#Fred 62

[zimtrim]

The B-52's - Fred Schneider

[spilladabalia]

MC5 - Rocket Reducer no. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)

[wheezywizardweasleys]

Roses & Riots | Potter!Sister x Fred Weasley

[short-wooloo]

What Spartans Remain?

Because I went down the Halopedia rabbit hole and I'm an obsessive nut, I've put together a list of all the Spartan-IIs, just to figure out who's alive, who's dead, who's missing, and the numbers which are unaccounted for

Alright so, there were at least 150 candidates considered for Spartan-IIs, half were conscripted, and of that 75, we have at least 50 named (or at least numbered) individuals

Alive (when last we saw them):

Jai-006

Naomi-010

Leon-011

Serin-019 (washout)

Robert-025

Douglas-042

Linda-058

Maria-062 (semi-retired)

Cassandra-075 (washout)

Fhajad-084 (washout)

Kelly-087

Jerome-092

Musa-096 (washout)

August-099

Fred-104

Adriana-111

John-117 (duh)

Michael-120

Alice-130

Definitely Dead:

Li-008 (2552)

Daisy-023 (unknown date during war, 2526-2552)

Joshua-029 (2552)

Otto-031 (2557)

Samuel-034 (2525)

Randall-037 (2556)

William-043 (2552)

Anton-044 (2552)

Kurt-051 (2552)

Jorge-052 (2552)

Margaret-053 (2557)

Malcolm-059 (2552)

Sheila-065 (2544)

Solomon-069 (2544)

Spartan-073 (2525)

Arthur-079 (2544)

Grace-093 (2552)

Victor-101 (2557)

Ralph-103 (unknown date during war, 2526-2552)

Oscar-129 (2525)

Cal-141 (2544)

Roma-143 (2557)

Unidentified Trainee (2525)

Unidentified Spartan (2531)

Maybe Dead:

James-005 (2552)

Vinh-030 (2552)

Isaac-039 (2552)

Beta-Romeo Actual (2552)

Red Fifteen (2552)

Red Four (2552)

Red Nineteen (2552)

Status unknown:

Kirk-018 (washout, possibly rehabilitated)

Keiichi-047 (alive as of 2531)

Soren-066 (alive as of 2527)

Rene-081 (washout, possibly rehabilitated)

Joseph-122 (alive as of 2525)

Carris-137 (alive as of 2520)

Spartans-116, 118, 119, 121, 123, and 124 (possibly the unidentified trainee and Spartan, as well ass Beta-Romeo Actual, Red-Fifteen, Red Four, and Red Nineteen)

Missing numbers:

Spartans number 001, 002, 003, 004, 007, 009, 012, 013, 014, 015, 016, 017, 020, 021, 022, 024, 026, 027, 032, 033, 035, 036, 038, 040, 041, 045, 046, 048, 049, 050, 054, 055, 056, 057, 060, 061, 063, 064, 067, 068, 070, 071, 072, 074, 076, 077, 078, 080, 082, 083, 085, 086, 088, 089, 090, 091, 094, 097, 098 (according to the silver timeline, Spartan-098 is named "Nora"), 100, 102, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 112, 113, 114, 115, 126, 127, 128, 131, 132, 133, 135, 136, 138, 139, 140, 142, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150 (I'm sure I messed up somewhere)

obviously given that not all 150 candidates were recruited, some (about 70) of these numbers did not actually become Spartans, trainees or otherwise, such as Caleb-095, the father of Olympia Vale

Additionally, Spartans-028 (Riz), 125 (Kai), and 134 (Vanak) do exist per 343's internal documentation, but as of yet have not appeared in the Prime timeline

therefore there are about 19 confirmed living Spartans, 24 confirmed dead, 7 possible dead, and 12 unknowns, for a total of 62 (or 65 counting the silvers), so there are at least 10-13 other Spartans we have not met, be they active, retired, washout, dead, or missing

[shostakobitchh]

chapter 62 sneak peek

I really like writing about Occlumency

Ariel slept on and off for the rest of the weekend. By Sunday evening, she was feeling more or less like herself again.

This, of course, wasn’t good enough for Snape, who essentially strong-armed her into staying in his quarters for one more night, to “ensure she didn’t spontaneously combust in her sleep.”

She’d wanted to protest but had begrudgingly kept her mouth shut, feeling a tad selfish for wanting to ask Snape if she could just return to her Tower and her friends when he was still vibrating with contempt and frustration. He hadn’t directed any of it at Ariel — yet — but she could sense his resolve bending as the day waned and Madam Pomfrey gave her a clean bill of health.

Hermione and Ron had finally been allowed to see her Sunday afternoon, where Ariel had sneakily given them the vial of lightning clove and told Hermione to start the base of the brew. Ariel tried to tell herself this wasn’t the only reason she wanted to go, but it was a good distraction from the Other Thing.

Now, as Ariel curled up in an armchair by the fire, she sleepily considered the swirl of emotions that curled around her heart. She felt better — more herself and not some hollowed out thing. Madam Pomfrey had given her a whole slew of potions and great, heaping mugs of hot chocolate. Fred and George had even sent her an entire box of chocolate frogs, which helped immensely, but a shadow still gripped at her.

She found herself tracing the invisible patterns of memory, a cold echo of a scream shattering the comfort of the warm fire before her. If Ariel tried hard enough, she could see Voldemort’s figure in the wings of her mind —

“Stand aside, you silly girl — stand aside now —”

“Lumos,” Ariel whispered, basking in the glow of her heart. It was the fourth time she’d used it today — Snape had given her a new dose that morning.

She kept telling herself this time would be the last time she used it, but she hated how alone she felt now, without her friends or Madam Pomfrey or Snape, who had ignored her the second they’d returned to storm about, flying between the storeroom and classroom. It didn’t look like he was doing much of anything at all, besides brooding, but Ariel wasn’t going to be the one to point it out. She supposed he might tire himself out, eventually.

When the light faded in front of her eyes, she realized she was not alone anymore.

Ariel didn’t know how long Snape had been there, seated behind his desk. He’d come in silently, his silhouette soft in the dim light, but his black eyes glittered. When she finally felt his eyes on her, she lifted her head, holding his gaze as it darkened.

“If you keep using it that frequently, you will need a new batch before the week is out.” Snape said, sounding resigned instead of angry.

She hummed in agreement, wrapping the quilt tighter around her shoulders.

“You need to sleep,” he went on, his voice so deep she could feel the vibrations in her fingers. “You’ll find reprieve there.”

“Not yet,” Ariel said, making herself more comfortable in the chair, which she’d pretzeled herself around.

He hung his head, as though he’d been dreading this response and didn’t know what to do with it. “There's a fine line between seeking comfort and wallowing in your own torment. Dwelling on it does not make it disappear.”

She scowled into the arm of the chair. “I’m not trying to.”

Snape's lips thinned into a severe line at her retort, but he didn’t rebuke her. Instead, he approached her with a sort of resigned determination, his robes pooling around him like liquid shadows. “You’re not trying to do anything. You need to Occlude.”

Ariel looked up at him, unconvinced. “I don’t want to bury it. I want to make it go away.”

“Constructing a wall around it will protect you from it, for now. There is no way to purge, aside from Obliviation.”

She perked up a bit at that. “That would remove it, wouldn’t it?”

Snape’s eyes flashed in warning. “Miss Evans —”

“Could we —”

He stilled, a strange glint in his eyes. His head moved just slightly, as if he were daring her to continue.

Ariel swallowed. Hard. “Nevermind. All I meant is that I don’t want to do anything with it right now.”

“I cannot stand to see you like — this.” Snape snapped. “Do not ask me to sit idly by.”

There was a pause, where Snape’s eyes held hers captive with a ferocity that made her feel like a cornered rabbit. Then he withdrew, reaching into his pocket to pull out a vial of pearlescent potion. “Drink.”

She eyed him suspiciously before glancing down at the vial in his hand. “What does it do?”

“It will help you focus.”

Ariel frowned at him for a moment longer before finally taking the vial from him. She studied it for a second longer before uncorking it and drinking it down in one swift movement. It tasted like copper and sweet apples, an odd combination that made her mouth water for more.

“Now,” Snape continued once Ariel handed back the empty vial. “Close your eyes and clear your mind.”

She sighed. “Snape, please, I’m not in the mood.”

“I didn’t ask if you were ‘in the mood.’” he said flatly. “I told you to clear your mind — now.”

With some hesitation, Ariel did as directed. Her mind was still awash with the cold, inky darkness, the thunderous echo of Mum’s screams —

“Clear.” Snape repeated again, sharper this time.

She gritted her teeth but obeyed, shoving all thoughts away, as if pushing them behind an invisible barrier. She kept her breath steady and slow, focusing on the familiar warmth of the fire against her skin.

"Good girl," Snape's voice came, sounding miles away from Ariel. “Now, imagine a place calm and safe. Go to your ocean.”

At first, all she could see was dark water under a stormy sky, but as she honed in on the image, it started to shift. The waves calmed, the sky brightened and soon she found herself standing on a beach under a dazzling midday sun. The screams faded into the background, drowned out by the soothing sound of waves.

A vast expanse of blue stretched out in front of her, gently lapping waves shimmering under the golden sun. She was standing on a beach with fine white sand, cool under her feet.

“Can you see it?” Snape asked softly, his voice barely penetrating through the sounds of the sea.

“Yes,” Ariel whispered back, her voice trailing off into the silence. She could smell the brine now, could feel the salty breeze tickle her face and the sun warm her skin.

“You need to remember, now.” Snape said, and his words made the waters darken, the waves choppier.

“Why?” she felt her breathing quicken in panic. “Isn’t this place safe? Aren’t I supposed to keep it clear?”

“You are not here to hide. The safety is in knowing that you can emerge unscathed.”

She staggered back, and the ocean began to fade, to surge into nothing. “I don’t want to. I — I want to stop.”

“No,” his voice was forceful, on the wind and wrapping around her ear. “Not yet.”

“Snape, please —”

​​“Listen,” and his voice was beside her, now, an arm coming to wrap around her front, pulling her shoulders against his chest. “Breathe. You are in control.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Ariel ground out, but the beach roared back into focus, the azure waves crashing against the shore in deafening cascades of foam and froth.

“I’m not asking you to do anything I haven’t had to do myself,” Snape said, his voice vibrating against her back. “You are not alone in this.”

Ariel listened, the rhythm of the waves breaking and retreating becoming a steady heartbeat under Snape's words.

“But you’ll hear her, too.” she whispered.

Beneath it all, she could just make out her mother's screams trying to break through. Her grip on Snape’s arm tightened, her knuckles turning white. His breathing had gone ragged.

“Now,” he said, his voice like the steady whisper of the wind. “Go back.”

And so she did.

As if triggered by some otherworldly force, the serene beach melted away and was replaced by an eerily familiar scene. She was taken away from the gentle caress of the sun, and instead found herself enveloped in chilling darkness. The warm sand beneath her bare feet was replaced by cold, solid ground.

She could hear a baby crying — her own cries, she realized with a jolt — and then came the high-pitched laughter —

And then the screaming began.

“Not Ariel — please not Ariel!”

There was a chilling silence that hung in the air for a moment too long — an unnatural pause that set Ariel's heart pounding against her ribcage.

“Not Ariel, please no, take me, kill me instead —”

In that moment, Ariel felt the memory threaten to overtake her, her breathing hitched and she stumbled back.

“Now,” Snape said, his grip around her tightening, but his own voice sounded like he was drowning. "Do it now. Build a wall around it.”

Ariel bared down on herself, grabbing the doors of the vault, and took a step. The still blackness had begun to move beneath her feet, and began to sway.

She stepped into the water.

An icy chill started to seep into her hands, crawling up to her wrists and sliding up her arms. Panic seized her for a moment — the cold was reminiscent of the dark, of being trapped and having no way out. As she threw herself into it, into stopping it from spreading, she realized it was not the bone-chilling cold of fear but a different kind of cold — clean and sharp, like winter air.

It was the coldness of her own power.

A light bloomed. The warmth of the sun crept back in.

With a quiet breath, she reached out to touch the sand. The white grains became solid and glistening under her touch, transforming into clear, crystalline ice. The cold spread to her feet, up her legs, and then filled her entirely, as if she was the source of the winter itself.

She visualized layer upon layer of that crystal ice, rising from the ground and circling around her. The wall grew taller and thicker with each passing moment, a fortress of shimmering frost, refracting the sunlight. As she added more layers, the sounds began to muffle, the screams turning into insubstantial echoes.

Ariel continued in this vein for several minutes, each icy brick she assembled widening the gulf between her and the echoes. Beneath her feet, the sand turned translucent, shot through with shards of frost.

“Cool,” she muttered, reaching down to touch it. At this, a clink traveled through as a crack started to form. Ariel stood up quickly, alarmed.

"Just focus on the wall," Snape's voice came to her, a distant echo against the sound of the sea. "Don’t let yourself become distracted.”

The assurance of his voice gave her a thread of strength to hold onto. She clung to it, drawing it into her like a lifeline as she pulled the icy energy from her core, watching as the glistening wall grew higher still. Her fingers throbbed with the effort, but she didn't let up. The wall towered over her, so vast it swallowed the sky, and that was exactly what she wanted.

Behind the wall, her world transformed. The sounds of the sea grew distant, the roiling waves just a soft caress in the background. She no longer heard the haunting screams or felt the pull towards them. Instead, she was aware only of the feel of the frost under her palms, of the cold energy spreading through her body, racing through her veins.

"Open your eyes," Snape said, his voice echoing across the vast distance between them.

Ariel did.

The world came back into focus all at once — the warmth of the fire, the dusty smell of old books, and Snape's unwavering gaze. But she felt different inside. She was no longer an open vault, but a fortress. The echoes were muffled, distant — not gone, but held at bay. For the first time since she’d first heard the Dementors, Ariel felt a silence in her mind that was — wonderful. Like a sunrise after a storm.

Snape was watching her closely, his eyes dark pools in his pale, hooded face. He was silent too, as if waiting for her to speak first. His fingers drummed rhythmically on the armrest of his chair, a small, unconscious betrayal of his concern.

"I did it," she finally voiced the thought aloud, her voice small. "I — I did it."

"Yes," Snape agreed quietly, an unreadable expression on his face. "You did."

A flash of triumph surged through Ariel, bright and bold, and she smiled as a rush of relief washed over her. Snape lifted a hand to brush at her cheek, but his gaze was still focused on the wall still shimmering behind her eyes. He seemed to be studying it, despite the fact that it was doing its job. For the first time in a long while, Snape looked unsure.

And then another, more sobering thought came over her.

“Is this how you feel all the time?” Ariel asked quietly. “I mean — how do you keep everything cut off?”

Snape paused, his fingers stilling on the armrest.

"It takes practice," he finally replied, a cold and abrupt edge in his voice. "A ceaseless discipline of mind that becomes a reflex over time. You will learn, eventually, that it will become a necessity. You cannot take this long to construct a wall such as this for yourself. You’ve done well repelling my attacks, but in regards to taking that which you want to hide altogether — to take memories and bury them to the point where their existence is in question — that to an intruder, that they would not even know they were there in the first place — is a feat of its own kind."

“Is that what you want me to be like?” the question left her lips before she could ponder it more.

Snape's gaze flickered, a rare hint of uncertainty spilling over his carefully constructed barriers. His fingers curled into a tight fist, the knuckles bleached white against the dark wood of his chair.

"No," he said quietly, his eyes holding hers with an intensity that made her stomach flutter. “But it's what you need.”

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Is each wand supposed to have its own distinctive look or is that just something the movies did?

“— OH NOT AGAIN!” She had picked up her wand from the table, and it had emitted a loud squeak and turned into a giant rubber mouse. “One of their fake wands again!” she shouted. “How many times have I told them not to leave them lying around?” - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Chapter 5

Harry thinking that’s Molly’s wand isn’t odd because it was right next to her and I doubt he has hers committed to memory but it’s weird that she is consistently getting her own confused with Fred & George’s fake ones. I’d assume some at least look demonstrably different from each other because some wood is lighter or darker than others but is that all? Harry recognizes his immediately when Winky has it in the same book and I think Draco recognizes his when Harry has it in DH but again those are their wands so maybe that’s why. Just curious if I’m missing something or if you have any ideas?

I mean, the wand woods are definitely different, and so are the length and flexibility, so it's not that all wands look the same even if they were all just colorful sticks. I mean, even if you have three of the most basically shaped sticks in different colors and lengths it would be noticeable.

Personally, I like to think wands are designed different from each other (I even redesigned a few here). I like to think the wands do have different designs that fit their personalities. The books do include some references to differences in wand designs:

“Shall I persuade him, Dumbledore?” called a gimlet-eyed witch, raising an unusually thick wand that looked not unlike a birch rod.

(OotP, 473)

The fact Harry mentions the wand is thicker and looking like a birch rod means most wands don't look like this, but some might. This suggests wands do look different from each other in design.

Victor Krum's wand is also mentioned to be thicker than usual:

“Yes . . . hornbeam and dragon heartstring?” he shot at Krum, who nodded. “Rather thicker than one usually sees . . . quite rigid . . . ten and a quarter inches . . . Avis!”

(GoF, 309)

It's also said that:

No two Ollivander wands are the same

(PS, 62)

And yes, it could refer to their magic and personality, which is the implication, and it likely refers to that too, but I'd like to think it refers to how they look as well. That no two wands actually look alike. The fact that Ollivander and others can easily enough recognize which wand is whose supports that this statement is also about their design itself.

Ollivanders also comments on his personal styling of wands and its difference from Gregorovitch:

“Hmm,” said Mr. Ollivander, “this is a Gregorovitch creation, unless I’m much mistaken? A fine wand-maker, though the styling is never quite what I . . . however . . .”

(GoF, 309)

Meaning different wand makers likely have their own stylistic flares and it's very recognizable to someone who's familiar with the wandmaker's style. It's like you can recognize an artist's art style, each wand is a unique piece of art. At least, that's how I always saw it.

We also never get a character mistaking someone else's wand for their own, even if the wood coloring is similar, so I always imagined them being different from each other in other ways besides the color and length — unique pieces.

If we consider official art on Pottermore canon, then there is the fact the page about Wand Woods has this picture:

That clearly showcases wands designed differently from different woods.

Unlike the movies, though, I think the wands are only made from wood and colored like the wood they are made of. Although, I guess you could paint them or put handles on them, I don't think it's common (or at least, Ollivanders doesn't do it or it isn't fashionable in the UK).

As for the trick wands, it's possible Fred and Geroge purposefully made a trick wand shaped like Molly's to trick her. I mean, that is a very Fred and George thing to do — to make trick wands that look like all their family's wands to be little shits. They probably made multiple different designs of trick wands in general. Perhaps the trick wands are transfigurable to appear as anyone's wand. This would be harder to manage while keeping the trick wand's enchantment intact, but it's possible Fred and George could pull it off.

[demons2003]

My Boys (Chapter 62)

Series List

Y/n's pov

Everything after Max was a blur. Steve somehow got us all in the car and drove us back to Nancy's. We made sure all the kids were good and then Steve and I were cuddled up on the arm chair. We talked for a little bit, trying to get a hold of everyone in California in case they had any ideas and waited for Nancy and Robin to get back. When they were back, we filled them in on what happened with Max and they let us know what happened with them. After the long discussion we all thought it was best if we went to sleep and regain our energy.

"Hey, Dustin, this is Eddie the Banished. You there?" I hear through the walkie talkie. I groan and little and shift on my chair, which was Steve's lap. He groans as well but I shush him and quickly get off. "Dustin, can you hear me?" I hear again through the walkie. I look over to Dustin to find him still sleeping. I shouldn't wake him. He really needs his sleep. "Dustin? Earth to Dustin?" Eddie says again. I quickly pick up the walkie and move over to the table. "Hey, it's Y/n," I whisper, hoping he doesn't just ignore me.

There's a small break of static before Eddie says, "Hey, I'm gonna need a food delivery, like, real soon, unless you want me going out into the world." I panic a little and quickly reply, "No, no, please don't leave the house Eds. Stay there and we'll be there as soon as we can." "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, um... can you pick me up a six-pack? I know, it's stupid as shit, drinking right now, but a cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves," Eddie asks. I look behind me and notice that the couch is empty. "Hey Eds, I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to call you back," I rush and turn the walkie off. "Nancy! Nancy!" I yell, shaking Nancy's shoulders. She groans and glares up at me. "What the hell do you want?" She asks. "Aren't you meant to be on Max watch?" I ask her. She rolls her eyes but nods. "There where the hell is she?" I ask her, getting more annoyed. "She's right there. A second ago. I swear, I just dozed off for..." She says but realises that Max is no longer laying on the couch. She looks down at her watch and her eyes grow in shock. She looks back at me and whispers, "an hour."

I groan and we quickly stand up, heading up the stairs. We head into the kitchen and find Max still at the table with her headphones on. I sign in relief and walk over to her. "Morning guys!" Karen greets us. "Everything okay?" She asks us after we don't answer her. "Yeah. Yeah, everything's okay." Nancy replies. "I think it's so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this," Karen says, putting some pancakes on a plate. "Could try sticking together at a different house for a change," Ted says. I roll my eyes but don't say anything, walking over to Max on the table. I sit down next to her and see a bunch of coloured drawings all over the table.

Max notices me next to her and stops the tape, pulling her headphones down. "Hey," She whispers. "Hey. You okay?" I say back, moving a little closer to her. "Just couldn't sleep. People kept blasting music in my ears, for some reason," Max tells me, looking down at her drawings again. I chuckle a little and she continues with, "But Holly let me borrow some of her crayons. We've been having a fun morning, right Holly?" We look over to Holly but she continues what's she's don't and says, "Mmmm-hmmm." I look back down at the table and ask Max, while moving one of the drawings closer, "Is this what you saw last night?" "I mean, it's supposed to be. I though it'd be easier to draw it out than to explain it, but... not so much." Max explains to me. "Is that...?" I start to ask, moving another drawing that seemed to be of Chrissy and Fred in front of us both. "It was like they were on display or something. And then there was this red fog everywhere. It was like a dream. A nightmare," Max explains to me. "Do you think Vecna's just trying to scare you?" I ask her. "With Billy? Yeah. But when I made it here..." Max tells me, pointing at the drawings. "I don't know, something was different. He seemed surprised, almost. Like he didn't want me there." Max continues to explain to me.

I look confused as Dustin, who randomly moved to the table with Nancy, says, "Maybe you infiltrated his mind. He invaded your mind, right? Is it that big of a leap to suggest you somehow wound up in his?" I look at him and nod, thinking about everything that we are learning about. It is weird though. How did Max end up in his mind if he didn't want her there? "Like Freddie Krueger's boiler room," Dustin adds on. "Freddie Krueger?" Holly asks Dustin confused, causing me to laugh a little. "He's a super burned-up dude with razors for fingers. And he kills you in your dreams," Dustin explains to her as child friendly as he can. "Dustin. Seriously? Nancy snaps at him. "Yeah, not like that Dustin," I whisper to him, looking over at Holly's scared face. Dustin looks at her and realises and says, "Sorry. It's a movie. It's not real." "Just... think about it. What if you somehow unlocked a backdoor to Vecna's world?" Dustin asks, looking back towards the three of us. He picks up a drawing and continues, "Like, maybe the answer we're looking for is somewhere in this incredibly vague drawing. God, we need Will."

"No shit. But I tried them again this morning, and it's the same busy signal." Max explains to us. Nancy seems to get idea and reaches over to grab a drawing. "Is this a window?" She asks, showing Max the drawing so she can answer. "Yeah," Max says. "Stained glass with roses," Nancy tells us. I look over and see that exact description on the drawing. "Yeah. See? I'm not so terrible after all," Max sasses to Dustin. "Yeah, well, it helps that I've seen it before," Nancy tells us, ruffling a few of the drawings around. She starts to fold a few of the drawings and move them around until it starts to builds a house. "It's pieces of a house," Max stats as Nancy starts to draw a black outline onto all the papers. "Not just any house," Nancy tells us. We all looks confused at her while she places the last piece of paper down. "It's Victor Creel's house," She tells us, standing up from her chair. "Where you going?" Dustin asks around a mouthful of food. "Waking the others," She says, walking towards the basement door. I quickly get up and run after her as well.

We walk down the stairs to find everyone down there still very asleep. I walk over to Steve but Nancy beats me over there. I scoff quietly but move over to Robin instead. I gently shake her and move a piece of hair out of her face. She groans but opens her eyes. "What time is it?" She asks as she goes to wipe her eyes. "No clue, but we need to go." I tell her, helping her still up and stand. "Where are we going?" I hear Steve ask loudly. I look over to him to find him looking at me in questions, rather than Nancy who is standing right in front of her. "We need to go to the Creel house," Nancy says, seeming to be slightly annoyed. He nods down at her but looks back at me. I smile at him and nod, motioning to the door. "Why don't we get everything ready and head out when we can?" I suggest. Everyone nods, and we gather what we can for the journey.

Sometime later

"This place is so creepy," Robin whispers as I pull up to the Creel house. I look out the window and say, "Yeah." We get out of the cars and start making our way up the stairs that lead to the Creel house. "Yeah, that's not creepy," Steve says, all of us stopping and looking at the house. "Let's get this over with," I say, grabbing Steve's arm and dragging him up to the door. When we get to the door, Steve starts to pull nails out of the wood. I stand on the other side to get the nails out as well. "What exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?" Steve asks as he throws a nail behind him. "We're not sure," Nancy replies. He looks at me for conformation and I nod. "We just know this house is important to Vecna," Nancy continues for him. "Because Max saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world?" Steve asks. "Basically," I say, getting a "Great," in response.

"Maybe it holds a cluse to where Vecna is. Why he's back. Why he killed the Creels. And how to stop him before he comes back for Max." Dustin adds on. Steve and I look at Dustin but then turn to each other a little more worried again. "We don't think he's in here, do we?" Lucas asks, looking at all of us. Max answers him, "Guess we'll find out." I shiver a little but continue to help get more nails out of the door. "Ready?" Steve asks after a second, getting ready to get the board down so we can enter. I nod and we both let go of the wood, it falling and almost hitting the kids, Robin and Nancy who are behind us. As the wood falls, we find ourselves face with an old door with a glass stained window in the middle of it. "Well, this is it," I whisper to myself as Steve tried the door. "It's locked," He whispers after shacking it a little. "Should I knock, see if anybody's home?" He asks us. "No need," Robin yells, causing Steve and I to turn to her confused. She stands all smug and holds up a brick saying, "I found a key." I laugh and move out of her way so that I don't get hit.

Robin throws the brick right in the centre of the window, leaving behind and almost perfect hole. Steve looks through the hole and then carefully puts his hand through the glass and unlocks the door so that we can all come inside. He pulls his hand out and pushes the door open, causing it to screech. "God I hate that noise," I whisper to Steve, getting a nod in reply. Steve steps into the house first, whistling but the rest of us walk in almost straight away. We all slowly walk through the start of the foyer, looking around to see if there was anything out of the ordinary. "Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill," Lucas mumbles to us after trying to turn on of the lights in the doorway. We all start to turn our flashlights on as Steve asks, "Where'd everyone get those?" Dustin looks at him confused and gives him attitude while asking, "Do you need to be told everything? You're not a child." Steve looks at him in disbelief while I softly laugh at the interaction. "Thank you," He sarcastically says while I pull out another flashlight from my pocket. "Here you go Stevie," I whisper and pace it over to him. He smiles at me and takes the flashlight slowly from me.

I start to make my way around the house like everyone else but don't get far before Steve is grabbing onto my arm to stop me. "What?" I ask him, confused why he would stop me. "Go with Robin," He tells me, nodding over to where Robin is. I look at him confused and ask, "Why can't I go with you?" He smiles at me and steps a little closer. "You know Dustin. He'll probably start to start something again. I don't want you to have to deal with it if it can be helped. I nod, still confused why he'd not want me with him, and move over to where Robin and Nancy are starting to head. Nancy looks at me confused and annoyed but doesn't say anything. She turns back around and we start to make our way through the house.

"They just left everything," Nancy says as we look into one of the many rooms in the house. "I guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value," Robin say back. "Yeah, wonder why," I say before starting to walk further into the house. "Hey guys," Max calls to all of us. We all turn towards her as she asks, "You all see that right?" In front of her stands an old grandfather clock. The grandfather clock that Max saw when she had her visions. Nancy walks away from us and walks closer to Max to ask, "Is this what you saw? In your visions?" Robin and I walk behind her as well, taking a closer loo at the clock as well. "I mean, it's... just a clock. Right?" Robin says, looking between Max, the clock and I. With no response, Robin moves past Max and cleans some of the dust from the clock glass. She turns back to us all and says, "Like a normal old clock." "Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks?" Steve asks us all and adds on, "Maybe he's, like, a clockmaker or something?" I smile at him trying to work it out but Dustin sarcastically tells him, "I think you cracked the case Steve." I lightly smack him in the back of the head which causes him to glare at me while Nancy says, "All I know is the answers are here. Somewhere." "Alright, we need to split up. Make sure you all have a buddy, no one walk around this place alone," I tell everyone, all of us starting to split up and walk around the house.

[annlynngilbertphotography]

🚶‍♂️Fred Common, Senior Walker

📷 Fred Common, Hobbyist Photographer

🦋 Today’s Featured Flower on a sunny day to walk, temperature 62 degrees, humidity 96%, 2.75 miles in 1:00:28. Also, a shoutout to the School Crossing guards! — Thursday, March 7, 2024.

[todaysdocument]

Discharge Petition for H.R. 7152, the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Record Group 233: Records of the U.S. House of RepresentativesSeries: General Records

This item, H.R. 7152, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, faced strong opposition in the House Rules Committee. Howard Smith, Chairman of the committee, refused to schedule hearings for the bill. Emanuel Celler, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, attempted to use this discharge petition to move the bill out of committee without holding hearings. The petition failed to gain the required majority of Congress (218 signatures), but forced Chairman Smith to schedule hearings.

88th CONGRESS. House of Representatives No. 5 Motion to Discharge a Committee from the Consideration of a RESOLUTION (State whether bill, joint resolution, or resolution) December 9, 1963 To the Clerk of the House of Representatives: Pursuant to Clause 4 of Rule XXVII (see rule on page 7), I EMANUEL CELLER (Name of Member), move to discharge to the Commitee on RULES (Committee) from the consideration of the RESOLUTION; H. Res. 574 entitled, a RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE BILL (H. R. 7152) which was referred to said committee November 27, 1963 in support of which motion the undersigned Members of the House of Representatives affix their signatures, to wit: 1. Emanuel Celler 2. John J. Rooney 3. Seymour Halpern 4. James G Fulton 5. Thomas W Pelly 6. Robt N. C. Nix 7. Jeffery Cohelan 8. W A Barrett 9. William S. Mailiard 10. 11. Augustus F. Hawkins 12. Otis G. Pike 13. Benjamin S Rosenthal 14. Spark M Matsunaga 15. Frank M. Clark 16. William L Dawson 17. Melvin Price 18. John C. Kluczynski 19. Barratt O'Hara 20. George E. Shipley 21. Dan Rostenkowski 22. Ralph J. Rivers[page] 2 23. Everett G. Burkhalter 24. Robert L. Leggett 25. William L St Onge 26. Edward P. Boland 27. Winfield K. Denton 28. David J. Flood 29. 30. Lucian N. Nedzi 31. James Roosevelt 32. Henry C Reuss 33. Charles S. Joelson 34. Samuel N. Friedel 35. George M. Rhodes 36. William F. Ryan 37. Clarence D. Long 38. Charles C. Diggs Jr 39. Morris K. Udall 40. Wm J. Randall 41. 42. Donald M. Fraser 43. Joseph G. Minish 44. Edith Green 45. Neil Staebler 46. 47. Ralph R. Harding 48. Frank M. Karsten 49. 50. John H. Dent 51. John Brademas 52. John E. Moss 53. Jacob H. Gilbert 54. Leonor K. Sullivan 55. John F. Shelley 56. 57. Lionel Van Deerlin 58. Carlton R. Sickles 59. 60. Edward R. Finnegan 61. Julia Butler Hansen 62. Richard Bolling 63. Ken Heckler 64. Herman Toll 65. Ray J Madden 66. J Edward Roush 67. James A. Burke 68. Frank C. Osmers Jr 69. Adam Powell 70. 71. Fred Schwengel 72. Philip J. Philiben 73. Byron G. Rogers 74. John F. Baldwin 75. Joseph Karth 76. 77. Roland V. Libonati 78. John V. Lindsay 79. Stanley R. Tupper 80. Joseph M. McDade 81. Wm Broomfield 82. 83. 84. Robert J Corbett 85. 86. Craig Hosmer87. Robert N. Giaimo 88. Claude Pepper 89. William T Murphy 90. George H. Fallon 91. Hugh L. Carey 92. Robert T. Secrest 93. Harley O. Staggers 94. Thor C. Tollefson 95. Edward J. Patten 96. 97. Al Ullman 98. Bernard F. Grabowski 99. John A. Blatnik 100. 101. Florence P. Dwyer 102. Thomas L. ? 103. 104. Peter W. Rodino 105. Milton W. Glenn 106. Harlan Hagen 107. James A. Byrne 108. John M. Murphy 109. Henry B. Gonzalez 110. Arnold Olson 111. Harold D Donahue 112. Kenneth J. Gray 113. James C. Healey 114. Michael A Feighan 115. Thomas R. O'Neill 116. Alphonzo Bell 117. George M. Wallhauser 118. Richard S. Schweiker 119. 120. Albert Thomas 121. 122. Graham Purcell 123. Homer Thornberry 124. 125. Leo W. O'Brien 126. Thomas E. Morgan 127. Joseph M. Montoya 128. Leonard Farbstein 129. John S. Monagan 130. Brad Morse 131. Neil Smith 132. Harry R. Sheppard 133. Don Edwards 134. James G. O'Hara 135. 136. Fred B. Rooney 137. George E. Brown Jr. 138. 139. Edward R. Roybal 140. Harris. B McDowell jr. 141. Torbert H. McDonall 142. Edward A. Garmatz 143. Richard E. Lankford 144. Richard Fulton 145. Elizabeth Kee 146. James J. Delaney 147. Frank Thompson Jr 148. 149. Lester R. Johnson 150. Charles A. Buckley4 151. Richard T. Hanna 152. James Corman 153. Paul A Fino 154. Harold M. Ryan 155. Martha W. Griffiths 156. Adam E. Konski 157. Chas W. Wilson 158. Michael J. Kewan 160. Alex Brooks 161. Clark W. Thompson 162. John D. Gringell [?] 163. Thomas P. Gill 164. Edna F. Kelly 165. Eugene J. Keogh 166 John. B. Duncan 167. Elmer J. Dolland 168. Joe Caul 169. Arnold Olsen 170. Monte B. Fascell [?] 171. [not deciphered] 172. J. Dulek 173. Joe W. [undeciphered] 174. J. J. Pickle [Numbers 175 through 214 are blank]

[apod]

2023 April 29

Solar Eclipse from a Ship Image Credit: Fred Espenak

Explanation: Along a narrow path that mostly avoided landfall, the shadow of the New Moon raced across planet Earth's southern hemisphere on April 20 to create a rare annular-total or hybrid solar eclipse. From the Indian Ocean off the coast of western Australia, ship-borne eclipse chasers were able to witness 62 seconds of totality though while anchored near the centerline of the total eclipse track. This ship-borne image of the eclipse captures the active Sun's magnificent outer atmosphere or solar corona streaming into space. A composite of 11 exposures ranging from 1/2000 to 1/2 second, it records an extended range of brightness to follow details of the corona not quite visible to the eye during the total eclipse phase. Of course eclipses tend to come in pairs. On May 5, the next Full Moon will just miss the dark inner part of Earth's shadow in a penumbral lunar eclipse.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230429.html

[grooveland]

NE Glisan Fred Meyer Portland 1962

(via 1962_may-ne-glisan-st-near-ne-65th-ave-vz-130-62.jpg (2400×1389))

[best-character-named-x-poll]

Past Polls

Round 1: Peter : WINNER: Peter Parker (Spider-Man)

Round 2: Elizabeth : WINNER: Elizabeth Swann (Pirates of the Caribbean)

Round 3: Jason : WINNER: Jason Mendoza (The Good Place)

Round 4: Eve : WINNER: EVE (WALL-E)

Round 5: Fred : WINNER: Fred Jones (Scooby-Doo)

Round 6: Rachel : WINNER: Rachel (Animorphs)

Round 7: Arthur : WINNER: Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)

Round 8: Amy : WINNER: Amy Pond (Doctor Who)

Round 9: Tom : WINNER: Tom (Tom and Jerry)

Round 10: Claire : WINNER: Clare Devlin (Derry Girls)

Round 11: James : WINNER: James (Pokemon)

Round 12: Max : WINNER: Max (Black Sails)

Round 13: Simon : WINNER: Simon Belmont (Castlevania)

Round 14: Jane : WINNER: Jane Crocker (Homestuck)

Round 15: Victor : WINNER: Victor Nikiforov (Yuri On Ice)

Round 16: Mary : WINNER: Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins)

Round 17: Will : WINNER: Will Graham (Hannibal)

Round 18: Laura : WINNER: Laura Palmer (Twin Peaks)

Round 19: Ben : WINNER: Ben "Obi-Wan" Kenobi (Star Wars)

Round 20: Chloe : WINNER: Chloe Price (Life Is Strange)

Round 21: John : WINNER: Jonathan Sims (The Magnus Archives)

Round 22: Lydia : WINNER: Lydia Deetz (Beetlejuice)

Round 23: Mark : WINNER: Marc Spector (Moon Knight)

Round 24: Jess : WINNER: Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad)

Round 25: Theo : WINNER: Theobald Gumbar (Dimension 20: A Crown Of Candy)

Round 26: Sarah: WINNER: Sarah Jane Smith (Doctor Who)

Round 27: Richard : WINNER: Richard Gansey III (The Raven Cycle)

Round 28: Cass : WINNER: Cassandra Cain (Batman)

Round 29: Edward : WINNER: Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Round 30: Carm : WINNER: Carmen Sandiego (Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?)

Round 31: Hal : WINNER: HAL9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey)

Round 32: Sid : WINNER: Sydney Adamu (The Bear)

Round 33: Jack : WINNER: Captain Jack Harkness (Doctor Who)

Round 34: Stephanie : WINNER: Stephanie Brown (Batman)

Round 35: Ash : WINNER: Ash Ketchum (Pokemon)

Round 36: Veronica : WINNER: Veronica Sawyer (Heathers)

Round 37: Kurt : WINNER: Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler (X-Men)

Round 38: Eleanor : WINNER: Eleanor Shellstrop (The Good Place)

Round 39: Nathan : WINNER: Nathan Young (Misfits)

Round 40: Fiona : WINNER: Princess Fiona (Shrek)

Round 41: Gale : WINNER: Gayle Waters-Waters (Chris Fleming)

Round 42: Barbara : WINNER: Barbara Millicent Roberts aka Barbie (Barbie)

Round 43: Sam : WINNER: Samwise Gamgee (Lord of the Rings)

Round 44: Grace : WINNER: Grace Chastity (Nerdy Prudes Must Die)

Round 45: Barry : WINNER: Barry Bluejeans (The Adventure Zone)

Round 46: Raven : WINNER: Raven (Teen Titans)

Round 47: Dan : WINNER: Danny Fenton (Danny Phantom)

Round 48: Mia : WINNER: Mia Fey (Ace Attorney)

Round 49: Matt : WINNER: Matt Murdock (Daredevil)

Round 50: Rose : WINNER: Rose Tyler (Doctor Who)

Round 51: Robert : WINNER: Robbie Rotten (LazyTown)

Round 52: Lola : WINNER: Lola Bunny (Space Jam)

Round 53: Scott : WINNER: Scott Summers aka Cyclops (X-Men)

Round 54: Olivia : WINNER: Olivia Octavious (Spiderverse)

Round 55: Finn : WINNER: Finn the Human (Adventure Time)

Round 56: Emily : WINNER: Emily Charlton (The Devil Wears Prada)

Round 57: Elliot : WINNER: Eliot Spencer (Leverage)

Round 58: Sonia : WINNER: Sonia (Pokemon)

Round 59: Gideon : WINNER: Gideon Nav (The Locked Tomb)

Round 60: Jen : WINNER: Jennifer Check (Jennifer's Body)

Round 61: Miles : WINNER: Miles Morales (Spider-Man)

Round 62: Lana : WINNER: Lana Skye (Ace Attorney)

Round 63: Spencer : WINNER: Spencer Shay (iCarly)

Round 64: Tracy : WINNER: Tracy Turnbald (Hairspray!)

Round 65: Luke : WINNER: Luke Skywalker (Star Wars)

Round 66: Natalie : WINNER: Natalie Scatorccio (Yellowjackets)

Round 67: Harry : WINNER: Harry Du Bois (Disco Elysium)

Round 68: Lucy : WINNER: Lucy van Pelt (Peanuts)

Round 69: Damian : WINNER: Damian Wayne (Batman)

Round 70: Tabitha : WINNER: Tabitha Casper (Dan and Phil Games: Sims 4)

Round 71: Nick : WINNER: Nicholas D. Wolfwood (Trigun)

Round 72: Gwen : WINNER: Guinevere (Merlin)

Round 73: Paul : WINNER: Paulette Bonafonte (Legally Blonde)

Round 74: Abigail : WINNER: Abigail Hobbs (Hannibal)

Round 75: Jordan : WINNER: Jordan Baker (The Great Gatsby)

Round 76: Donna : WINNER: Donna Noble (Doctor Who)

Round 77: Morgan : WINNER: Morgana (Merlin)

Round 78: Allison : WINNER: Alison Cooper (BBC Ghosts)

Round 79: Patrick : WINNER: Patrick Star (Spongebob Squarepants)

Round 80: Linda : WINNER: Linda Belcher (Bob's Burgers)

Round 81: Philip : WINNER: Philip J. Fry (Futurama)

Round 82: Clarisse : WINNER: Clarisse La Rue (Percy Jackson)

Round 83: Jeff : WINNER: Jeff The Killer (Creepypasta)

Round 84: Maria : WINNER: Maria (The Sound Of Music)

Round 85: David : WINNER: David aka Solid Snake (Metal Gear)

Round 86: Tiffany : WINNER: Tiffany Aching (Discworld)

Round 87: Charlie : WINNER: Charlie Kelly (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia)

Round 88: Sandy : WINNER: Sandy Cheeks (Spongebob Squarepants)

Round 89: Cody : WINNER: Commander Cody (Star Wars: Clone Wars)

Round 90: Amanda : WINNER: Amanda Young (Saw)

Round 91: Jeremy : WINNER: Jeremy aka Scout (Team Fortress 2)

Round 92: Velma : WINNER: Velma Dinkley (Scooby-Doo)

Round 93: Adam : WINNER: Adam Parrish (The Raven Cycle)

Round 94: Sue : WINNER: Susan Pevensie (Narnia)

Round 95: Derek : WINNER: Derek Hale (Teen Wolf)

Round 96: Michelle : WINNER: Michelle Mallon (Derry Girls)

Round 97: Neil : WINNER: Neil Perry (Dead Poets Society)

Round 98: Lisa : WINNER: Lisa Cuddy (House MD)

Round 99: Tony : WINNER: Tony Soprano (The Soprano's)

Round 100: Karen : WINNER: Karen Smith (Mean Girls)

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

WOKE politicians 'support gay CONVERSION therapy' as confused kids 'fast-tracked to STERILISATION'

Andrew Doyle: On Friday there was a heated debate in the House of Commons about conversion therapy. Emotions ran high and few were more impassioned than the conservative MP Alicia Kearns who berated Alba MP Neil Hanvey for appealing on behalf of the LGB community.

So, here's how that exchange went.

Hanvey: People in the LGB community are often referred to as bigots and transphobes and other slurs just because we have concerns about legislation such of this. And we want to make sure that young LGB people are protected. And trans people. Does she agree with me that that must apply, that rule must apply, to all sides of any debate and not just one side that she favors.

Kearns: ... absolutely right, but there was one digit missing from his LGB: LGBT. We do not divide the LGBT community in this place. You can say that you have concerns about we doing. But by removing the T, you are suggesting that transgender people do not exist. You are suggesting they are lesser than other LGB people. And I will not stand for that, because it was trans people who stood with gay people at Stonewall. It was trans people who fought alongside for LGBT rights. So, when you say LGBT, when you remove the T, you suggest that they are lesser.

Doyle: Now it's clear to me that Alicia Kearns is well intentioned and sincere, and I mean no disrespect when I say that this is a subject about which she clearly knows very little. And that is dangerous, because if she gets her way on this issue, it will set back gay rights by decades.

So, let's address some of the key misconceptions. So, firstly, Kearns claimed that Hanvey was suggesting that transgender people don't exist, and at no point did he make such a claim. Sexual orientation and the belief in gender identity are totally unrelated concepts. Kearns seems to be suggesting that gay people have no right to campaign for their interests unless they simultaneously campaign for trans people. But why? Groups such as Mermaids campaign solely for trans rights. Are they therefore homophobic? Perhaps Alicia Kerns would like to berate them in Parliament. I look forward to seeing that.

Kearns went on to say that it was trans people who stood with the gays at Stonewall. Trans people fought together for LGB rights. Did they? I mean there were some trans people involved in the struggle for gay rights, certainly. But not all that many. The activists who changed history for the better were predominantly lesbians and gay men. At the Stonewall Inn, it was mostly gay men with some lesbians and drag queens who were involved in the riots. And it was likely a lesbian, Stormé DeLarverie, who sparked the whole thing. After the police raided the bar, she was being forcibly arrested and is said to have shouted to the crowd, aren't you going to do something?

Now, some trans activists have since attempted to rewrite history, claiming that a transwoman called Marsha P. Johnson threw the first brick at the Stonewall Inn. The trouble is, Marsha P. Johnson wasn't trans. He was a drag queen. And he wasn't even there when the rioting started.

Now, if Alicia Kearns wants to know about the actual history of Stonewall, not the revisionist fabrications of activists, she could read "Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution," by David Carter. Or, she could talk to someone who was actually there, such as the gay rights veteran Fred Sargeant.

Now let's talk about the confusion that's at the heart of this parliamentary debate. What exactly is conversion therapy? A YouGov poll last year revealed that 65% of voters believe that gay conversion therapy ought to be banned, and 62% feel the same about "trans conversion therapy." And this would suggest that most voters do not recognize the difference between the two, and nor do many politicians. Now this photograph was taken in Westminster Hall. A cross-party collective of dozens of MPs with a placard that reads, "I support a trans inclusive ban." The image was posted on Twitter by Laboir MP from Nottingham East, Nadia Whittome.

In truth, and without realizing it, the these politicians are supporting a new form of gay conversion therapy, something that most of us thought would be consigned to the history books by this point. When we hear that phrase, "conversion therapy," most of our minds leap to a variety of horrific practices. So, in America, Christian fundamentalists have established programs to address the "problem" of homosexuality, there are camps where young people can "pray the gay away." Which I suppose is at least a step forward from brain surgery, castration and the kind of electric shock treatment favoured by scientific practitioners in the 20th century, or the corrective rape of lesbians to "cure" them of homosexual tendencies that still goes on in some countries.

Such practices are of course already illegal in the UK. So, why the need for a conversion therapy ban? Well, what's happening is there is a conflation of sexual orientation and gender identity and this is why so many are confused. In her book, "Time to Think," Hannah Barnes revealed that between 80 to 90% of adolescents who were referred to the Tavistock pediatric gender clinic were same-sex attracted. We've known for a long time there's a strong correlation between gender nonconformity in youth and being gay in adult life. Members at the Tavistock itself joked that, "soon there would be no gay people left." Whistleblowers revealed that homophobia was endemic. In other words, children who are likely to grow up gay are being "fixed" by medical practitioners to better conform with stereotypical heterosexual paradigms.

Barnes's research shows that the Tavistock clinic -- and this is a quote -- "ignored evidence that 97.5% of children seeking sex changes had autism, depression or other problems that might have explained their unhappiness." They are only 2% of the country's children that suffer from an autistic spectrum disorder, so why is it that 35% of referrals to the Tavistock fit into that category?

in almost all instances, children who are prescribed puberty blockers go on to cross- sex hormones, which in some cases leads to irreversible surgery. We're dealing here, overwhelmingly, with gay and autistic children fast-tracked onto a pathway to sterilization. This is what MPs such as Lloyd Russell-Moyle and Alicia Kearns and Keir Starmer are supporting. Whether they realize it or not.

Now, thankfully, more and more people are waking up to the scale of this problem. So, recently the equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch wrote to the Commons Women and Equality Select Committee about her discussions with former clinicians at the Tavistock. And the conclusion? So-called gender affirmative care amounts to what she described as, "conversion therapy for gay kids." And crucially, she cited a survey of detransitioners -- these are people who have been pressurized into transitioning and they later regret it -- in which 23% of respondents put their determination to transition down to experiences of homophobia.

Badenoch quoted a gender clinic in Germany. They said, "it must be understood that early hormone therapy may interfere with the patient's development as a homosexual. This may not be in the interests of patients who, as a result of hormone therapy, can no longer have the decisive experiences that enable them to establish a homosexual identity."

It is profoundly disturbing that Starmer's Labour party is now officially supporting gay conversion therapy in the form of a ban on "trans-inclusive conversion therapy," and that he's gaining cross-party support. Now, a charitable interpretation is that Starmer, Kearns, Russell-Moyle, Whittome, all the other MPs who are supporting this, simply do not understand that they are advancing dangerously anti-gay proposals. They are supporting the new Section 28. And all the while, they think they're doing the precise opposite.

If any of these politicians would like to come on to this show and discuss these issues, I would be delighted to have them. Consider it an open invitation. In the meantime, I'd like to remind Parliament that homosexuality was removed from the World Health Organization's list of psychiatric disorders back in 1993. Being gay is not a medical condition that requires treatment. Unfortunately, activists have been remarkably successful in confusing the issues through semantic ambiguities and the redefinition of terms. And so, although it sounds desperately counterintuitive, the truth is that in order to oppose gay conversion therapy, one must be opposed to a ban on "trans conversion therapy."

[lonestarflight]

Interior view of "mail box" for purging carbon dioxide from Lunar Module

"An interior view of the Apollo 13 Lunar Module (LM) during the trouble-plagued journey back to Earth. This photograph shows some of the temporary hose connections and apparatus which were necessary when the three Apollo astronauts moved from the Command Module (CM) to use the LM as a 'lifeboat'. Astronaut John L. Swigert Jr., command module pilot, is on the right. An unidentified astronaut on the left holds in his right hand the feed water bag from the Portable Life Support System (PLSS). It is connected to a hose (center) from the Lunar Topographic (Hycon) Camera. In the background is the 'mail box,' a jury-rigged arrangement which the crew men built to use the CM lithium hydroxide canisters to scrub CO2 from the spacecraft's atmosphere. Since there was a limited amount of lithium hydroxide in the LM, this arrangement was rigged up to utilize the canisters from the CM. The 'mail box' was designed and tested on the ground at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) before it was suggested to the Apollo 13 astronauts. An explosion of an oxygen tank in the Service Module (SM) caused the cancellation of the scheduled moon landing, and made the return home a hazardous journey for astronauts Swigert, James A. Lovell Jr., commander, and Fred W. Haise Jr., lunar module."

Date: April 14, 1970

NASA ID: AS13-62-9004

[mariacallous]

It was supposed to be a clarion call to re-energize flagging U.S. support for Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was meant to dial into a classified briefing to the entire U.S. Senate on Tuesday, alongside top Biden administration officials, urging the Senate to support the swift passage of a massive national security supplemental bill to keep the taps of U.S. military aid flowing to Ukraine. 

In the end, those best-laid plans devolved into yet another partisan fight on Capitol Hill.

Zelensky didn’t attend, according to congressional aides and former officials familiar with the matter, due to a last-minute scheduling conflict, and Senate Republicans walked out of the briefing early, fuming that the administration officials slated to brief them would only talk about Ukraine and Israel, and not the U.S. southern border—which was their top policy priority. While several top administration officials attended the briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who oversees U.S. border policy, did not, the aides and former officials said, incensing Republicans. 

The drama around this classified briefing encapsulates the political quagmire the Biden administration now faces, with massive implications for U.S. foreign policy and, in particular, Ukraine’s war against Russia. The Biden administration stitched together a major package of $111 billion to support Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and fund U.S. southern border security in a bid to get as many members of Congress as possible to support the measure. Instead, it’s devolved into a political headache, leaving continued aid for Ukraine hanging in the balance during a crucial phase in its war in Ukraine, all because of a partisan feud over U.S.-Mexico border policies. In a speech on Wednesday urging members of Congress to support further funding for Ukraine, President Joe Biden accused “extreme Republicans” of “playing chicken” with U.S. national security. 

“These are all political games,” said Luke Coffey, a national security expert at the Hudson Institute think tank. “Meanwhile, Ukrainians are dying, and funding is running dry.”

As of mid-November, the Pentagon had spent 97 percent of the $62 billion already earmarked for Ukraine, according to a starkly worded letter sent from the White House to congressional leaders on Monday. Military experts paint a bleak picture of what could happen next if the spigot of U.S. military aid is cut off. 

“We support Ukraine or Ukraine loses the war,” said Fred Kagan, director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute. “It really is that stark,” he said. 

In the first months of this renewed war, Russia seized 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, reaching the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv. Ukrainian forces have since waged a grinding battle to claw back towns and cities from Russian control. A collapse in U.S. support could unwind many of those hard-won gains. “If we cut Ukraine off and abandon Ukraine the way we abandoned Afghanistan, ultimately the same thing will happen,” Kagan said. 

The war has been characterized by pitched artillery battles. Feeding the Ukrainian military’s rapacious need for artillery shells has been a central component of U.S. support. If that funding is stopped, it would be quickly felt on the battlefield. “People cannot fight with their bare hands,” said Andriy Zagorodnyuk, the former Ukrainian minister of defense.

Another pillar of U.S. support has been air defense systems, which have protected Ukrainian cities from Russian missile and drone attacks. Late last month, Russia unleashed a swarm of 75 drones on Kyiv in the single-biggest drone attack of the war to date. All but one were shot down by the city’s air defense systems. A dwindling in air defense munitions could leave Ukraine’s troops, urban areas, and critical infrastructure exposed to a Russian onslaught from the skies. 

Russia watchers have long cautioned that, despite his forces’ underwhelming military performance, President Vladimir Putin believes he can bide his time and wait out Ukraine’s Western backers. The Russian leader has previously stated that Ukraine would not survive beyond “a week” if Western support were to dry up. 

In a call with the media on Tuesday, Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, cautioned that Putin’s military objectives in Ukraine remain unchanged. “Russia is still intending to continue to advance,” Sullivan said. “Its objectives in Ukraine are the full subjugation of that country, not just the taking of some territory in the south and the east,” he said. 

U.S. military aid to Ukraine far outstrips that provided by any other nation, and other Western states would be unable to fulfill the shortfall in the event that it is cut off. “I’ll be dialing for dollars and howitzers on a daily basis, but the bottom line is there is no substitute for the United States and what we can provide,” Sullivan said.

The U.S. has also played an important leadership role in organizing some 50 countries to provide aid to Kyiv through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. As Washington has given increasingly powerful weapons to Ukraine, including Abrams battle tanks, it has given cover for European nations to follow suit. “The alliance is unlikely simply to trundle forward under its own steam as if we hadn’t been there,” Kagan said. “This will, of course, also be a massive betrayal of the allies who have also leaned forward in incurring Putin’s wrath,” he said. 

Foreign Policy interviewed 12 current and former officials, congressional aides, and experts on the ongoing political battles in Washington over the future of Ukraine aid and how the administration has linked it to funding for other national security priorities. One conclusion stands out above all others: There’s a palpable sense of dread among Ukraine’s biggest supporters in Washington and Europe.

Without continued U.S. military and economic aid for Kyiv, those supporters argue, Ukraine may not lose the war tomorrow, but it will undoubtedly tip the scale of the war in Russia’s favor. Biden administration officials and many members of Congress argue that Ukraine’s war is an existential struggle for peace in Europe: If Russia achieves a victory in Ukraine, it won’t stop there, and could invade U.S. allies on NATO’s eastern flank next. 

A small group of cautious Ukraine optimists inside the administration and Congress see the political battle over this funding package—around $111 billion in total—as a nasty procedural hurdle that congressional leaders will eventually sort out. The Democrats narrowly control the Senate, while Republicans narrowly control the House, so the politics was always going to be tricky, they argue, but Congress has overcome thorny political impasses before.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has said that House Republicans won’t greenlight Ukraine aid without a Republican-backed immigration bill, H.R. 2, included in the supplemental package. Democrats have resoundingly rejected H.R. 2, which would mirror Trump-era immigration policies, including border wall construction and curbing humanitarian parole programs for asylum-seekers. On the Senate side, even Republicans who are reliably pro-Ukraine have been unwilling to pass the supplemental until the Biden administration puts more security on the border.

“The mayors of our major cities have clearly indicated they do not have the capacity to take care of the refugees,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, speaking about those who arrive over the U.S. southern border. “This ought to be a no-brainer for the president in terms of the large, hugely Democratic big cities as well as the heartland.”

These cautiously optimistic officials and experts argue that Ukraine has one thing going in its favor: Nearly every senator and a vast majority of the members of the House on both sides of the aisle still support continuing U.S. military aid to Ukraine—as do a majority of American voters, according to some of the latest opinion polls.

Still, there’s a much larger contingent of pessimists, who view the partisan skirmishes in the Senate, and the impasse over the funding package, as an omen of how U.S. support for Ukraine could waver in the coming months and years. They point to the small flank of anti-Ukraine voices in the Republican Party that has been growing louder and more influential outside Washington; the fumbling by the Biden administration on rolling out the national security supplemental tying Ukraine aid to border security; and, above all, to the question of what will happen in the 2024 presidential election. 

“It is causing this gloom to descend across Europe and European capitals,” said Jim Townsend, a former top NATO policy official at the Pentagon. “They see this not as some tempest in a teapot or standard political fight in Congress, but as representative of where the U.S. is really going on foreign policy in the future.”

In a bid to marshal more support for Ukraine, Zelensky dispatched some of his top aides to Washington this week to pitch how critical U.S. support is to staving off a Russian victory. 

Andriy Yermak, head of Zelensky’s presidential office, said that a postponement in U.S. aid would severely undermine Ukrainian efforts to liberate Russian-occupied territory and would create a “big risk” of Kyiv losing the war. “It will be difficult to keep in [the] same positions and for the people to really survive,” Yermak said in a speech at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington on Tuesday. Top Biden administration officials bluntly warned Congress that their ability to keep supplying Ukraine with weapons would dry up unless the emergency supplemental is passed.

“I want to be clear: without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine and to provide equipment from U.S. military stocks,” Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), wrote in a letter to congressional leaders this week. “There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. We are out of money—and nearly out of time.”

There’s another growing fear about how this political battle could affect aid to Ukraine in the future, playing out in the background of the drama on Capitol Hill that many officials point to: the U.S. defense industrial base. 

A significant portion of the funds being held up are allocated to the U.S. defense industry to expand the production of U.S. munitions that can be sent to Ukraine to keep up the fight against Russia. The war has bogged down into what some analysts consider a stalemate, and both sides need immense supplies of artillery munitions in particular to keep up the fight. The U.S. Defense Department is now producing about 28,000 rounds of 155 mm artillery ammunition a month, according to the U.S. Army’s October numbers, the most-used across NATO countries. Though that’s double the amount of artillery that the United States was producing before Russia’s full-scale invasion, it’s far less than what Ukraine needs (Troops are firing about 7,000 rounds per day into Russian lines.). Without more money, U.S. officials say even that supply will dry up. 

“Do we have the money to do 100,000 [rounds of 155 mm artillery ammo per month]? The answer is yes, if they passed a supplemental,” Pentagon acquisition chief William LaPlante told reporters on the sidelines of the Reagan National Defense Forum this weekend in Simi Valley, California.

Across the pond, European Union officials have also said that they are far short of the 27-nation bloc’s target to produce 1 million 155 mm rounds by early 2024. Any break in the deliveries of U.S. weapons and ammo might give Russia more opportunity to reconstitute its devastated ground forces in Ukraine, meaning the political battles on Capitol Hill could have very stark consequences for the real battles in Ukraine.

“There will be huge implications on the front lines,” Coffey said. “They probably wouldn’t be felt immediately as aid is still moving in the pipeline, but as Ukraine weathers this cold winter, and as it prepares for what it wants to do on the battlefield next year, this [U.S.] funding is crucial.”

[astralbondpro]

Early 1960s -

Bobby Davis while not the first manager in wrestling, he is considered by many to be an archetype of the heel manager as they came to be known in years to follow. In fact, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan was named after him. Unfortunately, I can't pin down where this video was from, or when it happened. It was certainly the early 60s, and he was managing Buddy Rogers. That would place this in Fred Kohler's Chicago in '61-'62, or the WWWF in 1963. My guess would be Chicago, but Bobby did indeed work for the WWWF.