#9 plane crashes in 4 weeks

[nightqueens-world]

So does anyone notice how people were much safer in the air when Biden was still in office ?

[callsign-dexter]

Pops is Hurt

Summary: Jake's jet gets shot down. Bradley goes after him and gets shot down as well but ejects unscathed. The temperature is not what they expected and it's snowing. How is their little girl going to deal with seeing her other father in the hospital?

Pairings: Jake Seresin x Daughter!Reader, Bradley Bradshaw x Daughter!Reader, Jake Seresin x Bradley Bradshaw

Warnings: angst, inaccurate medical talk, plane crashes, inaccurate military talk, fluff, swearing

Masterlist

Our Little Girl

Banner done by @callsigns-haze

Jake and Bradley along with Natasha and Bob had been chosen to go on a brief and very short mission. Short as in 1 month or 4 weeks. They just needed jets to get in and get out then come home. They found this out while they were at work before they had to go and pick up their little girl from daycare. Ice wouldn't be going with them instead it would be staying behind to watch the little girl, normally Carole and Goose would but they have and since Goose is going with Maverick, Ice was quick to volunteer to watch his spoiled granddaughter. Carole and Ice agreed to help each other out but Ice practically begged to keep her and she agreed. Bradley, Jake, Bob, and Natasha would be leaving the day after tomorrow, Sunday, to get a jump on things and maybe have them come home sooner. In the meantime, they were going to spend it with their little girl.

Both Jake's and Bradley's alarms blared right next to them. They were quick to turn them off that way they didn't disturb their little girl from her peaceful sleeping. They both got up simultaneously and started getting ready for the day. It was a Saturday and they left on Sunday. Both of them were early risers so it was normal for them to get up early even on the weekend but let their daughter sleep in until 9 AM it was only 6:30 AM. Both of them usually ran in the morning and they would do it together but since they had Y/N they took separate turns never leaving her alone by herself. "You wanna go run first?" Bradley asked Jake in a voice still laced with sleep that Jake loved so much.

"Yes and then you can go when I get back." He said and Bradley nodded. Bradley always took a little bit to wake up so he always offered to stay behind while Jake went. They kissed each other and Bradley started to head downstairs to start a pot of coffee while Jake got changed in his running gear. As he was heading downstairs he stopped by their daughter's room and checked in on her. He smiled when he saw her curled up with her stuffed chocolate and tan Bunny whom she had named Rolo sleeping soundly. He closed the door quietly and made his way to the kitchen. After a few minutes, he heard the door open and shut again and knew that his husband did the same thing as him. Jake then came down and kissed him and then headed outside to start his run.

While Jake was running Bradley started working around the kitchen and transferring clothes in the washer over to the dryer. 30 minutes later Jake came back in sweating he had his music in so he didn't say anything just walked upstairs to get ready for the day. While the shower was running Bradley went upstairs and checked on their daughter one more time before changing and going on his run. She had yet to move positions but had kicked the covers off and he walked in and pulled them up over her again and then kissed her head and headed out as he heard the water shut off and walked in as his husband came out of the bathroom in only a towel. "She still sound to sleep?" He asked and Bradley nodded.

"She kicked her covers off and I covered her back up." He said and Jake chuckled. "What's so funny?" Bradley asked smiling.

"Nothing really it's just that you do that same thing." Jake said and Bradley gaped at him.

"No I do not." He defended but Jake just chuckled and walked over and kissed him.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." He said and patted him on the cheek and got ready for the day as Bradley got ready to run. They both walked downstairs and Bradley was put the door with a kiss to Jake's lips.

Bradley had been gone 20 minutes while Jake started to get things ready for breakfast when a little voice called out to both of them. "Papa? Daddy?" Jake dropped everything and walked up to her room and opened the door to their daughter's room. Jake checked his watch it was only 7:30 AM.

"What's wrong, Sweets?" He asked walking into her room and she lifted her hands up and he picked her up.

"Me no feel good." She said and he touched her forehead, she was a little warm but nothing too concerning. She always tended to get clingy and a little sick before they left for a deployment. They told everyone Friday after work over dinner that they were deploying for a month and she had been glued to them both ever since.

"Oh, Sweets. You're a little warm. What hurts?" He asked beginning to walk to the kitchen.

"My tummy." She said and laid her head on his shoulder. He knew that she wasn't lying she was an honest child and would never lie.

"Do you wanna sit on the couch while I cook breakfast and drink some juice or stay in my arms while I cook and drink some juice?" He asked looking at his daughter that looked a little pale.

"You." She said and Jake nodded and repositioned her and began cooking. It's a good thing that Jake and Bradley were used to holding her and multitasking.

"Ok, Sweets." He said and got a bottle and put some apple juice in it and gave it to her she downed half of it and then handed it to him. She laid her head down on his shoulder and fell back to sleep just as soon as Bradley walked into the house. He immediately noticed Y/N in Jake's arms and grew concerned she usually slept until 9 AM and it was only 7:50 AM. He walked over to both of them as Jake turned hearing footsteps.

"Everything ok?" He asked rubbing his daughter's back and kissing Jake.

"She woke up and called out for us. I walked in and she wanted me to pick her up and I did. She said her stomach hurt when I asked what was wrong and she was and still is warm." Jake said and Bradley's heart broke a little he hated it when one of his loved ones was sick. He felt his forehead and it was warm.

"Oh, poor Baby. I'll go and take a shower and change and then take her from you or finish breakfast. Has she eaten or drank anything?" He asked and Jake nodded.

"Downed a half of a bottle of apple juice and then went back to sleep." He said and Bradley nodded.

"I'll be right back." He said and headed upstairs. Jake heard the shower turn on and turned back to the food and not even 10 minutes later Bradley was walking down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Want me to finish breakfast or hold her?" He asked.

"You finish breakfast. I don't want to wake her up." Jake said and Bradley nodded as Jake gave him the spatula and Jake shifted her weight to where it was distributed equally. She moved a little bit but did not wake. Jake leaned up against the counter backward while holding her.

"How's she feeling?" Bradley asked as he flipped the pancakes and bacon. Her forehead was resting on his neck so he could feel it easily but wanted to feel it with his hand instead and that's what he did.

"She's not as warm." He said and then looked at the clock and it was 9 AM "Should we wake her and get some food into her?" Jake asked and Bradley turned to them and nodded and that's what they did. Jake tasked himself with waking her up as Bradley plated the food. "Hey, Sweets. It's time to get up. Do you want some food?" He asked as he rubbed her back and that roused her she slowly woke up and nodded and they smiled. Then she noticed Bradley.

"Daddy?" She asked in a queit voice.

"Hey, Honey." He came over and kissed her forehead with two plates of food one in each hand and headed to the table. Jake and Y/N weren't too far behind. Jake sat her down at the table and went to grab plates and her drink as she stole some bacon. "How's your tummy?" He asked as she took a bite of bacon.

"Better, Daddy." She said as Jake came back with plates and drinks.

"Good, Sweets. We don't like it when you're sick." Jake said and she nodded her head agreeing. The rest of the breakfast was filled with talking and eating.

The rest of the day they spent it together doing anything they could as a family before they had to go away for a month. Y/N hated when her daddies left her, she had grown so attached to them that it wasn't even funny.

——————————————————————

Sunday had come a lot sooner than they would have liked. They would be leaving at 2 PM so they were going to spend the morning with their little girl and getting her packed and ready to stay at Ice and Mav's. Instead of having Y/N sleep in her own bed they had let her sleep with them so they went to sleep together and woke up together, on occasion they would let her do this especially if the mission was high risk.

The morning was spent with laughter and talking like nothing was going on and like they weren't about to leave and potentially not come back. When they time was to come Carole and Goose were going to drive the boys and Y/N and then Ice and Maverick were going in their own car. Since Maverick was going then that meant that Goose was going because he was his RIO, of course Maverick knew how to fly without one but nothing better than him being able to fly with Goose.

12 PM rolled around and everyone was meeting at the Bradshaw-Seresin household. First it was Goose and Carole and then Ice and Maverick arrived. Nobody really talked everyone preparing for what was to come. Of course Y/N being the exact copy of her parents was hyper and bouncing off the walls saying hi to everyone and that honestly brought a smile to everyone's faces. She knew what was coming but she was just a bright happy girl and made the room light up. "You ready, Sweets?" Jake asked her picking her up and she nodded and they took that cue to leave the house. Ice had picked up her suitcase and walked out before them so they had time to rearrange suitcases and duffle bags.

"Papa?" Y/N asked looking at Jake and he turned to look at her as he stopped by Carole and Goose's car about to put her in.

"Yes, Sweets?" Jake asked as he began to open the door.

"Will you be back soon?" She asked innocently and he swore his heart broke.

"Very soon, Sweets. You're gonna have a good time with Grandpa Ice and before you know it Daddy and I will be back in no time." Jake said and then followed it by a kiss and that made her giggle. Everyone acted like they weren't listening but secretly they were and they were smiling. He buckled her into her car seat and then got in as everyone got in their cars and respected places and started to drive towards the dock.

They arrived at the dock and Bradley was the one that got her out and then everyone followed suit. When they got to the aircraft carrier Jake came over to Bradley and her and they both hugged her and she did the best to hug them both while everyone else said their goodbyes. Carole was snapping pictures left and right of the boys and their little girl, one particular picture she got and was going to cherish was when she threw each of her arms around their shoulders and they kissed her cheek not looking at the camera but facing her and she had the biggest smile on her face and eyes closed enjoying the company of her fathers.

Once everyone said their goodbyes Jake handed Y/N off to Ice and she protested but got comfortable in Ice's arms and settled down. She watched Bradley, Jake, Maverick, and Goose head towards the aircraft carrier to greet the other Daggers and to get ready to board the aircraft carrier . Once they boarded and watched the aircraft carrier sail away and once it was out of sight Ice turned to Carole. "Do you want to come over for a little bit and have a late lunch?" Ice asked and Y/N looked at her Grandma with puppy dog eyes.

"How can I say no to that face? Of course, I will." Carole said and stroked her granddaughter's face that lit up like a Christmas tree. "I'll follow you." She said and Ice nodded and they headed back to the cars. Ice got Y/N in with no problems and then got in and started the truck he made sure Carole was in and ready to go before pulling out and heading towards his and Maverick's house. It wasn't a very far drive when they got there Ice pulled in first and then Carole. Carole was already getting out of the car as Ice turned the truck off and then was getting out and opening the back door that way he could get her out from the middle seat. The three of them walked into the house after Ice had grabbed her suitcase and then they started to have their late lunch in the backyard talking about their plans and watching the energetic young version of Bradley and Jake run around the backyard.

——————————————————————

Jake and Bradley and the rest of The Daggers weren't on the aircraft carrier long before they started missing their little girl, even if it was just for a month it still hurt to leave. "How's Y/N?" Bob asked coming up to the fathers while everyone was sitting in a little common room not far from the bunks. Their kids had been hanging out more and more and they had almost come inseparable.

"She's doing good, was a little sick yesterday morning but quickly got over it." Bradley said, "How's Mason?" He asked and Bob smiled.

"He's doing good. Asking when he can see Y/N again." He said and everyone chuckled.

"We'll have to get them together when we get back." Jake said

"I bet when they get older that they'll get together, get married, and have kids." Javy said and everyone nodded in agreement.

"Oh please, lets not talk about that yet. She's not allowed to date until she's 30." Bradley said and Goose laughed and they looked at him. "What's so funny?" Bradley asked smiling.

"We said the same thing about you." He said and everyone laughed.

——————————————————————

Going into the third week of her fathers being gone she was getting antsy. Ice, Slider, and Carole had done everything to keep her distracted from going to the beach to going to the zoo that she had been to multiple times and her going to school.

One morning Ice had just finished getting ready for the day and getting everything prepared for her to go to school when he heard crying and grew concerned. He walked up to Y/N's room and opened the door and found her tossing and turning. She was mumbling incoherent words. Ice walked over to her bed and knelt down and began talking to her calmly. "Sunshine, it's ok." He said and nothing happened and she was still going on about something. "Y/N, it's just a bad dream. You're safe." He said rubbing her back again nothing. So, he sat on her bed and took her in his arms and held her while she sobbed and he shushed her. "Sunshine." He said again and that seemed to do the trick this time and she slowly woke up. "Are you ok?" He asked and she shook her head.

"Papa is hurt." She said and he looked at her confused.

"What do you mean, Sunshine?" He asked

"Papa went down in snow and Daddy went after him and got shot down." She said and this concerned Ice.

"It was just a bad dream, Sunshine." Ice said trying to soothe the poor child "They'll be home in no time and back to you." He said pulling her into him "Let's get ready for school. Slider and I are gonna pick you up afterward and we'll go out. How does that sound?" He asked.

"That sounds good." She said and that is what they did and as he was helping her get ready he kept thinking back to what she had said. He hoped she was wrong but he'll soon find out that she wasn't and it was going to wreck them.

——————————————————————

This was it. This was the mission. It's supposed to be a simple one. Go in scope out the enemy base, get information, take out the runway, and get out for they realize that they anyone is there. One by one The Daggers took off with Maverick and Goose leading then Bradley and Jake and the last Natasha and Bob. The first half was easy and they got what they needed and then when Cyclone gave the orders for bombs away they sent them and they were getting out of there as soon as possible. Everything was going smoothly until enemy fighters popped up and a dogfight began. Everyone had taken hits but The Daggers were still up and flying until Jake started to have mechanical problems from a bullet hitting his plane and fuel tank. "Hangman to Maverick I'm leaking fuel." Jake said being calm as ever but freaking out on the inside.

"Maverick to Hangman can you make it back to the aircraft carrier?" Maverick asked starting to worry and so was Goose that was his son-in-law.

"Negative." Jake said and this struck fear into Bradley and well everyone else.

"Rooster to Hangman you're going to have to eject. You can't save the jet. I know you love it as much as you love me and our daughter but it can't be saved." Bradley was pleading with his husband but got no response back and this worried him. He looked over and Jake was losing altitude and fast.

"I think is communication has gone out." Bob said watching his squad member lose control of his jet.

"Hangman, you need to eject." Goose said trying to get through to his son-in-law but got nothing in return.

"Come on Hangman. Don't do this to us." Natasha said as she watched helplessly and after 5 minutes or so they watched him nose dive right to the ground and eject as much too close to the ground as everyone was silent as the plane burst into flames and hoping a parachute had opened up.

"I'm going after him." Bradley said after 15 minutes of just flying around trying to see anything.

"Negative. We head back to the ship and let search and rescue find him." Maverick said and it was silent but Bradley wasn't going to do that.

"I'm going after him." He said and turned his jet around just as soon as a stray missile shot off from a SAM and hit the backend of his jet and making him go down. Fear struck everyone's hearts especially Goose and Maverick's. Goose just watched his son's go down. Everyone was ordered to return back to the aircraft carrier and as much as they didn't want to they had to.

——————————————————————

Jake went down 20 minutes before Bradley did and he had landed in a puddle that had to freeze over and it was snowing. He was soaked and freezing. The ejection had rattled him so much and he had hit his shoulder and the pain from that just made him lie there. His parachute did open but he was too low to the ground to have a safe landing. "Damn it." Jake said after coming around to his senses and trying to sit up but his shoulder protested and had him crashing back down in the fairly large puddle of cold water. After a few minutes of blinding white-hot pain, he heard a SAM being shot off and then he watched it fly and then hit a jet. "Please don't let it be Bradley." Jake said as his teeth rattled.

When Bradley went down he was able to open his parachute in time and landed safely. Once on the ground, he took off in the direction of the jet wreckage "Jake please be alive and not in that wreckage." Bradley pleaded as he got closer to it. He then saw a body lying in the snow in a puddle and sighed a sigh of relief but then panic started building up and he ran towards him as best as he could. "JAKE!" Bradley yelled and he didn't get a response. The pain had become so bad for Jake that he had passed out and was just lying there in the cold water. "Fuck, Jake." Bradley said but mostly to himself and started pulling him out of the puddle and then realized that he was soaking wet. "Come on, Babe. We have to get you warm." Bradley said as he hoisted Jake up with each arm under his armpits. Jake stirred a little bit, he knew that voice so he forced his eyes open.

"Bradley?" Jake asked slurring his words and then the pain hit "Shoulder. Stop. Hurts." Jake said.

"Yeah, it's me. Let's get out of this water and then I'll put you down. I'm sorry." Bradley said and true to his word once he was out of the water he put him down.

"You're not supposed to be here." Jake said teeth chattering.

"I couldn't just leave my husband and the father of my child alone." Bradley said and began trying to get them something dry to sit on and figured the parachute would have to do.

"I'm sorry." Jake said and Bradley looked at him, he was soaked and his helmet was off and his hair was wet. He was shivering and that made Bradley's heart break.

"For what?" Bradley asked

"For going down and then you being down here with me.

"Baby, I would go to the end of the earth for you." Bradley said cuddling him close trying to give him some body heat.

"I love you." Jake said and Bradley smiled and dropped a kiss onto Jake's wet head.

"I love you too. Now keep fighting. We have a little girl waiting at home for us." Bradley said as Jake shivered and Bradley held him closer. He just prayed and hoped that they would find them soon.

——————————————————————

Ice had just picked Y/N up from school with Slider and they were heading to a little café that everyone had grown to love, they were meeting Carole there. As they were driving Y/N and Slider were talking nonstop about something they both had an interest in and Ice just smiled. They finally arrived at the café and he parked just as soon as his phone rang. It was from a restricted number and his heart sank. Slider saw it too. "Go and take her in to meet Carole. I'm gonna answer this." Ice said and Slider nodded as he made quick work of getting the little girl out as Ice answered the phone.

"Hello." Ice said in a professional voice.

"Hey, it's me." Maverick said Ice could tell something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" Ice asked

"Bradley and Jake went down. They have search and rescue looking for them now. It's been 3 hrs." Maverick said and Ice's heart dropped.

"Do I need to tell Carole?" Ice asked voice starting to shake.

"Yes but make sure Y/N/N isn't there." Maverick said "Just to be on the safe side and we find them soon. I know how she gets when she gets worried." Maverick said and Ice nodded.

"Bring them home." Ice said

"We will. I love you." Maverick said

"I love you too." Ice replied and then they hung up. Now he has to tell Carole and Slider.

Ice sat in his truck and then took a breath and got out and walked into the building and to where the others were. "Slider, why don't you take Sunshine to look at the menu." Ice said and when Slider looked up and saw the look on Ice's face he knew not to argue and did just that.

"Come on, Y/N/N. Let's go see what we want to eat." Slider said and picked the girl up and then Ice turned to Carole who was quiet.

"Who is it?" Carole asked knowing that look on his face.

"Jake and Bradley." Ice said and Carole let a few tears leak out.

"How bad?" She asked wiping them away.

"Maverick didn't tell me. They haven't found them and it's been 3 hrs." Ice said and then pulled her into a hug once he moved to sit next to her. "You know, Y/N said that she had a nightmare about this happening." Ice said.

"When?" She asked

"This morning." He said

"She knew. She always knows when something happens to her daddies." Carole said and then put her emotions back as Slider and Y/N came back. Ice looked at her.

"Tell me what you want and Slider and I'll go order the food." He said and she nodded and told her and they walked off leaving Carole and her granddaughter to their own devices while food was being ordered.

"Who?" Slider asker and Ice sighed.

"Jake and Bradley." He told him and Slider paled.

"Do they know anything?" He asked and Ice shook his head.

"They haven't found them and it's been 3 hrs." Ice said

"For everyone's sake, I hope they find them fast." Slider said and Ice nodded and ordered the food.

——————————————————————

In the 8th hour, the search and rescue helicopter finally found them and landed. They were quick to rush to them at some point Jake passed out and Bradley was so cold that he had fallen asleep but woke up when he heard shouting.

"Lt. Commander Bradshaw, are you ok?" One of the medics asked he nodded.

"Just a little cold. It's him you have to worry about." Bradley said nodded down to his husband and they nodded and he helped them get Jake up on the backboard and onto the helicopter. They wrapped a blanket around both.

"Sorry for making you both wait so long. We had trouble locating you and had to make sure the coast was clear." Someone said and Bradley nodded not caring about what was being said just worried about his husband and the father of their daughter. Jake was unconscious and his lips were turning a tinge of blue. They got them up and going and before they knew it they were back on the aircraft carrier and headed to the med wing.

"Bradley." Maverick said and he turned to look at him and noticed his father was there too. They hugged each other and the questions started. Once everything was sorted "I'm gonna see if I can call Ice." He said and they nodded leaving Bradley and Goose together waiting on their loved one.

When Maverick got to his office he closed the door and sighed in relief. They were safe but Jake was not out of the woods. Now it was time to call Ice and get Bradley and Jake back to their little girl. He dialed Ice's number and it rang twice before he picked up.

"Mav?" Ice's voice came through.

"They found them." Maverick said and he heard Ice sigh in relief.

"How are they?" Ice asked

"They haven't told me anything but it looks like Jake is going through a serious case of hypothermia and Bradley seems ok just a little shaken up but looks unscathed. Goose is with him waiting for news on Jake." Maverick explained to his husband who had gone quiet and that was understandable.

"Do I need to wait to tell Carole and Slider?" Ice asked

"You're the Admiral you can tell them if you want." Maverick smiled and chuckled and Ice chuckled.

"That is true. When will you guys be home?" Ice asked

"They're flying them out as soon as possible and the rest of us will be scheduled for the regular time. Goose will probably go with Jake and Bradley." Maverick said and Ice nodded even though Maverick couldn't see it.

"Get home safely and don't forget that I love you." Ice said and Maverick smiled.

"I love you too. See you soon." Maverick said and then they both hung up.

Goose came in after they ended the phone call and Maverick looked over to him. "They're flying Jake, Bradley, and I out in 10 minutes." He said and Maverick nodded.

"That's good. Go on and I'll meet you on land and meet you at the hospital." Maverick said and then Maverick pulled his RIO into a hug and they stayed like that for a few minutes until they parted and Goose headed out of the office getting ready to leave with the helicopter.

——————————————————————

Ice had just gotten off the phone with Maverick around 9 PM. Carole and Slider were over after having supper and then watched a movie that Y/N insisted on watching and not 20 minutes into the movie she was out like a light snoring on lightly on Slider. When Ice had gotten the call he had walked out of the room. He walked in and they looked at him. "They got them." Ice said loud enough to hear but quiet enough not to wake the sleeping child. Everyone side in relief.

"How are they?" Carole asked happy tears streaming down her face.

"Maverick hasn't heard much about Jake's condition but it looks like he is going through a serious case of hypothermia and Bradley seems ok just a little shaken up but looks unscathed. Maverick said that Goose was with Bradley waiting for news on Jake." Ice said "He also told me that they were flying Jake, Bradley, and Goose back as soon as possible." He added.

"What do we do now?" Slider asked

"We wait until they give us a call and tell us which hospital they're taking him too." He said and they nodded and he sat down and they finished watching the movie. Not even 15 minutes more into the movie Ice got the call and told them what hospital they were taking Jake too, they were also taking Bradley just to him get checked over since he too was out in the cold.

"What about Y/N?" Slider asked and Ice and Carole looked at each other.

"Do you mind staying here with her until everything gets settled and conditions are talked about?" Ice asked and Slider nodded.

"Of course, your guys are like family. I would do anything for you especially this little girl." He nodded down to the sleeping child who had yet to wake and had only moved to change positions. Ice and Carole thanked him and they were on their way after kissing their granddaughter goodbye.

They took separate cars to the hospital and luckily it wasn't too far away from the house. They got their in no time. They parked next to each other and walked into the building and were met by Goose who rushed to his wife and hugged her and then hugged Ice. "They just took Jake back and Bradley." He said once he released Ice and they nodded and went to sit in the waiting room. "Where's Chick?" Goose asked.

"She's with Slider. We figured she shouldn't be here until we knew of conditions and she was asleep." Carole said as she leaned further into her husband. 10 minutes later the doctor, who knew them very well.

"We really need to stop meeting under circumstances like this." Dr. Rachel Hayes said trying to lighten the mood and it worked a little bit. "Bradley is fine he'll be sore and that's it. Jake on the other hand is in critical condition. From what Bradley said and the medical team said he had laid in a puddle of cold water for awhile and was soaked head to toe and he had dislocated shoulder, which we put back into place. He also had some broken ribs and looks like a broken wrist but nothing to serious to end his career." She said and everyone nodded as they listened.

"You guy's can see him but just prepare yourselves." She said and led them the way to Jake. Bradley was already in there by his husband's side. Bradley looked up and got up and hugged his mother and Ice. "Let me know if he wakes up or something goes on." She said and everyone nodded.

"Where's Y/N?" Bradley asked going to sit back down by his husband's side while looking at them.

"Slider has her. Carole and I figured we would see you first and asses the situation before bringing her here. Plus she was as asleep." Ice said and he nodded.

"It was bad guys. The mission was successful but his fuel tank was hit and he was going down and then his communication went out. I followed after him and a stray SAM deployed and hit my backside and luckily I ejected high enough unlike Jake. I thought I was going to lose him and I thought Y/N was going to lose her dad." Bradley said as he looked at the now intubated Jake watching his chest rise and fall and listening to his heart monitor. Everyone's heart broke. "When do you think we should bring Y/N in?" Bradley asked looking up from his husband.

"Maybe not for a couple of days. Let Jake rest and let you rest." Carole said and he nodded.

"I'm gonna call Slider and let him know the plan." Ice said and they nodded and now it was just the Bradshaw and Bradshaw-Seresin family. A few minutes later Ice was coming back in and sitting with the family members.

——————————————————————

It had been a week and Dr. Rachel Hayes was in and out checking in on Jake and each day was better than before and they were grateful for that. One day while Bradley was the only one in there while the rest went home to grab some things and pick up Maverick, Dr. Hayes had walked in and checked on Jake and Bradley normally she would have a nurse come in but she insisted that she be the one to check up on him. "Dr. Hayes?" Bradley asked and she looked up and over at him.

"Yes?" She asked

"You remember our daughter, right?" He asked and she nodded with a smile. "When can she see him?" He asked.

"At this point. I would say anytime. Just understand that it may be little but traumatic for her. I just ask that she doesn't cuddle with him at this time nit until he's awake." She said with a smile and Bradley nodded.

"I understand. She had to deal with me while I was in the hospital due to a training accident 6 months back." Bradley said and she nodded she remembered that she wasn't on shift or call that time due to taking a vacation. She nodded and then left and Bradley looked over at Jake. "I don't know if you can hear me or not but I need to say this. You need to come back to us. I need you. Your baby girl needs you." He said and kissed his forehead. Goose, Carole, and Maverick had just walked into the room and everyone greeted each other and Bradley updated them on Jake's condition. "Dr. Hayes said that we could bring Y/N in anytime since his condition is better." Bradley said.

"When do you want to do that?" Maverick asked

"I was thinking now." He said and everyone nodded.

"I'll call Slider to bring her on in." Ice said and they nodded and he walked out of the room. Nobody talked and that was ok. 5 minutes later Ice was walking back in "He'll be here in 10. He also said that he would tell her what is going on." He said and they nodded.

10 minutes later Slider was walking in with Y/N and when she saw Bradley she practically leapt into his arms when he stood up and walked over to them "Daddy!" She yelled out and he hugged her like his life depended on it and tears fell from his eyes. "Why you cry, Daddy?" She asked looking at him and wiping his tears and that made everyone start to cry.

"I'm just happy to see you, Honey." Bradley said truth was that she reminded him of Jake and that hurt.

"Papa?" She asked looking at him.

"He's ok just sleep." Bradley said and she tried to go to him but he stopped her "No, Honey you can't cuddle with him right now." He said and that made her cry.

"But, Daddy. Papa." She said and cried harder and tried harder to get to him but he stopped her everytime.

"Soon, Honey. I promise." Bradley said and she seemed ok with that answer because she settled down but pouted. Seconds, minutes, and hours went by with no update. Y/N had gone to sleep around 9 PM and was sleeping soundly in Bradley's arms. Most of everyone went home besides Carole and Goose. They had offered to take Y/N home but Bradley refused to give her up.

4 more days went by and it was during the night when Jake started to come around. Bradley and Y/N were asleep on the couch and Goose was up while Carole was asleep on the other couch. Goose watched Jake's eyes open and he smiled and was thankful when he didn't start to panic. Goose and he had a silent conversation and then Goose was up and heading to the nurse's station where they paged Dr. Hayes who was there in no time with some nurses. Carole had woken up and joined Goose but hadn't woken up the other father and daughter they had been the ones that were up the most. Dr. Hayes and her team quickly got him extubated and instructions were made and she was leaving. She had also given permission for Y/N to cuddle with Jake.

The commotion had woken Bradley up unfortunately and he was up in a instant without waking their daughter up. Goose and Carole stood back and cried as they reunited and kissed each other. "We're going to go and get some coffee and leave you three be." Goose said and Bradley and Jake nodded not being able to say anything with out breaking down but once they were gone they broke down and started talking.

"I thought I lost you, Babe." Bradley said and kissed Jake.

"I know, Baby. But I'm here. I heard what you said and kept fighting." Jake said "Now where is my Sweets?" He asked Bradley and he chuckled.

"Sleeping but I'll get her." He said and walked over to her and picked her up and walked her over.

"Dr. Hayes said that she was good to cuddle." Jake said and Bradley nodded.

"I heard." Bradley said and smiled and gently laid her down next to Jake. She snuggled into him recognizing the scent and warmth of her other father and that woke her up immediately.

"Papa?" She asked sleepily.

"Hey, Sweets. I missed you." He said and she hugged him like it was her lifeline. Carole and Goose had came back to the scene of her sitting in bed looking at Jake full of love and Bradley doing the same at both of them. They gave them a few more minutes before they walked in. When they did everyone greeted everyone and talking began catching up. Y/N tried to keep awake but the battle of sleep won and she had fallen back to sleep on Jake.

——————————————————————

Over the next few days everyone came and saw him and Jake was back to his cocky self that everyone loved. Maverick and Ice visited a lot since they were family. When Jake was released he was told to take it easy and he did and before he knew it he was back up in the air doing what he did best and taking care of his little girl.

As he was putting her to bed one night after insisting that he wanted to do it and told Bradley to go onto bed. He laid in bed with her on his chest as she snoozed away. He laid there awake thinking about if he didn't make it but he wasn't going to let that happen because he loved his family too much and he had to fight for his and Bradley's child. She was their whole world. "I love you, Sweets. I'm not leaving anytime soon." He told her and kissed the top of her head and then he drifted off to sleep. A few minutes later when Bradley rolled over and didn't feel Jake he grew confused and got up and to search for him. He couldn't find him anywhere until he remembered that he put their daughter to bed. So, he went there and opened the door and light from the hallway and her night light filled the room.

"That's where you are." Bradley said to himself and smiled when he saw Jake and Y/N cuddled up on her twin bed both laying the same way and snoring lightly, he shook his head she was defiantly a perfect mix of them. He thought about waking him but figured Jake needed all the cuddling from his little girl that he needed. He would get his cuddles later. He walked in and threw an extra blanket over Jake and then kissed both of their heads "I love you both so much." He said and then slipped out of her room and cracking the door and then walking back to his and Jake's room while turning off the hallway light. He got into bed and quickly fell back to sleep knowing his daughter and husband were safe and sound just two doors down.

Tag list:

@athenabarnes

@fanboyluvr

@aizawash0e

@els-marvelvsp

@alohastitch0626

@itsdesiree86

@callsigns-haze

@happypopcornprincess

@kmc1989

@atarmychick007

@nyx2021

@sabrinaselina55

@grandstrangerphantom

@mavrellover91

@angenu01-blog

@talesofreading

[booksinmythorax]

On Tyranny and Tumblr #10: Believe in truth.

To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis on which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.

In other words, Snyder is saying there's a reason an administration might, for example, remove data sets from the CDC website.

Snyder spends a lot of time in this chapter with 1930s German philologist Victor Klemperer's "four modes" of the death of truth under authoritarianism (Snyder, p. 66-69):

"Open hostility to verifiable reality": Lies. Just straight up boldly lying, about anything from the cause of a plane crash to the outcome of an election, especially when the facts are right there and visible to everyone.

"Shamanistic incantation": "Endless repetition" of slogans and nicknames and soundbites until non sequiturs and ad hominem arguments sound like verified fact. For this to work, huge groups of people need to feel more comfortable accepting lies than they do accepting that they can be fooled.

"Magical thinking": "The open embrace of contradiction". This isn't the radical acceptance kind of stuff that you'd learn in therapy to better your individual life. This is 2 + 2 = 5. This is replacing fact checks with, as one former student of Klemperer's put it, "[abandoning] yourself to your feelings and focusing on the Fuhrer's greatness instead of the discomfort you are feeling at present". Scary stuff, but stuff people do all the time.

"Misplaced faith": Basically making a leader into a god, leaving no room "for the small truths of our individual discernment and experience". In this way, truth becomes "oracular rather than factual". Instead of facts being about what can be verified, they become about who said them best and appealed best to the emotions of frightened, poorly educated, prejudiced people.

Snyder also highlights a passage from Romanian playwright Eugène Ionesco's account of his experience in the 1930s with a counterfascist group trying to formulate arguments against those put forth by the Nazi Party.

"From time to time, one of our friends said: 'I don't agree with them, to be sure, but on certain points, nevertheless, I must admit, for example, the Jews...', etc. And this was a symptom. Three weeks later, this person would become a Nazi."

Here are some ways we can focus on believing in truth in our online lives:

If you know a public figure is a large-scale liar - for example, if a reputable newspaper made a list of over 30,000 lies he told in 4 years - don't listen to a word they say. Don't watch the press conferences. Don't focus on quotes or soundbites from them. Go ahead and assume they're only lying if their mouth is open. If they make a factual statement, consider it an accident. Truth isn't about one person, anyway.

Use Media Bias/Fact Check to determine the validity of sources you find on the internet. Try to only get your information from sources with a good fact check score.

Don't repeat falsehoods. Before you reblog or repost anything that appeals to your emotions - makes you angry, makes you sad, makes you feel grim satisfaction or hopelessness or even schadenfreude - research. Find out who said it, when, to whom, and why. If you don't have time to research, don't spread it around.

Learn to read critically. Kelly Jensen wrote a great guide to critically reading a press release from the federal government in 2025.

We covered this a little bit in #9: don't use the same nicknames, slogans, or labels for things that the fascists do. Repeating the "incantations" makes them sound more like truth.

Say true things as loudly as you can. We don't know exactly why a plane and a US Army helicopter crashed over the Potomac River as of this writing, but a lack of air traffic controllers may have contributed to it. Don't even repeat the falsehood in your attempt to refute it. Just research and then say the true thing.

Feel free to list other applications in comments or tags or on reblogs.

Other lessons from On Tyranny:

#1: Do not obey in advance

#2: Defend institutions

#3: Beware the one-party state

#4: Take responsibility for the face of the world

#5-7: Remember professional ethics, Be wary of paramilitaries, and Be reflective if you must be armed

#8: Stand out

#9: Be kind to our language

[puzzlefaggot]

really confuses me when i see people saying azran legacy takes place over only a week or so because........... no.....

(spoilers)

at the start of the game when travelling from kodh to london, theres this part that says "a few days later..."

this cuts to grosky being given the mission to look for targent, so it might be even later that layton & co arrive in london, but we can probably assume it takes about 4 days to travel between london and kodh. froenborg is also probably about the same distance away, since it didn't take them that long to travel between the two. if you consider that they go back to froenborg at the end of the game, then we already have around 8 days

the nest is also probably not too far from froenborg, since layton was able to follow descole there piloting the bostonius by himself and only crashing right at the end (this is insane by the way how did he do this lol)

i don't think we have any other points of reference for how far away the other locations are from each other, but I'm going to assume they're all about the same distance (4 days)

if we start in froenborg (0 days), go to kodh (0 days), then london (4 days), spend one day in london preparing everything (5 days), go to phong gi (9 days), spend the day finding the egg (10 days), go to san grio (14 days), find the egg (15 days), travel to torrido + egg (20 days), travel to hoogland + egg (25 days), travel to mossonia + egg (30 days), travel to kodh (34 days), travel to nest (38 days), end of the game

this is assuming that in canon they don't do any of the world times stuff and find the eggs in one day each, if they did do world times this probably doubles...

anyway there's no point to this post other than The bostonius is Not a plane it takes time to travel between locations. thank you

[thgfanfictionlibrary]

Teen and Up Rated Fics Masterlist (11)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 /

Created: November 20th, 2023

Last Checked:—-

A Touch of the Fingertips-melchimaus (ao3) Summary: A little romance on a cold evening.

Dumpster Dive-thesweetnessofspring (ao3) Summary: Peeta throws out a semester's worth of art only to find his friend Delly's new roommate saved one of them from the dumpster.

Here-sweetlovegone (ao3) Summary: "I wake to a crash. Where Peeta's warm body should be beside me, breathing steadily in the light of dawn, there is a cold empty space." Katniss comforts Peeta on one of his bad days. Post MJ, pre-epilogue.

I'm so tired, Katniss-oakfarmer (ao3) Summary: Growing back together through a series of naps

just close your eyes, the sun is going down-rosaeles (ao3) Summary: Peeta Mellark touches the skin in a way that is near reverent, as if she’s something to be worshipped. As if he’s a cartographer, mapping her out for the first time - the valley between her breasts, the faded meandering scars on her hands, the soft plane of her stomach. Katniss wonders if he can feel the coils forming inside her too. or, a place for me to put all my silly little thg drabbles based on requests and prompts!

Night Shift-Naty_Mu (ao3) Summary: Katniss Everdeen has been working in the psychiatric hospital for only three weeks when the suspect of the most gruesome murders in the history of the city of Panem is brought in for a psychiatric evaluation. When she discovers that it is Peeta Mellark, the kind-hearted boy with whom she went to school for fourteen years, her interest in the case spikes. Written for PIP, Day One: Red. Inspired in Eminem's song "3 am."

Second Chances-annieoakley1 (ao3) Summary: Dr. Peeta Mellark dreamed of one day running into his high school girlfriend and maybe paving the road to reconciliation with the one who got away. But he never imagined it happening like this. Everlark, modern day AU. Oneshot.

Study Date-everlarktoast (ao3) Summary: Katniss and Peeta are keeping their relationship hidden from their conservative parents, but what happens when Mr. Everdeen finds them kissing during an innocent study date? A fluffy, cute, funny and a lil bit sexy ever lark drabble

Surprise!-melchimaus (ao3) Summary: Nothing ever goes as planned. Written for the 2018 Everlark fic exchange, based on peetaspikelets prompt: "I wish that ball had hit you in the face!"

Tangled-melchimaus (ao3) Summary: Katniss helps a stranger off the roof, and ends up questioning her entire life.

[happilylovingchaos]

911 Lone Star Countdown - Disasters Week Questions

Hello and thank you for including me @lonestar-s5countdown! This is a little trickier for me to answer tbh. I think 9-1-1 might stand to have longer-lasting consequences from their natural disasters (no need to skip past tsunami wreckage recovery or months-long rebuilding of the highway collapse, those would make some meaty dramatic narrative arcs), but otherwise it so far edges out Lone Star when it comes to order of experience (like, which state got which disaster first).

1) My favorite disaster… okay, gonna have to divvy btwn the 9-1-1s for this!

The plane crash in 9-1-1 (OG) would probably be my underrated favorite in terms of narrative developments for Buck, Bobby and Abby.

Season 4’s heat wave was more glossed over for plot setup, but I didn’t mind this natural disaster precisely because it was a little smaller in scale and because the plot setups (even the Iris arc tho that definitely needed fine tuning in hindsight) hooked me in already. (I also didn’t mind Brianna and Caleb in this one b/c this time Caleb’s situation was not his own fault.)

2) Since they’ve already done tornadoes (though, there’s always a chance they’ll do those again), a volcanic eruption, wildfires and a winter storm, I would think the only disasters LS hasn’t gotten down yet are freeway collapses, floods (barring how the cast would look while soaking wet, don’t ignore areas like Galveston, writers! There’s WAY more to the state than farmland, Dallas, Austin and El Paso yk! Let’s just say before I digress I kinda wish the showrunners were able to film in actual Texas), a border skirmish (just out of genuine interest— not getting any more political and no Owen’s refugee rescue doesn’t count) or droughts/ water shortages (no, heat waves also don’t count). I also just realized that the domestic terrorist arc could have waited for a later season too! O’Brien and Owen had chaotic good vibes much akin to him and Billy Tyson (if the three of them worked together tho? The 126 should probably move their whole firefighter team out of Travis County b/c they ain’t gonna go through the second-hand pain again).

3) They had and lost me at meteor/ asteroid, so I’m not sure I’d say looking forward to it. It all depends on execution, I suppose? (Sorry for the question mark, I’m just baffled since that usually needs film-length amount of time— I’ve seen the film Deep Impact. Scientific nitpicks aside the investigations, action and future implications in that film were well-paced enough.)

4) My top 3? Judd b/c he’s a great all-around leader whenever shit hits the fan— honest (sometimes to a fault but I can kinda relate), strong integrity and conscientiousness, and so dad-like even before he became a dad. Mateo b/c he’d be like the underrated badass youngest brother of any group— speaking as an only child tho. Third… boy, I can’t break this tie. It’s a draw between Tommy (she’s very composed and professional even during the times she isn’t) and Paul (I’d like to learn memorization-observational skills from him, and he fits the “cool Zen mode” temperament a little better than Carlos, don’t @ me).

5) This is painful… okay I’m so sorry. I don’t think I can answer this one as of now.

Tagging next: @lutavero @reyesstrand @toomanycupsoftea @fitzherbertssmolder @marjansmarwani @trkstrnd

[les-pompiers118]

The road home

9-1-1 ficlet | 2x03 coda | 1.3K words | rated Teen

I'm back with my little asphalt truck full of words to fill in the cracks between episodes, for @911hiatus' Week 4 prompt, "refuge." We were truly robbed (robbed!) of seeing the scene when Buck meets Chris for the first time. So here ya go: the first ever Buckley-Diaz Family Moment.

“So, you made it through your first natural disaster,” Buck says to break the silence in the car. The radio’s off, the road is practically empty by L.A. standards, and the power’s still out on a lot of blocks. Staying quiet just makes the night feel that much eerier.

Eddie huffs. “You say that like there’s going to be a lot more of them.”

Buck steers them smoothly around the curve of an offramp. Okay, maybe now isn’t the best time to suggest that disasters are going to be a regular thing, while they’re on their way to pick up Eddie’s son at his school after a big earthquake. Even though he knows Christopher is safe, Eddie’s not going to be alright until he lays eyes on his kid. Buck gets that.

“I just meant that it was an intense day for someone who’s only been on the job for a few weeks. You okay?”

“Not my first rodeo, Buck. Warzones, remember?”

Eddie’s smiling in the dark beside him, Buck can tell, which means he’s not offended. “Yeah, but earthquakes are a different kind of warzone. The only enemy here was, uh—”

“Gravity?” Eddie finishes for him.

“I was gonna say tectonic plates, but yeah, gravity was definitely working against us today.”

“That elevator, man. Crazy.”

“Pfft, yeah,” Buck agrees.

“How many disasters have you worked, exactly? You’ve only been doing this for, what, a year?”

Buck tilts his head in acknowledgement. “This would be my second. There was that plane crash last winter, the one that went down right off the beach by LAX. Not a natural disaster, obviously, but a major incident.”

“Oh, wow. That must have been something.”

“It was… pretty bad.”

Eddie doesn’t say more, and Buck thinks he’s done with this particular subject, but then he asks tentatively, “What did you do afterwards? I mean, after your shift ended? How did you deal with it?”

Buck shivers, remembering the cold water and the smell of jet fuel that clung to them all on the ride back to the station. He remembers Bobby’s uncharacteristic silence and how his own thoughts kept going back to Abby and that call she took from a passenger on the plane. She was the last person that guy talked to, a faceless voice coming through his phone, and there was nothing she could do to help him.

“I, uh, took a long, hot shower and got myself cleaned up,” Buck answers after a long pause. “And then I went home and watched TV for a few hours, I think. Sitcoms, reality shows, dumb stuff like that. Anything but the fucking news.”

“So you just try to put it out of your head as quickly as possible?” Eddie asks, sounding skeptical.

“And sleep. That helps too.” Buck grins over at him in the light of some oncoming headlights. “Isn’t that what you guys did in an actual warzone, when shit went down?”

Eddie chuckles. “Sort of. It was a little bit harder to take off the uniform and drive away from it all at the end of the day, though. And the sleeping part wasn’t always as easy, depending on where we were.”

“I bet. Hey, we’re almost there,” Buck says, bending closer to his phone to look at the GPS map. “Should I park in the lot?”

“No, just pull up to the front doors. They said they’d be waiting for me right inside.”

Buck has barely put the car in park before Eddie’s out and running towards the school. Leaning across the passenger seat, he watches Eddie’s silhouette against the brightly lit hallway beyond the glass doors, his impatient little shuffle while he waits to be buzzed in. And then he’s through and down on his knees to hug a kid who looks impossibly small next to the teacher standing there.

Buck’s throat suddenly gets tight and he blinks hard. He can almost feel the relief in that hug, the fierce love. God.

Eddie talks with the teacher for a minute, then scoops Christopher up and carries him out. Through the open window of the Jeep, Buck can hear Eddie’s voice, reassuring and cheerful, as they approach.

“Where’s your truck?” Christopher asks as his dad opens the back door and sets him into the booster seat.

“Some bricks fell off the back of the firehouse during the earthquake and broke the windshield,” Eddie explains. “I’ll have someone come fix it tomorrow, but tonight we get a chauffeur. This is Buck. He’s a firefighter, too. Buck, meet Christopher.”

Buck twists around to see into the back seat better. Christopher smiles right back at him under the dome light, all baby teeth and brown curls. Something grips the inside of Buck’s chest, both painful and sweet.

“Nice to meet you, Christopher,” he says. “One-way trip to the Diaz residence, coming right up.”

Chris cranes his neck a little to talk to Buck as Eddie gets him buckled in. “You and my dad work together? At the firehouse?”

“Yup.”

“Is he doing a good job so far?”

Eddie bursts out laughing and wraps one hand around Christopher’s head to plant a kiss on top of it. “Are you asking for my report card, kiddo? I don’t think it’s time for me to get one, just yet. And Buck’s not my captain.”

“He’s doing great,” Buck assures Christopher. “He’s taking to it like a duck to water. Just jumped right into the pond with a big splash and started swimming.”

That earns him a giggle from Christopher and a barely-concealed smile from Eddie.

Buck gets their address and they set off again. Thankfully, they don’t have far to go and none of the streets are blocked off. Christopher tells his dad about his extra-long day at school and what they got to do after the earthquake instead of their usual subjects. It sounds like the teachers pulled out all the stops to make sure the kids weren’t scared while they waited to be picked up—movies, games, and music in the gymnasium.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t come get you sooner,” Eddie says over his shoulder. “There were a lot of calls coming in today.”

“It’s okay, Dad. You were helping people. And I got to make a volcano with the science teacher!”

“See?” Buck says to Eddie across the front seat. “Another natural disaster already.”

“Two in one day. I’m gonna need a few extra sitcoms tonight, I guess.”

Buck glances into the rearview mirror, where he can just see Christopher’s face in the booster seat, and tells Eddie quietly, “I think you have something better than TV to help you put the day behind you.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right.”

Buck can tell he’s smiling again.

It’s almost 9:00 PM when they pull into Eddie’s driveway. Buck expects to reverse right back out again and make his way to Abby’s apartment, but Eddie turns to him after he shuts off the engine.

“I know it’s kind of late, but do you want to come in for a bit? I can make us something to eat after I get Chris to bed. It’s just frozen pizza, but you’d be welcome to it.”

Eddie sounds tentative, Buck thinks, maybe because he’s a little embarrassed about the pizza (which Buck would gladly devour right now), or because they don’t really know each other all that well yet. Until this morning, Buck didn’t even know he had a kid. And now here he is at the end of the same day, parked in front of Eddie’s tiny mission revival house and being offered dinner.

“Come on,” Eddie coaxes. “It’s the least we can do to thank you for the ride.”

“Yeah, come inside,” Christopher chimes in eagerly.

Buck looks out at the house again. This is Eddie’s home and refuge, the center of his life outside the firehouse. He and Christopher are inviting Buck into their little world tonight, if only for frozen pizza. There’s a cricket singing somewhere in the bushes, and the porchlight casts a cozy, golden glow over the lawn, beckoning him.

“All right,” Buck says at last. “I will.”

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Bimonthly Media Roundup

- Wind Breaker (Anime) - Surprised to include this 4 weeks in a row as it was a pretty simple and quick season, but I found myself going back to quite a few moments for a second watch, either to appreciate the pretty fight choreography or to aww at all the wholesome emotional moments that the "feral cat experiences love and affection for the first time and cannot handle it" protagonist gets. I still wouldn't call it a must watch or anything, it's specific brand of ridiculousness isn't going to appeal to everyone, but I had fun, I'll check out the second season when it drops.

- Alien Stage (Web Series) - Final video dropped for this portion of the Alien Stage saga, and as a whole the series was very entertaining. The music slaps every time, the characters have nice designs with tragic gay romantic entanglements, the art is super pretty and the plot was intriguing and interesting to dig deeper into. I love animatics, musicals, and music videos in general so it's perfect for me, though I suppose it would be easier to convince other people to watch it if it was an anime or webcomic, not everyone is as in to the interpretation through song and visuals with limited dialogue thing. Anyway a good time, I for one will be rewatching quite a bit.

- Mouthwashing (Video Game) - This was an interesting little single session horror game. I wouldn't say it was mind-blowing, a bit too short and simple with sometimes janky graphics, but it had some neat visual ideas, a straightforward and poignant lesson about SA Culture and Avoiding responsibility/confrontation, and produced some really stellar fanworks. It's structure keeps it interesting and it's a unique enough concept where I can see how it stuck in peoples mind, It's worth a watch/play for horror fans, especially given it will only take around 2 hours.

- The Locked Tomb Series (Books) - If I had a nickel for every piece of media on this list that contained cannibalism as a significant story beat I'd have 6 nickels. Which is kind of a lot considering there are only 9 options here. 2/3rds cannibalism ratio. Should I be worried about myself?

- One Piece Fan Letter (Anime) - Honestly the best One Piece content to come out in quite awhile. Obviously the animation style helps alot as its bright and flowy and very charming, but honestly the plot was really cute as well. In general it's nice to get Outsiders POV in the world once in awhile, and seeing how many people where positively affected by the briefest encounters with the Straw Hats/ Encouraged to follow their dreams and take risks is really nice, striking the heart of the series and tapping into the best parts of it. OP has plenty of flaws but when it's good it's really good, and you can tell this was made with a lot of love and passion for the show. Good stuff!

- Malevolent (Podcast) - Yuppers.

- Yellowjackets (TV) - So this was the big one of the month, the survivalist lesbian cannibal show has captivated me. I was actually a bit worried about the cannabalism aspect when pitching we watch it to my sister, as from what I've heard a mystery/suspense show about a group of girls whose plane crash's in the wilderness whose story alternates between the past timeline of them struggling to survive and the current timeline of some of the girls struggling to forget what happened and function normally in society with an ongoing question of "who survived and what did they do?" sounds right up both of alleys, but my sister would probably not be down for the eating eachother thing. Luckily she decided to watch it anyway and that aspect hasn't been too bad so far , though I suppose that really depends on your tolerance for that kinda thing, uh. People do get eaten. Anyway that's really underselling it, what makes the show work is it's slow build of tension, both in the past and present timelines the situations keep building until they spiral out of control with the show somehow continually making you shocked at the escalation and sheer insanity of it all. The vast majority of the cast is made of of complex and interesting women who have complex and interesting relationships to other women, which is certainly a nice change of pace. It's not all doom in gloom, there are emotional highs, characters you root for, and real sympathy for everyone involved, no matter how many bad choices they made. Plot wise it's great as well, the first season can be a little slow at times with some of the modern day plotlines but the latter half of that season and season 2 really spices things up with the adult timelines, and the young timeline is just solid throughout. Lots of fun visuals, memorable moments, and possibly a supernatural presence, though that remains to be seen. The only nitpik I can really think of that hasn't been addressed is that music hasn't really stood out so far? There's been a couple of good pop/indie tracks that were incorporated well but I can't recall any instrumental tracks that stood out, so we'll see if season 3 adds some new ones. If you're not squeamish I honestly recommend it, it's good TV.

- Dungeon Meshi (Manga) - Yup.

- Genshin Impact (Video Game) - Yes.

Listening To: Tongues and Teeth by The Crane Wives, Dream Girl Evil by Florence + The Machine, Creep by Radiohead, Ruthlessness from EPIC the Musical, The Main Character by Will Wood, Lunch, Stick Season, Feeling Good, and Too Sweet Covers by Reinaeiry, Like A Prayer Choir Version from Deadpool 3, Dial Drunk Cover by Chloe Breez, Kiss From A Rose by Seal, Could Have Been Me by The Struts.

[myhauntedsalem]

REAL NURSES SHARE TRUE GHOST STORIES

Don’t Let Them Take Me

The best I have heard is from a nurse who said that one night she was floated to oncology at the hospital where she used to work. She was given a patient who was passing away and had been unconscious for several days. At one point during the night the nurse went into the room and the patient was at the top of the bed and looked at her and said, “Don’t let them take me!” The nurse was freaked out and asked the patient who was going to take her and she said that black thing up there and pointed up in the air. This patient died within minutes.

Calling From the Grave

We had a patient who was always on the call button. You know the type. The nurses have to take turns during the shift answering the call button so the primary can actually do other work.

I work 7pm-7am. He died about 8pm. Oh, the look on his face, like, “How could you let me die!” Like it was our fault. Anyway, family came and gone by 9pm, funeral home gone at 9:30pm. About 10pm, the call button starts going off. I was there – call button going off every 5 minutes.

One of the nurses was a very spiritual girl. At about 2am, after like 4 HOURS OF THIS, nurse Mary snaps, “Enough!”

She walks down and practically screams into the empty room: “Mr. X, you have died. You can’t be in here bothering us anymore. Move along. In the name of Jesus, I’m exorcising you from this plane of existence. Go to the light and be happy!”

And I kid you not, the call button stopped going off then and there.

Time to Die

I don’t know if this qualifies as a ghost story but here it is. I was taking care of a 12 year old with aplastic anemia. A week before she died, every day, at 12:15pm, I would get a cold chill across the back of my neck and the hair there would stand up. I mentioned it to the evening nurse, who was convinced she would die at that time. Several days later, her parents decided to cease all treatment. She lapsed into a coma. At 12 noon, she woke; asked me to hold her up; said goodbye to her parents, grandparents, and siblings; and died in my arms. It was 12:15 pm.

Betty’s Back

I work as a CNA in long term care. We had one resident, “Betty,” who was totally independent. All ADL’s were done on her own and she did fine on her own, never had an incident. The only time she wanted help was showers and then she only wanted you around to make sure she didn’t slip and fall. Betty came down with pneumonia and had to be hospitalized. When she came back she was too weak to do things on her own but too stubborn to ask for help. The last thing the CNA told her before going to bed was “If you want to get up, hit your call light. I’ll come help you.” Of course she didn’t, got rid of the bed alarm, climbed out of bed, and fell. Betty died from the fall. Her bed has been empty since.

The following week the call light for the room went off at night. Thinking it was the resident in bed B I walked down the room to see what she wanted. I walked into the room only to see the call light for bed B and A off, the call light for bed C (Betty’s unoccupied bed) was on. My eyes filled up with tears, I backed out of the room, and made someone else turn the call light off.

Don’t Let Me Die

This is really more of a possession than a ghost story. I was helping another nurse with a patient that had lived a very hard life. He had numerous things going on with him, from cardiac to renal failure. This man was very much afraid to die. Every time his heart monitor beeped, he would just go into a rage screaming, “Don’t let me die! Don’t let me die!” The other nurse and I found out why he didn’t want to die.

About 0200 his cardiac monitor starts alarming V-Tach. We both rush into the room. I am pulling the crash cart behind me. When I get to the room, the other nurse is completely white. This man was sitting about 2 inches above the bed and was laughing. His whole look completely changed. His eyes just had a look of pure evil in them and he had this evil smile on his face. He laughed at us and said, “You stupid b****es aren’t going to let me die are you?” and he laughed again. We were kinda frozen. I did reach up and hit the Code Blue button and when I did the man went into V-fib. He crashed back onto the bed. We started coding him, but after 20 minutes it was called.

Five minutes after the code, several of the code team is in the room cleaning up when this man sits straight up in the bed and says, “You let him die. Too bad.” and then begins laughing. The man collapsed back to the bed. We heard a horrible, agonizing scream (actually every patient in the unit that night commented on the scream), and then you could hear “don’t let me die” being whispered throughout the unit. Every one of the nurses that night was pale and scared. Nobody went anywhere by themselves. By morning the whispers of “don’t let me die” were gone. The night shift nurses had a prayer service in the break room before we left for home and then we all had nightmares for weeks.

[televinita]

This is a GIANT sale, probably even besting the Big One from April. Very reasonable prices: $2 for most books, $1 for CDs and teen/juvenile or mass market paperbacks, 50 cents for the really skinny ones. Some older books individually priced higher but very fairly for their condition and scarcity, and they always have a nice selection of them. This is a community fundraiser sale so they lease out space wherever they can find it, and this year it filled half a vacant warehouse. The sale also runs every day for two weeks straight, but due to its distance and various commitments I didn't get to go until day 11.

And still, there was TONS (albeit not a lot in the way of books less than 10 years old). I would actually like to have gone back, because I ended up only being able to spend 3 hours there and it was NOT enough time to thoroughly rake the place over or make sure I had made the very wisest purchases, but alas, more Commitments and a dash of weather got me. >:(

As for what I actually got -- oh shoot, I keep moving them around; I already see I missed photographing at least one -- a few of the children's books above are replacement copies of beloved titles in nicer condition than the beat-up ones I have, but most of these are new to me and I'm very excited. The level of general interest increases as you get farther, I promise.

======

1. Happily After All - Laura C. Stevens: replacement copy. I didn't read this until adulthood, but it's from my era and I LOVED it and I know I would have loved it had I come across it as a kid, too.

2. Babysitters Club Super Special #2: Summer Vacation: look i wasn't GOING to collect these but this one looks practically brand new so maybe I can have one more rep as a treat (maybe even relinquish that other one in Bad Shape from the last sale)

3. Animal inn #7: The Pet Makeover - Virginia Vail: this series I AM collecting and I am THRILLED to have one that is both in great condition and that I'm not sure I've read.

4. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens: I told you I was going to replace my ugly copy someday, and the bonded-leather-with-gilt-edges Barnes & Noble edition is one of the prettier ones I know about.

5. A Horse For Mandy - Lurlene McDaniel: look, it's very short & silly but it was kind of a literary bucket goal to read her very first book (originally pubbed 1981), featuring horses instead of sicklit, having already grabbed another early one, Where's The Horse For Me?

6. A Horse For X.Y.Z. - Louise Moeri: another replacement of a childhood fave. My copy isn't bad but old paperbacks are such poor quality in general that I figured I might as well own the nicest available.

7. Silver - Thomas C. Hinkle: not in great shape, but by an author whose 1920s & 30s animal stories I am always looking to read more of. I'm excited to have a Comet Books edition because they have the coolest color graphics on the back (you can see an example on Goodreads here), and honestly condition isn't bad for a pulp paperback pushing 75 years of age.

8. Mayday! ... Mayday! - Hilary Milton: a random grabbed-to-read survival adventure, two teens seeking help after the plane they're on crashes into a forested mountainside. Probable read-and-release, unless the small size tricks me into keeping it along with my 200 other mass markets.

9. Touch The Moon - Marion Dane Bauer: maybe my favorite by her, a girl who longs for a horse is disappointed to only receive a china one...but at night he temporarily transforms into a real horse. Who can talk. Magical adventure time!

10. Summer of the Wolves - Polly Carlson Voiles: replacement copy of one of the all-time best middle grade novels I've ever read as an adult.

11. Lucky Lady - Susan Saunders: replacement copy of a short horse book for preteens that I nevertheless read and loved in high school. I wanted it so bad that I've literally kept a crappy paperback copy with teen marks and a torn cover from a Little Free Library...until now!

12. Cliques, Hicks & Ugly Sticks - K.D. McCrite: guess who is SO THRILLED to have found the 2nd book in this middle grade quartet (not available at local library) only two months after reading the first one and falling in utter love!

13. Almena's Dogs - Regina Woody: one of the few uncommon books in the Grosset & Dunlap "Famous Dog Stories," I've never seen it before. Probably was unpopular because I'm pretty sure it's the ONLY one that features a girl, let alone a Black one. A Goodreads friend read this recently so I was really excited to find my own copy! From 1954 originally, so it seems ahead of its time. Already read half of it and I'm so in love. I am also now interested in a bunch more Regina Woody books, having never heard of her before, but damn. They are scarce.

14. All Dogs Go to Heaven - Beth Brown: I was literally two steps away from joining the checkout line when I spotted a box of old books under a table I hadn't looked at before. This was the third one down. Since I was out of time, I just SEIZED without even enough time to open the cover and make sure it was actually dog stories -- but it definitely is and I could not be more thrilled.

(P.S. This is illustrated by a Mr. Carl Cobbledick. They simply do not make names like that anymore.)

15-16. A Separate Peace + Peace Breaks Out - John Knowles: the exact editions I've checked out of the library, too, lol (though I hate the latter because the back cover is just a giant jump-scare of the author's face. i pray this horrid 80s trend never returns). I think I mentioned before that I was idly thinking of reading them this year; I ended up not doing so but Mom did, so might try again this fall.

17. The Stillmeadow Road - Gladys Taber: the very first book I ever read from her, which would eventually kick off a deep appreciation for her work! one of several books featuring musings & anecdotes on a quiet life as a writer in the countryside, residing in a late 17th century (American) farmhouse, with plenty of pets.

18.Ranch of Dreams - Cleveland Amory: I've been idly meaning to read this one for a while. Don't know if I'll keep it 'cause it's a BIG hardcover, but his Cat Who Came For Christmas trilogy was one of the first pet memoirs I read waaay back in the day, and he just did incredible things with his money (i.e. set up an animal sanctuary. this book was published in 1997, a year before he passed, but the sanctuary still exists!).

19. If Wishes Were Horses: The Education of a Veterinarian - Loretta Gage, D.V.M., w/ [her sister the writer] Nancy Gage: vet memoirs were also some of the earliest adult nonfiction I read, starting in middle school -- I literally read every single one the library had. I don't read them nearly as much anymore, but I'm still interested, especially older ones like this (released 1993) by women when they were still fighting to be taken seriously in the profession, especially in large animal practice. We're talking 1970s and even 80s here.

20. Wild Voice of the North: The Chronicle of an Eskimo Dog - Sally Carrighar: this book is in rouuuuuugh shape, but I simply could not resist him face.

And for the final wrap-up of random books... (also featuring: the one I forgot)

21. Martha's Vineyard: Isle if Dreams - Susan Branch: I FINALLY FOUND THE FINAL BOOK IN THE MEMOIR TRILOGY!!!!!! Actually found them all in a 7-month period, come to think of it, which is wild because I have been keeping an eye out for 8 years (I do actually still need a replacement copy of the last one w/ a dust jacket, but at least I could read it if I wanted to). Reminders of how pretty they are inside, the closest you will ever get to finding a real journal:

moving on...

22. Inside Dunder Mifflin: I don't love the illustration style but I do love that it was published after the series ended, so it is able to address everything up to and including the finale. It's just such a fun novelty item I don't even really know how to describe it yet, may not keep forever, but sure fun to have now!

23. How Far You've Come - Morgan Harper Nichols: I gather she's some sort of influencer; have not heard of her or this book but I am a SUCKER for a smaller-than-average hardcover-with-no-dust-jacket gift book full of text interspersed with pretty drawings and poems.

24. [CD] Skye Dyer - Letting Go (2014): Dunno who she is, picked solely on the basis of "young and pretty white woman on cover = good enough odds I'll like it to gamble $1". I've only played through it once, but this time my instincts appear to be on point.

And the silliest find of all...

25. Dawson's Creek: The Official Postcard Book: mostly because it's in like-new condition and I simply know, I KNOW, that this kind of nostalgic novelty item cannot easily be had for $1 anywhere else.

I still haven't even ever seen an episode of the show. This would be a greater find if I could sell things online, TBH, because the true value is I'm pretty sure I could flip this for at least $10; the binding is so tight that I can't really see all the postcards well without dismantling it, and if I do that I kill some of the value, which I'm not ready to do.

Nevertheless I'm having fun looking at what I can see of all the senior-portrait-style photos; Katie Holmes in particular is simply stunning.

=====

And there we go! Biggest bummer was that despite this sale being a RESPLENDENT repository of 70s-90s teen & children's paperbacks, not a single Lynn Hall book to be found. Where did all of her books GO, goddamn. Also kind of surprised not to see any Marguerite Henry, not even the heavily reprinted paperbacks (most of which are still in print).

But the Susan Branch book -- which I forgot to actually look for, and just happened to spot by chance on my way out of the biggest room for the last time -- and the vintage animal books were definitely worth the trip.

[veggieblt]

BETWEEN SHIT INCIDENT AND THE HOTDOG HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU ALMOST DIED

Had to think about this a bit, but the CURRENT count is 21, but I'll update this post as I remember more of them

In no particular order...

1. Ripping my chin off with a bowling ball and almost bleeding out in a bowling alley

2. Car crash with a buck (car totaled)

3. Dick crushed by a falling tree

4. Swine Flu

5. Fungus in my lungs

6. Chased by enraged wild turkeys

7. Getting T-boned so hard the car almost flipped (car totaled)

8. Getting dropped while crowd surfing and almost cracking my head on cement

9. Inhaling the cooking vapors from an MRE

10. The Hot Dog Incident

11. I was born without lung water

12. Stuck outside at Boyscout camp during a straight line wind storm

13. Flipped a canoe and had to get rescued by an air boat

14. Used pam spray on an open flame

15. Almost hit by a sliding ATV during a small mudslide

16. Went head to head with an 18 wheeler during a snow storm

17. Electrocuted when I held onto an electric fence for the bit

18. Electrocuted when I slammed my hand on an open current for the bit

19. Electrocuted when I accidentally had my hand on the metal part while plugging in a set of industrial batteries (not for the bit)

20. Car crash because the guy behind us was distracted by a cool plane (car not totaled but his car ended up UNDER our car)

21. Back to back concussions in one week in gym class (Hit head on tile floor for the first and broke a badminton racket over my head for the second)

If anyone remembers any other times I've almost died please tell me

[bosses-stay-flawless]

All glory to the most high God: 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

The other news story this week that gained my attention and tears, was the story of four children that survived in the jungle for 40 days after they were involved in a plane crash that killed 3 adults on board, one of which was the children’s mother.

Thankfully the have been rescued and are recovering, their indigenous community, family and the military have been credited for 4 children ages 13, 9, 4 and 11 months, coming out of such a tragic ordeal.

What stands out is after what provisions they took from the plane, the are fruit and seeds. The 13 sibling used her knowledge of the jungle to help them survive. She had been taught from a young age by her grandmother how to maneuver her way around the jungle.

Many forego ancient and ancestral teachings as technology seems to reign and more lend their attention to the future and deride the past, this story has reminded me how important this NOW moment is. And how the past present and future coexist as ONE.

When it came to these four children’s survival with some very real things that could have literally eaten them alive or poisoned them (pumas, jaguars, snakes, and mosquitoes, just to name a few of the dangers they faced alone in the jungle) it was the protection of higher spiritual forces (their indigenous community was said to have prayed, according to their beliefs, that the jungle return the children) because of the previous teachings of the children’s grandmother, that was also passed down from generation to generation, the 13 year old knew what to search for to eat, and without the use of the military and planes the area of the jungle where the children were would not have been accessible to rescuers.

Past ✨Present ✨Future brought together in one heroic moment that is a true testament to the beauty of the human spirit. #theVenusfrequency #love #peace #ancestral #ascension

[kashmirmonitor]

Miracle! 4 kids survive 16 jungle days after plane crash

There are reports that four children who were involved in a plane crash in the Colombian jungle have been located after more than two weeks in the forests of the Caqueta province. Four children who were missing for more than two weeks after the plane they were traveling in crashed in a jungle in Colombia were found alive on Wednesday, May 17. The children, aged 13, 9, 4, and 11 months, were…

[newstfionline]

Sunday, June 11, 2023

Energy Drinks Are Surging. So Are Their Caffeine Levels. (NYT) It has been more than 25 years since Red Bull hit the market and introduced caffeinated energy drinks to the United States. While the company claimed its beverage would “give you wings,” it never said it was actually good for people. Yet as the energy drink market continues to grow rapidly, companies both new and old are trying to attract health-conscious customers with a wave of no-sugar, low-calorie drinks that claim to boost energy as well as replenish fluids with electrolytes and other ingredients. This new focus has helped the energy drink market grow, with sales in the United States surging to $19 billion from $12 billion over the past five years. But there are concerns that drinks being pitched as healthy are resulting in children and teenagers consuming caffeine in unhealthy amounts. A 12-ounce can of Prime Energy contains 200 milligrams of caffeine. That’s roughly equivalent to two Red Bulls, two cups of coffee or six cans of Coca-Cola. Some schools in Britain and Australia have already banned the beverages. In the United States, federal regulations say schools cannot sell or provide caffeinated drinks to elementary or middle school students, although many schools do not restrict what students can bring from home. “Not long after drinking them, the students showed up in the health office saying they didn’t feel good and that their hearts were racing,” said [one school nurse].

A Puzzle in Arizona’s Boom Towns: How to Keep Growing With Less Water (NYT) As the mayor of an old farming town bursting with new homes, factories and warehouses, Eric Orsborn spends his days thinking about water. The lifeblood for this growth is billions of gallons of water pumped from the ground, and his city, Buckeye, Ariz., is thirsty for more as builders push deeper into the desert fringes of Phoenix. But last week, Arizona announced it would limit some future home construction in Buckeye and other places because of a shortfall in groundwater. A new state study found groundwater supplies in the Phoenix area were about 4 percent short of what is needed for planned growth over the next 100 years. That may feel like a far-off horizon, but it is enough of a change to force the state to rethink its future in the near and long terms. Now, there are urgent questions about how Arizona should be using its increasingly precious water—for water-guzzling alfalfa and lettuce farms or thirsty new computer chip and battery factories and coffee-creamer manufacturing? For new sprawl or more development inside cities? Could the Phoenix suburbs keep up their frenzied pace of growth? Should they?

Four Colombian children found alive in jungle weeks after plane crash (Reuters) Four children from an Indigenous community in Colombia were found alive in the country’s south on Friday more than five weeks after the plane they were traveling in crashed in thick jungle, Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said. The plane—a Cessna 206—was carrying seven people on a route between Araracuara, in Amazonas province, and San Jose del Guaviare, a city in Guaviare province, when it issued a mayday alert due to engine failure in the early hours of May 1. Three adults, including the pilot and the children’s mother Magdalena Mucutuy, died as a result of the crash and their bodies were found inside the plane. The four siblings, aged 13, 9, 4, as well as a now 12-month-old baby, survived the impact. Narcizo Mucutuy, the grandfather of the three girls and one boy, told reporters he was delighted at the news of their rescue.

Argentina inflation seen hitting 149% this year, up from previous poll (Reuters) Analysts polled by Argentina’s central bank forecast annual inflation this year at 149%, above the 126% expected in the previous poll, according to the monthly survey released on Friday. For May, the analysts polled expect prices to have risen 9% in the month. Argentina’s economy, strained by a historic drought that has worsened an ongoing currency crisis, is expected to shrink 3% in 2023 from 2022. Analysts see the weakened Argentine peso, currently officially valued at 245 pesos per dollar, ending this year at 408.68 pesos per dollar and 2024 at 917.54 pesos per dollar. Rising prices and tumbling foreign reserves pose a challenge for Argentina’s left-leaning government ahead of general elections in October.

Boris Johnson quits as UK lawmaker after being told he will be sanctioned for misleading Parliament (AP) Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson shocked Britain on Friday by quitting as a lawmaker after being told he will be sanctioned for misleading Parliament. Johnson resigned after receiving the results of an investigation by lawmakers into misleading statements he made to Parliament about “partygate,” a series of rule-breaking government parties during the COVID-19 pandemic. By quitting, he avoids a suspension that could have seen him ousted from his Commons seat by his constituents, leaving him free to run for Parliament again in the future.

Russia to deploy nuclear weapons to Belarus in July. (1440) Russian President Vladimir Putin made the announcement in a televised meeting with the Belarusian leader Friday. Belarus, a close ally of Russia, neighbors Ukraine to the north and shares an almost-700-mile border. Russian forces have used Belarus as a staging ground since the beginning of the war.

UN aid chief says Ukraine faces ‘hugely worse’ humanitarian situation after the dam rupture (AP) The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is “hugely worse” than before the Kakhovka dam collapsed, the U.N.’s top aid official warned Friday. Undersecretary-General Martin Griffiths said an “extraordinary” 700,000 people are in need of drinking water and warned that the ravages of flooding in one of the world’s most important breadbaskets will almost inevitably lead to lower grain exports, higher food prices around the world, and less to eat for millions in need. “This is a viral problem,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But the truth is this is only the beginning of seeing the consequences of this act.”

As Ukraine Launches Counteroffensive, Definitions of ‘Success’ Vary (NYT) After months of anticipation, Ukraine’s forces—newly trained on complex warfare tactics and armed with billions of dollars in sophisticated Western weaponry—launched operations on multiple fronts in the past week in an effort to dislodge entrenched Russian military units, a counteroffensive that many officials in the United States and Europe say could be a turning point in the 15-month war. What remains unclear, though, is exactly what the United States, Europe and Ukraine view as a “successful” counteroffensive. Publicly, American and European officials are leaving any definition of success to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. Privately, U.S. and European officials concede that pushing all of Russia’s forces out of occupied Ukrainian land is highly unlikely. Throughout the war, the Ukrainian army, with deeply motivated troops, creative military operations and advanced Western weaponry, has outperformed Russia’s military. But the Ukrainians have also found it difficult to dislodge the Russians from their entrenched defensive positions in the last few months, with the front lines barely moving.

A Rising India Is Also, in One Remote Pocket, a Blood-Soaked War Zone (NYT) People burned out of their homes by the hundreds. Villages, even refugee camps, raked with gunfire. Men, women and children beaten and set ablaze by angry mobs. India, the world’s most populous country and home to the fastest-growing major economy, is now also the site of a war zone, as weeks of ethnic violence in the remote northeastern state of Manipur has claimed about 100 lives. Militarized buffer zones now crisscross the state, patrolled by local women—who are seen as less hotheaded than men—and the thousands of troops who have been sent to quell the fighting, drawing down forces in other parts of India, including the border with China. More than 35,000 people have become refugees, with many living in makeshift camps. Internet service has been cut—an increasingly common tactic by the Indian government—and travel restrictions have made it difficult for the outside world to see in. The development has been jarring for a nation whose 1.4 billion people usually manage to get along despite belonging to thousands of sometimes rivalrous ethnic groups. And it presents an unwelcome image of instability for a national government focused on portraying India as a rising global power. “It is a nightmare,” said Mairembam Ratan, a small-town career counselor who escaped his home with help from the army. “It’s a civil war.”

The Pentagon Is Freaking Out About a Potential War With China (Politico) The war began in the early morning hours with a massive bombardment—China’s version of “shock and awe.” Chinese planes and rockets swiftly destroyed most of Taiwan’s navy and air force as the People’s Liberation army and navy mounted a massive amphibious assault across the 100-mile Taiwan Strait. Having taken seriously President Joe Biden’s pledge to defend the island, Beijing also struck pre-emptively at U.S. and allied air bases and ships in the Indo-Pacific. The U.S. managed to even the odds for a time by deploying more sophisticated submarines as well as B-21 and B-2 stealth bombers to get inside China’s air defense zones, but Washington ran out of key munitions in a matter of days and saw its network access severed. The United States and its main ally, Japan, lost thousands of service members, dozens of ships, and hundreds of aircraft. Taiwan’s economy was devastated. And as a protracted siege ensued, the U.S. was much slower to rebuild, taking years to replace ships as it reckoned with how shriveled its industrial base had become compared to China’s. The Chinese “just ran rings around us,” said former Joint Chiefs Vice Chair Gen. John Hyten in one after-action report. “They knew exactly what we were going to do before we did it.”      Dozens of versions of the above war-game scenario have been enacted over the last few years, most recently in April by the House Select Committee on competition with China. And while the ultimate outcome in these exercises is not always clear—the U.S. does better in some than others—the cost is. In every exercise the U.S. uses up all its long-range air-to-surface missiles in a few days, with a substantial portion of its planes destroyed on the ground. In every exercise the U.S. is not engaged in an abstract push-button war from 30,000 feet up like the ones Americans have come to expect since the end of the Cold War, but a horrifically bloody one. And that’s assuming the U.S.-China war doesn’t go nuclear.

Saudi crown prince threatened ‘major’ economic pain on U.S. amid oil feud (Washington Post) Last fall, President Biden vowed to impose “consequences” on Saudi Arabia for its decision to slash oil production amid high energy prices and fast-approaching elections in the United States. In public, the Saudi government defended its actions politely via diplomatic statements. But in private, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman threatened to fundamentally alter the decades-old U.S.-Saudi relationship and impose significant economic costs on the United States if it retaliated against the oil cuts, according to a classified document obtained by The Washington Post. The crown prince claimed “he will not deal with the U.S. administration anymore,” the document says, promising “major economic consequences for Washington.” It is unclear whether the crown prince’s threat was conveyed directly to U.S. officials or intercepted through electronic eavesdropping, but his dramatic outburst reveals the tension at the heart of a relationship long premised on oil-for-security but rapidly evolving as China takes a growing interest in the Middle East and the United States assesses its own interests as the world’s largest oil producer.

From restaurants to water towers, unrest dents Senegal’s economy (Reuters) A KFC restaurant ransacked. Public transport torched. Glass-paneled stations for a multi-million dollar electric bus link shattered. A water plant vandalised. Senegal is taking stock of the damage after the jail sentencing of prominent opposition figure Ousmane Sonko sparked the worst civil unrest in decades that threatens to dent progress in one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies. Sixteen people died and hundreds were injured. Rioters attacked banks, supermarkets and petrol stations. Small businesses were also hitAn attack on a state-owned water plant could create shortages in Dakar, where it hasn’t rained for eight months and where water cuts are common, an official said. Aside from the damage, a day of protests can slow economic output by the equivalent of up to around $33 million per day, the government estimates. Citizens rapidly feel the pinch in a country where over 95% of the work is informal.

[notesfromachair]

Grumpy Golden Faucets

Here’s a great and meaningful story this week that’s not about that big, bloated news hog. Four children were rescued in Colombia’s Amazon jungle, surviving alone for 40 DAYS after their plane crashed last month.  That crash killed all three adults onboard, including their mother. But the kids – aged 13, 9. 4 and 1 – lived due to the knowledge and skill they acquire at a young age as members…

[theuniverseawakens347]

so I get the card why for Nov 22 you tell me on the 15th you sending me $1000 easy free nothing to do money a one time ( tried to screen shot but accidentally exit the thing but it’s logged on your end White House DPSS ) … looked into it said I didn’t have to do anything just a straight depsosit - I AINT GET IT .. we know says lee n Howard .. bc they own this card so you blocking my deposits - only fans pull out $30 on Nov 14 … it takes 3-5 business days to deposit .. okay .. it’s Thursday 12 pm… so you counting Friday now …so that mean like Wednesday next week early .. Friday the latest…. NOTHING … I’m checking my app but iPhone 13 water damage from sleeping in my car - condensation hi mold .. Lee n Howard watching me steady Mari and don’t care … mhmm Karen my bath tub when you stayed over I said what - I be trying to tell her but SHE don’t WANA listen - I spend my money to dpfix something in “HER” home I’m the bad guy taking over control.. so ima just regress n die like she want and leave go live outside .. dirty mold . Soil. Anyways.. it’s Wednesday shit ain’t hit $30 I had to take cash app off the card bc THAT EMAIL WONT SEND THE VERIFICATION CODE AND THAT NUMBER IS CANCELED HI IPHONE 13 .. and vortex is in Russian when I tried to reset it for free pay again - Nicole “ it’s good for a year” .. really it’s only been 4 months 🫤 interesting … so long story short I read deeper into provider and only fans card deposit lee why you own only fans - STOCK MARKETS .. nice Wall Street BLACK TRADING ILLEGAL AS FUCK - cash app bitcoin … but it says 21 days for deposit to go thru.. so like okay I did that Nov 14 th… I’m almost two weeks into waiting… weekends DONT count as business days just so brain dry hair bitch know - you look slow. also I’ve dumped myself down enough for you dumbass hos to understand yo dumbass bullshit for good. Here’s a metaphorical “suicide note” - GOOD BYE TO DOING YO DUMB SHIT TO PROVE YOU DUMB AND IM NOT A SCAMMER but again GOD conartist .. IMA GROOM YOU INTO THE FUCKING LIGHT SLAP YO ASS W DISCIPLINE TO GET OUT THE DAMN DEVILS HOLE. .. aiight I’m gone.. everything crashing if you WANA reach me I’m at the lib to 9 .. salvation army around 1-2 back by 3 .. 4.. lee n Howard your “rescue” is pointless it’s a lot of chatter going on and not coming in clear from ancestors but like I said THE GOOD HEARTED GOT ENOUGH TO HELP IF THEY WANT - HOW THEY CAN. you other bitches just greedy n pitch off anyone anywhere. I’m accustomed to finer bc that’s what I give myself and to some generous ppl I’m not even breaking a bank .. nor am I begging and asking too much .. YOU DUMBASS RETARDED ADOPTED PARENTS W YO CRIMINAL FRIENDS FORCED ME INTO SOME SHIT cause you on TWO SEPARATE PLANES NOT TALKING AND IM CLEANING IT UP - I’m ALWAYS RESPONSIBLE BUT IMA SUPPORT ME WHERE I GOT ME.. YOU ADOPTED ME FOR THE OVER HEAD CHARGE TO GET AWAY W CRIMES LIKE I SAID IM LEFT ON MY LONELY TO FIGURE IT OUT AND BEEEEN WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU … YOU FREED THE HOSTAGE BUT IM STILL TRAPPED DICKWADS.