#Georgia Stahl

[darkmaga-returns]

This Sunday millions will tune in to watch Hollywood’s premier awards ceremony, the Oscars. All eyes will be on the red carpet to see who is wearing what and viewers will be anxiously waiting to see if any drama unfolds–like a Will Smith slap or accidentally awarding the Best Picture Oscar to the wrong film. What won’t be mentioned is the fact that many of the movies vying for Oscar wins wouldn’t have made it to the big screen without help from the U.S. military.

From Goldfinger (1964) to Captain Marvel (2019), the Pentagon has assisted in the making of more than 2,500 war-themed movies and television series and continues to contribute to an average of seven feature film projects and over 90 smaller film and TV projects every year.

Roger Stahl, who heads University of Georgia’s Communications Studies Department and author of Militainment Inc. and the documentary “Theaters of War,” suspects that a third to a half of all blockbuster films substantially featuring the military have received military support. “The Oscars have honored a few security state-sponsored productions over the years,” he wrote in an email exchange with Responsible Statecraft.

[thelensofyashunews]

BIG LATTO FEATURING PLAYBOI CARTI “BLICK SUM” SINGLE & VIDEO OUT NOW!

Today, ATL-based Grammy nominated Queen of the Souf rapper Latto drops her highly anticipated collaboration with multi-platinum, genre-defying Atlanta rapper Playboi Carti for the alternate version of “Blick Sum” via RCA Records.

Shot in Atlanta, the Hidji World and Gunner Stahl-directed video shows Latto and Carti in different spots flexing their cash, style, and bars. Upon release, the song garnered the cover of Apple Music’s NMD and a Pandora billboard. Latto is currently nominated for a 2025 Grammy Award – Best Melodic Rap Performance for her single “Big Mama.”

Lattomade history this past year withher critically acclaimed third studio album Sugar Honey Iced Tea as the first solo female rapper from Atlanta to ever have a #1 on Billboard’s Top Rap Albums chart, debut or otherwise. The album also earned Big Mama a top 15 spot on the Billboard 200 chart, her highest debut to-date at #15. Overall,��she is only the second female rapper in 2024 to have a #1 Rap Album debut and Top 15 Billboard 200 debut.

Sugar Honey Iced Tea is centered around Latto’s Georgia Southern roots and displays her signature raw, witty lyricism over magnetic beats. The 21-track album features A-List Southern artists including Megan Thee Stallion, Ciara, Coco Jones, Young Nudy, Flo Milli, Teezo Touchdown and more. Latto’s major Billboard July cover print issuecame out around the album release and most recently she graced the December issue of EBONY Magazine.

Latto wrapped��her first North American Sugar Honey Iced Tea Tour last year with special guests Mariah The Scientist and Karrahbooo. In addition to touring, she was also a performer and had a panel chat at the 2024 Teen Vogue Summit in Los Angeles, performed her Grammy nominated single “Big Mama” on The Jennifer Hudson Show (plus a couch interview) and held her own event at the Grammy Museum that included an acoustic performance.

With the release of her third studio album and over 1 billion streams worldwide across all platforms, in addition to accolades continuing to rack up from her success, Latto has full command of the stage to become a global superstar and this next chapter of Latto’s career spotlights her new music, new creative vibrant visuals and gives more big energy from The Biggest aka Big Latto.

[constellaetions]

RAIN TAYLOR STAHL / cis woman (she/her) thirty-seven years old — december 28th, 1987 (capricorn sun ; aries rising ; scorpio moon)

+ Responsible, Proactive, Diligent - Stubborn, Aloof, Arrogant

Criminal Psychology Professor @ Emory University Native to Magnolia Springs; has been back since January 2024.

tl;dr

Oldest of three girls, her parents named her Rain due to the weird coincidence of her being both conceived and born during freaky rainstorms in Georgia, but she goes by Taylor since she was a teenager. Her family’s part of Magnolia Springs’ elite, so, her parents were forced to marry when her mother became pregnant of her, to avoid any bigger scandals.  She doesn’t get well with her parents, especially with her mother because she blames them for having lost a great chunk of her life to take upon herself responsibilities that weren’t supposed to have been hers. Her middle sister went missing when Taylor was fifteen and even though she helped the FBI catching her killer, she still blames herself for Jenna's disappearance. Loves and hates in the same proportion: very intensely. 

triggers for: teenage pregnancy ; child neglect ; child abduction ; child death ; mentions of abuse 

Taylor was the first accident to happen in the Stahl family. Her mother was barely seventeen when she found out she was expecting a child of her then-boyfriend at the time. Teenage hormones and reckless nights together had culminated in such result, and in a fatidic rainy evening, they ended up conceiving her. In good small-city fashion, the young couple’s parents forced the duo to get married, because in no way would they have their daughter raise a child on her own and their son to be the talk of the town by having impregnated their girlfriend and not taking responsibility over it. However, having teenagers for parents didn’t make things easier on Taylor, because she was often left on her own so that her parents could have their fun with friends in their house, or, she would be put under her grandparents watch, which wasn’t that much tender either.

By the time she was five, she had become an older sister and learned the notion of responsibility by having to help her parents raise and care for their sister. At the age of ten, came the last addition of the Stahls, and by then, Taylor had already felt like she was no longer a child because once again, she was demanded to step forward and help around with yet another baby.

With a responsibility-packed childhood, came an even worse teenagerhood, because with that, also came school and college to pick from, social life, and all of that. In the mix of all of that, when Taylor was barely fifteen years old, her middle sister Jenna had gone missing while coming home from a friend’s house. That alone was enough to send her parents into a complete frenzy and to blame Taylor for not doing what she was supposed to, which, was to look after her sister. Turns out that, that afternoon, Taylor had stayed longer in school because she wanted to join in the cheerleaders tryouts as a way to fit in better with the girls her age, and so, she couldn’t pick ten-year-old Jenna from her friend’s house.

Jenna’s disappearance sent the whole town into complete chaos, searching for a child every possible rock and young Taylor back into her social shell. A month and a half after the searches had begun, Jenna’s body was found two-town’s over. Her killer, however, was nowhere to be found.

Taylor had always had a knack for school. For most things she would read about, she would be able to commit to memory, whether they were Physics formulas or English Literature quotes. The tragedy that involved her sister drove her into wanting to study Psychology in college. She wanted to understand what drove people to do such horrible things to others and commit awful crimes, so after being accepted into Emory University, Taylor began making her own life away from her family and the hole that Jenna had left in her chest. She did her best to find answers in books, scientific articles, and anything she could lay her hands on.

She spent most of her academic life in Georgia, only choosing to do her doctorate research at the University of California - Los Angeles, because her mentor had been invited to teach there and she didn’t want to go through the trouble of having to adapt to someone else’s methods (or maybe, she didn’t want to put anyone through the trouble of adapting to hers). Even so, she continued to share her findings with the world through award-winning articles and renowned papers and scientific books.

Three years ago, she started helping the Georgia FBI branch as they received evidences of girls being abducted and killed with the same M.O. as Jenna. With her researches and profiling consultancies, they were locate Jenna’s abductor, which, granted her some well-deserved peace of mind. Towards the end of 2023, she was asked to teach in both the Criminology and the Psychology courses at her alma mater, thus giving her the opportunity to return to Georgia for good.

At first, she thought of saying no to the position, however, once she found out that her baby sister had been coming out of an abusive relationship and with a baby on the way, Taylor decided to accept it. So, after being a few years away, Taylor came back and settled once again in Magnolia Springs. Her issues with her parents are no longer an actual problem, though she still resents them for stealing her childhood away from her, thus making her avoid them. However, she would rather focus on work and on taking care of her youngest sister Lily.

[covingtonrp]

Welcome to Covington, Georgia! The following character(s) have been accepted. We hope you enjoy your stay. Please submit your blog(s) to the main within 24 hours or your faceclaims will be reopened. And make sure you review our welcome package.

Castor Castellanos (Theo James) played by Riles

Rain Taylor Stahl (Phoebe Tonkin) played by Bru

Nolan Jackson (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) played by Fallon

[midpenmedia]

A super-hero shot with the creators of the movie that will make you rethink super-hero movies,

'Theaters of war: how the Pentagon and CIA took Hollywood'.

Roger Stahl, a producer and director of this movie, is a professor of Communication Studies at the University of Georgia who studies rhetoric, media, and culture. His work has focused on understanding propaganda and public relations as they relate to state violence, conflict, and security.

You can learn more about this highly entertaining and mind-blowing documentary and its creator at the unaff.film.festival website: http://www.unaff.org/2023/f_THEATERS-OF-WAR.html or at the movie's website: http://theatersofwarmovie.com/

[pennsyltuckyheathen]

This is the kind of bullshit the Republicans have used to distract Americans from the fact that the GOP has ever only served the top percent and greedy corporations.

Republicans have no problem supporting a chronic liar who was impeached twice, abused and disgraced the office of the President of the United States, contributed to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans caused by COVID-19, appointed his family members as special advisors which allowed them to personally enrich themselves walking away with billions of dollars when Trump lost the 2020 election, promised the southern border would be walled off with the costs being paid by Mexico, guaranteed that Obamacare would be repealed and replaced by the best health insurance ever, conspired with Republicans and others to push lies about the 2020 election, used fake electoral college documents to try to overturn the election, called Georgia election officials and asked them to find votes for him and change their election results, attempted to use the Justice Department to subvert the will of the people in a free and fair election, and when none of those things worked he encouraged his most fanatical supporters to come to DC on January 6th and cause violence that would disrupt the Electoral College procedures which he could then use as a reason to declare martial law to keep himself and his corrupt goon squad in power. (by the way when those who stormed the Capitol weren't 'successful' in helping him stay in office, they became losers and he turned his back on all of them leaving them to face the consequences while he jetted off to Florida and never pardoned any of them).

Trump was interviewed by Leslie Stahl and one of the questions asked concerned his constant claims of 'fake news' by the main stream media. She asked him why he did that. He said he did it on purpose so that when he actually did screw up (which was often) no one would believe them.

Trump was the biggest mistake the Republicans made in our country's modern history. They knew he was unfit, incompetent, corrupt, a malignant narcissist whose life revolved around himself and his delusional world. Once he was elected Republicans refused to uphold their Oaths of Office and discarded their duties to the United States of America. Trump used intimidation and retaliation to force loyalty and fealty to him. Republicans - who are part of the Legislative branch of government that is designed to balance the powers of the Executive branch and Judicial branch - abandoned their obligations to use the checks and balances afforded to them as representatives of the people. This allowed Trump to run roughshod over anything and everything - and anyone - who dared challenge his incompetence, corruption of his administration and exposed him for the fraud that he truly is.

Grand juries of patriotic Americans - in different states and from various backgrounds - found that the evidence of crimes was strong enough that Mr. Trump and others should be charged with those crimes and appear to answer for them in front of a fair and impartial jury.

Justice and the laws apply to everyone. Trump and others who are powerful or rich don't get a free pass. Mr. Trump is not a victim and he's not a stupid man. His words and actions led to this and no one else is pursuing an agenda to ruin him except him.

God Bless America

[jkanelis]

It's a secular document!

Marjorie Taylor Greene doesn’t know the Constitution she took an oath to defend and protect, as she exhibited tonight in a “60 Minutes” interview. The fire-breathing Republican congresswoman from northwest Georgia said the United States needs to become a “Christian nation,” which prompted the interviewer, Lesley Stahl, to remind her that the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the…

[yobaba30]

Stolen from Twitter

I owe my Trump-supporting friends an apology.  I’ve been critical of the Trump presidency these last four years, and am still exhausted from the experience. But to be fair, President Trump wasn’t that bad, other than when he incited an insurrection against the government, mismanaged a pandemic that killed nearly half a million Americans, separated children from their families, lost those children in the bureaucracy, tear-gassed peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square so he could hold a photo op holding a Bible in front of a church, tried to block all Muslims from entering the country, got impeached, got impeached again, had the worst jobs record of any president in modern history, pressured Ukraine to dig dirt on Joe Biden, fired the FBI director for investigating his ties to Russia, bragged about firing the FBI director on TV, took Vladimir Putin’s word over the US intelligence community, diverted military funding to build his wall, caused the longest government shutdown in US history, called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate,” lied nearly 30,000 times, banned transgender people from serving in the military, ejected reporters from the White House briefing room who asked tough questions, vetoed the defense funding bill because it renamed military bases named for Confederate soldiers, refused to release his tax returns, increased the national debt by nearly $8 trillion, had three of the highest annual trade deficits in U.S. history, called veterans and soldiers who died in combat losers and suckers, coddled the leader of Saudi Arabia after he ordered the execution and dismembering of a US-based journalist, refused to concede the 2020 election, hired his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to work in the White House, walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl, called neo-Nazis “very fine people,” suggested that people should inject bleach into their bodies to fight COVID, abandoned our allies the Kurds to Turkey, pushed through massive tax cuts for the wealthiest but balked at helping working Americans, incited anti-lockdown protestors in several states at the height of the pandemic, withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords, withdrew the US from the Iranian nuclear deal, withdrew withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership which was designed to block China’s advances, insulted his own Cabinet members on Twitter, pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way during a photo op, failed to reiterate US commitment to defending NATO allies, called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries, called the city of Baltimore the “worst in the nation,” claimed that he single handedly brought back the phrase “Merry Christmas” even though it hadn’t gone anywhere, forced his Cabinet members to praise him publicly like some cult leader believed he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, berated and belittled his hand-picked Attorney General when he recused himself from the Russia probe, suggested the US should buy Greenland, colluded with Mitch McConnell to push through federal judges and two Supreme Court justices after supporting efforts to prevent his predecessor from appointing judges, repeatedly called the media “enemies of the people,” claimed that if we tested fewer people for COVID we’d have fewer cases, violated the emoluments clause, thought that Nambia was a country, told Bob Woodward in private that the coronavirus was a big deal but then downplayed it in public, called his exceedingly faithful vice president a “p---y” for following the Constitution, nearly got us into a war with Iran after threatening them by tweet, nominated a corrupt head the EPA, nominated a corrupt head of HHS, nominated a corrupt head of the Interior Department, nominated a corrupt head of the USDA, praised dictators and authoritarians around the world while criticizing allies, refused to allow the presidential transition to begin, insulted war hero John McCain – even after his death, spent an obscene amount of time playing golf after criticizing Barack Obama for playing (far less) golf while president, falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote, called the Muslim mayor of London a “stone cold loser,” falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote, called the Muslim mayor of London a “stone cold loser,” falsely claimed that he turned down being Time’s Man of the Year, considered firing special counsel Robert Mueller on several occasions, mocked wearing face masks to guard against transmitting COVID, locked Congress out of its constitutional duty to confirm Cabinet officials by hiring acting ones, used a racist dog whistle by calling COVID the “China virus,” hired and associated with numerous shady figures that were eventually convicted of federal offenses including his campaign manager and national security adviser, pardoned several of his shady associates, gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two congressman who amplified his batshit crazy conspiracy theories, got into telephone fight with the leader of Australia(!), had a Secretary of State who called him a moron, forced his press secretary to claim without merit that his was the largest inauguration crowd in history, botched the COVID vaccine rollout, tweeted so much dangerous propaganda that Twitter eventually banned him, charged the Secret Service jacked-up rates at his properties, constantly interrupted Joe Biden in their first presidential debate, claimed that COVID would “magically” disappear, called a U.S. Senator “Pocahontas,” used his Twitter account to blast Nordstrom when it stopped selling Ivanka’s merchandise, opened up millions of pristine federal lands to development and drilling, got into a losing tariff war with China that forced US taxpayers to bail out farmers, claimed that his losing tariff war was a win for the US, ignored or didn’t even take part in daily intelligence briefings, blew off honoring American war dead in France because it was raining, redesigned Air Force One to look like the Trump Shuttle, got played by Kim Jung Un and his “love letters,” threatened to go after social media companies in clear violation of the Constitution, botched the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, threw paper towels at Puerto Ricans when he finally visited them, pressured the governor and secretary of state of Part 2 cont… Georgia to “find” him votes, thought that the Virgin islands had a President, drew on a map with a Sharpie to justify his inaccurate tweet that Alabama was threatened by a hurricane, allowed White House staff to use personal email accounts for official businesses after blasting Hillary Clinton for doing the same thing, rolled back regulations that protected the public from mercury and asbestos, pushed regulators to waste time studying snake-oil remedies for COVID, rolled back regulations that stopped coal companies from dumping waste into rivers held blatant campaign rallies at the White House, tried to take away millions of Americans’ health insurance because the law was named for a Black man, refused to attend his successors’ inauguration, nominated the worst Education Secretary in history threatened judges who didn’t do what he wanted, attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci, promised that Mexico would pay for the wall (it didn’t), allowed political hacks to overrule government scientists on major reports on climate change and other issues, struggled navigating a ramp after claiming his opponent was feeble, called an African-American Congresswoman “low IQ,” threatened to withhold federal aid from states and cities with Democratic leaders, went ahead with rallies filled with maskless supporters in the middle of a pandemic, claimed that legitimate investigations of his wrongdoing were “witch hunts,” seemed to demonstrate a belief that there were airports during the American Revolution, demanded “total loyalty” from the FBI director, praised a conspiracy theory that Democrats are Satanic pedophiles, completely gutted the Voice of America, placed a political hack in charge of the Postal Service, claimed without evidence that the Obama administration bugged Trump Tower, suggested that the US should allow more people from places like Norway into the country, suggested that COVID wasn’t that bad because he recovered with the help of top government doctors and treatments not available to the public, overturned energy conservation standards that even industry supported, reduced the number of refugees the US accepts, insulted various members of Congress and the media with infantile nicknames, gave Rush Limbaugh a Presidential medal of Freedom at the State of the Union address, named as head of federal personnel a 29-year old who’d previously been fired from the White House for allegations of financial improprieties, eliminated the White House office of pandemic respon used soldiers as campaign props, fired any advisor who made the mistake of disagreeing with him, demanded the Pentagon throw him a Soviet-style military parade, hired a shit ton of white nationalists, politicized the civil service, did absolutely nothing after Russia hacked US falsely said the Boy Scouts called him to say his bizarre Jamboree speech was the best speech ever given to the Scouts, claimed that Black people would overrun the suburbs if Biden won, insulted reporters of color, insulted women reporters, insulted women reporters of color, suggested he was fine with China’s oppression of the Uighurs, attacked the Supreme Court when it ruled against him, summoned Pennsylvania state legislative leaders to the White House to pressure them to overturn the election, spent countless hours every day watching Fox News, refused to allow his administration to comply with Congressional subpoenas, hired Rudy Giuliani as his lawyer, tried to punish Amazon because the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post wrote negative stories about him, acted as if the Attorney General of the United States was his personal attorney, attempted to get the federal government to defend him in a libel lawsuit from a women who accused him of sexual assault, held private meetings with Vladimir Putin without staff present, didn’t disclose his private meetings with Vladimir Putin so that the US had to find out via Russian media, stopped holding press briefings for months at a time, “ordered” US companies to leave China even though he has no such power, led a political party that couldn’t even be bothered to draft a policy platform, claimed preposterously that Article II of the Constitution gave him absolute powers, tried to pressure the U.K. to hold the British Open at his golf course, suggested that the government nuke hurricanes, suggested that wind turbines cause cancer, said that he had a special aptitude for science, fired the head of election cyber security after he said that the 2020 election was secure, blurted out classified information to Russian officials, tried to force the G7 to hold their meeting at his failing golf resort in Florida, fired the acting attorney general when she refused to go along with his unconstitutional Muslim travel ban, hired Stephen Miller, openly discussed national security issues in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago where everyone could hear them, interfered with plans to relocate the FBI because a new development there might compete with his hotel, abandoned Iraqi refugees who’d helped the U.S. during the war, tried to get Russia back into the G7, held a COVID super spreader event in the Rose Garden, seemed to believe that Frederick Douglass is still alive, lost 60 election fraud cases in court including before judges he had nominated, falsely claimed that factories were reopening when they weren’t, shamelessly exploited terror attacks in Europe to justify his anti-immigrant policies, still hasn’t come up with a healthcare plan, still hasn’t come up with an infrastructure plan despite repeated “Infrastructure,” forced Secret Service agents to drive him around Walter Reed while contagious with COVID, told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” fucked up the Census, withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the middle of a pandemic did so few of his duties that his press staff were forced to state on his daily schedule “President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings,” allowed his staff to repeatedly violate the Hatch Act, Part 3 continues… seemed not to know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, stood before sacred CIA wall of heroes and bragged about his election win, constantly claimed he was treated worse than any president which presumably includes four that were assassinated and his predecessor whose legitimacy and birthplace were challenged by a racist reality TV show star named Donald Trump, claimed Andrew Jackson could’ve stopped the Civil War even though he died 16 years before it happened, said that any opinion poll showing him behind was fake, claimed that other countries laughed at us before he became president when several world leaders were literally laughing at him, claimed that the military was out of ammunition before he became President, created a commission to whitewash American history, retweeted anti-Islam videos from one of the most racist people in Britain, claimed ludicrously that the Pulse nightclub shooting wouldn’t have happened if someone there had a gun even though there was an armed security guard there, hired a senior staffer who cited the non-existent Bowling Green Massacre as a reason to ban Muslims, had a press secretary who claimed that Nazi Germany never used chemical weapons even though every sane human being knows they used gas to kill millions of Jews and others, bilked the Secret Service for higher than market rates when they had to stay at Trump properties, apparently sold pardons on his way out of the White House, stripped protective status from 59,000 Haitians, falsely claimed Biden wanted to defund the police, said that the head of the CDC didn’t know what he was talking about, tried to rescind protection from DREAMers, gave himself an A+ for his handling of the pandemic, tried to start a boycott of Goodyear tires due to an Internet hoax, said U.S. rates of COVID would be lower if you didn’t count blue states, deported U.S. veterans who served their country but were undocumented, claimed he did more for African Americans than any president since Lincoln, touted a “super-duper” secret “hydrosonic” missile which may or may not be a new “hypersonic” missile or may not exist at all, retweeted a gif calling Biden a pedophile, forced through security clearances for his family, suggested that police officers should rough up suspects, suggested that Biden was on performance-enhancing drugs, tried to stop transgender students from being able to use school bathrooms in line with their gender, suggested the US not accept COVID patients from  a cruise ship because it would make US numbers look higher, nominated a climate change sceptic to chair the committee advising the White House on environmental policy, retweeted a video doctored to look like Biden had played a song called “Fuck tha Police” at a campaign event, hugged a disturbingly large number of U.S. flags, accused Democrats of “treason” for not applauding his State of the Union address, claimed that the FBI failed to capture the Parkland school shooter because they were “spending too much time” on Russia, mocked the testimony of Dr Christine Blasey Ford when she accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, obsessed over low-flow toilets, ordered the rerelease of more COVID vaccines when there weren’t any to release, called for the construction of a bizarre garden of heroes with statutes of famous dead Americans as well as at least one Canadian (Alex Trebek), hijacked Washington’s July 4th celebrations to give a partisan speech, took advice from the MyPillow guy, claimed that migrants seeking a better life in the US were dangerous caravans of drug dealers and rapists, said nothing when Vladimir Putin poisoned a leading opposition, never seemed to heed the advice of his wife’s “Be Best” campaign, falsely claimed that mail-in voting is fraudulent, announced a precipitous withdrawal of troops from Syria which not only handed Russia and ISIS a win but also prompted his defense secretary to resign in protest, insulted the leader of Canada, insulted the leader of France, insulted the leader of Britain, insulted the leader of Germany, insulted the leader of Sweden (Sweden!!), falsely claimed credit for getting NATO members to increase their share of dues, blew off two Asia summits even though they were held virtually, continued lying about spending lots of time at Ground Zero with 9/11 responders, said that the Japanese would sit back and watch their “Sony televisions” if the US were ever attacked, left a NATO summit early in a huff, stared directly into an eclipse even though everyone over the age of 5 knows not to do that, called himself a very stable genius despite significant evidence to the contrary, refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power and kept his promise, and a whole bunch of other things I can’t remember at the moment. But other than that. . . Please share. This is how history books will read, because these are PROVABLE FACTS! Truth

[bigmacdaddio]

Trump

Trump will never be forgotten because he incited an insurrection against the government, mismanaged a pandemic that killed over half a million Americans, separated children from their families, lost those children in the bureaucracy, tear-gassed peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square so he could hold a photo op holding a Bible in front of a church, tried to block all Muslims from entering the country, got impeached, got impeached again, had the worst jobs record of any president in modern history, pressured Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, fired the FBI director for investigating his ties to Russia, bragged about firing the FBI director on TV, took Vladimir Putin’s word over the US intelligence community, diverted military funding to build his wall, caused the longest government shutdown in US history, called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate,” lied nearly 30,000 times, banned transgender people from serving in the military, ejected reporters from the White House briefing room who asked tough questions, vetoed the defense funding bill because it renamed military bases named for Confederate soldiers, refused to release his tax returns, increased the national debt by nearly $8 trillion, had three of the highest annual trade deficits in U.S. history, called veterans and soldiers who died in combat losers and suckers, coddled the leader of Saudi Arabia after he ordered the execution and dismembering of a US-based journalist, refused to concede the 2020 election, hired his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to work in the White House, walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl, called neo-Nazis “very fine people,” suggested that people should inject bleach or disinfectant into their bodies to fight COVID, abandoned our allies the Kurds to Turkey, pushed through massive tax cuts for the wealthiest but balked at helping working Americans, incited anti-lockdown protestors in several states at the height of the pandemic, withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords, withdrew the US from the Iranian nuclear deal, withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership which was designed to block China’s advances, insulted his own Cabinet members on Twitter, pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way during a photo op, failed to reiterate US commitment to defending NATO allies, called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries, called the city of Baltimore the “worst in the nation,” claimed that he single handedly brought back the phrase “Merry Christmas” even though it hadn’t gone anywhere, forced his Cabinet members to praise him publicly like some cult leader, believed he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, berated and belittled his hand-picked Attorney General when he recused himself from the Russia probe, suggested the US should buy Greenland, colluded with Mitch McConnell to push through federal judges and two Supreme Court justices after supporting efforts to prevent his predecessor from appointing judges, repeatedly called the media “enemies of the people,” claimed that if we tested fewer people for COVID we’d have fewer cases, violated the emoluments clause, thought that Nambia was a country, told Bob Woodward in private that the coronavirus was a big deal but then downplayed it in public, called his exceedingly faithful vice president a “p---y” for following the Constitution, nearly got us into a war with Iran after threatening them by tweet, nominated a corrupt head of the EPA, nominated a corrupt head of HHS, nominated a corrupt head of the Interior Department, nominated a corrupt head of the USDA, praised dictators and authoritarians around the world while criticizing allies, refused to allow the presidential transition to begin, insulted war hero John McCain – even after his death, spent an obscene amount of time playing golf after criticizing Barack Obama for playing (far less) golf while president, falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote, called the Muslim mayor of London a “stone cold loser,” falsely claimed that he turned down being Time’s Man of the Year, considered firing special counsel Robert Mueller on several occasions, mocked wearing face masks to guard against transmitting COVID, locked Congress out of its constitutional duty to confirm Cabinet officials by hiring acting ones, used a racist dog whistle by calling COVID the “China virus,” hired and associated with numerous shady figures that were eventually convicted of federal offenses including his campaign manager and national security adviser, pardoned several of his shady associates, gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two congressman who amplified his batshit crazy conspiracy theories, got into telephone fight with the leader of Australia(!), had a Secretary of State who called him a moron, forced his press secretary to claim without merit that his was the largest inauguration crowd in history, botched the COVID vaccine rollout, tweeted so much dangerous propaganda that Twitter eventually banned him, charged the Secret Service jacked-up rates at his properties, constantly interrupted Joe Biden in their first presidential debate, claimed that COVID would “magically” disappear, called a U.S. Senator “Pocahontas,” used his Twitter account to blast Nordstrom when it stopped selling Ivanka’s merchandise, opened up millions of pristine federal lands to development and drilling, got into a losing tariff war with China that forced US taxpayers to bail out farmers, claimed that his losing tariff war was a win for the US, ignored or didn’t even take part in daily intelligence briefings, blew off honoring American war dead in France because it was raining, redesigned Air Force One to look like the Trump Shuttle, got played by Kim Jung Un and his “love letters,” threatened to go after social media companies in clear violation of the Constitution, botched the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, threw paper towels at Puerto Ricans when he finally visited them, pressured the governor and secretary of state of Georgia to “find” him votes, thought that the Virgin islands had a President, drew on a map with a Sharpie to justify his inaccurate tweet that Alabama was threatened by a hurricane, allowed White House staff to use personal email accounts for official businesses after blasting Hillary Clinton for doing the same thing, rolled back regulations that protected the public from mercury and asbestos, pushed regulators to waste time studying snake-oil remedies for COVID, rolled back regulations that stopped coal companies from dumping waste into rivers, held blatant campaign rallies at the White House, tried to take away millions of Americans’ health insurance because the law was named for a Black man, refused to attend his successors’ inauguration, nominated the worst Education Secretary in history, threatened judges who didn’t do what he wanted, attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci, promised that Mexico would pay for the wall (it didn’t), allowed political hacks to overrule government scientists on major reports on climate change and other issues, struggled navigating a ramp after claiming his opponent was feeble, called an African-American Congresswoman “low IQ,” threatened to withhold federal aid from states and cities with Democratic leaders, went ahead with rallies filled with maskless supporters in the middle of a pandemic, claimed that legitimate investigations of his wrongdoing were “witch hunts,” seemed to demonstrate a belief that there were airports during the American Revolution, demanded “total loyalty” from the FBI director, praised a conspiracy theory that Democrats are Satanic pedophiles, completely gutted the Voice of America, placed a political hack in charge of the Postal Service, claimed without evidence that the Obama administration bugged Trump Tower, suggested that the US should allow more people from places like Norway into the country, suggested that COVID wasn’t that bad because he recovered with the help of top government doctors and treatments not available to the public, overturned energy conservation standards that even industry supported, reduced the number of refugees the US accepts, insulted various members of Congress and the media with infantile nicknames, gave Rush Limbaugh a Presidential medal of Freedom at the State of the Union address, named as head of federal personnel a 29-year old who’d previously been fired from the White House for allegations of financial improprieties, eliminated the White House office of pandemic response, used soldiers as campaign props, fired any advisor who made the mistake of disagreeing with him, demanded the Pentagon throw him a Soviet-style military parade, hired a shit ton of white nationalists, politicized the civil service, did absolutely nothing after Russia hacked the U.S. government, falsely said the Boy Scouts called him to say his bizarre Jamboree speech was the best speech ever given to the Scouts, claimed that Black people would overrun the suburbs if Biden won, insulted reporters of color, insulted women reporters, insulted women reporters of color, suggested he was fine with China’s oppression of the Uighurs, attacked the Supreme Court when it ruled against him, summoned Pennsylvania state legislative leaders to the White House to pressure them to overturn the election, spent countless hours every day watching Fox News, refused to allow his administration to comply with Congressional subpoenas, hired Rudy Giuliani as his lawyer, tried to punish Amazon because the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post wrote negative stories about him, acted as if the Attorney General of the United States was his personal attorney, attempted to get the federal government to defend him in a libel lawsuit from a women who accused him of sexual assault, held private meetings with Vladimir Putin without staff present, didn’t disclose his private meetings with Vladimir Putin so that the US had to find out via Russian media, stopped holding press briefings for months at a time, “ordered” US companies to leave China even though he has no such power, led a political party that couldn’t even be bothered to draft a policy platform, claimed preposterously that Article II of the Constitution gave him absolute powers, tried to pressure the U.K. to hold the British Open at his golf course, suggested that the government nuke hurricanes, suggested that wind turbines cause cancer, said that he had a special aptitude for science, fired the head of election cyber security after he said that the 2020 election was secure, blurted out classified information to Russian officials, tried to force the G7 to hold their meeting at his failing golf resort in Florida, fired the acting attorney general when she refused to go along with his unconstitutional Muslim travel ban, hired Stephen Miller, openly discussed national security issues in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago where everyone could hear them, interfered with plans to relocate the FBI because a new development there might compete with his hotel, abandoned Iraqi refugees who’d helped the U.S. during the war, tried to get Russia back into the G7, held a COVID super spreader event in the Rose Garden, seemed to believe that Frederick Douglass is still alive, lost 60 election fraud cases in court including before judges he had nominated, falsely claimed that factories were reopening when they weren’t, shamelessly exploited terror attacks in Europe to justify his anti-immigrant policies, still hasn’t come up with a healthcare plan, still hasn’t come up with an infrastructure plan despite repeated “Infrastructure Weeks,” forced Secret Service agents to drive him around Walter Reed while contagious with COVID, told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” fu**ed up the Census, withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the middle of a pandemic, did so few of his duties that his press staff were forced to state on his daily schedule “President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings,” allowed his staff to repeatedly violate the Hatch Act, seemed not to know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, stood before sacred CIA wall of heroes and bragged about his election win, constantly claimed he was treated worse than any president which presumably includes four that were assassinated and his predecessor whose legitimacy and birthplace were challenged by a racist reality TV show star named Donald Trump, claimed Andrew Jackson could’ve stopped the Civil War even though he died 16 years before it happened, said that any opinion poll showing him behind was fake, claimed that other countries laughed at us before he became president when several world leaders were literally laughing at him, claimed that the military was out of ammunition before he became President, created a commission to whitewash American history, retweeted anti-Islam videos from one of the most racist people in Britain, claimed ludicrously that the Pulse nightclub shooting wouldn’t have happened if someone there had a gun even though there was an armed security guard there, hired a senior staffer who cited the non-existent Bowling Green Massacre as a reason to ban Muslims, had a press secretary who claimed that Nazi Germany never used chemical weapons even though every sane human being knows they used gas to kill millions of Jews and others, bilked the Secret Service for higher than market rates when they had to stay at Trump properties, apparently sold pardons on his way out of the White House, stripped protective status from 59,000 Haitians, falsely claimed Biden wanted to defund the police, said that the head of the CDC didn’t know what he was talking about, tried to rescind protection from DREAMers, gave himself an A+ for his handling of the pandemic, tried to start a boycott of Goodyear tires due to an Internet hoax, said U.S. rates of COVID would be lower if you didn’t count blue states, deported U.S. veterans who served their country but were undocumented, claimed he did more for African Americans than any president since Lincoln, touted a “super-duper” secret “hydrosonic” missile which may or may not be a new “hypersonic” missile or may not exist at all, retweeted a gif calling Biden a pedophile, forced through security clearances for his family, suggested that police officers should rough up suspects, suggested that Biden was on performance-enhancing drugs, tried to stop transgender students from being able to use school bathrooms in line with their gender, suggested the US not accept COVID patients from  a cruise ship because it would make US numbers look higher, nominated a climate change sceptic to chair the committee advising the White House on environmental policy, retweeted a video doctored to look like Biden had played a song called “F**k tha Police” at a campaign event, hugged a disturbingly large number of U.S. flags, accused Democrats of “treason” for not applauding his State of the Union address, claimed that the FBI failed to capture the Parkland school shooter because they were “spending too much time” on Russia, mocked the testimony of Dr Christine Blasey Ford when she accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, obsessed over low-flow toilets, ordered the rerelease of more COVID vaccines when there weren’t any to release, called for the construction of a bizarre garden of heroes with statutes of famous dead Americans as well as at least one Canadian (Alex Trebek), hijacked Washington’s July 4th celebrations to give a partisan speech, took advice from the MyPillow guy, claimed that migrants seeking a better life in the US were dangerous caravans of drug dealers and rapists, said nothing when Vladimir Putin poisoned a leading opposition figure, never seemed to heed the advice of his wife’s “Be Best” campaign, falsely claimed that mail-in voting is fraudulent, announced a precipitous withdrawal of troops from Syria which not only handed Russia and ISIS a win but also prompted his defense secretary to resign in protest, insulted the leader of Canada, insulted the leader of France, insulted the leader of Britain, insulted the leader of Germany, insulted the leader of Sweden (Sweden!!), falsely claimed credit for getting NATO members to increase their share of dues, blew off two Asia summits even though they were held virtually, continued lying about spending lots of time at Ground Zero with 9/11 responders, said that the Japanese would sit back and watch their “Sony televisions” if the US were ever attacked, left a NATO summit early in a huff, stared directly into an eclipse even though everyone over the age of 5 knows not to do that, called himself a very stable genius despite significant evidence to the contrary, refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power and keep his promise, and a whole bunch of other things I can’t remember at the moment.

[dearestdaffodils]

An Essay On Murder

I just wrote this for my English class and apparently, people wanted to read it so here it is.

In 2017, there were 17,284 murders committed (Murder, 2018).  Of those murders, about 43,210 of those cases went unsolved. “It gets so much worse!” (Kilgariff, 2016). Of those expected 43,210 cases, around 14,403 of them could have been solved. Many families are left without answers or are left wondering what happened until years later when, in an about 5% percent chance, the cold case is solved. A solved cold case, while the family is still getting closure, can still be painful for the family; having to confront that horror again years later. “For cases that remained unsolved after one year, 5 percent ultimately led to an arrest” (Kimbriell, 2018). As more time passes after the murder, its chances of being solved decrease greatly. This means that the more training investigators have, the more likely a case is to be solved and the less likely a case is to go cold. With an increase of phenomenon such as the CSI Effect (Trainum, 2019), that cause the public to expect a certain outcome for a case or expect for a case to be a certain way and reported a certain way, more and more cases have gone unsolved each year.  How is it that so many murder cases go unsolved? It is usually because of a lack of evidence gathered, unsubstantial police work, jurisdiction issues, or a lack of interest on the public’s behalf.

Many cases go unsolved because, at first glance, there is not enough substantial evidence, overlaps in and confusion about jurisdiction, and an inability to use the available technologies. We need to implement more training on how to properly collect evidence, recognize the extent of jurisdiction and how to work during jurisdiction overlaps, how to involve the public in a way that won’t cause panic, and how to use available technologies. 

The first solution to this problem is implementing more training on properly collecting evidence and how to deal with an apparent lack of evidence. Evidence can be given in two forms. “Testimonial evidence is evidence given in the form of statements made under oath, usually in response to questioning. Physical evidence is any type of evidence with an objective existence, that is, anything with size, shape, and dimension” (Fisher, 2012). Evidence can come in the form of a witness statement, blood or DNA collected from a scene, or evidence of that nature. A large number of murder cases go unsolved because of a lack of evidence or an inability to collect evidence on behalf of the investigators. I propose extra training that will detail proper evidence collection; including how to properly label evidence, how to not contaminate the evidence, and how to investigate the leads that evidence provides. I also propose training on how to fully investigate a case even with a noticeable lack of evidence. Investigators should learn to exhaust every lead a piece of evidence provides, even if they do not lead anywhere. Some will argue that police already go through eighteen to thirty weeks of training and do not need to go through more extensive training. While the addition of this training would add to the time recruits spend at the police academy, it would not add too much time to their time there. 

The second solution to this problem is to provide extra training on how to recognize the extent of police jurisdiction and how to work with other police forces or government departments during jurisdiction overlap. Many murder cases are dropped because a police department does not collect all the evidence to close a case because they don’t know the full extent of their jurisdiction. Many are also dropped because two police department’s jurisdictions overlap and both departments drop the case because they do not know how to interact during overlapping jurisdiction. An international law that was put in place in 2011 as part of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act states that “universal jurisdiction permits national courts to prosecute alleged culprits of international crimes considered to be ‘of such exceptional gravity that they affect the fundamental interests of the international community as a whole’” (International Law, 2011). Universal jurisdiction covers crimes against humanity, genocide, torture, and war crimes. Police jurisdiction is generally contained to the areas within the city limits where the officer is stationed. An officer who works for a particular city (Seattle, for example) would only be authorized to enforce laws within this city limits, which is known as territorial jurisdiction. This proposed solution would help reduce the number of unsolved murders per year because fewer murders will be left unsolved due to jurisdiction issues or overlaps. 

A third solution to this issue is to teach officers how to involve the public in murder investigations without causing a mass panic. Many murder investigations are kept quiet from the public due to the gruesome nature of the case. A lack of interest or knowledge on the public’s behalf, however, is detrimental to the case more often than not. By allowing the public access to information about the investigation, whether through tv, newspapers, or social media, it opens a line of communication between the investigators and the public. It opens an opportunity for the public to gain information about the case, rather than be kept in the dark. Some might argue that giving the public access to information about the case will cause more panic than keeping them in the dark, but more often than not, the opposite is true. When the public is left in the dark, the conclusions they draw from the limited information they are given about the case are often more panic-inducing than the reality. 

The fourth solution to this problem is that police officers and investigators should have more training on how to use and should have full knowledge of the technology available to them. Many important technologies have made their way into police departments. With technologies such as GPS tracking, facial recognition, gunshot detection, and smart home devices, investigators have access to a lot of information about a victim or a suspect (Stahl, 2018). In addition to the additional training on evidence collection, training on how to make full use of technology should be put in place. Every police officer and detective learns how to use the technology that everyone thinks of when they think of murder investigations; fingerprinting, DNA matches, bullet casings, or the autopsy of the victim, but there are many more technologies that are available, both in police departments and in the homes of victims. 

If about 40% of murder that happen per year go unsolved and approximately one-third of that 40% could have been solved, extra training on proper evidence collection, working within a jurisdiction, involving the public without causing panic, and using all the technology available for crime scene investigation could greatly reduce those numbers. The argument could be made that these solutions will cost the government more money, which is true but funds could be pulled from taxes and unnecessary departments within the police force such as transit and railroad officers. The money from lesser-used or unnecessary departments could be put towards the funding for this extra training. With increased training on evidence collection, jurisdiction, public involvement, and technology use, the number of unsolved murders per year could be greatly reduced. 

Works cited

Fisher, Barry A. J., et al. Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation, CRC Press LLC, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://cletus.uhh.hawaii.edu:5346/lib/hawaii/detail.action?docID=1650291

“International Law �� Universal Jurisdiction — United Kingdom Adds Barrier to Private Prosecution of Universal Jurisdiction Crimes. — Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act, 2011, c. 13 (U.K.).” Harvard Law Review, vol. 125, no. 6, 2012, pp. 1554–1561. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23214426. Accessed 8 Mar. 2020. 

Kilgraff, Karen, host. Hardstark, Georgia, host. “Seven Murders in Heaven.” My Favorite Murder, season 1, episode 7, Mar 11. 2016, Itunes. 

Kimbriell Kelly, Steven Rich. “For Unsolved Cases Lasting a Year, Finding the Killer Becomes Nearly Impossible.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 28 Dec. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/for-unsolved-cases-lasting-a-year-finding-the-killer-becomes-nearly-impossible/2018/12/28/53ff6aa2-fe93-11e8-ad40-cdfd0e0dd65a_story.html.

“Murder.” FBI, FBI, 10 Sept. 2018, ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2017/crime-in-the-u.s.-2017/topic-pages/murder.

Stahl, Robert G. “Modern Technology Used in the Investigation of Crime.” NY NJ Stahl Criminal Defense Lawyers, www.stahlesq.com/blog/technology-crime-investigations.

Trainum, James L. “The CSI Effect on Cold Case Investigations.” Forensic Science International, vol. 301, Elsevier B.V, Aug. 2019, pp. 455–60, doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2019.05.020. 

[claudia1829things]

"CLASS OF '61" (1993) Review

"CLASS OF '61" (1993) Review Twenty-six years, ABC Television aired the pilot episode for an American war drama about the U.S. Civil War. Written by Jonas McCord, "CLASS OF '61" told the story about three West Point graduates from the class of 1861, who found themselves on opposites sides following the outbreak of war. 

I have a few corrections to make. "CLASS OF '61" told the story about one West Point graduate, an Irish immigrant named Devlin O'Neil of Baltimore, and one cadet who had dropped out of the Academy following the outbreak of war, Shelby Peyton of Virginia. And the third man turned out to be a young George Armstrong Custer, who did graduate with the Class of '61, but only served as a supporting character in this production. Actually, the third major character in "CLASS OF '61" is a young man named Lucius, who happened to be a slave owned by Shelby's father, a doctor and plantation owner. The movie followed Devlin, Shelby, Lucius and yes, even young Custer from that last day of peace before the bombardment of Fort Sumter to the waning moment of the Battle of Bull Run (or Manassas). After Shelby dropped out of West Point, following the Fort Sumter bombardment and surrender, Shelby Peyton visits Devlin O'Neil's home in Baltimore and discovers that the latter's father has withdrawn his permission for Shelby to marry Devlin's sister, Shannon, due to Shelby's decision to follow his state into the Confederacy. Shelby also discovers that Devlin and Shannon's younger brother, Terry, has joined a local street mob that happened to be pro-Confederate. After participating in the Pratt Street Riot on April 19, 1861; Terry ends up temporarily imprisoned at Fort McHenry before heading south to join the Confederate Army. Following his graduation from West Point, Devlin experiences difficulty in receiving an Army assignment, due to Terry's actions. Devlin meets a Virginia belle from nearby Alexandria named Lily Magraw at a soirée hosted by long-time Washington socialite named Rose O'Neal Greenhow. Unbeknownst to Devil, both Lily and Mrs. Greenhow are Confederate spies. Shelby's friendship with his father's slave Lucius is tested due to the latter's brief attempt to escape slavery with his pregnant wife, Lavinia. After killing one (or two) of the slave catchers who had spotted him, Lucius is forced to leave the Shelby plantation without his wife and head north via the Underground Railroad. One would immediately notice that "CLASS OF '61" has no main narrative other than a handful of major characters experiencing the first three months of the U.S. Civil War. That is because this 93-minute movie was supposed to serve as a pilot for a new series . . . which never materialized. But this loose narrative structure featuring a handful of plot lines did not deter me from enjoying the production. When I first saw "CLASS OF '61", I was in the throes of an obsession for the U.S. Civil War. An obsession that has not abated with time, I might add. There is a possibility that due to this obsession, I may have viewed "CLASS OF '61" through rose-colored glasses when I first saw it. Do not get me wrong. I still managed to enjoy it. But due to the "sands of time", I have finally noticed the flaws. "CLASS OF '61" has a great deal of virtues. Its biggest virtue seemed to be the cast. The television pilot featured many young players who would eventually become well known or major stars. Dan Futterman, an excellent character actor in his own right and a two-time Academy Award nominated screenwriter, gave a complex performance as Shelby Peyton. Clive Owen, who became a bigger star, gave an emotional performance as Devlin O'Neil, the Irish immigrant torn between his friendship with Peyton and his family's patriotism toward their new country. Andre Braugher was already somewhat known for his performance in the 1989 movie, "GLORY", when he shot this pilot. He eventually became a major television star and has received numerous nominations and won two Emmys for his work. Frankly, I thought he gave the best performance in the production as the embittered Virginia slave whose initial attempt to escape slavery would lead to him being apart from his wife and mother for several years. The television movie also featured solid performances from the like of Josh Lucas (as George C. Custer) Dana Ivey, Penny Johnson, Sue-Ann Leeds, Barry Cullison, Peter Murnik, Timothy Scott, Stephen Root, Christien Anholt and Andrew Stahl. However, I believe there were better supporting performances. One came from Sophie Ward, who gave a poignant performance as Devlin's sister Shannon. Beverly Todd was excellent as Lucius' pragmatic mother. Mark Pelligrino gave a very interesting performance as a fellow cadet from South Carolina named Skinner, especially in a scene in which the character provided off-putting instructions on how to breed healthy slaves to the discomfort of the Peytons. Robert Newman gave an intelligent performance as one of the main characters' West Point instructors who become a Union artillery officer, Captain Wykoff. Len Cariou was effective as Shelby's warm and intelligent father, Dr. Leland Peyton. Lorraine Toussaint shone brilliantly in her brief role as a slave woman named Sarah, who was accompanying her mistress on a southbound train also conveying Shelby had encountered on a southbound train from New York City. Niall O'Brien gave a very complex performance as Devlin and Shannon's emotionally patriotic father, James O'Neil. The production values for "CLASS OF '61" struck me as solid, but not particularly top-notch. Although the movie's setting stretched from West Point, New York to the Peyton plantation outside of Richmond, Virginia; it was easy for me to see that the television movie was set in South Carolina and Georgia . . . in the Deep South. I have noticed that many of these productions with an Antebellum or Civil War setting are shot in the Deep South states, even the narratives are set in the Upper South. Has the Upper South been developed too extensively to serve as locations for such movies? I found Michael T. Boyd's costumes for the women characters very attractive and nearly accurate. However, I thought the men's costumes looked as if they had came straight from a costume warehouse in Hollywood. Recently, I had come across an old review of "CLASS OF '61". The New York Times reviewer seemed to dismiss the production as a nostalgic television movie with a failed plot. He seemed unaware that the movie was basically a pilot for a potential television series. When I first saw the movie, I knew that this was basically a pilot. Which is why I was not that surprised that it ended with the Battle of Bull Run without any of the plot lines being resolved. As for "CLASS OF '61" being nostalgic . . . I am not sure about that criticism. Jonas McCord's narrative seemed to be a mixture of a straight forward look at how Americans behaved and spoke during this tumultuous period in 19th century American history and a slightly critical look at their society. And I found its portrayal of the Bull Run battle rather interesting and detailed. However, the television movie featured a good deal more criticism of Northern racism and the Abraham Lincoln Administration. Shelby's encounter with an abolitionist, a Maryland woman and her enslaved maid led to the latter's soliloquy about the racism she had encountered in New York City. And another scene featured Devlin revealing his family troubles to Lily Magraw and Rose Greenhow - namely brother Terry's incarceration inside Baltimore's Fort McHenry and how this led to his failure to being assigned to an Army regiment. I must admit that I found it odd that McCord seemed to focus so much on the flaws of Northern society and the Lincoln's Administration . . . and not on the flaws of Confederate President Jefferson Davis' own administration. After all, the state of Virginia had lost its northwestern counties during the three-month period between Fort Sumter and Bull Run, due to its citizens breaking away from the state. Considering that Shelby's family lived in Virginia, I found it rather odd that western Virginia's break from the state was never mentioned. On the other hand, the series did focus a great deal on slavery. Although the Peyton family were portrayed as kind slave owners who almost treated their slaves as family, the movie still managed to portray their role in slavery as something to condemn - especially through Lucius' bitterness over being a slave, the patronizing manner of Dr. Peyton's kindness and Shelby's inability to understand Lucius' desire for freedom or lack of faith in the latter's ability to survive as a free man. I have noticed in many other productions about slavery during the Antebellum period or the Civil War, slave owners are either portrayed as kind or cruel . . . with no ambiguity in between. I must applaud McCord for his more ambiguous portrayal of Shelby and his family in regard to the slavery topic. Were there aspects of "CLASS OF '61" that troubled me? Well . . . yes. There were a few things. When Devlin was first introduced to Rose Greenhow at her soirée, the latter revealed that she knew a great deal about him - including where his family lived and his ranking among the West Point Class of '61. I am sorry, but I found this hard to swallow. Was this McCord's idea of conveying Mrs. Greenhow's greatness as a spy? Why on earth would she have bothered to collect so much information on a recent West Point graduate who had ranked in the middle of his class? Seriously? Also in the movie, Mr. O'Neil had accused a visiting Shelby of joining a volunteer regiment called the Palmetto Guards. Earlier in the production, a cadet named Upton had accused the South Carolinian Skinner of doing the same right after the news of Sumter was announced. So I checked the Internet and discovered that "Palmetto Guards" was one of the nicknames for the 2nd South Carolina Infantry. I could understand Skinner being considered for this regiment. But why on earth would Mr. O'Neil accuse Shelby, a Virginian, of joining it? Unsurprisingly, "CLASS OF '61" had failed to be picked up as a series. But imagine my surprise to discover that McCord had added a brief epilogue to reveal the characters' fates. He must have been very bitter over the pilot's fate, because he had committed some kind of "Scorch Earth" policy on the characters. Only three or four of them had survived the war . . . and one of them was George Armstrong Custer. Worse, two of his characters died in a way that was historically impossible. Ironically, my biggest problem with "CLASS OF '61" proved to be Shelby and Lucius' friendship. Now I realize that human beings are ambiguous creatures. And I am also aware that some complex friendships or relationships may have formed between slaves and the owners - especially relationships that began in childhood, like Shelby and Lucius. But there were aspects of the pair's friendship that struck me as unrealistic. I found it unrealistic that Lucius would honestly express his bitterness over being a slave to Shelby, of all people. I also found it unrealistic that Lucius would tell Shelby about his lethal encounter with those slave catchers. The movie never portrayed Shelby as someone with pro-abolitionist leanings. And although he was friendly and familiar with his father's slaves, he also shared Dr. Peyton's patronizing attitude. It just seemed unnatural that Shelby would react with nothing more than mere surprise after Lucius had confessed to killing two slave catchers. I do not care how friendly he was with Lucius or any of the other Peyton slaves. He still harbored a good deal of his society's casual racism and I could not see him allowing Lucius to leave the plantation after that confession. Even after twenty-six years, I still managed to enjoy "CLASS OF '61" Despite its flaws, the television movie managed to be an interesting and enjoying look into American society during the first three months of the U.S. Civil War. I thought Jonas McCord provided an interesting, yet inconclusive plot that showcased a first-rate cast starring Dan Futterman and Clive Owen. It is a pity that this pilot never became a series.

[cultfaction]

Preview- Shallow Grave (Bluray)

Preview- Shallow Grave (Bluray)

Directed by Richard Styles, Shallow Grave stars Lisa Stahl, Tony March, Carol Cadby, and Donna Baltron; it follows four college coeds who are on their way to Florida for spring break. While passing through a small Georgia town, they unwittingly witness the murder of a woman. But when they discover that the assailant is the local sheriff, they’re forced on the run from a cunning and deranged…

[nicolasbanousis]

Statement;

Throughout this 10 image portfolio, I as a photographer attempted to capture the bleakness and depression of the current state of Montreal as a city and as a population. This idea started as a mix of two photographers works;

First, Gunner Stahl, a famous photographer from Atlanta Georgia. Stahl’s works range from portraits to retro-landscape work but the pieces that I wanted to focus, were his works with Canadian artist The Weeknd. These pieces featured The Weeknd traveling around the city of Tokyo, capturing the bright surroundings and interesting buildings. The photography of architecture has always been something I admired, as I find the use of patterns, textures and repetitions very pleasing to look at. Using some inspiration from Stahl I decided to capture the feel and aesthetic of the city through the vast unique architecture surrounding it.

Second, Nicolas Bouvier, a Swiss photographer and writer. When Bouvier was not writing novels, he was taking fabulous black and white photography. Bouvier's photos consisted mainly of silhouette people, in large and deep landscapes. This composition of the photos made the subject feel small and inferior, pushing a sense of loneliness, inferiority and sadness. This was partly the same feeling I wanted to transmit in some of my images. However, instead of feeling inferior, I wanted to push the feeling of monotonicity. This also transmitted to the grey colour scheme of the portfolio. Each image is on the border of black and white representing this boredom and repetitive state most people have felt during the pandemic.

The current situation of the world is bland and disappointing to say the least. Constantly remaining inside and being separated from the people we love has taken a massive toll on everyone, physically and mentally. This is something that I have also been faced with for the last year or so. The restriction of freedom has damaged my creativity, work ethic and drive to do better, while also making me feel lazy and slow.

When venturing out and taking these images my perspective on the city was slightly altered, as I couldn't help myself in seeing the positives around Montreal. Whether it was the sun shining, the street buskers playing guitar or the constant bustle of people, I felt happy and optimistic for the situation of the city post-pandemic. Being outside with some friends brought back a sense of security and peace, and although my portfolio might have been grey, I realized that after grey skies, emerges the clearest days with a shining sun.

In conclusion, I believe that I succeeded in capturing the current grey depression of the city, but also succeed in reigniting my confidence and optimism in better times to come. Thank you to my two friends Giuliano and Zach for following me downtown to complete this project as three heads always work better than one.

- Nick.