#ISRAEL. ONLY ISRAEL. WHILE EVERYONE ELSE STANDS BACK AND WATCHES

[kelluinox]

Pogroms in Amsterdam where jews are thrown into rivers in 5⁰C weather and forced to yell slogans to be allowed out. Where jews are beaten bloody and forced to say they're not Jewish for the beating to stop. Where jews are run over by cars. Where jews are forced to hide in hotels as people who want to lynch them storm in. Where law enforcement does nothing and drives right past jews being hunted in the streets.

The protests didn't cause this, right? The violent rhetoric didn't cause this. The active celebration of a massacre didn't cause this. The constant dehumanization and belittlement of Jewish suffering didn't cause this. The lionization of murderers like Nasrallah and Sinwar didn't cause this. The encampments didn't cause this. The historical revisionism and the complete ignorance about the Holocaust didn't cause this. The apathy towards rising antisemitism didn't cause this. Constant deflections and gaslighting when jews tried to speak out about their fears didn't cause this. Accusations of genocide didn't cause this. Comparisons between jews and nazis didn't cause this. Normalized violence against jews under the guise of antizionism didn't cause this. The appropriation and the downplaying of the Holocaust didn't cause this. ALL OF THIS didn't cause this pogrom in Amsterdam on the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht, right?!?

Go fuck yourselves, all of you who participated in any of the above, or ignored us when we told you where it was all headed. WE KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO DO THIS. BECAUSE YOU'VE DONE IT IN EVERY GENERATION AND YOU NEVER LEARN

[hareofhrair]

Please tell me if you're a zionist or not. Because the notes on that post of yours are absolutely rancid regarding Palestinian people and I need to know before I submit your url to the zionist block list

No, I am not a zionist. Israel, like any ethnostate, should not exist and what they are doing to the Palestinians is unquestionably genocide. I fully support Palestine and their right to resist in the face of annihilation.

I am also not anti semetic, for the record, and stand with the many Jewish people who support Palestinian liberation.

I also recognize that while Biden or any president is unlikely to ever stop supporting Israel as it’s too critical to colonial and capitalist action in that area, Trump has voiced support for Israel straight up nuking Gaza.

There is unfortunately very little we can meaningfully do with this particular election for the Palestinian people. Continuing to pressure the democrats may mitigate the damage to a degree, but I’m aware how thin a comfort that is to a country currently being massacred.

But we cannot help ANYONE if our democracy is actively overthrown, as Trump has made extremely, unambiguously clear he intends to do. He has every intention of making himself a Putin style dictator, with the full support of Putin himself, who knows he can use Trump as a puppet, in a manner so like the way we’ve overthrown democratic countries and installed puppet dictators in the past that the dramatic irony would be heavy handed were it fictional. We almost deserve it.

But we are a country full of innocent people the same as any other, who don’t deserve to suffer and die to punish the idea of western imperialism, which the vast majority of have zero control over.

The one tiny bit of control we DO have is through voting.

This is not a situation I’m happy with, but this isn’t a situation of trading Palestinian lives for American ones. This is a situation where saving Palestinian lives isn’t even on the table, and refusing to acknowledge that is only going to make the situation worse. We can either save American lives and hope it doesn’t make the situation in Palestine actively worse. Or we can refuse to do anything like petulant children and watch everyone die.

Vote, and then get back to organizing your community, participating in protests and direct action, volunteering and donating to relief and evacuation funds, and voting in local elections so that we can maybe end up with some better options next time!

And if yall ever get the violent revolution off the ground, I’ll be right behind you! But if you tell me you’re not voting because the only moral action is firebombing a Walmart, you’d better firebomb the goddamn Walmart.

And to the assholes in the notes of that post and talking shit in my asks, for the record, I’m a disabled trans lesbian living in goddamn Louisiana, living on less than $1000 a month. Aside from my friends in Florida, no one is getting the ass end of this garbage government more than us. And for the record, yeah, I’m boycotting McDonald’s, and anything else I can. I’d boycott Starbucks too if there was one within 50 miles. I vote in every local election. I organize as much as I can in rural Louisiana. I take direct action whenever I get the chance, which isn’t often given my lack of mobility and remote location, but I’m willing to bet I’ve done more than most of the assholes in the notes.

Let me put it very plainly, TLDR: if you refuse to vote because you think it doesn’t make a difference or you think it’ll make you complicit in this country’s crimes, you are actively putting your personal comfort and moral purity above the lives of the Palestinian people, as well as above every vulnerable person in this country on top of it. If you want to save Palestine, start by not letting our god damn democracy go up in flames.

[therealslimsanji]

I’m sorry for the incredibly long ask, but this is pretty much the only place I can voice my thoughts on the matter without getting attacked by those who now hate the OPLA cast!

I genuinely don’t understand how Taz, Iñaki, and Jacob are getting cancelled and sent death threats for what they’ve said (part of me feels like people have been ITCHING to cancel Jacob for something because he’s black)

Iñaki’s post was about the earthquake in Mexico and NOWHERE in Jacob’s post did it say anything that was pro-Israel! All Jacob said was “Just because someone is Jewish, doesn’t mean they support what the Israeli government is doing. Just because someone is Palestinian, doesn’t mean you should label them as a terrorist. This conflict is putting innocent lives at risk, so let’s continue to speak up against violence while also having compassion for both Palestinian and Jewish people!”

WANTING INNOCENT PEOPLE (no matter where they are from) TO NOT DIE ISN’T A BAD THING and I don’t get how people got “I support Israel and I’m pro-IDF” out of Jacob’s statement???

Now with Taz, he definitely could’ve handled the situation better after getting called out, but I’m not going to cancel him or wish death on him for simply sharing a link that supports THE INNOCENT CIVILIANS of both Palestine and Israel! The British Red Cross has been helping Palestine for years and I’ve heard that sometimes TBRC is the only way they can get more help! I wish Taz would’ve just deleted the link from his bio and not said anything because not everything you do needs an explanation or a Twitter post made about it. Sometimes, moving in silence is the best option. Or if he felt the need to post about it, he definitely should’ve worded it better, but the death threats being sent to him are uncalled for!

I’m sorry if this seems out of line, but I feel like some people are so hung up on rooting for one side that they don’t see those who need help on the other. I’m all for “Free Palestine”, but that doesn’t mean I want every single person from Israel to never ever get help and die right where they stand (now the ones participating in all the violence against Palestine and making fun of their suffering, they can choke)

People on Twitter labeling Taz, Iñaki, and Jacob as Zionists are REACHING! It’s like that “any Kpop star that watches Made in Abyss and anime in general is a pedophile” situation all over again! These keyboard warriors need to realize that words have meaning and those are two labels that someone could never come back from if this had spread to those outside of the OPLA fandom! Now if they were voicing their full support of the IDF, THEN WE’D HAVE A SERIOUS PROBLEM ON OUR HANDS, but all of this over Taz running a marathon for an organization and a badly worded tweet???

Also, I’ve seen so many people saying OPLA should be cancelled or they will boycott it from now on, but I bet this whole situation will blow over by next month (hopefully sooner if Taz puts the Twitter fingers away) and those same ones will be right there when a trailer for season 2 comes out!

Honestly I'm so mentally tired of this right now and can't form a coherent thought on the matter outside of what I've already said on other posts and what not. I'm just so incredibly disappointed with people. And thinking about them tryna come back to the OPLA Fandom and go back to being fans of the cast after the bullshit they pulled pisses me off. I know that's petty but idc at this point.

Taz has said himself that he tries to be the peacekeeper so I'm sure the tweet was meant to try and soothe things but he didn't accomplish that goal. I think if he had slept on it more then he would've been able to word things better. He reacted just like everyone else did.

But right now, I'm just so fed up with Twitter warriors who act all righteous online but probably don't actually do shit for a cause in real life.

[187days]

Day Thirty-Eight

Today I went to the coffee shop and got a latte and a few pumpkin muffins before heading into work. I went to put a muffin on Mr. F's desk, and discovered that his floor hadn't been swept, so I swept it for him. As a school, we've been emphasizing acts of service, and this was going to be my secret one for the day, but he caught me in the act when he came in to grab a paper for the class he co-teaches with Ms. A during Block 1.

That's okay, though.

I swept his room, swept mine, did a bit of grading, and got ready to teach Global Studies. Students had to share the research they'd done yesterday, and then we read an article together about Jewish customs and traditions for major life events: births, weddings, funerals, that sort of thing. It went incredibly well in every section except the first one. I actually had to send two students to the office- something I rarely do- because they kept trying to derail everyone else. It's frustrating because it's not how I wanted my class to go, but I'll keep trying to do better in the future.

In APGOV, we watched the address President Biden gave last night about Israel and Ukraine, and talked about it for a good long while afterwards. Those are important conversations, the ones we have about ongoing issues, so I let them take as long as they need to. After that, we did some MCQ practice and I had them start a little research assignment about the 2024 presidential candidates. Each student was randomly assigned a candidate to learn about, and they'll share their findings on Tuesday. Many of them will be old enough to vote in the primary, and all of them will be old enough to vote in the general, so it's a really practical assignment.

After school, I did a quick bit of grading, set up my lessons for Monday, and headed home for a few hours. I came back in the evening to check tickets at the football game. It was rainy and cold, so the crowd wasn't huge, but the student section was rocking. Kids wear all kinds of costumes in our school colors, they bring confetti poppers, they throw baby powder into the air, it's all fun.

I only stayed until halftime because of the rain. I took home some concession stand food for dinner, though! Deliciousness.

[shaanks]

Okay. Apologies in advance because this is going to be long and I'm not willing to cut anything out or put it under a readmore. So. Here we go.

The reason you can't be both pro-Palestine and pro-Israel is because those things are not equivalent in terms (there are many many other reasons but we'll focus on that one for now). To be pro-Palestine is to be in favor of the liberation of the state of Palestine, and the Palestinian people.

There is no state of Israel to be in favor of. Israel is a violent, long-standing occupation force, which has been recognized to be in violation of international law for the entirety of its existence. There are no Israeli people, because every single family in Israel is a transplant from somewhere else, incentivized to move there (either out of falsely purported religious devotion or with actual moving grants) by an occupying force desperate to legitimize their claim on the region. They are living in housing stolen from displaced and murdered Palestinians. They have no right to be there.

This is a very well-documented move on the part of militaristic invading forces, for example Germany pulled that one with what they called "lebensraum" where they decided that parts of Africa needed to belong to Germany, so they went and killed or displaced all the people actually living there and then moved civilian German families in so they could go "But look :(((( we need to be there :(((( it would make these normal families so sad to leave their new homes!!! :(((("

You will notice that the suggestion of a two-state solution didn't fly there, either.

Additionally, while it is understandable to have the reaction of "both the Israeli government and Hamas are bad, they are both terrorists and all terrorists are bad" this demands looking at the events of October 7th in a vacuum as an isolated incident, which is both dangerously reductive and really unhelpful, especially in light of literally all the events leading up to that day, and everything that has happened since.

In an ideal world, where Palestine is free and there is no longer a violent aggression going on, should Hamas continue to exist? No. And likely they would not, at least not in the way they exist now. They are a response to 75+ years of sustained violence, displacement, and genocide by the Israeli military and governing apparatus.

Imagine you spent your whole life hearing stories about what your neighborhood used to be like, before this group of people started showing up. The other group of people wanted to live in that neighborhood too, but all the houses already had people living in them. So, rather than finding a neighborhood with houses for sale, they organized, got backing from the neighboring state's police force, and started dragging people out of their homes at gunpoint.

The ones who complied were displaced, the ones who weren't were imprisoned or killed, children were kidnapped, women were assaulted. Nobody who was thrown out of their homes ever got to go back. And you grew up not only hearing those stories, but watching it happen, hearing from news organizations about what important good guys the people who were stealing houses in your neighborhood were, about their rights as new homeowners. and nothing about yours. Imagine growing up in that atmosphere and praying every day that it wasn't going to be your dad shot, your mom assaulted, you kidnapped or killed.

Until one day, it was your family that they came after. And you, in rage and terror, picked up a rock and beat a couple of them to death with it...only for the news on every outlet you can access to go INSANE.

"He's a TERRORIST. HOW AWFUL. HE AND EVERYONE LIKE HIM SHOULD BE DESTROYED. TERRORISM SHOULD BE ROOTED OUT AT ITS SOURCE, STOP AT NOTHING." About you. For not wanting someone with a gun to come in and drag you and your family out into the street, because they want your house.

Now, make that on the scale of an entire people displaced. an entire people having to raise children with stories of homes they can't go back to. an entire people listening to the world philosophize about whether or not the people violently displacing them have a right to what they stole, too.

Has Hamas committed acts of violence? Yeah man, sure. But trying to paint what Hamas has done--and what they're capable of--as in any way equivalent to what the settler colony of Israel has done to Palestine (with the backing of the world's most dangerous military, who has a vested economic and strategic interest in Israel's continued occupation of the area), is just. Crazy. And wrong.

The insistence that no violence is ever justified is oppressor talk. You look anywhere in the world where one group has their boot on the other one's throat, and you'll hear that moralizing pearl-clutching talk. but if the international community is only capable of wringing their hands while the Palestinians are pushed further and further out of existence, tell me why they shouldn't be allowed to defend themselves.

Also, and not for nothing, but last I checked Hamas hasn't fired any hellfire missiles into any children's hospitals. or dropped white phosphorus on any apartment buildings. If you're reading this and you're still on the fence about this, go look up what a hellfire missile is. That on its own ought to be enough to put this whole debate to bed, but who knows anymore.

There should be a tag for where you’re both pro-Palestine and pro-Israel. Like, I hate Hamas and I want them to be dismantled and replaced with a non-terrorist organization. I hate the Israel government and it needs some SERIOUS fixing. I want the 2 state solution. I want the return of the hostages immediately. I want those who participated in October 7th to be punished. I want children in Gaza and Palestine to not be taught in preschool to want to kill Jews.

There should be a tag that encompasses all of that. That both deserve to exist.

[starseedfxofficial]

Crude Futures and Gold Shivers: What Traders Aren't Seeing Crude Futures, Copper Blues & Gold Shivers: Hidden Forces at Play If you've ever gotten excited about a potential ceasefire in the Middle East only for the markets to do something bizarre in response—well, welcome to the unpredictable world of Forex, where sentiment can change faster than you can say “pip profit.” Today, we're diving into why crude futures are sulking, why copper’s feeling blue, and what’s rattled gold’s shine. Grab your coffee; it's about to get interesting. The Middle East Ceasefire That Made Crude Wince Crude futures fell around 3% yesterday, which may sound like a lot, but it's the kind of move that happens when traders are holding their breath for news from the Middle East. Reports of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon—supposedly being announced within 36 hours—have caused a lot of traders to unwind risk positions. Let’s face it, when peace threatens war profits, things can get messy. The psychology here isn’t too complex: crude prices like geopolitical drama. A ceasefire means fewer disruptions, which means potentially less pressure on supply chains, and the bears come out to play. Picture the market as someone who’s just learned the party is ending earlier than expected. Those dancing bears start grabbing hats and heading for the door. But here's where the real magic happens—contrarian traders (the type who buy the dip when everyone else is selling) might be licking their lips right now. Ceasefire news has a way of rattling emotions, but often, these moves are temporary. Remember, there’s a world of variables at play, and oil demand itself has been robust. Gold: Shaken, Not Stirred, by Trump’s Tariff Tantrum Spot gold was also having a mood swing yesterday, mostly pressured by a stronger U.S. dollar. The dollar tends to flex when the world’s a little extra nervous, and boy, did it flex after Trump’s latest tariff threats. Gold tanked over 3% but then did a cute little recovery dance, bouncing back from its lows. It’s almost like gold took a deep breath and said, “Wait a minute, people still love me, right?” A word to the wise: if you’re trading gold, keep an eye on tariff news and dollar index moves. These are like the tides to your gold-surfing ambitions—ride them well or risk a wipeout. But for those with an eye for emerging trends, watch how this rally unfolds. It might just signal the start of an underdog rebound. If you're the type who likes to root for the underdog (hello, Forex whisperers), this is the moment you’re waiting for. Copper Feels the Pressure: Cautious Markets Have No Chill Copper futures also declined, which, let’s be honest, isn’t surprising given the cautious mood spreading through the markets. When traders start worrying about tariffs, copper—that reliable metal tied so closely to global growth—tends to take it personally. But remember, copper doesn’t just move because of today’s headlines. Its price action also reflects longer-term trends in construction and technology demand. Don’t forget that copper is a key ingredient in the transition to green energy, and while short-term jitters are part of the game, the broader trend points upward. Hidden Gems: The Tactics Most Traders Miss If there’s one thing that stands out from today’s market news, it’s that mainstream sentiment is driven by fear. Fear of ceasefires, fear of tariffs, and fear of economic slowdown. And when fear takes the wheel, most traders play defense—selling crude, dumping gold, and getting wary about copper. But this is where you, dear reader, get the edge. By understanding these short-term moves and analyzing sentiment-driven decisions, you position yourself differently. For example, contrarians often look for opportunities to profit when market moves seem exaggerated. Imagine getting in when everyone’s out—it's like buying the market’s metaphorical dip because you see what most traders are missing. How to Predict Market Moves with Precision Here’s a lesser-known gem: take a look at option positions, particularly the open interest data for commodities like crude and metals. When there’s a surge in open interest but without a corresponding move in price, it often signals indecision or upcoming volatility. This is the kind of insider knowledge that makes a difference. Spotting where traders are placing their bets gives you a tactical advantage, especially in volatile environments. One more thing: understand cross-asset impacts. The dollar’s move hit gold prices, but notice how Treasury yields weren’t equally volatile. This divergence might hint at a shift coming soon—a possible recalibration of risk premiums across the board. Be the Trader Who Thinks Differently While others see fear and uncertainty, you see opportunities. Crude prices might stabilize after ceasefire news, and gold’s recovery could turn into a broader rally if dollar strength wanes. Copper’s decline could be an overreaction driven by short-term concerns about tariffs, while the bigger story—one of green energy and industrial demand—remains firmly intact. Every day, the markets give you a story. Some see the headlines; others, like you, read between the lines and discover the hidden patterns that drive decisions. So, stay informed, stay skeptical, and always be ready to question what you’re told—because the biggest gains often come when you’re willing to walk where others won’t. And if you want a little extra help along the way, our community at StarseedFX has got you covered with expert insights and a smart trading tool that could be your secret weapon in navigating these turbulent waters. Check it out, and let’s conquer the market together. —————– Image Credits: Cover image at the top is AI-generated   Read the full article

[diecrotic]

a piece about my dad (844 words)

Date Written: 24 May 2024 Date Posted: 22 July 2024

i wrote this with a paper and pen in May, for my morning pages on that day. what that means is that this was all done in one sitting, without thinking or planning, one fateful morning. i just happened to observe my dad and started vomiting all this crap about him lmao. i'm surprised it turned out like this actually. it absolutely wasn't intended.

Your typical father eats oranges. He stands y the dining table with one foot on a chair and offers you half before sucking on the fruit, chewing with his mouth open. As he moves to leave, he bangs his knee against the wood.

Your typical father drinks a lot of water and tries to influence you to do the same, citing reasons of health and well-being, blissfully unaware that those are two things you’ve never been good at caring about. “Eight glasses a day and then some,” he instructs as he refills his tall, plastic cup. After a full swig, he sets the thing next to your half-empty iced coffee.

Your typical father spends a lot of time outdoors. Not outside of the house exactly; just in the yard. Lord knows what he does there, but all the junk—boxes, broken toilet parts, rags that were white when you bought them, buckets full of leaves—and all the plants and all the tools nailed to the stone walls are his, are part of his little kingdom no one else in the family dares touch. While the rest of you sit, watching Facebook reels, doing these god-forsaken morning pages, he stays on his feet, cleaning up, heading out to disappear for a while, comes back in sweaty and asks for a hug.

Your typical father finally sits down with a big sigh and fishes for his phone. Mostly, he reads on it. The news, lifestyle articles, sports columns. Sometimes, especially at night, he watches Netflix. He can do it on the TV too, your sister bought him one of those smart devices, after all, but you’re glad he doesn’t. It’s loud, and based on what you’ve seen of his Watch History, he’s better off taking that stuff in, in private.

For the lack of anything else to talk about, you decidedly recall that your typical father is racist, homophobic, transphobic, islamophobic, mysoginistic, and a zionist. He told you once that if you happened to be born a gay son, he would beat you to a pulp. He told you once that a man with clear skin needs to live in fear, for people would consider him too feminine. He agrees with your typical mother, that trans people need to “come clean about their pretenses” in order to have a shot at keeping their lives. He does house work, but only the “manly” kinds. He’d rather starve than make himself a full meal. He thinks Hamas are terrorists and Israel is right to be killing civillians to crack down on their numbers because they won’t stop using “human shields.”

You’ve made yourself upset, writing all this.

Your typical father doesn’t ever admit that he’s wrong. If he does sometimes apologize, he’ll do it with a smile and caress that indicates he was only joking, no need to take it so far. He thinks he’s infallible because he’s well-read, fed information by Google Search articles, as if the internet and Western media alike are impervious to lies. He thinks that the ways of old are how it should be still: children serve their parents, wives serve their husbands, every parent needs a grandchild, everyone wants kids. He refuses to learn anything new unless it’s information he’s acquired through his own sources. He doesn’t trust you and your smart mouth despite believing you’re in the top 1% of students in the country. He doesn’t know you distrust him and his aged brain even more than that.

He doesn’t know that, while you undoubtedly love him, will cry when he’s gone, will yearn for his presence when you no longer have the right to it, you’re secretly waiting for him and his kind to die out so the world can be a marginally better place.

Not all of this is your typical father’s fault. He grew up at a bad time, and in the hands of your typical grandmother, who laughed when you said you refused to start a family, and your typical grandfather, who most probably hit him. We’re all victims of our upbringing, our environment, one way or another. But when the opportunity to change is right in front of us and we refuse to take it, that’s when it becomes a problem. That’s what’s typical of all of us.

Almost three full pages later and your typical father still hasn’t moved from his spot on the couch. Sometimes, he’s really glued to that thing, or so your typical mother often complains, especially when he can’t be bothered to come to the kitchen to mince the garlic. He has his glasses on, he’s really into whatever words are coming at him from his phone screen, and he’ll leave home later today to go to a lunch party, never knowing all these feelings, all these surprisingly coherent thoughts that are rushing onto paper. He’s content, because he knows that no matter what he says, no matter how heavily he fumbles his duties as the first man to love and care for you, he’ll always be your typical father.

-nothing follows-

[izzy-b-hands]

Writing rizzy to keep myself from Beginning Moving Roadtrip Stress!

Izzy has an allergic reaction while taste testing (i just gave him one of my allergies, and also Roach has discovered/invented/etc epinephrine approx 220 years early bc if anyone could, it's Roach.)

Fairly short, cutesy, Izzy is fine, he's just like me and occasionally tests his allergies to a point of 'oh maybe a benadryl alone WON'T solve this after all, Oh No' (aside from the times that happens on accident if food is mislabeled lol)

---

"You're allergic to it," Roach frowns and watches Izzy swallow the last bite of cake.

"Yeah, but it's worth it."

"Oh my god," he pushes Izzy down onto the nearest chair. "Stay put."

"There's a-"

"I can fix this," Roach fusses and moves towards his medicine chest. "How bad does it get?"

"Pistachios, at this amount?" Izzy wheezes.

"Is your fucking throat closing up?!"

He nods.

"Israel-what the fuck is your middle name?"

"Bas-ilica," is the gasped reply.

"Israel Basilica Hands!"

"I have...something for i-"

Roach rifles through the medicine chest, and yanks out a syringe and the small vial of epinephrine. "Shush and keep breathing."

Another wheeze answers him, and thankfully doesn't sound like protesting when he injects it into Izzy's thigh, through his leather trousers.

"You aren't going anywhere else today," Roach continues. "I'm keeping an eye on you to make sure you're safe after this."

A hand reaches for the dish of cake, and Roach slaps it lightly away. "No!"

"It's good though," Izzy breathes out weakly, if slightly less haggard, skin regaining some colour.

"Do you do this with everything you're allergic to?"

"Only the ones I know I can usually safely get away with it," Izzy replies, and pulls a small vial and syringe from his vest pocket.

"Oh. Oh! You keep epinephrine on you constantly, in order to-"

"Technically it's for emergencies," Izzy interrupts as the vial and syringe disappear into his pocket again. "Cake tasting can be an emergency."

"You're terrible," Roach mutters fondly. "No more cake. And once this is gone, no more pistachios. And no more of whatever else you're allergic or sensitive to."

"You won't have much of a menu then."

"Then we restrict it to whatever doesn't almost instantly kill you."

"So pistachio cake could still be on-"

"Izzy!"

"Can't blame me for asking," Izzy smirks. "You did an amazing job on it. Despite the throat closing bit."

"Despite the-" Roach pauses, shakes his head, and leans down to kiss Izzy's forehead. "No more cake. The rest of this goes to-"

He pauses again. "Ed and Stede might eat some, then wind up kissing you without thinking, and we're back here stabbing you in the thigh..."

"Don't threaten me with a good time," Izzy sighs deeply. "That does feel better."

"No shit, you can breathe again."

"Thank you."

"For the cake or the breathing?"

"Yeah."

He rolls his eyes. "Olu and Jim I can trust. The rest of it is theirs to share with anyone except the captains."

"Good luck on that."

He gently helps Izzy up from the chair, and motions to the cot in the corner. "Lay down before the rest of the reaction hits you in full. You'll be sleeping soon enough."

"It is tiring."

"Nearly dying? Yeah, usually."

He's aware Izzy might not technically need the help, but he's still croaky and wobbles a bit when he's finally standing. That seems like reason enough, in his professional opinion, to help Izzy over to the cot.

Then onto it, to be safe.

"Is this standard practice?" Izzy teases and lets him snuggle in under his arm.

"Absolutely," Roach rests his head on the obscenely soft leather of Izzy's vest, warm from Izzy even with the shirt between it and his bare skin. "I'll take the cake out to everyone else later, once we know you're as much out of danger as possible."

"I can breathe now," Izzy insists, but he pulls him closer, and they aren't going anywhere for a while.

If he's really lucky, someone else will come in and sneak the cake away for a snack and he won't have to leave Izzy (and his opportunity for a shared impromptu nap) at all.

[mediocre-writerr]

betty [quinn fabray]

quinn fabray x fem reader

summary: the last part of my quinn fabray mini series! this takes place in the pov of quinn and her side of the story! enjoy : )

*not my gif*

“Quinny?” my mom poked her head through the door, “You got to get ready for school.” she says softly. 

I groaned as I shoved my head into a pillow. I didn’t want to go to school today or well ever for that matter. 

And you’re probably thinking: Quinn what teenager actually wants to go to school? 

i did...once. When I didn’t fuck up the best thing that ever happened to me. Meeting her at her locker, holding her hand down the hall, singing songs to her in glee club. All of it. But that’s all faded away like a moment in time. 

“Not today.” I mumble. 

“Quinn, honey, I let you miss so much school these past couple months. I need you to go just this once.” she whispers before closing the door. 

I let out another groan as I pulled the covers off my body. Stumbling my way into the bathroom. As I look in the mirror the pit that was in my stomach continued growing. 

I hated how I looked. I hated how I felt. I fucked up. It was all on me.

And it all started at junior prom.

“Love, dance with me!” Y/N yelled over the loud music that was playing, trying to pull me out of my seat at the table I was sitting at. 

I smiled widely at her enthusiasm before raising my eyebrows at her. She knows I hate the crowds. Sure, I was popular and wanted the attention.

But there’s a difference between walking down the hall like a bad ass than being trapped in a crowd of thousands, feeling like you’re suffocating and sweating.

“This is my favorite song.” she pouted when I gave her the look. 

I pulled the hand that she had in her hand closer to me. Giving it a sweet kiss, “Next dance, I promise.”

She pouts a little before running back off to the dance floor. I sat there drinking the spiked punch, letting the alcohol burn all the way down my throat and into my stomach. Leaving a warm sensation behind. 

I watched Y/N’s every move. She wasn’t very far away from where I was planted. Jumping up and down, doing crazy dance moves, with Sam. 

I love Sam with every bone in my body, but I was always jealous of the blonde boy. He was a nice guy, funny, good looking and super close to Y/N. 

“Looks like your girlfriend is having more fun with Sam, than she is with you.” Santana says, leaning against the chair I was sitting on.

“I don’t like the crowds. She knows that. She’s just trying to enjoy her prom.” I mumble, trying to ignore her snide remarks. 

Santana hums in response before taking a sip of her own punch, “Sure, let’s keep telling yourself that. And I’ll be the one saying ‘I told you so’ when she leaves you for him.” 

That was it. That’s what started my insecurities. 

Was I good enough for Y/N? Or will she find her own non-complicated love with Sam or Finn? Was Santana right?

After procrastinating for God knows how long, I finally made it to school. 

“Quinn!” Mercedes yelled getting my attention away from locker. 

I tried forcing on my best smile, “Hey what’s up?” 

“You’re coming to Y/N’s party tonight right? Everyone’s gonna be there! I don’t want you to miss it.” Mercedes said.

I shook my head looking down at my shoes, “No. I wasn’t planning on going. I don’t think she would want me there anyway.” I mumble.

Mercedes looked at me sympathetically, “Well I want you to come. Dig yourself out of the depressing hole you’re in and come hang out with people who care about you. Think about it, okay?” 

I nod before she goes running off to talk to Kurt. I open my locker and stare at the cardigan hanging off of one of the hooks. My eyes dart around my locker to see the pictures of the two of us hanging on the walls. 

I miss her.

The bell rings and I weave my way through the somewhat crowded walls and into my anatomy class for homeroom. I take my seat next to Jacob Ben Israel and sigh softly. 

“Alright class take your seats!” Mr. Barnson yells as he walks in the door, taking his bag off.

I look at the empty stool next to me. Y/N wasn’t in here today. She must’ve stayed home. I wish I could’ve, especially after what happened yesterday. 

“Jacob, you’re going to be Ms. Fabray’s new lab partner.” he says and I watch as Jacob’s eyes lighten up.

The afro-hair kid coming to sit next to me, “Can I smell your hair?” he asks, disturbingly. 

I shutter in disgust and raise my hand, “Yes Ms. Fabray?” 

“What happened to Y/N?” I ask.

“Ah, Ms. Y/L/N switched homerooms this morning.” he says nonchalantly while looking back at his list for attendance. 

Oh. 

The day went on and on, dragging like a bad movie that wouldn’t end. Until finally it did. 

I walked to school today. I’ve been walking to school the past couple months. It was a nice break to just clear my head and think about everything. Sometimes it hurt to do, but it was much needed. 

I didn’t want to go straight home today. I didn’t want to go home and just lock myself in my room, curling up into a ball of nothingness. So I walked around more. 

“Quinn? Do you need a ride?” I hear a voice ask.

I turn towards the voice to see Mike and Tina in his car, “No thanks. I think I’m just gonna walk.” 

“Okay. Well we’ll see you tonight, right? We all miss hanging out with you.” he suggests.

“I don’t know.” I say looking anywhere, but them.

“You should.” Tina says before the light turns green and they drive off with a wave. 

I continued walking until I found myself at the mall need Breadstix. I hate the mall. 

I used to love going there with Santana and Brittany back during sophomore year of high school. When I was dating Finn and head Cheerio, but now it just reminds me of everything that went wrong. 

When my insecurity was at its greatest peak. 

“Hello beautiful!” I say as I answer Y/N’s phone call, walking through the mall. 

“Hi love! I miss you so much.” she whispers and I smile softly.

I hear rustling coming from her side of the phone, another girl’s voice, “I miss you more.” I say softly, “Who are you with?”

“Oh I’m with my friend Lizzie. She’s also a intern here and we’re just having dinner! She’s really cool!” Y/N said excitedly.

The rest of the conversation was about her internship and the amazing stuff she was learning and the new people she was meeting. How much she was having.

I should have been happy for her, but all I could think about what was, how much her life is better without me? What a fun life she could have without me? 

I left the mall that I was once walking in and nothing seemed good enough to buy. I was getting closer to my house as I was walking on the broken cobblestone. Just thinking about her.

How much I just want her to come back home and into my arms. How much I want her to let me know that I’m the only one she wants and that I am good enough for her.

Someone’s car came by slowing down next to me as they rolled their window down, pulling me out of my thoughts. Santana was sitting in the driver’s seat with her sunglasses on. Her usual high pony was down which revealed her curly brunette hair. 

She looked like a figment of my worst intentions. Her lips stained with a dark red lipstick and the way she was eyeing me. It just sent shivers down my spine. 

“Quinn, get in, let’s drive.” 

And those four words was all it took. Well four words and a human full of loneliness. 

A car honks shaking me from that terrible terrible memory. Leaving me with a mind and head full of thoughts. 

Should I go to the party tonight? Will she want me there? Will I regret not going? 

There’s two ways me going would play out.

1.) I would get there and she would open the door and slam it on my face. Then she would open it again just to tell me to go fuck myself. 

I shutter at the thought of the most likely scenario. The sun was setting turning the sky into a cotton candy looking sky. What a beautiful sky for a stressful decision. 

Santana laid next to me on the grassy field of my backyard. It was a cotton candy color as the orange hue blended with the dreamy blue. 

I spent the week driving around with Santana. We would go exploring the small town in Lima or just drive around singing to random songs. 

We laid there in silence just staring up at the sky. She took my hand in hers intertwining them together. And in that moment I didn’t care. I wanted to feel something, anything. 

Anything besides this pit of loneliness. 

She turned her head towards mine. And in a beat her lips were on mine. It was soft at first yet passionate. Then the next thing I knew, clothes were flying off, and hands were roaming. 

2.) Y/N opens the door and sees me standing there. I apologize for everything, she leads me to our spot in the backyard. And kiss me in front of everyone. 

Yeah like that would ever fucking happen. 

I didn’t know what I was expecting when Y/N came back from Pennsylvania. After the many nights spent with Santana, I dropped her. Or well ghosted her I should say.

I didn’t answer her calls or her texts. I knew what I did was wrong and I decided to just end it before things could get any worse. 

Was it fucked up? 

Yes, but I did what I had to try and salvage what I had left in our relationship.

I thought I could get away with it too. Until the guilt started eating me alive. The pit in my stomach wasn’t loneliness, it was guilt. 

And then Santana told Brittany. Brittany told Artie. Artie told Tina. Tina told Mike. Mike told Puck. Puck told Mercedes. Mercedes told Kurt. Kurt told Blaine. Blaine told Rachel. Rachel told Finn. Finn told Sam. Then finally, Rachel told Y/N since no one else had the heart to. 

Y/N slammed my locker shut causing me to flinch back, “Tell me she’s lying.” she whispers, her voice breaking. 

“Who’s lying love? What happened?” I say attempting to take her in my arms, but she took a step back.

“Tell me that you didn’t hook up with Santana while I was gone. And that it’s some weird vendetta against you.” she whispers staring at me. 

I couldn’t lie to her anymore. It was killing me. I didn’t want to lie anymore. I just needed to tell her. 

I just stared at her desperately trying to find an explanation. Desperately trying to apologize and explain everything to her, but no words came out.

“Y/N-”

“You did didn’t you?” Y/N asked barely in a whisper.

I nodded sadly and a sob escaped her lips. 

“Y/N please let me-” I try to say and she shakes her head.

“No. We’re done Quinn!” she yells in between sobs running off. 

I looked up and found myself in front of Y/N’s house. 

I wasn’t trying to go here. I guess my feet just carried me here. The party was in full swing and through her window I could see her just sitting there, nursing a cup. 

Her favorite song was playing and she wasn’t dancing. She was just sitting there, trying to smile, but was struggling too. 

It hurt me, knowing that I’m the reason for her pain. 

I hesitantly knocked on the door and the door flung open. Y/N was standing there and she was shocked, but her eyes softened. But it didn’t matter anymore because she covered it up with a harder shell. 

She came out and stepped onto the porch, closing the door behind her.

“Happy birthday.” I whisper.

She mumbles, “Thanks.” 

“Can we talk please?” I ask.

She was thinking about it. I could tell. Her eyes were furrowed and she was biting her lip. She looked in deep thought before nodding and leading me to the backyard garden.

There was a bench swing hanging from the trees. And we took a seat on there together. 

This is the spot. Our spot. 

We had our first kiss here. I asked her to be my girlfriend here. Everything happened right here. 

“Y/N I’m sorry. And before you say anything I know. I know sorry means nothing and it has no excuse for what I did. But I am so deeply sorry. I don’t know much and I don’t have much to say because I wasn’t expecting to come tonight But I do know that I miss you and you were the best thing that has ever happened to me.” I whisper letting all of the tears spill. 

She lets out a shaky sigh, “I know. I forgive you.” 

I smile softly and I try to lean in to kiss her, but she immediately pulls back. Leaving me embarrassed and heartbroken.

“Just because I forgive you doesn’t mean that I want to get back together. I know you know that what you did was wrong. And I trust you when you say that it wasn’t anything special. But it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. I love you Quinn Fabray, but I just can’t do this right now.” she whispers back.

She begins to wipe away the tears from my cheeks. I took in a deep breath before embracing the feeling of her touch. Y/N closes her eyes and rests her forehead on top of mine. 

I cup her cheeks into my hands. My thumb trying to memorize all of the crevasse, cheek bones, every little feature. 

“I will always love you and maybe we’ll be together one day. Just not today.” she whispers pulling away and kissing my cheek softly, “Goodbye Quinn.” 

[finnishcrimestory]

Klaus Schelkle and Bettina Taxis

(Klaus and Bettina)

(Left: Schelkle, Right: Schmid)

On a Tuesday morning on 28th of July 1987, three students, 20 year old Klaus Schelkle, his girlfriend 22 year old Bettina Taxis and their mutual friend 21 year old Thomas Schmid were on a interrail trip from West Germany. Schmid has later told that they didn’t really plan the trip for long, it was just a sudden idea. They saved money for the trip for a while though.

Schelkle and Schmid had known each other for years. Both were members of a football club called VfB Stuttgart, and that is where they had originally met. They both were studying to be mechanics and had been on interrail trips together before. Schelkle had met Taxis at a nightclub, almost a year ago before their trip. Shortly after that they started dating.

The trio wanted to go to Finland quickly. When the journey started they traveled straight to Stockholm and spent a night there. The next evening shortly before 10 pm they got onboard M/S Viking Sally. The ship in itself was an experience even if it wasn’t exactly luxurious. The ship would arrive to Turku the next morning. They had plans to go to Ruisrock, a festival located there. After the festival their plan was to continue their journey to Finland's Lapland, from there to Norway’s Bergen, and finally down the coastline to Oslo.

The couple had purchased on deck seats and had reserved an area from the upper deck to sleep on. Schmid didn't want to disturb the couple so he reserved a place from the lower deck, inside the ship. Schmid wasn't really a cruise kinda person, but he had had some fun during the cruise. Schelkle and Taxis on the other hand were very social. They had told Schmid that while they were socializing with other passengers, they had met a "fun Finn speaking excellent German". The fun Finn was a Finnish businessman who was returning home from Germany. He had car parts with him and he had tried to show them to Schelkle who apparently was interested about them. They tried to visit the car deck but the door leading there was locked. They made plans to try again in the morning so they changed contact info.

Schmid was already asleep when Schelkle and Taxis fetched their sleeping bags from their backpacks that Schmid guarded. It was around 1 am. The place where they went to sleep was quiet and at the back of the deck. There was no light since it was broken. 

On the deck there had been a lot of people walking during the day. The ship had passengers from at least 9 different countries, including boy scouts from Denmark and Sweden who were heading to international Nordic LDS Jamboree camp in Sauvo, Finland. Many of these teenage boy scouts had been walking on the ship's deck during the entire night and some other passengers had been disturbed by this. Around 3:45 some of the boy scouts found their way on the helicopter deck.

They saw no one there especially since it was dark, but soon one of the boy scouts saw something moving. He saw two people moving close to the air vents. The boys first thought that the two people were just some heavily intoxicated people, because when they tried to stand up it wasn’t successful so they collapsed back on the floor. The boy scouts watched this for a while, until one of them decided to move closer. According to newspaper articles published in 1987, he was a 18 year old boy scout from Denmark. The two others were from Sweden.

The two people trying to stand up were a man and a woman. Their faces and clothes were covered in blood. Now the boys noticed that the entire helicopter deck was covered in blood as well.

An unknown person had attacked Schelkle and Taxis while they were sleeping. They were seriously injured but they managed to move a bit. It is unknown if they understood anything from the situation. The 18 year old Danish boy has told that he did know some first aid, but he wasn't certain what to do when the injuries were this serious.

Some of the boy scouts went to inform the scene to the ship's information and they called the ship's security. The security officer has told to the police that he noticed injuries on the heads of both victims that were clearly caused by something heavy. The perpetrator had used a blunt object. The Danish boy who found the victims has told that Taxis' finger was cut off, but the police have never commented on that.

Schelkle and Taxis were taken to the ship's infirmary. They were speaking something but nobody could understand what they were saying. The reason could've been the severity of their injuries, or because no one present didn't speak German. The nurse in the infirmary tried to stop the bleeding with towels, but immediately understood that the victims had serious intracranial injuries.

The ship contacted Turku's maritime rescue center who sent a helicopter immediately. It arrived around 5 am. The rescuers didn't really know what was the case about, they only knew it was an ambulance mission. When they landed on the deck they noticed how it was covered in blood. The staff of the ship were carrying  bloody people on stretchers. They were lifted on board of the helicopter and it left to Turku. The ship's nurse had left with them and she tried to help mostly Bettina; it was very soon revealed that their injuries were too severe and especially on Klaus' head. Taxis was somewhat awake during the flight but she was delirious. She apparently thought the people helping her were trying to attack her, and this led to her constantly trying to protect herself. The noise from the helicopter and the helmets made it impossible to hear if the victims said anything.

The helicopter landed to Kupittaa (a district in the city) in Turku, from where the victims were transported to Turku University hospital. They arrived there around 5:48 am and soon after arriving there a doctor declared that Schelkle had passed away.

Bettina Taxis was later transferred to a hospital in Germany. The Finnish police got the chance to question her after some years had passed, with the aid from Germany's police. Taxis didn't remember anything. “We laid down and apparently I fell asleep immediately. From that moment my memory is completely lost for 10 days. I fell asleep and woke up in Stuttgard. I can’t remember anything else.”

According to some sources she however managed to recover from her physical injuries well, though not entirely.

The investigation

Turku criminal police had gotten an alarm about the case at 4:28 am. When the ambulance mission was over, the same helicopter took three police officers to Viking Sally. The ship's security officer had done everything he could: secluded parts of the crime scene and gathered some information from the people who were present at the scene. There were no eye witnesses though. Schmid had been woken up by the sound of the helicopter, but he had then just continued sleeping. Early in the morning two men woke him up and asked whose backpacks were in Schmid's care. When he had told who owned the backpacks the two men asked him to come with them. They were crime scene investigators from Turku.

Schmid was taken to a secluded place where the police started to question him. Hours passed and Schmid was questioned over and over again. Finally he became so frustrated and worried that he denied answering any more questions, if the police didn't tell him what was going on. Then the police told what had happened.

At the very beginning of the investigation, the police took an interest in one man from England. He was 26 years old and he had been sleeping on the floor of a parlor. His clothes were bloody, but the man assured the police that the blood came from his nose. The man had met a Finnish woman in Kibbutz, Israel and he was on his way to meet her in Finland. The man had first tried to land in Helsinki, but according to the police he had seemed like a "shabby junkie" so he was turned back to Sweden. This was his second try to land, this time in Turku. During the investigation it was revealed that the man had spent a rakish evening with some Finns, two men from Kotka and three men from Kangasala. The young men from Kangasala had spent the day in Stockholm and lost all their money. Now they were returning to Finland with tickets given to them by Stockholm's social welfare office. During the night, the group had enjoyed barbecue in the restaurant and drank alcohol in various bars. When the ship arrived in Turku, the police was waiting in the harbour. The man from England, and the Finnish men were taken to the police station.

Police boats were guarding the ship from the ocean's side, and on land other investigators videotaped every person exiting from the ship. At first the police tried to take everyone's names down as well, but it took too much time. The police changed their plans and decided to leave elderly, children and parents travelling with children out from the list. Every person was still videotaped. With another video camera the police separately taped all young men. 

The people from Kotka and Kangasala were soon released because there were no evidence against them. There weren't many investigators who could speak English but one was found. They interrogated the man from England and he assured he was innocent. The crime lab did all they could with the gathered blood samples from the man's clothing, and it was revealed to be his own. The man was released as well.

The investigation wasn't easy. In 1987 the police couldn't really gather DNA, there wasn't surveillance footage and ship's sailing between Finland and Sweden didn't really have passenger lists that would've had the names of all passengers. It was possible that onboard was people whose identity wasn't known to anyone.

The crime scene was covered in blood so it made it hard to find the perpetrator’s possible blood sample from there. A lot of blood samples however were able to be collected.

The police found a bloody handprint from the ship’s wall. They compared the print to everyone that had been near the crime scene, all passengers and all staff members. It didn’t belong to anyone. Some of the investigators at some point started to think that what if they accidentally had left the print, but when it was compared, it didn’t belong to them either. It is still a mystery to whom the handprint belongs to.

Underneath Schelkle’s fingernails the police found a small piece of wood. The crime lab analysis revealed that it was possibly from a spruce. In September 1987 the investigators carved a piece from the ship’s kitchen’s meat cleavers handle: they wanted to find out if a meat cleaver could’ve been the murder weapon. Later in 2015 the police got interested in the piece of wood again, but now the sample and the information about the investigation had went missing.  The murder weapon was never found.

The police did all they could to get in contact with every passenger they got on video. Many people however didn't turn themselves in because they thought it would’ve been useless since they didn't know anything about the attack. Two examples of the people who didn't turn themselves in were "Jocke" and "Perra", who were later found when a Swedish newspaper published their pictures. Some people were avoiding the police because their voyage on Viking Sally wasn't exactly good to be known by police.

Interviews

Many different newspapers interviewed the 18 year old Danish boy scout. His name was Thomas Nielsen.

Turun Sanomat:

On Wednesday 29th of July 1987 Turun Sanomat interviewed him when he was attending the camp in Sauvo. It is not known in which language the interview was done nor is it known how well the interviewer and Nielsen understood each other. According to Turun Sanomat, Nielsen had seen Schelkle and Taxis sleeping in their sleeping bags under the staircase that led to the helicopter deck. He saw them three hours before anything had happened. According to Nielsen he didn’t see Schmid at all.

He had been walking with two Swedish boy scouts. When they noticed the victims they tried to pull them up, only then noticing that they were seriously injured. After this all three boy scouts hurried to get help. Nielsen however changed his mind and returned to the victims. According to him he waited about 10 minutes before the help arrived. During this entire time the victims were unconscious.

Apu:

Apu magazine also interviewed Nielsen in Sauvo, but it is not known when it occurred. In the interview Nielsen told that the victims were inside their sleeping bags when they were discovered. According to the interview, Nielsen did notice them but he thought they were sleeping. Nielsen told that he had wondered why they were sleeping in such weird positions. After this he went to take a closer look and noticed they were seriously injured. Apu doesn’t inform how and who called for help, or if Nielsen even helped to move the bodies. 

In the same interview there was the scout leader interviewed as well who had the same last name as Nielsen. According to Apu, both of them thought that the perpetrator(s) surprised the victims while they were sleeping. They thought there were multiple perpetrators, or the one perpetrator was “very strong and had been raging like a madman”. According to Nielsen, Taxis also had an injury on her hand, which resulted Nielsen and the other boys to think she had been fighting back.

Seura:

Nielsen gave the most information to Seura on 7th of August 1987. According to the interview Nielsen had seen Schelkle and Taxis sleeping on the helicopter deck around midnight. Before that he hadn’t seen them. About the time of the discovery, following was told:

“I was walking on the helicopter deck when suddenly I saw three other boys near sleeping bags. At the same time I noticed that something was wrong. When I went closer I noticed there were blood everywhere and the young people laying inside the sleeping bags were covered in blood. The boy tried to stand up, because he was outside the sleeping bag but he couldn’t do it. The girl was still partly inside the bag and tried to say something. Near them was empty and full beer bottles.”

According to the interview all three went to get help. Nielsen however changed his mind and thought someone should stay with the victims, so he returned. He told he knows some first aid but the he couldn’t help the victims. While he was waiting for the help, Schelkle was sitting and the girl was trying to stand up.

“I went and looked if the help was coming, but then someone from the ship’s staff came. Then all we did was to try to keep the attacked youths to stay still.”

“Their faces hadn't been hit or kicked and I don’t think the attacker had used a knife either. Their faces were kinda like slush, like they were beaten with a hammer-like object. I didn’t see any other injuries on their bodies. One finger had been cut out from the girl's hand.”

Nielsen told he was helping with the moving of the victims to the infirmary. Schelkle was walking supported, but Taxis needed to be carried.

“To me the girl seemed to be more injured at the time. I can’t believe the boy is now dead.”

According to Nielsen the staff asked him to help and that is what he did.

“When we helped the boy to move inside the ship, the girl got wild. She wanted to come along. We carried her inside and my clothes and hands were bloody.”

                                                         ----

Later it was revealed that in 1987 the police had also interrogated the leader of the Danish boy scouts. The leader told that one boy scout had came and woke them up covered in blood. The boy scout told that he had been helping the victims so the leader and the boy went to find some new clothes for him. After this they went to the ship’s information and asked the staff to wash the bloody clothes. Shortly before the ship arrived to Turku, staff gave back the clothes, all washed up and dried.

Suspects

Two suspects got nicknamed as a "beanie man" because they were seen wearing striking beanies. One of the men was later found from West Germany, but it turned out he had nothing to do with the murders. The other beanie man was never found. According to the police the man was spotted at night walking on the fifth deck, near cafeteria. He was around 30 years old, 175 cm tall (5'9) and he had dark hair. He seemed unclean and he was talking to himself in English. He wore a dark or greenish beanie with rolled edges. He also had dark, homemade wool shirt on and boots. Some eye witnesses told the police the hat was light, some say it was dark.

In August 1987 two fishermen had landed on a small island called Lilla Björnholm, located in Korppoo. The island is deserted and it's covered with trees. It's located exactly where the ship’s route went. The fishermen saw a black plastic bag on the shore and when they peeked inside they noticed it contained clothing. They left the bag as it was. In the next summer the fishermen returned to the island and noticed that the bag was still there. Then they decided to take it to the police in Nauvo. From there it was taken to Turku. Inside the bag was found an Umberto Loofer brand shoe made in Finland, and the police was able to find out that one shop in Maariankatu, Turku had sold the shoes between the years 1985 to 1986. From the bag the police also found light colored shorts and red acrylic shirt. There was also a grey work glove that had initials H.K. written on it. According to the police they thought the clothes might have come from Viking Sally.

2016 and the revelation

In 2000 the name of the crime was changed from manslaughter to murder and the attempt of murder. In 2015 Danish police contacted the police in Finland and told about threatening text messages that were sent from one man's phone to his ex wife. On the messages the man, named Herman Himle claimed he had killed people. Finnish police got interested about him, because they had a reason to believe he could be connected to the attack. When the Finnish police interrogated Himle in 2016 he told some very interesting things. Himle had been onboard Viking Sally when the attack happened, and he told that he had found a hammer from the ship. He continued and said, that it would’ve been handy to use in a murder, and it would’ve been easy to get rid of by simply tossing it over the railing to the ocean. When the police asked if he had hit Schelkle and Taxis with the hammer, he denied it and told that his life situation isn’t fit for a long sentence. To Bettina Taxis, Himle wanted to say that she no longer needs to be afraid. He told the police that they can now tell Taxis that “they have been talking to the right man”. 

On the next day Himle said he is not going to confess because now the police knows who committed the attack. Himle told that before the cruise something had happened in his home that had cornered him and made him explosive. According to Himle, Schelkle and Taxis just were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Himle told that during the cruise he had been mad because he hadn’t gotten money from home and proper scout gear. He had noticed the Germans sleeping and fetched the hammer. He beat them with it so that he could rob them. While he was beating them, the Swedish boy scouts came there and he had only a moment to toss the hammer away and then return there. 

He told that he now understands how lucky he was that the Swedes came there. This made him and the boys heroes. If the boys hand’t came, he would’ve later been caught having the victim’s possessions with him.

When the police were interrogating him, Himle was in prison for threatening his ex wife. In the text messages he had said that he was a killer who hasn't been caught. 

"I can be bad because I've killed twice before." 

"Yes, I am a killer and I can prove it. But if I did that, I would be in prison for a long time, and I don't want that, because then you would run from my revenge, which is coming when you least except it."

In 2019 Himle was interrogated again, this time with a lawyer. Now he told that in earlier interrogations he had been mad at the police and had only been provoking them. Nothing he had said was true.

Himle has used many different aliases in his life. When he was onboard Viking Sally in 1987, his name was Thomas Nielsen. He was the same 18 year old Danish boy scout who discovered the bodies.

Himle has been in prison in total for 19 years of his life. His crimes have been talked about even in Finnish newspapers. In 1998 Helsingin Sanomat wrote about him as the "inventive Danish runaway" because he had escaped from Danish prisons many times. According to the paper he had escaped from the prison twice using a self made ladder. Earlier from other prison he had escaped by digging a hole with a tea spoon. Himle has been convicted of theft, gun crimes, financial crimes and threats. In the early 1990 he stole a valuable Viking jewel. 

Himle got charged.

Trial

The case was taken to trial at the end of May 2021. Prosecutors saw that Himle was the only one present when the attack happened and therefore he was the only one who could’ve committed the crimes. Himle’s interviews in 1987 were also very interesting, because he was able to tell very specific things about the injuries, that even the nurse hadn’t noticed (the finger thing). He also had told things to different papers that were in contradictory. In general, Himle was able to tell very specific things about the night. Himle’s interview to Seura in particular interested the prosecutors. As stated previously, he had said:

“Their faces hadn't been hit or kicked and I don’t think the attacker had used a knife either. Their faces were kinda like slush, like they were beaten with a hammer-like object. I didn’t see any other injuries on their bodies. One finger had been cut out from the girl's hand.”

The prosecutor asked Himle whether he had said these things. Himle was very agitated and said that the information the article had was false.

At the very beginning of the trial, Himle immediately gained an advantage. The court ordered all his previous interrogation stories to not be used during the trial. They couldn’t be used as an evidence. According to the court when crimes this serious are in question, the suspect should’ve had an assistant. The police told that they had offered Himle one, but this didn’t help. Everything he had said in the interrogations in 2016, weren’t used as an evidence.

On many occasions Himle has said that he doesn’t wanna confess because he can’t go to prison. He was certain that he could talk himself out from the situation if it ever went to trial. Himle denies he had anything to do with the attack. To Yle he told during the break, that he’s not at all worried and that he’s sure the charges against him will be dropped.

And he was right.

On 30th of June 2021 all charges against Himle were dropped and he was released. According to the district court there were no evidence supporting the fact that Himle would’ve been the only possible person to be the perpetrator. Himle also didn’t have any more knowledge about the murder weapon than any other person. The district court thinks it’s very possible that Himle was simply just one of the helpers. The Swedish boy scouts told that they had discovered the bodies and shortly after, Himle had came there as well. The court also points out that since so much time has passed it has effected everyone’s memory. They said that nobody saw Himle close to the bodies before they were discovered. There is also no eye witnesses seeing him with bloody clothes before he started to help the victims.

The victims’ family members aren’t satisfied with this. They have told that there is a big chance they will complain to the court of appeals. If they want the investigation to continue they will have to leave a complaint and a plea to continue investigation not later than 30th of September 2021.

                                                             ----

Yle interviewed Thomas Schmid on 12th of December 2020 via phone. He had heard about Himle’s arrest and charges from German papers and was surprised. Schmid apparently had met Himle during the night, and Himle had told him that he “had found Klaus and Bettina and that there was blood everywhere.” According to Schmid the thought that Himle could’ve committed the attack had never even crossed his mind. He thinks it’s very important that the perpetrator is caught and convicted. 

[wtffundiefamilies]

This is from 2013, but holy hell I hope Anna finds it.  Entirety of the post beneath the cut; it’s both long and not something people should read with no warning.  But I wanted to copypaste in case the link goes down one day.  It’s insane to me that these “little details” and “clues” are obvious and screaming red flags to people raised in a normal world.  (And no, looking at legal porn is not a “red flag” that someone is a child molester.  But, like...again, given the circumstances I’m not sure what we’d expect; we all saw what Jessa said.)  It’s part one of a series, and it’s amazing just how much this dude sounds like Josh.  And how much their “courtship” sounds like Josh and Anna’s.

Part of my mission, my purpose in life, is to educate others about child predators.  I’m not here to stir up some kind of crazy hype, but to present the facts and to give you a bit of insight as to what happened in my own life.  How was I so blinded to the fact that for forty years I was living with a practicing pedophile?  How did I not see the signs?  How did I not pick up on something being very wrong with the man I married?  

The truth is that I sensed something was wrong even before we got married, but I didn’t listen to my inner being.  I didn’t pay attention to those nudgings that something was wrong.  Why?  Because as a Christian it had been taught to me from little up that people who went to church were good, honest, moral people.  I was taught to trust people who said they believed in God and followed His teachings.  And, I did just that.  I was, unfortunately, one of the most trusting women who ever walked the face of the earth!

Pay attention to this, please!  Just because a person tells you that they walk by the teachings of God does not mean it’s true.  In fact, the word of God warns us against “wolves in sheep’s clothing”, and I learned first-hand just what that meant.  But, it would be years before my eyes were totally opened to this fact. As a bit of background information, I came from a broken home.  My parents divorced when I was fourteen, a sister of mine died when she was thirteen, my mother was an alcoholic, and my father was by today’s terms a “dead beat dad.”  Needless to say, I longed for a different life, and I prayed constantly that God would send a good, righteous, faithful Christian into my life so that I could build a home on godly principles and a firm foundation.

I worked hard all through high school so that I could go to college.  But, I didn’t want to go to just any college.  It had to be a Christian college because I sincerely believed that was the only place I would ever meet a Christian man to marry.  Because I worked so hard all through high school, I earned a four-year scholarship to a four-year state school.  BUT, you guessed it!  The idea of finding and marrying a Christian man was so ingrained in my heart and mind by now that I passed up the scholarship and instead went to a very small, two-year Christian College.  Little did I know that this one decision would lead to so much heartache for me and for those who are most special in my life — my children.  While it’s true that we can’t see around every bend in the road, there are signs and signals along the way.  I didn’t pay attention to anyone who tried to talk to me.  One thing was on my mind — finding a Christian mate!

Every person wants to feel special, and longs to be told that they stand out among all of the rest.  During the summer between my first and second year of college I met a young man who was articulate, bright, funny, witty, and who also told me that I stood out.  He was spending the summer at college and so was I.  A friendship developed, and even though I was engaged to marry someone else, this young man worked very hard every day to convince me that I was with the wrong person.  He pointed out all of the flaws of the man whose ring I was wearing until he finally convinced me to break off the engagement.  That’s a story in and of itself — maybe I’ll share that with you another day.

What was a bit strange to me was that the man I would soon marry had a quiet control over me like nobody ever had before.  Even though I had low self-esteem I was used to making my own decisions and being very independent.  For the first time in my life I found I was reporting my every move to this quiet, shy young man. He told me I was special.  He said out of all the girls on campus I was the only one that he thought was pretty and was a true Christian.  He told me just what I wanted to hear.  It was the word “Christian” that nailed me!  I knew he was the one I had been praying about since my youth!

One of the greatest stories my now ex-husband loved to tell was how he spotted me from across campus and said to his roommate, “See that girl?  I’m going to marry her.”  This was totally absurd because at the time he said that we had not even met!  He later told me he would hide and watch me — study me — and he knew my schedule, when I was going to eat, when I’d walk back to campus, when I would go to work.  He said, “I knew everything about you.  I knew where you were from morning until night. I knew I would marry you.”

Instead of being freaked out and thinking this guy was some kind of stalker psycho, I was flattered.  “He chose me.”  Out of all of the girls around, he chose me and that again was more evidence of answered prayers.  Deep inside, though, was a gnawing feeling that something wasn’t right.  He didn’t talk much.  And, for a man who said he loved God, he made fun of people in a mean way.  He mocked people’s insecurities.  Yes, you guessed it!  He mocked me on several occasions and I felt like a piece of dirt he had stepped on.  He made fun of the size of my nose.  He made fun of my feet calling them “hammer head toes.”  He made fun of the space I have between my teeth.  I cried myself to sleep many, many nights, but still……..he was a Christian man, and he was so nice when we were together in public.  He opened the car door for me (it was my car, by the way).  He paid the bill when we went out to eat and left a nice tip.  (It was my money that he used.)  He talked me into giving him my car (which I had since I was 16) and I found myself asking him for permission to use my own car.  This was really weird!

Why did I put up with it?  Why does anybody put up with abuse?  Because they’ve been so used to being beaten down that they think this is the norm. Please, please — if you’re in a situation like this run for your life!!!  This is NOT the way a good relationship works!  And, it’s a red flag indicator of many other problems — in my case, it was a big red flag that I was being masterfully manipulated.  Groomed to be the wife of a pedophile who was already deeply involved in porn and child sexual molestation!  

Learn to listen for “clues” that a decision you’re making might not be right.  I had BIG clues that I passed off as “odd”, “not making much sense”, “silly”, or “not that big of a deal.”

Clue 1:  For the last four months we dated, my fiance was in Israel doing overseas study.  We corresponded by letter only.  We were to get married less than one week after he arrived back in the states.  In his letters he would write to tell me how he would hide behind the grasses on the beach and watch girls changing out of their clothes and swimming nude.  He said he’d skip class and stay there all day.  In other words, he was openly telling me he was a “peeping Tom.”  This was a test of how far he could manipulate me and I passed with flying colors! I never questioned him about it.  Oh, I cried lots, but I never questioned him!

Clue 2:  He told me while we were dating that he and one of his cousins spent the summers together and they would steal cartons of cigarettes from stores and sneak out of the house at night and smoke the cigarettes and look at “porn” all night long.  Another test!  I looked at him quietly but never questioned him.  If you want to know the truth — I didn’t even know what porn was!!!!!  I had to ask my college roommates.  Again, I was being tested.  Could he get away with doing things right under my nose?  Sure he could. I’d never question a man of God!

Clue 3:  He was almost 21 and his favorite job was to “babysit all the little kids at church for free because he loved to give them baths and powder their little butts.”  I’m totally sick now as I write these words.  Why in heaven’s name didn’t I run from this man? There were so many clues that something was wrong, and I passed them off as being a little odd.  Nothing more — just a little bit odd. In fact, I actually thought this was kind of nice.  I never saw my father get involved in parenting like that, and I thought, “Wow!  This man will make a wonderful father!”    

Porn.  Lying.  Peeping Tom.  A young man who loves bathing and powdering little kids.  Masterfully manipulating.  Gaining the trust of adults. (Church people loved him babysitting their kids!)

I was another one of his victims.  I was being set up. I was being groomed  I would be the perfect alibi for his continued evil behavior.  He was calculating.  He studied me.  He used me.  He used my faith as a means to get what he wanted.  He knew what he was doing! His actions were no mistake.  He worked very hard to plan every detail.  

Listen up everyone!  Please don’t do as I did!  If your gut is telling you something is wrong, it probably is!!! Pay attention to the little details and the little voice that is whispering something is wrong!!!

This is just the beginning of my story.  I will share more in the weeks to come in hopes that others will not be blinded to the facts as I was.   We must get educated about child sexual molesters so that we can protect life’s most precious blessings — our children!

Why am I sharing the ugly, sad parts of my life?  That’s simple.  Because children are beautiful.  Children are precious.  Children deserve to be protected.  Statistics (according to information found here ) tell us that 1 in every 3 girls and 1 in every 6 boys are molested by the age of 18.  Please help me to stop this!  Let’s get educated!  Let’s do all we can to make it incredibly difficult for the molester!  Let’s be vigilant on behalf of our children — at all times!!!

Every child should have the ability to grow up feeling safe and loved and whole and pure!

It isn’t easy or comfortable for me to write about this, but I must.  I must take this terribleness and do something positive with it.  I must work for the safety of our children. Thanks so much for stopping by and for taking the time to read this.  Thanks even more for making yourself more aware of what is going on right under our noses — in our schools, our churches, our camps, our homes.  Let’s do all we can to work together to make this a safe place for our children!  

Love, Clara

[unibrowzz]

Mod (finally) reviews all 67 winners of the Eurovision Song Contest Part IV: The 1980s

Ah yes, the 80s. One of my favourite decades for music overall, and one of the only decades in Eurovision where I wouldn’t immediately jump at the chance to change most of the songs that won, the other decade being the 2000s. 

But at least with the 80s there was more quality songs per year, whereas the 2000s was mostly drivel.

I also count the 80s as being somewhat of a turning point in the contest’s history, and by that I mean it always seemed to me like it was the decade where the UK really began to stop caring. Most people know the song that won in 1985, but nobody knows what won in 1986. Everyone knows Johnny Logan won twice, but couldn’t name his second song. Everyone knows Celine Dion competed, but can’t remember if she won or what she sang. 

That and countries also started experimenting with more modern sounds and outfits towards the end. The early 80s is just an extension of the 70s I swear. 

But that’s enough of all that, how do I find the winning songs?

1980- What’s Another Year?

Country: Ireland

Artist: Johnny Logan 

Language: English

Thoughts: Ah yes, the song that makes every 50something woman in the UK and Ireland all doey-eyed and rosy cheeked as they remember back to when they were a teenager watching this on TV and drooling at the lovely looking sad Irishman singing his sorrows into the microphone.  Or that’s my experience with this song anyway. Another experience is that most vintage fans I know tend to dislike this song on the grounds of it beating out [insert song here] Everyone has their favourite from 1980 since it was honestly a pretty strong year, but even though this song isn’t my first place for that year I can still clearly see why it won. See, 1980 had a lot of pop songs, so a slow, sad song like this one was bound to stand out, whether it was popular or not. Luckily for this one, it turned out to be a popular choice. Other songs wouldn’t be so lucky… Back on track though. Like I said, this is a very sad and melancholy song with sad and melancholy lyrics, which not only made it stand out in its year, but also made it stand out amongst other Eurovision songs of its time. It’s strange to think, but at this point in the contest’s history there hadn’t been a winner with lyrics so solemn and personal. See, in modern Eurovision, every other song is the artist baring their soul about their horrible ex-boyfriend, or their depression, or past abuse, or whatever, so knowing there was a period where songs like that were so rare is just… surreal to me.

Is this my personal winner for this year? This or Greece tbh, I don’t mind this one

If no, what is? Greece- Anna Vissi- “Autostop”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 23rd

1981: Making Your Mind Up

Country: United Kingdom

Artist: Bucks Fizz

Language: English

Thoughts: Ah yes, the UK winner that nobody really likes, but the BBC still forces at us anyway because they’re proud they came up with a gimmick that everybody remembers. Or maybe it’s not that well remembered, but nobody would know that because we’re reminded of it every year. This song is… alright. Just alright. The first listen of this one is always the best, because after a while it just gets kind of annoying. The singing ESPECIALLY starts to grate you for a while. Even in the studio version the two girls sound unbearably shrill and whiny, and I’m not sure if that’s their fault or the songwriter’s (since if I remember correctly only one of them was a professional singer). I’m seriously convinced there’s no way for a female vocalist to pull this off without sounding terrible.  Again, this one’s perfectly fine and serviceable, but that doesn’t mask the fact it’s still the worst UK winner and the worst winner of the 1980s too. 

Is this my personal winner for this year? No

If no, what is? Portugal- Carlos Paião- “Playback”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 58th

1982: Ein Bißchen Frieden

Country: West Germany

Artist: Nicole

Language: German (Translation: “A little peace”)

Thoughts: This song gives me a really warm, nostalgic feeling, and I don’t know why. I mean, I know this one did well internationally, so it’s possible I just heard it as a kid, but given how I grew up in the early 2000s, “Eurovision is a shitty freak show full of weirdos from the USSR who gang up on the UK and don't vote for us on purpose” era Britain, that’s highly unlikely. Anyways, this is such a warm, fuzzy kind of song. It has a lovely… round-the-campfire, singalong kind of vibe, like this is meant to be sung by a load of long haired hippies with flowers in their hair and CND symbols drawn on their cheeks. And it’s… … Also kind of bland. If you’ve been reading my personal winners so far, you’ll have noticed I definitely have a soft spot for old German entries, so it’s a shame I find the one song they actually won with to be so… generic. It’s like they got tired of being unique so decided to send the same saccharine fluff everyone else was sending, and guess what, it paid off majorly, because this song was a huge hit at the time. Something about that kind of bothers me, like, out of all the entries they sent, it’s the one that’s the most “Eurovision-y” that ended up winning. And there’s something depressing in that.

Is this my personal winner for this year? No

If no, what is? United Kingdom- Bardo- “One Step Further”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 50th

1983: Si la vie est Cadeau

Country: Luxembourg

Artist: Corinne Hermés

Language: French (Translation: “If life were a gift”)

Thoughts: You want a tip on how to stand out amongst Eurovision fans? Say you like this song. Probably won’t make you very popular, but you’ll stand out at least. I will confess, I, too, was part of the hate-wagon for this song. Like most fans I knew, I’d complain about how boring and uninteresting it was and how it, ahem, “robbed” so many other entries, and how basic it was, et cetera, et cetera. But… honestly? It’s not even that bad. Sure I had other favourites from 1983 (the ones I could stand watching anyway, the host that year was so unimaginably terrible I gave up watching halfway through. I DARE you to watch the whole thing without wanting to neck yourself), but this song gets way more hate than it deserves. I honestly don’t think this song is half as bad as I made it out to be myself, or as bad as the fandom makes it out to be. It’s got a decent melody, some solid vocals, some appealingly 80s instrumental, like there’s a lot I like here. …Until you read the lyrics and realise they’re almost as half-assed and lazy as All Kinds of Everything’s, but I digress. Did I prefer other songs from that year? Of course. Am I going to complain about this one winning? Nah. It’s alright. 

Is this my personal winner for this year? No

If no, what is? Sweden- Carola Häggkvist- “Främling”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 41st

1984- Diggiloo, Diggiley

Country: Sweden

Artist: Herreys

Language: Swedish

Thoughts: Whenever I was a younger fan I used to describe this song as being drunk-dad-at-a-wedding-music performed by three sentient Ken dolls, and I still stand by that statement. And I don’t really know how else to describe this one. It certainly has its charm, and it’s still a likeable song, but it also feels very… vapid. Like if this song were a person, they’d be a bit of a bimbo. And I mean, the song’s about how the singer’s oh-so-happy and prancing down the street in his brand new shoes, so that’s probably a fair description. Part of me wonders if that’s down to old Eurovision songs being vapid in general or if it’s down to the schlager genre itself requiring songs to be kinda neutered and happy-go-lucky, but even though I do like this song, it does come off as being a bit bland. A bit by-the-numbers and playing-it-safe. And I don’t mind songs like that, but I’d rather they didn’t win, y’know?

Is this my personal winner for this year? Not really

If no, what is? Italy- Alice & Franco- “Il Treni di Tozeur”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 15th

1985- La det Swinge

Country: Norway

Artist: Bobbysocks

Language: Norwegian

Thoughts: Ah yes, the song which finally hauled Norway into first place after years of being a regular last-placer. Maybe the UK should take some notes instead of blaming Brexit. Or Russia. Or Iraq. Or anything other than their own apathy, for that matter. But this is about La det Swinge and not the UK, so what are my thoughts on it? Well it’s… It’s the kind of song I imagine my mom and aunt would sing at a wedding if they ever attended one. It’s a very fun song, a little cheesy, sure, but it’s hard to not like a song that’s this upbeat and cheery.  And yeah I know it’s because it’s schlager and that’s generally a really cheerful genre by default, I touched on that in the review above, 

Is this my personal winner for this year? This or Israel

If no, what is? Israel- Yizhar Cohen- “Olé Olé”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 14th

1986- J’aime la Vie

Country: Belgium

Artist: Sandra Kim

Language: French

Thoughts: This song is an enigma because I’m an absolute slut for 80s pop, yet, for some reason, I find this song painfully average and uninteresting. Now, I’ll get it off my chest and say that 1986 was also a painfully average and uninteresting year, and most of the time I just felt myself remembering the singer more than the song, and even then I struggle to remember what some of the acts even were. It was just such a boring blur of a year I’m surprised the juries even managed to stay awake to pick a winner. And I GUESS you could argue that this song is so upbeat and peppy that it woke them up, but that doesn’t excuse how bloody generic it is. Like, this is the most generic 80s song you can imagine, and not in a good way. It feels more like stock music than an actual publicly released pop song. Had it not won, I doubt it would’ve stood out to me at all; it would’ve just faded into the background with all the other muted, 80s-coloured mush from this year. Basically, there’s a reason the singer’s age is the only thing noteworthy about this song.

Is this my personal winner for this year? Not really

If no, what is? Luxembourg- Sherisse Laurence- “L’amour de ma vie”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 49th

1987- Hold me Now

Country: Ireland

Artist: Johnny Logan 

Language: English

Thoughts: Ah yes, the superior Johnny Logan winner.  And I’m not sure why everyone forgets this one because Mother of Mercy this song is in another league entirely compared to the other schlock Ireland’s won with. Like this is their best winner, no competition. One of their best songs overall as well. One of the best entries from the 80s, one of the best winners of the 80s, one of the best winners… Yeah, I really like this song.  I’ll admit to sleeping on this one for too long myself, always dismissing it as some boring Irish ballad to go with all the other boring Irish ballads they somehow managed to win with (we’ll get to that later), and always agreeing with people who said XYZ country (always Yugolslavia) should have won instead.  Basically I learnt the hard way to never judge a song on its country and genre. But one day I found myself in the midst of a revisiting trip, going back to winners I didn't pay much attention to, just to see if there was anything I’d missed the first time round. And something about the lyrics in this song resonated with me a lot more than I thought they would. In a strange way, it made me feel older; like I’d grown up and was able to relate to the words in a song and appreciate it more than I could when I was younger. The line “what do you say when words are not enough?” especially hits harder than it should; as someone with autism I tend to find showing emotions difficult, even in virtual conversation where I’m not using my voice or face, because… Well, what do you say when your words aren’t enough?

Is this my personal winner for this year? Yes

If no, what is? N/A

Personal ranking (out of 67): 2nd

1988- Ne Partez pas Sans Moi

Country: Switzerland 

Artist: Céline Dion 

Language: French

Thoughts: Telling people Céline Dion won this thing is a new favourite hobby of mine, just to see the confused reaction. And that’s the most interesting thing about this song because it’s… fine, I guess? It’s a perfectly serviceable 80s power ballad, but there’s no bells and whistles to make me sit up and declare it any better than just “okay”. It’s basically the ballad equivalent of J’aime la Vie from 1986, in that it’s extremely 80s and also in French, but there’s nothing to make it that memorable aside from the singer herself. And even then this isn’t the song that made her famous anyway. Even her singing doesn't make this one stand out, partially because the song doesn't do anything special with it, and partially because she just blends in with all the other good singers of this era. And that’s kinda sad to think about.

Is this my personal winner for this year? Hmmm....

If no, what is? Greece- Afroditi Frida- “Clown”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 22nd

1989- Rock Me

Country: Yugoslavia

Artist: Riva

Language: Croatian

Thoughts: So this is another song it really took me a while to get into (there’s lots of those, trust me) and one that was very briefly in my top three overall favourites. It’s slid down a few slots since then, though I would still say it’s… Somewhere in the top 15.  I don’t really have a lot to say about this one, if I’m honest. It’s just a good, fun, solid song which stood out in a very dull and ballad-saturated year, nothing more, nothing less. The lyrics are nice too, being about a bored musician who learns to love music again by teaching himself how to play pop songs to entertain his friends. That’s a unique subject and I can imagine it resonating with a lot of people who’ve fallen out with a hobby they used to love because they took it too seriously (providing they either speak Croatian or have looked up the lyrics, of course). I mean, it resonates with me at least. All in all, I just like this song for its message more than anything else.

Is this my personal winner for this year? No

If no, what is? Portugal- Da Vinci- “Conquistador”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 9th

[benditlikepress]

hebrew 101

not the fic I’m working on but something else that attacked me after seeing @wanna-be-bold 's post

please donate to a foodbank if schools are closed in your part of the world :)

 “Do you think it’s ready to dry?”

“I think so!”

“OK, let’s move it to the window. Be very careful.”

Ziva placed a hand under the piece of paper as Tali carried it slowly from the table over to the windowsill.

“When will it be dry?”

“Hopefully we can hang it up before dinner tonight. It looks really good.”

“Can we go outside too?”

“We can ask daddy when he gets back, maybe we should go for a walk this afternoon. Hey,” Ziva bent down towards Tali and put her hands around her face. “I know it is hard, Tali. But we just have to make as much fun in here as we can. And then tonight we can go on Skype again on the computer and see if anyone is around to hang out for a little while.”

Ziva kissed Tali’s forehead and guided her back to the breakfast bar. She hopped onto her seat and immediately went back to the colouring she had left there that morning.

It wasn’t too long before Ziva heard a key in the lock and went to the front door to help Tony carry the grocery bags inside. He was wearing a harassed expression.

“Here, lemme go wash my hands.”

He placed the last of the bags in the doorway and stepped past Ziva towards the kitchen sink. He gave Tali a no-hands kiss on the head as he walked past her.

“How was it?”

“Um, kinda felt like I was in one of McGee’s computer games.”

“Did you manage to get everything?”

“Mostly. And I got some beer for the emotional distress.” He turned off the taps and wiped his hands on a towel. “Clean. Come here.”

Ziva walked over to Tony and wrapped her arms around his neck as he kissed her slowly.

“Sorry I cannot do my share.”

Perhaps ironically, Ziva had been struggling with the heavy police and military presence on the streets. The congestion inside shops when she had last been in one had been too much, and when she had got home with her heart racing Tony had declared that he’d buy supplies for the foreseeable.

“I wouldn’t let you out there, anyway.”

“You think you could stop me?”

“Try me.”

“Hm, that is a dangerous game.” Ziva kissed him again and tapped him on the cheek to dismiss him. “Sit down. I will make lunch.”

“How was class this morning, Tali?”

“Good. We did art.”

“What’d you make?” Tali jumped off her chair to stand by the painting she’d made. “Woah, you did that?! No way.”

“I swear!”

“You swear? Wow, Tali, it’s awesome.”

They ate lunch on the floor in the living area, on the picnic blanket that had been there since Thursday. They’d tried to vary where they ate to inject some kind of fun into the activity, and though Tali seemed to be enjoying it Ziva saw the way Tony had been rubbing his back last night. The offer of a massage had only increased theatrics.

Once they finished eating they stayed on the floor for a while, talking and playing games with Tali’s tablet. Tony was the first to check his watch.

“OK, back to school for us. What do we have this afternoon, Tali?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Oh, I think you do. Why don’t you check the chart on the fridge?”

Class work had got repetitive quickly, and Tony and Ziva had been trying to get creative. While he’d been out, Ziva had pulled the chalkboard out of Tali’s room into the living area and placed it in front of the dining table. She’d placed two chairs facing towards it and littered the table with papers and felt tips.

Tali stood up and went into the kitchen to look at the timetable they’d drawn up, crossed out, and rewritten five times over already. She came bounding back into the room quickly.

“Ima, it’s your turn!”

“I think you two should go and sit down then.”

Tony used the sofa as an aid to get back to his feet and followed Tali to the two seats at the dining table. Tali gathered a pile of the felt tips and placed them in front of her, swinging her legs under the table.

Ziva stood at the opposite side of the table and looked them both in the eye sternly before picking up a blue piece of chalk and writing her name on the chalkboard, first in English and then in Hebrew.

“Hello class, and welcome to Hebrew 101. My name is Miss David and I will be your teacher this semester. Now, has everyone done the required reading?”

Ziva thought about last night, the three of them huddled in Tali’s bed with her sat in the middle so she could read a Hebrew children’s book and have them follow the words.

Tony and Tali both nodded eagerly.

“Good. So we can begin. Now, can anyone tell me where in the world they speak Hebrew?”

“Israel!” Tali responded with a raised hand.

“Very good, Tali. Well done. And how- excuse me, Anthony. Is there something you want to share with the class?”

Tony looked up with a deer-in-the-headlights expression, leant in towards Tali.

“Um, excuse me, Miss David. I haven’t got a pen.”

“I see. And is there a reason you are unprepared for my class?”

“I didn’t want to be late for my favourite teacher.”

Ziva rolled her eyes. “Flattery will get you nowhere. Tali, can you please lend him one of your pens?”

“Here, daddy.”

“Thank you sweetheart.” Tony stage-whispered, giving her a kiss while Ziva watched them with a fake frown.

“Right, now everyone has their equipment. The first thing I would like for you all to do today is have a look at this worksheet I’m going to put in front of you. There’s some pictures of animals on one side and some animal names in Hebrew on the other. What I would like for you to do is try and match the names to the right animals. OK?”

Ziva gave each of them a worksheet and went to get herself a glass of water. When she got back, Tony was looking obviously at Tali’s worksheet, and Tali was using her arm to try and block her answers.

“What is going on here?”

“Oh – I was just checking my answers with Tali’s. Making sure we’re on the same page.”

“Your worksheet is empty.”

“Yeah, but I’ve got them all up here.” Tony tapped his forehead. “See this one? That’s a dog. Kelev.” He winked at Tali.

“How about this?” Ziva pointed at a horse, while looking him in the eye.

“That? That I don’t know. But I’m ready to learn.”

“Make sure you pay attention in future.”

“You got it. I won’t look away for one second.”

Ziva watched as he cocked one eyebrow a little. She bit back a smile. “Really, Anthony, that mouth of yours is going to get you into trouble one day. See me after class.”

“Looking forward to it.”

[softbiker]

Steve Rogers Oneshot

Warnings: some strong language, mention of super soldier butts

Word Count: 2.7k

Summary: Steve Rogers takes a coffee break. It’s good to try new things.

A/N: This is a continuation of Extra Whip - so I recommend reading that first in order to be familiar with who the reader is! It takes place in the same universe as @kentuckybarnes​ Agent 28 and @nacho-bucky​ Agent 41, with permission from both :) At the moment, my plan for these two is a series of one shots; connected by characters and certain events, but not a strong overarching plot. Let’s keep it fun okay? (Can’t believe I’m posting this before I’ve had my coffee but hey, I’m excited). Enjoy! 

A month goes by.

In missions, gunpowder grit beneath his fingernails; in Stark Foundation fundraisers, his bowtie digging too tight at his neck; in karaoke nights - and avoiding karaoke nights, sneaking up to the roof with Bucky for a smoke. Somehow the habit crept back in, between the two of them.  Deeper than muscle, it’s a bone memory - shoulders pressed together on a fire escape, nostalgic for nicotine and other things that won’t roll into cigarette papers. No one knows about their little habit, except for maybe Nat - who cares less about their upstanding reputations than everyone else, and she’ll even share a pack every once in a while. Steve marvels at cigarettes now, the way he marvels at everything that should’ve killed him before he became a miracle. 

So February passes. He eases up on Health Food Reform, satisfied that the good habits seem to mostly stick. 41 continues to slurp on her spinach milkshakes during briefings, and it brings out his big brother smile every time. Every time he wonders who might have made it for her. 

March blusters in with excessive force, with the wind whipping storms on every front and a crisis on every continent. For the first two weeks of the month, Steve doesn’t set foot at the compound, shuffling between safe houses and sleeping on the quinjet, his neck aching in complaint. The team forgoes their long-anticipated weekend retreat to Tony’s cabin in Aspen in favor of a terror attack in Johannesburg. 

“Man, I was not made for this kind of heat,” Sam mutters, tugging at the harnesses of his uniform as sweat streams down his neck and into his shirt. 

“You would’ve been in the hot tub in Aspen, anyway,” Clint teases, taking stock of his quiver, his words slurred by the bubblegum in his mouth.

“Yeah, with a couple of snow bunnies, that’s for damn sure,” Sam bites back, shoving his goggles into a side pocket on his tac pants. 

“Focus, Sam,” Steve sighs over the comm. He’s got eyes on them - opposite rooftop, approximately 100 feet above the epicenter of the chaos. “The sooner we wrap this up, the sooner you can sit in a jacuzzi with your rabbits.” 

Tony’s laughter over the comm line is so loud, Nat has to remove her earpiece for a full minute. 

“What?” Steve turns to Nat, bewildered. She’s got a white streak of dust in her hair. “What? What did I say?” 

She just shakes her head, taming the curl of her lips with a click of her tongue.

“Nobody tell him,” Tony insists, his voice still a wheeze. “Jesus, I am gonna hold onto that for weeks. That’s going in the digital scrapbook - F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

“Already saved the audio file, boss.”

Steve just hangs his head, resigned. No chance of living that one down. 

Hours later, they pile into the quinjet in beleaguered pairs, Clint propped on Sam’s arm, 28 with Natasha - both dusty and bruised but no major injuries, followed by Wanda and 41, with Tony bringing up the rear. Steve takes stock with a keen gaze as they trudge up the ramp into the jet, Buck slouched in the seat beside him, his flesh fingers blackened with gunpowder. More than 10 hours on the ground, with thousands of safe civilian lives to show for it - but no arrests had been made, no suspects found, no bad guys to put away. Not today. A stalemate, which Steve hates. He loathes the ambiguity, the loose ends of this job, the way the world can just never stay safe. 

A knee jostles against his own, and he looks over at Bucky; he’s got one eye cracked open, narrow window on a sky blue gaze peering back at Steve. 

“You good, Rogers?” he mutters, lazily rolling his jaw. 

“Me? Yeah, Buck, I’m fine.”

“Uh huh. Well quit grindin’ your teeth like that.” Bucky sighs and lets his eyes slip closed again. “The one thing your ma never had to fix, those damn perfect teeth.”

It draws a dull, tired smile, just like he intended, and Steve elbows Bucky in the ribs - the two of them exchanging a couple of tired blows, before settling into their seats, pressed against each other shoulder to knee, like they’re still trying to fit in a foxhole. Steve takes a little of Bucky’s weight as he leans over to let 28 pass them and settle into a seat across the aisle, buckling herself in and sending a tired smile their way. 

He accepts a Starkpad from Tony as he passes by on his way to the cockpit. A swipe of the screen reveals a face - a white man, late 40’s, dark hair with white streaks at the front. Nothing noticeable about him otherwise. Beneath the face is a name: Israel Hayes. He stands and stalks his way up the aisle of the jet, careful not to disturb any of his sleeping teammates as he follows Tony. The Iron Man suit dissolving back into the nanite housing unit on his chest, Tony is left only in a soft black shirt and pants - he looks vulnerable, small, when Steve leans into the cockpit, his shoulders crowding the space. 

“This our guy?”

“Seems like it. F.R.I.D.A.Y. cross-referenced his known aliases with similar activities in Europe and Asia - but he’s good. Never shown his face good.”

“Not even on CCTV?” Steve quirks a brow.

Tony shakes his head, lips pursed. “Nope. My guess? He’s got some kind of algorithm like the one SHIELD instituted for our agents in the backseat. You know how we never know what a SHIELD agent looks like?” He gestures towards the passengers with his thumb and Steve nods. “Same thing. As soon as his face is captured on a camera, his server finds it and scrubs it clean.”

“That possible? For someone who’s not SHIELD?”

“If he’s got the connections it seems like he has? Then yeah.” Tony huffs out a breath. “Not that I’m worried - F.R.I.D.A.Y. has found smaller needles in bigger haystacks.” 

Steve just nods, staring at the man’s picture on the tablet in his hands. 

He stares at that tablet for days - at briefings, at the picture, at news headlines, at the picture, at a Buzzfeed article comparing his butt with Sam’s and Bucky’s (sent in a text attachment by Sam, accompanied only by the peach emoji), and once more at the picture. 

He stares at it till he sees the man’s face behind his eyelids, till he could sketch it on a napkin without looking. And he does, actually, by accident - in the margins of his notes during a security briefing with Fury, he glances down to find his fingers tracing the deep set of the man’s eyes, the dark shadow of his brows. Algorithm or no, he won’t be able to hide forever. 

It’s the algorithm he’s thinking of as he continues to take his notes in the meeting, the sketch staring up at him in stark blue pen; there’s another face he wanted to look for, more than once he’d decide to search the SHIELD records, before changing his mind - just opening his browser and poising his fingers to start the search has him feeling like a damn creep. Like the internet stalker in that show Wanda was obsessed with. His ma raised a gentleman - there’s no way he was gonna be that guy.

The next morning, Sam begs off on their run, and Bucky is mysteriously absent from his room when Steve knocks, so he goes for his run alone. It’s not so bad - he’s got a fancy pair of headphones that Tony made last Christmas, and he loves watching the sunrise over the city. He even turns and crosses the bridge into Brooklyn, making a lap through Prospect Park before looping back towards Manhattan. Not so bad. Good, even. Really, really good. 

He slows down and stretches in front of the tower, propping his legs up on the bench out front and massaging his calves. There’s a little bit of a burn, but it melts at the pressure of his fingers, and the pleasant kind of soreness settles in. The kind he’s enjoyed and lived in since his body became sturdy and strong and decidedly anti-fragile - he’ll never say it out loud, but he still gets a little thrill when he manages to break a bone or dislocate a shoulder, goosebumps of pain shooting down his spine as he pops them back into place with a grunt of satisfaction. 

Hand hovering over the biometric scanner, he’s about to go back inside, take the elevator up to his room and hit the showers, when he sees someone at the crosswalk just a block down. 

Pink hoodie - huge, practically a dress - with a denim jacket tugged over it, bare legs trailing down into white combat boots, a backpack slung over one shoulder. She spares little more than a glance at the cars along the street before striding forward, nose turned up and arms crossed in a way that’s so New York it makes him do a double take. That early morning pout, tired eyes, like she’s not totally awake yet. Her steps firm and determined in those heavy boots, she makes a beeline for the green siren across the street, never once glancing his direction. 

It’s the first glimpse he’s had of her in a month. 

Not for lack of trying, but have you seen his schedule? He’s barely been stateside at all for nearly 3 weeks. Not to mention that one of Tony’s interns is always eager to volunteer for a coffee run, and he’s not sure what he would say, a good reason for him to insist to go by himself. 

With a glance at his phone - not due for a meeting for 3 more hours - he takes a deep breath and marches down the street, hands in his pockets, shoulders tucked. Less threatening to the passersby, who notice him, but say nothing. They’re in his neighborhood after all. 

A bell chimes above the door when he walks in, and the same “Welcome to Starbucks!” greets him, but he’s only half-listening as he scans the cafe. She’s at the register, chatting with the barista there who hands her a steaming white mug. 

“Ugh, thanks Chase, you’re a lifesaver,” she sighs, taking a sip. 

“Hey, it’s all part of the job,” the barista jokes back, adjusting the cap on his head. He’s noticed Steve hovering 3 feet back, waiting his turn, and his eyes switch between Steve and the girl in front of him rapidly. 

Their conversation ends, and the girl - the agent - takes her coffee to sit at a small table by herself, close to the windows, far enough back in a corner that she has a view of the whole cafe. Which she scans now as she sits, noting the two regulars in the opposite corner enjoying their customary flat whites, and…Captain America.

Interesting. 

She waits - he knows she’s waiting when he approaches the table, and she pretends not to know that he’s walking directly towards her, nose still tucked down towards her book, one hand poised at the handle of her coffee mug. 

He clears his throat. 

“Good morning,” she smiles when she looks up, the light from the window back-lighting her eyes, and the glow stuns him. “Haven’t seen you around for a while.”

“Haven’t been around,” he shrugs. Are his cheeks hot? He gestures towards the chair across from her. “You mind if I sit?”

“Not at all,” she shakes her head. He slides into the seat and she replaces her bookmark, setting the book aside. Valley of the Dolls. He’s not familiar. 

“Here for your morning Cappuccino?” She quirks her eyebrows as her smile stretches, just shy of goofy. Quite proud of herself. 

“Ha ha. Never been a big fan.”

“No?”

He shakes his head. “First thing in the morning? I like a dark roast. Something to really wake you up, you know?”

“Hm,” she muses. “Sure, I understand.” 

“What about you?” 

“Me?” 

“Your coffee, I mean. You, uh…like coffee?” Smooth, Rogers.

“Oh, yeah. Love coffee.” There’s a laugh behind her smile, and he wishes she wouldn’t hold it back. “Here lately, I’ve had a thing for tall blondes.”

The flush on his cheeks inches down his neck.

“Huh?”

“Tall blonde Americano to be specific - you should try the blonde espresso, it’s really good.” She takes a sip of hers, hiding her dimple behind the mug. “And I always add an extra shot. I like ‘em strong.” 

God, even his ears are red, he knows it. The hell did he think he was gonna do when he came in here anyway, sweep her off her feet? He’s never been that good with dames, not even-

“I’m only joking-” she cracks up a little, giggling. “Sorry, the opportunity was too good, I just couldn’t resist.”

He sighs in relief, offers an embarrassed smile, and manages to relax a little in his chair. 

“So…why are you here? Really?” she lifts an eyebrow, leaning one elbow on the table. 

“Well…” and here it is, here goes nothing. “I thought - that is, I wondered, um, if you…might want to…get to know each other a little better.” Ouch. Thank God Bucky is nowhere near here. 

“Get to know each other?” 

“Yeah. Just, I mean, as friends.” 

“Huh.” 

Steve’s smile is sheepish, but it’s the one that always worked on his mother, and it seems to work on her. He can see the suspicion melt from her eyes, the interested quirk of her mouth as her fingers tap against the table. 

“I’m flattered and all, really, but you should know that virtually everything you could want to ask me about…my past, my qualifications, my education, my current assignment-” she lifts her hands in a helpless gesture. “It’s all classified. Probably above even your clearance.” 

“Classified?”

“There’s a reason why we never met, Captain.” He takes comfort in the fact that her smile is a little rueful. 

“Oh.” He sits back in his chair, a thoughtful frown on his lips. Looks out the window at passing traffic as he thinks. 

“Alright, then - how about a recommendation?” he turns back to her, eyes lit with curious confidence that catches her off guard. 

“A recommendation?” she repeats, bemused. 

“Coffee,” he grins, like it’s obvious, a wry quirk to his brows. 

“Coffee,” she echoes again, chewing her lip as she returns his smile. 

“Yeah - I always get the same thing,” he shrugs, eyes dancing. “Figured maybe I should branch out.”

Something she can tell him. Something they can share. 

A quick glance at her watch - 20 minutes before she has to clock in. 

“Alright then.” She stands from her seat, cracking her knuckles. “You wait here - I’m gonna pop behind the bar and make you something.”

He watches as she crosses the cafe, rounds the bar and gets to work whipping up…something. The steamer hisses as the milk is foamed, espresso grinding, and he can see her reach for some kind of syrup to pump into the cup. It only takes a minute or so before she’s done, returning with the cup presented triumphantly to him. The name “Cap” is scrawled on the front of the cup. 

“What is it?” 

“Just taste it first.”

The burst of caramel sweetness on his tongue nearly makes him gag - it’s a lot, whatever this drink is. It’s practically a dessert. Not bad, but he’s not sure how anyone could drink this in the morning. When he says so, she laughs out loud, head tipping back and mouth wide open. 

“I make those for 41 all the time,” she grins. “It’s not an official menu drink - I invented it for her.”

“Yeah I can see this being her drink.” 

“Oh, and when you go back to the tower, will you take her these?” She hands him a pastry bag. “I know they’re her favorite, and we had some that were about to expire.

He glances in the bag - two cookie dough cake pops and one birthday cake.

“I guess it’s not just Clint that spoils her, huh?” 

Across the table, she just smiles and shrugs. 

“I’m just here to make coffee.”

He takes another sip of the sugary concoction. 

“Sure.” 

[dailyaudiobible]

04/19/2021 DAB Transcript

Joshua 19:1-20:9, Luke 19:28-48, Psalms 88:1-18, Proverbs 13:12-14

Today is the 19th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I'm Brian it is a joy and a privilege and an honor every day to come around this Global Campfire together, take the next step forward and move our way into and through all of the weeks that we get to share. And, so, let's dive in. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. We’re in the book of Joshua and as I mentioned…I think it was yesterday…we’ll be concluding the book of Joshua during this week. Right now, in the book of Joshua the…the different allotments of land are being divided up for the tribes of Israel to live in, in this land of promise. So, we continue that story. Joshua chapters 19 and 20.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the gospel of Luke, Jesus is making His…well…His final journey to Jerusalem where He will be arrested and we…we kinda know how this story will go in general. And once again, I remind us that we come through this territory and then we move beyond the Gospels and we move beyond this territory and what comes next. And, so, it's really important while we’re walking alongside Jesus that we really embrace…really embraces as much of it as we can. So, today something really, really sad, really sad, actually there’s a place that commemorates this…this spot. So, Jesus has walked from the Galilee down into the Jordan Valley where it's…it's…it's…it's downhill. And, so, it's flat there and they can kind of move around a little easier. It’s a more direct path that ends up in Jericho. And then from Jericho, because they’ve moving south, from Jericho they have to than turn eastward and upward. So, it's an 18- mile climb from Jericho to Jerusalem, and it's all uphill the whole way. So, Jerusalem sits at the high points. So, you can only…you can only go up to Jerusalem, which is why you hear that in the Scriptures and why…why you may have heard that in the past, up to Jerusalem. For example, even in the…in the Psalms, there are the Psalms of Ascent the Psalms, the songs that will be sung on the way uphill up to Jerusalem. So, this is a totally uphill, pretty treacherous walk that Jesus has to take, and the pathway is essentially following the Kedron Valley. And the Kedron valley is in the Bible. So, it's a geographical landmark that runs right through Jerusalem actually separating the Mount of Olives from like Mount Zion or where the temple was or where the Temple Mount is out today. And, so, the Mount of Olives is a pretty big hill and runs along and their villages on etc. etc. And, so, we see Jesus passing through some of those villages and getting this colt. And as it's told in the gospel of Luke once they crest the Mount of Olives and begin to come down the downward side, into Jerusalem Jesus starts to cry and it's really really sad. There is a place. You can walk down the Mount of olives kind of following the ancient road. It doesn’t look anything like an ancient road now. It looks on one side like a massive, massive graveyard where people are buried awaiting resurrection and just different compounds that are on the Mount of Olives while you walk your way down. And there's a place called Dominus Flevit, which is Latin, which means “the Lord wept.” And there’s a Byzantine chapel there. I belie a crusader era, small little chapel there. But from there you can look down upon the Temple Mount and you sort of can see what that view would’ve been like. That would’ve been the quintessential view of looking out over Jerusalem and kind of cresting Mount of Olives and seeing the temple of God there. And Jesus begins to weep. He says, “how I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace, but now it's too late. Peace is hidden from your eyes.” And then He goes on to talk about how it would all get tore down. Here's…here's the situation. We’re in the book of Joshua now in the Old Testament, right? So, we've gone through the Torah, the formation of a people set apart to be a nation of priests to bless the whole world and we've gone through their struggles and how quickly and how often they lose sight of their purpose of the main story, right, and get lost in the subplots of their own lives and where that leads them and how we had a wander in the wilderness because the wilderness journey, this…the message of the wilderness hadn't been learned. And, so, now we get to cross the Jordan River and seen the conquest and now the division of the land and the assignment of the land to the people. These are the set a…set apart ones, the chosen people. And their capital city, as we will read from the time of King David, forward will be Jerusalem. The very first temple, like the very first permanent temple, not a Tabernacle that's portable and moving around, but a permanent fixture, a building is in Jerusalem, the temple of God, the place where the people come to commune with God, the place where they believe communication happens between God and people. So, Jesus who is God incarnate, right, who was incarnated into human flesh and dwelt among us as one of us participating in the human story and in the human condition, God with human eyes crests the Mount of Olives and this place, this…this what He…what He sees is His temple, the temple made for the worship and communion with God among the people set aside and set apart as holy to be a nation of priests to remind the world who God is. God's cresting the Mount of Olives and looking down on the entire enterprise and God begins to weep about it. Like, that’s the magnitude of what we’re seeing here. “How I wish that you of all people would understand the way to peace”, right? So, here's God who’s walked through all of the things we’re reading about in the Torah and in Joshua and everything else that we’re going to read for the rest of this year in the Old Testament. This same God who is the lead these people is about to be killed by His own people, His own creation. His own creation will reject Him on religious grounds. So, He's crying about it. It’s sad and He speaks prophetically. “Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. They will crush you into the ground and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place because you did not recognize it when God visited you.” Ah…and the thing is, we’ve talked many times about what…what the Hebrew people of the first century were looking for when they were thinking about a coming Messiah. They were looking for a righteous anointed one certainly, one that would communicate the ways of the Lord and bring people together with the intention of revolt, of cleansing the land of the Romans, and everyone else and restoring it back to God. And Jesus, God in flesh came saying. “the kingdom that you're looking for isn't coming at all. The kingdom of God is already here already among you already within you already underway. Do you not see it? Can you not perceive it? Do not have eyes to see? Do you not have ears to hear?” And they just couldn't get on board with that. That's not what the Messiah's gonna do. The Messiah’s gonna…gonna overthrow Rome and this Jesus, He might get a mob together but it's only gonna get us in trouble. And, so, we know how the story goes. Jesus was betrayed, Jesus was crucified, they thought they had gotten rid of Him. So, a little bit later, like within the next 50 years-ish from this moment where Jesus crests the Mount of Olives and weeps they decide they have their Messiah. They decide to rise up and revolt. They all do get together and…and…and do revolt against Rome and they do take over for a brief period of time of a couple of years. And this is interspersed in the story of the great fortress, the great Herodian fortress Masada, where this rebellion at least traditionally is understood to have ended because although they did take over and although they did mint their own coins and although they did have some autonomy there for a couple of years, Rome the Empire, basically got the forces of the Empire together and sailed for Jerusalem and when they got there they were merciless and they destroyed Jerusalem utterly, tearing down the temple of God, destroying Jerusalem completely and forbidding Hebrew people to even enter the ruins of the city. And then they rebuilt it and then let Jews go in. So, Jesus is crying about what's gonna happen and He's crying about how it didn't have to happen. And I mean this helps us enter the story greatly, to just see the emotion of God, God who came for us, God among us, God with us, Emmanuelle being rejected. Also gives us an opportunity to think about how many times we decided by force by own will and strength we’re going to make God's will happen, that we’re just going to jump out here because we know what's supposed to happen and we’re gonna go make that happen when it's not, when God's not in it as was the case in the story that we are in and the gospel of Luke.

Prayer:

Jesus, we invite you into this. We enter into this story again. It…it tears our hearts to think of you standing there weeping, weeping over what might've been, what could have been. But it was too late and we have to wonder in our own lives, how many times that you’ve been a gentleman and patiently waited and watched us and what could have been if we hadn't gone our own way. And, so, forgive us Lord. We repent, we return to you and ask Holy Spirit to continue to illuminate the narrow path that leads to life that we might walk it pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning DABber family this is the Burning Bush that will not be Devoured for the Glory of our God and our King. Today I listened to the reading from proverbs speaking of the sluggard who desires but doesn't get what he desires because he's lazy. And…and then it speaks of the diligent who gets abundance just due the hard work. And I know this sounds like something so simple and it's like…dah… right? But I am struggling in certain areas of my life, certain things, certain projects, personal projects that have been placed on the back burner of my life. Dreams deferred, you know, due to, some barriers that were thrown in my way in life in general. And not to get too too deep into this but when I heard that it really hit hard. And, so, I just want to share this with you guys. It is a prayer request but it's also sort of encouragement, that, you know, some of us have had some traumas in life that has caused us to be discouraged and caused us to forsake some projects and plans and ambitious desires in our lives. And I just want to say to all of us that dreams deferred make the heart sick but be encouraged because the Lord who has started a good thing in us, He is faithful to complete it. He is faithful to complete it. And I pray that God will remind me of this every single morning that I wake, that I am a word of God…

Morning everybody. It's God's Smile here. It's a lovely still day outside. There's some lovely clouds and the sky is a nice pale blue. I've got some tomato plants growing on my windowsill. There absolutely wonderful to watch them grow. They’re growing so fast. You know, they’re growing 10 millimeters each day. How awesome is that? I'll soon be able to put them out. But my dad was a farmer and he used to say never doubt when May is out and especially here in England. We can get snow in May even, which it doesn't usually last very long but still it's enough to kill off the seedlings isn't it? So, I just wanted to thank everybody who rings in with encouragement and prayer, what's on their heart, and singing songs. I get ministered to so often. Sometimes it's just one word and other times it's just everything that that person was saying. I can see in the…in my mind's eye and God does something beautiful doesn’t He? I'm sure you guys will experience that too. What a wonderful bloody ministry we have to reach each other and pray for someone else and that knock on effect touches so many in our obedience to love and care and pray for someone. I’m just…I'm just so thankful. I'm thankful to be sat up in the morning again because it's been a bit tough of late. I was starting to get up a couple mornings a week and that fell by the wayside. Time's ticking. I've been rappiting on, haven’t I? I'm going to send my love. This is God’s Smile here with a big yes.

Hi, it's Donna from California and just finished Wednesday night Bible study and prayer group and got some very shocking news. A lady at our church, we have a small church, took her life and left behind her husband and her 12-year-old, I think she's about 12-year-old, her daughter. And I am…I'm just absolutely in shock. I…I can't even imagine this person doing that. And I know that there's been prayer requests lately in our community concerning people who have loved ones who’ve taken their lives and people who are maybe pondering that as well as...and I…I just…I…I really don't know…I…I don't know what to say about it. I…I pray. Please join me in prayer for this family for this grieving husband and their…their daughter and our church. I didn't know her that well. I just know that she was a bright, beautiful, vibrant woman with a strong faith. And it's leaving a void in my heart. So, I can only imagine what it must be for her husband and her daughter. I'm…I'm just so sorry. I didn't know. I didn't know what kind of pain she must have been in.

[singing starts] Beloved let us love one another for love is of God and everyone I loveth is born of God and knoweth God he loveth not knoweth not God for God is love beloved let us love one another. First John 4:7 and 8 [singing stops]. O, Brian what a wonderful sermon this morning. That is so true. The Kingdom of God is within us. We've got to let his love out. We gotta live his love show. Father I just worship you this morning. Bless your people today. Let us show love amongst ourselves and everywhere we go let our light so shine before men that they see our good works and glorify you. O, Yeshua is within us people. Let us love one another. Everyone that we come in contact with is our neighbor. What a wonderful thing this morning Brian. That was so wonderful. It touched my heart so much. Thank You, Father. Thank You Yeshua. Have a wonderful day fellow DABbers. I love you and I pray for all of you everywhere. Yeshua’s mighty name. Amen.

Hey DABbers, all around the world this is Sam from Spain and I'm just so thankful and so grateful for your prayers and walking together through the wonderful stories of the Bible. And I am praising God for all the men that have been praying for their wives who I am joining you in praying for your wives. I think it's so encouraging, the number of men that ask for prayers for their wives. And thank you. It's wonderful. Bless each and every one of them and Lord strengthen the spiritual forces of each of those husbands Lord so they can continue loving and interceding for their wives in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

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Oil Surges Amid No Ceasefire, Biden Plans Nuclear Expansion Brent Oil Bounces Back Amid Regional Tensions, but What Lies Beneath? Is Crude Oil Looking Like the Shoes You Ordered Online? You know, those shoes you ordered in your regular size only to realize they're either squeezing your toes or slipping off like a toddler in oversized boots? That’s what crude oil’s current rally feels like—uncertain and possibly deceptive. After Israel’s Defense Minister Katz firmly dismissed the possibility of a ceasefire with Hezbollah, oil prices showed an upward drift. Brent is hovering towards the top of its range at USD 71.55-72.36/bbl, but don't be fooled, traders. Market moves like this often contain more mystery than clarity. What's the Catalyst Here? Let’s break it down without the hype. While tensions escalating in the Middle East have injected a bullish undertone into Brent crude, there’s a hidden layer at play—market sentiment is often dictated by emotion, and boy, emotions are running high. This rally isn’t exactly a sign that the fundamentals are favoring oil prices in the long run. Traders are reacting, not strategizing. So, what should you do? Stay vigilant and treat this as the kind of hype move that could swing back when the market catches its breath. Gold - Not Exactly Your Comforting Blanket Right Now Speaking of things that aren’t exactly fitting well—gold, the so-called “safe haven”, isn’t giving us much comfort right now. Spot gold dipped below USD 2,600/oz, chilling near the bottom end of its parameter at USD 2,590.89-2,627.23/oz. It’s that uncomfortable drop you feel after realizing that the Dollar’s strength has continued, largely due to what some call the “Trump trade” — a phenomenon that’s been giving goldbugs something of a headache. What’s the Real Magic Here? But here’s where the real magic happens: While precious metals are sliding, this could be the perfect setup for contrarian traders. Think about it—when everyone else is panic selling, that’s often when you find the hidden gem opportunities. Start looking for signs of consolidation or divergence to know when the tide might be shifting. The thing about gold is it often seems to lose its luster just before it makes a surprising comeback. Base Metals Take a Dive – It’s Not All Doom and Gloom If you’re thinking about base metals, copper just gave us a big sigh of disappointment. Three-month LME copper slipped below USD 9,200/t. This was largely due to letdowns stemming from the NPC Standing Committee meeting—investors were expecting some magic tricks on fiscal stimulus, but they got a rabbit that’s barely hopping. But let’s think beyond the noise for a minute: whenever markets get disappointed, they tend to overreact. Are we on the brink of an opportunity to scoop up copper positions before a potential bounce? The firmer Dollar is keeping copper down, but watch the upcoming data. A change in market perception could be just around the corner. The Nuclear Dream – Biden Aims for a Triple Play Now, if you thought today’s trading was dull, here’s something that might just change the game. According to Bloomberg, the Biden administration is drafting plans for the US to triple nuclear power capacity by 2050. What does this mean for us traders? Diversification. A strategy to remember when the lights go out in the conventional power sector—consider positioning in uranium or renewable energies that could benefit from policy shifts. The nuclear dream may still be decades away, but early movers often get the best seats at the table. So, is it time to start monitoring those uranium mining stocks? OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report – The Waiting Game Lastly, OPEC's Monthly Oil Market Report is due today at 11:40 GMT. It’s almost like waiting for a magician to pull a trick you’ve seen before—are we going to hear about more production cuts, or is it the same old story about global demand "uncertainties"? Either way, you’re going to want to be nimble today. Have your charts open and watch the reaction at those key levels—you never know when the market might make a move that you could capitalize on. Elite Tactics Takeaway: The Key Lessons Here - Don’t get carried away by short-term news hype—markets love to overreact. Brent’s current move upwards could shift quickly, and this isn’t necessarily a buy signal just yet. - Gold slipping might just be setting up for a contrarian opportunity. Watch for consolidation signals and get ready to pounce. - Disappointment in copper after the NPC meeting may have created an opportunity. Stay sharp for signs of a bounce. - Biden’s nuclear plans hint at future diversification opportunities. It’s all about being an early mover. - OPEC’s report today might be more of the same, but volatility creates trading chances—stay ready. Remember, traders: in a world full of hype, always look for the underlying trends that other traders are missing. Keep your head cool, your strategies sharp, and your humor warmer than that cup of coffee sitting next to you. —————– Image Credits: Cover image at the top is AI-generated   Read the full article