . We will be announcing details soon."
• Several journalists have indicated that first-hand witnesses of the alleged UAP legacy programs are in the process of providing testimony/evidence to the relevant authorities (e.g. the IC IG) and/or are on the verge of making public statements in the near future (Example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4)
• David Grusch has received additional clearances through DOPSR to discuss some of his (alleged) first-hand knowledge of Legacy programs. He has mentioned he may be covering more of this information in an upcoming Op-Ed
• Some commentators have speculated that the architects of the UAPDA (e.g. Sens. SchumeRounds et al) are working diligently behind the scenes to continue furthering serious legislative UAP transparency efforts

This past week in Disclosure:

May 6 – Rep. Grothman reveals he hasn't been approached regarding plans for an upcoming hearing on UAP/USOs
Rep. Glenn Grothman – Chair, House Oversight National Security, the Border, & Foreign Affairs Subcommittee – seemed to be unaware of Rep. Luna/Burchett's intention to host a public hearing on UAP (with a specific focus on USO, i.e. Unidentified Submerged Objects).

May 7 – HASC Chair Mike Rogers denies gutting the Schumer-Rounds UAP amendment
Speaking with Askapol, Rep. Rogers (who some commentators blamed for the watering down of the UAP amendment language in late 2023) denied these allegations.

May 9 – the Hill publishes an article covering Senatorial interest in the UAP topic
An opinion piece on the Hill covers the efforts various top Senators have made to investigate purported UAP crash retrieval/reverse engineering programs since 2011.
The Senators include former fighter pilot and famed astronaut John Glenn (D-Ohio); Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who observed a UFO as a World War II pilot; Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), then-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.); Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.).
May 9 – Rep. Burchett indicates plenty of work on the UAP topic is still going on behind the scenes
In a post from James Fox, Rep. Burchett confirmed that "we will be having some more [UAP-related] hearings, and we will be getting some more stuff out".
May 10 – Ross Coulthart indicates the ICIG investigation into David Grusch is still ongoing
In his most recent podcast appearance, Ross Coulthart claims an active ICIG investigation into David Grusch's UAP-related allegations is still underway. Some of Grusch's "informant base" have allegedly recently been questioned by the IC Inspector General.
May 11 – AARO confirms it has yet to receive information on ‘Drone’ incursions over Langley Air Force Base
As covered in the latest article from the Liberation Times, a spokesman from AARO (the Pentagon's UFO office) stated that the office "has not yet received a report or any information on this incident."
The incident in question involved mysterious 'drone' swarms that harangued Langley Air Force Base throughout December 2023.

None of the incursions appeared to exhibit hostile intent but anything flying in our restricted airspace can pose a threat to flight safety. The FAA was made aware of the UAS incursions."

Things to look out for in the near future:

May

• According to Senator Gillibrand – a public hearing in line with AARO's latest report can be expected soon, saying –"I'll probably have another hearing aligned with that public report.”

Beyond/currently unknown

• Following the UAP hearing on the 26th of July, Members of Congress have called for a select committee with subpoena authority, to “go about the task of collecting information from the Pentagon and elsewhere” on unidentified flying objects. There have been conflicting messages from various Members of Congress on whether this is likely to happen anytime soon. Note – a select subcommittee was formally requested on March 13th.
• Reps. Moskowitz, Luna, and Burchett have repeatedly stated their intent to hold field hearings to overcome stonewalling from the Pentagon and military establishment"I think we [Congress] should try to get into one of these places [housing UAP evidence]...and if they won't let us in I think we should have a field hearing right outside the building...and the military will have to explain why that is." – Rep. Moskowitz (D)It is currently unknown when exactly we might expect that to occur, however as of Jan 12 – Rep. Luna confirmed:"I feel confident that we have enough evidence to move forward with our first field hearing. . We will be announcing details soon."
• Several journalists have indicated that first-hand witnesses of the alleged UAP legacy programs are in the process of providing testimony/evidence to the relevant authorities (e.g. the IC IG) and/or are on the verge of making public statements in the near future (Example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4)
• David Grusch has received additional clearances through DOPSR to discuss some of his (alleged) first-hand knowledge of Legacy programs. He has mentioned he may be covering more of this information in an upcoming Op-Ed
• Some commentators have speculated that the architects of the UAPDA (e.g. Sens. SchumeRounds et al) are working diligently behind the scenes to continue furthering serious legislative UAP transparency efforts

(Author‘ Note: This is my first story and probably a one shot.((Things have changed and I have become motivated to turn this into a small series.)) Any writing advice is heavily appreciated. Also I do not have a full understanding of the physics and or total capabilities of any real life technologies presented within the story, but im doing my best in researching and understanding their complexities.)
Next
 

Location: Groombridge 1618; Current year: 2089

Current time: Unknown; Current in-system location: Unknown

With a jolt and bathed in red light and accompanying alarm klaxons Dervin awoke. Even though he was dazed and had difficulty distinguishing his surroundings due to the low light provided by the emergency lights as well as his ears still ringing, he understood the following in a few glances at his current position through his helmets visor:

1. He was still on the Corvette Class UTN Around Sol and strapped into his operations seat
2. The ship was in dire need of repair
3. There were 3 humanoids surrounding him.
4. They were his fellow crewmates.
5. Even though they were right in front of him he couldn‘t understand a single word they were saying..

Finally the ringing in his ears stopped. Quickly being replaced by the hum of emergency lighting, the now more intense blaring of alarm klaxons and the voice of his Crewmates coming forward.
„Can you hear me Dervin?“ It was a simple question asked by his Captain, CDR Levin Renheart. Though Dervin needed a second comprehend it. This second seeming to drag on into infinity with alarms blaring and red lights humming in the background.
„Yes sir, I can hear you loud and clear.“ It was a to the point answer just like Captain Levin expected.
„Good.“ Captain Levin paused for a second and then continued with. „You will deploy a few of the AASRR-drones while E-3 Harry operates your station and links them too it. Then get back here and man your station. Now get to it on the double!“
Dervin engaged the quick release of his seat and proceeded to carry himself a good 50 meters over to his objective in the 0g environment.
The AASRR(Automated Air and Space Repair and Retrieval) drones were located near the double airlocks. They were spherical, equipped with multiple manipulator arms. With a a plethora of differing tools at the end of each of them ranging from an adjustable screwdrivers, too something more advanced such as a blowtorch to even something as strange as a human hand replica for interfacing with objects that required to be carried or where opposable thumbs were of importance.
Dervin grabbed two of them one in each hand, which with any active acceleration would have been difficult if not impossible as under 1g they weighed around 20kg(44lbs).
Dervin then proceeded to slowly and aggravatingly open the the first set of blast doors by hand, after having left the two AASRR drones floating next to him, the need for manual opening caused by the copious number of computer systems that normally ran the ship being inoperable from whatever had hit them.
Dervin then set the drones in the airlock space all the while being able to listen to his Captain, CDR O5 Levin, giving orders over the radio channel as well as ask a number of questions.
„Radioman Jenna focus on the restart and recalibration of the scanner systems!“
A quick „Sir, yes, sir“, came in response.
Captain Levin’s next question was aimed at E-3 Harry. „What damages did we incur?“
„Following systems, that were fully destroyed: The magnetic field system, our lidar and visible light telescope. Others, that were damaged include the phased radar array, infrared telescope, solid rocket booster and a PD turret, so the first defensive layer was breached. The booster and PD could be taken care of by the drones right now.“ Crewman E-3 Harry listed off all points in quick succession.
The magnetic field generator was a central part of any UTN vessel its purpose being to deflect cosmic radiation that was expelled by stars and also deflect charged particles.
As far as Dervin knew it had only been one attack by the enemy vessel this would be troubling, because at those scales of they would be scrap in one or more hits.
Dervin could now hear his Captain hum in acknowledgement and then say „Then lets get them back into action.“
Dervin then decided to inform Crewman E-3 Harry Zykler of his current status, after having to painstakingly closed the airlock door in the slow manual way. „Listen, the drones are ready in the airlock. They need only to be linked to the console computer.“
„Copy, linkage to engineering console underway“, Harry responded.
Dervin started done the hallway again moving through the corridor in a trained and focussed grace every second counting, all the while visualizing how the amour around the airlock had retracted to allow the drones to enter the space beyond the ship.
When Dervin arrived in the control room of the ship he saw how Harry had just gotten out of the engineering console‘s chair and was getting himself strapped into his own, as well as Captain Levin and their comms and sensor officer Radioman 2nd class Jenna Veryl communicating over a private radio channel.
Dervin quickly settled back into his operations chair. Checking the progress of the ASRR-drones.
It was considerable, but in his eyes still not enough. The spherical drones rapidly orbited the Around Sol similar too how a satellite orbits a planet. They did this while identifying, classifying, reacting and lastly repairing the damages caused by the alien weaponry being able to communicate through short range radio transceivers and then sending that data to the ships engineering storage.
His thoughts were suddenly disturbed by the abrupt change of their Captains and Radiomans private channel back to the general.
Captain Levin spoke up „ Our IFF Tag scanners are up again.“ There was a short pause. „ There are no other UTN military vessel tags in the system left. All seem to have gone inactive at the same time. We are the only one‘s left.“

Who would you add? This is a list of individuals who no longer dismiss the phenomenon and have publicly discussed their concern about the real possibility of the phenomenon.
🙋‍♀️🙋🙋‍♂️We Salute You(Hunger Games)
Sam Harris(American philosopher, neuroscientist)
Bret Weinstein(Biologist)
Eric Weinstein(Scientific Skeptic)
Eric Davis(Astrophysicist)
Hal Putoff(CIA Engineer and Parapsychologist)
Lue Elizondo(Pentagon Director of AATIP)
Bill Nelson(NASA Director)
Avril Haines (Director of National Security)
Christopher Mellon (Pentagon Official)
Kevin Knuth(Physics Professor)
Tom DeLongue(Rockstar)
Jim Semivan(CIA)
Jim Lacatski(Government Scientist)
Colm Kelleher(Government Scientist)
George Knapp(Investigative Journalist)
Brandon Fugal(Billionaire)
Robert Bigelow(Billionaire)
Jeremy Corbell(Investigative Journalist)
Bruce Maccabee(Physicist)
John Alexander(Government Scientist)
David Fravor(Navy Pilot)
Sean Cahill(Military)
Alex Dietrich(Navy Pilot)
Richard Dolan(Investigative Journalist)
Leslie Kean(New York Times)
Ralph Blumenthal(New York Times)
Dr. Tim Gallaudet (Navy Admiral and Former Head of NOAH)
(Recent Adds)
Gary P. Nolan(Microbiologist and Geneticist)
David Grusch-(National Geospatial Intelligence Agency)

Please Participate in our Weekly Who would you add? This is a list of individuals who no longer dismiss the phenomenon and have publicly discussed their concern about the real possibility of the phenomenon.
🙋‍♀️🙋🙋‍♂️We Salute You(Hunger Games)
Sam Harris(American philosopher, neuroscientist)
Bret Weinstein(Biologist)
Eric Weinstein(Scientific Skeptic)
Eric Davis(Astrophysicist)
Hal Putoff(CIA Engineer and Parapsychologist)
Lue Elizondo(Pentagon Director of AATIP)
Bill Nelson(NASA Director)
Avril Haines (Director of National Security)
Christopher Mellon (Pentagon Official)
Kevin Knuth(Physics Professor)
Tom DeLongue(Rockstar)
Jim Semivan(CIA)
Jim Lacatski(Government Scientist)
Colm Kelleher(Government Scientist)
George Knapp(Investigative Journalist)
Brandon Fugal(Billionaire)
Robert Bigelow(Billionaire)
Jeremy Corbell(Investigative Journalist)
Bruce Maccabee(Physicist)
John Alexander(Government Scientist)
David Fravor(Navy Pilot)
Sean Cahill(Military)
Alex Dietrich(Navy Pilot)
Richard Dolan(Investigative Journalist)
Leslie Kean(New York Times)
Ralph Blumenthal(New York Times)
Dr. Tim Gallaudet (Navy Admiral and Former Head of NOAH)
(Recent Adds)
Gary P. Nolan(Microbiologist and Geneticist)
David Grusch-(National Geospatial Intelligence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Grusch_UFO_whistleblower_claims

So this is a post I made in the Classic Fallout subreddit, but it was immediately removed by the moderators. I fail to see how it broke any of the subreddit's rules, since I've presented my points in a clear and respectful manner, so I'm posting it here. I reckon this community is probably more open for discussion than that one. Moderators, if you find any issues with the post, warn me so I can make proper adjustments, but please don't outright remove it.
EDIT: The mods of Classic Fallout said the original post was just caught in a filter, but I had just assumed it was manually removed. It's been approved. I apologize for the confusion. Either way, it's good to post it here too and see the opinions of each community.
So on September of last year I've finished Fallout 1 for the first time and posted a review here. I was absolutely amused by it. Absolute masterpiece.
After procrastinating for months, I finally decided to actually play Fallout 2 (with the Unofficial Patch installed), and finished it last week after 81.7 hours. This is gonna be my "review" of the game.
Things I liked
So, starting with the things I liked about the game: the UI is much improved over Fallout 1, being more intuitive. From the "take all" button, to not being able to loot corpses with no items, to having more digits on the barter menu, to not needing to click again on your destination after a random encounter in the world map, the game feels much better to play and has aged better as well. I'm still of the opinion that both games aged pretty well, considering they're from the 90s, but Fallout 2 certainly has the edge.
I really enjoyed how they improved companion interaction. From dialogue, to inventory management, as well as combat control, it's undeniable that companions are orders of magnitude superior in Fallout 2. Also, making the amount of companions you can have on your party be based on your Charisma really helps putting it to good use, as opposed to Fallout 1, where this stat was virtually useless.
Moreover, Fallout 2 has many more locations, factions, missions, weapon variety and overall content than Fallout 1. Which is great, since one of my few complaints with the first game is that it felt a bit short. Not only that, but there's generally more outcomes for quests and potential for roleplaying. Yall know much better than me about all the crazy stuff you can do in New Reno, for example.
Also, THE HIGHWAYMAN IS SO FREAKING AWESOME I LOVE IT.
Now, to the stuff I didn't like...
The early game just sucks
The Temple of Trials, as well as the first 2-3 hours of the game are really hard to bear. The game kinda forces you into a melee build, otherwise your chance to hit is gonna be too low, turning it into a very frustrating experience. It totally undermines your choices on character builds. Fallout 1, on the other hand, starts you with a knife and a Colt 6520, which encompasses both melee and ranged.
Not only that, but it feels like it's too long before you can get your hands on an actual firearm in this game, since you are broke at early levels and item prices are quite steep, and there doesn't seem to be many lootable guns available early on. I've tagged Melee Weapons, and despite not using them for 95% of the game, I don't regret this choice, because it made the early game much more enjoyable.
Honestly, the Temple of Trials should have been designed in a different way, with many more options on how to tackle it based on your character's abilities, or just outright removed, to be very honest. I've watched a video from Tim Cain where he said it was originally supposed to optional, as you'd be able to convince the other tribal to skip it. Too bad it wasn't the case.
The story is just not as interesting as Fallout 1's story
To be honest, I'm not a big fan of the concept of being a tribal, but I rolled with it. The thing is that overall the plot didn't have me as engaged as Fallout 1's. I did not care as much about Arroyo as I cared about Vault 13. I also didn't really feel like "The Chosen One".
Multiple times I felt dissatisfied with the dialogue options. They tended to be a little too "extreme" for my taste. You either have to act all sassy or like a very naive person, with not many options in between. I didn't have this problem with Fallout 1, as there were always very honest, straight-forward, level headed dialogue options available. I had an 8 Intelligence in Fallout 2, just like in Fallout 1, but the first game conveyed much better the idea of my character being smart in dialogue.
The world seems a bit disjointed, and not as cohesive as Fallout 1's world. It's very hit or miss, really. In one hand, there are very interesting locations, such as Vault City and New Reno, but other locations honestly feel weird and out place, such as San Francisco, with the Shi Vs. The Hubologists. Not only that, but it seems that the more south you go, the more "incomplete" the game feels. The NCR feels specially underdeveloped: I did two missions for Tandy, prevented a guy from blowing himself up on the power generator and freed the slaves to join the NCR, but even months after joining them. there were no missions for me, as Elise would say something like "Well, there's nothing for you to do, as I'm just reporting to the NCR that you are now a member". I assume that's a byproduct of cut content, as I heard apparently 1/4 of the content was cut.
The Brotherhood feels specially weird not well developed in this game. They have two bases with literally nothing in them, aside from generic NPCs, and one with some great gear and a super computer that can improve your stats. And that's it. There's no apparent explanation for them to know your name and even know about "The Prophecy of The Chosen One", as is suggested when Matt is killed by Frank Horrigan. It seems that they only know about you to keep the player curious and incentivize them to go to key locations and move the plot forward. As you're like: "how do these guys know my name? I gotta get to their next base to find out", but when you get there and ask for answers, they say some BS like: "we know about a lot of things... Now steal the Vertibird plans for us and we'll grant you access to some powerful gear".
The Enclave, despite being a cool concept, are not as interesting and well developed as The Master.

• First of all, they don't have as good exposition as The Unity. In Fallout 1, you start not knowing about The Unity or The Master, but then you gradually put the pieces together (talking to NPCs, learning about the FEV at West Tek, reading Richard Grey's Logs, etc.) and learn about them, to then have the legendary dialogue with the Master and learn their true intent. In Fallout 2, on the other hand, you go from knowing virtually nothing about the Enclave to knowing everything about them, and that's if you actually talk to the President or that scientist. You kinda get a massive "lore dump" upon arriving the Oil Rig. For this comprasion, I'm assuming you talk to NPCs and search for logs in both playthroughs.
• Second, The Master is a much more interesting and cooler final boss than Frank Horrigan, which is just a generic though evil guy you HAVE to fight (no Speech checks or anything like that), otherwise you can't finish the game. He honestly feels like an afterthought: "well, we have to put a final boss in the game, so just roll up a BBEG with 999 HP and a cool design quickly!".
• Thirdly, you can't (and there's no reason to) join the "evil faction". In Fallout 1, you could be convinced by The Master and join his Army, getting the "evil ending". In Fallout 2, even if you wanted to, you couldn't join the Enclave, as they don't even consider you human to begin with. Now, it makes sense from a lore perspective, but it certainly removes nuance and takes away form the RPG experience, as there's only one possible ending because of that (excluding killing the Elder at Arroyo, which is much more of a gimmick ending).

Inconsistency in tone, pop culture references, 4th wall breaks and straight up bad lore
So the game has a serious problem with tone. It has a serious main quest and serious side quests with moral dilemmas and politics, but this is all disturbed by constant jokes, references and 4th wall breaks that completely destroy the immersion for me.
See, within the first 10 hours or so I was really, really enjoying the game. By the time I was doing the Vault City - Gecko side quest, I was convinced that the game was indeed better than Fallout 1, due to it's massive world with many quests, choices and consequences. I was like "yeah, they really doubled down on the RPG aspects of the game". The thing is that I had not experienced any 4th breaks or egregiously silly stuff yet, aside from maybe the "Rat God", but then I encountered the talking Deathclaws at Vault 13. That's what I mean by "bad lore". Seriously, I'm gonna have to call BS on that concept, no matter what justification you give me. It's just dumb. And what disappoints is that it's at Vault 13, a location I was eager and curious to see in the sequel. What could have happened to it? What could have changed in 80 years, specially after the events of the first game? ... Uh, talking Deathclaws? Well, that's certainly subverted expectations... just not in a good way. Honestly, they could have just made the Vault empty, have the GECK there to be found as normal, and leave the player curious to learn what happened, to then reveal at the end that the Enclave captured everyone.
What's strange is that only after encountering the talking Deathclaws that the 4th wall breaks started appearing to me. I don't know if this is just a coincidence, but I started getting all those silly random encounters, with the Mad Brahmins being the first one (which, coincidentally gave me the "Hope you've saved your game, cause you're dead" deathscreen right after). Do they only start appearing after you find Vault 13? Now, I've made a list of all silly/dumb/4th wall break encounters I've got.

• Mad Brahmins: Just dumb.
• Bridge Keeper: Arguably one of the most egregious ones, and I got his one like four times throughout the playthrough.
• Sacred head of the Vault Dweller: Not gonna lie, that was actually kinda funny, though very immersion breaking.
• Café of Broken Dreams: Bruh.
• Guardian of Forever: That one was really, really idiotic.

As for the pop culture references, I didn't catch most of them, since I'm a zoomer and a lot of them are very specific to the 90s. Didn't watch Monty Python or most of the other media referenced in the game either, so they didn't annoy me like the actual 4th wall breaks. There were a lot of instances where I was like "yeah, that's probably a reference to some 70s - 90s movie or show I didn't watch ".
There is room for silly stuff in Fallout, obviously. Silly/humorous stuff that didn't annoy me at all were things like the Yakuza Vs. Mobster combat encounters, the hilarious video call with the Enclave soldier, or Sargent Arch Dornan "Trooper, what are you doing here, GET BACK TO YOUR GUARD POST!!!".
In short, the game could have a very serious tone and immersive setting, just like the first one, if it wasn't for the constant breaks the developers inserted to try to give it some comic relief. The thing is that they overdone it, while Fallout 1 did humor just right: Harry and his stupidly named squad) were really funny in a way that enhanced the world building. So were the low Int dialogue options. Thankfully Obsidian came up with Wild Wasteland for New Vegas, which solved this issue. I wish Fallout 2 had a similar feature, so people can choose if they want to enable all the silly stuff or play a more serious game. Do you guys know of any mod that does this?
Some mild annoyances
I've encountered some mild annoyances in dialogue, such as Renesco not acknowledging that I've already talked to him, making it so everyime I interacted with him my only dialogue options would be to either introduce myself or say "I think I'm at the wrong place, bye" and leave, even though we've already met. Also, when I first talked to Tandy, she responded me with "What?" and my only dialogue option would be to tell her I had solved the Vault 15 situation, only to end conversation and then having to talk to her again so introduce myself. I suppose this can happen if you deal with the New Khans at Vault 15 before talking to Tandy for the first time, which I did. The game has some weird dialogue oversights/bugs like this that I think are valid to point out. I didn't encounter issues like this in Fallout 1.
Also, in the end-game slides, there was contradiction between the Gecko's and Vault City's slides. It was said that Vault City's isolationsm made them stagnate and be absorbed by the NCR, while at the same time saying that Gecko's power plant optmizations helped Vault City expand, and that they let their xenophobia aside and a new era of cooperation between ghouls and humans started.
The end-game slides said that I wiped the Deathclaws at Vault 13, when was actually the Enclave that did this. Weird.
The game has only 13 Talking Heads. Now that's a bummer, specially considering that Fallout 1 had 21. It's even more noticable when you take into account that Fallout 2 has many more NPCs overall, so there are actually far more "Talking Heads per capita" in the first game than in the second, and it shows. Now, that's probably because they've made this game within less than a year IIRC, so I won't blame them. Fallout 1 was also supposed to have many more talking heads.
Now, these are some mild annoyances that don't take much away from the experience, but I felt were valid to point out.
Conclusion
Now, this long wall of text probably made it seem I disliked the game, but I really didn't. It's a very good game, and an exceptional CRPG. I just think it's not on the same level as Fallout 1, solely because of it's (in my opinion) weaker story and constant breaks in immersion that aren't that funny to begin with and add nothing of substance to the experience. There are no engine optimizations, quality of life additions and gameplay and UI improvements that make up for the lack of that eerie, almost opressive, yet epic atmosphere and story the first game has. The sequel doesn't live up to the expectaions for me, so I rank it lower. Overall, 8/10.

Explore Past and Present is a new full album with ten scorching rockers which includes seven brand new songs and three older songs including alternate versions of Let's Get It Together and Annihilate plus a remaster of Rock On Move on from Rock It released 2011.
Mixed and mastered by Mariano from Sonic Synthesis Studio!
Let's Get It Together mixed by Mr. Jackson Haymond who has credits for Alice Cooper's 2022 Christmas album featuring Mr. Ronnie Romero (vocalist of Rainbow, Elegant Weapons, Lords of Black) Mr. Martin Motnik (bassist of Accept) and Mr. Bodo Schopf (drummer for Michael Schenker) Menacing mixed by Ms. Ankha Nel: Multi Platinum and Gold awards for Audio Engineering over 30 years experience, in many different styles of music. Ankha Nel, Positions held in the audio industry, Chief Engineer E.M.I Studios and Chief Engineer Downtown Studios. Freelance: Bop Studios, KayDee Studios, Delarey Studios (Decibel), S.A.B.C Annihilate features Mr. Scott Foster Harris on vocals former vocalist for LA Guns mixed by Mr. Sam Koop (Sound Designer for Iron Maidens Legacy of the Beast) Rock On Move On goes back to the 2011 release of the album Rock It originally mixed Mr. Ray Tilkens who's worked with many musicians including Wino and The Obsessed plus numerous appearances on other albums. Make a Change features Mr. Rev Jones on bass guitar who's played with Michael Schenker, Mountain, Leslie West and many other musicians.
Reviews from awesome professionals! Mariano: Once again, it was a pleasure to have worked with Eric, always kind, collaborative, and clear in his objectives with his projects. Thank you very much for trusting in my work again. Rev Jones: Great session. Cool tunes. Easy to work with.
Ronnie Romero: https://ronnieromero.online/ Scott Foster Harris: / scottfosterharris Martin Motnik: https://www.martinmotnik.com/ Bodo Schopf: https://www.bodoschopf.com/ Rev Jones: https://www.revjones.com/
Thanks for watching be sure to subscribe and click the notification bell to stay alerted of new content, track listing is below.

1. Let's Get It Together (alternate version feat. Ronnie Romero, Martin Motnik, Bodo Schopf): 00:00
2. Menacing: 02:58
3. Many More: 07:04
4. Annihilate (alternate version feat. Scott Foster Harris): 09:13
5. Fear Not: 14:33
6. Entranced: 18:23
7. Explore: 21:00
8. Make a Change (feat. Rev Jones): 24:48
9. Rock On Move On (Remaster from the album Rock It): 29:10
10. Navigate: 34:18

So on September of last year I've finished Fallout 1 for the first time and posted a review here. I was absolutely amused by it. Absolute masterpiece.
After procrastinating for months, I finally decided to actually play Fallout 2 (with the Unofficial Patch installed), and finished it last week after 81.7 hours. This is gonna be my "review" of the game.
Things I liked
So, starting with the things I liked about the game: the UI is much improved over Fallout 1, being more intuitive. From the "take all" button, to not being able to loot corpses with no items, to having more digits on the barter menu, to not needing to click again on your destination after a random encounter in the world map, the game feels much better to play and has aged better as well. I'm still of the opinion that both games aged pretty well, considering they're from the 90s, but Fallout 2 certainly has the edge.
I really enjoyed how they improved companion interaction. From dialogue, to inventory management, as well as combat control, it's undeniable that companions are orders of magnitude superior in Fallout 2. Also, making the amount of companions you can have on your party be based on your Charisma really helps putting it to good use, as opposed to Fallout 1, where this stat was virtually useless.
Moreover, Fallout 2 has many more locations, factions, missions, weapon variety and overall content than Fallout 1. Which is great, since one of my few complaints with the first game is that it felt a bit short. Not only that, but there's generally more outcomes for quests and potential for roleplaying. Yall know much better than me about all the crazy stuff you can do in New Reno, for example.
Also, THE HIGHWAYMAN IS SO FREAKING AWESOME I LOVE IT.
Now, to the stuff I didn't like...
The early game just sucks
The Temple of Trials, as well as the first 2-3 hours of the game are really hard to bear. The game kinda forces you into a melee build, otherwise your chance to hit is gonna be too low, turning it into a very frustrating experience. It totally undermines your choices on character builds. Fallout 1, on the other hand, starts you with a knife and a Colt 6520, which encompasses both melee and ranged.
Not only that, but it feels like it's too long before you can get your hands on an actual firearm in this game, since you are broke at early levels and item prices are quite steep, and there doesn't seem to be many lootable guns available early on. I've tagged Melee Weapons, and despite not using them for 95% of the game, I don't regret this choice, because it made the early game much more enjoyable.
Honestly, the Temple of Trials should have been designed in a different way, with many more options on how to tackle it based on your character's abilities, or just outright removed, to be very honest. I've watched a video from Tim Cain where he said it was originally supposed to optional, as you'd be able to convince the other tribal to skip it. Too bad it wasn't the case.
The story is just not as interesting as Fallout 1's story
To be honest, I'm not a big fan of the concept of being a tribal, but I rolled with it. The thing is that overall the plot didn't have me as engaged as Fallout 1's. I did not care as much about Arroyo as I cared about Vault 13. I also didn't really feel like "The Chosen One".
Multiple times I felt dissatisfied with the dialogue options. They tended to be a little too "extreme" for my taste. You either have to act all sassy or like a very naive person, with not many options in between. I didn't have this problem with Fallout 1, as there were always very honest, straight-forward, level headed dialogue options available. I had an 8 Intelligence in Fallout 2, just like in Fallout 1, but the first game conveyed much better the idea of my character being smart in dialogue.
The world seems a bit disjointed, and not as cohesive as Fallout 1's world. It's very hit or miss, really. In one hand, there are very interesting locations, such as Vault City and New Reno, but other locations honestly feel weird and out place, such as San Francisco, with the Shi Vs. The Hubologists. Not only that, but it seems that the more south you go, the more "incomplete" the game feels. The NCR feels specially underdeveloped: I did two missions for Tandy, prevented a guy from blowing himself up on the power generator and freed the slaves to join the NCR, but even months after joining them. there were no missions for me, as Elise would say something like "Well, there's nothing for you to do, as I'm just reporting to the NCR that you are now a member". I assume that's a byproduct of cut content, as I heard apparently 1/4 of the content was cut.
The Brotherhood feels specially weird not well developed in this game. They have two bases with literally nothing in them, aside from generic NPCs, and one with some great gear and a super computer that can improve your stats. And that's it. There's no apparent explanation for them to know your name and even know about "The Prophecy of The Chosen One", as is suggested when Matt is killed by Frank Horrigan. It seems that they only know about you to keep the player curious and incentivize them to go to key locations and move the plot forward. As you're like: "how do these guys know my name? I gotta get to their next base to find out", but when you get there and ask for answers, they say some BS like: "we know about a lot of things... Now steal the Vertibird plans for us and we'll grant you access to some powerful gear".
The Enclave, despite being a cool concept, are not as interesting and well developed as The Master.

• First of all, they don't have as good exposition as The Unity. In Fallout 1, you start not knowing about The Unity or The Master, but then you gradually put the pieces together (talking to NPCs, learning about the FEV at West Tek, reading Richard Grey's Logs, etc.) and learn about them, to then have the legendary dialogue with the Master and learn their true intent. In Fallout 2, on the other hand, you go from knowing virtually nothing about the Enclave to knowing everything about them, and that's if you actually talk to the President or that scientist. You kinda get a massive "lore dump" upon arriving the Oil Rig. For this comprasion, I'm assuming you talk to NPCs and search for logs in both playthroughs.
  
• Second, The Master is a much more interesting and cooler final boss than Frank Horrigan, which is just a generic though evil guy you HAVE to fight (no Speech checks or anything like that), otherwise you can't finish the game. He honestly feels like an afterthought: "well, we have to put a final boss in the game, so just roll up a BBEG with 999 HP and a cool design quickly!".
  
• Thirdly, you can't (and there's no reason to) join the "evil faction". In Fallout 1, you could be convinced by The Master and join his Army, getting the "evil ending". In Fallout 2, even if you wanted to, you couldn't join the Enclave, as they don't even consider you human to begin with. Now, it makes sense from a lore perspective, but it certainly removes nuance and takes away form the RPG experience, as there's only one possible ending because of that (excluding killing the Elder at Arroyo, which is much more of a gimmick ending).
  

Inconsistency in tone, pop culture references, 4th wall breaks and straight up bad lore
So the game has a serious problem with tone. It has a serious main quest and serious side quests with moral dilemmas and politics, but this is all disturbed by constant jokes, references and 4th wall breaks that completely destroy the immersion for me.
See, within the first 10 hours or so I was really, really enjoying the game. By the time I was doing the Vault City - Gecko side quest, I was convinced that the game was indeed better than Fallout 1, due to it's massive world with many quests, choices and consequences. I was like "yeah, they really doubled down on the RPG aspects of the game". The thing is that I had not experienced any 4th breaks or egregiously silly stuff yet, aside from maybe the "Rat God", but then I encountered the talking Deathclaws at Vault 13. That's what I mean by "bad lore". Seriously, I'm gonna have to call BS on that concept, no matter what justification you give me. It's just dumb. And what disappoints is that it's at Vault 13, a location I was eager and curious to see in the sequel. What could have happened to it? What could have changed in 80 years, specially after the events of the first game? ... Uh, talking Deathclaws? Well, that's certainly subverted expectations... just not in a good way. Honestly, they could have just made the Vault empty, have the GECK there to be found as normal, and leave the player curious to learn what happened, to then reveal at the end that the Enclave captured everyone.
What's strange is that only after encountering the talking Deathclaws that the 4th wall breaks started appearing to me. I don't know if this is just a coincidence, but I started getting all those silly random encounters, with the Mad Brahmins being the first one (which, coincidentally gave me the "Hope you've saved your game, cause you're dead" deathscreen right after). Do they only start appearing after you find Vault 13? Now, I've made a list of all silly/dumb/4th wall break encounters I've got.

• Mad Brahmins: Just dumb.
• Bridge Keeper: Arguably one of the most egregious ones, and I got his one like four times throughout the playthrough.
• Sacred head of the Vault Dweller: Not gonna lie, that was actually kinda funny, though very immersion breaking.
• Café of Broken Dreams: Bruh.
• Guardian of Forever: That one was really, really idiotic.

As for the pop culture references, I didn't catch most of them, since I'm a zoomer and a lot of them are very specific to the 90s. Didn't watch Monty Python or most of the other media referenced in the game either, so they didn't annoy me like the actual 4th wall breaks. There were a lot of instances where I was like "yeah, that's probably a reference to some 70s - 90s movie or show I didn't watch ".
There is room for silly stuff in Fallout, obviously. Silly/humorous stuff that didn't annoy me at all were things like the Yakuza Vs. Mobster combat encounters, the hilarious video call with the Enclave soldier, or Sargent Arch Dornan "Trooper, what are you doing here, GET BACK TO YOUR GUARD POST!!!".
In short, the game could have a very serious tone and immersive setting, just like the first one, if it wasn't for the constant breaks the developers inserted to try to give it some comic relief. The thing is that they overdone it, while Fallout 1 did humor just right: Harry and his stupidly named squad) were really funny in a way that enhanced the world building. So were the low Int dialogue options. Thankfully Obsidian came up with Wild Wasteland for New Vegas, which solved this issue. I wish Fallout 2 had a similar feature, so people can choose if they want to enable all the silly stuff or play a more serious game. Do you guys know of any mod that does this?
Some mild annoyances
I've encountered some mild annoyances in dialogue, such as Renesco not acknowledging that I've already talked to him, making it so everyime I interacted with him my only dialogue options would be to either introduce myself or say "I think I'm at the wrong place, bye" and leave, even though we've already met. Also, when I first talked to Tandy, she responded me with "What?" and my only dialogue option would be to tell her I had solved the Vault 15 situation, only to end conversation and then having to talk to her again so introduce myself. I suppose this can happen if you deal with the New Khans at Vault 15 before talking to Tandy for the first time, which I did. The game has some weird dialogue oversights/bugs like this that I think are valid to point out. I didn't encounter issues like this in Fallout 1.
Also, in the end-game slides, there was contradiction between the Gecko's and Vault City's slides. It was said that Vault City's isolationsm made them stagnate and be absorbed by the NCR, while at the same time saying that Gecko's power plant optmizations helped Vault City expand, and that they let their xenophobia aside and a new era of cooperation between ghouls and humans started.
The end-game slides said that I wiped the Deathclaws at Vault 13, when was actually the Enclave that did this. Weird.
The game has only 13 Talking Heads. Now that's a bummer, specially considering that Fallout 1 had 21. It's even more noticable when you take into account that Fallout 2 has many more NPCs overall, so there are actually far more "Talking Heads per capita" in the first game than in the second, and it shows. Now, that's probably because they've made this game within less than a year IIRC, so I won't blame them. Fallout 1 was also supposed to have many more talking heads.
Now, these are some mild annoyances that don't take much away from the experience, but I felt were valid to point out.
Conclusion
Now, this long wall of text probably made it seem I disliked the game, but I really didn't. It's a very good game, and an exceptional CRPG. I just think it's not on the same level as Fallout 1, solely because of it's (in my opinion) weaker story and constant breaks in immersion that aren't that funny to begin with and add nothing of substance to the experience. There are no engine optimizations, quality of life additions and gameplay and UI improvements that make up for the lack of that eerie, almost opressive, yet epic atmosphere and story the first game has. The sequel doesn't live up to the expectaions for me, so I rank it lower. Overall, 8/10.

Since there appears to be much misuse of the term, I think it may be good to put some points about fascism that I think are key in helping us understand it better to combat it.
This is not a definition, but a description of what fascism has historically been and how it came to power, so you can decide for yourself what its "definition" is.

Fascism and Revolution

To put bluntly, fascism is not revolutionary and never has been. It is in fact, counter-revolutionary.
Fascism may credit itself as being such, and fascists may say they are revolutionaries but a cursory glance of how fascists came to power shows otherwise.
First with regards to Italy, Mussolini was appointed PM by King Emmanuel III on 31 October 1922, after the March on Rome. Described as a coup, it was in reality a hand down of power from the Italian ruling elites and aristocrats who feared the rise of left-wing unions and Bolshevism (Marxism-Leninism). Mussolini was put in power because his squadrismos were the most effective (violent) ways for the ruling class to stop this brewing revolutionary movement.
Mussolini's rise was celebrated by the monopolists and business elites in America and the UK, many looked on Italy with admiration. For those seeking more information on this, I recommend this article

US corporations flocked to invest in Mussolini’s Italy. The American historian and analyst Noam Chomsky wrote, “As fascist darkness settled over Italy, financial support from the US government and business climbed rapidly. Italy was offered by far the best postwar debt settlement of any country, and US investment there grew far faster than in any other country, as the fascist regime established itself, eliminating labor unrest and other democratic disorders”. (4)
The irresistible attraction of big business towards fascist rule, like moths to a flame, tells its own story. With Mussolini one year in power, the US Embassy eulogised in late 1923, “The results have been excellent, and during the last 12 months there has not been a single strike in the whole of Italy” (5). The Embassy believed that Mussolini was becoming a success because of his destruction of labour power, and therefore the erosion of a key democratic process.

In regards to our other example, which is Nazi Germany, once again we have the same story of Hitler being appointed Chancellor by Hindenburg, the president of Weimar Germany at the time. Contemporary Weimar constitution gave the president full discretion to choose anyone he thought fit to the role, and Hindenburg himself was persuaded to appoint Hitler as Chancellor in 1933, after beating him in the presidential election in 1932, by Von Papen, who thought the far left was becoming a dangerous threat to the republic.
The traditional story presented of course is of a charismatic leader winning an election to rise to power, putting the blame of Nazi leadership on the masses of Germany and the communists who sought the destruction of the republic. This story conveniently ignores that the Nazis actually performed worse in November 1932 than they did in July, and that the ruling establishment in Germany was far more cocnerned with Bolshevism than with Nazism.
To add more examples to the table, Pinochet was backed by the CIA, Suharto was funded by the UK & US. Or Kolomoyskyi, who has funded the Aidar and Azov battalions in Ukraine
In fact wherever we turn to find actual fascism in the real world, its origin of power almost universally comes from the ruling elites, i.e fascism comes from the top-down, not from the bottom up.
It is as Dmitrov describes, the terroristic rule and vengeance of finance capital, the most advanced form of capital in the stage of imperialism. It is not in the depth of the country among rural or uneducated masses.

Fascism and Definitions

Definitions of fascism seem to miss the point of describing actual fascism. Instead of trying to understand what force animates it, and also what concretely unites Squadrismo with Azov and Pinochet with Mussolini, they ponder and wonder on abstractions and ideals that fascist leaders have seemed to espouse.
Eco's 14 points are a good example of the shortcoming of this, as Eco meanders to say that not all 14 can apply, and sometimes they don't and sometimes they do. The failure of these points to identify actual fascism can be illustrated when we take a control, which is actual neonazis today such as Azov battalion. Eco is no better at finding fascism in azov than it is in finding it in Joe Biden.
The form fascism takes in reality does differ based on time and place and circumstance, the specific ideas it adopts are malleable to those. Which is why chasing fascism by ideals it aspouses is beginning from the wrong premise

Fascism and Opportunism in regards to culture.

In the sphere of culture war, the use of fascism is naught but pure opportunism in the strictest sense of what that word actually means.
As we have seen above, fascism does not come from the masses organically, it rather comes from the heights of political and economic institutions as a response to the unrest among the masses. There is no upsurging fascist revolution among the masses who reject social engineering, while fascism may deceive the masses it acquires political power when it is handed it down from the heights of the elite. Not for arbitrary reasons is fascism elitist.
In their opportunism to silence or cancel their opponents, the opportnistic ultras distract from the very real threat of fascism, which is latent within our very own political institutions. Instead, they objectively side with the establishment in blaming the horrors of fascism on the masses and their backwardness and wiping the ruling class' hands free. In so doing, they legitimise and make credible the suspension of even the facade of formal liberal process by the enlightened ruling class as a tool to preseve the same formal liberalism against the deplorables whom they have alienated by their own opportunism.
Fascism is not based on backward stances regarding culture, culture is not the principal contradiction on which basis we define this term. The cultural aspects of fascism are purely superficial to it - Azov and Aidar have specifically targeted ethnic enemies such as Russians and Roma and have not attacked the disabled or homsoexuals because doing so would alienate them from the western aid they really need. The same way Zionists try to monopolise Nazi atrocities, positing that only the Jews were victims of Nazi atrocities, and that the Nazis sought to exterminate the Jews only, Nazi policies towards Germans they considered inferior is likewise attempted to be monopolised by culutral activists to argue that rejecting their views is a slippery slope to nazism.
This is perhaps forgivable to the uneducated, but it must be adressed to counter opportunism. Stop using the threat of fascism to push a social agenda.

Fascism and Communism

As we have seen, despite what ideas fascism aspouses, its power stems from the handing down of power from the established powers, from parliaments, kings, presidents or state department agencies during a time of crisis, to be unleashed against the masses, fascism and communism do not merely differ "in internationalism" or whatever. Fascists are empowered specifically to fulfil the end goals of financial capital and to crush mass movements against the establishment. Communism on the other hand is an incipient mass movement that tries to sublate and overcome the current state of things. This is why the two are fundamnetally at odds, and why what unites fascism across time and space and through history is violent anti-communism.

Fascism and the Current US

Should be clear by now that I think the real threat of fascism in the US today is not the MAGA base or the rednecks, or the deplorables, but the state department itself, the ones in bed with the duopoly but especially in the Democratic party Fascism in the US will come from the state department and may history of fascism attest to this reality - if fascism is to come to the in 2024 it will be when the powers behind Joe Biden decide to just make Kamala Harris, or anyone else for that matter the leader, and suspend the elections or ignore their result completely. This will be in continuity with how actual fascism - the one that actually killed people - has functioned around the world for over a century.

Fascism and Anti-Fascism

Effective anti-fascism is populism. It is building a mass movement that can challenge the political elites, it is bridging the differences and putting aside personal disagreements for the sake of a greater cause, which is a united front against fascism.
It is for example, reaching out and supporting the truckers and the freedom convoy, it is not believing the media when they plant a glowie to bring a nazi flag to the protest to smear its reputation. It is raising a voice when banks closed their bank accounts. It is not conditioning co-operation with the truckers behind a list of demands, or rejecting them if some are crass or unarticulate.

Conclusion

Feel free to tackle these points or point out where you think I'm unclear or wrong. But keep in mind, I am basing my understanding of fascism on how it actually was, not on the ideas or abstractions it claims to be

Also, Petunia heard that the more you abuse a freak child, the more freak accidents happen with some being lethal for everyone involved. Thus, they just leave the boy and his obsession with giant robots alone. Better that than all that freakish magic nonsense.
Harry Potter is an intelligent young boy who wants nothing more than to make and pilot giant robots. So much so that he consumes any and all piece of fiction on it zealously and has vowed to go into robotics and engineering when he grows up.
So when it is revealed that magic is a thing that makes most impossibilities probable, he jumps right into it with gusto. There's no other way to it. He will be a mech pilot, even if he has to sacrifice his soul to Tzeentch to do it.
He figures he'd just make the most awesome mech afterwards and punch the fucker in it's beak very hard to get it back.

Let's get it all out of the way up front. I know, no one asked. No one cares. What kind of A hole can afford to eat at all these places. Yada yada.
The fact is the culinary scene is changing by the month here in St Pete. I view this as a good thing. After reading the 100th question asking where to eat and drink around town I thought I would document some places I've been to around St Pete for those who are interested. I enjoy spending my finite disposable income and leisure time exploring local eats & drinks with good company.
I am in no way qualified to be providing these unsolicited opinions. My opinions are probably all over the place and inconsistent - some will speak to value and others quality. These are in no particular order. There are hardly any chains on this list - I would much rather support local spots. Ready? Let's go.
Three Birds Tavern: Love the vibe of the outside patio. They even have a British telephone booth out there. Solid tavern / bar food. The lamb burger is fantastic. Shepherd's pie is not bad. Servers are so nice and bubbly. Worth it for lunch or brunch. Martini deals on Thursdays (I think they're $5).
Pin on Cafe: My go to lunch spot. Unfortunately they are moving down central a mile but they have fantastic pad Thai and a great value lunch menu, where you can build your own meal. Probably eaten here 30 times. Very friendly staff.
Bodega: If you're into Cuban sammies (don't hurt me but they're not my favorite) then this is the place. I'm told they're fairly authentic. Good speakeasy in the back. More on that below.
Bohemios: New Spanish tapas restaurant off central. Don't let the lingering BurgerFi sign fool you - the food here is exceptional. A tad expensive but good quality. They have been slow since opening but the chef & servers are super nice and love chatting to patrons. The chef is an especially awesome dude and a fantastic cook. Got the lobster cargo, empanadas, flank steak, meatballs, and lamb lollipops. All bangin'.
Frog Pond: Great family spot for breakfast or lunch. No frills / nothing fancy, just a good familial vibe and frogs painted on the walls. Got the BLT and pancakes. Both yummy.
Lure: Pretty cool place, but I still can't figure out what their "thing" is. Is it a sports bar? Billiard Hall? Sushi bar? Apparently it's all three. Surprisingly solid food (including the sushi), good music, fun place to hang out with a big group of friends before a show at the Floridian. Great happy hour and food specials.
Lemongrass: Solid Thai food. Went here for a date, and while that didn't go super well the food was again solid. Not mind blowing. But solid. Did I mention it was solid?
Zaytoon Grill: I love Mediterranean food. I had a kefta kabob, hummus, rice, salad. I admittedly need to try it again. It was decent, I've had much better kabob. But again, want to give it another try. I ordered takeout so can't comment on the place itself but I hear the staff are great.
EngineNo9: I was told this was the "best burger in town". This is false. Well, maybe for the money it is. After having just about every burger on the menu, I can say without a doubt the best burger in town is in fact Left Bank Bistro's Burger. My gawd. I think they sprinkle crack in the brie they put on top. Anyway, this is engine9. If my expectations were lower initially I think I would recommend it as a value play. Good place to watch sports. Jambalaya is meh. Sriracha wings are delicious though. So are the tots.
Tony's Pizza: A very solid pizza place always slinging deals on door dash. They have nice wide, thin slices, similar to NY style.
Gateway Subs: really good subs and creative too. For instance, you can get crushed Doritos on your sammy.
Brooklyn South: Middle of the road sandwiches for the price.
Mangosteen: I've only gotten takeout and thought their sushi was decent. This place and Lure seemed similar in their food offerings. When I walk by the vibe looks pretty cool. They do BOGO deals on door dash too.
Maple Street Biscuit Co: The hangover cure you've been looking for. Great biscuits & gravy. They have this fried chicken biscuit with a pepper jelly type thing and it's... Hang on I need a minute... Utterly delicious. Instead of giving them your name when you order, they ask you a thought provoking question, which is kind of fun (e.g. who in all of history would you want to meet?).
11 Chicks: Great Venezuelan food. Get an arepa and some of those to die for deep fried cheese things. Don't sleep on the 11 Chicks bowl. A little pricey for chicken and rice but the quality is chef's kiss.
Fresh Kitchen: Decently healthy, solid food. Like a healthy chipotle. You're in and out of there fast. If you need a somewhat healthy $12 bowl go here. Also everyone who eats there is somehow a fitness model and/or gorgeous.
Pacific Counter: Also a decently healthy, solid fast casual place serving poke bowls. Staff is super nice. Bring your dog - they will spoil with salmon skin treats.
Hotdog Stand (8th & Central): I haven't caught her name, but she slings awesome street hotdogs and puts a lot of love into the fixings on top. Bring up the TB Lightning or bring your dog and you will be her favorite.
Pia's: I know, it's in Gulfport. Fantastic Italian food. Sit out on the patio if you can - there is a good red/white checkered tablecloth vibe out there. Saw someone get engaged there. It's that kind of place, immersive, familial, and delicious. The shank and lasagna were heavenly.
Paul's Landing: Worth it to check out the view of the pier and pool while at the Vinoy. Grab a drink and some very good American food here with a date, or for brunch.
Sauvignon Wine Locker: Pasta - yes. Wine - fuck yes. Half off bottle deals on Sunday I believe. Definitely a nicer place and a draw for the rich old snowbirds. I hear some local billionaires frequent the place. Kind of a cool entrance, walking down a (safe) alley before climbing the stairs to get to it.
Fortu: Clubby, upscale asian fusion spot. Expensive but also very good. The wagyu potstickers are great. Go here for date night and pay way too much for cool drinks and very good Asian food. But your body will be swaying from the music and sexy vibe.
Social Roost: Fun spot, feels kind of like you're walking into a Great Gatsby party. Creative and delicious dishes and the price is about right. It's loud and social and a high energy place so go with friends or a date on a Friday or Saturday.
Datz: Very solid bar / American / brunch food. I got a fried chicken salad and it was really good. I know there's more to try and I will do so.
Ford's Garage: Great burgers. If you're a car person, it's definitely worth checking out. Even the bathroom has a tire for a sink.
La V: Highly recommend this place. Vietnamese, French fusion. Good Pho, banh mi, and rolls. Get the beef bourgingon- like dish and soak up the broth with a toasty french baguette. Baby, you've got a stew goin'.
Calida: super small but absolutely delicious spot. A husband and wife cook and run the place, and they only have one other server who is equally awesome. They make you feel like family and live to serve people good food. Menu changes often based on ingredients that are in season. Had the short rib, Icelandic fish dish (forget the name), and duck panang. My gawd was it yummy. Great wine list too. Oh, they're only open three nights a week so make a rezzy in advance.
Bavaros: Pretty good pasta, a little pricey for the portion. Was a fan of Bolognese and penne vodka. Fun outdoor vibe with the sidewalk seating. Sometimes I'll bring carry out to cellarmasters.
Pizza Box: super tiny pizza spot but REALLY good meatballs and quality pizza made in a legit pizza oven. Get it with hot honey and a glass of wine.
Left Bank: Lit'rlly the best burger in town. The prices are exhorbinant for what you get, but the quality is hard to beat. $40 for beef bourgingon pissed me off, but again the food is really good. Go here for brunch and sip French rosé, get a croque madam, or take a date here for steak frites.
Il Ritorno: Upscale Italian. For the price, it was decent. Compared to olive garden it's excellent. Liked Bonu better. Pretty upscale spot for a date night. For the money, I think there are better spots. Please don't hurt me.
Bonu: Very refreshing vibe, open and airy and filled with cool lights and plants. Really good menu - lobster ravioli and penne vodka were great. Try some of their more creative dishes as well, you won't be disappointed.
Wild Child: I only went once for a date and I think we walked in after a fryer fire or something. Seriously, when we walked in we were assaulted with an intense funnel cake-like fryer smell and thin layer of smoke. Food was okay, I can't even remember what we got. I will agree to go back and try it again since I keep hearing good things and I'm pretty sure this was a one off experience. The date went well though. Not that you care.
Cassis: Solid French bistro with a restaurant and a quick eats side to it serving ice cream, chocolate, and pizza. Pretty banging.
Bella Brava: Great pizza! Was surprised how good since its in a touristy spot on Beach drive. Good pasta too. I think they have a good deal on Tuesdays or something.
Allelo: Upscale and very high quality Mediterranean food and wine list. Loved this place. Get the octopus, lamb Bolognese, and/or rabbit & glass of red and you won't be sorry.
Shrimp Store: Very good local, fresh seafood + rice, beans type place. Stop by for lunch and try the grouper. Fish & chips and hush puppies are great. Good prices too. Definitely good value.
Teak (Pier restaurant): I know the pier is touristy. But it's also gorgeous. The view of the water from the restaurant is unmatched. You can see Tampa Bay and st Pete skylines really well, watch the sailboats, and small planes fly by. The food is surprisingly good here. It's worth checking out even if you're a local.
Doc Ford's: I'd call this place upscale beach shack food. It's good quality, prices are slightly high as it is a more touristy spot on the pier. Good live music and good vibes.
Trophy Fish: I really enjoyed how fun and unique this place is. It's all outside but kind of covered, and really fun looking at night with all the lights and plants. Big bar you can sit around and you order seafood out of the truck/shack behind it. Have to say it was pretty expensive for what it was but definitely high quality.
The Studio Public House: Come here to see some great British rock and euro futbol memorabilia. Fish and chips are great, as is the shepherds pie.
Hook's on 9th: Sushi & Thai food with a great sushi menu. Great quality for not much money. $10 sushi and/or dishes for lunch. Get some takeout, try the beef bulgogi and a couple rolls. You won't be sorry.
Rumfish Grill (St Pete Beach): they have an awesome floor to ceiling aquarium right in the dining room. It's mesmerizing and a little bizarre watching the (huge) fish swim around while eating their cousin. Good seafood. Worth a visit.
Urban Stillhouse: Very upscale dining and I have to say the quality and experience were well worth the money. The building itself is unimpressive from the outside, yet when you walk in you are transported to the fanciest mountain / lodge / chalet type vibe you can think of. Multi level restaurant serving up great lamb, steak, and sides. Bonus points if you stop by Lolita's before.
Mazarros: A St Pete staple, and very crowded. But really good sandwiches made there and high quality Italian grocery options. Awesome wine room too - sometimes they do tastings. They do cooking classes here but haven't tried them yet. Worth checking out once, there's no place quite like it.
Lolita's: such a cool building they've moved in to, right next to the bike trail. Very artsy vibe since they share the space with Morean. Very creative dishes and cocktails, gorgeous patio on which to enjoy them.
Paradise Grill (pass-a-grille): the beach shack place right on the beach. I don't know how you can beat their grouper sammy, ice cold iced tea, and that beach view steps away from the water.
Ted Peter's: smoked fish isn't my favorite I admit, but even I liked it. I had some of their non-smoked fish and it was banging. Ask to go see where the smoking is done next door, it's a unique way they cook fish there. Been around for 80+ years.
Poppos : I live nearby and have been here a few times. Was described to me as a "local chipotle". I really wanted to like it. It's average. The portions are small for what you pay for. Their bowls, like literally the paper bowl itself, has a huge indent and is raised from the bottom so it fits a lot less food than you'd think. Staff was super kind though.
Drinks/Bar Only:
Intermezzo: This is the date night spot. Lots of love put into each drink. Nice jazz music. Visiting during Christmas is a must as they deck the place out. They're moving right nearby in the coming months.
Cellarmasters: My favorite watering hole in town. By now you know I enjoy wine. This place isn't your typical wine bar - it's divey, hipster, and awesome. Bring a sub or takeout here and listen to the incredibly cool wine staff pick and pour you the perfect glass. They have a great selection of old world for $20-40 a bottle.
No Vacancy: Outdoor Clubby place, usually a good spot for a DJ and to rip shots / crash bachelor or bachelorette parties.
Steve's: cash only no frills/old school bar. Go grab a bud light in a bottle and roll with the sticky floors. A staple on central ave that's been there forever.
Tryst: Decent bar. Had a boat load of tequila there.
The Landing: Pre or post Jannus show it's a must to continue your high octane weekend night with music and dancing. Bathroom lines get real long so wear a diaper or get in line early. Or try to bribe others in line with a fiver.
Bar Chica: If you like craft cocktails, it's a must visit. Classy bar slinging really cool drinks. You walk thru Bodega to get to it.
Lost and Found: Great spot for a drink and live music. Food truck and big backyard to enjoy a drink under the stars. They were playing Terminator 2 on the TV there which shows you how cool the place is.
Enigma: I typically see this suggested (as a joke) to out of towners asking for a low-key place to have a drink. Well, joke's on them. Enigma is so fun. It is a gay bar, but assuming you're progressive enough to deal with that the drinks, music, dancing, and people are fantastic.
It's all culminated in this. My favorite restaurant in town. Bin6South! ... You will spend $100+ and still walk out hungry. It is not a value play. It is a quality play. There are only 6 barstools and one table fitting 6 people. Reservations are not easy to come by. This place is the product of a retired couple who wanted to make awesome food, pour good wine, and have a communal feel for locals. It's not for everyone. But if you like a chef's table vibe, try it. You can shoot the shit with the chef, owner, and sommelier while they serve you amazing food you've never tried and pour you delicious wine. Their venison and pork shoulder are banging. They also have lots of fun culinary and wine events so check that out.
If you like coffee, the following places are a must try for either the quality of their espresso, local art, and/or vibe:
The Shop & Coffee House
Black crow
Intermezzo
Book & Bottle
Kawha
Bad mother
Fray's donut house for donuts and breakfast sammies too
Bonus Tampa restaurants:
Oxford Exchange: A Harry Potter feeling to it with good brunch food. It has a library quality to it, you feel like British royalty eating here. Great place for a cheeky day glass of rosé or bubbly. Take a walk along the river walk before or after.
Berns: A must try. It's been there for 80+ years. The building itself has such cool decorations and pictures on the walls, and each room has a different theme. While their steak is just okay, for the price comes with French onion soup and onion straws. The best part of Bern's is their wine list. My gawd. They have over 500,000 bottles on site and more in their other building / cellar. I think it's the largest restaurant owned wine collection in the world. Because there are so many bottles, they often can't keep up with pricing for all of them. We got three different bottles from 1975 - 1987 for under $50 each. Their dessert room, cellar tour, and kitchen tours are a must. Check out my post history as I have something in there from the wine subreddit.
Oh and not in Tampa but best Chinese food around is Zom Hee in Seminole. Get their NY strip dish. It's banging. Cool old school spot.
Places I want to try: Rococo, Beau & Mo's, El Cap, Cappy's, Harvey's, Sammy's, Hookin' Ain't Easy, The Chattaway, Brick & Mortar, naked farmer, violet stone, Jack's London Grille, Bascoms, food trucks (Go Stuff Yourself), Nueva Cantina's fundido burger, eat art love, German Knodle, Ceviche, The Burg, Sara's Kebab House, Baba / Barbouni
Agree? Disagree? Any other places you'd add to the list? I will likely keep editing this post as other places pop in my mind that I've forgotten, and/or I eat somewhere new. Cheers.