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"The America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries."

an important thing to know about Count Binface is that he was previously Lord Buckethead, pictured here with Theresa May in 2017.

Lord Buckethead previously ran against Margaret Thatcher in 1987 and against John Major in 1992. Lord Buckethead ran for the Gremloids party.

Officially all Lord Bucketheads are the same Lord Buckethead who went away for a while and returned; however, it has come to light that Lord Buckethead (1987, 1992) and Lord Buckethead (2017) were two different guys under the bucket.

Following the 2017 general election the original creator of Lord Buckethead (not either of the guys who had worn the costume) asserted his legal rights over the character and 2017 Lord Buckethead acquiesced. and so, Count Binface came into being.

In the 2019 general election Lord Buckethead and Count Binface both ran against Boris Johnson, Binface as an indepent and Buckethead having joined the Monster Raving Looney Party. (NB this Lord Buckethead was a third different guy, not 87/92 Buckethead)

Lord Buckethead won the race (ie, got marginally more votes than Count Binface) but has not stood in an election since whereas Count Binface has been very prolific, running in two mayoral elections, two by-elections, and one further general election in 2024:

Over the years, Ilya’s developed a sort of…routine…with women. 

He’s never mean or cruel, no. Having been raised by his mama, he could never dream of treating a girl like anything less than what she’s worth. 

But he still refuses to get close, so there’s certain boundaries he maintains. No sleepovers, no gifts, no meeting the family. And as far as pet names? Sure, he’s been known to call a girl ‘baby’ in bed, or something more degrading if she specifically asks. But he never, never uses something more intimate. Not even with Sveta.

It’s never been a problem. His lips have never threatened to form the shape of more loving, terrifying phrases. He’s never had to even think about what he’s saying–the rules have been an innate part of him.

Until now.

Until he returns, in the dim light of dawn, from the bathroom of a cottage that’s somehow become theirs in the past few days. Until he looks down and sees Shane Hollander spread out, limbs akimbo, on his stomach, snoring softly and completely relaxed, in the sheets they’d wrecked only hours ago. Until he gazes fondly at the only piece of his heart that’s not in his body. That stubbornly resides in fucking Montreal and insists on playing a contact sport, just to make him worry more.

Shane groans, shifting a little and pats at the empty spot in the bed where Ilya usually sleeps. “....’Lya?” he murmurs sleepily, raising his head a few centimeters off the bed, not even opening his eyes.

And, fuck. Suddenly, Ilya can’t control anything about himself. The way his heart swells and thuds in his chest, the way his whole body warms and his knees weaken. The way his mouth forms around the words before he can think better of them. He just moves forward and pulls Shane into an embrace, whispering, “Here, sweetheart. I am here.”

And as Shane relaxes against him, muttering, “Don’ leave….”

The short, simple version is this:

There’s a splinter group of ultra conservative (religiously and politically) “Catholics” who have for several decades claimed that the Church has strayed from the true Catholicism since the Vatican II reforms of the mid 20th century. They have been warned about their actions by multiple popes at this point.

The breaking point this week was that they consecrated bishops within their sect after being expressly forbidden to do so by Pope Leo. Essentially this group is denying that the current pope is truly part of the succession of St Peter — more or less they’re saying the pope isn’t Catholic enough.

This may not seem like a huge deal from the outside, but it is essentially treasonous in terms of severity. So they have been kicked out of the Catholic church.