#Ruby dobbs

[skitskatdacat63]

Tysm for the tags @monacobasedgirldad @schumigrace @fernandoalonzoo sry im a bit late getting to this lol

Are you named after anyone?

My great great grandmother(I think??), though she was named Katarzyna, and I was born Catherine, but go by Catie obviously(this lowkey annoys my mom lmao, especially bcs if I were to have a nickname, it was supposed to be Cate.)

When was the last time you cried?

Today, over classical music. I think I cry at least once a day 😭 I am very emotional

Do you have kids?

Nope :)

What sports did you play/have you played?

I played soccer when I was a kid. Also does marching band count?

Do you use sarcasm?

All the fucking time, literally constantly. And also we sarcastically bully each other in my family, so I have to pull myself back from accidentally insulting people 😭

What is the first thing you notice about people?

Hmmmm, I feel like ive done this tag game before bcs I remember writing this exact answer. But usually I notice if someone is a good conversationalist or not. Like do they like to lead the convo, do they like to listen to the other people, do they talk too much, too little, are they awkward about it? It's just very interesting to me, bcs I think that kinda thing really does instantly show you if you're going to be compatible with a person(as a friend or more etc.) Cause I talk a lot a lot, and I think it's difficult to get along w people who are untalkative but also people who talk an equal amnt if not more djkfkglg.

What is your eye color?

Just brown!

Scary movies or happy endings?

Scary movies definitely. I mean im not opposed to a happy ending obviously, but that's not really what im always looking for in a movie, I guess? Rn I'm trying to think of my top movies, and man, not a lot of them have happy endings 😭 But I literally just watched two horror movies the past wknd so! Even though they make me paranoid

Any talents?

I think I could go on a rant about anything if you gave me a bit of time. I really think I can just talk endlessly. Is that a skill? Or is it just annoying..? But yeah I'm not sure, but I think I'm pretty good at absorbing information and being able to go on and on about it.

Where were you born?

America rahhh 🦅🦅 I like my state a lot even though I feel like all my peers keep saying "ugh I don't want to be in [insert state] anymore" Smh how dare you

What are your hobbies?

Mostly drawing! I draw both F1 fanart(pretty much all selfmade AUs tho) and ocs. I like writing lore and worldbuilding and meta, but not really writing itself. I like reading fic and watching movies as well. And I think one of the main things I do these days tbh is read about history and keep up with politics. I get more and more involved with it as the days go by, but unlike drawing, I don't really have an outlet for it sigh sigh. So that's why a lot of AUs involve history and random other things, bcs its fun to involve my interests with each other!

Do you have any pets?

Yes I do! Two cats and two dogs. The cats are named Jin and Frank. Jin is basically me in cat form, he's so anxious 😭 and Frank is like my brother, he's such a little bastard who loves to hiss all the time. My dogs are named Maisie and Ruby. Maisie is a menace to society, but she is also the most beautiful dog ever, so I forgive her. Her name makes me laugh bcs she's named after this book character, Maisie Dobbs right? So her name tag says Maisie Doggs

How tall are you?

Around 5'4

Favorite subject at school?

Politics >:) But I'm pretty interested in philosophy as well rn. Unfortunately my love for foreign languages has been slipping in the semester or so, bcs my professors on that side kinda suck. So I've been putting more energy into my other major, and now all I can talk about is history, politics and philosophy, etc etc. It's just a lot of fun and very interesting to me!

Dream job?

Man, sometimes I wish I could just be a student forever, I just want to keep learning all about the world and other things. But I'd like a job that's not too static, something that pushes me out into the world a bit, maybe smth in the government or like a non-profit idk yet!

Ahhhh I'm doing this a bit late so I'm not sure who's done it yet, I feel like mostly everyone has :,) I tag anyone who's interested, like seriously I'd love to see people's answers who I haven't yet!!

[mariacallous]

“Money is accountability,” announced Stephen Shackelford, a lawyer for the voting machine company Dominion, moments after a Delaware superior court judge announced that the company had settled its lawsuit against Fox News. The case was set to be a blockbuster defamation trial, a challenge to the many lies told on Fox after the 2020 election about Dominion’s supposed role in stealing a second term from President Trump. But in the end, the parties chose to settle just before opening statements were set to begin. Fox ultimately agreed to pay $787.5 million, a hefty fraction of the $1.6 billion that Dominion originally sought in damages and one of the largest defamation payouts ever reported in the United States. In a statement, Fox said, “We acknowledge the Court’s ruling finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.”

For many onlookers who were hoping to see Fox hauled over the coals in court for its election lies, news of the settlement was a disappointment. All the same, the pretrial discovery process allowed Dominion to make public an extraordinary amount of damaging information about Fox’s operations and the mechanics of the Big Lie of 2020 election fraud. And there are other cases yet to come. Dominion v. Fox is best understood not on its own, but as the most prominent example so far of a trend toward using defamation litigation to counter election lies—and what the case has and hasn’t achieved along those lines speaks to both the promise and the limitations of this strategy.

The Big Lie cohered over the weeks and months around the election. It was stitched together out of an enormous number of smaller lies about the actions of specific companies and individuals, which Trump and his allies used as fuel for their larger claims. As the Jan. 6 committee documented, Rudy Giuliani and others seized on video of ballots being counted in Fulton County, Georgia, as evidence of misconduct—accusing election worker Shaye Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, of rigging the vote. Eric Coomer, an employee of Dominion Voting Systems, received a deluge of threats after a right-wing podcaster falsely claimed he had schemed with “Antifa” to prevent Trump from winning the election. 

Along with another voting technology company, Smartmatic, Dominion quickly became a major villain on the right. Standing alongside Giuliani at a now-notorious press conference, Trump-aligned lawyer Sidney Powell falsely claimed that both companies “were created in Venezuela at the direction of [former president] Hugo Chávez” and were involved in a scheme to interfere with American elections. On Nov. 8, 2020, the day after news networks declared Joe Biden the president-elect, Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo invited Powell on her show to discuss how Dominion was “flipping votes in the computer system or adding votes that did not exist.” As Trump continued to insist that he had actually triumphed in the election in the following weeks, Fox Business host Lou Dobbs and Fox hosts Jeanine Pirro and Sean Hannity continued giving airtime and credibility to the conspiracy theory. 

Dominion alleges that they did so as part of an editorial decision by Fox to feed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. In Dominion’s telling, Fox faced a backlash from its viewers—and in particular its most powerful viewer, Trump—after calling Arizona for Biden on election night. Meanwhile, other far-right networks like One America News Network (OAN) and Newsmax continued to peddle claims of election fraud. In an effort to win back its viewers from competitors like Newsmax, Dominion argued in its motion for summary judgment, Fox decided to commit to selling election lies, “caring more about protecting its own falling viewership than about the truth.”

Dominion filed its first defamation lawsuit—against Sidney Powell—on Jan. 8, 2021, just two days after the insurrection. It was a few weeks behind Eric Coomer, who on Dec. 22, 2022, sued Giuliani, Powell, the Trump campaign, and a number of right-wing media personalities, networks, and publications for spreading lies about him.

Over the rest of 2021, the lawsuits poured in. Separately, both Dominion and Smartmatic filed cases in both state and federal court against Fox News Network and Fox Corporation, as well as the far-right networks Newsmax and OAN and a suite of other television hosts and election deniers. Coomer docketed a second lawsuit against a conservative talk show host who, he alleged, continued to spread lies about Coomer’s supposed involvement in interfering in the 2020 election. Moss and Freeman, the Georgia election workers, sued Giuliani, OAN, and the right-wing website The Gateway Pundit. A Pennsylvania postmaster who had been the target of lies over his supposed role in stealing the election filed suit against the conservative media organization Project Veritas for amplifying the allegations.

As defamation cases go, these are unusual. Traditionally, defamation litigation, particularly against the press, has often been a tool used by the powerful to silence their critics. This was the Supreme Court’s rationale in Sullivan for requiring plaintiffs to clear the high bar of showing “actual malice” on the part of the defendant: The Court objected to “the possibility that a good faith critic of government will be penalized for his criticism,” writing that such an idea “strikes at the very center of the constitutionally protected area of free expression.” When Americans think of defamation litigation in connection with preserving democracy, they often think of the importance of defending journalists or members of the public from defamation suits meant to shut them up. 

But the post-2020 slate of defamation cases invert this pattern. Here, the plaintiffs often position themselves as defending democracy from falsehoods. “One thing our cases have in common is that they are on behalf of people who’ve been targeted for participating in the basic functioning of our democracy,” Sara Chimene-Weiss, counsel with the group Protect Democracy, told me in an interview. Protect Democracy represents Moss and Freeman along with the Pennsylvania postmaster, Robert Weisenbach, and is also representing Mark Andrews, a Florida voter suing over his portrayal as an illegal “ballot mule” in the conspiratorial film 2000 Mules. (Full disclosure: Protect Democracy has represented Lawfare editors in certain FOIA and other matters unrelated to defamation.) Chimene-Weiss went on, “It’s essential for democracy that we protect the right to participate in free and fair elections, without fear of consequences.” 

Dominion has leaned into this framing as well. In a statement released after the announcement of the settlement, company CEO John Poulos thanked “the election officials we serve,” saying, “Without them there is no democracy, and they work tirelessly to that end and deserve much better.” 

In positioning these cases as battles for democracy, advocates focus not only on the need to defend the electoral process but also on litigation as a tool for countering falsehoods. “The truth matters. Lies have consequences,” said Dominion attorney Justin Nelson in the post-settlement press conference. Likewise, Protect Democracy attorney John Langford told NPR in March 2022, “We can’t have a functioning democracy if we don’t have a shared understanding of facts. And we can’t have a shared understanding of facts if there’s a universe of groups out there that are intentionally, willfully or recklessly spreading lies about things like the legitimacy of elections or important public facts that are critical to public debate.” 

The run-up to the Dominion trial saw a great deal of rhetoric around the courtroom as a space uniquely suited to cut through the noise and get to the truth—a place well-suited, perhaps, to responding to the Big Lie in a way that other forums may not be. “It appears that disinformation itself is on trial,” said media law professor Jonathan Peters in the Washington Post. In a March 2022 interview, Dominion lawyer Rodney Smolla told the New York Times that defamation law is “one of the few legal avenues in which civilized countries have attempted to distinguish between truth and falsity.”

These cases are also unusual in the sheer strength—and volume—of the evidence marshaled by the plaintiffs. The Sullivan standard of “actual malice” is a difficult one to meet: In cases involving alleged defamation of a public figure, the plaintiff must show that the defendant either knew the statement in question was false or made it “with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.” For that reason, relatively few defamation cases make it to trial. But in almost all of the post-2020 suits, judges have denied defendants’ motions to dismiss—the first major hurdle at which the litigation might have fallen. These cases tend to center not on a single comment or article but instead on an extensive story of falsehoods told over and over again, in many instances after the defendant was told that the information in question was dubious or outright untrue. 

During the pretrial discovery process, Dominion unearthed an enormous amount of material damaging to Fox. The documents, which received extensive attention in the press, showed Fox hosts, producers, and leadership repeatedly expressing doubts about the conspiracy theories around Dominion—before the network went on to air more of those claims anyway. They also underline just how flimsy the evidence supporting those theories turned out to be: One of the strangest documents uncovered in discovery is an email that appears to be the source of the claim that Dominion was involved in a conspiracy to flip votes from Trump to Biden, which was sent to Sidney Powell—and forwarded by Powell to Bartiromo—by a woman who also wrote that “[t]he Wind tells me I’m a ghost, but I don’t believe it.” In news coverage of the case, defamation lawyers emphasized again and again just how unusual it was to see this detailed a record of a media organization’s awareness of potential falsehoods. The evidence was “incredibly damning,” Sonja R. West, a First Amendment scholar at the University of Georgia law school, told the Washington Post.

On the strength of this evidence, the judge in Dominion’s case handed the company a major victory on March 31, finding in a ruling on both parties’ motions for summary judgment that Dominion had shown Fox to have broadcast lies. Using both italic and bold font for emphasis, the judge wrote, “The evidence developed in this civil proceeding demonstrates that is CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true.” Such a ruling in a defamation case is extremely rare and left for the jury only the question of whether Fox had acted with “actual malice” as well as the matter of damages incurred by Dominion. 

For this reason, in the run-up to the beginning of the trial—and what turned out to be the settlement—Fox was playing with an unusually weak hand. It’s not hugely surprising that the company chose to settle. 

Dominion CEO Poulos commented in his statement that “we have sought accountability and believe the evidence brought to light through this case underscores the consequences of spreading and endorsing lies.” Even in the absence of a trial, it’s worth underlining just how significant the discovery material released by Dominion was: Media reporter Brian Stelter, one of the closest observers of Fox and the author of a book on the network, wrote in The Atlantic that the documents brought him a new understanding of Fox’s pathologies. That forcible transparency is worth taking seriously as a victory.

The other defamation cases have notched wins as well. Georgia election workers Moss and Freeman reached a settlement with OAN, which according to the Wall Street Journal involved an agreement by the network to air a segment explaining to viewers that the two women “did not engage in ballot fraud or criminal misconduct.” Newsmax published an apology and retraction of its coverage of Eric Coomer following his suit against the network. 

And there is real reason to think that the threat of litigation could dissuade future lies. In fact, there’s reason to think that it may already have done so. Fox canceled Lou Dobbs’s show—which pursued 2020 conspiracy theories with particular enthusiasm—immediately after Smartmatic filed its suit against the network. OAN has lost much of its audience after being dropped by both Verizon and DirecTV. Dinesh D’Souza, the right-wing media personality who produced and starred in the film 2000 Mules, complained on Twitter that Fox News and Newsmax had declined to bring him on air to discuss the movie. D’Souza’s book on the same subject was briefly recalled by its publisher and had incendiary and potentially libelous language removed. It’s also noteworthy that the 2022 election saw far fewer of the kind of targeted lies that characterized the environment around the 2020 election—suggesting that news organizations that might have been interested in broadcasting such claims might have been deterred. 

At the same time, the frustration around the Dominion settlement is a reminder of the limitations of defamation law as a tool for cutting through lies. The nature of a defamation lawsuit is that it requires an individualized injury to a particular plaintiff, and that plaintiff’s interests will often be best served by the certainty of a settlement rather than the gamble of a trial. Despite its victory in the judge’s ruling on summary judgment, Dominion faced plenty of hurdles in proving actual malice. It was also far from certain that the company would be able to secure a hefty payout. The incentives cut in favor of Dominion taking a settlement, even though a trial might have served an important public function. 

And this will continue to be true in other defamation cases. Defamation law “often meets its narrow aim of compensating the defamed party for its reputational injury without serving the broader, more amorphous goal of unringing the bell, let alone correcting a lie circulating in society,” law professors RonNell Andersen Jones and Lyrissa Lidsky write. Along those lines, reporting suggests that the settlement will not require Fox to admit or apologize to spreading false claims about Dominion. “Defamation suits can be a tool in the disinformation battle but are never going to be the full solution,” Andersen Jones told me over email after the settlement was announced. 

What’s more, there’s no guarantee that news of victories against lies in court will travel to the audiences that most need to hear it. The right-wing media has largely been silent on the matter of the Fox case—and in at least one instance, the outlet The Gateway Pundit misrepresented a filing in the Dominion litigation as actually providing evidence of 2020 election fraud. After news of the Dominion settlement, Fox remained relatively quiet; the story about the settlement published on the network’s website is remarkably short, doesn’t mention the amount of the settlement, and provides few details about what exactly Dominion was suing over. The courts are only one institution in a larger civic ecosystem, and they can’t substitute for the larger political and cultural failures that prevent truths about the 2020 election from being communicated by trustworthy outlets to audiences, and that prevent those audiences from believing those truths. 

How much of an effect will this litigation have on Fox, in the end? Smaller outlets like Newsmax and OAN are more vulnerable to lawsuits like these, which could create genuine financial problems. But Fox is a juggernaut: According to the New York Times, the Fox Corporation “had about $4.1 billion ‘of cash and cash equivalents’ on hand at the end of last year.” And when I spoke with Andersen Jones last week, before the trial was set to begin, she emphasized that Fox’s financial incentives could well cut in the direction of continuing to air politically palatable falsehoods when its audience demanded it. “Dominion thinks that it can prove there was a conscious corporate decision to tell defamatory lies for audience share and profit,” she said. “Assuming the environment is as Dominion claims it to be, that same gravitational pull is going to continue regardless of the outcome of this case.”

But the Dominion case could do a real public service by bringing attention to that dynamic, Andersen Jones suggested. Acknowledging the problem of the demand for falsehoods, as well as the supply, “is itself really helpful in focusing our public conversations about disinformation,” she said. It helps build a more nuanced understanding of the problem of falsehoods polluting our politics and of just how complicated it will be to formulate an adequate response.

However the incentives align for Fox in the aftermath of the Dominion settlement, other plaintiffs were eager to remind the press that Dominion’s suit was only one of many and that this story of seeking accountability is far from over. The voting machine company Smartmatic, whose own lawsuit against Fox is moving forward in New York state court, made a pointed statement to reporters immediately following news of the settlement. “Dominion’s litigation exposed some of the misconduct and damage caused by Fox’s disinformation campaign,” the company said. “Smartmatic will expose the rest.”

[thesaltofcarthage]

an excellent poll said that Harris was up four points in IOWA. Ruby-red IOWA. Because people are that pissed about Dobbs.

Vote for Harris. Vote Democrat. Vote Blue.

Vote out of spite. Vote for fun. Vote to put out positive energy into the universe. Vote to prove that hate cannot overcome love.

Vote.

hey my besties who live in red states: id like you to go out and vote anyway.

yeah, the electoral college means your vote doesn't count unless you win your state. it's a terrible undemocratic bullshit system. it's not going to change before this election,* so there isn't much point in complaining about it right now.

if you hold the belief that there's no point in voting because your voice will just be downed out by a chorus of bigotry- chances are other people in your state feel the same way. and because those people are not voting, it's impossible to know how many of you there are. the reason it's important to vote EVEN WHEN YOU KNOW YOU ARE GOING TO LOSE is to make this number public.

when the minority in a state still goes out to vote:

- other members of the minority party know they aren't alone in their state. this encourages MORE people to vote in the next election

- the majority candidates are forced to divert some of their campaign resources away from swing states to secure a state they were already going to win

- the minority candidates are encouraged to spend some time campaigning in your state instead of abandoning it as a lost cause

- assuming you also vote in local elections, the minority is more likely to win representatives in the house

- who knows there might be so many of you that you fucking flip it by mistake

there has been a 700% increase in new daily voter registrations in the few days since Biden dropped out of the race.

thousands of people are deciding, right now, that voting is worth it. some of them live in your state. there is going to be a spike in blue votes across the country. this election is going to have the youngest voter turnout in history. this is the best possible time to join them. join us.

what have you got to lose? one afternoon?

[baubeautyandthegeek]

A Kind Of Spark - Christine "Ziggy" Berman/Samantha/Mickey Dobbs

A/N: Day 6 part 2 for @augustofwhump

Nick Goode had been the first time Christine ‘Ziggy’ Berman felt a spark. The spark that meant he was the soulmate she was supposed to have. Soulmates, she had been told, came once. Just once. So, finding out hers was… a killer, someone who used people, gave them up to some devil or demon, broke her. She’s barely holding it together even as she prepares to help take him down, fear pumping through her when he grabs her, uses her as a body shield and tries to save himself. She goes home, that evening, showers, dries herself and finds Mary Lane’s book, hoping that by seeing Mary she might feel something, a spark, again. She doesn’t. She leaves the book, rekindles a friendship she once had with the woman, her old Camp Nightwing nurse friend. She reminds herself, again, that she won’t, can’t find love again, she won’t have another soulmate. She meets Mickey Dobbs months later, the young woman is potentially high, or drunk, maybe both and Ziggy knows she has to help her. So she does, she does and she feels a spark, a pull that makes them both gasp a little, Mickey’s smile is quick, bright and her voice is sweetly warm. “I’ve been waiting for you forever…” They don’t kiss, that night, that comes later. Mickey spends a week on Ziggy’s sofa, then, slowly, migrates her way into Ziggy’s bed, kissing her when Ziggy wakes from a painful nightmare, the kiss meant to both calm and reassure. They settle into a new life then, Mickey attends meetings, Ziggy heals and tries to broaden her eating habits, struggling her way back from a life of just surviving. She meets Samantha months later, Mickey brings the girl home, explains in breathless words that she felt ‘the spark’ and needed to know if Ziggy did too. Samantha is quiet, a little timid but the moment their hands meet, she feels it. A spark. “Is this… allowed?” The question is addressed to Mary, months later. “You felt the spark… for both of them… didn’t you?” “Nick said… Nick said it only comes once…” “He was wrong.” Mary’s voice is soft, her touch soft on Ziggy’s shoulder, a spark of light seeming to form between them. “You can have many… I’ve had… two. Ruby’s dad…. Now… now you…” Later the group expands. Mickey’s ex brings his boss to see Shadyside, a possible filming location and Mickey’s spark lights again, the woman smiling and promising to come home as much as she can. Susan, it seems is also destined. The last, at least, they all assume it’s the last, puzzle piece is Lindsay, a hard-working, warm, caring woman who writes for Samantha’s ex on the show he’s part of, but also keeps the improv company alive alongside Samantha’s other improv friends. Lindsay feels the spark when she touches Samantha during a show, the two addressing it later. Whilst most of them expect Mary to only spark for Ziggy, Susan to only spark for Mickey or Lindsay to only spark for Samantha, they are proven wrong. Life, it seems, has seen fit to make sure the people it’s hurt most, have never-ending love.

[arpov-blog-blog]

Optimistic As We Head Into 2024, Wheels Of Justice Are Turning, Republicans Ongoing Betrayal Of The Country

Political strategist Simon Rosenberg speaks on his optimism for 2024 and the threats Republicans should be panicked about.

Yesterday, I dropped a new analysis I hope everyone here at Hopium reads in the coming days. It reviews what are in my mind the three most important story lines in US politics as we head into 2024:

The ongoing strong Democratic election performance since Dobbs - it’s the most important electoral data out there now

The remarkably robust American economy gives Biden a strong foundation for his re-election

Trump’s historic baggage is being overly discounted in current analysis about the election next year

I talk about these three story lines in my new year-end video briefing 2023 Was A Very Good Year for Democrats. Let’s Make 2024 Even Better, and in this terrific new Vanity Fair podcast and article,��A Dem Strategist Calls B******t on Biden Polling Doom.

The Wheels Of Justice Are Turning, and Republicans Should Be Very Worried - Let’s review the progress being made in the courts against the Trumpian and MAGA crime spree of recent years:

Yesterday, Rudy Giuliani was ordered to pay $148 million (!!!!!!!!) for spreading lies about the 2020 election, endangering the lives of two elections workers

GOP leaders in AZ, GA, MI, NV have been indicted for their efforts to interfere with and overturn the 2020 election. Some have plead guilty and are cooperating with prosecutors. Republican leaders in WI who participated in these schemes have struck a deal with prosecutors, admitted their wrongdoing and are now cooperating. Prosecutors in New Mexico have also begun an investigation in GOP leaders who worked to overturn the 2020 election

Over 1,000 people have been successfully prosecuted for crimes related to the violent attack on the Congress on January 6th

Trump has been found to have attempted to rape E. Jean Carroll in a department store changing room, and ordered to pay $5,000,000 in penalties

Trump has been found to have committed financial fraud in New York State, and his trial, which wraps up in mid-January, is about how much he pays not whether he is liable.

So Rudy G - liable. Republican party leaders in AZ, GA, MI and NV have been indicted, and some have already plead guilty in the same conspiracy involving hundreds of GOP party leaders Trump and his team led in 2020 and 2021, and which he goes on trial for in early March. Over 1,000 people have already been successfully prosecuted for another branch of that conspiracy, the violent assault on the US Congress on January 6th. Trump has already been found to have committed sexual assault/attempted rape and a massive years long financial fraud.

I will let Lady Ruby Freeman capture where we are now - progress yes, real meaningful progress, but as she says “we still have work to do. Giuliani was not the only one who spread lies about us and others must be held accountable too.”

The Republican Party’s Ongoing Betrayal of the County - This week Republicans in the House went home and walked away from our two allies, Israel and Ukraine, in a moment of extraordinary need. They have still yet to pass a budget for the 2024 fiscal year which began on October 1st, recklessly forcing America to live within the spending priorities of last year. As Rachel Maddow recounts in this must-watch clip this Congress may be the least productive in American history, which is itself a betrayal of our democratic project:

But of course it gets worse. Republicans are attempting to disband the State Department agency which battles foreign disinformation. They continue to block critical cybersecurity legislation, and forced the shutdown of a DHS program called Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards. They continue to block the appointment of 43 top diplomats (via NYT):

And now there is this stunning new report from CNN:

Washington (CNN) — A binder containing highly classified information related to Russian election interference went missing at the end of Donald Trump’s presidency, raising alarms among intelligence officials that some of the most closely guarded national security secrets from the US and its allies could be exposed, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Its disappearance, which has not been previously reported, was so concerning that intelligence officials briefed Senate Intelligence Committee leaders last year about the missing materials and the government’s efforts to retrieve them, the sources said. In the two-plus years since Trump left office, the missing intelligence does not appear to have been found. The binder contained raw intelligence the US and its NATO allies collected on Russians and Russian agents, including sources and methods that informed the US government’s assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Trump win the 2016 election, sources tell CNN. The intelligence was so sensitive that lawmakers and congressional aides with top secret security clearances were able to review the material only at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where their work scrutinizing it was itself kept in a locked safe.

2023 has been a very good year for Democrats, and we know what we need to do, together, in 2024, and why we need to do it - to ensure that freedom and democracy prevails here and everywhere. People here and around the world are counting on us to get this done, and I am excited to get it done with all of you next year - Simon

[fideliushqs]

what canons could you see working for felix mallard or ruby cruz?

. ✧ . * . upon asking our members, here are some of the spots we came up with!

felix - seamus finnigan, cedric diggory, ernie macmillan, michael corner, theodore nott, luca caruso, grant page, roger davies, and terry boot!! i'd also like to note that a couple people described his vibes as "tired raveclaw"! we’d also like to note that felix could work for a few wanted connections, including romilda’s ex, ant’s unrequited crush, ron’s distraction, ron’s mentor, and graham’s rival captain!

ruby - laura madley, demelza robins, s. fawcett, rose zeller, lisa turpin, emma dobbs, eleanor branstone, alice toilpan, orla quirke, and megan jones!! vibes for her were also described as hufflepuff or gryffindor! wanted connections we could see ruby filling are ant’s ex girlfriend/fling, ant’s unrequited crush, ron’s distraction, ron’s mentor, and graham’s rival captain!

[kurtlukiraz]

Coronation Street bu sonbaharda yeni bir okul zorbalığı hikayesini ele alacak.Hikaye, Weatherfield Lisesi'nin 11. sınıftaki kötü çocuğu Mason'un (Luca Toolan) Ruby Dobbs (Billie Naylor) ile dalga geçmeye başlamasıyla başlar ve bu da Hope'un (Isabella Flanagan) Mason, Dylan ve Liam ile yüzleşmesine yol açar.Mason, Dylan Wilson'ı (Liam McCheyne) kanatları altına alıp yeni kurbanı olarak Liam Connor'ı (Charlie Wrenshall) hedef alınca işler hızla kötüye gider.Önümüzdeki aylarda Mason'un Liam'a duyduğu eziyet artacak ve sadece öğrencileri değil ebeveynleri de birbirine düşürecek; Sean, Maria ve Gary birbirlerinin oğullarını suçlayacak.Bilgilerinizi girerek şunları kabul etmiş olursunuz: Şartlar ve koşullar Ve Gizlilik Politikası. Aboneliğinizi istediğiniz zaman iptal edebilirsiniz.Manchester'lı oyuncu Toolan, ekranda gösterilen sahneler öncesinde ITV'ye şunları söyledi: "İlk günümde hikayenin boyutunu Liam ve Charlie aracılığıyla öğrendim, çünkü onlara neler olduğuna dair kısa bilgiler verildi. Onlar bana bunu anlattılar. karanlık basacaktı."Burada olmak heyecan verici ama aynı zamanda bu hikayenin hakkını verme konusunda daha fazla baskı ve sorumluluk da var."Devamını oku:Dylan Wilson'ı canlandıran McCheyne, zorbalık hikâyesi öncesinde karakterinin "girdiği şey konusunda çok saf" olduğunu söylüyor."Sanırım Sean, Mason'un etkisinin ne kadar tehlikeli olduğunun farkında ama Dylan onu oldukça görmezden geliyor.ITV'ye şunları söyledi: "Mason, Dylan'ın gerçek bir arkadaşı değil, ama söylediğim gibi, çok kolay etkileniyor, bu yüzden kendisini neye bulaştırdığının farkında olduğunu sanmıyorum."Coronation Street hafta içi akşamları ITV'de yayınlanıyor. Sabunlar kapsamımıza daha fazla göz atın veya neler olduğunu öğrenmek için TV Rehberimizi ve Yayın Rehberimizi ziyaret edin.Radio Times dergisini bugün deneyin ve yalnızca 10 £ karşılığında 10 sayıya sahip olun, AYRICA evinize teslim edilen 10 £ John Lewis and Partners kuponu da alın - hemen abone olun. TV'nin en büyük yıldızlarından daha fazlası için dinleyin Radyo Times Podcast'i.

[gundemburadadedim]

Coronation Street bu sonbaharda yeni bir okul zorbalığı hikayesini ele alacak.Hikaye, Weatherfield Lisesi'nin 11. sınıftaki kötü çocuğu Mason'un (Luca Toolan) Ruby Dobbs (Billie Naylor) ile dalga geçmeye başlamasıyla başlar ve bu da Hope'un (Isabella Flanagan) Mason, Dylan ve Liam ile yüzleşmesine yol açar.Mason, Dylan Wilson'ı (Liam McCheyne) kanatları altına alıp yeni kurbanı olarak Liam Connor'ı (Charlie Wrenshall) hedef alınca işler hızla kötüye gider.Önümüzdeki aylarda Mason'un Liam'a duyduğu eziyet artacak ve sadece öğrencileri değil ebeveynleri de birbirine düşürecek; Sean, Maria ve Gary birbirlerinin oğullarını suçlayacak.Bilgilerinizi girerek şunları kabul etmiş olursunuz: Şartlar ve koşullar Ve Gizlilik Politikası. Aboneliğinizi istediğiniz zaman iptal edebilirsiniz.Manchester'lı oyuncu Toolan, ekranda gösterilen sahneler öncesinde ITV'ye şunları söyledi: "İlk günümde hikayenin boyutunu Liam ve Charlie aracılığıyla öğrendim, çünkü onlara neler olduğuna dair kısa bilgiler verildi. Onlar bana bunu anlattılar. karanlık basacaktı."Burada olmak heyecan verici ama aynı zamanda bu hikayenin hakkını verme konusunda daha fazla baskı ve sorumluluk da var."Devamını oku:Dylan Wilson'ı canlandıran McCheyne, zorbalık hikâyesi öncesinde karakterinin "girdiği şey konusunda çok saf" olduğunu söylüyor."Sanırım Sean, Mason'un etkisinin ne kadar tehlikeli olduğunun farkında ama Dylan onu oldukça görmezden geliyor.ITV'ye şunları söyledi: "Mason, Dylan'ın gerçek bir arkadaşı değil, ama söylediğim gibi, çok kolay etkileniyor, bu yüzden kendisini neye bulaştırdığının farkında olduğunu sanmıyorum."Coronation Street hafta içi akşamları ITV'de yayınlanıyor. Sabunlar kapsamımıza daha fazla göz atın veya neler olduğunu öğrenmek için TV Rehberimizi ve Yayın Rehberimizi ziyaret edin.Radio Times dergisini bugün deneyin ve yalnızca 10 £ karşılığında 10 sayıya sahip olun, AYRICA evinize teslim edilen 10 £ John Lewis and Partners kuponu da alın - hemen abone olun. TV'nin en büyük yıldızlarından daha fazlası için dinleyin Radyo Times Podcast'i.

[roysrolls]

[your-eyes-can-be-so-cruell]

Ahfjgjgjkgjkg Evelyn is turning Ruby into a little version of her haha tbh before she even met her, Ruby had some good one-liners, it must be in the genes.

[mycrazystrangeworld]

It has been a long hiatus, though to me it didn’t seem to be one. Time flies. June and July have flied by so fast, and I can’t keep up, shit things happening one after the other, and I’m still coping… But it’s a process. I’m functioning now enough to write and interact on this blog.

As I promised, this first post is a list of June releases (from June 3rd) and the reviews I found about them until now. You’re all welcome to let me know if you have a review that I forgot to add.

Since July is also over, I’m also sharing this month’s books and reviews.

As always, updating is constantly happening, if you know about a book or have a review, just let me know! 😉

Welcome back on Swift Coffee, everyone!

For the newbies (welcome 😘): if you don’t yet know what this is all about: I’m posting a list every Monday of the books that get released during the current week. I also include other people’s reviews about them! I try to do a blog hop from time to time and spread the word about this feature, but I obviously can’t find every review that’s related, so a sign that you have one would be very much appreciated! Every review is eligible that is written about a book published on the week in question, even if it was written before said week!

So… one question remains:

Would you like to join the ride?

It’s very easy!

These are the rules:

To be featured, you don’t have to do anything else, but to leave a comment below this post, or contact me by any other way, and let me know you have a review. A link to it makes it easier, but if you only say your review comes out on x day of the week, that’s okay as well, I’ll watch out for it! Following me is not a must, but I appreciate it very much, if you do! 🙂

I continuously update this post according to your infos/comments, and I share it again every time I’ve made an update.

The book you reviewed don’t have to be from the list here, if it’s not listed, but published this week, I’ll add the book, too!

You can also send me a review for next week, because these posts are scheduled! 😉

Books Published in June:

‘After the End’ by Clare Mackintosh mystery/thriller

‘All the Missing Girls’ by Megan Miranda mystery

‘A Merciful Promise’ by Kendra Elliot mystery/romantic suspense

‘A Nearly Normal Family’ by M.T. Edvardsson, Rachel Willson-Broyles (Translation) mystery/thriller

‘Ayesha at Last’ by Uzma Jalaluddin romance

‘Beyond Āsanas: The Myths and Legends behind Yogic Postures’ by Pragya Bhatt, Joel Koechlin (Photographer)

‘Bound to the Battle God’ by Ruby Dixon fantasy/romance

‘Briar and Rose and Jack’ by Katherine Coville middle grade

‘Bunny’ by Mona Awad horror

‘City of Girls’ by Elizabeth Gilbert historical fiction

‘Close to Home’ by Cate Ashwood M M romance

‘Dear Wife’ by Kimberly Belle mystery/thriller

‘Dissenter on the Bench: Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Life and Work’ by Victoria Ortiz non-fiction/middle grade

‘Fleishman Is in Trouble’ by Taffy Brodesser-Akner contemporary

‘Five Midnights’ by Ann Dávila Cardinal horror

‘Fix Her Up’ by Tessa Bailey romance

‘Fixing the Fates: A Memoir’ by Diane Dewey non-fiction

‘Ghosts of the Shadow Market’ YA fantasy

‘Gun Island’ by Amitav Ghosh cultural/India/historical fiction

‘If Only’ by Melanie Murphy

‘Just One Bite’ by Jack Heath mystery/thriller

‘Like a Love Story’ by Abdi Nazemian YA/LGBT

‘Magic for Liars’ by Sarah Gailey fantasy/mystery

‘More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are (No Matter What They Say)’ by Elaine Welteroth non-fiction

‘Mrs. Everything’ by Jennifer Weiner historical fiction

‘Mostly Dead Things’ by Kristen Arnett contemporary/LGBT

‘Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune’ by Roselle Lim contemporary/romance

‘On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous’ by Ocean Vuong poetry

‘Rapture’ by Lauren Kate YA fantasy

‘Recursion’ by Blake Crouch science fiction

‘Searching for Sylvie Lee’ by Jean Kwok mystery

‘Somewhere Close to Happy’ by Lia Louis romance

‘Sorcery of Thorns’ by Margaret Rogerson fantasy

‘Storm and Fury’ by Jennifer L. Armentrout fantasy

‘Summer of ’69’ by Elin Hilderbrand historical fiction

‘Sweet Tea and Secrets’ by Joy Avon cozy mystery

‘Teeth in the Mist’ by Dawn Kurtagich horror

‘The Accidental Girlfriend’ by Emma Hart romance

‘The Bookshop on the Shore’ by Jenny Colgan contemporary/women’s fiction

‘The First Mistake’ by Sandie Jones thriller

‘The Friends We Keep’ by Jane Green women’s fiction

‘The Friend Zone’ by Abby Jimenez contemporary/romance

‘The Girl in Red’ by Christina Henry fantasy/horror

‘The Haunted’ by Danielle Vega horror

‘The Holiday’ by T.M. Logan

‘The July Girls’ by Phoebe Locke mystery/thriller

‘The Last House Guest’ by Megan Miranda mystery/thriller

‘The Most Fun We Ever Had’ by Claire Lombardo contemporary/literary fiction

‘The New Achilles’ by Christian Cameron historical fiction

‘The Red Labyrinth’ by Meredith Tate fantasy

‘The Resurrectionists’ by Michael Patrick Hicks horror

‘The Rest of the Story’ by Sarah Dessen YA contemporary/romance

‘Ollie Oxley and the Ghost: The Search for Lost Gold’ by Lisa Schmid middle grade

‘The Space Between Time’ by Charlie Laidlaw

‘The Stationery Shop’ by Marjan Kamali historical fiction

‘The Summer Country’ by Lauren Willig historical fiction

‘They Called Me Wyatt’ by Natasha Tynes mystery

‘This Might Hurt a Bit’ by Doogie Horner YA

‘Time After Time’ by Lisa Grunwald historical/science fiction

‘Waiting for Tom Hanks’ by Kerry Winfrey contemporary/romance

‘We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir’ by Samra Habib non-fiction

‘We Were Killers Once’ by Becky Masterman mystery/thriller

‘Where The Story Starts’ by Imogen Clark women’s fiction

‘Wicked Fox’ by Kat Cho YA fantasy

‘Wild and Crooked’ by Leah Thomas YA contemporary/LGBT

‘Wolf Rain’ by Nalini Singh paranormal romance

Reviews:

‘Sorcery of Thorns’ by Stephanie at Between Folded Pages

‘The Rapture’ at Book Bound

‘The Resurrectionists’ by Jen at Shit Reviews of Books

‘The Haunted’ by Kris at Boston Book Reader

‘The Friends We Keep’ by Vicky at Women in Trouble Book Blog

‘This Might Hurt a Bit’ by Amanda at Between the Shelves

‘Wild and Crooked’ by Amanda at Between the Shelves

‘The Haunted’ by Mandy at Book Princess Reviews

‘We Were Killers Once’ by Vicky at Women in Trouble Book Blog

‘Five Midnights’ by Sian at Sci-fi & Scary

‘Wolf Rain’ by Corina at Book Twins Reviews

‘Just One Bite’ by Berit at Audio Killed the Bookmark

‘Where the Story Starts’ by Anjana at Superfluous Reading

‘The Red Labyrinth’ by Anjana at Superfluous Reading

‘Fixing the Fates’ by Anjana at Superfluous Reading

‘Gun Island’ by Anjana at Superfluous Reading

‘If Only’ by Anjana at Superfluous Reading

‘Sweet Tea and Secrets’ by Rekha at The Book Decoder

‘Storm and Fury’ by Claire at bookscoffeeandrepeat

‘The New Achilles’ by Zoé at Zooloo’s Book Diary

‘Time After Time’ by Ashley at Ashes Books and Bobs

‘Recursion’ by Lilyn G at Sci-fi & Scary

‘The Space Between Time’ by Rekha at The Book Decoder

‘The Rumor’ by Vicky at Women in Trouble Book Blog

‘The Search for the Lost Gold’ by Lilyn G at Sci-fi & Scary

‘They Call Me Wyatt’ by Jen at Shit Reviews of Books

‘After the End’ by Linda at Linda’s Book Bag

‘Beyond Asanas’ by Shashank at Wonder’s Book Blog

‘The July Girls’ by Nicola at Short Book and Scribes

‘We Have Always Been Here’ by Kristin at Kristin Kraves Books

‘Close to Home’ by T. J. Fox

‘Dissenter on the Bench’ by Taylor at Tays Infinite Thoughts

‘Bound to the Battle God’ by Corina at Book Twins Reviews

‘Briar and Rose and Jack’ by Briana at Pages Unbound

‘Teeth in the Mist’ at Lori’s Bookshelf Reads

‘All the Missing Girls’ by Celine at Celinelingg

‘The Holiday’ by Zoe at Zooloo’s Book Diary

‘The July Girls’ by Joanna at Over the Rainbow Book Blog

‘More Than Enough’ by Jessica at Jess Just Reads

‘Somewhere Close to Happy’ at Jess Just Reads

‘The Accidental Girlfriend’ by Tijuana at Book Twins Reviews

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Books Published in July:

‘Along the Broken Bay’ by Flora J. Solomon historical fiction

‘A Stranger on the Beach’ by Michele Campbell mystery/thriller

‘A Whisker In The Dark’ by Leighann Dobbs cozy mystery

‘Dark Age’ by Pierce Brown science fiction

‘Depraved’ by Trilina Pucci romance/erotica

‘Deserve to Die’ by Miranda Rijks thriller

‘Drummer Girl’ by Ginger Scott YA romance

‘False Step’ by Victoria Helen Stone mystery/thriller

‘Girls Like Us’ by Cristina Alger mystery/thriller

‘Gods of Jade and Shadow’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia fantasy/historical fiction

‘Good Guy’ by Kate Meader romance

‘Gore in the Garden’ by Colleen J. Shogan cozy mystery

‘How to Hack a Heartbreak’ by Kristin Rockaway romance

‘Last Summer’ by Kerry Lonsdale contemporary

‘Life Ruins’ by Danuta Kot audiobook/mystery

‘Lock Every Door’ by Riley Sager mystery/thriller

‘Maybe This Time’ by Kasie West contemporary

‘Never Have I Ever’ by Joshilyn Jackson mystery/thriller

‘Never Look Back’ by Alison Gaylin mystery/thriller

‘Nightingale Point’ by Luan Goldie

‘Reclaimed by Her Rebel Knight’ by Jenni Fletcher historical romance

‘Resist’ by K. Bromberg romance

‘Salvation Day’ by Kali Wallace science fiction

‘Season of the Witch’ by Sarah Rees Brennan YA fantasy

‘Sisters of Willow House’ by Susanne O’Leary

‘Spin the Dawn’ by Elizabeth Lim fantasy

‘That Long Lost Summer’ by Minna Howard

‘The Betrayed Wife’ by Kevin O’Brien mystery/thriller

‘The Bookish Life of Nina Hill’ by Abbi Waxman contemporary/romance

‘The Chain’ by Adrian McKinty thriller

‘The Gifted School’ by Bruce Holsinger contemporary fiction

‘The Golden Hour’ by Beatriz Williams historical fiction

‘The Guy on the Right’ by Kate Stewart NA romance

‘The Last Book Party’ by Karen Dukess historical fiction

‘The Marriage Trap’ by Sheryl Browne thriller

‘The Merciful Crow’ by Margaret Owen fantasy

‘The Miraculous’ by Jess Redman middle grade

‘The Need’ by Helen Phillips horror/thriller

‘The Nickel Boys’ by Colson Whitehead historical fiction

‘The Rogue King’ by Abigail Owen paranormal romance

‘The Seekers’ by Heather Graham mystery

‘The Silent Ones’ by K.L. Slater thriller

‘The Storm Crow’ by Kalyn Josephson fantasy

‘The Wedding Party’ by Jasmine Guillory romance

‘Three Women’ by Lisa Taddeo non-fiction/feminism

‘To Be Devoured’ by Sara Tantlinger horror

‘Truly Madly Royally’ by Debbie Rigaud YA romance

‘Under Currents’ by Nora Roberts romance

‘War’ by Laura Thalassa fantasy/romance

‘Whisper Network’ by Chandler Baker mystery/thriller

‘Wilder Girls’ by Rory Power YA horror/mystery

A fantastic review of…

‘Reclaimed by her Rebel Knight’ by Demetra at Demi Reads

‘The Merciful Crow’ by Clarissa at Clarissa Reads It All

‘The Bookish Life of Nina Hill’ at Flavia the Bibliophile

‘The Merciful Crow’ by Kaleena at Reader Voracious

‘The Guy On the Right’ by Astrid at The Bookish Sweet Tooth

‘False Step’ by Jordann at The Book Blog Life

‘The Guy On the Right’ by Angela at Reading Frenzy Book Blog

‘Reclaimed by Her Rebel Knight’ by Joules at Northern Reader

‘Depraved’ by Demetra at Demi Reads

‘Never Have I Ever’ by Steph AT Steph’s Book Blog

‘Reclaimed by Her Rebel Knight’ by Jennifer C. Wilson

‘That Long Lost Summer’ by Shalini at Shalini’s Books and Reviews

‘Sisters of Willow House’ by Joanne at Portobello Book Blog

‘A Whisker in the Dark’ by Berit at Audio Killed the Bookmark

‘The Rouge King’ by Ashley at Falling Down the Book Hole

‘Good Guy’ by Astrid at The Bookish Sweet Tooth

‘Drummer Girl’ by Astrid at The Bookish Sweet Tooth

‘The Need’ by T. J. Fox

‘The Seekers’ by Shalini at Shalini’s Books and Reviews

‘The Silent Ones’ by Steph at StefLoz Book Blog

‘Resist’ by Tijuana at Book Twins Reviews

‘Reclaimed by Her Rebel Knight’ by Jess Bookish Life

‘Sisters of Willow House’ by Joanna at Over the Rainbow Book Blog

‘How To Hack a Heartbreak’ by Corina at Book Twins Reviews

‘Somebody Else’s Baby’ by Shalini at Shalini’s Books and Reviews

‘Life Ruins’ by Amanda at mybookishblogspot

‘The Miraculous’ by Chris at Plucked from the Stacks

‘The Betrayed Wife’ by Shalini at Shalini’s Books and Reviews

‘Salvation Day’ by Lilyn G at Sci-fi & Scary

‘The Marriage Trap’ by Shalini at Shalini’s Books and Reviews

‘The Chain’ at Jess Just Reads

‘To Be Devoured’ by Sam and Gracie at Sci-fi & Scary

‘Truly Madly Royally’ by Olivia at The Candid Cover

‘Season of the Witch’ by Jill at Jill’s Book Blog

‘Gore in the Garden’ by Rekha at The Book Decoder

‘Never Look Back’ by Berit at Audio Killed the Bookmark

‘Wilder Girls’ by Kathy at Pages Below the Vaulted Sky

‘Deserve to Die’ by Shalini at Shalini’s Books and Reviews

‘Sisters of Willow House’ by Shalini at Shalini’s Books and Reviews

‘Sisters of Willow House’ by Berit at Audio Killed the Bookmark

‘Nightingale Point’ by Amanda at mybookishblogspot

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See these beautiful covers? *.*

Which are your favorites?

I’m so happy to be here with you bookish guys again!!

Don’t forget to let me know if you have a review!

Oh, and in the near future comes another post with the releases of the beginning of August! You can send me reviews for that post, as well.

Have a wonderful time!

Hugs 🙂

I’m back! – A Master List of Book Releases of June and July + Reviews! It has been a long hiatus, though to me it didn't seem to be one. Time flies.

[skitskatdacat63]

Tysm for the tag @formula-red and @ellearts

Get to know your mutuals tag:

1. Are you named after anyone?

Yes! I'm named after some family member, my great great grandmother I think? My full name is Catherine

2. When was the last time you cried?

The other night, I kept crying on and off but I've been with people almost constantly so it's hard. I still feel somewhat homesick but it's getting better 👍

3. Do you have kids?

Nope, and not interested

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Practically constantly, I absolutely love it. My family is extremely sarcastic and so I do it with them all the time, and it's impossible for that to not bleed into my conversations with other people

5. What sports do you play/have played?

None right now. I think I played soccer as a kid? And I don't know if it technically counts but I was in marching band during high school which was a lot of fun but also a lot of work.

6. What's the first thing you notice about other people?

This is probably weird but I'm super interested in how conversations work, and I can't help but notice whether people take a leading role or following role in conversation, if that makes sense? Like people who are content to listen vs. people who want to lead the conversation

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings probably? Imo most horror movies don't end well, and I mean about the quality. Like yeah you'll find it scary and them inevitably, something silly will happen that just ruins any sense of fear you had

8. Any special talents?

Hard to say, I can't really think of any atm. I think I'm pretty good at guessing what animals are which?

9. Where were you born?

Not gonna go into specifics 🤭 but honestly I've never moved and I live probably like 20 minutes or so from the hospital I was born in. You guys can probably guess by now which country I'm from lol

10. What are your hobbies?

F1 first and foremost(watching, downloading pics, gifing, studying lol), reading fanfic, drawing(but not so much lately, perpetually burnt-out), photography(I've taken so many pictures in the past 2 days)

11. Do you have any pets?

Yes! I have 2 dogs and 2 cats. My cats are two tabby boys named Jin(or Jinnie) and Frank(originally Francis.) And my dogs are named Maisie and Ruby. Omg tho about Maisie. My mom named her after this book detective named Maisie Dobbs, right? So when we were making the dogtag, we put "Maisie Doggs", it still makes me laugh whenever I think about it.

12. How tall are you?

Around 5'4, and I'm sorry, but I don't know the metric equivalent 😭

13. Fav subject in school?

Why did my mind first go back to highschool??? But I guess I'd say my Russian class. I like my other classes but Russian is probably the most fun because it's very laid back and everyone in the class now knows each other pretty well! We were all making sure we could stick together for next semester, to the point of changing out schedules 😭

14. Dream job?

Not sure honestly. It's hard because I have ideas for like actual legitimate jobs that I'm working towards, but sometimes can't help but be like: "ah but what if I were a photographer? What if I were a race car driver? etc" But realistically, probably something in the government

15. Eye color?

Brown, not super dark but not really light either

I'd tag people but I think I've seen like literally everyone on my dash doing this, so if anyone wants to, you can use my post :D

[mariacallous]

In March, 2021, Kari Lake, who for twenty-two years had been the co-anchor of the 5 P.M. and 9 P.M. local news at Fox 10 Phoenix, recorded a two-and-a-half-minute goodbye of sorts, and posted it to social media. Lake had been off the set recently, having taken a personal leave, and she said that she wouldn’t be coming back. “Sadly, journalism has changed a lot since I first stepped into a newsroom,” Lake said. “And I’ll be honest—I don’t like the direction it’s going.” She went on, “It is scary walking away from a good job and a successful career, especially in difficult times. I know God has my back and will guide me to work that aligns with my values.”

Lake is now the Republican nominee in the race for governor of Arizona, and a very quickly rising figure within the national Party. The National Review editor Rich Lowry wrote in a column on Thursday that, if Lake wins her race, she “would have to be considered the favorite to become Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick should he win the Republican nomination again in 2024.” She has done this without much of a traditional campaign operation. She has not commissioned a single poll, and according to Politico’s Alex Isenstadt, when a supporter asked Lake whether she had hired certain high-priced consultants, the candidate said, “I don’t know who those people are.” She then called over a young aide and told him to “show off his ‘MAGA’ tattoo,” which he did by pulling back his lower lip. Lake’s rise has been unsettling for reporters in particular, since she is bluntly antagonistic toward many of them. The Washington Post’s Ruby Cramer, interviewing the candidate for a recent profile, found that Lake and her husband, an independent producer named Jeff Halperin, record their press encounters. (If it all “goes great,” Lake told Cramer, it needn’t be cause for concern.) She taunts reporters about their audience size; the clips go viral.

When Lake upended the Republican gubernatorial primary this year, she was seen largely as a MAGA candidate who had outflanked the field by insisting that Donald Trump was the true winner of the 2020 Presidential election. But, in the general election, that political strength on the far-right has been compounded by another: perhaps unsurprisingly, Lake is exceptionally good at TV. She speaks concisely and evocatively, and maintains emotional control even while saying very aggressive things. During a televised primary debate, she denounced Joe Biden’s border policies for yielding control “to a criminal element, to dangerous drugs that are killing our young people, and he’s taken away our ability to protect our own state.” When Mark Phillips, a political reporter at the Phoenix ABC affiliate, played a clip of the retired general and Trump political associate Michael Flynn saying that states have the right to declare war and worriedly asked Lake if that’s what she had in mind when she called for militarizing the border, Lake said, “We’re declaring an invasion and we’re protecting our border. That’s what we’re gonna do. You can call it whatever you want.” After the Dobbs decision, a legal battle in Arizona will either leave the state with its current fifteen-week ban or revert it to an 1864 law that banned all abortions in the state except when a mother’s life is at risk. Lake has expressed support for both laws. “I’m pro-woman,” she told Phillips. “And I want to make sure that women have health care. I want to make sure women have access to birth control. And I want to make sure that women are treated with respect.” She went on, “My stance is that I’m pro-life and I want to save as many babies as possible.”

Journalists and liberals have often been alarmed at the growth of right-wing media, which has been a fertile ground for conspiracy theories alleging that the 2020 election was stolen, or that the media is suppressing the truth about the harms of COVID vaccines, or (in the case of QAnon) that the country’s élites belong to a cabal. As Trump’s Presidency has receded, the attention on far-right media has only sharpened, both because Republican political candidates have increasingly used fringe outlets to reach an audience and because reporters and liberals have learned to pay attention to what might be circulating there.

But that isn’t what this election is about. The Republican momentum—and, as I write, it looks very real—is built on a small group of much simpler and less exotic stories: rising crime, chaos at the border, and pain at the pump, each of which has been a standby of local news for a generation. Lake is a talented politician, but less deft campaigners have leaned effectively on these themes, too. The Long Island congressman Lee Zeldin, a staunch Trump supporter who once nominated Jared Kushner for the Nobel Peace Prize, has in recent weeks mounted a serious challenge to Kathy Hochul in the New York governor’s race—one poll last week had him down just four points—in part by following local crime stories with the assiduousness of a small-market TV reporter making an audition tape. On October 18th, Zeldin tweeted an ABC 7 segment of a small event he held outside of a Queens subway station, writing, “I was in Jackson Heights in Queens earlier today outside another subway station where someone was pushed onto the subway tracks and killed.”

There is a reason that the Republicans have seemed to dominate the news ever since Biden took office. These themes are vivid and naturally suited to television news, and they have evoked in their supporters a visceral reaction that Democrats have managed to achieve only on abortion. Otherwise, the Democrats have often relied on statistical information (of the underlying strength of the economy, of the efficacy of the COVID vaccine) to make their case, while Republicans have turned to televisual information to demonstrate the violence in the streets, the migrants running across the border, the soaring prices at the local gas station. (In the education wars that heated up in 2021, images of outraged conservative parents at school-board meetings were up against quotes from tenured academics thoughtfully explaining what critical race theory was and wasn’t.) One of these information types is more powerful than the other. If it bleeds, it leads, in campaigns such as the 9 P.M. news.

At the beginning of these midterm elections, everyone in politics wanted to know whether Republicans were turning back toward Trump or away from him. This question overshadowed what turned out to be a more interesting development—and, for Democrats, a more ominous one. Certain rising Republican politicians—especially Lake and Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis (whose wife, Casey, is herself a former local TV-news anchor)—have managed to fuse a New Right pugnacity with a hyper-attention to the news cycle and their own media presentation. It is a potent political mix, and in the past two years it has meant that Republicans no longer look quite so frumpy, quite so clueless, or quite so chaotic as they usually seemed during the Trump years. They are onto something, and if it sometimes feels like the political news has spent the Biden Administration stuck in one long local television-news cycle, well, it probably will feel that way for a while longer. During Lake’s emergence, she has sometimes been described as “Donald Trump in heels.” But that underrates how much Lake and her generation of Republicans have learned from their predecessors, and how intelligently they are operating right now. ♦

[fantomcomics]

What’s Out This Week? 10/2

HAPPY SPOOKTOBER Y’ALL

Bizarre Adventures #1 - Jed MacKay, Francesco Manna & Various

To celebrate Marvel's 80th, we're resurrecting one of its wildest creations, BIZARRE ADVENTURES! Within these pages you will see Shang-Chi take on a martial arts master, Ulysses Bloodstone battle a master of the dark arts, Dracula meet his match, and the Marvel debut of Achewood's Chris Onstad! These adventures will be thrilling, exciting and most definitely BIZARRE!

Copra #1 - Michel Fiffe   COPRA returns in the first issue of its all-new ONGOING SERIES! Acclaimed comics auteur MICHEL FIFFE picks up where his band of mercenary misfits left off, reintroducing the entire cast of his Suicide Squad-esque revenge machine in a brutal standoff against their own leader. Jump right into the thick of it with the world's greatest action team in this extra-length debut milestone-36 pages for just $3.99!

Dead Eyes #1 - Gerry Duggan and John McCrea

In the 1990s, DEAD EYES was a prolific stick-up man and hoodlum in Boston until he took down one last big score and disappeared. Nobody ever discovered the truth. He retired to be with the love of his life, but now he's back in the mask to save her. No one-not his wife, the mafia, or the cops-is happy that he's out of retirement. From JOHN McCREA, the artist and co-creator of MYTHIC and Hitman, and GERRY DUGGAN, the writer of ANALOG and DEADPOOL, comes the action, comedy, and drama of Martin Dobbs, a.k.a. DEAD EYES, the man who says he's descended from one of the original gangs of New York City. 

Ghost Rider #1 - Ed Brisson and Aaron Kuder

The Brothers Ghost Rider are back! Johnny Blaze ain't just the king of Hell-he's the warden too. He's the first line of defense between the demonic hordes trying to escape the joint and the lords of other hells making a play for his throne and all the power that comes with it - including a certain evil queen from his past! Meanwhile, Danny Ketch never wanted to be a Ghost Rider. Now that his brother's in charge downstairs, Ketch must take on the duty of Earth's Spirit of Vengeance full-time-no matter how much he'd rather be doing anything else...

Marvel Comics #1001 - Al Ewing, Amanda Conner & Various

THE BIGGEST STORY IN MARVEL HISTORY CONTINUES! WHO IS THE MYSTERIOUS NEW CHARACTER FROM MARVEL'S PAST? It was a story too large for any one issue, with too many classic Marvel creators who wanted to be a part of the fun! And so the party continues on with this additional celebratory issue, featuring additional secrets and revelations about the Eternity Mask and the person who now wears it!

Nomen Omen #1 (of 15) - Marco B. Bucci and Jacopo Camagni

No matter how fast you run, sooner or later your past will catch up with you. Enter Becky Kumar, a geeky twenty-year-old from New York City who is about to cross the veil between our reality and a realm of otherworldly truths. From writer and RPG creator MARCO B. BUCCI (Magna Veritas, Memento Mori) and artist JACOPO CAMAGNI (X-Men Blue, Deadpool The Duck) comes a tale of tales, witchcraft, and secrets for mature readers that rewires the rules of urban fantasy. #doyouwannaknowasecret

Ruby Falls #1 - Ann Nocenti and Flavia Biondi

Ruby Falls is a sleepy town. But sleep brings nightmares, and Lana is about to wake up in the middle of her hometown's biggest secret: the "disappearance" of infamously progressive Betty Gallagher during the mobster-ruled heyday of the old mining town. When details of the cold-case murder start to come out through her grandmother Clara's foggy, dementia-jumbled memories, Lana becomes obsessed with cracking the case, even if it splinters the peaceful town-and endangers everything she loves.  

Spider-Verse #1 (of 6) - Jed MacKay, Juan Frigeri & Various

Miles Morales finally feels like he GETS this Spider-Man stuff... and then falls through a portal! But isn't the WEB OF LIFE & DESTINY destroyed? Maybe not, True Believer. But who spun this new web? Regardless, Miles finds himself at the center of a multiversal adventure that will feature a who's who of creators and characters as the series spins forward!

Strange Skies Over East Berlin #1 - Jeff Loveness and Lisandro Estherren

MANKIND MADE IT TO SPACE. AND NOW SPACE HAS FOLLOWED THEM BACK. Herring is a disillusioned American spy stationed on the eastern side of the Berlin Wall, struggling with his role in a Cold War that seems to have no end. But when he's sent on a mission behind enemy lines to infiltrate East German intelligence, he soon learns the Soviets have a secret weapon that could change the tides of the conflict: an alien monster that they don't understand, and can't control. The Soviets are about to learn that they're not in charge of the monster - it's already in their minds and has twisted them to their will. Now now Herring must find a way to understand the impossible before it transforms him into a monster unlike any other.

Vampire State Building #1 - Ange, Patrick Renault and Charlie Adlard

The newest horror series from the artist of The Walking Dead, Charlie Adlard! Just in time for Halloween, get ready to be bitten from the first full color page. Terry Fisher is a young soldier on the verge of being sent away for active military duty, and is going to meet his friends at the top of the Empire State Building for a farewell party. But suddenly a legion of vampires attacks the skyscraper and massacres its occupants. Hounded in the 102 floors that have become a deadly trap, Terry must take decisive action to save himself and his friends - and the city of New York - before the army of abominations, and the terrible vampire god within, walled in the building since its construction, spill into the city!

This week is jam-packed with awesomeness, so whatcha scooping up, Fantomites?

[spiritofsteamboat]

Craig Johnson -Junkyard Dogs-

Lines I like from this book

“So, has the Basquo talked to you?”

I started to yawn and covered my mouth with my hand. “About what?” “Quitting.”

“Hey, Geo, how are things up at the dump?”

His expression took on a serious quality, but he was nothing if not unfailingly polite. “With all due respect, Walt, Municipal Solid Waste Facility.”

“Fuck you.”

“It’s amazing the respect I seem to command from my staff, isn’t it?”

“How is your foot?”

“Fabulous.”

He studied me with a look, and the only description that might apply would be askance. “You’re still limping.”

“I’ve come to consider it a character trait.”

“Take off your hat.”

“I don’t think that’s going to help with the limp.”

“It would appear, that at the dump—”

“You mean the Municipal Solid Waste Facility?”

since I’d pitched the last one into the Powder River after I decided that I was not a black hat kinda guy.

As he secured the Beretta, I turned and saw the strangest thing I’d seen all day, and I’d seen a lot of strangeness up to this point. George Stewart and my ninth-grade English/civics teacher were entwined in a passionate kiss.

“I’m not so sure that would strictly define the environs of the dump.”

“Municipal Solid Waste Facility.” Evidently Geo had educated the Doc, too.

“grand matron of Redhills Rancho Arroyo is shtupping the junkman?”

“I think Municipal Solid Waste Facility Engineer is the title he prefers.”

“Another good reason for you to not move to New Mexico—it’s warm down there, and you can bleed to death.”

I left Dog with Henry, Henry with Vic, and Vic with Ozzie.

I waited for her to provide the rest so that I wouldn’t have to come across with a more palatable version of shtupping the junkman.

“That I what, Sheriff?”

I was going to have to come across with a more palatable version of shtupping the junkman.

We circled to the right and the open window. We hadn’t bothered with bars since it was so small and high up and because I was practically the only one who used the shower.

“How in the hell did he get through that?”

I shot a look at her. “Determination.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but have you seen a man in a bathrobe run by here?”

Trudy Thorburn, a diminutive blonde, pointed. “He went thatta way, Walt.”

“Thank you.”

“I quit too, and I’m moving to a place where the temperature is in double digits.”

“What kind of shotgun?”

“20-gauge, coach gun.”

“Why in the hell would he buy something like that?”

“Only thing that would fit under his bathrobe?”

“Ozzie, if you shoot me I am going to be very disappointed in you.”

“Did you ever get an X-ray series done after the accident?”

“Which one?”

He shook his head at me,

“Are you all right?”

“I am a clamorous harbinger of blood and death.”

“Is everybody in this county a smart-ass?”

My deputy sipped her coffee. “Pretty much.”

“Ruby said to tell you that if you don’t go, she’s quitting, too.”

“You’re limping.”

“Yep, but I don’t think it has anything to do with my eye.”

Henry stood, looking at me and the bathroom, where no sounds escaped. “You do not have a window in there, do you?”

“So while old lady Dobbs is shtupping the junkman, Ozzie is shtupping the granddaughter?”

I opened my eyes just a little and couldn’t see much better than when they were closed.