#Video Forensics for Research

[daltonvillegas]

Digital Evidence Analysis in Private Investigation: Leveraging Corporate Security Video Software

In the realm of private investigation and corporate security, the role of digital evidence analysis has become paramount. With the proliferation of video surveillance tools and software, investigators now have access to an abundance of data that can be pivotal in solving cases and ensuring the safety of businesses. This article delves into the significance of digital evidence analysis, the evolution of private investigator video tools, and the integration of corporate security video software in modern investigations.

The Importance of Digital Evidence Analysis

Digital evidence analysis involves the collection, preservation, examination, and presentation of digital evidence in legal proceedings. In the context of private investigation and corporate security, this process has revolutionized the way cases are handled. Video footage captured by surveillance cameras serves as a crucial source of evidence, offering insights into incidents, identifying suspects, and corroborating witness testimonies. However, the sheer volume of data generated by these systems necessitates advanced analytical tools and methodologies to extract meaningful information efficiently.

Evolution of Private Investigator Video Tools

Private investigators rely heavily on video tools to gather evidence and conduct surveillance discreetly. Over the years, these tools have undergone significant advancements to meet the evolving demands of the profession. From covert cameras and body-worn recording devices to drones equipped with high-definition cameras, investigators now have access to a wide array of sophisticated equipment. These tools not only enhance the quality and scope of surveillance operations but also enable investigators to adapt to diverse environments and scenarios effectively.

Corporate Security Video Software

In the realm of corporate security, video software plays a vital role in safeguarding assets, preventing crime, and maintaining a secure environment for employees and stakeholders. Modern corporate security systems utilize advanced video analytics algorithms to monitor premises in real-time, detect suspicious activities, and generate actionable insights. Moreover, integration with other security technologies such as access control systems and alarm systems enhances overall situational awareness and response capabilities.

Leveraging Technology for Enhanced Investigations

The convergence of digital evidence analysis, private investigator video tools, and corporate security video software presents a paradigm shift in the way investigations are conducted. By leveraging these technologies synergistically, investigators can streamline the process of gathering, analyzing, and presenting evidence. Real-time monitoring capabilities enable proactive intervention, while forensic analysis tools facilitate the reconstruction of events and identification of perpetrators.

Conclusion

In conclusion, digital evidence analysis is at the forefront of modern private investigation and corporate security efforts. The integration of private investigator video tools and corporate security video software has empowered investigators to conduct more thorough, efficient, and effective investigations. By harnessing the power of technology, stakeholders can mitigate risks, protect assets, and uphold the principles of justice and security in an ever-changing landscape. As we continue to embrace innovation, the role of digital evidence analysis will remain indispensable in shaping the future of investigative practices.

[lifehacksthatwork]

Just a bunch of Useful websites - Updated for 2023

Removed/checked all links to make sure everything is working (03/03/23). Hope they help!

Sejda - Free online PDF editor.

Supercook - Have ingredients but no idea what to make? Put them in here and it'll give you recipe ideas.

Still Tasty - Trying the above but unsure about whether that sauce in the fridge is still edible? Check here first.

Archive.ph - Paywall bypass. Like 12ft below but appears to work far better and across more sites in my testing. I'd recommend trying this one first as I had more success with it.

12ft – Hate paywalls? Try this site out.

Where Is This - Want to know where a picture was taken, this site can help.

TOS/DR - Terms of service, didn't read. Gives you a summary of terms of service plus gives each site a privacy rating.

OneLook - Reverse dictionary for when you know the description of the word but can't for the life of you remember the actual word.

My Abandonware - Brilliant site for free, legal games. Has games from 1978 up to present day across pc and console. You'll be surprised by some of the games on there, some absolute gems.

Project Gutenberg – Always ends up on these type of lists and for very good reason. All works that are copyright free in one place.

Ninite – New PC? Install all of your programs in one go with no bloat or unnecessary crap.

PatchMyPC - Alternative to ninite with over 300 app options to keep upto date. Free for home users.

Unchecky – Tired of software trying to install additional unwanted programs? This will stop it completely by unchecking the necessary boxes when you install.

Sci-Hub – Research papers galore! Check here before shelling out money. And if it’s not here, try the next link in our list.

LibGen – Lots of free PDFs relate primarily to the sciences.

Zotero – A free and easy to use program to collect, organize, cite and share research.

Car Complaints – Buying a used car? Check out what other owners of the same model have to say about it first.

CamelCamelCamel – Check the historical prices of items on Amazon and set alerts for when prices drop.

Have I Been Pawned – Still the king when it comes to checking if your online accounts have been released in a data breach. Also able to sign up for email alerts if you’ve ever a victim of a breach.

I Have No TV - A collection of documentaries for you to while away the time. Completely free.

Radio Garden – Think Google Earth but wherever you zoom, you get the radio station of that place.

Just The Recipe – Paste in the url and get just the recipe as a result. No life story or adverts.

Tineye – An Amazing reverse image search tool.

My 90s TV – Simulates 90’s TV using YouTube videos. Also has My80sTV, My70sTV, My60sTV and for the younger ones out there, My00sTV. Lose yourself in nostalgia.

Foto Forensics – Free image analysis tools.

Old Games Download – A repository of games from the 90’s and early 2000’s. Get your fix of nostalgia here.

Online OCR – Convert pictures of text into actual text and output it in the format you need.

Remove Background – An amazingly quick and accurate way to remove backgrounds from your pictures.

Twoseven – Allows you to sync videos from providers such as Netflix, Youtube, Disney+ etc and watch them with your friends. Ad free and also has the ability to do real time video and text chat.

Terms of Service, Didn’t Read – Get a quick summary of Terms of service plus a privacy rating.

Coolors – Struggling to get a good combination of colors? This site will generate color palettes for you.

This To That – Need to glue two things together? This’ll help.

Photopea – A free online alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Does everything in your browser.

BitWarden – Free open source password manager.

Just Beam It - Peer to peer file transfer. Drop the file in on one end, click create link and send to whoever. Leave your pc on that page while they download. Because of how it works there are no file limits. It's genuinely amazing. Best file transfer system I have ever used.

Atlas Obscura – Travelling to a new place? Find out the hidden treasures you should go to with Atlas Obscura.

ID Ransomware – Ever get ransomware on your computer? Use this to see if the virus infecting your pc has been cracked yet or not. Potentially saving you money. You can also sign up for email notifications if your particular problem hasn’t been cracked yet.

Way Back Machine – The Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites and loads more.

Rome2Rio – Directions from anywhere to anywhere by bus, train, plane, car and ferry.

Splitter – Seperate different audio tracks audio. Allowing you to split out music from the words for example.

myNoise – Gives you beautiful noises to match your mood. Increase your productivity, calm down and need help sleeping? All here for you.

DeepL – Best language translation tool on the web.

Forvo – Alternatively, if you need to hear a local speaking a word, this is the site for you.

For even more useful sites, there is an expanded list that can be found here.

[mariacallous]

The target is you, voter. Russia, China, Iran, and other bad actors sought to interfere in the run-up to today’s US elections, according to research by the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), which has been monitoring online trends along with statements by governments, private companies, and civil society in its Foreign Interference Attribution Tracker. As DFRLab experts detail below, this year’s malign efforts in many ways surpass previous influence campaigns in sophistication and scope, if not in impact—and they are expected to continue well after the polls close.

Tipping the scale

“By sheer volume, foreign interference in the 2024 US election has already surpassed the scale of adversarial operations in both 2016 and 2020,” Emerson says.

Dina notes that each US adversary played to its strengths. For example, Iran and China “attempted to breach presidential campaigns in hack-and-leak operations that raise concerns about their cyber capabilities during and after the elections,” she tells us.

At the same time, the United States is more prepared than it was in previous election cycles. Russian efforts in 2016 “made foreign interference a vivid fear for millions of Americans,” Emerson notes. “Eight years later, the US government is denouncing and neutralizing these efforts, sometimes in real time.”

In fact, Graham tells us, “the combined actions by the US departments of Justice, Treasury, and State against two known Russian interference efforts was the largest proactive government action taken against election influence efforts before an election.”

Doppelgangers and down-ballot races

US officials this week called Russia “the most active threat,” and it’s easy to understand why. Emerson notes Russia’s “ten-million-dollar effort to infiltrate and influence far-right American media,” alongside the “Doppelganger” network, which has spread “tens of thousands of false stories and staged videos intended to undermine election integrity in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona.” Increasingly desperate, Russian actors have even sought to shut down individual polling places with fake bomb threats, he adds.

Meanwhile, China has focused on “down-ballot races instead of the presidential election to target specific anti-China politicians,” Kenton explains. Using fake American personas and generative artificial intelligence, China-linked operations have appeared across more than fifty platforms. Perhaps surprisingly, Kenton adds, “attributed campaigns appeared sparingly” on the Chinese-owned platform TikTok and far more often on Facebook and X.

Faith, fakes, and falsehoods 

“The primary aim is to erode Americans’ faith in democratic institutions and heighten chaos and social division,” Kenton explains, and thus to undermine the ability of the US government to function so it will have less bandwidth to contain adversarial powers.

“Some of the fake and already debunked narratives and footage circulating before the elections will likely continue to be amplified by foreign threat actors well after November 5,” Dina predicts. Expect to see activity around the submission of certificates of ascertainment on December 11, the December 17 meeting of the electors to formally cast their votes, and through inauguration day on January 20.

And in a post-election period where the results will likely be contested, Graham thinks there’s a “high likelihood” that foreign actors will “cross a serious threshold” from pre-election attempts to broadly influence American public opinion in service of their geopolitical interests to “direct interference” by trying to mobilize Americans to engage in protests or even violence.

Nevertheless, Graham points out that the high volume of foreign-influence efforts observed during this year’s election cycle so far does not appear to have had a significant impact in terms of changing Americans’ opinions or behavior.  

The consequences of foreign disinformation, Emerson adds, should be assessed against “the far more viral, sophisticated, and dangerous election-day falsehoods that Americans spread among themselves.”

[vintagetvstars]

David McCallum Vs. Dean Stockwell

Propaganda

David McCallum - (The Man From U.N.C.L.E, Colditz, The Outer Limits) - He became one of the hottest leading men of 1960s tv with The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and McCallum received more fan mail than any other actor in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's history, including such popular MGM movie stars as Clark Gable and Elvis Presley. He turned his Russian character from side-kick to co-star in one season during the height of the cold war. Artists wrote hit camp songs about his character like "Love Ya, Illya"

Dean Stockwell - (Quantum Leap, Dr. Kildare) - "Dean may be more well known for his roles in film, he is equally a titan of the small screen just as much as the big (despite his short king status)! ... Frankly, I think we all should recognize not only as a great actor, but as a really endearing and handsome fellow. He has the face, he has the style, he has the substance. Rise UP Dean Stockwell nation!!!" Full text propaganda included below the cut

- No Negative Propaganda Please -

Master Poll List | How to submit propaganda | What is vintage? (FAQ)

Additional propaganda below the cut

David McCallum:

Everyone knows him as Ducky from NCIS or Ashley Pitt from The Great Escape, but David McCallum was also the original Man From UNCLE, for which role he recieved record setting amounts of fan mail. Was considered to play the Doctor. Charles Bronson stole his first wife, but his second marriage lasted over 55 years, until his death, so who's the winner here.

He became an expert on forensics during his time with JAG/NCIS and attended multiple medical examiner conventions for research.

A classically trained musician, he created several instrumental albums in the 60's his biggest hit is a cover of The Edge which has appeared in movies and video games and sampled by rap artists.

Dean Stockwell:

Dean may be more well known for his roles in film, he is equally a titan of the small screen just as much as the big (despite his short king status)! Dean in his younger days was such a charmer that Dennis Hopper, upon seeing him, compared him to the late James Dean. He reflected that in his early television roles as well, often playing tortured, angst-ridden rebels. His fluffy hair, bushy eyebrows, and big brown eyes gave him an expressive and attractive charisma that nobody could turn from. Speaking of charisma, his biggest role is of course, Al Calavicci from Quantum Leap. If you watch a single episode of this show you are going to come away with an adoration for him. His cunt-slaying fashion and wise-cracking wisdom is all played excellently by him! It really is no wonder that Quantum Leap fans fell so far in love with him that, upon learning he didn't have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, they campaigned HEAVILY to get him one (which was successful!). Frankly, I think we all should recognize not only as a great actor, but as a really endearing and handsome fellow. He has the face, he has the style, he has the substance. Rise UP Dean Stockwell nation!!!

[runawaysiren940]

Although anthropomorphic stories and cartoons have existed for quite a long time, the term ‘furry’ was first used in fanzines in the 1980’s, and became widespread by the 1990’s, defined in The Yarth Reviews, a fanzine currently immortalized online, as "the organized appreciation and dissemination of art and prose regarding 'Furries', or fictional mammalian anthropomorphic characters" (Patten). For most furries, this affiliation exists only online, and is centered in internet ‘third spaces’ and private communities, where fursonas and engaging with fanart is most common. Less common, but more visible, are those who engage in real life meet-ups and fursuiting, which is akin to cosplay in terms of the cost of materials and quality of the product. There exists a stigma against those who identify as furries, creating an insular community which both centers around identifying as a furry, as well as an ongoing shame of having this affiliation identified by others. This is because, despite claims to the contrary, being a Furry is overwhelmingly sexual in nature, and straddles a line that brings many uncomfortably close to beastiality, otherwise known as zoophilia. 

Many argue that fiction and reality are separate things, but fail to recognize how fantasy can impact behavior. Research has shown that pornography leads to escalation to maintain the same high, requiring more and more extreme imagery to receive the same result. The claim that pedophiles are less likely to make contact with a child if they use a proxy, be it a child shaped doll, or real or falsified CSM, is false. Pornography, and especially paraphilic pornography, plays a strong role in shaping an individual's sexual identity and behaviors. 

Paraphilias come in clusters, and as reported in, Elbert et al.’s “Child Pornography possession/receipt offenders: developing a forensic profile,  “Meta-analytic research (Babchishin et al., 2015) reported that child pornography offenders have significantly higher paraphilic disorders than other sexual offenders, and the preponderance of this relates to pedophilia. Our profile confirmed the salience of pedophilia, but also shows that the paraphilic repertoire is more complex and also involves transvestic fetishism and pornography addiction. This suggests that the paraphilic drivers of child pornography consumption are not simply driven by sexual attraction to children, but are also related to arousal to cross-dressing that likely reflects uncertainty about the individual’s sexual orientation. For instance, epidemiological research on transvestic fetishism found that same-sex sexual experiences and high pornography use were significant correlates (Långström & Zucker, 2005)” (Elbert et al.). In other words, being into one fetish or paraphilia typically correlates with others; for pedophilia, there is often an overlap with autogynephilia. If this is the case, then it stands to reason that there is an overlap between zoophilia and furry identification. The continued usage of sexual furry content can also be problematic, and fuel this paraphilia, as Elbert reported that “Viewing [child pornography] increases the likelihood of an individual offending. Reasons include that the pornography normalizes and/or legitimizes the sexual interest in minors, as well as that pornography might eventually cease to satisfy the user” (Elbert et al.). 

As defined by Sendler, “Zoophilia is a paraphilia defined as an intense interest in having sexual contact with animals” (Sendler). However, it is commonly reported on as ‘beastiality’, and there have been several high profile cases which keep the topic in the news. In May of 2024, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on the arrest of a man known as ‘Beast Boy’, who published over 500 videos online illustrating “sexual abuse of various animals including dogs, sheep, goats and chickens. One video featured a dead kangaroo” (McSweeney). The same man also was found in possession of child sexual abuse materials. The link between abuse and zoophilia is stronger than that of most paraphilias, as “One study found that nearly one-third (31.6%) of animal sex offenders also sexually offended children and adults” (Graveris). 

It makes sense for those who consider themselves ‘furries’ to be aware of the implications of that identification, but as of recently, many have become more and more open regarding this alignment, as well as with outright acknowledgment of their sexual proclivities.Perhaps those with a sexual attraction to animals have felt emboldened. Animals, after all, cannot talk about their abuse or report it. In Canada, a ruling by the Supreme Court in 2016 found that “Sex acts with animals are legal in Canada, so long as there is no penetration involved” (Garcia). In many countries, beastiality isn’t illegal, especially if harm to the animal cannot be proven. Beastiality porn is illegal in Germany, but sex with animals isn’t; animal brothels exist in Denmark, and are explicitly legal in Finland and Hungary. Meanwhile, 45% of Brazilian men with penile cancer admitted to having sex with animals. Four states in the U.S. have yet to ban it, and Mexico is well known for its donkey shows, where enslaved women are forced to commit beastiality. 

[qilingxiong]

i've been rotating this post in my head, about how it's supported by the novel that drama!li lianhua might not have known real medicine at all, and was simply using yangzhouman every time he treated a person. and while it's true that his healing skills appear dubious to basic at best, li lianhua's abilities in deducing causes of death and post-mortem modifications are fairly sharp. i would say that his autopsies are probably the most in-depth/technical he gets onscreen when it comes to medical examinations. given, then, that his actual expertise lays in assessing the dead and not the living, li lianhua in modern aus is absolutely not still scamming people while calling himself a medical authority in an era where malpractice laws exist. no, my guy is forensic files true crime girlie-ing his way through murder mysteries on the internet. he's making debunking videos about suspicious deaths and claiming that he solved X closed case years later based on his research, and it doesn't matter if he's right or not because people are ultimately just here for the story he tells. it also doesn't matter that he dropped out and moved across the country before he could be properly certified as a coroner, shhhhh just listen to the case and his analysis and you'll understand that he's right, ok? <3

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 Footage from on the night of February 29th, when the Israeli occupation forces opened fire on thousands of starving Palestinians gathered for humanitarian aid on Al-Rashid street in Gaza City. 118 Palestinian civilians were killed in the massacre and more than 700 others were wounded in the attack.]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚨

INVESTIGATION OF ISRAEL'S "FLOUR MASSACRE" CONFIRMS ZIONIST FORCES RESPONSIBLE FOR SHOOTING HUNDREDS OF STARVING PALESTINIANS

An investigation by Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (EURO-MED) into the "Flour massacre", which saw 118 starving Palestinian civilians killed and nearly 800 wounded in what the Israeli occupation tried to blame on a "stampede," says it has produced evidence that the majority of casualties were actually caused by the firing of live Israeli bullets.

The Flour massacre occured on February 29th, 2024 near the Nabulsi roundabout on Al-Rashid street in Gaza City, where thousands of hungry Palestinian families gathered for the arrival of a humanitarian aid convoy carrying food to starving crowds that desperately needed sustenance.

Soon after the trucks arrived, gunfire erupted, including tracer rounds which could be seen in video evidence taken at the time, causing thousands of civilians to panic, running off in different directions in search for shelter.

The Israeli occupation authorities used heavily edited clips of night vision drone video to argue that nearly a thousand Palestinian casualties were a result of a stampede after Israeli forces fired rifles into the air to defend themselves from defenseless civilians desperate for food, whom they claim were looting the free food being distributed to the crowds.

So senseless was Israel's explanations for the atrocity, that even CNN's Christiane Amanpour, a normally deferential TV commentator who rarely resists the official narratives of the Israeli occupation, had to push back against Israeli officials on U.S. national television.

But a newly published report by the Geneva-based human rights organization, Euro-Med Monitor, says that many of casualties were in fact the result of the firing of live bullets that have been forensically analyzed and found to match those used by Israeli soldiers.

According to Euro-Med Monitor, "Many victims of the massacre" actually suffered injuries from "5.56x45mm NATO bullets," adding that, "this is a type of bullet fired from Israeli army weapons."

"A sample of 200 dead and injured victims revealed that they were indeed hit by this type of bullet, and that the bullets were discovered and examined at the massacre site along with shrapnel found in the bodies of the wounded and dead," Euro-Med said in its report.

After carrying out a forensic analysis of the type of bullets used, Euro-Med says it "discovered that [this type of bullet] is discharged from assault rifles like the M4 and Tavor, along with machine guns," specifically "light machine gun[s] or LMG" such as the "IWI Negev."

Euro-Med says its research "revealed that 5.56×45mm ammunition is a basic FMJ bullet used by the Israeli army."

"This type of bullet is imported from the United Kingdom on occasion, produced in 2020/2022, and licensed for use by the Israeli Ministry of Defense," the human rights organization said of its analysis.

Euro-Med added that the bullet "is also manufactured in Israel by IMI SYSTEMS," an Israeli company which manufactures weapons, ammunition and other military technologies, and "regularly supplies them to the Israeli security forces, including the Israeli army."

Citing testimony by Muhammad Yasser Washah, a local 17-year-old resident of Gaza City's Al-Sabra neighborhood who was present for the Flour massacre, along with its own analysis, Euro-Med said it retrieved a bullet lodged in the youths jacket after going through the bag of flour he had been carrying on the night of the atrocity.

After analyzing the bullet pulled from Washah's jacket, Euro-Med discovered that its "form and dimensions were identical" to the bullets mentioned previously, though this particular bullet is designed to penetrate several millimeters of solid steel.

Euro-Med recorded testimony from several witnesses to the horrific massacre, putting together a timeline for the events of that night.

According to witnesses, the Zionist army began "directly shooting at civilians" as they waited for food aid at "approximately 4:10am" on Thursday, February 29th.

By 5:30am, the Israeli occupation forces "raided the entire gathering, where many people were lying injured, killed or were attempting to flee."

Euro-Med says that many people were taken into custody by the occupation's soldiers, others were forced to flee south, while some "Israeli forces directly executed others and left their bodies on a nearby beach."

According to testimony given by a witness who asked for anonymity, Euro-Med quoted the witness as saying, "We were shocked when Israeli soldiers showed up and took a group of young men from Gaza [City]."

The witness added that “While the majority of them were fleeing to the beach, some were at the Nabulsi roundabout, others were evacuated to the south, and still others were killed and left on the beach.”

The witness also detailed the fate of a doctor named Muhammad Awad who had been detained by Israeli soldiers but was released soon thereafter, “he moved several steps away, they opened fire on him and wounded him in the shoulder…We were under siege until 6:30 am, and the injured were pleading with us not to leave them…The food and flour were covered in blood when I left."

A second witness who works as volunteer paramedic also asked for anonymity fearing retaliation. That witness told Euro-Med “In the hopes of receiving assistance, I went to the Nabulsi roundabout. As a precaution, I brought a first aid bag with me because I knew that similar incidents had resulted in shootings.”

The witness explained how shortly before 4:30am, the humanitarian aid trucks "passed the checkpoint and the Israeli army started firing, throwing stun grenades and smoke bombs" as an Israeli tank advanced towards the crowd.

“I treated several injured people with first aid. I discovered that some had suffered injuries to their chests, while others had suffered injuries to their limbs," the witness recounted, adding that, "while I was trying to pull out one of the injured people, the tank came forward, and I was forced to flee the scene." The witness concluded by saying, “there was a large number of dead and injured people.”

Euro-Med Monitor goes on to lay out four "key pieces of evidence confirming the Israeli army's involvement in the killing and wounding of starving civilians," including signs of injuries on the bodies of the dead and wounded, footage released by the Israeli occupation authorities themselves, as well as "audible evidence of gunfire emenating from Israeli tanks positioned near the coast."

The Human Rights organization also pointed to video evidence published by the Zionist occupation, which despite being heavily edited, shows the "sheer panic and intimidation that struck all of the civilians present - including those relatively far away from the aid trucks - and pushed them to flee in all directions in order to seek shelter."

Euro-Med also warned that Israeli shootings of starving Palestinian civilians attempting to receive humanitarian aid has "become a regular practice."

The organization stated that over the last few weeks, "Israeli forces have directly attacked and killed dozens of people in Gaza City, including on Salah al-Din Street and in the vicinity of the Kuwait roundabout, where it has occurred no less than twice since the Flour Massacre."

The most recent example of this kind of attack came just last night when, according to Euro-Med Monitor, "many civilians were injured by Israeli violence near the Kuwait roundabout."

The Euro-Med report goes on to slam the Israeli occupation for "starving the people of Gaza, killing the starving people, and obstructing the entry and distribution of humanitarian supplies, especially in Gaza City and the northern Strip, demonstrat[ing] Israel’s aim of forcibly displacing the Palestinian people there as part of its genocide, ongoing since 7 October 2023."

The investigation goes on emphasize that the Zionist army's "extrajudicial executions and intentional killings of Palestinian civilians" who have not taken part in the hostilities, "amounts to serious violations of International humanitarian law," and are considered "war crimes and crimes against humanity as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court."

"These crimes, which Israel has been committing against the Gaza Strip’s people since 7 October, violate the right of Palestinians to life in accordance with international human rights law, and constitute acts of genocide," the Human Rights group added.

Euro-Med concludes it's report by urging the international community to take action to "force Israel to halt its starvation campaign" against civilians in the Gaza Strip, "in order to prevent the impending catastrophe of mass famine there, and to hold Israel accountable for its crimes and grave violations against the Strip and all of its Palestinian residents."

The Geneva-based human rights organization also issued a call for a "more effective and decisive" international intervention to "ensure the safe, complete, and reliable delivery of humanitarian supplies to the Gaza Strip without any hindrance," and "thus guarantee the provision of and access to" basic goods and services desperately needed by the starving population in the Palestinian enclave.

#source

#videosource

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[defectivevillain]

this winding labyrinth, chapter 11

chapter eleven: metamorphosis

pairing: Hannibal Lecter/Reader (reader's race & gender are ambiguous; no physical descriptors or pronouns are used)

summary:

You wish you never met Hannibal Lecter. But you yearn for his presence. You want to forget him. But he never truly leaves your thoughts. Now, you’re left to pick up the pieces of a broken design. A battle of instinct rages on in your mind—one of bittersweet relief and cloying grief, fearless resolve and poignant regret; a clashing between affection and antipathy, pride and pain. What will win, in the end? Only time will tell.

this is chapter 11, act 2 of this broken design. if you haven't read act 1 or chapters 1-10, this won't make too much sense.

ao3 version | Spotify playlist

warnings: typical stuff (gore, violence, death)

Frederick Chilton’s mangled visage stares at you, a cavernous abyss extending across the left side of his face. There’s blood carving a path down his face and dribbling from his lips. Somehow, you can sense the damp darkness of the room he was confined in; if you close your eyes, you can feel the unsettling mix of fear and dread that stewed in Frederick’s chest. 

Jack pauses the tape and places the television remote down with a bit more force than necessary. You share in his distress and frustration, even though it feels as if you shouldn’t. After all, you were the one to issue Frederick Chilton’s death sentence. You painted a target on his back… and the Tooth Fairy deftly shot him down. 

You decide to play the tape once more, only to find that there’s something reflected in Frederick’s eyes—mere moments before the video stutters to black. Jack and you send for forensic investigation, and they manage to return with a blown-up version of the image: a mirror of what Frederick saw in his last moments. There’s a dark figure standing before him, evidently the Tooth Fairy. And behind the figure is a yellowish-grey painting. You spend hours attempting to match the image to a work of art, before you finally identify it as The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun.  

From there, Jack and you attempt to do some research on the painting—but you don’t come up with anything substantial. After all, it’s difficult to ascertain exactly why the work of art appeared. Did the killer place it there purposefully? Does he see himself in it, somehow? The two of you trade ideas and brainstorm for a long time, before eventually coming up to a brick wall as your investigation shudders to a halt. 

In the coming days, you read all you can on the painting. You learn more about the artist, William Blake; and you read scholarly articles on the different interpretations of the work. But nothing brings you closer to the killer you’re attempting to track down. 

It’s only inevitable, you suppose, that you find yourself standing in front of Hannibal Lecter’s cell once more, the videotape in one hand and a newspaper article in the other as you brace yourself for whatever is to come. You can never truly prepare yourself for these conversations with Hannibal; you always leave feeling overwhelmed and emotionally drained. Keeping yourself afloat in his mind games takes a lot of energy, as does encoding the true meaning behind his often ambiguous phrasing. 

You greet Hannibal and he returns the sentiment, placing his book down and leveling you with an intent gaze. Something flickers across his face and he takes a slow breath. “You need to change your bandage,” he says moments later. 

You instinctually pull up your sleeve to catch a glimpse of the bandage you quickly plastered to the cut on your forearm. Sure enough, there’s a dark crimson stain slowly seeping through the fabric. You sigh and roll up your sleeve, not desiring to get blood on your shirt. You do the same with the other sleeve to make the choice look a little more intentional, before staring at Hannibal. He seems to be awaiting a response. “...Thank you,” you decide to indulge him, if only to ensure your later success. 

Hannibal nods. He clasps his hands and stares at you with an infuriatingly empty expression. Then, a polite smile works its way onto his face. That grin has a deceivingly sharp edge. Dread has made a home in your chest now. “I have something you need,” he says, acknowledging the tense truth that has been hanging in the air since you arrived. “You have something I desire. It appears a trade is in order.” 

Hannibal isn’t usually the one to initiate conversation so directly. That sends off a giant blaring alarm in your head. Yet you don’t really have a choice in the matter. Perhaps he even knows that, and is taking advantage of your desperation for more information. 

You grit your teeth and place a piece of paper in the tray. You knew Hannibal would demand something of significance from you, so you came prepared. The TattleCrime article Freddie Lounds wrote about Chilton and you—the trap you set for the Tooth Fairy—lies neglected in the vestibule nestled in Hannibal’s cell for several seconds. Then, as if snapped from a trance, Hannibal stares at it with interest. 

It’s now or never. Your hands are shaking at your sides. There’s no going back from here. You’re about to cross a line you cannot come back from. “Frederick Chilton was kidnapped by the Tooth Fairy,” you begin. Your tongue is glued to the roof of your mouth. You don’t want to utter the remaining words: he’s dead. And, somehow, it doesn't seem like you have to. Hannibal seems to comprehend your intended meaning, as he takes in the article set before him and evidently notices the way you drew attention to Chilton in the photograph.

His subsequent reaction is frightening. His lips turn upward, his eyes gleam, and you swear that Hannibal looks hungry . You take a cautious half-step backward, not feeling very secure despite the thick glass that maintains the barricade between you both. The scar along your face—the one he so carefully broke open again, to remind you just who you were up against— burns under his heated gaze. 

Hannibal is standing now; his faux disinterest has been abandoned. “You killed him,” he states, a note of some complex emotion in his voice. You feel sick to your stomach. You’re disgusted with yourself, disgusted that you thought it pertinent to tell Hannibal something that has been weighing so heavily on your conscience. He does not deserve to be privy to this information. He is not a confidant, nor is he your psychiatrist any longer. Hannibal is merely a criminal, a killer. And here you are, giving him information that could ruin your career and ensure that you never see the light of day again. 

“I… did,” you mutter. You don’t realize you utter that statement aloud until you see Hannibal’s gaze snap up to you with fervent intensity. You swallow past the trepidation burning your throat. Your fists clench at your sides in an attempt to abate your restless energy. “Is that enough?” You demand, exhausted with the silence that frequently dominates the air between you. 

Hannibal’s smile is lopsided and nausea-inducing—an indulgent display. “You don’t know your worth.” He says, his eyes glittering dangerously. The gravity of your actions is starting to catch up with you now. You were so desperate for information on the Tooth Fairy that you gave Hannibal unquestionably powerful ammunition against you. And there is no telling if—when—he will reveal it. At his remark, you remain silent. You did what had to be done. So why do you feel so disgusted with yourself? 

“Your turn,” you then remark, manifesting a smooth confidence that you certainly don’t possess. You cross your arms over your chest. 

“May I keep this?” Dr. Lecter asks. You know he’s not really asking—he’s just maintaining the pretense to give you the false notion that you actually have control in this conversation. You don’t have an ounce of control. He knows that, as he rips the newspaper cleanly along the edges of the photo. To your confusion, he doesn’t keep the article—just the photo of Chilton and you. When you squint, you realize that he’s ripped the photo down the middle, effectively separating you from Chilton. Hannibal then places the newspaper back in the tray. You bite your lip and warily wait for him to step back, before grabbing the newspaper. Surely enough, you’re cleanly ripped from the photo. Chilton and the text of the article remain. Hannibal places the photo of you on his desk, without breaking eye contact as he does so. Unnerved, you attempt to continue the conversation. It’s his turn to give you something, after all. 

“I’d like you to watch this tape,” you request. For a long stretch of time, there’s nothing to occupy the quiet air. Then, Hannibal hums in evident agreement. Equal amounts of relief and fear run through your chest. Before you can regret it, you’re tugging the hospital’s projector close to the clear partition around Hannibal’s cell and sitting down. Hannibal pulls up his own chair and sits at the edge of the boundary, watching as you set up the film. 

You press play and the staticky audio of the recording fills the space. Something churns in your chest as you are faced with incontrovertible evidence of your role in Chilton’s death. Suddenly distressed, you remember to turn and watch Hannibal. But the man’s eyes aren’t on the screen—he’s watching you instead.

Somehow, everything that occurred within the past few months (years) comes to fruition in a dizzying maelstrom of emotions. You can see flickers of your victims in the shadows lining the walls; you can hear their voices as you try and fail to listen to the videotape. Frederick Chilton joins the fray, his painfully familiar voice only stirring more emotion within you. 

Chilton was manipulative and greedy, sure. But that doesn’t mean he deserved to die. What made you the authority on such things? Your self-righteousness dictated that he somehow deserved that fate: being kidnapped and tortured, before being burned alive. 

It was just a hand on his shoulder… right? No. You knew what you were doing. That gesture was entirely tactical. You were more than aware that the Tooth Fairy would be scrutinizing the article and the accompanying image, looking for someone to blame. You made Frederick Chilton your scapegoat, because you were too cowardly to take responsibility for your cruel words. 

You’ve been hiding behind the looming threat of the Tooth Fairy. But in your hunt to catch a killer, you became one. You became the very same evil you dedicated your life to extinguishing. When was the last time you took a moment to truly contemplate your actions—to stare right back at the monster in the mirror? 

“You seem distressed.”

You blink past burning eyes and stare ahead at the wall, attempting to keep your composure. You’ve already seen the recording, but there’s something about the accountability of Hannibal’s gaze—the weight of his knowing stare—that makes the reality of your crimes set in. 

Before you can think of the consequences, you’re burying your head in your hands. Tears are slipping down your face; you’re curling in on yourself, in a futile attempt to just disappear. You know you shouldn’t be showing any kind of vulnerability in front of Hannibal, not when he can weaponize it so deftly. But your thoughts all came to a screeching halt when you noticed his eyes on you, as if attempting to discern your motivations. 

“Reportedly, the first kill is the hardest,” Hannibal states calmly. Is this his attempt at comforting you?  You don’t have time to contemplate the thought, before he’s continuing to speak. “But that wasn’t your first, was it?” The remark is casual and pointed all the same. Not for the first time, you feel anger rising within you at his detached observation. You want nothing more than to silence him, but you’re brutally aware of the precarious nature of this situation. One wrong word… and any intel Hannibal may have will slip down the drain. You have to navigate this very carefully, so you stifle any harsh words and remain silent. 

“You and I aren’t so different,” Hannibal then says. The fluorescent lighting above sends a drilling hum through your ears. You’re suddenly painfully aware of every minute sensation running through your body: the discomfort of the metal chair you pulled up for yourself; the goosebumps prickling along your arms, from the frigidity of the hall; the bloodied wound on your forearm, leaking through the bandage and occasionally throbbing to remind you of its existence. It’s all too much. Pushing aside all these feelings to comprehend Hannibal’s statement takes far longer than it should. 

“I’m not like you.” You say. The argument sounds flimsy, even to your own ears. You both know it. 

“You are,” Hannibal maintains. His gaze hasn’t left your form for several minutes. You feel like a bug under a microscope. It doesn’t matter where you crawl or how you writhe—he is still watching with rapt attention. “And it frightens you beyond belief.”

Something ticks in your jaw. “You don’t frighten me,” you insist. It’s a lie. Hannibal is incredibly unpredictable and that scares you. It scares you that, even with the years of history between you, you haven’t uncovered his motives, desires, or true feelings. You’re no closer to figuring him out than you were when you first met. Everything about him is a veneer. 

“But the darkness frightens you,” Hannibal remarks. His hands are clasped and he crosses one leg over the other, ever the picture of elegant composure. The air almost seems to buzz and ring through the silence. The glass partition between the two of you is rendered inconsequential under his gaze. “It beckons you ever closer. You are slowly but surely giving into it, answering its siren call.”

You grit your teeth. Truthfully, you don’t know what to say—and you don’t trust yourself to speak. Your voice will surely betray your true thoughts. As if acknowledging this, Hannibal inclines his head with a smile. “Your thread is worn thin,” he murmurs. “It will soon snap.”

You’re biting the inside of your cheek now, desperate for something to ground you to reality and keep you from lashing out. There has been a steady anger boiling within you ever since the two of you first met. It only grows in moments like these, when Hannibal pokes and prods at you. “I will be there when you break.”

“I won’t break.” You force the statement past your lips, in an effort that feels unusually difficult. “And that’s not something you can promise.” 

“Maybe not.” Hannibal acquiesces, that infuriatingly knowing smile rising on his lips once more. The sight never fails to unnerve you. 

“You’ve distracted me,” you realize aloud. Hannibal only raises a brow. “We were talking about the tape.” You glance at the television pointedly. 

“Were we?” Hannibal muses. You have to put conscious effort into suppressing your irritation. Hannibal knows exactly what he’s doing. This feigned ignorance is only wasting time. And while he has ample time to mess around with, confined in the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, you don’t have that same luxury.  

“Yes.” You say persistently.

“What do you think, so far?” Hannibal asks. 

He’s trying to divert you again. You decide to let it happen. Sometimes, you get more information from him through his reactions. Hannibal is rarely the one to willingly divulge, after all. “I think the killer’s very purposeful in his actions,” you eventually settle for saying. You think back to the tape, to the darkness that creeped through the corners, to the demands the killer made of Chilton. “He is… seeking transformation,” You break off, the words feeling heavy on your tongue as you remember what Frederick went through at the killer’s hand. “Especially when considering the painting displayed behind him—The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun, I think it was.”

“Yes, I’m familiar.” Hannibal hums. You resist an eye roll at that. You shouldn’t have expected any less from him. 

“I think the killer holds a certain reverence for that painting,” you continue relentlessly. “Perhaps he even sees himself in it.” It all makes a twisted sort of sense. After all, the killer doesn’t view himself as a man. He views himself as a god. 

“It sounds as if you have a good idea already,” Hannibal admits. He paces around his cell. To the untrained eye, it would appear as if he were restless or nervous. But you can see through the pretense of the gesture. You’re struggling to focus as you watch his constant movement—and, you begin to realize, that very well may be the point. “In which case, I have to wonder why you’re here.”

“It’s just an idea, unfortunately,” you remember to respond. “Jack is desperate for information—we all are.”

“Ah, Jack,” Hannibal says, a fickle smile rising on his lips. You can’t quite elucidate Hannibal’s thoughts on Jack. The two of them are far from friends, but Hannibal seems to hold a begrudging sense of respect for your boss. Jack, on the other hand, is unsettled by Hannibal—but with similar reluctance, he recognizes that Hannibal has expertise no one else may have. The two of them are stuck in a strange sort of truce—there’s almost a symbiotic relationship between them. “How is he doing? How is his wife?”

“Bella?” You ask confusedly. The emotion is leaking through your voice before you can stop it. Why would Hannibal be bringing her up? “Why do you ask?”

“He hasn’t told you?” Hannibal asks innocently. There’s an unspeakable malice lingering behind that polite mask of his. It’s clear he’s trying to provoke you. “Bella is dying of cancer.”

You stare at him in disbelief. That’s the first time you’re hearing of anything related to Bella’s health. Is it true? It must be... After all, it can be easily fact-checked: you could simply walk up to Jack and ask him. That wouldn’t be necessary, though. You know Hannibal is telling the truth. And despite the man’s hostile intentions, you can’t help but feel betrayed at the thought of Jack keeping secrets from you. Why wouldn’t he have told you? 

You force yourself to stay silent as you process what Hannibal just said, eventually managing to set it aside for future contemplation. When you finally break through the silence, you’re calm and composed. “That was a rather flagrant attempt at creating tension between me and Jack,” you state. “You’re usually more subtle.”

Hannibal lets out a choking sound. It takes you a few seconds to recognize the noise as a laugh. You’re not sure how long it’s been since you’ve heard him laugh. “Thank you,” Hannibal says, his eyes still sparkling with amusement. “I find that little amuses these days.”

You squint at him. Your conversation today is very disjointed and unorganized. You have to wonder if Hannibal is drawing it out on purpose. He must not get very many chances at socializing behind these walls. Perhaps he’s taking advantage of the opportunity. 

“I haven’t forgotten,” you feel the need to remind him, when he doesn’t exhibit any desire to continue the conversation. “I’d like to hear what you think.” I think I deserve that much, you don’t say. You meet Hannibal’s gaze head-on, nonverbally compelling him to speak.

Hannibal is quiet for a few seconds. “His Becoming is something beyond our explanation,” he reasons. “It can only be described as… a sort of consumption. I suspect his true self—or what little remains of it—will be eradicated upon the completion of the process.” You dissect his words in your mind, as one particular term catches your attention. 

Consumption. Consumption. Sure, Hannibal means it in a figurative sense. But what if the killer’s obsession were to manifest in a more literal sense? The only way for the man to complete his transformation would be through consumption. The painting would be a part of him, inextricably connected to his very being. 

You think you have the answer now. Reinvigorated, you gather your things and look to Hannibal, who has been patiently waiting for your response. “Thank you, Hannibal,” you finally say. It’s far easier than you expect to summon some gratitude. For the first time, you feel as if you’re close to the Tooth Fairy—or, more accurately, the Red Dragon. 

Hannibal smiles, something akin to pride gleaming in his eyes. You catch yourself smiling back and quickly stop; unfortunately, you suspect he noticed anyway. Sensing your eagerness to depart and return to investigation, Hannibal bids you farewell. 

“Goodnight, darling,” Hannibal says. A shiver rolls down your spine. “It is very hard to part with you, but goodnight.”

Feeling weirdly off-kilter, you bid him goodnight before leaving the institution. You resolutely pretend not to notice Hannibal watching you as you leave. And confined behind glass walls, Hannibal pretends not to notice how invigorated he feels after your conversations.

next chapter

endnotes: Hannibal's last bit of dialogue ("Goodnight, darling...") is from Carmilla.

thanks for reading! and thank you for your wonderful comments! they make me very happy :3

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[xalatath]

Tagged by @vampvalerian , ty :>

1. named after anyone? My deadname was after my great grandfather but none of my chosen names are after anyone.

2. last time I cried? Unsure, I dont cry often.

3. kids? I would never want to give birth but i am not opposed to having kids if i found the right person / i would be willing to adopt.

4. sports? Used to be really into horseback riding when I was younger and did competitions. I wish i could get back into it.

5. sarcasm? I am very sarcastic but i sometimes struggle to understand when other people are being sarcastic.

6. first thing i notice about something? Word choice, the way they speak, typing style, etc.

7. eye color? Blue

8. scary movies / happy endings? I love horror movies where everyone is miserable.

9. talents? Drawing i guess. Music has always come very naturally to me but I can't read sheet music most of the time. I'd like to think I am an okay writer but i'm not really sure.

10. place of birth? New York

11. hobbies? Video games, drawing, autistic elopement, writing / rp, doing various crafts, researching things i'm interested in.

12. pets? 2 cats and 2 leeches

13. height? 5'4

14. fav school subject? Any kind of science (particularly life sciences). Fav class in high school was my forensics elective.

15. dream job? Forensic pathologist or pathologist assistant.

Tagging @malecius @lynxfrost13 @vampirephlebotomy @luvtm @pegasicore and whoever else wants to

[stnkiconverse]

you're going to do it, and you're getting away with it. you know that.

Ch.2 - The Plan

⇠ Previous

Next ⇢

genre: psychological horror (in a way), creepypasta, supernatural thriller (in a way)

pairing: none. (yet ;) )

WC: 1.8k

content warnings: echoes in the static contains scenes and themes that may be disturbing or triggering to some readers, including: graphic violence and murder, mental illness and psychological distress, suicide and self-harm, domestic abuse and strong language.

Reader discretion is advised.

Yes this has to do with Greepypastas. Yes, Creepypastas will pop up and make appearances, it's basically a reader insert into the Creepypasta word.

do not repost my work anywhere, I only post in Tumblr.

The memories of what Frank put your mother through came rushing back immediately after the funeral, as you watched him kiss another woman and drive away without a shred of remorse. The image burned into your mind, solidifying your decision. This man, who had driven your mother to despair and death, could not be allowed to continue living his life unpunished. You would make sure of that.

Back at your apartment, you sat in the dark, the glow from your laptop screen illuminating your determined face. Research became your life. For days, you delved into the dark corners of the internet, reading about unsolved murders, the meticulous plans of serial killers who evaded capture, and the critical mistakes that led to others getting caught. You learned about creating believable alibis, the best ways to dispose of a body, and methods to make remains unrecognizable. Each article, each video, was a piece of the puzzle, slowly forming the picture of your plan.

Your notebook filled with scribbles and diagrams, each page more detailed than the last. You mapped out potential scenarios, rehearsed alibis in your mind, and memorized procedures to avoid leaving any evidence behind. You even went so far as to research the forensic techniques used by police, understanding what they looked for and how to avoid detection. The perfect murder took time and patience, you reminded yourself. This was not something to rush.

---

Taking cash out of your bank account bit by bit was the first step. You knew that large withdrawals might raise suspicions, so you took only small amounts, ensuring that no one would notice. This money would be used to buy everything you needed without leaving a trail. The cashier at the hardware store didn’t look twice as you paid in cash for gloves, bleach, a lighter, a shovel and a glass knife. Each purchase was a step closer to your goal.

You carefully selected each item. A wig to change your appearance, contact lenses to alter your eye color, bigger clothes to hide your frame, men's shoes that were at least two sizes larger than your own, gloves to avoid fingerprints, two bottles of bleach, a glass knife, a lighter, a shovel and an axe. Each item had a purpose, each step a piece of the puzzle. You made sure to purchase the items from different stores and at different times, never raising suspicion.

The last item was a concert ticket, purchased with a credit card, deliberately leaving a digital footprint. This ticket was your alibi, an essential part of your plan. You chose a local concert for the night you planned to kill Frank. On the day, you would post about it on all your social media accounts, labeling it as ‘a personal day out.’ The ticket and posts would place you far from the scene of the crime, or so you hoped.

---

You began quietly stalking Frank, a shadow in the background of his life. At first, you followed him from a distance, memorizing his work schedule and noting his habits. Frank was predictable, his routines almost painfully mundane. You observed him at the house where your mother had died, watching for times when his new girlfriend wasn’t around. Those were the days you would strike. You noted the time he left for work, the days he stayed late at the station, and the evenings he spent alone at home. Your observations were meticulous, each detail recorded in your notebook.

You were careful to avoid being seen. You parked your car several blocks away and walked the rest of the distance, keeping to the shadows. You dressed in inconspicuous clothes, blending in with the surroundings. On more than one occasion, you felt the thrill of fear as Frank glanced your way, but he never seemed to notice you. The adrenaline was addictive, fueling your resolve.

Your determination was unwavering, though it took a toll on you. About twice a week, you found yourself breaking down, overcome by grief and the weight of what you were planning. The memories of your mother, her laughter, her kindness, and her pain haunted you. But each time you remembered the cold, uncaring look in Frank’s eyes, the way he had dismissed her death as if it meant nothing, your resolve hardened. This was for her. You had to do it.

---

In the flower shop, you tried to maintain a facade of normalcy. Lisa and the regular customers could tell something was off, but you brushed off their concerns with forced smiles and excuses about stress and exhaustion. You were not your usual self, and it was impossible to hide it completely, but you hoped it was enough to avoid suspicion. You continued your work, arranging flowers and helping customers, but your mind was always elsewhere, consumed by your plans.

Lisa, ever the observant friend, approached you one afternoon as you were preparing a bouquet. "Y/N, are you okay? You seem a bit... distant lately," she said, her voice full of concern.

You forced a smile, placing a vibrant red rose into the arrangement. "I'm fine, Lisa. Just a lot on my mind. It's been a rough few weeks, you know?"

She nodded sympathetically. "I understand. If you ever need to talk, I'm here for you."

"Thanks," you replied, grateful for her concern but unable to confide in her. The less she knew, the better.

---

The plan was to kill Frank in his own house, the place that had been a prison for your mother. The idea of ending his life there felt fitting, poetic in a dark way. You imagined the final moments, the look of surprise and fear on his face, and the sense of justice it would bring. The phrase “You only have one chance” repeated in your head whenever you thought about it. There could be no mistakes.

You didn't perform any trial runs, convinced that everything would go perfectly. You were thorough in your planning, confident in your ability to execute it flawlessly. The phrase "You only have one chance" was a constant reminder of the stakes. The pressure was immense, but you believed in your plan and your ability to carry it out.

---

As the day of the murder approached, you made final preparations. You accepted that you wouldn’t be the same after this, but it was a price you were willing to pay. For your mother, you would sacrifice your own peace, your own soul, if necessary.

On the day, you would wear the wig and contacts, change into the larger clothes, and don the men’s shoes and gloves. You would carry the glass knife and the axe, tools of retribution. You would ensure Frank was alone, and then you would strike.

---

The concert ticket was in your pocket, a reminder of your carefully crafted alibi. You would post about the concert on social media throughout the day, creating a digital trail that would place you miles away from the scene of the crime. It was a simple yet effective plan, and you felt a strange sense of calm as the day approached.

That morning, you woke up earlier than usual, the weight of your mission pressing down on you. You looked at the mirror, your reflection almost unrecognizable. You had not slept well in weeks, and the dark circles under your eyes were a testament to the nights spent planning and grieving. You practiced your expressions, ensuring you could smile and seem genuinely excited about the concert when posting on social media.

You spent the morning going through the motions at Petals and Posies, trying to keep your mind off the evening's events. Lisa chatted with you about mundane things, the latest neighborhood gossip, and the plans she had for the weekend. You listened, nodding and responding appropriately, but your mind was far away, replaying the plan over and over.

---

As the afternoon wore on, you began to prepare. You double-checked your bag, ensuring everything was in place. The wig, contacts, oversized clothes, men's shoes, gloves, glass knife, axe, lighter and bleach – each item was checked and rechecked. You couldn’t afford to forget anything.

Your hands trembled slightly as you donned the disguise. The wig fit snugly, changing your appearance dramatically. The contact lenses felt strange at first, but you quickly adjusted. You looked in the mirror, seeing a stranger staring back. Perfect.

You then continued you contour your face to the point where there was absolutely no trace of you.

You left your apartment, making sure to post a photo of the concert ticket on social media with the caption "A personal day out. Time to enjoy some music and relax!" Your friends and few followers liked and commented, wishing you a fun time. It was surreal, knowing what you were about to do while presenting a façade of normalcy to the world.

---

Arriving at Frank's neighborhood, after having walked to it, there was adrenaline already making itself present. The men's shoes were heavy and uncomfortable, but they served their purpose, making your footprints untraceable. You moved silently and quickly, your heart pounding in your chest as you approached the house.

The house was quiet, the only sound the faint hum of the air conditioning unit. You slipped around to the back, using the spare key you had taken from your mother’s belongings to let yourself in. The familiar scent of the house hit you, a mix of stale air and Frank's cologne. Memories flooded your mind, but you pushed them aside. This was not the time for sentimentality.

You moved through the house, your senses heightened. Every creak of the floorboards, every rustle of fabric seemed amplified. You made your way to the kitchen, where you knew Frank kept a spare bottle of whiskey. If he was drinking, it would be easier to catch him off guard.

The sound of the front door opening made you freeze. Frank was home. You listened intently, hearing the clink of his keys as he tossed them on the table, followed by the familiar sound of his heavy footsteps. He was heading to the living room.

You took a deep breath, steeling yourself. This was it. The moment you had been planning for weeks. You felt a surge of adrenaline, your body ready for what was to come. The phrase "You only have one chance" echoed in your mind, a reminder of the stakes.

---

You peeked around the corner, seeing Frank settle into his recliner, a bottle of whiskey in hand. His eyes were closed, and he looked relaxed, oblivious to the danger lurking in his home. You tightened your grip on the glass knife, the cool weight of it grounding you.

Silently, you moved closer, your heart pounding in your chest. You could hear your own breathing, shallow and quick. The distance between you and Frank closed with every step, each one bringing you closer to your goal. Your mother’s face flashed in your mind, her smile, her laughter, her pain. This was for her.

As you stood over him, you hesitated for a brief moment, the enormity of what you were about to do hitting you. But then you remembered the bruises, the fear in your mother’s eyes, the indifference in Frank’s. Your resolve hardened.

You moved both of your hands towards Frank, the urge to immediately kill him being immense, but no. You’re gonna make him suffer, even if it’s just for a bit.

banners: @drizztdohurtin

Taglist is open, ask to be added.

🏷️: @mimmickmouse @stranger-of-the-internet

[angelinaheartshapedbox]

morbid attraction

Ethan Landry x reader

AU where Stu Macher has an illegitimate child. During Scream 6.

summary: Y/n is a freshman at Blackmore University. They're currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in forensic science to become an autopsy technician. To further their research, and to make money, they pick up shifts as a mortuary assistant. Y/n must come to terms with the trauma of gruesome murders of their hometown, copes with the memories of their ex girlfriend Amber Freeman, and with the fact that their father was a homicidal maniac. Running doesn't get them far from their past as it chases after them into New York City. But maybe there's light at the end of the tunnel. And maybe, just maybe, the light is Ethan Landry.

!!WARNINGS!! graphic descriptions of gore and violence, PTSD, and dealing with trauma. Major content warnings will be placed before each chapter.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

Voicemail (5)

I Don't Want To Die

Wordcount: 2k

Content warnings: violence, death, blood, more blood, depictions of gore. ethan did not have econ.

Quinn’s newest man of the evening had arrived, so she went to her room. Sam was upset that she’d invited someone who was basically a stranger to our apartment.

Sam brought out a few blankets and pillows for our friends. I was in the kitchen with Chad, Tara, and Mindy. We were all working to cook dinner.

“Sam, we do not have to stay here,” Mindy told her.

“Welp, too bad. I insist. Safety in numbers” Sam replied.

“This’ll be so fun. A little slumber party with the Alive Five!” Chad exclaimed.

“‘Alive Five’?” Sam asked.

“Yeah.”

Tara stared at him, “Did you just give us a nickname?”

Chad smiled, “I sure did. I mean we’ve been through a lot together and it’s a pretty cool nickname.”

“So true, Chad” I nod.

“That’s debatable,” Sam says.

“Extremely debatable,” Tara adds.

“You can’t just give yourself a nickname, dingus,” Mindy tells her brother.

Chad gives her a shit eating grin, “Of course I can, dingus, because I just did. Alive Five up top!”

“No.”

“Down low!”

Tara shakes her head, “Get that away from me.”

Chad turns to me and Sam with his hand, “Please, for the love of God.”

“Don’t do it,” Mindy laughs.

I obviously give him a high five, laughing evilly as my friends groan. I interlock my fingers with Chad’s and squeeze before letting go.

“You know, I would actually like a little more respect and support from my fellow members of the Alive Five.”

Anika interrupts us, “Guys, what the hell?” She turns up the TV as we file into the living room.

The newscaster starts talking about Sam being the lead suspect in the current murders. He discusses the rumors online about me and Sam being responsible for the killings last year. He said we were trying to “revive our fathers’ legacy” or some bullshit. The video of Sam yelling at that girl on the street the other night played.

Sam turned off the TV aggressively. She walked over to the dining table and sat by herself. Tara and I followed. We sat in silence until Tara spoke.

“I know you’re not a fan of the way that I’ve been handling things, and that I’ve been giving you a really hard time. But I can say that none of us can relate to what you are experiencing. And I’m really, really sorry you have to do that alone.”

Sam stifles tears, “It’s not your fault. And I know I shouldn’t care what people think,” she pauses, “It just sucks being this hated.”

“Hey, hey,” Chad says as he walks into the room with Mindy, “Just a reminder, not a single person in this room hates you.”

“Yeah, Sammy” I agree.

“Okay? We have all been through some fucked-up stuff, and we are coping with it differently. But you know we moved here together for one very specific reason.” Chad reminds Sam, “We’re a team.”

Mindy chimes in, “We are the Alive Fucking Five.”

“Thank you very much!”

“Ah, I hate myself.”

Chad and Mindy high five.

“Say it” I tell Tara.

“No, I’m not gonna say it,” she refuses, “I mean, yes, we are a team but-”

We’re all trying to get Tara to say it and we’re laughing.

Sam interrupts, “I’ve been sleeping with Cute Boy from across the hall.”

It’s quiet.

“Boom!”

We all erupt.

“I knew it, I knew it!”

“You called it.”

“Knew it from the day you had that hickey.”

After we calm down from Sam’s lover, Chad looks at me.

I gave him a suspicious look, “What?”

“Do you have any love affairs to confess?” he asks, wiggling his eyebrows.

“No?”

“Nothing with our tall, dorky friend?”

“Who may or may not be Ghostface” Mindy mumbles.

I look at the confused, “Ethan?”

“Yes, Ethan!” Chad bangs the table.

“No, I am not sleeping with Ethan!” my voice ups in pitch.

Chad gives me a look, “Hm.”

I argued with him about it. He claimed we’re too cuddly, so I rebudled that I’m cuddly in general. Sam backs me up by mentioning me in her bed last night. Mindy says I was flirting with him at the frat party because we were dancing. I said that I just wanted my friend to have fun. They let it go.

“I feel like we should high five or something,” Tara says.

“The Alive Five high five, please?”

“Don’t call it that.”

We all high five in the middle and interlace our fingers. For a minute I feel safe, I feel okay. It feels like a real family where I belong. Sam’s phone rings and it’s Cute Boy. We make fun of her for a moment and she declines his call. Quinn is heard moaning in the other room.

“Oh, my God, Quinn and her gentleman caller are back at it again” Tara jokes.

We all laugh as the moans and thuds get louder. All of our phones go off. We’ve been airdropped a picture of Quinn being attacked by Ghostface.

“Help! Stop!”

We all jump up from the table and sprint towards Quinn’s room. Chad grabs Tara’s arm and pulls her away before she gets to the door. We all stop and stare. It’s silent.

“Run.”

The door swings open and the killer throws Quinn’s body. Everyone is screaming.

“You guys come on!” Tara screams, running out with Chad. I watched Lucifer run out with them.

The killer slices Mindy’s arm. Anika starts fighting him from the floor. He grabs her by the throat. I watch her as she struggles to breathe.

“Hey, fuckhead!” I scream, kicking him in the side.

I trip over myself and hit the floor. I kick and scurry backwards as the killer crawls towards me. He grips my ankle and pulls me towards him. I kick my legs and shove his face away. He stabs me in my right thigh. I scream in pain and kick him in the face. The force makes him pull the knife out of me and step backwards.

Anika tries to latch onto him again. He grabs her by the throat and pins her to the wall. The knife is plunged into her stomach, he drags and twists it upwards. She cries and shrieks. Sam comes running in with the wooden knife holder and smacks him over the head.

We run into Tara’s room and lock the door. I grab a belt from the floor and a pen. Mindy grips her gaping wound. We remember that the bathroom connects through the rooms. Mindy rushes to close the bathroom door.

“Oh, fuck! That guy’s dead!”

The killer comes running at the door. Sam and Mindy force it shut and deadbolt it. I take the belt and pen and tighten them above my bleeding wound. I’m bleeding a lot. There’s a major artery that I’m worried has been severed. All the while, Mindy and Sam are blockading the door. Anika is practically bleeding out in front of me. We’re all screaming and crying and bleeding.

Cute Boy from across the hall calls out to Sam from the window. She rushes over. He pushes a ladder in between the two windows.

“You three go first. Mindy!” Sam yells.

“What? No. Someone needs to hold the door. I’ll send Y/n and Anika next. Go!” Mindy replies.

The killer bangs on the door. I can tell he’s throwing his whole body weight against the door.

Sam crosses the makeshift bridge as Danny sends words of encouragement.

“We’re losing a lot of blood!” I shout at Sam as I limp to the window.

Anika groans, “Say something more positive!”

Sam makes it across and I pull myself with my upper body across the ladder as fast as I can. I wince and whine, crying harder as my wound drags. I finally made it across. Anika forces Mindy to go next. She gives her one last kiss before crawling across to us.

Anika gets onto the ladder, “Oh, God! I can’t do it!” She slowly crawls.

The killer comes up to the window.

“Anika, you have to move now!”

I scream, “Come on, we got you!”

The killer grabs onto the ladder and shakes it vigorously, Anika shrieks and cries. She keeps trying to crawl as Mindy screams.

“Baby, I don’t want to die!” Anika yelps out. She takes Sam’s hand.

The killer completely knocks Anika off the ladder. She falls. We watch as her head crashes into the dumpster below, then hits the hard concrete. Her skull bleeds onto the pavement. I passed out.

When I come to, I’m in an ambulance. My leg is being stitched up. The EMT sees that I’m awake. The sun is starting to rise.

“Hey, that tourniquet was a good idea” The medic tells me, “You might’ve saved your life.”

I gulped and nodded. I see my friends in the ambulance across from me. They see me too. The medics, police officers, and crime scene investigators litter the place. I overhear multiple indistinct conversations.

I see Ethan duck under the crime scene tape. Chad sees him too.

“Chad?”

Chad rushes over to him. He grabs him by his collar, “Where were you?!”

Ethan is confused, “What? When?”

“Last night!”

I yell, “Chad, stop!”

“I had Econ. You know this!”

“Bullshit, man! You disappear, and my sister almost gets killed!”

“Chad!” I yelp, leaving the ambulance. The medic yells after me. I half-run over to the boys, my stitches tearing. “Chad, it wasn’t him!”

Chad looks at me, “How do you know that, Y/n? ‘Cause he’s your little boy toy? He couldn’t hurt you?”

I grip my thigh and wince, “Oh, fuck. No! Because I kicked that fucker in the fucking face! Ethan doesn’t even have a bruise! And whoever it was definitely has a broken nose.”

Chad lets Ethan go, he walks away.

I moan, using both my hands to squeeze my thigh. I start to cry and crumble to the floor.

Ethan grabs me, “Oh, fuck. Th-that’s a lot of blood. Oh, my God. Y/n!”

He helps me back over to the ambulance where they have to re-stitch me. I sob and hiss in pain. Ethan sits next to me. I grab his hand and squeeze it with all of my strength.

“Fuck!” I scream. I clench my teeth, my breath ragged. I sound like a kicked puppy. The adrenaline has worn off and now I’m just in agony.

“You’re gonna be okay,” Ethan whispered.

I couldn’t speak in anything but jumbled sobs. The medic was done stitching me, but I was still weeping. Ethan softly shushes me, pulling himself closer. I gulp and breathe heavily.

I looked into his eyes, “Ethan, it was so scary.” I wrap my arms around myself and fall forward onto him. His arms place themselves around me and I cry into his chest. “Oh, my God, they’re dead!”

“You’re okay,” he says softly, “I’m here. I’ve got you.”

“I don’t want to die.”

Ethan pulls back slightly, “Hey, look at me.” His hand meets my cheek, his thumb wipes tears. “You’re not going to die.” His tone is suddenly serious.

I shake my head, “You don’t know that.” I look at the ground and let more tears fall.

“I said look at me,” Ethan adjusts my face to look at him.

I tremble in his fingers. His eyes meet mine. He looks at me with the harshest expression I’ve ever seen on him. He puts his other hand on my face and says:

“Anyone who tries to kill you is dying first.”

previous next

masterlist

a/n: tehe i like this one

[tma-reader-inserts]

Not a insert but something worse

Some food for thought

Other avatar backgrounds

(tw: self-harm in the desolation)

The eye

- journalist/ columnist

- Junk man

- Highschooler in charge of the gossip circle

The vast

- professional pool cleaner

- Landscaper

- Architect

The lonely

- librarian

- Artic circle researcher

- At home worker

Desolation

- self harming person with fire

- Incinerator worker

- Crematory worker

The corruption

- A couple obsessively in love with each other

- Bee keeper

- Forensic entomologist

The flesh

- Model

- Masseuse

- Surgeon

The stranger

- Model

- Sculptor specialising in realism

- Musician

The dark

- electrician

- Spelunker

- Sleep analyst volunteer

The buried

- grave digger

- Tube worker

- Gardener

The spiral

- drug dealer/drug addict

- Thrill seeker

- Artist

The web

- old lady crochet

- Video surveillance security guard

- Toxicologist

The slaughter

- war reenactor

- Axe thrower

- Enthusiastic carnivore

The end

- er nurse/doctor

- Hospice volunteer

- A cat who can tell when someone’s about to die

The hunt

- truancy officer

- Father searching for their lost child

- Blood hound

[vintagetvstars]

David McCallum Vs. David Selby

Propaganda

David McCallum - (The Man From U.N.C.L.E, Colditz, The Outer Limits) - He became one of the hottest leading men of 1960s tv with The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and McCallum received more fan mail than any other actor in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's history, including such popular MGM movie stars as Clark Gable and Elvis Presley. He turned his Russian character from side-kick to co-star in one season during the height of the cold war. Artists wrote hit camp songs about his character like "Love Ya, Illya"

David Selby - (Dark Shadows, Falcon Crest) - VERY handsome. 16 magazine had articles about him for a reason. Does such a good job as Quentin, every moment he's onscreen is a delight. He's funny, he's evil, he's Going Thru It, he's being stupid, WHATEVER it is he's great at it. So tall in the 1960s you can clearly see him having to duck through some doorways onscreen, and still pretty darn tall as an old man. (I actually just met him recently and got his autograph, he was very nice!) If tumblr was around in the 1960s he would have been prime tumblr sexyman material.

Master Poll List | How to submit propaganda | What is vintage? (FAQ)

Additional propaganda below the cut

David McCallum:

Everyone knows him as Ducky from NCIS or Ashley Pitt from The Great Escape, but David McCallum was also the original Man From UNCLE, for which role he recieved record setting amounts of fan mail. Was considered to play the Doctor. Charles Bronson stole his first wife, but his second marriage lasted over 55 years, until his death, so who's the winner here.

He became an expert on forensics during his time with JAG/NCIS and attended multiple medical examiner conventions for research.

A classically trained musician, he created several instrumental albums in the 60's his biggest hit is a cover of The Edge which has appeared in movies and video games and sampled by rap artists.

David Selby:

Dark Shadows was a daily soap opera in the 60's and that means that unless an actor swore or something truly heinous happened all mistakes are just there for our viewing pleasure.

Here have this video of his character and another dude right after trying to summon the devil

I love David Selby and I love David Selby as Quentin Collins (all of them). He plays the tragic, disaster, self-absorbed "hero" so well and is one of the original wet cat men of TV.

Also this incredibly gay scene of those two characters

TW: Gypsy Slur

[thoughtportal]

The 1985 MOVE bombing, locally known by its date, May 13, 1985 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_MOVE_bombing

Since the bombing, the bones of two children, 14-year-old Tree (Katricia Dotson) and 12-year-old Delisha Orr, were kept at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. In 2021, Billy Penn revealed that according to the museum, the remains had been transferred to researchers at Princeton University, though the university was unaware of their exact whereabouts. The remains had been used by Janet Monge, an adjunct professor in anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania and a visiting professor in the same subject at Princeton University, in videos for an online forensics course named “Real Bones: Adventures in Forensic Anthropology,” as case studies.[27] Present-day MOVE members were shocked to learn this, with Mike Africa Jr. stating "They were bombed, and burned alive ... and now you wanna keep their bones."[28]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_MOVE_bombing

[108garys]

Manny Sherman dialogue transcribed

I really enjoyed transcribing the little hope puritan dialogue a bit ago despite it being one heck of an undertaking and I've always wanted to do a similar thing on a much smaller scale(this time) so as an afternoon task I pulled up a video of the four Sherman tapes and typed out his on screen dialogue, it'll be good for writing him and better understanding his vocabulary and maybe some time around I'll do something a little more substantial like Randolph Hodgson's journal but that aside I feel Sherman's dialogue flows really well and does a great job with characterisation, can you believe there's barely more than a thousand words from him all up? Regardless I've tried to follow the in game captions on the video which can be a little hard at times due to white text on a grey background with the occasional white detail obscuring stuff but I believe I got it at least 99% accurate and beyond that I added in places in brackets that he laughed but not the uncaptioned sounds of him getting his ass kicked because I thought one added something and the other wouldn't(and here's the video I used)

(interrogation - tape 1)

Manny Sherman. Born January one. Nineteen fifty-six.

Come on, you already know all this. What do you want?

What's this?… Huh… You've been doing your research, haven't you Special Agent Munday?

What are my favorite television programs?

Describe my first pet.

What were your friends like as a child?

What is this?!

You taking a survey or you trying to learn something?

Would it kill you to be direct?

You wanted to know what inspired me? As if I wasn't an original?

Well… maybe there was one man I found myself a little fascinated by.

Henry. Howard. Holmes.

Why? Because he was numero uno.

America's first. The guy invented the trade. He set the benchmark, you know?

Learn your history, Munday. Read a book.

You think because I stuck a blade in some people and get off on it I'm not smart?

I, heh… 'allegedly'… killed 13 people before you got smart enough to find me…

__

(interrogation - tape 2)

…had to build my own little castle, just like Holmes did.

Most people like me do their business where their target lives. That's just asking to get caught.

Holmes had the right idea. It was all about the honeytrap.

You bring me some smokes? Like I asked?

Lucky Reds? Yes! These are like gold in here. Damn that's good. So yeah, the honey pot.

Holmes built a hotel about a mile from the World's Fair and CALLED it the World's Fair Hotel and bought ad space in the papers alongside ads for the expo.

Rubes from far and wide assumed it was the official hotel!

Ma and Pa Kettle take a train in from Nebraska, takes three days, they roll up into that joint ready to rest, get to their room… and whoops- what do ya know… Holmes had a gas pipe hidden under the bed and poisons them.

Or maybe he pulls a trap door on them.

Maybe he separates them and makes one watch through a window while he slits the other's throat.

That's the advantage of a honey pot: no shortage of targets.

That's why I picked all those houses north of the airport.

That whole neighborhood was scheduled for demolition and yet…

All those lovely realtor ladies must not have gotten the memo.

Call up as a contractor, tell them I'm flipping, have them meet me out there… and look at that… we're the only two people for miles.

The first couple times I'd wait for a plane to fly over, just to hide their screams, but…

after a while I realized they could scream as loud as they wanted.

No one was gonna hear a thing.

That's what I remember most.

Those screams.

You can try to understand why I am the way I am. You can forensic science up all the data you want.

But you'll never know… You'll never know, Munday… You'll never really know how it feels when you watch the fire burn out of somebody.

__

(interrogation - tape 3)

(laughter)

A whole carton this time? You trying to get on my good side or something?

Think I'll save them.

What? No questions? What's going on with you, Munday?

You seem different.

(laughter) I see that that glimmer in your eye, you little devil.

I can keep secrets, man… we all have them.

That prosecutor is trying to get numbers out of me. Know that?

Of course you know that. Numbers. They got Holmes for 27… but we know he was closer to 200, right?

Can you imagine that? I wish I'd had the time to try and beat that.

Sure they know about those nice realtor ladies… they got families after all.

But the numbers the D.A. is asking me about… I think he knows there's some people out there- rejects… misfits… the kind of people that when you see them coming you look the other way.

Does anyone notice if they go missing?

My father always told me to leave my mark on the world.

I never knew what he meant by that- not until I watched that first girl bleed out.

I call it art. That's my signature on society.

It's not murder, it's an aesthetic response to what this has world made me.

Ask people to list killers, and they'll drop five, ten on you before they can't think of any more.

Ask them to name the detectives that caught those killers- no one is going to say a damn thing.

No one knows them. No one cares.

No one makes movies about them.

No one puts their faces on t-shirts.

No one gives a shit.

(quiet chuckle)

I've left my mark on the world…

…have you?

__

(interrogation - tape 4)

You want to know what it means to be a killer?

You ever been to the art museum downtown?

They got this painting by a guy… forgot his name. Famous painter.

He did portraits of slaughtered cows hanging on hooks.

You take a normal person to a slaughterhouse and they will puke their guts out.

You make it into a painting and suddenly it's art.

There's no difference between the two. Not really.

Don't look at me like that. You know I'm right.

You get it. I know you get it.

You got to do something that matters. Make people feel something they've never felt before.

Shatter the illusion that any of us are really in control.

Think of the most profound thing you've ever done… the most beautiful thing you've ever created… and I promise you… it's nothing compared to watching the life bleed out of someone.

To see the fear in their eyes, to feel them pawing at you for release, to hear them pleading- begging…

That moment when someone realizes they are at their end…

That's when you feel it. That's true art.

That's what you have to be- an artist… a sculptor… an architect.

I see the gleam in your eye, Agent Munday, You're not fooling me.

Oh, look at you now, huh?

Am I going to be your first?

Well come on then- I'm right here.

This room is soundproof- you don't even have to wait for a plane to fly overhead.

There… There you are… I see you now.

Not bad… not bad at all.

Bare hands can feel good, huh?

But the blade makes for such a prettier picture.

You've got potential. Agent Munday…

If you truly want to be an artist.

__

@kassiekole22 @delurkr @ctrvpani @aydeenchan

@tinynightmarewoman @kindheartedgummybears @mybrainrotforreal (Know idea as ever with this character on who'd be interested in this but it was a good exercise at any rate)

[mariacallous]

Ahead of the the 2024 US elections, the US intelligence community and law enforcement were on high alert and ready to share information—both among agencies and publicly—as foreign malign influence operations emerged. Tech giants like Microsoft similarly sprang into action, collaborating with government partners and publishing their own information about election-related disinformation campaigns. The speed and certainty with which authorities were able to pin these efforts on threat actors in Russia, China, and Iran was unprecedented. But researchers also caution that not all attributions are created equal.

At the Cyberwarcon security conference in Arlington, Virginia, today, researchers from the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab are presenting initial findings on the role of attribution in the 2024 US elections. Their research compares the impact of quickly naming and shaming foreign influence actors to other recent US elections in which government attribution was far less common.

“We’re building on a project that we did back in 2020 where there was a lot more context of concern that the Trump administration was not being forthcoming about foreign attacks,” says Emerson Brooking, director of strategy and resident senior fellow for DFRLab. “In contrast to 2020, now there was an abundance of claims by the US government of influence operations being conducted by different adversaries. So in thinking through the policy of attribution, we wanted to look at the question of overcorrection.”

In the lead-up to the 2016 US presidential election, Russia’s extensive influence operations—which included hack-and-leak campaigns as well as strategic disinformation—caught the US government by surprise. Law enforcement and the intelligence community were largely aware of Russia's digital probing, but they didn't have an extreme sense of urgency, and the big picture of how such activity could impact public discourse hadn't yet come into view. After Russia's hack of the Democratic National Committee in June that year, it took four months for the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security to publicly attribute the attack to the Kremlin. Some officials had said in the weeks following the incident that formal confirmation from the US government might never come.

Even in the highly politicized landscape that followed, federal, state, and local collaboration around election security expanded dramatically. By 2020, the researchers say, 33 of the 84 influence operation attributions they studied related to the 2020 US elections, or about 39 percent, came from US intelligence or federal sources. And this year, 40 of the 80 the group tracked came from the US government. DFRLabs resident fellow Dina Sadek notes, though, that one important factor in assessing the utility of US government attributions is the quality of the information provided. The substance and specificity of the information, she says, is important to how the public views the objectivity and credibility of the statement.

Specific information confirming that Russia had manufactured a video that purported to show ballots being destroyed in Bucks County, Pennsylvania was a high-quality, useful attribution, the researchers say, because it was direct, narrow in scope, and came very quickly to minimize speculation and doubt. Repeated statements from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's Foreign Malign Influence Center warning very broadly and generally about Russian influence operations is an example of the type of attribution that can be less helpful, and even serve to amplify campaigns that otherwise might not register with the public at all.

Similarly, in the lead-up to the 2020 elections, the researchers point out, statements from the US government about Russia, China, and Iran playing a role in Black Lives Matter protests may have been mismatched to the moment because they didn't include details on the extent of the activity or the specific objectives of the actors.

Even with all of this in mind, though, the researchers note that there was valuable progress in the 2024 election cycle. But with a new Trump administration coming into the White House, such transparency could start to trend in a different direction.

“We don’t want to come across like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, because the state of affairs that was is not the state of affairs that will be,” Brooking says. “And from a public interest perspective I think we got a lot closer on disclosure in 2024.”