#Richard Rusk

[multifandommilfs]

Reunions

Relationship: Elaine Markinson x Reader

Summary: After pining for Elaine throughout college, you realise the feelings are mutual in a reunion party after graduation

Word count: 4131 characters

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Who in the right mind would think of hosting a graduation party? It was practically the end of an era, there was nothing else to talk about without building up relationships for it to fall away a year or two later, there was never a time where people actually stayed in contact after years of bustling careers and families, at least that was what your parents told you.

Despite that, you just had to see Elaine one last time, to preserve whatever memory you could of her before you left it up to fate, perhaps only it'll only be a fleeting glance, a recognizing wave that would lead to a false hope of another gathering. "You should call me sometime," someone would eventually say and no action would be taken or perhaps you'll simply never meet altogether.

With that in mind, you still walked past the multicoloured string lit doors, the sharp smell of liquor knocking the life out of you, someone slapped you on the back, hollering something inaudible amongst the blasting rock music, the revolving disco ball threw a glare straight at your eye and someone split foul liquor right on your shirt.

"What the fuck?!" You screamed but only heard of retreating trail of laughter. "Goddamn this-" A drown out call of your name to your right captured your attention, the tone all too familiar and sent a shocking pang to your chest.

You pushed past the dense welcoming crowd of people, the vile odour of teenagers coercing you to hold your breath.

"I heard from Richard that you wouldn't come- oh what happened to you?!" Her eyes raked down your damp t-shirt that was plastered to your skin which you pinched away. "An oscar winning welcome happened." You deadpanned but you were already trailing after her to the bar, your hand clasped in hers in a loose grip, her scent that blew into your face tinged with the sweetness of wine, it was no surprise that she was already tipsy before you could even have a good look at her.

You bumped into her back as she halted abruptly, her hair spilled more wisps of wine into your face than your damp shirt did as she whirled around in the barstool, lips rich in deep red that brought out the dreaded urge of grappling her into a long-awaited kiss right that moment.

"A bottle of red!" Her voice slurred and hauled you out of your reverie, you averted your gaze the bartender. "No can do lady." He gestured briefly to the limited storage of liquor with a curved thumb off his shoulder.

She let out a noise of annoyance, eyes slipping to you, the curl of her lips sent your heat rising up your face. "Give me the strongest icebreaker you have." She said it with a sultry growl, eyes aimed dangerously on you, tongue wetting her lips, extracting a ladened breath from your chest.

In another moment, shot glasses were served up on the counter disgustingly peppered with unknown crumbs and splay of sauces that was pink, green and blue all in different seconds.

You glanced warily at the concoction in contrast to her downing the drink and tsking deliciously with a quick cock of her head. "Drink up, isn't that what you're here for?"

_____

So there you sat, your vision moving a second slower than where you hoped your eyes would land, everything seemed amusing, from the way people were dancing to the way she slurred her words for it was muddled, filtered through the liquor that suffused your complexion a deep red blush.

Then in the next second, you were spinning with the world, there were hands grappling you on the length of a couch, the stench of wine soaking your consciousness, you knew it was her without seeing her, you tasted her lipstick, felt her cold hands dragging up your waist with slight scratch from her nails. You felt as if your skin wanted to tear away from your skeleton and claw into hers as her bitter sweet lips and sharp teeth clashed against yours fervently. She extracted every last breath out of you before you parted.

Each inhalation made you all the more drunk on her, yet the answer to her previous question laid sober in your mind, only to be squished off with another press of her lips, her lipstick fading off layer by layer, embedding along the expanse of neck and smearing right by the corner of your lips.

When you tore away from her, chest heaving with breaths, your senses torn apart with wine and her fragrance, you spoke your mind with a "no," in a complete daze. It was only when she glanced sluggishly at you that you truly unraveled yourself to her. "I wasn't here for the liquor."

It seemed that something formulated in her, blocks and pieces swirling together before you thought you caught a spark of realisation in her eyes, then her lips clashed with yours again, muddling out your thoughts yet it was diffident this time, her touch trembled upon your bare waist, she hid it, securing her grip on you. She couldn't say it, not here, not in the spur of the moment, when her senses were blurred out. Perhaps when the glare of the sun enlightened her on the matter once more, her decision would charge head first into her unrelentingly, to stay or to stay.

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[thebutcher-5]

Tremors 3 - Ritorno a Perfection

Benvenuti o bentornati sul nostro blog. Nello scorso articolo siamo passati all’animazione, cercando di fare alternanza, e per cambiare abbiamo deciso di prendere in esame la Sony Animation Pictures con una delle loro commedie che trovo interessante, Hotel Transylvania. Il Conte Dracula, per proteggere sua figlia Mavis dagli umani, decide di costruire un hotel dedicato ai soli mostri e che possa…

[dukeofriven]

Slightly odd retcon here: in the first issue, Reed and Pals want to be the first people into space in order to beat the Damn Dirty Reds. Now in issue two Reed makes the more ambitious claim that the rocket was intended to reach Mars. Now, while Reed is the original hubristic idiot billionaire who thought he could rugged individualist his way into being The Best Rocket Guy, I'm not certain this particular claim ever comes up again.

[Lee, Stan (w), Jack Kirby (p), and George Klein (i)]. “The Fantastic Four Meet The Skrulls From Outer Space!” The Fantastic Four #2 (Jan 1962). The Fantastic Four Omnibus, vol 1. Eds. Corey Sedlmeier and Mark D. Beazley. Marvel: 2022 (Digital).

[xhxhxhx]

Before I started writing here again, I tried to write something else, somewhere else, for about two years. Let's do an inventory.

That's what I wanted to say, at least. I was going to give you an inventory of my failed projects. Instead, I started writing up the first item on my list. And that's where I stopped.

I was going to write something up on the "equal protection component" of the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause. See, e.g., Bolling v. Sharpe, 347 U.S. 497, 499 (1954); Schneider v. Rusk, 377 U.S. 163, 168 (1964); United States v. Valleo Madero, 596 U.S. 159, 166 (2023) (Thomas, J., concurring).

I had even read up on some of the literature. See generally Richard A. Primus, Bolling Alone, 104 Colum. L. Rev. 975 (2004); Ryan C. Williams, Originalism and the Other Desegregation Decision, 99 Va. L. Rev. 493 (2013). See also Daniel Farber & Suzanna Sherry, The Pariah Principle, 13 Const. Comment. 257 (1996).

I was explaining to a friend that the affirmative action case, Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023), turned on structural questions that none of the opinions really spoke to.

But I don't reach any of that in this post. Not the equal protection component. Not the affirmative action case. Not the structural questions, at least not directly. I got stuck earlier than that. I got stuck on maybe the most basic question of all.

Why do we even have two Due Process Clauses?

I.

The United States Constitution, a little instrument of seven articles and twenty-seven amendments, has two Due Process Clauses and one Equal Protection Clause.

The first Due Process Clause provides that "No person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." That's the Fifth Amendment. The second provides that "No State shall ... deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." That's the Fourteenth.

The Fourteenth is also what gives us the equal protection of the laws. "No State shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." But set that aside for now.

At first impression, the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause almost seems superfluous. No person means no person. If no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, it follows that no State shall deprive them of it. The Fifth Amendment takes care of everything, doesn't it?

But however general its "[n]o person" language reads on first impression, we take the Fifth Amendment to bind only the United States, not the several States. That's what the Court told us in Barron v. Mayor of Baltimore, 32 U.S. (7 Pet.) 243, 247 (1833), at least. It's what we tell ourselves today, if we care to think about it. It's why we have the Fourteenth Amendment.

II.

At the time, the Constitution was generally taken as an instrument addressed to the United States, not the several States. (That's the Barron idea, at least.) It spoke to the United States, not the several States. It was something more than a treaty, but something less than a full constitution.

The Constitution sets up the United States an imperfect sovereign, with an imperfect power over its territory and people. The Constitution left the several States more or less as they were, but set up a United States, separate and paramount, with a controlling power over the several States' territory and people within the scope of the United States' own imperfect sovereignty.

But it's not the imperfection that makes the Constitution something less than a full constitution. It's the silence. It's that the Constitution leaves the several States more or less as they were, without saying what they can do or how they can do it.

The Constitution leaves the several States not just as imperfect sovereigns, but as uncertain ones. The several States can do as they please with whatever the Constitution has not denied them, unless the United States steps in. But the Constitution doesn't say more than that. It doesn't even quite say that. It's not for them.

The Constitution always speaks to the United States, and always binds it, but it only speaks to the several States when it expressly addresses them. That's when it binds them. That's Barron. And that's how we read the Fifth Amendment.

It doesn't expressly address the several States, so it doesn't bind them. When it says "[n]o person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law," it's only talking to the United States.

The several States don't have to read that bit.

III.

That conclusion wasn't universal. Some thought that the Constitution did bind the several States, even when it didn't expressly address them. Some thought that those parts of the Constitution were always binding, but only enforceable against the several States by the States themselves.

See generally Akhil Reed Amar, The Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment, 101 Yale L.J. 1193, 1203 (1992); William Winslow Crosskey, Charles Fairman, “Legislative History,” and the Constitutional Limitations on State Authority, 22 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1 (1954).

That conclusion left the United States without the power to enforce the guarantees of the Fifth Amendment against the several States. That conclusion was acceptable in practice, even for skeptics of the prevailing reading of the Constitution, as long as the several States guaranteed and enforced the same rights themselves.

But as States denied what were taken to be fundamental rights, as Southern states did during Jacksonian controversies over antislavery speech and the antislavery press, Northern opinion, and especially the advanced part of Northern opinion that came to constitute the Republican Party, turned against that conclusion.

Republicans came to feel that the United States should have some power to enforce the Constitution's guarantees against the several States, in the several States, even if only in extremis. And so they gave us the Fourteenth Amendment.

And that's why we have two Due Process Clauses.

[ravennasgf]

EM: I believe you

TW: mentions of r@pe

Richard had just been sentenced to jail time. Finally after everything he did to me which he covered up he's finally gone.

Elaine is now in charge. I've been moved to her assistant which is problematic as I've been harbouring a massive crush on her. I was Richard's assistant.

The end of the first day with Elaine as CEO ended and as I got ready to leave I decided to talk to her.

I knock on her door.

"Come in." She called

"I just wanted to thank you, Miss Markinson, for turning in Mr Rusk. It means more to me than you'll ever know. So thank you. I'll leave you to it and I'll see you on Monday, Miss Markinson." I say as I quickly exit the room.

I get to my car and drive to my apartment. I get in and hook my phone to the speakers and play music singing along while I order pizza. I open a bottle of wine and turn down the music.

As I'm singing til it happens to you by Lady Gaga there's a knock on my door. I open it and see my boss.

"Miss Markinson?"

"Can I come in?" She asks. I move aside and let her in.

"Would you like some wine?"

"Would love some."

"Have a seat, I'll be out in a second." I go to the kitchen and grab another glass pouring the wine as I sing quietly. I bring the glass and the bottle out to the living room with me.

"Here you go." I say handing the glass to her and placing the bottle on the coffee table.

"You have a beautiful voice when you sing." she says.

"I- um... thank you." I say looking away. Not knowing what else to say, the silence is broken by a knock on my door. I excuse myself and get my purse. I pay the delivery guy and head back to my boss.

"Would you like some pizza?"

"No, I'll eat when I get home."

"No please this will last me a week, which it won't last that long. There's more than enough."

"Only if you're sure."

"I'm sure. I'll be back in a second." I head back to the kitchen grabbing two plates and another bottle of wine. I head back and sit down next to her again, handing her the plate. I put a piece of the pepperoni pizza on my plate. She does the same.

"So, y/n I'm sure that you're wondering why I'm here. And it's not to eat." she starts I just nod.

"I wanted to know what you meant when you came into my office before you left." funnily enough I believe you by fletcher came on the speaker.

"Well this song should explain it as I can never bring myself to speak it." I give her my phone which has the lyrics on it.

"Did you consent?" She asks cautiously.

"No, I tried to call for help. I tried to fight him off. I tried to scream but he covered my mouth and did it anyway. Then threatened me with what he'd do if I told anyone." I tell her looking away embarrassed at my weakness.

"Oh y/n... I'm so sorry." she says hugging me. "How long ago?"

"Two years ago he did it for the first time. Which was when I stopped wearing skirts to work. He did it again a few months ago. With the same threats, he even threatened you this time as well."

"He what?!?! That motherfvcking bastard. God, I hate him. I'm so sorry y/n."

"Me too, don't worry."

"What did he threaten me with?"

"What you did to him. Throw you under the bus and do what he did to me when you didn't want it."

"y/n... thank you for protecting me, but you should've told someone."

"I couldn't not with the threats revolving around me."

"I'm so sorry. He's gone now so you can wear skirts again if you like to. But I will say you look stunning and sexy in both pants and skirts." she says seductively.

"I- um thank you and I might alternate between the two."

"y/n I really like you. I have for a while. I noticed when you stopped wearing skirts and wanted to ask what was wrong cause you weren't your normal self but I didn't know how to ask."

"Boss, I like you too. I have since I started working there."

"Elaine. You can call me Elaine, darling."

"Well... elaine... where do we go from here?"

"Well y/n we can start with this..." she trails off by kissing me on my lips.

"Well that's a great start."

"We can also start with this. y/n will you go on a date with me?"

"Absolutely. Though tonight can count as a date too. I mean we've already done what i'd do on a first date minus the fancy restaurant."

"Fair enough. Well y/n would you like to count this as our first date and i'll take you out to a restaurant tomorrow night?"

"I'd love that."

"Good."

"Would you like to watch a movie?"

"As long as I'm with you I'd do anything."

"I wholeheartedly agree. So which one?" I ask as she pulls me into her side, wrapping her arms around me. We settled on, fast and furious one and decided to watch the whole series together.

~~~

Two months later.

Elaine and my relationship was developing into everything I've dreamed of. I'm officially her girlfriend.

Sitting on my lounge wrapped in my girlfriend's arms watching another fast and furious movie, she pauses it.

"y/n?"

"Yes El?"

"How would you feel about moving in with me?"

"You really want me to move in with you?"

"y/n when you're not with me there's a piece of me missing. I want you to be the first and last thing I see when I wake and sleep."

"Oh El, I love you so much. Of course I'll move in with you."

"I love you too darling."

~~~ a year later

Elaine and I have moved in together. We're in the kitchen making dinner. When she turns me around and turns off the stove.

"El what are you doing?"

"y/n my darling." she starts as she sinks to her knee. "You are the light of my life along with the love of my life. You're on my mind 24/7 night and day and I think about you all the time. I love you so much and can't imagine my life without you. My darling y/n will you marry me?"

"My darling El, of course I'll marry you. Nothing would make me happier."

She jumps up after placing the silver diamond ring on my finger, lifting me up in her arms, spinning me around before putting me down on my feet and kissing me.

After Richard's shit I never expected my life to turn out this way, but I wouldn't change it for anything.  

[nitrateglow]

Spooky Season 2024: 32-36

Frenzy (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1972)

Hitchcock's penultimate film involves Scotland Yard's search for a sex-killer known as the Necktie Murderer. When a divorced matchmaking agency director named Brenda is the next victim, evidence points to her ex-husband Richard, a down-on-his-luck barman who just lost his job. In reality, the killer is fruit-seller Bob Rusk, an amiable sociopath who uses the circumstantial evidence against Richard to his advantage.

Frenzy is Hitchcock's nastiest film. The tone is as bleak and nihilistic as his work ever got, and the violence-- now unencumbered by censorship demands-- remains brutal, even by modern standards. The more I see it, the more impressed I am with the film, particularly its strong sense of time and place. The film captures London in the early '70s, giving it a time capsule quality. The minor characters are all vividly written and performed, coming off as real people and giving the setting even more of a lived-in feel.

Subspecies (dir. Ted Nicolaou, 1991)

Michelle is one of a trio of female college students going to Romania to study the local folklore. Unfortunately, her friends become vampire chow for Radu, a vampire with Nosferatu fingers and sloppy dinner etiquette. And he's got his sights set on her next...

Subspecies is the first in a series of direct to video movies about Radu, a truly delightful villain who toes the line between menacing and camp silliness. To be honest, these films aren't that great, but they're really fun, especially if you watch them with friends.

The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (dir. Emilio Miraglia, 1972)

Sisters Kitty and Evelyn despise one another. Their grandfather, fearing a family curse which says one sister will murder the other, leading to the killed sibling resurrecting then going on a killing spree, tries to prevent them from hating one another more. Unfortunately, a cat fight between the two women ends with Evelyn's accidental death and Kitty's hiding the corpse with the aid of a cousin. However, some time later, a red-cloaked figure with Evelyn's features starts murdering people in Kitty's social circle. Is the supernatural at work or is this the result of a more mortal plot?

The Red Queen Kills Seven Times mashes up traditional giallo tropes with what feels like an old dark house 1920s murder mystery. I picked this as one of my favorite new-to-me movies last year and it held up on rewatch. It's stylish and spooky, and has a phenomenal soundtrack.

The Birds (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1963)

When playgirl Melanie Daniels comes to the quiet California town of Bodega Bay, she expects to engage in flirtatious games with local catch Mitch. Instead, she shows up just in time for the bird population to start pecking out the eyes of every human in sight.

What can I say about The Birds? It's a true classic, less a sclocky disaster movie than a character piece about a variety of grieved, fearful characters. I love it more and more every time I watch it.

Kuroneko (dir. Kaneto Shindo, 1968)

After a pair of peasant women are raped and murdered by samurai, they return from the dead as vengeful ghosts sworn to kill the class of men who brought about their deaths. However, they are given pause when a particular young samurai comes along-- a former farmer who happens to be the younger woman's husband and the older woman's son. Can they kill him or will their lingering human emotions win out?

Kuroneko is one of the best ghost movies of all time. It is both heartbreaking and chilling, with interesting moral dilemmas for both the living and dead characters. The visuals are absolutely sublime, with deep shadows and characters emerging from the darkness in striking ways. Honestly, I do not want to spoil it-- it's incredibly good.

[dailydeclassified]

"Did Israel Deliberately Attack the USS Liberty? Declassified Files Suggest Yes"

On June 8, 1967, the USS Liberty, a United States Navy technical research ship, was attacked by Israeli Air Force jets and Israeli Navy motor torpedo boats in the Mediterranean Sea. The attack killed 34 crew members and wounded 171 others. The incident remains controversial to this day, and the release of declassified CIA files has shed new light on the events leading up to the attack and the aftermath.

   The Israeli government claimed that the attack was a case of mistaken identity, as the Israeli forces thought the USS Liberty was an Egyptian ship. However, many survivors and officials have disputed this claim, suggesting that the attack may have been intentional. In fact, a number of US government officials have come forward over the years to suggest that the attack was deliberate, and that Israel had hoped to sink the USS Liberty and blame the attack on Egypt, in order to draw the United States into the Six-Day War on their side.

   The declassified CIA files seem to support this theory. While the CIA's official position at the time was that the attack was a case of mistaken identity, the declassified files reveal that there were serious doubts within the agency about the Israeli government's version of events. For example, a memo from CIA Deputy Director Admiral Rufus Taylor to Director Richard Helms on June 13, 1967, stated that "the weight of evidence supports the conclusion that the attack was planned and deliberate." The memo also suggested that Israel had deliberately misled the United States about the identity of the ship, and that US officials had been reluctant to push the issue due to the strong US-Israeli relationship.

   Other declassified documents reveal that US officials were concerned about the impact of the attack on US-Israeli relations, and that they were reluctant to publicly criticize Israel. For example, a memo from US Ambassador to the United Nations Arthur Goldberg to Secretary of State Dean Rusk on June 14, 1967, stated that "the President has sent messages to Prime Minister Eshkol expressing his concern over the attack on the Liberty. However, we do not want to take any public position which might embarrass the Israelis."

   The release of these declassified CIA files has rekindled debate over the USS Liberty attack and the role of the United States in the events leading up to it. While the official US government position remains that the attack was a case of mistaken identity, many survivors and officials continue to believe that the attack was deliberate, and that the United States was completed  betrayed by its ally, Israel.

   The declassified CIA files have also raised questions about the broader US-Israeli relationship. Critics argue that the United States has been too quick to support Israel, even when its actions are not in the best interests of the United States. Some also argue that the United States has not done enough to hold Israel accountable for its actions, including the USS Liberty attack.

   In recent years, there have been calls for a new investigation into the USS Liberty attack, in order to uncover the truth about what really happened. Survivors and family members of those who were killed in the attack continue to push for a full investigation, as they believe that the United States owes it to them to get to the bottom of what happened.

   In conclusion, the declassified CIA files have shed new light on the USS Liberty attack, and have raised important questions about the US-Israeli relationship. While the full truth about the attack may never be known, it is important for the United States to continue to investigate and uncover as much information as possible, in order to ensure that justice is done for the victims and their families.

REF - [https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/search/site/uss%20liberty]

SEE ALSO - [https://twitter.com/CIADeclassified/status/1638289638673580036]

[https://www.facebook.com/groups/524780603063689]

[ulkaralakbarova]

Gringo

An American businessman with a stake in a pharmaceutical company that’s about to go public finds his life is thrown into turmoil by an incident in Mexico. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Harold Soyinka: David Oyelowo Richard Rusk: Joel Edgerton Elaine Markinson: Charlize Theron Sunny: Amanda Seyfried Mitch Rusk: Sharlto Copley Miles: Harry Treadaway Angel Valverde: Yul Vazquez Bonnie Soyinka:…

[thebluestlove]

Thank you @solitaryandwandering for tagging me!

3 ships I like: Hmm. Lan Wang Ji and Wei Wu Xian, from The Untamed; Bud and Eddie, from 9-1-1; Gao Shi De and Zhou Shu Yi from We Best Love.

My First Ship: This is kinda hard. Ash and Misty, maybe? But if we are talking in terms of shipping induced indignation, it has to be Jo and Laurie from Little Women. Perhaps that was the beginning of my particular fondness for the best friends to lovers trope. Jo and Teddy evermore❤️. But I don’t blame Alcott for that narrative decision - Little Women was autobiographical in many respects and the real life Teddy got away, after all (but I didn’t at all appreciate how Greta Gerwig’s Little Women blatantly changed Prof. Bhaer into a young man. NOT ACCEPTABLE).

Last song I heard: The Only One by Evanescence

Favourite childhood book: The Sherlock Holmes series. I fancied myself to be a protegee of Holmes!

Currently reading: Playground by Richard Powers. It’s one heck of a novel.

Currently watching: Make It Right, The Sign, Jack and Joker, My Damn Business and Hannibal

Currently consuming: Had rusks with milk tea an hour ago.

Currently craving: Well, I’d love to have some soupy kimchi ramyun right now!

Tagging @waitmyturtles , @that-bl-bitch and @usertoxicyaoi

9 Fandom Peeps to Get to Know Better:

Got tagged by @troubled-mind, thank you!! :)

3 Ships You Like:

Ji Woo & Seo Joon (To My Star)

[ID: Scene from episode 9 of season 1 of To My Star. Ji Woo and Seo Joon are in bed, Seo Joon on his back and Ji Woo on his side facing him. Ji Woo smiles softly and Seo Joon gleefully pinches his cheek. Ji Woo pouts in light irritation. End ID]

Yoon Se-ri & Ri Jung Hyuk (Crash Landing on You)

[ID: Scene from Kdrama Crash Landing on You. Ri Jung Hyuk and Yoon Se-ri cling to each other in a tearful embrace. End ID]

Four & Jattawa (Reverse 4 You)

[ID: Scene from the show Reverse 4 You. Four gently cradles Wa's face in her hands and kisses her. They are standing on a roof, overlooking a city and a great expanse of night sky. In the distance, a shooting star streaks by. End ID]

First Ship Ever: Romione... I'm so sorry. Another early one I was really into was Cecil and Carlos from Welcome to Night Vale (they're still going!! with a kid!!)

Last Song You Heard: "Texas Sun" by Khruangbin and Leon Bridges (the MV is beautiful)

Favorite Childhood Book: The list is endless but Anne of Green Gables was one of my absolute favorites!!

Currently Reading: One more chapter of Treasure Island to go!

Currently Watching: The Bear; Peaceful Property; Love in the Big City; Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo; Jack & Joker

Currently Consuming: a pumpkin-shaped Reeses :) and I have oatmeal on the stove!

Currently Craving: nothing in particular but I would die for a huge Japanese meal right now. Anything with tons of rice and soup/broth.

Tagging @toastofthetrashfire @twig-tea @thebluestlove @wanderlust-in-my-soul @italianpersonwithashippersheart @wen-kexing-apologist @lurkingshan @bengiyo @colourme-feral

[auskultu]

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 1968

Secretary General Thant proposed several possible sites yesterday that he believes might be acceptable to Hanoi and Washington for preliminary peace talks. A spokesman said Mr. Thant was acting as a “third party to try to break the deadlock on the site.” Paris and other cities not named have been suggested to both parties. Meanwhile, in Washington, Secretary of State Rusk cautioned Hanoi not to lose an opportunity to enter peace talks by indulging in propaganda or miscalculating American resolve to reach a settlement 

North Vietnamese troops heavily shelled the American Marine outpost at Khe Sanh for the second straight day, the United States command reported. Military sources said they regarded the Increase in enemy belligerence around Khe Sanh as a phase in a rear-guard action rather than a sign of a renewed siege of the outpost.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a fugitive warrant charging Eric Starve Galt with conspiracy the murder of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The agency said Galt, who has used other names in the past, conspired from about March 29 to about April 5 with a man “whom he alleged to be his brother” to “injure, oppress, threaten or intimidate” Dr. King. 

In Washington, Attorney General Ramsay Clark criticized the recent order of Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago to “shoot to kill arsonists” and “shoot to maim looters” and said such a policy could lead to “a very dangerous escalation of the problems we are so intent on solving.” 

[vilmublue]

Since I earlier talked about the Varjak Paw books I loved, I wanna talk more about books I've loved when I was younger and still do.

The Brothers Lionheart is a 1973 Swedish children's fantasy book written by the around-here very famous Swedish children's author Astrid Lindgren.

The story is about two brothers, one more young and timid and doesn't feel he can do much, while the older brother he admires is very beautiful, brave, charming, kind and popular–very much a hero and like a prince from a fairytale, deserving of the name Lionheart.

It's an interesting story, as most of it is spent in an afterlife that is like a world of its own where people live very much like they do in the living world, and where it turns out things aren't all happy and honky dory. This is another case of a children's book with dark stuff in it. It is even a bit controversial.

The story starts in Sweden during the early 20th century, in the house of a poor dressmaker whose husband was lost in the sea years ago, and now her young boy Karl Lion is bedridden and suffering from tuberculosis. One day, the customers talk and because they assume Karl is asleep, they mention that the boy will die soon.

Karl is obviously distraught, but is comforted by his older brother Jonathan Lion, who affectionally calls him Rusky, because he loves dry rusk biscuits and especially loves his younger brother, though Karl cannot really understand why as he considers himself quite ugly and dumb. Jonathan tells him stories about Nangijala, a world beyond death, a land of campfires, fairytales and adventures where his little brother can play free. He comforts Karl by reminding him that one day he will be with him in Nangijala and he wouldn't have to wait for long even if Jonathan lives super old, because time works differently in Nangijala, and the dead can visit from Nangijala in the form of white doves.

One day, there's a housefire and Jonathan saves his sick younger brother by lifting him on his back and jumping out of the high window, the older boy sadly dying from his wounds caused by the fall. Jonathan's mournful teacher writes about him on the newspaper, reminiscing how they had read about the brave Richard the Lionheart and how the boy deserves that name as well.

Quite soon afterwards, Rusky feels his death approaching fast and writes his mom a note "Don't cry, Mother. See you in Nangijala," the similar words he felt he had heard from Jonathan right before he had died from his wounds. That night he succumbs to his illness and dies, and arrives to Nangijala where he reunites with his brother (just try not to think about their poor mom losing all her children, husband and house.)

At first, the Cherry Valley of Nangijala seems like a beautiful paradise surrounded by mountains and filled with cherry blossoms, where people live in peace, kind of like an idealized version of an older time village and nature.

The two brothers do some cottagecore shit, fishing and living in a little house of their own (which even had the sign "The Lionheart Brothers" before they arrived.) Rusky is even able to swim and ride his very own horse despite not being able to do so in life and of course he's no longer ill. They have pet rabbits, too!

The villagers chat in the Golden Cockerel Inn and help and give to each other according to what each one needs. A woman named Sofia is very well-respected and seems like the leader of the village–she raises the special doves that can fly anywhere and borrow their feathery form for those who wish to visit their living relatives. How nice!

But turns out the neighboring Wild Rose Valley has been taken over by a cruel tyrant named Tengil of the Ancient Mountains, who wants to rule all of Nangijala. The people aren't free to leave the valley or even move outside their homes at certain times of the day, death sentences are very common and some are forced to hard work and slavery to death, so they obviously hate the guy. But they don't dare to oppose him–why?

Because he has an absolutely massive black dragoness on his side, who loves to snack on humans and weapons cannot harm her. If that wasn't bad enough, Katla the dragon's flames don't seem like your usual fire–her dark flames seem more like some sort of cursed poisonous fire that soon enough either kills or paralyzes everything it touches. People fear her so much that the words "Katla is coming" will make just about anyone lose their fighting spirit.

But a resistance is secretly growing and the brothers become a part of it...

There's also a movie made in 1977, which follows the story well, except for one character-specific scene I think they should've included and the ending portion with Katla that's sadly changed and didn't include the really cool scene in the book (likely because of budget reasons.)

Also, I'm now gonna talk about MAJOR SPOILERS regarding the ending of the book and what the author had to say about it:

So, Lindgren has stated that the adventures in Nangijala are Rusky’s dreams on his deathbed after he fell unconscious and Nangilima which he enters at the end of the book is the true afterlife, and like heaven as it is a truly good place with no evil unlike Nangijala. The controversial ending is more Rusky accepting and no longer fearing the unknown of death as he finally dies in real life. However, Lindgren doesn’t want this to spoil the fantasy of the book and very much supports children’s interpretations of it, saying that “If any of you ever tell this to your children, I will kill you” lol. She wrote a short “happily ever after” chapter to children who really wanted to know what happened next (which I just learned about,) which included the boys reuniting and living with their adoptive grandpa Mattias and their horses in the Apple Farm in Nangilima. A wild dog decided he wanted to come to people and became Rusky’s pet. The bad people like Tengil went to a place called Lokrume (described as not exactly a horrible place, but a one where they can no longer continue doing evil and have influence over others; though apparently it’s super awkward whenever Tengil and Jossi happen to pass by each other there) and no one knows where Katla and Karm went, maybe a mysterious place called Sorokaste. The boys’ mother went to Nangijala at first and Sofia took care of her. Eventually they both arrived to Nangilima and live together in a nice little house close to the Apple Farm, Sofia becoming kind of like a second mother to the boys, as they visit the women every day. The end.

[filmes-online-facil]

Assistir Filme Gringo - Vivo ou Morto Online fácil

Assistir Filme Gringo - Vivo ou Morto Online Fácil é só aqui: https://filmesonlinefacil.com/filme/gringo-vivo-ou-morto/

Gringo - Vivo ou Morto - Filmes Online Fácil

Funcionário dedicado e marido exemplar, Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo) leva uma vida pacata em Chicago. Enfrentando problemas financeiros, ele descobre que a empresa em que trabalha está negociando uma fusão que pode resultar em sua demissão. Aos poucos David passa a acreditar nesta possibilidade, devido a atos suspeitos de seu chefe e "melhor amigo" Richard Rusk (Joel Edgerton). Quando Richard e sua sócia Elaine Markinson (Charlize Theron) resolvem acompanhá-lo em uma viagem de trabalho corriqueira ao México, David vê a situação como a oportunidade ideal para fingir ter sido sequestrado e, desta forma, pedir um polpudo sequestro.

[hexjulia]

no one asked but some of what i added. opinions if you have them

Zee nu - Eva Meijer: fiction, dutch book about the sea just inexplicably advancing to cover all of the Netherlands. Like by a metre a day. The Goshawk - T.H. White. Supposedly about taming a goshawk (badly). But really seems to be about a young T.H. White feeling really deeply anxious about WWI and using an outdated falcon training manual because he would like to be back in the middle ages or Shakespeare's time at the least. He was not having a good time in what sounds like an interesting way. Voice of a fish: a lyric essay - Lars Horn alright already getting lazy so "an interwoven essay collection that explores the trans experience through themes of water, fish, and mythology, set against the backdrop of travels in Russia and a debilitating back injury that left Horn temporarily unable to speak. In Horn’s adept hands, the collection takes shape as a unified book: short vignettes about fish, reliquaries, and antiquities serve as interludes between longer essays, knitting together a sinuous, wave-like form that flows across the book." The Sea Cloak and other stories -- Nayrouz Qarmout, Perween Richards (translation) "The Sea Cloak is a collection of 14 stories by the author, journalist, and women's rights campaigner, Nayrouz Qarmout. Drawing from her own experiences growing up in a Syrian refugee camp, as well as her current life in Gaza, these stories stitch together a patchwork of different perspectives into what it means to be a woman in Palestine today."

The Book of Swindles: Selections from a Late Ming Collection Yingyu Zhang, Christopher G. Rea (Translator), Bruce Rusk (Translator): "This is an age of deception. Con men ply the roadways. Bogus alchemists pretend to turn one piece of silver into three. Devious nuns entice young women into adultery. Sorcerers use charmed talismans for mind control and murder. A pair of dubious monks extorts money from a powerful official and then spends it on whoring. A rich student tries to bribe the chief examiner, only to hand his money to an imposter. A eunuch kidnaps boys and consumes their "essence" in an attempt to regrow his penis. These are just a few of the entertaining and surprising tales to be found in this seventeenth-century work, said to be the earliest Chinese collection of swindle stories.The Book of Swindles, compiled by an obscure writer from southern China, presents a fascinating tableau of criminal ingenuity. The flourishing economy of the late Ming period created overnight fortunes for merchants—and gave rise to a host of smooth operators, charlatans, forgers, and imposters seeking to siphon off some of the new wealth. The Book of Swindles, which was ostensibly written as a manual for self-protection in this shifting and unstable world, also offers an expert guide to the art of deception. Each story comes with commentary by the author, Zhang Yingyu, who expounds a moral lesson while also speaking as a connoisseur of the swindle. This volume, which contains annotated translations of just over half of the eighty-odd stories in Zhang's original collection, provides a wealth of detail on social life during the late Ming and offers words of warning for a world in peril." The Conscript: A Novel of Libya’s Anticolonial War Gebreyesus Hailu, Ghirmai Negash (Translator) "Eloquent and thought-provoking, this classic novel by the Eritrean novelist Gebreyesus Hailu, written in Tigrinya in 1927 and published in 1950, is one of the earliest novels written in an African language and will have a major impact on the reception and critical appraisal of African literature. The Conscript depicts, with irony and controlled anger, the staggering experiences of the Eritrean ascari, soldiers conscripted to fight in Libya by the Italian colonial army against the nationalist Libyan forces fighting for their freedom from Italy’s colonial rule. Anticipating midcentury thinkers Frantz Fanon and Aimé Césaire, Hailu paints a devastating portrait of Italian colonialism. Some of the most poignant passages of the novel include the awakening of the novel’s hero, Tuquabo, to his ironic predicament of being both under colonial rule and the instrument of suppressing the colonized Libyans."

The First Wife: A Tale of Polygamy Paulina Chiziane, David Brookshaw (Translator): "After twenty years of marriage, Rami discovers that her husband has been living a double--or rather, a quintuple--life. Tony, a senior police officer in Maputo, has apparently been supporting four other families for many years. Rami remains calm in the face of her husband's duplicity and plots to make an honest man out of him. After Tony is forced to marry the four other women--as well as an additional lover--according to polygamist custom, the rival lovers join together to declare their voices and demand their rights. In this brilliantly funny and feverishly scathing critique, a major work from Mozambique's first published female novelist, Paulina Chiziane explores her country's traditional culture, its values and hypocrisy, and the subjection of women the world over." alright i can't be bothered to copy these anymore Catilinia's Riddle, Steven Saylor. Historical fiction about Rome. I was told stylish beards were somehow important to the conspiracy.

there's more but i've been hit by a fatal combination of lack of motivation and also i need to cook.

i need to stop adding to my to read list for a while though. genuinely just not good for my mental health.

[fcinetv]

Gringo

Gringo Actors: David Oyelowo,Joel Edgerton,Charlize Theron Director: Nash Edgerton Country: américain,australien Genres: Comédie, Action Duration: 110

<p>Harold Soyinka travaille pour un groupe pharmaceutique dirigé par Elaine Markinson et Richard Rusk. Lorsque ces derniers décident de se lancer dans le commerce lucratif du cannabis médical, ils envoient Harold au Mexique pour le lancement de leur nouvelle usine de production. Ignorant que la société qu’il représente a trahi un dangereux cartel local, l’employé modèle échappe de justesse à un enlèvement. Perdu au fin fond du ... source https://fcine.tv/gringo-4564-streaming

[itsashvision]

Brands that are NOT testing their products on animals.

It is important to know which companies are cruelty- free and to buy their products. We are living in world where money rules  and till now it was not easy to find eco options that will not cost us a small fortune. Even few years ago choice of those products was poor and quality was not measured by their price tag. I am so happy that now going to store I can actually buy cruelty- free products without sacrificing half of my paycheck.

Below is the list of the companies which are offering products that we all want to use.

A.T.W. AA Oceanic AA Prestige (AA Oceanic) Abercrombie & Fitch Ahava Ajurveda Alba Botanica Alcina Cosmetic (Alpecin, Plantur) Alepia Alkemie Alima Pure AlmacaBio (Hedera Natur) Almkraft Aloe vera of America Alterra (Rossmann) Alva Alverde (Drogerie Markt, DM) Amorepacific Amla Anastasia Beverly Hills Andalou Naturals AnneMarie Börlind Antonio Banderas Fragrances (PUIG) Apart (Global Cosmed) APC Cosmetics Aquolina Argiletz Argital ArtDeco Asda Astonish (Being Eco) Aubrey Organics Aura Cacia Avalon Natural Products Avalon Organics Avemi Azzaro (Clarins) Babydream (Rossmann) Badgequo Ltd (Body Collection, Technic, Tomorrows Girl) Badger Balm (WS Badger) Balm balm Bandi Barbra Cosmetics Barry M Bath & Body Works Beauty Without Cruelty Bell Bella Benecos Berg Line (Hedera Natur) Biały Jeleń (Pollena Ostrzeszów) Bielenda Kosmetyki Naturalne Bi-es Bil (Libella) Bingo BingoSpa Biochemia Urody Bioderma Bio-D BIONIGREE Bionorica Bio-Oil Bio-Pac Biorepair (Coswell) Biosilk (Farouk) BiosLine (Biokap) Biolaven (Sylveco) Biotone Blanx Bobini (Global Cosmed) Bonne Bell Börlind of Germany Buff’d Butterfly (Verona) Cafedirect Cannabis Carmex Carolina Herrera (PUIG) Casswell – Massey Catrice Cattier Celia (Perfecta) CHI (Farouk) China Glaze Christy Cosmetics Clarins Cleanic Clever (Clovin) Clochee Clovin Collection 2000 Collistar Comme des Garcons (PUIG) Conair (Rusk) Crystal Body Deodorant Cyprys (Libella) DaburDavid Yurman (Clarins) Decleor USA Delia Dermalogica Dermika Distal (Libella) DM (Drogerie Markt) Dr Beckmann (Werner & Mertz Delta) Dr Bronner Magic Soap Dr Duda Dr Irena Eris Dr Nona Dr. Hauschka Skin Care Drammock International (Beauty Formulas) Dzidziuś (Pollena Ostrzeszów)E.L.F. Cosmetics E.O.S. (Evolution of smoothness) Earth Essentials Eco Cosmetics (Venus) Eco Tools Cosmetic Brushes Efektima Elfa Pharm Polska Ekosens Enzymat 83 (Pollena Ostrzeszów) EO Products Equo (Hedera Natur) Essence Estetica Eveline Everyday Minerals Eyes Lips Face E.L.F. Cosmetics Faith in Nature Farfalla Farouk Figs&Rouge Florame Flos – Lek Föllinge Nature of Sweden Forever Living Products Forte Sweden (Mrs Potters) Freeman Frosch (Werner & Mertz Delta)

Gaia Creams Glamshop- glamshadows Global Cosmed Go Go Beauty Goldwell Cosmetics Gosh Hard Candy Hean Hedera Natur (AlmacaBio, Equo, BergLine) Helan Heliotrop Hello Kitty Hesh Pharma Inglot Inter Fragrances Inter-Beta Irving IsaDora Isana (Rossmann) Iwostin Izo (Global Cosmed)

Jason Natural Cosmetics Jelly Pong Pong Jeffree Star Cosmetics Jiva Ayurveda Joanna John Masters Organics Joppa Jordan Kanu Khadi Kinky Curly Kiss My Face Kobo Korres (For Kings&Queens) Kret (Global Cosmed) Kryolan L.A. Colors Lakshmi L’Angelica (Coswell) L’anza (Re Balance, Curls & Color) LaRocca Skincare Lauro Lavera Lawendowa Farma Lawendowe Pola L’Biotica Le Petit Olivier Lierac Lily Lolo Lirene Liz Claiborne Cosmetics Logona Lolita Lempicka Lorenz Lumene Lumiere L Madara Malwa (Global Cosmed) Makeup Geek Mango (PUIG) Manic Panic Mann & Schroeder Marks & Spencer Marion Martina Gebhardt Naturkosmetik Massimo Dutti (PUIG) Mehron Method Products Mistano MIYA Cosmetics Montagne Jeunesse (Model Secrets, Chantelle, Fab Face Food) Mors (Polin) Moschino MySecret (Pierre Rene) NABLA Cosmetics Nads Natracare Natura (Drogerie Natura) Nature’s Answer Neobio Nina Ricci (PUIG) NOA Lab Norel Nuxe NYX Organique Organix Cosmetics (Skincare) Organix Haircare Orlane Orly Oxy fresh ush

Pacifica Paco Rabanne (PUIG) Paese Palmer’s Paloma (Unicolor) Pangea Organics Pasante Patrichs (Coswell) Paul Mitchell Payot (PUIG) Pharmaceris PharmaCF (Venus, Missy, Seria Kwiatowa, Dermafresh, Bond, Korsarz, Football, No. 36, Bye Bye Mosquito, Golden Sun, Fri) Phenome Physicians Formula Phytomer Pierre Rene (My Secret) Plantana Polin (Mors, Efekt, Rosa, Rondel, Ritmo, Nornik, Poppy, Veness) Pollena Ewa Pollena Malwa Pollena Ostrzeszów (Dzidziuś, Luxella, FF, dr Reiner, Impet, BHP, Komfort, Meteor) Poppy (Polin) Porsche (Clarins) Prada (PUIG) Primavera Primer Provida PUIG Pupa Pur Cosmetics Queen Helene Real (kosmetyki) Real Techniques Rejuvi Renato Balestra (Coswell) RFSU RHEA Richards & Appleby Rival de Loop (Rossmann) Rockford (Coswell) Sanoll Sante Scandia Cosmetics Seboradin (Inter Fragrances) Sensique Seventh Generation Sesa Shakira (PUIG) Skin Food SKIN79 Sleek Sofin (Global Cosmed) Sonet/Sonnet Soraya Stargazer Stella Cadente (Clarins) Stila Sylveco SULWHASOO SV Tarte Tautropfen Naturkosmetik Tea Tree The Ordinary The Secret Soap Store (Scandia Cosmetics) Thierry Mugler (Clarins) Tołpa Too Faced Trader Joe’s the Balm Tuli mydlarnia Twinings Under Twenty Unicolor (Paloma, Tanita) Urtekram Valentino (PUIG) Venita Vianek (Sylveco) Victoria’s Secret (Secret Gardens) Vipera Vittorio Belluci (Verona) Vollare (Verona) Weleda Werner & Mertz Delta (BUFALO, Esmal, Rorax, Tuba) Wet’n’Wild R

Yes To (Carrots, Blueberries, Tomatoes, Cucumbers) Youngblood Minerals Zara (PUIG) Ziaja Zielone Laboratorium Zoya Zoeva    

[leftistpracticalpolitics]

I loved reading this article, not because I agree with the writer’s argument (which is really stupid) but because it lists, very clearly and concisely, how much officials were harassed during the anti-war movement and provides a blueprint for doing it again.

Most activists stopped short of planting bombs and shooting police officers. But many still blew past the boundaries of what nearly everyone considered legitimate protest. Demonstrators not only directed chants of “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” at President Lyndon Johnson; they also accosted officials of his administration when they set out in public. In 1967, when Secretary of State Dean Rusk tried to attend a banquet of the Foreign Policy Association in New York, a radical group called Up Against the Wall, Motherfuckers (often called “the Motherfuckers” for short) threw eggs, rocks and bags of cows’ blood, though Rusk slipped into the hotel unscathed. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara was spat upon in an airport and called a baby killer; on a visit to Harvard, a hostile mob encircled his car and rocked it back and forth until police spirited him to safety via a tunnel. Antiwar radicals even tried to set fire to McNamara’s Colorado vacation home — twice. A few years later, after he’d left government, someone tried to throw him off the Martha’s Vineyard ferry.

The confrontations continued after Johnson yielded the presidency to Richard Nixon. Since the 1950s, liberals had regarded Nixon — as they see Trump today — as having uniquely trampled on the norms of American political culture. ���Certain charges are not made; there are unwritten rules in the game of politics,” wrote Richard Strout, in The New Republic in 1958. “But the lethal young Nixon does not accept these rules. He is out for the kill and the scalp at any cost.” Historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., agreed, saying Nixon was “the only major American politician in our history who came to prominence by techniques which, if generally adopted, would destroy the whole fabric of mutual confidence on which democracy rests.” The belief (not unfounded) that Nixon would stop at nothing in pursuit of victory primed his critics to spy danger in his every move.

This reputation — combined with Nixon’s own polarizing rhetoric and his failure to quickly end the Vietnam War — fed the left’s desperation. In his first years as president, violent radicalism spiked: A presidential study pointed to a national “crisis of violence,” with some 41,000 bombings or bomb threats during his first 15 months in the White House. In this context, the far left continued to directly go after members of the administration and even the first family. Various Nixonites recounted harrowing incidents in their memoirs or interviews. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then a White House domestic policy aide, told Nixon in May 1970 that militants from Students for a Democratic Society had threatened to torch his Cambridge, Massachusetts, house, forcing his family to go underground. His 10-year-old son, John feared his father would be assassinated.

Julie Nixon, the president’s daughter, also paid a price. Often a target of invective — at one rally at Smith College, which she attended, a crowd of 10,000 chanted, “Fuck Julie and David Eisenhower” — she was set to graduate in the spring of 1970 when the campuses, in the wake of Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia, turned violent. Because of threats, the Secret Service insisted that the president not attend. Julie accepted the decision, writing to her father’s aide John Ehrlichman, “I truly think the day will be a disaster if he comes,” but the thought of her father missing the event brought her nearly to tears.

Hearing these stories, many will respond: Boo-hoo. What’s Julie missing her father at graduation compared to the strafing of Cambodia? But the point is not that Julie Nixon or Robert McNamara was done a grave injustice, any more than discomfort with the treatment of Sarah Sanders and Kirstjen Nielsen means seeing them as victims. The reason to maintain standards of conduct and preserve a non-political space of human interaction is not to protect particular politicians and government officials. It’s to protect America, to uphold the political culture we value.

I don’t value this political culture. It needs to be destroyed, not protected. Sure, I believe in civil argument and debate, but only starting from the grounds that all humans are human, and Republicans don’t fit that criteria. So I hope we keep taking inspiration from the examples above and getting nasty.