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averagejoesolomon · 2 months ago

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In light of, uh, recent news I'd like to present a slice of comfort. Please enjoy a couple thousand words of a man written by a woman. The book agent hunt is going well, so I may not be back until the later end of December, but here's a little treat to get you through the wait.

The Cameron-Morgan Wedding (1987)

“Shit.”

Matt’s bow tie droops during the first few notes of the Canon. With a glance down his front, he spots one end hanging lower than it should, slipped through the neat little knot at the crest of his collar and somehow fraying into messy, tattered strands.

This never would have happened if Rachel had done it, the way she always does up his bow ties. She’s good luck. But Abby had been insistent that he not see the bride before the ceremony and notably, Abby ain’t of any help now. Her eyes widen across the way, both of them knowing that Rachel has planned this moment down to second, down to the step, down to the snap of the photographer’s shutter. She has a comprehensive list of every last shot she expects to capture and none of them include a busted up bow tie.

Thankfully, the photographers ain’t looking at him. No one is. As the stringed quintet fills the grand atrium with the classic tune, all 342 attendees take their cue to stand and turn toward the bride. Matt can’t make out any details from his place at the end of a long aisle, but he doesn’t need to. She takes up all the air in the room. She fills it from wall-to-wall, balcony-to-balcony, stack-to-stack-to-stack. The George Peabody Library has 300,000 books and fifteen-hundred first editions, but it’s never felt as full as it does when Rachel Cameron walks through its doors, dressed all in white.

And Matt refuses to look like this, when she looks like that. “Joe.”

“Keep your cool, cowboy.”

Joe’s already at his front, pulling the bow tie from Matt’s neck with the same sort of precision he pulls a trigger. He tucks this into his jacket pocket, right next to the rings, then unloops the half-Windsor around his own neck. Matt’s collar is popped, in a way Rachel explicitly prohibited when he asked months before, but Joe makes quick work of wrapping the new tie into place, tying it into a neat knot, then tucking Matt’s collar back into place. It’s not a bow tie, but it’ll do.

Joe takes his place at Matt’s back once more, tie-less and without enough time to redo his top button before the room turns slowly toward the towering floral wedding arch. Rachel’s halfway down the aisle when Matt looks back up and, not for the first time in their lives, her beauty strikes him straight on.

She’s a fresh snowfall on Christmas Eve. She’s the crystalline frost on the window, catching rays of winter sunlight. She’s angelic. She’s godly. She’s divine.

On her arm, Henry locks eyes with Matt and mimes a subtle tuck into the front of his suit jacket. With a quick glance, Matt realizes the tail of his tie hangs free and quickly tucks it behind his buttons, just in time for the photographer to snap a picture.

_____

The George Peabody Library is the sort of place where a woman like Rachel Cameron deserves to get married, even if she is marrying a farm boy from Nebraska.

It’s all black-and-white tile, gold-leafed columns, and old wood shelves brimming with books that smell like a stack of newspapers. It’s twinkling lights strung from five stories of intricate iron balconies. It’s low, golden sconces lighting up a crowd of elegant evening wear and it’s a private stringed quintet playing from the second balcony.

This is a prestigious enough event to be covered by the local papers—which is a tricky sort of affair given that half of their attendees are deep in the world of covert intelligence, but Rachel navigates this with ease, and everyone here knows how to dodge a reporter if need be. The invitations had been embossed with real gold, tucked into parchment envelopes sealed with golden wax and addressed to the most important names in Maryland High Society. The governor is in attendance. Both senators. Multiple members of the Secret Service, all of them off-duty, given that the Vice President and Second Lady regretfully declined. Sports stars, and business moguls, and socialites. Rachel Cameron’s wedding is the undisputed event of the season.

Matt forgets about all of this, the moment Rachel smiles up at him.

That’s all it takes. From her, it never takes much. Rachel is made from carefully restrained might, always looking for an avenue to escape. When it finally finds a place to land, it strikes in these dense, controlled bolts of intention, and Matt reckons he could spend a lifetime on the receiving end. One look from her, done up in white, is all it takes to steal him away. To notice her, and only her, even as he stands in a gorgeous venue among a gorgeous crowd.

She’s lace, hand-sewn into her bodice. Satin trailing at her back. There are pearls around her neck, hanging from her ears, wrapped around her wrists. Daisies, daisies, daisies done up in braids, reminding him of the first time he truly met the real and ruthless Rachel. The woman he’s come to love.

It’s them. Only them, right up until the moment Rachel passes her white rose bouquet to Abby and Joe passes a pair of golden rings to Matt.

Do you, Rachel? “I do.”

Do you, Matthew? “I do.”

Her lips break into a wide smile when they kiss. The strings, and the lights, and the applause all come second to her. _____

As two of Langley’s best and brightest, Matt and Rachel know how to sneak away from a crowd, and they make quick work of it as their cocktail hour comes to a close. The day so far has been a blur of travel, timelines, dresses and ties, and more posed photos than he can count. Finally, finally they find an intimate moment in the chaos, slipping between the fifth-floor stacks appropriately labeled Romantics.

Matt’s only want in the world is to grab her, pull her in close, and steal a moment just for himself. Except his hands are otherwise occupied with two armfuls of satin and lace. “Love of my life,” he says, with some exasperation. “It’s time to change your dress.”

Rachel runs her fingers along the spines of leather-bound books, train trailing as she goes. “Says who?”

“Says you, four hours ago,” he reminds her. “And for the past week. And for the last three months, when you said under no circumstances were you to wear the same dress to dinner that you wore to the ceremony.”

“That’s ridiculous,” she says, scanning the shelves. “Three dresses is a little ridiculous, don’t you think?”

It’s a quick and efficient reminder that this is only her second dress of the night, and the two of them will do this all over again with a third, smaller dress moments before the dance floor opens to the room. Matt doesn’t mind. So far, this small sliver of a shared moment is the best part of the best day of his life. “I do think,” he replies. “And said so, when you were first fitted for them, but I was told it was rude to decline designers when they offer you a free dress. And also, I was outvoted.”

“By Abby.”

“By you and Abby,” Matt says. “And by your dad who, in my book, counts as five votes.”

“You shouldn’t be worried about my father.”

“M’not worried about your father,” he insists. “I’m worried about you, six weeks from now, when we get our photos back and you’re not in the right dress.” “Because you’d never hear the end of it?”

“Because from here on out, it’s my job to make sure you’re never disappointed again.”

Her wandering finger freezes, casting a long shadow through dim library lighting. The golden glow of the stacks hugs her cheekbones, her jaw, her neck as she tosses a glance over her shoulder. “You really are very sweet, you know.”

He shrugs, and the movement brings fifteen pounds of fabric with it. Arms growing tired, he hangs Gown Number Two from one of the shelves, in a way that would almost certainly make a librarian cringe. “I’m a catch,” he agrees. “Now please let me put this dress on you.”

She studies him, in that harsh, glaring way only she can. He’s come to love that glare. He married her for that glare. He must have seen this exact look a hundred times over and he’ll probably see it a thousand times more—but never again from Rachel Cameron. No sir. Her severity belongs to Rachel Morgan now.

Maybe she feels the shift too, because she softens and nods, collecting her cascading curls to pull them over her shoulder. Her back is exposed, shoulder blades sitting just along a lace seam and casting a shadow like wings.

Dress Number One is held in place by no less than twenty individual buttons, so he doesn’t waste a breath. He meets Rachel at her back, methodically unlooping one satin button after another, the fabric smooth and stiff along his thumbprint. Inch by inch, the corset falls away and he spots another layer of buttons as he goes—but these ones can’t come undone. These buttons are bright and red, pressed into her skin, following the lines along her back. A full wedding day, etched into her spine, promising to stay through the evening.

He lets his touch linger along the ridges, confirming their phantom existence, and Rachel’s shoulders melt. She lets go of a breath that she’s been holding all night.

“The poets were wrong,” she says.

With the last button undone, her dress drops into a puffy puddle, wrung around her ankles and revealing the silk slip she wears below. He catches a preview of the garter he’ll remove later, holding up sheer white stockings that stretch to her thigh, then takes her hand to hold her steady. “About what?”

She steps out of the ivory pile, landing square at his front. Her gaze cranes upward when she says, “About love,” she says, surrounded by Keats, and Shelley, and Byron, and Blake. “About how it feels.”

Dress Number One is left abandoned on the tile, while Matt dutifully fetches Dress Number Two. This one trades buttons for ribbons and he helps her step into it before lacing her up. “Is that right?”

He threads and pulls at silk, relishing in the fact that he’ll get to undo these same knots later. Rachel glances over her shoulder once more and says, “I’ve never read a single sonnet that made me feel the way I feel with you.”

And it ain’t fair, the way she looks at him. Like she’s somehow known the whole time. Like she knows everything, and he’s got a lot of catching up to do. Fine, then. He’s more than happy to make up for lost time, and he starts with a kiss—not their first as husband and wife, but certainly their best so far, with plenty more to follow.

They’re late to dinner, but Rachel Morgan seems to glow when she finally enters the ballroom in her second gown of the night. The room cheers, Abby gives a speech, and Matt’s pops says a prayer before dinner.

_____

“Dance with me.”

“Not much of a dancer.”

“You’ll dance with me, though.”

When it comes to Abigail Cameron, there’s not much Matt won’t do. Unfortunately, no one knows this better than Abby herself. She’s smiling that monumental smile of hers, hands falling to either side of his lapel as she steps into time and pulls him right along with her. Together they fall into the sway of an Elton John song, not quite a ballad, not quite rock and roll.

Their practiced ballroom steps feel familiar after spending so much time dancing across the world. “This is the part,” she says, “where you tell me how pretty I look.”

“You do,” he says, and he means it. He’s always thought so, since she first strutted into his life. She’s a good looking girl in a good looking dress, every part of her carefully curated to draw the eye. “I like the dress.”

“It has pockets,” she points out.

“Very handy,” he says.

“Matt, we’re family now,” she says. “You’re going to have to get more excited about my dress pockets. It’s what family does.”

With nothing more than the shape of her step, Matt senses a twirl coming on and he sets her up with ease. He spins her not just once, but twice, because Abby always likes to go for a little extra flair. “We’ve been family for a while now, I think,” he says, pulling her back into their shared frame. “I think you knew, even back then.”

“Back when you were a true-blue farm boy who’d never seen a woman before?” she says with a doting look. “I’ll take credit for a lot, but I can’t take credit for that one. Truth be told, I expected to burn through you as quickly as I burned through all the others. I had no idea what you’d eventually mean to me. To her.”

Abby doesn’t say her name, but even so, Matt can’t help but glance toward Rachel, standing on the far side of the room and chatting with the Secretary of Transportation. The whole night has been like that—finding Rachel, wherever she may be. Landing on her. Lingering.

It must be the same for her because she turns, as though she feels his eyes on her. Catches his glance. Beams.

“When was it?” he asks, prying his eyes back toward Abby. “When did you know?”

Abby studies him, debating. Matt is trusted with Pentagon secrets and espionage of the highest international order, but still she searches his features as though she’s not quite sure he’s ready to hear the truth. “Long before either of you,” she says. “That’s for sure.”

“Abby—”

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I have a sisterly duty to uphold a longstanding tradition between bridesmaids and groomsmen.”

“There’s only one groomsman,” Matt reminds her. “And it’s Joe.”

“Isn’t that interesting?”

“When did you know?” he tries again, grabbing hold of her arm before she can step away, and again, she holds her tongue. Tests the answer in her head.

Finally, she lets a softer smile slip. “The first time you called her, instead of calling me.”

There’s something bittersweet in her tone, which Matt only hears because it’s Abby. He’s known her longer than just about anyone here, enough to know that she wants to be wanted. That she stands with the sort of confidence that comes from other people, rather than someplace deep within herself. For Abby, Matt is the one who got away—not in the traditional sense, but rather, in the sense that Matt stopped needing Abby before she stopped needing him.

Him, getting away from her. What a world.

So he says, with a smile all his own, “Thank you for trying to burn me, way back when.”

She tuts, a manicured hand reaching toward his cheek where she leaves two farewell pats. “Anytime, hot stuff.”

From the surrounding speakers, Elton John turns to Cindy Lauper. Matt is quickly left in the dust as Abby squeals, turns toward Rachel, and races across the room to pull her onto the dance floor next. The two of them find the center of a dance circle made entirely of women, screaming along to “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”

_____

Matt slides a glass of good scotch across a bar top. “Thanks again,” he says, “for flying my folks out.”

Henry Cameron catches the scotch at the bar’s end. He doesn’t spare a glance for it, too caught up in watching his girls dance. “A mother should get to see her only son’s wedding,” he says. “And your mother, in particular, is a delight—is it possible my guest room is somehow cleaner than it was the day she arrived?”

“Yessir, that’ll be my mama,” Matt says, ordering a glass of scotch for himself. “I appreciate the accommodations.”

“She may stay as long as she likes,” he says. “And your father was asking about some of the memorials. I thought I might take them downtown while they’re here, if that’s alright with you?”

His parents have a three-week stretch in DC and while he knew the Cameron Estate would take good care of them, he never expected the man of the house to personally show them the sights. “Yeah,” he says, a little too quickly. “Yes, absolutely—you should know, though, that my pops has a hard time walking long distances. He won’t say anything about it, but he’s had a limp since he first came home and he’s never managed to shake it. And my mama—”

Henry lifts a single hand, finally shifting his gaze to Matt. “Rest assured they’ll be well taken care of while you’re away,” he says. “I have a connection or two, when it comes to touring the Mall.”

Matt’s got no doubt. If there’s one thing he’s learned about Henry over the past few years, it’s that he has a connection for everything. “Okay,” he says. “Thank you.”

Henry’s attention falls back to his girls. The space between them seems to grow as Matt runs out of words, opting instead to take a sip from his drink as it arrives. Their relationship begins and ends with the Circle of Cavan, and this hardly seems like the time to talk strategy.

“I suppose it’s the least I can do,” Henry finally says. “You make my girls happy, and for that I owe you a great deal.”

Matt follows his look across the dance floor to find the sisters now dancing arm-in-arm to a ballad, talking and giggling through the slow waltzy rhythm. Rachel swipes dirt from Abby’s dress. Abby fixes one of Rachel’s wayward daisies. They both laugh at a joke Matt can’t hear from this far away. “They make me better,” he admits. “They’ve taken care of me. And I reckon it’s my turn to take care of them.”

Henry nods, in that sage way he passed along to his eldest. “I know that,” he says. “I know you’re going to try, anyway.”

This catches his ear. “Try, sir?”

Henry sips back the last of his drink, letting the glass land hallow on the bar. “Have you given any thought to how you’re going to keep your lives separate?” he asks. “Your life with her”—he casts a glance toward Rachel, then swiftly shifts towards Joe—”versus your life with him?”

Little does Henry know, Matt’s been asking this same question since stitching up Joe in an Italian bathroom, but he’s right. Matt feels it, too. There’s a disconnect between his dreams—between wanting to keep Joe out of his past, and diving straight into a future with Rachel. No matter how many times Matt turns the options over in his head, they end up overlapping. “Every night,” Matt tells him. “Right after I close my eyes, and just before I fall asleep.”

Familiarity creeps into Henry’s expression, and Matt can’t tell if that’s a good thing. “That feeling,” he says, “never, ever goes away.”

For years, Henry has served as Matt’s barometer for what this case can do to good men after chasing it for a very long time. By and large, all those extra years come with benefits—contacts, authority, expertise. But every so often, Matt spots a shadow below Henry’s eyes, signaling some bone-deep exhaustion that feels more and more inevitable every time Matt sees it.

“Promise me this,” says Henry. “Promise me that no matter how long this goes, no matter how close you get—you prioritize her. You make sure she’s safe, above all else.”

Matt considers this. Nods once, definitive. Seems like a fair enough request. Taking the final sip from his own glass, Matt promises, “‘Til death do us part.”

_____

“You know,” says Matt, voice raised over the roar of turbine engines. “My pops gave me all kinds of grief about taking a private jet.”

“What’s the matter?” Rachel calls back. “Haven’t the people of Lake Hayfield ever seen a private plane?”

“I dunno about Lake Hayfield,” says Matt, taking her roller bag to carry up the steps. “But I’ll tell you what, the people of Hay Springs sure haven’t.”

In a career where jetsetting and globetrotting are commonplace, the only real vacation is spent at home among familiar sights, sounds, and textures. Rather than spend their honeymoon looking over their shoulders in a foreign country, Matt and Rachel decide to keep things domestic, where they can afford to be entirely single-minded about the next few weeks. Someplace safe. Someplace they don’t have to think about.

The apartment, they decided, was out of the question. While Joe may be a discrete and quiet roommate, Matt intends to do some downright indiscreet things to Rachel that will make her anything but quiet. And because he also has no desire to do so under Henry Cameron’s roof, her place was booted off the list just as quickly.

“Your father’s flown private before, hasn’t he?” she asks.

Matt doesn’t know how to break it to her, that normal people don’t ever see the inside of a private jet. “Not unless you count an Army flier.”

This sends her lips into a puzzled frown, and Matt just wants to kiss them straight.

After some back-and-forth, Matt convinced his folks to spare the one and only home he’s got left. It’s a trade, of sorts. His parents finally make a long-awaited trip to DC, courtesy of the Cameron Estate, while he and Rachel take the ranch. All he had to do was promise to watch the wheat and let the animals out every morning.

Rachel was less enthusiastic about the animals, but Matt’s certain she’ll come around when she sees the first sunset across the plains.

“We should send him back on the jet,” Rachel offers.

“I love you,” he says, “but my pops would sooner die than show up back home in one of these things.”

Matt’s only proven right when he steps into the cabin, finished with fine woods and leathers. A bottle of Champagne waits for them on ice, the label written in French and the vintage starting with an eighteen. The smell of steak fills the air, which is a relief to his grumbling stomach because even though he paid for most of the wedding food, he somehow didn’t eat much of it. It’s the last taste of luxury they’ll have for the next few weeks, so he vows to enjoy every second of it.

He stows her bag, then his. Pops the Champagne, then pours both of them a glass. She holds out her flute toward his, crystal chiming as their glasses clink, and they sip. Take a breath. With the taste of grapes on his lips, he kisses her the same way he has all night, just so damn lucky to be here.

“You know,” he says, barely pulling away. “I’ve always wondered—”

“Matthew,” she scolds.

“I haven’t even said it yet.”

She falls into her seat, digging for the buckle to strap herself in. There’s a subtle edge to her foreboding glance. The one that begs him to challenge her. “You didn’t have to,” she says. “It’s an eight hour flight. We can wait.”

“I’m not saying we have to go for the home run,” he teases, dropping to his place just at her front, down on his knees for her, just as he always seems to be. “Just that if you let me warm up my throwing arm now, I might be able to pitch a perfect game later.”

She laughs, short and haughty and delighted. Her hand falls into his hair, scratching warm streaks into his scalp. “You hate pitchers,” she reminds him.

“I’ve got a third-base metaphor I could use instead.”

“Matthew.”

“Alright, alright,” he says. She’s still wearing her final dress, the shortest of the three. It was made for dancing, and the alternative benefits are a nice bonus. “I can scrounge up a golf metaphor instead.”

“You,” she says, taking another sip of Champagne, “are a smartmouth.”

“Agreed,” he says, just as his fingertips find the lace on her stockings. His lips follow close behind, landing along the hem as his wide eyes search for her answering smile. “So how about we see what else my mouth can do, hmm?”

Another laugh. A lifetime of her laugh. It sends his stomach twisting in all the best ways.

Two of her fingers find his chin, lifting his head up to look at her properly. “Buckle up, so we can take off,” she tells him. “And when we’re in the air, you can help me get this dress off. Fair?”

Now it’s his turn to smile, but he doesn’t hold it long before Rachel’s lips are on his, a smile of her own sneaking in.

#Full Circle #theyre so cute #help

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usafphantom2 · 8 months ago

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PHOTOS: USAF F-15E jets return home from the Middle East with "kill marks" and "nose arts"

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 05/11/2024 - 12:26 in Military, War Zones

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A few weeks after shooting down a swarm of Iranian drones during the defense of Israel, the 494º U.S. Air Force Fighter Squadron is back at the RAF Base of Lakenheath, in the United Kingdom, sporting a new and intriguing painting.

Photos publicly released by the U.S. Air Force show the F-15E Strike Eagles returning to their home in the 48ª Fighter Wing with vivid art on their nose, as well as missile markings and bombs alluding to their exploits in the region.

Photos of an F-15E nicknamed "Hellcat" show the aircraft painted with more than two dozen bomb marks, suggesting that he launched a large amount of ammunition. The plane was also decorated with nine red missiles, indicating numerous air-to-air combat. An F-15 called "RAWR" boasts more than a dozen missile and bomb marks. Another jet, "El Jefe", carries multiple bomb marks and a missile mark. The "Mullet" carries nine missile markings and numerous bomb markings. Yet another F-15 has nine missile markings and five bomb markings. These are just some of the F-15s that have recently returned to their base.

Photos released by the Air Force show that the first jets arrived on May 8, and a spokesman for the Air Forces Central (AFCENT) confirmed on May 10 that the 494º Fighter Squadron had returned to the RAF Base of Lakenheath.

Violence in the Middle East increased after Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7 and Israel's subsequent military operation against the group in Gaza, causing unrest throughout the region.

In February, the U.S. conducted airstrikes against targets in Iraq and Syria in response to more than 170 attacks on U.S. troops and recently helped Israel defend itself from a massive drone and missile attack from Iran.

In April, U.S. Air Force aircraft shot down more than 70 drones that Iran launched against Israel on the night of April 13 and in the early morning hours of April 14. These planes included F-15Es of the 494º Fighter Squadron and the 335º Seymour-Johnson Air Base Fighter Squadron, North Carolina, as well as American F-16s.

"I am very confident and proud of our joint strength and what they were able to do with our allies and partners," said Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown Jr., to reporters on April 26.

The 494º Fighter Squadron first arrived at CENTCOM in October, a few days after the Hamas attack. More F-15E were rushed to the region on April 12, just one day before Iran's attack.

"One of the fighter squadrons appeared, like, the day before, and was right in the middle of the flight, and that says something about our level of training, our level of capacity," Brown said.

The 335º Seymour-Johnson Fighter Squadron is now the only F-15E squadron in the region, deployed in the Middle East along with the F-16 and A-10. The A-10s of the 104º Maryland National Guard Fighter Squadron and Seymour-Johnson's F-15E recently completed a three-week Desert Flag exercise.

"Maintaining multi-capable and ready teams is essential to fulfill the mission," said AFCENT commander, Lieutenant General Derek C. France, in a statement of May 9 reflecting on his first month in charge. "I was impressed by the level of dedication of AFCENT's aviators. They have been operating beyond my expectations and I am extremely proud to be part of this team."

Tags: Military AviationF-15E Strike EagleUSAF - United States Air Force / U.S. Air ForceWar Zones - Middle East

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Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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eretzyisrael · 10 months ago

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By Luke Rosiak

A Maryland school system knowingly used false information to discipline a Jewish teacher in response to her reporting to her principal that at a pro-Palestinian walkout — which the principal called “fantastic” — students praised Adolph Hitler and called for the death of Jews.

The Daily Wire reported in January that Paint Branch High School Principal Pam Krawczel gave excused absences to students to walk out of class in protest of Israel, and praised them even after the Muslim Student Association (MSA) faculty sponsor informed her that some made violent and genocidal remarks. In response, Krawczel falsely suggested that the MSA faculty sponsor, Brooke Meshel, was The Daily Wire’s source, doxxed a child, and took a photograph of students.

As a result, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has now prohibited Meshel from interacting with any member of the MSA, impeding her ability to teach her classes.

Krawczel knew the accusation was false because MCPS itself — not Meshel — was The Daily Wire’s source. Shortly after the highly-publicized walkout, the publication filed a public records request for Krawczel’s emails on the topic. The day the emails were received, this reporter emailed Krawczel asking her for comment, explaining that the story was based on the emails she had turned over.

Nonetheless, Krawczel summoned Meshel and drafted a “Summary of Concern” memo for her file, expressing “concern about the article posted in the Daily Wire in which Ms. Meshel was said to be the source.” Krawczel ordered Meshel to “reflect on the meeting” and stated that, “per this memorandum…. you are no longer to serve as the sponsor of MSA. Do not interact with any students in the MSA. Do not post any pictures of PBHS students.”

As evidence that Meshel was the source, Krawczel cited that an unnamed collection of students told her “Meshel had provided information to the writers” and told The Daily Wire “the whole event was anti-Semitic,” neither of which occured.

The letter also relied on another statement from a student that began, “to whom it may be concerned [sic], I have been asked to provide my statement on the article from the Daily Wire which has used my photograph without my permission,” claiming it “poses a threat to our lives.”

The student’s statement claimed, bizarrely, that a stranger appeared on campus distributing signs — from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization — and that the students decided to hold them and pose for photographs though the signs were “not representative of my personal or political views.” The photo was, in fact, proudly posted to Instagram by student walkout organizers, as the story made clear.

#paint branch high school #pam krawczel #brooke meshal

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eptodaytommorowforever · 4 months ago

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Events In The History And Of The Life Of Elvis Presley Today On The 28th Of September In 1974.

September 28th, In 1974 Elvis Presley Performs At College Park Backstage Rare Candid Photographs.

with Ed Parker and some police officers in Backstage At College Park on September 28, 1974 – The black gentleman is Sgt. “Smokey Joe” Thompson who was in charge of security for the Prince Georges County Sheriff’s Dept in College Park Maryland Elvis Presley Wearing The rare wine leather two piece casual jumpsuit.

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rjzimmerman · 28 days ago

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National Wildlife Photo Contest: Bright Spots.

I picked the photos I liked best. Click/tap on the caption to see the others.

BABY ANIMALS, First Place, Glenn Nelson, Seattle, Washington.

Nelson identifies with these juvenile barred owl siblings, declared invasive in the Pacific Northwest. A lifelong U.S. citizen born in Japan, “my community was forcibly removed from about the same habitat [as the owls] for merely resembling the enemy during World War II,” he says. Nelson sees the owls, photographed in July 2023, as “charismatic fauna that open people to relationships with other beings and nature.”

BIRDS, First Place, Joshua Galicki, Claiborne, Maryland.

Both Galicki and his subject, a great blue heron, were poised at the right place and the right time to preserve this moment of subtle beauty: Galicki from his kayak in a cove near his home on the Chesapeake Bay and the heron about to grasp a loblolly pine branch on shore. “The sun was setting, and a few last rays of light touched the heron at a fantastic angle,” he says of the July 2023 image.

LANDSCAPES & PLANTS, Second Place, Nancy Hajjar, Lone Pine, California.

The “beautiful swirling orange lenticular cloud” captured by Hajjar of Funchal, Portugal, in April 2021 only looks otherworldly. Lenticular clouds—formed by air flowing over high mountain ranges, such as California’s eastern Sierra Nevada—are frequently compared to, and sometimes mistaken for, flying saucers.

MAMMALS, First Place, Rachael Innes, San Pedro, California.

“I was fortunate to be able to follow an urban fox family from the day the kits emerged until they left to start their own lives,” says Innes of Torrance, California. In this August 2023 photo, she captured two red fox kits—and their shadows—playing at an old coast guard station in San Pedro, near the foxes’ cliffside den.

MAMMALS, Second Place, Donna Bourdon, Maasai Mara, Kenya.

Bourdon of Decatur, Tennessee, observed four days of wildlife river crossings in Kenya in September 2023, including a roughly 10,000-strong throng of wildebeests and zebras. “Once the first wildebeest made the leap of faith, the entire herd pushed forward, and there was no turning back,” she says. Above, a sole wildebeest faces her camera head-on, waiting its turn to ascend the far bank of the river, even as “the risk of being trampled and drowned is extremely high.”

MOBILE, First Place, Steffen Foerster, Falkland Islands.

When Foerster of Sunnyside, New York, saw a colony of king penguins about to pass him on a Falkland Islands beach in December 2023, he had professional camera equipment at his fingertips. And yet, he reached for his cell phone with its ultrawide lens “for a much more expansive scene”—a split-second decision that caught “an unforgettable experience.”

YOUNG NATURE PHOTOGRAPHERS, First Place, Karsyn Sterns, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica.

Talk about a story arc: Accompanied by her dad, 13-year-old Sterns traveled to Costa Rica in March 2023 from her home in Dumfries, Virginia, with the goal of observing the aptly named resplendent quetzal. “I was especially happy to have seen and photographed this bird,” she says. We say, mission accomplished.

YOUNG NATURE PHOTOGRAPHERS, Second Place, Edwin Liu, Mississauga, Canada.

A friend told the budding photographer Liu, 17, that a great blue heron fished every evening in a Mississauga park. When Liu visited in October 2023 but didn’t see the bird within an hour, he grew restless and abandoned the park pond, only to encounter the bird in the bordering farmland. Ten minutes later, he watched the heron catch a vole. “When the heron hunts, it is indeed more patient than the photographer,” Liu says.

PORTFOLIO, First Place, Sonny Parker, Yukon, Canada.

While Dall sheep—native to alpine pockets of northwestern North America, from Canada’s British Columbia, Northwest Territories and Yukon up into Alaska—have evolved to stave off a host of predators, they now face a different threat: a rapidly changing climate. In the past, events such as lambing were timed precisely to optimal conditions, but as seasons become less predictable, “the sheep are struggling to stay synchronized,” says Parker, who lives in Haines Junction, Canada. In photos from May 2021 to January 2024, Parker documented the sheep throughout the year, including during winter, when the animals’ dense fur keeps them warm in temperatures as frigid as 40 below zero degrees F.

#nature photography #wildlife photography #landscape photography

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 1 month ago

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Mission in Early 2025

The observatory will lend insight into what happened after the big bang, measure the glow of galaxies near and far, and search the Milky way for building blocks of life.

NASA and SpaceX are targeting late February 2025 for the launch of the agency’s next astrophysics observatory, SPHEREx. Short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, SPHEREx will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

About the size of a subcompact car, SPHEREx will enter a polar orbit around Earth and create a map of the entire sky in 3D, taking images in every direction, like scanning the inside of a globe. The map will contain hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies, showing them in 102 colors (each a different wavelength of light).

Scientists will use SPHEREx’s all-sky map to achieve the mission’s three key science goals. The first is to shed light on a cosmic phenomenon called inflation, a brief but powerful cosmic event when space itself increased in size by a trillion-trillionfold less than a second after the big bang. The observatory will measure the distribution of hundreds of millions of galaxies to improve understanding of what drove inflation and of the physics behind this event.

The SPHEREx mission will also measure the collective glow from galaxies near and far, including light from hidden galaxies that haven’t been individually observed. This data will provide a more complete picture of all the objects and sources radiating in the universe.

Its third key science goal is to search the Milky Way galaxy for icy granules of water, carbon dioxide, and other essential building blocks of life. The mission will help scientists discover the location and abundance of these icy compounds in our galaxy, giving them a better sense of how likely they are to be incorporated into newly forming planets.

Launching as a secondary payload on the same Falcon 9 rocket as SPHEREx will be NASA’s PUNCH mission (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere). Led by Southwest Research Institute’s office in Boulder, Colorado, and managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, PUNCH is a constellation of four small satellites heading to low Earth orbit that will make global, 3D observations of the Sun’s corona to learn how the mass and energy there become solar wind.

NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center, manages the launch service for the SPHEREx and PUNCH missions.

IMAGE: NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory was photographed at BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado, in November 2024 after completing environmental testing. The spacecraft’s three concentric cones help direct heat and light away from the telescope and other components, keeping them cool. Credit: BAE Systems

#science #space #astronomy #physics #news #nasa #astrophysics

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grits-galraisedinthesouth · 2 years ago

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Look who's Laughing

Meghan's BFF was spotted laughing backstage at the Chris Rock Live Show: Meghan's BFF, Janina Gavankar, famously told Gail King Meghan had receipts for those RACIST BRF conversations.🤥

Janina Gavankar was also filmed attempting a high five at the wedding, she was spotted in a vehicle with Harry & Meghan outside NOprah's house, and she credited herself with the (Soho House) Sussex trio 2019 Holiday photograph.

Janina heard the jokes a few times prior to the Live Taping so she knew what to expect. I wonder if Harry (or backers) telephoned Chris Rock (like South Park) to ask him not to use Meghan in his show?🤔 I think her influence could explain his use of Megflix talking points: "British Empire, Colonialism, and seems like a nice lady..."

Janina Gavankar, one of Meghan Markle’s longtime best friends, was at the live taping for Chris Rock’s blockbuster Netflix show Saturday night – and watched as the comedian skewered the Duchess of Sussex, Page Six can reveal.

The “Vampire Diaries” actress, who has been a staunch defender of Prince Harry’s wife and a close pal of hers for over 20 years, was at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theater to witness Rock make history for the streaming service’s first live global streaming event. Sources told Page Six that Gavankar, 42, joined her good friend Dave Chapelle backstage to watch the show in the VIP Green Room.

“Janina looked to be enjoying the show very much, she was standing up by the TV screens and laughing,” one eyewitness told us. Rock had finely honed his routine over the past few months at a number of gigs around the country, including at Radio City Music Hall in New York City back in October, where he made the same comments about Markle and the royals.

We’re told that Gavankar had been to previous shows, so she knew what to expect.

Gavankar joined a host of big names at Saturday’s show, including director Spike Lee and wife Tonya Lewis Lee, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, author Nelson George, comics Darnell Rollins, Sam Jay and actor Stephen Hill, alongside Arsenio Hall, David Spade and former “Saturday Night Live” stars Leslie Jones and Dana Carvey.

Gavankar was a guest at the Sussexes wedding in May 2018.

She also went on British TV after the royal family responded to the Oprah interview by saying “recollections may vary” at the couple’s claims of their hellish time behind palace walls.Speaking on “This Morning,” Gavankar hit back at the family’s claims they weren’t aware of the full extent of Meghan’s struggles while she was a working royal family member.

“Though their ‘recollections may vary,’ ours don’t because we lived through it with them,” Gavankar said, quoting directly from the Palace’s statement. “And there are many emails and texts to support that.”

#revenge #tom bower #megxit #janina gavankar #spare us #like a spare #chris rock #worldwide privacy tour #waaagh #page six #recollections may vary

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tieflingkisser · 7 months ago

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Efforts to sell ‘Anglo neighborhoods in Israel’ at LA synagogue erupt in protests

Pro-Palestinian protesters accuse companies of trying to sell stolen land in the West Bank, and question legality

Efforts to market homes in Israel and stolen land in West Bank to Jewish Americans are continuing to spark protests across North America, with the latest angry confrontations happening outside a synagogue in one of Los Angeles’s most prominent Jewish neighborhoods.

[...]

The Los Angeles demonstration was the latest in a series of heated demonstrations outside similar Israeli real estate events heldat synagogues across North America this year, including in Toronto, Canada; New Jersey; Baltimore, Maryland; and North Hollywood. Pro-Palestinian protesters have accused some of the companies involved in these events of trying to sell stolen land in the West Bank, and questioned the legality of the marketing efforts. One of the real estate companies named in an advertisement for the Los Angeles event, My Home in Israel, has listed high-end properties for sale in West Bank settlements on its website, including boutique apartments in Ariel and luxury villas in Efrat. Israel’s settlements in the West Bank are widely considered illegal under international law. The US recently restored its position that they are “inconsistent” with international law. Previous US events involving My Home in Israel have prompted calls for law enforcement investigations from Palestinian American and pro-Palestine groups, and denunciations from some local Jewish residents.

[...]

Protesters on both sides of the conflict described an out-of-control situation where people were targeted with bear spray and scuffling in the streets, and criticized police for failing to stop the violence. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators shared video of pro-Israel counter-protesters yelling racial slurs, and said that the counter-protesters had punched them, kicked them, chased them, ripped hijabs from the heads of Muslim women, made rape threats and followed some demonstrators back to their cars in an attempt to photograph their license plates. A pro-Palestine protester who lives in the area said the intensity of the harassment and violence from the pro-Israel counter-protesters was frightening, with “people who came up to me screaming, telling me to get out of their neighborhood”.

[...]

Sean Beckner-Carmitchel, a Los Angeles journalist who specializes in protest coverage, captured footage of pro-Palestinian protesters “pleading with officers for help” as they were “being shoved and hit” by pro-Israel demonstrators with the officers standing by. Several journalists covering the protest were also assaulted, Adam Rose, the secretary of the Los Angeles Press Club, tweeted on Monday. Among then was Beckner-Carmitchel, who said he filed a police report after being assaulted by pro-Israel demonstrators. A reporter for CalMatters said that one pro-Israel protester knocked his phone out of his hand as he tried to film, and later another demonstrator told him “you shouldn’t be here” and snatched away his phone.

#free palestine #usa #california #news

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lboogie1906 · 7 months ago

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Addison Scurlock (June 19, 1883 - December 16, 1964) photographer, was born to attorney George Clay Scurlock and wife Nannie in Fayetteville, North Carolina. His family moved to DC where he began an apprenticeship under Moses P. Rice. He learned the basics of photographic portraiture and laboratory work. He founded his photography business in his parents’ home. He won a photography gold medal at the Jamestown Exposition.

In 1911, he opened the Scurlock Photographic Studio at 900 U Street in the heart of what was Black Washington’s theater district. He established himself as the preeminent African American photographer in the nation’s capital and was hired by government agencies.

He photographed nationally prominent African Americans such as Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Mary McLeod Bethune, Archie Alexander, Billy Eckstine, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Lillian Evanti, and Sterling Brown. Prominent Black Washingtonians such as Charles Drew and Duke Ellington were captured in his lens. He took the image of Marian Anderson singing at the Lincoln Memorial. He became the photographer of prominent white Americans such as President Calvin Coolidge and First Lady Mamie Eisenhower. Carter G. Woodson sent his portraits of prominent African American leaders in the packets he mailed to schools across the nation.

He was the first photographer to document the importance of Black life in DC. His photographs included businesses such as the Underdown Delicatessen, religious institutions such as the Lincoln Temple Church, summer events at nearby Highland Beach, Maryland, and sporting events at Howard University.

His family was involved in his business. His wife, Mamie Estelle, served as the studio’s business manager. He trained his sons to shoot pictures using his special style which became known as the “Scurlock look.”

His studio was awarded a citation by the U Street Association as the oldest business. He was the official photographer for Howard University until his death.

His son Robert ran the studio until he died in 1994. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

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elementoftheeye · 2 years ago

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tightness On 1 July I photographed an event in Maryland. This is Sysko, his task was to stand 3 seconds on that small platform, his 2nd task of 10, to someone my size and only having 2 feet all the tasks seemed easy... mind you the he is probably around a mid sized horse at this event, there was a Mini Horse, a Mule and some much larger horses.. it was hot, buggy & smokey from the fires in Canada. It was my 1st experience at this kind of event... but I enjoyed what most of these teams have... trust & respect. Its been a tough week and it is only Wed.

#elementoftheeye #chambersburg #original photographer #original photograph #original photography

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eventphotojour · 3 months ago

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Event Photojournalism Elevates Events with Top Virginia and Maryland Event Photographers

Washington, D.C. — Event Photojournalism, a premier photography service specializing in event photography, is proud to announce its continued success in providing top-tier photography services across Virginia and Maryland. The company’s team of highly skilled and experienced photographers captures the essence of every event, from corporate gatherings to weddings, ensuring that each moment is preserved in stunning detail.

#Virginia Event Photographers #Maryland Event Photographers

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influencermagazineuk · 28 days ago

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Vivek Ramaswamy was recently seen with his son at the Army-Navy football game over the weekend. Republican politician-entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has explained why leaders in the next Donald Trump administration are normalizing bringing their children and grandchildren to workplaces. "Family is the foundation," he said, responding to an X user who shared photographs of the US President-elect, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and Ramaswamy with their young family members during official engagements. On Saturday, the former Republican presidential candidate attended the Army-Navy football game with his son. He shared several photographs and videos on X, capturing his son Karthik's playful interactions with Trump and even doing push-ups with Pete Hegseth. "Just landed in Maryland with K-man, headed to Army-Navy game," Ramaswamy wrote on X, along with a photograph of himself carrying his son. Later, he shared a video and expressed his honor at visiting the Travis Manion Foundation tailgate ahead of the game. In another post, he and his son posed with Donald Trump. "Leading Future Generations. LFG," he wrote. Ramaswamy also posted a video of his son doing push-ups with Pete Hegseth, the next US Secretary of Defense. "Our next Secretary of Defence knows how to start recruiting them young. Karthik made a new friend today, @PeteHegseth," he shared. In a separate post, Ramaswamy highlighted "how good" Donald Trump was with children. Sharing a photo of Trump speaking to his son, he wrote, "One of the things I love about our 47th President is how good he is with kids… actually." At the event, they were also joined by US Vice President-elect JD Vance. "My 4-year-old took advantage of JD's & my conversation to quietly snag his 3rd cookie. He was very proud of himself," Ramaswamy captioned a photograph featuring his son and Vance. Ramaswamy and his wife Apoorva share two sons, Karthik and Arjun. This outing with Karthik follows several other instances where leaders such as Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and JD Vance have been seen bringing their children to work events. As part of the Trump 2.0 administration, Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) alongside Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Read the full article

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usafphantom2 · 1 year ago

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The F-35 fighter, the most expensive weapons program in the world, has just become more expensive

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 10/04/22023 - 08:11am Military

The most expensive weapons program in the world - the U.S. F-35 fighter - has become even more expensive, according to a recent Pentagon report.

The program to develop and acquire the plane will cost a total of US$ 438 billion, an increase of US$ 26 billion over the last estimate a year ago, according to the new F-35 Selected Acquisition Report (RAE) released on Monday.

The 6.5% increase is actually relatively modest given the program's standards, which originally was $233 billion when Lockheed Martin Corp. won the contract in 2001.

"The cost data in question were determined after accounting for inflation" and the readjustment of the production plans of the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, which extend from 2044 to 2049, the program office said in a statement. The new estimate does not change the total number of planned aircraft, which includes 14 jets in development and 2,456 production models for the US, he said.

The so-called "unit cost of program acquisition" per jet, which includes development and production dollars when calculated in what budget analysts call inflation-adjusted "year" dollars, increased to US$ 179 million per jet, from US$ 166 million last year, according to the RAE.

The $26 billion increase is equivalent to what Congress allocated under Ukraine's Security Assistance Initiative to support Kiev's fight against Russia's invasion. It is also approximately equivalent to this year's budget request for NASA, the space agency.

Separately, the Pentagon said that the F-35, which faced several delays, surpassed an important milestone last month when it completed testing in an advanced Pentagon simulator, spokesman Russell Goemaere said in a statement. The simulations were designed to determine whether the plane is up to the task of fighting the main Russian and Chinese air defenses and fighters, and their results counted on 42% of the evaluation required for an approval grade.

The test is part of the legally required evaluation before Lockheed, based in Bethesda, Maryland, can proceed with full production. Of a potential fleet of 3,000 or more F-35s to the U.S. and international customers, at least 965 were delivered. Many of them may need to be adapted based on the test results.

The F-35 was supposed to carry out the exercise of 64 missions in 2017, but was postponed for years due to unresolved technical problems in the installation of tests of the "Joint Simulation Environment", aggravated by the COVID pandemic. The Pentagon testing office plans to deliver its test report no later than 90 days after completion, but does not plan to publish an unclassified summary, it said.

Source: Bloomberg

Tags: Military AviationF-35 Lightning IILockheed Martin

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Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Daytona Airshow and FIDAE. He has work published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work throughout the world of aviation.