DShomshak

Wow, I didn't know WaPo editors read this site! It's so nice of them to try answering our questions in a front-page article today:
https://wapo.st/3JQ1yZd
(That should be a "gift article" link that doesn't require a subscription; otherwise, here's the regular link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2023/ar-15-america-gun-culture-politics/?itid=hp-top-table-main_p001_f001)
 
Their answer as to why the AR-15 is so popular in gun culture today? Marketing.
 

I suspect there's a good deal of cultural paranoia and just plain racism, too. IIRC, an episode of "The Daily" (the NYTimes podcast) delved into the weird world of 2A absolutist political activists, and found that many of them are also active in White Nationalist activism. (Though it's been more than a year, so it might have been "On the Media.")
 
"Be prepared" for what? Who is the enemy for which you need an arsenal?
 
Though the connection seems highly plausible to me from a psychological viewpoint, I don't personally know of any rigorous study to establish a statistically valid correlation. I am willing to hear contrary evidence.
 
Dean Shomshak

My on-hiatus campaoign set in the city of Thalassene is pretty setting-intensive: The PCs met because they live in a particular neighborhood, Pillatrs, and they continue to interact with the people of that artisan-heavy neighborhood. There were enough NPCs that eventually I made a list for my own reference. Since the campaign is unusual, I am not sure how useful this list would be as inspiration, but, well, it's an example of populating a Fantasy city. So here it is:
 
PILLARS PEOPLE LIST
 
Religious
Flamen Orsilla: Female human cleric of Holy Family.
—Donatus: Half-sahuagin son.
Flamen Skrog: Male orc cleric of Lamideck. Former city guard, watch member.
Ostiary Edricus: Male human notary (esp. wills); shrine of Maion.
Ostiary Laxus Taruntius: Male human caretaker, Goldsmith shrine.
 
Military
Centurion Garicus: Male human (Macrine) wall guard commander.
Llyrdis: Female elf (Rhovistae) wall guard.
Rovaldus Nolti: Male human wall guard; Dionna’s grandfather.
Scoffle: Male human semi-retired wall guard, gatekeeper.
 
Commerce
Agnellus Carthus: Male human cooper; brother of the late Agapetus.
Alalcomeneus: Male human pet’s-meat vendor.
Amphictyon: Elderly male tailor.
Barsophilus J. Quingle: Male gnome tinker/alchemist/cotton candy maker.
—Rheon: Male human apprentice alchemist.
—Abito: Male human crank-turner; son of local laborer; surly.
—Klo: Female minotaur crank-turner; Virj & Enid’s daughter.
Chanduri Mumtash: Female human (Furanian) apothecary.
Droysa: Female goblin button-maker; widow and mother.
—Loyid: Oldest son (10).
Eorin: Male elf (Rhovistae) runs Evening Star Public House.
Gallimachus: Male human chicken butcher; angry drunk.
—Gallinus: Son; bully, troublemaker.
Garsief: Male human ice-maker, semi-sorcerer.
Garth & Melba Wibbley: Halfling (Leptopoda) paper appliqué workers.
—Patience: Female halfling; granddaughter; slain watch member.
—Fortitude: Male halfling; grandson.
Govinus & Espina Magirus: Human (Furanian/Macrine) pastry cooks.
—Avina Magirus: Govinus’ widowed sister; stuffed dumplings at lunch counter.
Oenopion: Elderly male human wine seller.
Phoebus and Cornelia Lavandum: Human launderers.
Pholus: Male centaur water-carrier; former cavalry, lost leg.
—Nephele: Female centaur; Pholus’ wife.
—Nephelus: Male centaur; Pholus’ son.
—Phola: Female centaur; Pholus’ daughter.
Plautus Taruntius: Male human jeweler; nephew of Dives Taruntius.
Psammeticus & Nefrura: Human (Drohashi) restauranteurs, Pita Palace.
—Pentavus: Oldest son; pitas at lunch counter.
Rufus Rubellus: Male human stable master.
Rundigan: Male human innkeeper.
—Bettina: Granddaughter, works at the inn.
—Gordian: Son, works at the inn.
Silas Applebarrel: Male halfling (Leptopoda) tea house proprietor.
Tentamon: Male human (Drohashi) owner, paper fan factory.
Thana Mavo (Thanh Mao): Female halfling (Vohinese); curry at lunch counter.
Titus Faba: Male human; bean soup at lunch counter.
Ulfilas Sutor: Male human cobbler; religious bigot.
—Aelentha: Female human; daughter.
—Trasaric: Male human; son.
Vallus & Thyone Ovicon: Human egg-painters.
—Phoebe: Daughter; friend of Dionna.
Virj & Enid: Minotaur bakers.
—Jorg: Male minotaur, oldest son, content being a baker.
—Klo: Female minotaur, daughter, works at Quingle’s.
—Siris: Female minotaur, youngest daughter; loves Din’s stories.
Zimrus: Elderly male human ‘Old Believer,” sells lamps & fancy candles.
 
Other
Geptil: Male hobgoblin sifu, Blade Cross Dojo.
—Brodin: Male human monk, senior student.
—Lilybell: Female halfling monk, senior student.
—Ostorius: Young male human student.
—Tropus: Male human student; irritable.
—Zalinda: Female human student; extremely reluctant.
Mrs. Gundestrop: Female dwarf boarding house proprietor.
Hervon: Male human rat-catcher.
Hikua: Female child harpy; street urchin adopted by Danaë.
Latromis: Female human prostitute at Cheap Rooms.
Marcion Trescana: Male human leech.
Narsimus Exus: Male human attorney.
Skorfinn: Male dwarf (Fjellkin) tenement owner/manager.
Vivia: Elderly female human proprietor, Cheap Rooms.
—Mustellus: Vicious, rat-faced punk of a son.
 

I expect it is indeed complicated. But I think it's also necessary to sift out attitudes based on kind of gun and their utility (hunting, target shooting, personal defense, etc) and intensity of attitudes. Most forms of gun ownership, for most purposes, I can understand as rational. I understand hunting, or target shooting, or wanting a weapon if someone breaks into your home. I have greater difficulty understanding the desire to own weapons capable of killing lots of people in very short times, other than... somebody wants to kill lots of people in a very short time. And I can see gun ownership as a right that must be balanced with other rights of other people, just like every other right in society. A demand for an absolute and unlimited right to lethal force makes me think something else is going on, and I want study on who holds such views and why.
 
Dean Shomshak

My on-hiatus campaoign set in the city of Thalassene is pretty setting-intensive: The PCs met because they live in a particular neighborhood, Pillatrs, and they continue to interact with the people of that artisan-heavy neighborhood. There were enough NPCs that eventually I made a list for my own reference. Since the campaign is unusual, I am not sure how useful this list would be as inspiration, but, well, it's an example of populating a Fantasy city. So here it is:
 
PILLARS PEOPLE LIST
 
Religious
Flamen Orsilla: Female human cleric of Holy Family.
—Donatus: Half-sahuagin son.
Flamen Skrog: Male orc cleric of Lamideck. Former city guard, watch member.
Ostiary Edricus: Male human notary (esp. wills); shrine of Maion.
Ostiary Laxus Taruntius: Male human caretaker, Goldsmith shrine.
 
Military
Centurion Garicus: Male human (Macrine) wall guard commander.
Llyrdis: Female elf (Rhovistae) wall guard.
Rovaldus Nolti: Male human wall guard; Dionna’s grandfather.
Scoffle: Male human semi-retired wall guard, gatekeeper.
 
Commerce
Agnellus Carthus: Male human cooper; brother of the late Agapetus.
Alalcomeneus: Male human pet’s-meat vendor.
Amphictyon: Elderly male tailor.
Barsophilus J. Quingle: Male gnome tinker/alchemist/cotton candy maker.
—Rheon: Male human apprentice alchemist.
—Abito: Male human crank-turner; son of local laborer; surly.
—Klo: Female minotaur crank-turner; Virj & Enid’s daughter.
Chanduri Mumtash: Female human (Furanian) apothecary.
Droysa: Female goblin button-maker; widow and mother.
—Loyid: Oldest son (10).
Eorin: Male elf (Rhovistae) runs Evening Star Public House.
Gallimachus: Male human chicken butcher; angry drunk.
—Gallinus: Son; bully, troublemaker.
Garsief: Male human ice-maker, semi-sorcerer.
Garth & Melba Wibbley: Halfling (Leptopoda) paper appliqué workers.
—Patience: Female halfling; granddaughter; slain watch member.
—Fortitude: Male halfling; grandson.
Govinus & Espina Magirus: Human (Furanian/Macrine) pastry cooks.
—Avina Magirus: Govinus’ widowed sister; stuffed dumplings at lunch counter.
Oenopion: Elderly male human wine seller.
Phoebus and Cornelia Lavandum: Human launderers.
Pholus: Male centaur water-carrier; former cavalry, lost leg.
—Nephele: Female centaur; Pholus’ wife.
—Nephelus: Male centaur; Pholus’ son.
—Phola: Female centaur; Pholus’ daughter.
Plautus Taruntius: Male human jeweler; nephew of Dives Taruntius.
Psammeticus & Nefrura: Human (Drohashi) restauranteurs, Pita Palace.
—Pentavus: Oldest son; pitas at lunch counter.
Rufus Rubellus: Male human stable master.
Rundigan: Male human innkeeper.
—Bettina: Granddaughter, works at the inn.
—Gordian: Son, works at the inn.
Silas Applebarrel: Male halfling (Leptopoda) tea house proprietor.
Tentamon: Male human (Drohashi) owner, paper fan factory.
Thana Mavo (Thanh Mao): Female halfling (Vohinese); curry at lunch counter.
Titus Faba: Male human; bean soup at lunch counter.
Ulfilas Sutor: Male human cobbler; religious bigot.
—Aelentha: Female human; daughter.
—Trasaric: Male human; son.
Vallus & Thyone Ovicon: Human egg-painters.
—Phoebe: Daughter; friend of Dionna.
Virj & Enid: Minotaur bakers.
—Jorg: Male minotaur, oldest son, content being a baker.
—Klo: Female minotaur, daughter, works at Quingle’s.
—Siris: Female minotaur, youngest daughter; loves Din’s stories.
Zimrus: Elderly male human ‘Old Believer,” sells lamps & fancy candles.
 
Other
Geptil: Male hobgoblin sifu, Blade Cross Dojo.
—Brodin: Male human monk, senior student.
—Lilybell: Female halfling monk, senior student.
—Ostorius: Young male human student.
—Tropus: Male human student; irritable.
—Zalinda: Female human student; extremely reluctant.
Mrs. Gundestrop: Female dwarf boarding house proprietor.
Hervon: Male human rat-catcher.
Hikua: Female child harpy; street urchin adopted by Danaë.
Latromis: Female human prostitute at Cheap Rooms.
Marcion Trescana: Male human leech.
Narsimus Exus: Male human attorney.
Skorfinn: Male dwarf (Fjellkin) tenement owner/manager.
Vivia: Elderly female human proprietor, Cheap Rooms.
—Mustellus: Vicious, rat-faced punk of a son.
 

There are a number of alternative explanations I’ve heard that various proponents of essentially unlimited 2A rights (of which I am not one, albeit my views also do not align with the “No firearms more advanced than single shot bolt action deer rifles” either). Typically they are fierce individual Liberty folks, who do not want to rely on law enforcement or any aspect of government and oppose many kinds of regulation. Or they are former military who want to be able to defend themselves and their loved ones, and do not want the force of law to place restrictions on how they do so. Or they are constitutional originalists who do not believe an amendment should be modified causally (or at all) without adherence to the process for doing so. There are regional cultural beliefs even here in California that inform this (San Francisco being very difficult than say, Red Bluff). Some are fringe or very odd and certainly some are motivated in the way you describe, I could not say how many. I haven’t personally ran across that group significantly in my dabbling as a hobbyist. They aren’t really a single bloc of political or philosophical beliefs, so it’s hard to put that into a simple category other than they do not like firearms regulations. Certainly you could argue the merits of their beliefs as you can with any position discussed. They often see this as a fundamental individual rights issue, while their opponents see it as a pubic safety imperative. There’s rarely a middle ground for constructive dialogue as a result, so any changes are almost inevitably going to be decided on in court irrespective of legislation or my personal opinions.
 
 As noted in the Pew study, it’s also a consequential number of folks who don’t love the idea of additional regulation in this area. The reasons are varied from what I’ve seen. And not limited to a single party or group, which can be uncomfortable to contemplate. It skews to one political axis, but it’s not limited to that.
 
 Anyway, that’s my observation. I’m not going to get into this topic further as I enjoy the perspectives on this site. It saves a useful role for me to reflect on Progressive perspectives, I’ve got a different one for the other side.

Without getting into subjective perspectives on “why” here’s some data from the Pew Research center.
 
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/09/13/key-facts-about-americans-and-guns/
 
There are certainly divides on race. And Urban versus Rural. And gun ownership versus non gun ownership. It’s complicated.

Here is where I turn some GM authorship over to the players.  For a couple of reasons.  1) Their buy in will be greater because they hand in it's creation.  2)  You don't have to do all the heavy lifting.  

So, how do you do this?  By asking leading questions.  
 
Turn to a player and say;  "Your PC knows of an unsavory character that hangs around the docks..who is it?  What is their gig?  What is your relationship with them?"  You might get everything from "its my brother" to "its my sworn enemy".  

For the Mayor, turn to a player and say: "You've heard a nasty rumor about the mayor, what is it?  You strongly feel that this is a false accusation.  Why do you feel that way?  Who would benefit by spreading such a rumor?"  Now, even if the PC and the Mayor have never met, there is this connection and the table is off and running and constructing this city right in front of y'all.  

Ask the most magical oriented character; "You've met the head of the magic university.  How did you meet?  What are they like?  Was your meeting a positive or negative one?  What project is the University desperate to get off the ground and why?"  Maybe the player will say; "I was a student and got kicked out for forbidden rituals."   Maybe they will say; "Met hapstance at an Inn outside of town, we had a lovely dinner over shared interests of the arcane and are on our way to becoming fast friends."

To a player who's PC does not know the city, first time here, ask; "Hey, you had a really nice encounter with the City Guard.  You thought they would be hard asses, but one of them was welcoming and open.  Why do you think the guard was so open and genuniely interested in you?  Now, this is a question is much more narrow than the others.  As the GM, I want to build a ready made ally for the newcomer PC.  So, I've pre-empted any kind of negative relationship between the PC and the Guard and turned it into a positive one.  Also, this is a great way to turn a trope or cliche slightly.  

You don't know what the players are going to toss out.  But what they do toss out will be juicy and provide all kinds of hooks.  And I've noticed, players love screwing over their own characters from time to time and this when you get a whole plethora of Disadvantages opportunities as well as adventure hooks.  
 
I have a video about using Leading Questions, expanding a bit on what I suggested here:  
 

I've made progress on this project.
 
Between querying my friend some more, reading on Wikipedia, and watching some episodes of Sailor Moon S, it's clear that the standard Sailor Moon story arc goes: Boss Villain sends minions and Monster of the Week to collect/harvest something from random people -- "energy," "pure hearts," whatever -- but these are only instrumental to achieve some greater goal. Queen Beryl wants to release/re-empower her dark master Queen Metaria, and has her four gem-named minions deploying the Monster of the Week to gather energy from people; the Professor and Kaolinite are sending one-shot Daemons in search of Pure Hearts, because three of them hold the Talismans that can summon the Win Button, i mean, Holy Grail...
 
Latter example shows the Master Plan does not need to make sense from an adult perspective: Why would the Professor assume the three talismans are all in this one neighborhood where, coincidentally, the Sailor Guardians live? Because this is a show for children, that's why. (Or maybe this is explained later in the season, but I doubt it.)
 
I haven't written Queen Nocturna yet, but then, she can remain in the background. Player says that Princess Moonray already had an adventure as part of her origin in which she returned to the Magical Moon Realm, gagthered her friends, and liberated the Light Side from Nocturna's rule; but of course Nocturna will try to conquer it again.
 
Nocturna's two chief lieutenants are, as mentioned, her son Balthazar Blackheart and her daughter Shadira. Both of them have point-and-shout Simister Sorcery (but only a few such powers -- most characters have limited power seclections) and a few Darkforce powers focused on mobility, defense and, of course, Darkness. Balthazar also conjures a magic sword that can cut through anything inanimate but can't actually inflict BODY on people, because cartoon for young people. Shadira also does whipfighting using Darkforce TK. Both are obsessed with Princess Moonray, in their own ways. Balthazar vows she will be his. He does the Wicked Chuckle. Shadira vows that she will DESTROY!!! Princess Moonray, the only woman who is prettier than she is. She does the standard Evil Princess Scornful Laugh.
 
Basic monstrous minion type: Vulture Bats. Queen Nocturna created them with her Dark Sorcery, and Shadira can summon small numbers of them. They are invisible to normal sight because they are creatures of dark nightmares, but anyone with magical senses (such as Princess Moonray) can see them. Used as spies, backup in fights, and to further evil schemes such as planting Psychic Siphon enchantments in sleeping mortals.
 
Other villains will be one-shots, such as the warrior Demonax (who wields a Demon Axe and is named for a prominent crater on the Moon) and Frozor, Duke of Frigoria, ruler of the Moon's north polar regions, embittered by Moonray's long absense from the Magical Moon Kingdom. I'll borrow the writeup fro Glacier in CV3 for the form he takes when drawing on the power of the Psychic Siphons. I'll probably repurpose other CU villains as Monster of the Week.
 
Naturally, all of Queen Nocturna's minions have a Rivalry with each other for her favor. It's easy to persuade or trick one lieutenant into undercutting another lieutenant's plan.
 
Magic jewels! Light Side magic items are usually set with Moonstones. Dark Side magic items are set with Black Moonstones. But there are also very rare, very powerful Blue Moonstones and Blood, or Eclipse, Moonstones, to serve as MacGuffins. Dorian Silversword's sword, however, is set with a Sunstone that makes it especially damaging to Dark Side creatures. And Nocturna can seek the apocalyptic, Win Button power of the Midnight Sunstone. (Thank you Raven McCracken and World of Synnibarr for the name. Originality through incompetence!)
 
Oh -- Nocturna has one other important minion to lurk in the background: Her teacher of Dark Sorcery, now her vizier, Magister Thorn. He's the one who actually comes up with the plans to find artifacts A, B, and C, and bring them together at Place X to obtain the Win Button. But he's not himself any more; and Queen Nocturna is not, in fact, the boss villain that she imagines. Because you can't have an entire magic land appear from nowhere and powerful people in the Mystic World don't notice.
 
I hope the other PCs (and players) will be suitably freaked out and amused.
 
Dean Shomshak

The old money. Major landowners for the surrounding region, magnates whose families have dominated guilds or trading companies for generations, former aristocracy whose titles no longer carry legal weight in the current governing structure but might carry social prestige (a recent issue of The Economist included a brief interview with the current heir to the Tokugawa Shogunate; Europe still has Habsburgs). A classic story-driver is the old family that's descended into genteel poverty and seeks to reclaim its fortune -- such as by marrying a daughter into a nouveau riche family (or an adventurer who made his fortune?), or by some criminal or political conspiracy.
 
Dean Shomshak
 

Think about who the PCs are most likely to interact with. For a start, where will they live? Assuming they are more or less transient, they probably stay at an inn. That means an innkeeper.
 
A few taverns, and tavern-keepers, too. For a more Asian or Post-Medieval feel, teahouses or coffee-houses. IIRC some early modern trading companies, such as the Dutch East India Company, began in coffee-houses, so you might want a coffee-house near the port where the merchants make deals.
 
A few colorful beggars. One of them might also be an information broker (beggars see everything, and this beggar knows who to talk to.)
 
Depending on the PCs' affluence and the availability of magical healing, maybe a neighborhood "leech" to stitch up their wounds and apply poultices.
 
But a lot of NPCs will come from the needs of scenarios. Like, somebody is poisoned. Where did the poison come from? Probably an apothecary, since many poisons are also medicines, depending on the dosage; or if nobody has the requisite skills, the PCs need to consult an apothecary to find out what poison was used and where it could be obtained.
 
Dean Shomshak

Neutrino astronomy update, from an article in the March 2023 issue of Scientific American.
 
Astronomers at the IceCube Neutrino Astronomy, located in Antarctica, believe they have identified at least one extragalactic source of very high energy neutrinos: the galaxy NGC 1068, a.k.a. Messier 77. IceCube registers the direction of the neutrinos it detects. It's detected millions of events; out of these, at least several dozen seem to come from this galaxy, 47 million light-years away. These neutrinos are also notable for extremely high energies.
 
So what's making them? The supermassive black hole in NGC 1068's core. The black hole is "active," gobbling up matter, which gets compressed, heated to incredible temperatures, spun around to nearly the speed of light, and generally forced into conditions in which it radiates lots of energy. Astrophysicists have proposed a few ways this could result in the production of ultrahigh-energy neutrinos. And a lot of them:
 
"Fewer than 100 NGC 1068 neutrinos were detected at Earth, but they would have been diluted as they traveled across the vast volume of space. Accounting for this reduction, the astronomers say the total number of neutrinos generated by the black hole must be so huge that they carry away a billion times as much energy as the Sun emits."
 
This brings the number of known sources of astronomical neutrinos to three: the Sun, Supernova 1987A, and now NGC 1068. Astronomers hope to identitfy other sources as well.
 
Dean Shomshak

I have only the most passing awareness of Sailor Moon, but somewhat more familiarity with He-Man and She-Ra and their milieu, even though I was older than their target audience; so I'll give most of my input from that perspective. The franchise was originally based on toys, so each character has a distinctive appearance related to an identifying gimmick, with a punning name derived from that. For the cadre of the chief villains, a skull-headed wizard-type called Skeletor for He-Man, or the shape-shifting Hordak who led the Evil Horde, flunkies like Beast-Man and Mer-Man are easy to visualize; but there was also the likes of Trapjaw, with metal jaws that could bite through most things; Triclops, whose helmet had three rotating eyes each with its own power; and the sorceress Evil Lynne. Heroic allies included Ram-Man, wearing heavy head and shoulder armor, and with legs like giant coiled springs; and Fisto, with super strength and one oversized fist with a metal gauntlet. (Remember this was marketed to innocent children.)
 
The He-Man series was set on the planet Eternia, where He-Man had a secret identity as the son of the king and queen; while his sister She-Ra had been kidnapped and raised on another planet, Etheria, and joined a rebellion against the Horde. Both heroes used magic swords to change to superhuman form, triggered by a special phrase. They also had animal companions as mounts, He-Man a giant cat, She-Ra a winged horse. And there were cute comic-relief characters as well, occasionally helpful.
 
The story of each episode involved a game of cat and mouse between heroes and villains, with the heroes thwarting the villains' latest scheme. Most of those adventures ended with the status quo being maintained. There was rarely any significant change to the setting, or major character development, but they weren't unknown.
 
I can add one other element I'm aware of from Sailor Moon: as is common with fiction aimed at young teen girls, there's an apparently unattainable male love interest who sometimes assists the heroine. In the case of Sailor Moon he's an initially mysterious figure called Tuxedo Mask, because that's his costume.
 
That's everything I can think of for now. I hope that helps. Let us know how this turns out.

If no recourse is available through legal or political means, it is likely the state has no rule of law in the first place. The forms, maybe, but not the substance. Just words to provide a veneer of legitimacy to the whims of those in power. The state also likely uses violence freely against people who try to hold it to account based on what laws exist.
 
Case study I remember from the Russian History class I took back in college. The professor said the USSR had an excellent constitution, in some ways more democratic than that of the US. Except for a line that the government was subservient to the Communist Party. Since the Party did not need to obey the constitution, but the government had to obey the Party, the Soviet constitution was just words. Which meant all the laws depending on it were just words, to follow when it suited those in power (or to be used against their enemies), to be ignored when they became inconvenient.
 
In this thread, we have several times commented on the vagueness of the culture-war laws passed in Republican-controlled states. How it can be hard for people to tell if they're breaking the law or not. I suspect this is not from carelessness on the part of legislators.
 
Dean Shomshak
 
Dean Shomshak

Will done mine as soon as I finish the emergency hard drive backup. 
 
OK, that's done.
 
Last picks for the Department of Modern Urban Magics.
 
Option 5:  The Mystical Mire
 

 
Among a copse of trees right off campus, not far from the Delta Tau Chi house, there's a pool.  It is obviously unnatural, with a level that does not change with the season or in response to weather.  "The Mire" is clearly something out of some experimenter's lab ... viscous, a translucent yellow-green fluid that is murky enough that details usually cannot be discerned through more than a foot or so of it.  But, by night there are a few sources of light scattered within the Mire, which brighten up quickly from nothing so they cast weak, suggestive shadows around the Mire, then fade away over half a minute or so, and they move.  
 
The Mire is magical in origin, though indistinct enough that who made it and how isn't obvious.  FWIW, there are people who have claimed to be responsible, and all of them are generally taken to be lying.  There are also people who have explicitly denied any responsibility, and there are suspicions that more than one of them are lying also, though opinions vary about who the liars are.  Whomever the guilty (?) parties may be, the Department of Modern Urban Magics seems to have a maliciously obfuscated opinion about the Mire's origins.  *Officially*, of course, they are not to blame.  But local law enforcement officials seem unable to find the place, even though barely-able-to-stagger inebriated undergraduates get there unerringly, so there's a bit more than the usual town-versus-gown tension between local off-campus authorities and the M.U.M. Department.
 
(It may be that inebriation is the key; no one seems to be fully in command of their faculties while at the Mire.  There are some interesting suggestions that clear-headedness, a dedication to strict moral principles and obedience to the letter of the law, and (especially) an intent to impose all these upon other sentients around you ... are exclusionary keys: if an entity has all those, then they cannot find the Mire.  But if you can slip her a couple of glasses of spiked punch first, even Sister Prissy Clenchedbottom can get there and partake of the relaxed, convival atmosphere.  Importantly, it seems that there has never been an episode of malicious violence, or even injury more serious than a black eye or a twisted ankle, at the site.)
 
No matter the season or weather, the fluid in the pool is comfortably warm, and if a bather is by themselves, it is a pleasant relaxing sensation.  But with another in the pool ....  The bottom is? becomes? slick enough that one cannot stand securely on the bottom of the pool.  This is made worse by occasional prods and pinches that have no clear source, but cause a bather to jump suddenly, and usually jump toward another bather if others happen to be in the pool.  Though almost odorless, vapors off the pool diminish the bathers' reason temporarily, augmenting the baser impulses, and seeming to enhance the sensations on the skin immersed in the liquid, and both bathers tend to slip and go momentarily submerged ... and blame the other for their pratfall and nostrils full of greenish goo ... And the wrestling match ensues ... and the slick fluid tends to ease the slippage of garments off the bathers as they thrash against each other ....
 
 
 
 
Option 6: MUD WRASSLIN'!!!!!
 

 
In the Mire.  Often.  Great popularity.  Nothing more need be said, though the match where Sister Prissy Clenchedbottom and Professor Prudie Grundy had it out in a no-garments-left-intact slogwrassle is stuff of legend.  Hey, who's got the wine?
 

Well, the article says Trump *hasn't* been indicted yet; merely that he claims he expects to be arrested.
All wrapped up with another appeal for money from his base, natch. So at this point, it might be just another grift, with an attempt to bully the Manhattan DA into backing off.
 
Dean Shomshak