Disney's Star Wars ended with Rey Palpatine declaring herself a Skywalker and the galaxy clapping. Here's how to fix it and build something that actually lasts. Luke Skywalker had a secret. Fans who read Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire always knew it: Mara Jade, former Emperor's Hand, the woman who swore to kill Luke and ended up marrying him instead. In the fix, Luke saw what Rey was becoming years before it happened. He hid Mara and their son Ben (named for Obi-Wan, not the Kylo Ren knockoff Disney gave us) on a Outer Rim backwater, left no record in any Jedi archive, and told nobody. He went to his island to die as a decoy, drawing the darkness toward himself and away from his family in a true patriarchal sacrifice. Ben Skywalker finds the Force the way his father did. Alone without an academy, and no lineage he can point to. Just a farm kid who keeps hearing things he can't explain and dreams in lightsaber colors. Word reaches him through a chain of old rebels: a woman named Rey Palpatine has dissolved the New Republic Senate, declared herself Empress, and is building something in the Unknown Regions that makes the Death Star look like a warning shot. Nobody calls her Rey anymore. She goes by Empress Palpatine now, and she likes the sound of it. Ezra Bridger is old. He came back from wherever Thrawn took him, spent twenty years trying to rebuild something quiet, and now he's the last functioning Jedi in the galaxy. He finds Ben the same week Ben finds him. Training is short and brutal. Ezra doesn't have time to be gentle, and Ben doesn't want gentle. He wants to fight. Finn knows exactly how bad this is. He served alongside Rey. Watched her justify every shortcut, every cruelty, every "just this once" until there were no lines left. He's been organizing resistance cells on the Mid Rim for three years, winning small and losing big, waiting for someone with a lightsaber who isn't on the wrong side. When Ben shows up, Finn reads the situation fast: this kid has his father's instincts and none of his father's patience, which is either going to win the war or end it badly. Finn also knows Rey's weakness. She has always fought to be seen, her vanity is the ultimate problem. The superweapon isn't really a weapon, but more a monument. A message to the whole galaxy that says she exists, she matters, she chose her name and she chose right. Destroy the monument and you don't just win a battle, you break her argument. The assault on the superweapon runs like the Death Star run with one difference: it works and Rey survives. She escapes into the Unknown Regions with her loyal Sith acolytes, wounded and furious and ready to strike back in flim 2. The New Republic gasps back to life. Ben is not celebrated, in a twist from the originals. He's not an attention seeker. He slips out before the speeches start. That's where the trilogy opens. Rey in the dark, building again. Ben Skywalker carrying a name the galaxy doesn't recognize yet. Finn holding the resistance together with stubbornness and institutional memory. And Mara Jade Skywalker, finally stepping out of hiding now that her son is in the fight, bringing forty years of hard-won intelligence about the Emperor's old networks. What do you think? Would this redeem the Star Wars franchise?

I wasn't planning on saying anything publicly about last night's game. But when a parent from Concordia walks up after the forfeit and calls one of my 16-year-old players "cheap," I feel the need to respond. First, to that parent: if you had a problem with the outcome, you should have been brave enough to bring it up with me instead of a teenager. Now, let me paint the picture for why I brought up the situation during the game, because I'm particularly sensitive to this topic. When I was 17, I pitched in every game of the 1999 5A KS State Tournament. The only reason I came out of the championship game was that I ran out of innings. That was the only rule back then. Throughout my high school career I regularly pitched twice in the same doubleheader and always at least twice a week. I don't put any blame on anybody. I wanted to do it. We just didn't understand back then, what happens to a young arm when velocity starts climbing into the upper 80s and 90s. When I was 19 years old, as a freshman, in my very first college appearance at Fort Hays State, on my 16th pitch, my elbow dislocated, tearing both my Ulnar Collateral Ligament and Radial Collateral Ligament. Tommy John Surgery followed. I pitched three more years at Fort Hays, but I never threw as hard again, and never without constant, sometimes agonizing, pain. To this day, when I throw batting practice my hand swells and goes numb the rest of the night. I drive home from practice and can't use my right arm to steer. I sleep with my arm elevated or my hand swells up like a ballon by morning. That is what these rules are trying to prevent. Last night's game ended because Concordia used a pitcher who had thrown 78 pitches on Friday. Under KSHSAA rules, that requires four days of rest. Yesterday was three. It is not a gray area. It is not a judgment call. The rule exists, we are all forced to follow the same limits, it was violated, and the penalty is a forfeit. (And in my opinion, pitching a very talented pitcher like that after just 50 pitches on 3 days rest is irresponsible). No, we did not want to win that way. We were winning at the time and we were going to win anyway. We had our two best arms left and they were out of arms. That's how this works at the 4A level. You run out of experienced arms and the flood gates open. Which brings me to something I find genuinely troubling in my first year as a head coach, after two years as Wamego's pitching coach: the clear majority of programs push pitch counts to their absolute limit. Pull a guy at 75 pitches, bring him back on the minimum rest to throw 105 more. Repeat. At velocities that are sky-rocketing. We have 16-year-olds throwing 90 mph, and the current pitch count limits are not even close to restrictive enough. We are trading young athletes' futures for wins. It's being done openly and very proudly. I'm sure my opinions will be laughed at or disagreed with by most, but I could not care less. When you have to go to inexperienced pitchers, walks stack up, scoreboards get ugly. The team loses confidence and things spiral. It's a gut punch that feels like it's never going to stop... and when you look at the board there's still just one out. But that's what we signed up for. To coach young kids. To develop players. To give young kids opportunities. Build depth the right way. Not to exploit the talent that showed up. It's not always pretty but it's better than winning at the cost of kid's futures. And yes, there's an ABSOLUTE systemic cost too. Last year we had two pitchers who deserved All-State consideration, but because we don't run them on short rest, their accumulated stats don't compete (IP and Ks). The sport media doesn't pay attention because there are jaw-dropping, accumulated stats all over the place that make for better headlines. When all-league and all-state accolades are built on accumulation, programs who are cautious about arms get penalized. That system needs to change (but it won't). There's a lot of nuance, but if a pitcher throws more than 50 pitches they should get at least 5 days off and coaches should be allowed to work with pitchers in the offseason so that there are more developed arms ready for the season. There are all kinds of flaws in this system. We will keep doing this the right way. It costs us wins and it's not fun sometimes, but I have a permanent reminder of what happens when you don't.

genuinely think this game flopping would be a net good for gaming

COME ON, TWITTER. Show people the paintings I put so much effort into.

Incredible things happening on the timeline lmfao

Yup I needed this omg so many bars

It was not originally about brisket. youtu.be/GchgAvD1fxA?si=JkGW…

We are ALL winning! In a BBQ War there are no losers! Except the vegans. Screw those guys.

When I walk to the store, I carry a plastic bag and the fun gripper claw to fill it with litter. Today the walk was impacted by someone who decided to dump their trash and make the world a slightly worse place. That's OK, though. I went home and drove out to pick it all up for you. I'm rooting for you to get exactly what you deserve some day. Remember, it's always easier to destroy than it is to build and protect.

Just some cool shots taken over the years. Hope they bring some body some peace.

Thank u also make videos for elderly who falling for scams please and thank u be safe and keep up the good work 👏

If you see one chaos land raider in the kitchen, there are likely hundreds more in the walls. I'm afraid the whole building is likely a loss.

My nerd hut at the new house is coming along nicely

Hasn't gotten old yet

So updates on my move....books i have a lot of them...... that's alotta book shelves I'm going to need...Nerdhut coming along.... still alot of work to done....kiddo has a dedicated arts and crafts space

Today I became a home owner

You see? #Hasan is really the good guy here! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

The usual suspects are up to their nonsense again. No matter what they call me. No matter what lies they tell to delude themselves into thinking they're the victims. It all boils down to this. We have limited time on this planet. If you spend your valuable time trying to tear others down and destroy what others create, you're wasting that time. I am not a perfect person. I make mistakes. But I work very hard to end every day with my personal ledger in the green. I'd recommend those who claim I am a crybully, etc, to reflect on if they're ending their days with a ledger in the green. It just might help you live happier lives. Have a great day.