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dr-spencer-reids-queen · 1 year

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Brothers in Arms: Part One

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.5k

Summary: You try one more time to get your dad to see how great of a man Spencer is but like before, it doesn’t go as well as you hope. Phoenix Arizona is dealing with a serial killer that is masquerading as gang members, but your team sees through the facade.

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them. If you’ve seen the show, then it’s the same level of angst unless otherwise stated

"We are all brothers under the skin, and I, for one, would be willing to skin humanity to prove it." - Ayn Rand

Summer is almost over which means the cooler temperatures are right around the corner. Virginia is cooling down in the month of September, but you get to go to Phoenix, Arizona for the case you're on. It's going to be a nice change of weather, and it's close enough to your parents that maybe you can visit them. They don't get along with Spencer, but maybe if you push him onto them, they will give up being stubborn and start to see him as someone you love.

Right now, you have to focus on the case at hand. Two officers were killed in action, and the news is on the Phoenix Police Department regarding the issue. Earlier in the evening, the Phoenix Police Force lost two of their own. Sergeant Manuel Rodriguez and Officer Thomas Kayser were killed in the line of duty.

"That's three officers in the past four days," Jordan addresses everyone. "After the first shooting, the Phoenix Police Department assumed gang involvement."

"That's a pretty reasonable assumption."

"True. Almost thirty percent of all officer slayings are gang-related."

"Technically it's closer to forty percent," Spencer corrects. "If a cop isn't killed during the commission of a crime, gang involvement is highly likely."

"Actually, their precinct commander believes it may be a serial and has asked for our help."

"What makes him doubt the gang theory?" Rossi asks.

"A couple of things. Last night's victims were killed exactly the same as the first, shot in the neck. That's something the press didn't release."

"Well, now, wait. There could still be a gang behind this. Killers working together could establish the same MO," Emily states.

"Commander Marks hasn't ruled it out, but there's another detail. The killer took their badges, which I'm guessing is some kind of trophy?"

Jordan is picking up a lot of things while at her time here, but you don't think she will last long by herself.

"Gang members don't usually take trophies. They don't need to. This is an unsub with something to prove, and he's got the entire city on edge. If they kill those who protect and serve, then no one feels safe."

The briefing is cut short so that you can get to Phoenix faster, and you're one of the first ones out of the room. Phoenix is only four and a half hours away from Las Vegas, and you might not be able to leave to go to them, but if they want to come down to you, then you'll give them that option.

After leaving them a detailed message, you gather your go bag and head to the plane where only Spencer is. The others still have twenty minutes to get to you, so you'll enjoy the alone time you both have.

"Hey, I let my parents know that we're going to Phoenix. If they come down, will you go to lunch or dinner with me? This is my last chance to make them like you."

"I don't know," Spencer says with uncertainty.

"Please? It would mean a lot to me."

Spencer has a light bulb go off in his head. If he agrees to lunch, then he can look more into the foster business your parents have. It's not snooping if it's casual conversation.

"Sure. I think we can make that work."

"Thank you."

The rest of the team comes aboard shortly, and before you know it, you're in the air. Hotch has Penelope on video chat so she can be part of this discussion without actually being here.

"Go ahead, Garcia."

"Okay, while you birds have been in the air, I got the 4-1-1 on the first shooting. Every Saturday night, Phoenix PD sets up a DUI checkpoint. Everyone knows it happens. Public awareness is part of the deterrent, so our unsub blows past said checkpoint at ninety miles per hour and is pursued by Officer Jason Kessinger. Kessinger pulls the car over and approaches the driver's side window where he is shot in the throat. He was a single parent with two daughters."

"So, the unsub planned ahead, used the DUI stop to set his trap and then lured the officer to his death. It could have been personal. The unsub might have had a problem with these particular officers or with law enforcement in general. He's sending a message."

"Criminals, gang members, academy washouts, security, and teenagers? The list of people who have a problem with police officers is a long one," Spencer says.

"The victims were shot in the neck so the unsub knew they'd be wearing body armor, and he used a DUI checkpoint. I mean, both incidents show an active understanding of police procedure which narrows it down to anybody who watches television."

"We need to cover victimology. Garcia, find out everything you can about the officers killed and see what they had in common besides their uniforms."

"Will do, but I should warn you, it will not be cake because I have been on the phone with these guys all morning, and pulling files from them has been like pulling molars."

"Is there a problem?"

"You know, aside from the obvious grief for their fallen comrades and their fear of being used as target practice, I get the distinct impression from their crabby behavior, they are none too pleased their boss is outsourcing this investigation to the FBI. Be prepared to hit a blue wall of resistance."

A blue wall of resistance is exactly what you got when you arrived at the police department. There are news reporters outside waiting for comments about what happened, but you bypass them to get inside. Commander Jason Marks is ready to greet you as soon as you walk in.

"Commander Marks, I'm SSA Hotchner. This is agent Todd, agents Rossi, Prentiss, Morgan, Y/N, and Dr. Spencer Reid."

"I thank you all for coming. Although, I'd like to have a word if you don't mind." Hotch steps off to the side to talk to him, and the Commander turns to one of his men who is talking to a distraught woman. "Lieutenant Peter Evans will answer any questions the rest of you may have."

The Commander walks with Hotch to his office and Evans excuses himself to greet your team.

"Sorry, that was Officer Kayser's wife. They'd only been married a couple of months. She seems to think that the FBI is here to save the day. Is that what you're going to do, Agents?"

You raise your eyebrows at his attitude. He's cocky and skeptical. He doesn't want you here at all since he thinks he can handle it on his own. After all, these are his people and you're strangers. They're all so sure this is gang-related, but you have a job to do. He's ordered to help you in every way he can, so Emily and Derek head to the newest crime scene.

According to Evans, this side of town is Twelve's territory which is the gang that is prominent in this area. Evans thinks they're behind all of the shootings, but he acts like it doesn't matter because the gang is the easy way out.

The Twelves gang has a Captain who goes by the name of Playboy. One of the officers broke up a drug ring and shot his brother who was DOA. They thought Playboy would kill them all. It's a strong motivation, for sure, but the dashcam only showed one attacker. Usually, gang bangers bring more than one person as a backup in case something were to happen.

The only problem with that is the dash cam only showed one attacker, but the attacker showed his face on camera. The running theory is that he wanted to take both of the cops out at the house, but they broke protocol. One of the officers approached the house by himself, forcing the unsub to take them out separately. The officer could have waited inside the car and gained the element of surprise, but he wanted to take matters into his own hands.

The choice of neighborhoods was deliberate since the neighbors are used to hearing gunfire. Everyone will blame it on the gangs and so will the police. The worst thing about this is that everyone with force knows he's out there, and even with the extra backup, Phoenix PD is still going to have to do their jobs.

They could walk into an ambush every time they take a call, and that's the scary part. Penelope and the Phoenix PD techs have gone over the dashcam of the recent murder frame by frame, but there is no way to identify the shooter. The only thing you're getting is approximate height and weight. The unsub's face isn't the only way to identify him, though. You have to look at specific behavioral traits."

"These are the reasons you don't believe it's a gang?" Commander Marks asks when you explain this to him.

"The shooter established what we call a signature, something he did during the murders that wasn't actually necessary. Not part of his MO but identical in every attack."

"In this case, the unsub took the officer's badges. He's symbolically stripping them of their power and authority. This act is indicative of someone who is looking to gain self-esteem."

"Gang members and other assailants who work together kill for different reasons, but usually it's not to gain confidence because they already have it."

In the video, the unsub lingers by the body when taking the badges off the officer. Usually, it would take a few seconds to take that, but the unsub lingers longer than usual.

"Hotch, did you see that? Can we pause this?" Spencer asks the tech who is controlling the video. "Okay, now zoom in and press play. Taking the badge would have taken a few seconds. He's lingering."

"Doing what?" Marks asks.

"That's a good question."

Your phone rings when your dad sends you a message. He and your mom are available for lunch, and you have some time to step away from the job for an hour, at least. This might be the only time you can step away from the job.

"Hotch? My parents want to go to lunch with me. Can Spencer and I go for an hour?"

"Yes. Be ready to come back if we call you."

"Of course."

Spencer isn't too excited to go to lunch with your parents, but you're going to make sure they behave. Your mom isn't as bad as your dad is, but you can tell that she isn't too fond of you having a long-term boyfriend. All throughout your life, whenever you told them you were in a relationship, they either ran them off or became too involved to the point where they left.

"Please be nice to him," you whisper to your dad when you greet him.

Spencer shakes your dad's hand, but your dad isn't too friendly toward him. You four take a seat just as the waitress comes over with some bread. She takes the drinks orders and leaves, and you turn to your parents with a smile.

"Thank you for inviting us."

"I invited you," your dad says.

If this is how lunch is going to go, then you're going to leave right now. Spencer doesn't deserve the shit he's putting him through.

"Can we please be civilized here? We're all adults. I'm not a child anymore. Spencer isn't like my high school boyfriends."

"I know."

"So, are you in town for business?" your mother asks.

"Yes. We're on a case here"

"What do you do, Spencer? I mean, for the FBI. Aren't all agents supposed to be strong when they're in the field?"

Spencer is taken aback by the question, but before he has a chance to answer, you stick up for him.

"First of all, he is strong. He's one of the strongest people I know. Secondly, he does so much in the field for the team. He's also very smart, and I'm very proud of him because of it."

"Tell me something. While you're so busy reading books and studying, how do you expect to protect my baby girl?"

This was such a bad idea. You shouldn't have brought him here. In some twisted way, you thought you could get him to like Spencer, but it's clearly never going to happen. Your dad bullies him whenever they meet, and you can't subject Spencer to this anymore.

"Mom?" you sigh.

"I mean, he has a point," she shrugs.

"I can protect her," Spencer answers.

"Are you the kind of person to run into a burning fire for her? Or are you the one to stay on the sidelines and watch it happen?"

"Dad, please stop," you whisper to him.

"Do you know about her past?"

It's like he's not even listening to you.

"Can we not do this here, please?" you groan uncomfortably.

"I do, but I'd never hurt her like that."

"What if someone comes up and just grabs her off the streets? Would your tiny arms be able to protect her? What if you don't make it in time?"

"Okay, that's enough," you say a little too loudly. "If you don't stop right now, I'm taking Spencer and leaving. You will never see me again. Do you understand me?"

Your dad finally looks at you, and it's like the film has been lifted from his eyes. His eyes don't soften, but he hears the threat in your words.

"You're right. I'm sorry."

"Alright," your mom chuckles to try and break the tension. "How are you doing in Virginia?"

"I'm fine. Virginia is beautiful. You should really come to visit when you get a chance."

"You should really move back home," your dad comments. "We always need help on the farm."

"You have enough help with the kids you're fostering."

"They don't stay long enough to know what to do. They're only staying for a few weeks."

"I actually wanted to know more about that, sir," Spencer says. "I've been curious about your business since Y/N told me about it. If you don't mind me asking, how are they getting adopted so quickly?"

"What do you mean?"

"The average time it takes for a child to get adopted is six to eighteen months. That's mostly because of paperwork and legal aspects. You said they are gone in a few weeks, so how is that possible?"

"A lot of people want to adopt," your dad narrows his eyes at Spencer.

"Can we please move on to a different subject? I never intended for this lunch to be an interrogation." You turn to Spencer. "Those kids should be lucky they're going into a loving home."

Your dad's eye twitches at the word "loving", but you and Spencer miss it. For the rest of the lunch, the tension stayed an unwelcome guest. Right before dessert, Hotch called you to come back because there is a new crime scene. He gave you the address to go to instead of going back to the police department.

"I don't know why you're being so hard on him. Why are you being like this?" you ask as you and Spencer stand to leave.

"I'm sorry, baby."

You hug your mom first before going over to your dad. He squeezes a bit too tightly, so you pull away sooner than he'd like. He grabs your wrist and you gasp from how tight he's holding it.

"Ow, you're hurting me."

"Oh no, I'm so sorry."

As soon as he lets go, you see the outline of his fingers forms. He smooths your hair back and kisses your forehead. They both pay for you and Spencer and as you're leaving, you rub your wrist absentmindedly.

"He left a bruise on your wrist?" Spencer asks when he opens the car door for you.

"It was an accident. It's fine."

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

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mariacallous · 4 months

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After months of attrition warfare, Russia is once again on the march in Ukraine, this time targeting Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, which is just a stone’s throw from the border with Russia.

The attack, currently focused on breaching defenses north of the city, has already picked up steam as Ukrainian troops still wait for Western weapons to arrive en masse. Ukraine has evacuated 8,000 people from the Kharkiv region during the five-day assault, according to the national emergency services. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has canceled his foreign trips. And Ukrainian troops appear to be backing off the city of Vovchansk, a central front-line defensive position near Kharkiv.

Outgunned and outmanned, frustration is mounting in Kyiv. Ukrainian officials say Russia has succeeded in making tactically significant gains around Kharkiv in recent days in part because the Biden administration has forbidden Ukrainian troops from using U.S. weapons to fire on Russian positions across the border inside Russia.

These targets are right in front of Ukrainian troops—Kharkiv is only 25 miles from the Russian border. They can geolocate them. But Ukrainian officials say they’re not being allowed by the White House to fire their guns en masse to hit them.

“Easy target but no permission,” said Davyd Arakhamia, a close ally of Zelensky and the parliamentary leader of the Servant of the People party. The Russians “know that we have this limitation, political limitation, on [our] weapons. So they put the attack systems on Russian territory.”

If the Biden administration lifted that restriction, Arakhamia said, “this situation in Kharkiv would be nonexistent.”

“It’s like if somebody attacks Washington, D.C., from Virginia, and you’re saying that we can’t hit Virginia for some reason because you don’t want us to escalate with Virginia,” Arakhamia said.

Although U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, on Wednesday that Ukrainian troops can target whatever they want with U.S. weapons, Ukrainian officials insist that so far, they’ve seen no change in policy from Washington. A National Security Council spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. position not to encourage or enable Ukrainian strikes inside Russia had not changed.

“We’re not asking to shoot Moscow or something like that,” said Oleksandra Ustinova, the head of the Holos faction in Ukraine’s parliament.

Ukrainian officials believe that the Russians aren’t trying to occupy Kharkiv as they did last time. Instead, officials say, the Kremlin is trying to destroy the city, using glide bombs that Kyiv has no ability to intercept without more air defense.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank tracking the conflict, reported on Tuesday that Russia appeared to be prioritizing creating a buffer zone on the border instead of a deeper exploitation to capture territory, although small assault groups have moved into the area.

But the tactical advances Russia has made around areas such as Vovchansk and Buhruvatka, immediately to the northeast of Kharkiv, using tank units backing up motorized rifle battalions, have been significant enough for Zelensky to cancel his foreign travel, a sign of the seriousness of the assault. In a video message posted to Telegram on Wednesday, Zelensky also urged Western allies to expand the F-16 fighter jet coalition and speed up training and delivery to give Ukraine more air defense cover.

The Russians have also made tactical adaptations that have put Kharkiv in increasing jeopardy. Back in the summer of 2022, the Ukrainian military had success with the U.S.-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS, and other multiple launch rockets because Russian troops were fighting in the Donbas and in southern Ukraine—rather than positioning themselves inside Russian territory—and were tactically unprepared for the attacks with Western weapons.

Now, even though the Ukrainians have a small arsenal of longer-range Western weapons—the 200-mile-range U.S. Army Tactical Missile System, the 250-mile-range British Storm Shadow, and the equivalent French SCALP EG—the Russians have adapted. They’re keeping all of their longer-range weapons on Russian territory, which means that the Ukrainians can’t shoot back.

There’s also the ongoing problem of a lack of firepower. Ustinova said there are 10 new battalions of Ukrainian troops ready to fight but they have no weapons.

Ukrainian lawmakers said there aren’t enough air defense systems to shield Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines, let alone protect their cities. Four more U.S.-made Patriot air defense batteries are coming—three from Germany and one from the Netherlands—but the United States isn’t providing any more at the moment. That is creating concern among Ukrainian officials that if the Russians succeed in torching Kharkiv, then places such as Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, and Sumy, the latter near Kyiv, could be next.

“Kharkiv is going to turn into Mariupol,” said Ustinova, referring to the midsized Ukrainian city that was leveled by Russian attacks and occupied by the Kremlin in 2022.

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brookstonalmanac · 1 month

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Events 8.26 (after 1900)

1914 – World War I: The German colony of Togoland surrenders to French and British forces after a 20-day campaign. Togoland is the first German colony to fall to Allied hands in World War I. 1914 – World War I: During the retreat from Mons, the British II Corps commanded by General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien fights a vigorous and successful defensive action at Le Cateau. 1920 – The 19th amendment to United States Constitution takes effect, giving women the right to vote. 1922 – Greco-Turkish War (1919–22): Turkish army launched what has come to be known to the Turks as the Great Offensive (Büyük Taarruz). The major Greek defense positions were overrun. 1936 – Spanish Civil War: Santander falls to the nationalists and the republican interprovincial council is dissolved. 1940 – World War II: Chad becomes the first French colony to join the Allies under the administration of Félix Éboué, France's first black colonial governor. 1942 – The Holocaust in Ukraine: At Chortkiv, the Ukrainian police and German Schutzpolizei deport two thousand Jews to Bełżec extermination camp. Five hundred of the sick and children are murdered on the spot. This continued until the next day. 1944 – World War II: Charles de Gaulle enters Paris. 1966 – The South African Border War starts with the battle at Omugulugwombashe. 1970 – The fiftieth anniversary of American women being able to vote is marked by a nationwide Women's Strike for Equality. 1972 – The Games of the XX Olympiad open in Munich, West Germany. 1977 – The Charter of the French Language is adopted by the National Assembly of Quebec. 1978 – Papal conclave: Albino Luciani is elected as Pope John Paul I. 1980 – After John Birges plants a bomb at Harvey's Resort Hotel in Stateline, Nevada, in the United States, the FBI inadvertently detonates the bomb during its disarming. 1997 – Beni Ali massacre occurs in Algeria, leaving 60 to 100 people dead. 1998 – The first flight of the Boeing Delta III ends in disaster 75 seconds after liftoff resulting in the loss of the Galaxy X communications satellite. 1999 – Russia begins the Second Chechen War in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade. 2003 – A Beechcraft 1900 operating as Colgan Air Flight 9446 crashes after taking off from Barnstable Municipal Airport in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, killing both pilots on board. 2009 – Kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard is discovered alive in California after being missing for over 18 years. Her captors, Phillip and Nancy Garrido are apprehended. 2011 – The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Boeing's all-new composite airliner, receives certification from the EASA and the FAA. 2014 – The Jay Report into the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal is published. 2015 – Two U.S. journalists are shot and killed by a disgruntled former coworker while conducting a live report in Moneta, Virginia. 2018 – Three people are killed and eleven wounded during a mass shooting at a Madden NFL '19 video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida. 2021 – During the 2021 Kabul airlift, a suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport kills 13 US military personnel and at least 169 Afghan civilians. 2023 – Exactly 5 years after the 2018 Jacksonville Landing shooting, there is another shooting in Jacksonville, Florida, leaving 3 people dead.

#Events

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bengoodridge · 8 months

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Comment Section

TITLE: Thomas’s Venison Roast

VIDEO DESCRIPTION: Hi, everyone! It’s Thomas Rivergrass again, of the Silver Valley Pack. Today, we’re going to be preparing a delicious open-air venison roast. Remember, venison is a very lean meat, so be careful with that cooking time and temperature over an open flame. I went shopping for the herbs to make the dry rub, but all of them can be found growing wild in this county. Remember not to pick any mushroom unless you’re 100% sure you’ve identified it correctly! I’m using venison because I get it for free, ha ha, but this recipe works for beef as well.

COMMENTS (1,189 comments):

GymRatNicky: Hooray, a Rivergrass video! I was starting to think the old monster had fallen into a ravine or something.

Ezra17: First post!

Ezra17: Dammit.

BadgerBadgerBadger: How did this end up in my recommendations?

Rivergrass: Thanks to word of mouth, our humble little channel is proud to report that we have just reached ten thousand subscribers! Thanks to all of you for your support and for staying with us through this endeavor.

1DLunchbox: Hooray! DandyLion: Werewolves RULE! Hah! KirkFangirl: We love u! (33 more comments)

xxStaceYxx: Werewolves are HAWT.

ZZ9ZZalpha: I know right? Look at those cute little glasses. xxStaceYxx: Yeah. His glasses. I’m definitely talking about his glasses. DanTheMan557: He’s got muscles like cats under a fur coat. How’d you like to pet something like that? It’d be like petting a brick under a fleece blanket. KirkFangirl: He can snuggle with me on a cold winter’s night. DantheMan557: Except it’s summer. You’d be roasting. KirkFangirl: I’ll risk it. (11 more comments)

1DLunchbox: Looks so good! Can’t wait to try this one.

Neverwild: It’s all staged.

MajorDan: @Rivergrass, have you considered putting together a cookbook?

Rivergrass: Ha ha! We’re considering it, and we have some good ideas for it. But mostly we want to encourage people to learn to forage, and make use of what is safe and healthy in their own backyards. They may be more inclined to plant gardens instead of lawns.

LycanthroFanboy: Mr. Rivergrass, if it’s not too personal a question, do you wash your paws before cooking?

Rivergrass: @LycanthroFanboy Not at all! Of course I wash my paws several times before and during cooking, using soap and sanitizers, as well as giving myself a good brush to make sure loose fur doesn’t get in the food. Even then, we sometimes have to edit out mistakes, ha ha!

DeplorableHal: Wonder where he stole that camera from.

ZZ9ZZalpha: Dude he probably just bought it. You know. From a store. Like people usually do. DeplorableHal: If you can call them “people.” I call them vermin. ZZ9ZZalpha: No one cares, bigot. DeplorableHal: If one of them came into my town I’d chase them out with a shotgun. 1DLunchbox: Reported. ZZ9ZZalpha: Oh my GOD will you shut up? Kirkfangirl: Guys he’s trolling. (6 more comments)

Monsterfriend: I saw a werewolf once. I was making a delivery to a house way out in the woods and saw one just walking along. He was huge. Looked like a big brown bear for a moment.

Neverwild: That was a riveting story. You should write for National Geographic. BoingBoingBoing: Shut up @Neverwild. DandyLion: They’re supposed to be so ferocious but they’re actually kind of shy BoingBoingBoing: I live just outside Snowmountain Pack territory near Yosemite. You see werewolves in town all the time. They can be really timid around humans, but I guess they need to conduct business just like everyone else. DandyLion: There’s talk of reintroducing them to West Virginia where the deer have gotten out of hand. They have a Lyme Disease epidemic there. I wish they would. I haven’t seen a werewolf since I moved here. 1967Chevy: Over my dead body. My uncle keeps livestock. Have you seen what a werewolf can do to a sheep? Neverwild: Just shoot them. DandyLion: Reported. 1967Chevy: The woke army says you can’t do that anymore. Just have to sit and take the loss. DandyLion: And the insurance money. When was the last time you saw livestock mauled by a werewolf? DandyLion: Well? (117 more comments)

BetterThanEsther: He could put on a shirt. I don’t like hair in my food.

GroundHawg: He’d better the hell not. BetterThanEsther: Yeah, yeah, smexy werewoof, we get it, so very hawt. Still wouldn’t eat it. GroundHawg: I bet being shirtless accounts for about half his clicks. Besides, he has a disclaimer about food safety at the end. You think people watch this because they plan to roast venison in the woods? GroundHawg: And he’s funny. I like the stories in the second half. (4 more comments)

AmateurHour: You know, I tried his Rustic Rabbit Stew last week. It was pretty good. Used actual rabbit, too, not chicken. But man, did it pack a punch. I think I can still taste it.

DandyLion: Werewolf taste buds are actually kind of feeble. They mostly follow their noses. AmateurHour: Smelled really good while it was stewing. Drove the dog crazy. You’d have thought he was starving. DandyLion: Ha ha!

Slicker100: A werewolf came into the shop where I work the other day. Manager wouldn’t let me throw him out. He stank. Took hours to air the place out. I have sensory issues. I wanted to be sick.

LongTallSilly: Yeah, right. You probably just went into the back with a magazine and hid for half an hour. Slicker100: Hey. He was six and a half feet tall, he had claws like roofing nails, his breath could have peeled paint, and he smelled like rotting meat and ass. He looked at me like I was a snack and I swear he growled at me. RangerRock: Werewolves bathe every day. And their noses are stronger than yours. They’re especially fastidious around humans if they don’t want to be confined to their ranges. Either you met an outlier or your full of crap. Slicker100: WHo cares what you think? You probably fuck werewolves all the time. What do you do, go into the woods with a bag of dog biscuits and shout “Here boy!” RangerRock: I have werewolf friends, yes. And sometimes I have to go into town to buy stuff for them because of people like you. We have humans around here acting like they’re under siege all the time and werewolves who just want a few bags of Purina because the hunt didn’t go so well. What’s your problem? Slicker100: Fuck off werewolf fucker Amundsen: Sandra, if this is you, I think you and I had better have a long talk when you come in tomorrow morning. We take pride in our service to customers human and otherwise, and our shop is a co-signer of the Community Alliance Treaty. The werewolf who visited our shop yesterday was Grimfang Shadow Walker, and he was as clean, tidy, and polite as any beast has ever been on our premises. Our shop’s owner is a longtime ally in service to the Tribe, and has donated money to their legal defense fund and the Right to Hunt campaign. He would not approve of either your behavior yesterday or your comments today. RangerRock: Bus-ted. Slicker100: Oh shit (237 more comments)

BrainySmurf: Sexy werewolf chef video!

Twee55erz: Bookmarked!

CountDorkula: Hee hee 7:54 talking about his Grandma.

TragicMagic: LOL @ “Splattergories”

LadyLuna: @Rivergrass Do you do any baking? I would love to see how you manage without an oven. All my attempts are as hard as rocks.

Rivergrass: My second video shows a technique for baking biscuits and corn bread. Unfortunately I haven’t found replacement wild ingredients, so you’ll have to go to a shop for flour and sugar. Youtube.com/SilverValley/x1181vvy119. LadyLuna: Oo thank you thank you thank you! I love you! Rivergrass: Love you too. Thanks for watching. (3 more comments)

Centurion: Shouldn’t he be kicked out of his Pack for using magic technology or something? Where does a werewolf get a digital camera?

MoonBeast: As long as humans make the tech available, and werewolves have access to it, we might as well use it. MasterChief420: Tribes pick up technology to bolster their alliances with humans. Not every werewolf will have a cell phone, but most tribes will have two or three available in case they’re needed. The tribe will have a specialist to manage technology. I’d bet Rivergrass is in charge of that in Silver Valley. MoonBeast: This is true. It’s my role within my Tribe. If Rivergrass isn’t his Tribe’s human liaison or technology manager, he’s certainly very proficient in both. Centurion: You’re not a werewolf. Werewolves can’t use computers. MoonBeast: Human, you are watching a video made by a werewolf using a cell phone camera and posted to YouTube. How do you think he managed all that? Etched it in a tree? Centurion: Could be a deep fake. MasterChief420: Dude you’re a werewolf?? MoonBeast: Yes, but I’m also just a voice on the Internet. Remember the ancient saying “Have faith in the moon, but follow the trail.” MasterChief420: I’ve never met a werewolf! I have so many questions. MoonBeast: PM me @ [email protected]. I’ll get permission from our leader to talk with you. (44 more comments)

MAGA46: They should all be shot.

Slimline: Reported. MAGA46: fuck you it’s just my opinion

SquireSquare: @Rivergrass, do you think you might be able to include some vegetarian options? I love your videos but my family doesn’t eat meat. And is the meat harvested humanely?

Rivergrass: @SquireSquare, werewolves, I’m afraid, are obligate carnivores, and meat forms a huge part of our diet. And as much as we’d like to kill as humanely and painlessly as possible, sometimes a hunt isn’t as clean as we might wish, and our prey suffers for it. I make no apology for this, it’s just how things go when one sticks to the old ways. Nevertheless, we will be exploring meat-free options for future videos, and we encourage our viewers to safely forage for healthy wild plants.

EnterpriseSquee: Just tried this! Cooked it in my backyard over a campfire. It’s really good!

JModelF: Beautiful scenery. Wish I was there.

TankMan: Yeah, and the landscape ain’t bad either, wink wink. JModelF: You’re a pig.

RangerRock: Happy birthday @Rivergrass! Keep up the great work, we love you!

Rivergrass: Thank you! Here’s hoping the next sixty years are as filled with love and joy as the first sixty. Slimline: You’re SIXTY? You look about 28! Rivergrass: Ha ha thank you! RangerRock: Werewolves don’t age very fast once they hit 20. Barring accidents, injury, or serious illness, werewolves can live over 200 years. Slimline: I did not know that. Jealous now. Rivergrass: It’s not the length of the lifetime, it’s the quality of it. My grandfather lived only 50 years, but they were 50 years of great joy. Slimline: REALLY jealous now. Rivergrass: @Slimline PM me [email protected] (88 more comments)

Colt46: Werewolves are the reason for the housing shortage. They’re hogging all the land.

Greenbeans: Oh, look, it’s the answer to a question nobody asked. ChekovsCrossbow: There’s more land in golf courses in the US than in non-Federal werewolf territory. Colt46: Hey, I bought 200 acres to build on and then the Communists in the government told me I had to turn it over to them. I lost a ton of money. Greenbeans: Wait a minute, when was this? Colt46: None of your business! Greenbeans: Because the last land dispute between protected werewolves and deeded homeowners was in like 1977. What did you pay, $200 per acre? Colt46: Fuck you fuck you fuck you! (105 more comments)

DreaMachine1992: Oh, man, another gorgeous werewolf video.

HotHoney: Are there any ugly werewolves, really? DreaMachine1992: Hell no. HotHoney: You should see the one where he’s catching fish. It’s a beautiful sunny day and he’s swimming in the river. I don’t know who was wrangling the camera, but it’s about the hottest thing you ever saw. Dove into the river and wrestled a 30 pound salmon all by himself. I never thought deboning a fish could be so sexy. DreaMachine: URL plz HotHoney: youtube.com/silvervalley/TR2oww11014qz1 DreaMachine: Thanx (4 more comments)

DandyLion: Hooray, 100,000 views!

MrSunshine46: They should all be wiped out.

(413 more comments)

#werewolves #sfw furry #short story

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cleoenfaserum · 11 months

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WASHINGTON DC

...a dorian gray picture of its soul.

This is a city everyone has heard off, one way or another, throughout the world. For better or for worse, its decisions effects and has effected millions of lives and has caused many millions of death around the world. We are not going to debate the morality of power and money of some of the people who are elected to represent us in this machine of government. However, in this blog we or not going to talk about politics but crimes. Some people may even fine relief that we are not going to talk about politics making crime seem petty in comparison. The more episodes I see of Marcus Sakey, the more I enjoy the series in crescendo. Many of the stories he deals with I remember having lived through them on the news.

Of the three stories, I am going to focus on is the Beltway Snipers, mainly because of the news coverage that put the fear of God in all of us at the time. I was living in the states then. But the story that most seem to effect me was the FBI woman agent who was killed at a gas station, if I remember correctly.

The D.C. sniper attacks (also known as the Beltway sniper attacks) were a series of coordinated shootings that occurred during three weeks in October 2002 throughout the Washington metropolitan area, consisting of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, and preliminary shootings, that consisted of murders and robberies in several states, and lasted for six months starting in February 2002. Seven people were killed and seven others were injured in the preliminary shootings, and ten people were killed and three others were critically wounded in the October shootings. In total, the snipers killed 17 people and wounded 10 others in a 10-month span. (Wikipedia)

But here are today's 3 stories without a dull moment masterly told by Marcus.

798-1 https://ok.ru/video/4400405613103

Blue Caprice is a 2013 American independent drama film directed by Alexandre Moors, and based on the 2002 D.C. sniper attacks. The film stars Isaiah Washington and Tequan Richmond as the perpetrators of the attacks, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Malvo, respectively, although the two are only referred to by their first names. It recounts how Lee, a lone teenager, was drawn into the shadow of John, who served as a father figure to him, and how they eventually began their killing spree. (Wikipedia)

SEE FILM: THE BLUE CAPRICE (2013)

(click below)...

798-2 https://ok.ru/video/3682810726967

D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear (also known as Sniper: 23 Days of Fear in Washington D.C.) is a 2003 TV movie created by USA Network based on the Beltway sniper attacks of 2002.

The films chronicles the period when John Allen Muhammad (played by Bobby Hosea) and Lee Boyd Malvo (played by Trent Cameron) went on a serial killing spree in October 2002 in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland, all parts of the Washington Metropolitan Area, the entire area of which was held in a "grip of terror." (Wikipedia)

798-3 https://ok.ru/video/1595811629732

youtube

798-4 https://youtu.be/GgnClrx8N2k REF 798 NOTES

Film and television

Broadcast of the CSI: Miami episode "Kill Zone" had to be postponed into November 2002 because the story of a sniper killing three random victims at rush hour seemed to bear too close a resemblance to the Beltway attacks.

On May 14, 2003, Law & Order aired an episode titled "Sheltered", which contains many similar elements to the D.C. sniper attacks.

On July 12, 2003, Forensic Files aired an episode titled "The Sniper's Trail", which documents the D.C. sniper attacks and subsequent police investigation.

On October 12, 2003, Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye aired an episode titled "The Sniper", which contains many similar elements to the D.C. sniper attacks.

On October 17, 2003, the USA Network's U.S. cable station aired D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear, a television movie based on the D.C. sniper attacks.

On November 10, 2005, an episode about the killings entitled “The Washington Snipers” of the British documentary series Born to Kill? aired.

During the fall of 2007, BET showcased a documentary on the Beltway Snipers in its American Gangster series.

The June 2008, the documentary The D.C. Sniper's Wife told the D.C sniper attacks story through the eyes of Mildred Muhammad, ex-wife of John Allen Muhammad.

On November 9, 2009, Mildred Muhammad appeared on CNN's Larry King Live the day before her ex-husband's execution.

The 2010 film D.C. Sniper, directed by Ulli Lommel, is based on the attacks.

On August 9, 2010, The Biography Channel aired an episode of Aftermath with William Shatner, titled "DC Sniper Victims" in which the actor William Shatner spoke at length with three survivors of the sniper attacks—Paul LaRuffa, Kellie Adams, and Caroline Seawell.

The 2013 film Blue Caprice, also known as The Washington Snipers in some regions, is based on the attacks and the relationship between Muhammad and Malvo.

On July 22, 2015, Lifetime Movie Network aired an episode of Monster in My Family featuring Mildred Muhammad meeting with surviving victims along with family members of the deceased, with Lee Malvo also appearing in the episode while in prison.[82]

On June 23, 2023, Netflix aired an episode Catching Killers, titled "Trained to Kill: The DC Sniper" (Wikipedia)

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thehiddenworld · 2 years

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The world 2023 events

Who is to say the world did not die? Who is to say we did not die back in 2012 or all the other times they said things has happened?

For all we know we are still alive but are we really? This could be a simulation that basically looks like the real world and we would never know it.

Things are falling apart and becoming worst and worst everyday. History is repeating itself and we never know what the next day holds.

Have you ever not felt of this world. Do you often time feel like your out of place? Don't worry I always feel like that.

You take a look at the bible and they talk about Noah's ark and how they say that they brought one of each and put it on the ark.

Once you start playing certain video games like Soma where your trying to launch an ark that has basically everyone's minds on it since the earth was wiped out then you start to sit back and think are we really on the earth that they say we are or are we on some kind of ark.

Nothing is what it seems and nothing is what it use to be.

That is kind of how it feels. Nothing seems real anymore it kind of feels like one giant simulation to me just like in Soma.

If you look at the world and all the violence there is, how divided we are rather you are democrat or republican or even the race you are then it is like we are still segregated.

Not by color but by everything else but then again they are making it color based also, Mississippi supposedly activated the Jim Crows laws again.

Places are banning abortions, threatening the women that if they get an abortion then they will be thrown in jail or far worst executed for their decisions.

We are being poisoned by our water, the foods that we eat, and the air that we breathed. The taxes and inflation of things are so high to the point we cannot afford anything.

Rail road workers cannot protest or strike, they cannot do anything because they are legally bond to stay on the job and work. They cannot get any sick day or anything.

This is inhuman. They have been told to stop following the safety protocols which means they have to overload them and basically do none of the safety protocols they are suppose to follow because they cannot.

Those who don't have the covid vaccine or refused got fired so there's a shortage of workers every where you go due to this or they don't want to work for a company and get the bare minimum or below it since you don't really get enough money to survive with and pay bills or get the things you need.

Some of the workers are being worked to death to the point that they are covering multiple shifts and not getting paid for it or they are being over worked to the point they are tired and stressed.

This is how the new world order is being put in place not just that but we have a feeling it's going to be a one world leader, no more governments or monarchy or anything just one dictator that will rule all of the world.

There were about 4-6 train derailments in different states, a wreck with the truck in Arizona, a factory burning down that has eggs and plastic, a metal factory blew up, 3 environmental scientist died in a plane crash trying to get to Ohio to check out the environment and how bad it was when the train derailed. There was a chemical plant that also caught fire.

There is diesel fluid going into one of the rivers poisonings it.

The inflation is so high we cannot afford and people aren't getting paid enough to be able to survive on top of all of this they are also talking about a financial collapse. There are so many things going on it is way to hard to keep up with it all.

Ohio, West Virginia, Arizona, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Oregon, Alabama, there is so much going on in all 50 states.

The whole world has something going on from protest to riots, to shootings to war. We do not know what is going to happen next be prepared.

All of this is a coincidence? I think not. It started with covid then they shot down a "Chinese spy balloon" but they are saying it was a weather balloon or whatever else they said it was now all of a sudden trains are derailing, factories are burning, water is being poison, there isn't enough food, grocery stores and other places are running out of things, inflation is at an all time high and things are just to the point we have no idea what is going to happen next.

Talking of inflation is it just that the cost of manufacturing went up after Covid or could it be that supplies have been running out and they need to drive up prices so people will stop buying it out of want and start buying if they desperately need it. Sounds like they are learning to use physiological methods to control the information that is let out to the people by driving the prices high then people won't know that things are running out.

Something is up and it is time to wake up. Some of this is not being told in the news so you are going to have to dig and search for it. They don't want you to know, they do not want you awake.

Ohio is giving everyone $5,000 if they do not hold them accountable or sue them for anything of the outcome that happens to its people. They are also making them throw out their clothing and furniture and anything that is cloth that could have chemicals trapped into it.

We had a Russian Submarine that was found on our coast that basically has WWII tactics to fight, no one teaches that tactic anymore.

Speaking of Russia, is it really surprising that all this time Ukraine was told they were safe from invasion by the Russian Federation but wasn't surprised when they were in fact invaded. Interesting that once they started to push back the Russian Federation events started happening more and more around the world? It went from more shootings, trains derailing, protests in France over pensions, to Russian submarines and fighter jets moving near the United States coasts, but let's not forget that the balloons were coming from the Country famous China. Sounds interesting that all in the middle of this they say the Conspiracy theory was in fact correct and the Covid virus was made in a lab in China, which by all fault doesn't mean China made it nor that it was even in that country to begin with but could have been released there to cover someone's mistakes.

#2023 events #the world we live in #the world #covid #conspiracy theorist #conspiracy thriller #conspiracy thinking #government control #conspiracy #conspiracy theory

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new-haryanvi-ragni · 2 years

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WATCH: Dramatic Video Show Chinese Spy Balloon Shot Down by US Air Force F-22 Raptor Fighter Jet

The F-22 fighter jet that shot down the Chinese Spy Balloon took off from the Langley Air Force Base in Virginia and fired a single AIM-9X supersonic, heat-seeking, air-to-air missile. source https://zeenews.india.com/aviation/watch-dramatic-video-show-united-states-air-force-f-22-raptor-fighter-jet-shooting-down-chinese-spy-balloon-2569703.html

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florencehannibal · 2 years

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dream November now includes : learning to skateboard : skating in fall in south virginia : virginia virginia virginia : shooting more pieces of my music video : waking up in virginia in the cold sunny air and a hot coffee and editing all morning & being with family & other peoples dogs & barn cats & other people’s stories and cold apple skin and hot tea and hot squash and thyme and a steamy kitchen and a blue mountain view & a black bear in the yard & stars in the morning.

#(:

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richincolor · 3 years

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New Releases for the Week of May 3, 2021

It's great to see so many new books hitting the shelves this week. I know I've been waiting for several of these and am happy to be able to finally read them.

The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He Roaring Brook

Cee has been trapped on an abandoned island for three years without any recollection of how she arrived, or memories from her life prior. All she knows is that somewhere out there, beyond the horizon, she has a sister named Kay. Determined to find her, Cee devotes her days to building a boat from junk parts scavenged inland, doing everything in her power to survive until the day she gets off the island and reunites with her sister.

In a world apart, 16-year-old STEM prodigy Kasey Mizuhara is also living a life of isolation. The eco-city she calls home is one of eight levitating around the world, built for people who protected the planet―and now need protecting from it. With natural disasters on the rise due to climate change, eco-cities provide clean air, water, and shelter. Their residents, in exchange, must spend at least a third of their time in stasis pods, conducting business virtually whenever possible to reduce their environmental footprint. While Kasey, an introvert and loner, doesn’t mind the lifestyle, her sister Celia hated it. Popular and lovable, Celia much preferred the outside world. But no one could have predicted that Celia would take a boat out to sea, never to return.

Now it’s been three months since Celia’s disappearance, and Kasey has given up hope. Logic says that her sister must be dead. But as the public decries her stance, she starts to second guess herself and decides to retrace Celia’s last steps. Where they’ll lead her, she does not know. Her sister was full of secrets. But Kasey has a secret of her own. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee Quill Tree Books

Noah Ramirez thinks he’s an expert on romance. He has to be for his popular blog, the Meet Cute Diary, a collection of trans happily ever afters. There’s just one problem—all the stories are fake. What started as the fantasies of a trans boy afraid to step out of the closet has grown into a beacon of hope for trans readers across the globe.

When a troll exposes the blog as fiction, Noah’s world unravels. The only way to save the Diary is to convince everyone that the stories are true, but he doesn’t have any proof. Then Drew walks into Noah’s life, and the pieces fall into place: Drew is willing to fake-date Noah to save the Diary. But when Noah’s feelings grow beyond their staged romance, he realizes that dating in real life isn’t quite the same as finding love on the page.

In this charming novel by Emery Lee, Noah will have to choose between following his own rules for love or discovering that the most romantic endings are the ones that go off script. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

They Better Call Me Sugar: My Journey from the Hood to the Hardwood by Sugar Rodgers Black Sheep

Growing up in dire poverty in Suffolk, Virginia, Sugar (born Ta’Shauna) Rodgers never imagined that she would become an all-star player in the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association). Both of her siblings were in and out of prison throughout much of her childhood and shootings in her neighborhood were commonplace. For Sugar this was just a fact of life.

While academics wasn’t a high priority for Sugar and many of her friends, athletics always played a prominent role. She mastered her three-point shot on a net her brother put up just outside their home, eventually becoming so good that she could hustle local drug dealers out of money in one-on-one contests.

With the love and support of her family and friends, Sugar’s performance on her high school basketball team led to her recruitment by the Georgetown Hoyas, and her eventual draft into the WNBA in 2013 by the Minnesota Lynx (who won the WNBA Finals in Sugar’s first year). The first of her family to attend college, Sugar speaks of her struggles both academically and as an athlete with raw honesty.

Sugar’s road to a successful career as a professional basketball player is fraught with sadness and death–including her mother’s death when she’s fourteen, which leaves Sugar essentially homeless. Throughout it all, Sugar clings to basketball as a way to keep herself focused and sane.

And now Sugar shares her story as a message of hope and inspiration for young girls and boys everywhere, but especially those growing up in economically challenging conditions. Never sugarcoating her life experiences, she delivers a powerful message of discipline, perseverance, and always believing in oneself. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney HarperTeen

Quinn keeps lists of everything—from the days she’s ugly cried, to “Things That I Would Never Admit Out Loud,” to all the boys she’d like to kiss. Her lists keep her sane. By writing her fears on paper, she never has to face them in real life. That is, until her journal goes missing…

An anonymous account posts one of her lists on Instagram for the whole school to see and blackmails her into facing seven of her greatest fears, or else her entire journal will go public. Quinn doesn’t know who to trust. Desperate, she teams up with Carter Bennett—the last known person to have her journal—in a race against time to track down the blackmailer.

Together, they journey through everything Quinn’s been too afraid to face, and along the way, Quinn finds the courage to be honest, to live in the moment, and to fall in love. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Hurricane Summer by Asha Bromfield Wednesday Books

Tilla has spent her entire life trying to make her father love her. But every six months, he leaves their family and returns to his true home: the island of Jamaica.

When Tilla’s mother tells her she’ll be spending the summer on the island, Tilla dreads the idea of seeing him again, but longs to discover what life in Jamaica has always held for him.

In an unexpected turn of events, Tilla is forced to face the storm that unravels in her own life as she learns about the dark secrets that lie beyond the veil of paradise—all in the midst of an impending hurricane.

Hurricane Summer is a powerful coming of age story that deals with colorism, classism, young love, the father-daughter dynamic—and what it means to discover your own voice in the center of complete destruction. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Indivisible by Daniel Aleman Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

There is a word Mateo Garcia and his younger sister Sophie have been taught to fear for as long as they can remember: deportation. Over the past few years, however, the fear that their undocumented immigrant parents could be sent back to Mexico has started to fade to the back of their minds. And why wouldn’t it, when their Ma and Pa have been in the United States for so long, they have American-born children, and they’re hard workers and good neighbors?

When two ICE agents come asking for Pa, the Garcia family realizes that the lives they’ve built are about to come crumbling down. And when Mateo returns from school one day to find that his parents have been taken, he’ll have to come to terms with the fact that his family’s worst nightmare has become a reality.

With his Ma and Pa being held in separate detention centers, Mateo must learn how to look after his sister and himself. The choices Mateo makes, and the people he turns to for help, might reunite his family… or tear them apart for good. With his parents’ fate and his own future hanging in the balance, Mateo must figure out who he is and what he is capable of, even as he’s forced to question what it means to be an American teenager in a country that rejects his own mom and dad. — Cover art and summary via Goodreads

Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan Inkyard Press

Karina Ahmed has a plan. Keep her head down, get through high school without a fuss, and follow her parents’ rules—even if it means sacrificing her dreams. When her parents go abroad to Bangladesh for four weeks, Karina expects some peace and quiet. Instead, one simple lie unravels everything.

Karina is my girlfriend.

Tutoring the school’s resident bad boy was already crossing a line. Pretending to date him? Out of the question. But Ace Clyde does everything right—he brings her coffee in the mornings, impresses her friends without trying, and even promises to buy her a dozen books (a week) if she goes along with his fake-dating facade. Though Karina agrees, she can’t help but start counting down the days until her parents come back.

T-minus twenty-eight days until everything returns to normal—but what if Karina no longer wants it to? — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

All Kinds of Other by James Sie Quill Tree Books

In this tender, nuanced coming-of-age love story, two boys—one who is cis and one who is trans—have been guarding their hearts to protect themselves, until their feelings for each other give them a reason to stand up to their fears.

Two boys are starting at a new school.

Jules is just figuring out what it means to be gay and hasn’t totally decided whether he wants to be out at his new school. His parents and friends have all kinds of opinions, but for his part, Jules just wants to make the basketball team and keep his head down.

Jack is trying to start over after a best friend break-up. He followed his actor father clear across the country to LA, but he’s also totally ready to leave his past behind. Maybe this new school where no one knows him is exactly what he needs.

When the two boys meet, the sparks are undeniable. But then a video surfaces linking Jack to a pair of popular transgender vloggers, and the revelations about Jack’s past thrust both Jack and Jules into the spotlight they’ve been trying to avoid. Suddenly both boys have a choice to make—between lying low where it’s easier or following their hearts. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Southampton, 1912: Seventeen-year-old British-Chinese Valora Luck has quit her job and smuggled herself aboard the Titanic with two goals in mind: to reunite with her twin brother Jamie--her only family now that both their parents are dead--and to convince a part-owner of the Ringling Brothers Circus to take the twins on as acrobats. Quick-thinking Val talks her way into opulent firstclass accommodations and finds Jamie with a group of fellow Chinese laborers in third class. But in the rigidly stratified world of the luxury liner, Val's ruse can only last so long, and after two long years apart, it's unclear if Jamie even wants the life Val proposes. Then, one moonless night in the North Atlantic, the unthinkable happens--the supposedly unsinkable ship is dealt a fatal blow--and Val and her companions suddenly find themselves in a race to survive.

Stacey Lee, master of historical fiction, brings a fresh perspective to an infamous tragedy, loosely inspired by the recently uncovered account of six Titanic survivors of Chinese descent.

#new releases #YALit

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themuseic · 4 years

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Only Fools (Chapter 10)

(Art Credit: @clumsycopy)

Fic Summary: Sent to Boone County, West Virginia on an assignment, you find yourself engulfed your work. How could you possibly find time for anything else? Even if “anything else” includes the tall, kind, and handsome bartender from down the road?

Word Count: 2.4k

Read Chapter 9 here.

Read here on AO3.

Warnings: Couples Argument, Self Sabotage, Negative Feelings, Swearing, the angst has begun.

A/N: This chapter is a bit of a sad one, take care of yourselves and please mind that and the warnings!

You were starting to realize just how long you had been in Boone County.

You had lived through Boone’s shift from fall to winter, and you were beginning to feel the air change as it steadily approached spring. When you had arrived, you thought it was only going to be a few weeks. This was much longer than you thought.

It wasn’t as if you were itching to leave. The Logan clan had become fast friends of yours, and Clyde was much more than that. The trailer was comfortable with him and the data that you were pulling from the West Virginia forests was far more informative than you had hoped for.

But you just couldn’t seem to shake the idea that leaving was inevitable because well… it was.

~~~

It was late January, not too long after you and Clyde had created your own little piece of forever with a trail cam, that you noticed that you had become comfortable.

And that just wouldn’t do.

It was unconscious, how you dealt with that realization. But you found yourself slowly starting to distance yourself from Clyde. You didn’t want to hurt him, but you knew that if you kept on the way you had been acting, it was going to be that much harder to leave, to deal with the inevitable finality of your relationship.

You stopped doing your work at The Duck Tape first. Truthfully, it was probably better for your productivity to not find yourself at the bar every night, but that in and of itself was the first step in setting your distance with Clyde. The first time you told him that you’d stay at the trailer that night, he pouted, as was his signature move, but he didn’t complain. “Whatever y’need darlin’,” he drawled. “Duck Tape’ll be there for y’ whenever your work’s done.” With that assurance, he was out the door, and you were left alone on the trailer couch.

You never made it to the Duck Tape that night.

You started to make excuses when he wanted to have a date night. There was always more work to be done or you weren’t feeling well enough to go out.

And you especially made sure to remind him that you had to leave when he would plan for the future. He would start talking about “next winter” the two of you would go on a sleigh ride, or how “at the next summer barbeque” he would show you how he, Jimmy, and Joe figured out just how high they could shoot off the biggest fireworks in Boone County. It was sweet really, but every prediction for the future tugged at your heart. With a laugh and a smile, you would remind him softly, “Of course, if I’m around.”

The only thing he wouldn’t budge on was accompanying you out on the trail. No matter how often you insisted that you would be alright and that it was just a quick hike out, he wouldn’t relent. He was by your side every hike, ready to pull down the cameras and pass you snacks whenever you needed. It was sweet, and it made your efforts to drive a rift in your relationship that much harder.

But you did try.

~~~

The arrival of February meant the snow began to let up. Well, at least let up a little. The massive storm that had rolled in over three days left the tips of the mountains and trees blanketed in a thick layer of snow. The whole expanse of the land was so white, it was nearly glowing. The light flakes drifted from the sky steadily and swirled, danced even, outside the window at the head of the bed in the trailer.

You were reclined on the plush pillows just underneath the window, your head tilted back and your arms straining how you held your phone above you, scrolling mindlessly. Silly videos and updates from distant friends flew past your eyes as you flew through the newsfeed that never seemed to have an end.

Clyde putzed around the room, messing with stacks of books and tossing out of place socks into the hamper as if he was playing a game of basketball with himself. He had taken the night off to take care of some errands around the trailer, Jimmy so graciously covering the bar. Out of the corner of your eye, you spied him grab the hem of the curtains on the window of the bedroom and pull them out to get a good view of the pattern.

“Think these curtains are due for an upgrade. What d’you think?” Clyde pondered, his head tilting to the side as he took in the fabric he grasped in his hand.

You shrugged noncommittally, barely looking up from your phone. “Not really.”

Clyde pouted lightly. “Nah really, you got any curtains you might like?”

“Clyde, it’s your house. I don’t want you to change things on my account.” Clyde waved his hand.

“Now that’s alright sweetheart, it’s your home too. I want you to feel comfortable here, make it yours a bit.”

You shrugged. “Well, it’s not like I’ll be here much longer anyway.”

A few beats passed before you realized that Clyde was frozen in place. You could see the tension that splintered through his muscles from where you lay. His knuckles were white against the fabric he clenched in his hand. You lifted your head from the pillow and clicked your phone shut. “I’m just being honest-”

He cut you off. “Why do you always have to do that?” Clyde muttered under his breath, his gaze fixated on the curtain. His back was mostly to you, but he was just so slightly turned and his hair tumbled around his face in thick, messy strands. Beneath the surface of his voice simmered confusion and hurt so thick, it was nearly tangible. You could hear how it tinted his voice with an accidental venom you had never heard from Clyde before.

You stopped, cautious to approach or push him further. You dug the heel of your palm into the bed to sit up and lean towards him. Was he shaking? Or were you?

“Clyde, what are you talking about?” you whispered.

Even though he was turned from you, you could see how deep his pout had split his face. He dropped the fabric from his hand and his arm fell to his side, clenched in a fist. He exhaled low. “You always gotta remind me that you’re leaving,” he muttered, shaking his head ever so slightly.

You chewed your lip. “Well… I mean, I am.”

Clyde huffed in indignation and scoffed. Your brow knit together and your mouth fell open in confusion. “Clyde, I mean… I just don’t want you to get too comfortable with me being here,” you sputtered, trying to explain your point without hurting him more. From the way he swung around, face red and muscles tensed, you knew you had failed spectacularly.

“Why can’t we just be happy? While you’re here?” Clyde shouted, whipping his hair around with his face. His chest heaved as he took in another furious breath. “You always have t’ tell me you’re leavin’ soon, that you don’t want to be comfortable.” He unflexed and clenched his fist. “Can’t you just let yourself be happy for once?” Clyde remained planted in place, but his arms flailed in question.

You were so far past stunned. You were floored. You had never heard Clyde speak like this, to you or anyone else.

What hurt you worse was that he had never even mentioned that your candid honesty upset him so much. You gaped your mouth like a dying fish, attempting to grasp and wrangle the words to respond that just would not come.

“Well?” he shrugged, waiting for some kind of response. Any response.

You sputtered. “Clyde, I am happy! I just don’t want to get comfortable! Why make it harder than it has to be when I have to leave?” you explained as your eyes darted around the room, trying to make sense of the argument.

He laughed, the noise hollow and empty. “Doesn’t mean you can’t just let yourself be here, be in the moment.” He shook his head and reached his hand up to card through his hair.

“But I don’t have to live with my head in the clouds and ignore the future.” Your breath caught. You regretted the words the minute they left your lips. “I don’t mean-” you started. Clyde cut you off.

“I do everything for you! And you can’t even give a little?”

You stilled immediately. You cleared your throat. “Clyde. Are you fucking joking?” you seethed, seeing red. Your fists were tight balls at your side, and there was a telltale tightness in your chest that you tried to breathe through.

“Well, it’s the truth,” he spat, his fists tensing themselves.

“You knew what the deal was. That this was temporary. I told you not to expect anything.”

Clyde huffed. “That was months ago, and y’know that. You said weeks. S’been months.” He shook his head and stared at the floor. “Pardon me for thinkin’ somethin’ must’ve changed,” he spat, growled even. His twang thickened the angrier he became.

“Clyde, I can’t stay here forever. I have a job, a life-”

“And I don’t?” Clyde stared you down, his mouth gaped open. His jaw clenched shut and he rolled his tongue around his teeth, his eyebrows raised high as he looked down his nose at the ground.

“You know I didn’t mean that.”

“I don’t know, I think y’did.” Clyde looked at you through the part of his thick black hair that tumbled around his face. He ran his hand down the length of his face, dragging his skin down and a groan from his chest. He shook his head, almost as if he was clearing his thoughts.

“Did y’forget that when you leave, I don’t? I’m gonna hurt either way. Y’get to go run off, doin’ god knows what, and you just get to cut ties with me. You’re protecting yourself. What about me?” Clyde’s voice was soft, but his words were deafening.

You could feel your heart trying to leap out of your chest. Your hands shook and you exhaled long and low. The trembling in your lip was overwhelming, but you pushed past it to spit your next words out.

“You know what Clyde? Fuck you. Don’t worry about coming tomorrow.”

“Don’t be fuckin’ ridiculous, I’m not lettin’ you go out alone,” he scoffed at you. He shook his head.

“No,” you spat, your lips wet with tears. “I’m serious.”

Clyde groaned. “Fine. Do whatever y’want.” He turned on his heel and left the room, leaving you sitting on the bed, alone.

You sat in place for a minute, unsure of what had happened. Your body was numb, your thoughts were a jumbled mess that you couldn’t make heads or tails of. Threads of composure held you together, and you knew you were going to fall apart any minute. You knew you couldn’t stay any longer.

Tears streaming down your face, you lept from the bed and began to stuff your clothes into your canvas bag, zipping it shut immediately to stalk towards the door. A part of you hoped Clyde would stop you, that he would protest your leaving.

The protest never came.

You flew out of the trailer in a whirlwind of breath, motion, and fury, and snapped the flimsy screen door back against the wall. You barely processed the chill of the air as it whipped around your face, and the blinders of your rage kept you from being able to appreciate the white blanket of snow that dusted the bushes in the front yard. The mechanical noises of the car unlocking rang through the otherwise silent expanse of the woods surrounding Clyde’s home.

You flung your belongings into the passenger seat as you slid behind the wheel and threw the car into drive. Foot slammed against the brake, you frantically tried to wipe at the rearview mirror, the view out of it cloudy and blurry. No matter how hard you swiped at the surface, nothing changed. Exasperated, you blinked your eyes hard and pushed the stalled drops of water over your lash line. Your vision cleared.

You dragged your arm across your eyes and flicked the water into the endless expanse of your car, immediately throwing the car into reverse as soon as you could see. The gravel flew in different directions as the wheels of the car picked them up, desperate to put distance between the trailer and yourself. No sound came from the trailer behind you. No indication that Clyde had followed you out. It didn’t matter. You wouldn’t look back to check.

The trailer disappeared from the rearview mirror the moment you turned onto the main highway. But you hadn't looked at it since you had driven away.

~~~

The hotel near the Duck Tape was in the same state as you had last seen it. With creaking doors and dripping faucets, not much had changed since your last stay there. The lady at the front counter barely looked at you as she handed you your room key, but you wouldn’t have known either way. Your vision was still clouded with tears that wouldn’t fall anymore, no matter how hard you tried to make them vacate your eyes.

You flung the door open with little regard for how hard it slammed back, and you jiggled the lock shut. The dusty air of the hotel room was freezing. You didn’t care. Peeling off your clothing, you slipped into the cold, hard bed and shimmied the scratchy vellux blanket up to your chin.

The cracked and peeling ceiling had never been so interesting to you before. You stared up at it, unblinking. You had hoped you would be unfeeling as well, but you were overwhelmed with a pain that you had never felt before. It was a sharp, invisible strain that shot through your fingers, toes, and heart. Your eyes squeezed shut, forcing the small droplets that lingered in your eyes down your face to collect in your ears and you pulled a rattling, shuddering breath into your lungs as you sniffed quietly into the darkness.

Your stare broke from the ceiling as you turned onto your side and stared out the window. The familiar red glow from the Duck Tape’s sign lit the sky up through the sheer curtain, and you sighed. In an effort to seek enough dark to fall asleep, you pulled the linens up and over your head. It was colder than you remembered it being. You closed your eyes as your breath began to even out and the crinkled lines of your forehead smoothed.

Sleep found you eventually.

~~~

A/N (Part 2!!): SORRY I HOPE THE VALENTINES FESTIVITIES PERK YOU UP LOVE YALL

Taglist: @mind-p0llution @thedivinemissm @clydesducktape @finn-ray-nal-beads @ladygrey03 @desiraypark @1800-fight-me @aloneandsleepless @hopeamarsu @kkysolo @clumsycopy @mylifeisactuallyamess @daydreamsofren @mariesackler (Comment or message me to be added or removed!)

#clyde logan x reader #clyde logan x you #only fools #logan lucky #my writing

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side-effect-of-the-meds · 4 years

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PLEASE write about Andrew & Jean being chaotic and bitter bffs on the same team the power they would have the intimidation level the fashionable goth energy,,, w ow also I want Andrew to learn French so badly which we all know he would if Jean started insulting him in French

IT WON’T BE UP ANY TIME SOON but I’m writing a fic about Andrew visiting Renee’s for winter break in his final year of college in which he’s forced to spend the week sharing a space with Jean.

Over the course of said week, they form a tentative alliance that’s essentially that We’re Not So Different You And I bit by John Mulaney

Anyway, that’s like mid-way through Andrew’s fourth year. They don’t speak again until a little before Andrew’s graduation. The Foxes have just won the Championships they made it to finals last year and lost the last game :’( and so they’re having a party. Andrew needed some air so he stepped outside and, a little while later, he hears footsteps on the porch behind him. Jean sits down, leaving some space between the two of them so as not to crowd Andrew, and just sort of slides a piece of paper over. Andrew keeps up his cool guy facade for a while, assuming Jean will break first. He does.

“Would you just look at it?” Jean snarled. Andrew flicked him a cool look before, picking up the paper painstakingly slowly. He held it up to his own face, not bothering to actually read it. “Illiterate too, I see.” Andrew could barely keep the scowl off his face. He squinted at the stack of papers he picked up.

“Why?” he asked.

“Our goalkeep is, how you say? A piece of shit.”

“You’re giving him more credit than he deserves,” Andrew cut in, his lips curling in a sneer.

“I’m getting tired of being the last line of defense. It’s hard not having anyone to watch your back,” Jean said, shooting a meaningful look at Andrew. He elected to ignore it in favor of taking another drag of his cigarette. Jean muttered something that sounded like a curse before standing up and disappearing back into Abby’s house.

A month later, Jean stepped out of his apartment wondering which horrid little monsters the Cardinals had signed now. Turning towards the stairs, he found his answer waiting for him.

“There’s no point in both of us driving down there. You make breakfast and I’ll drive,” the gremlin said. It wasn’t an offer or even a demand. He said it as though he were stating a fact.

“The arrogance of Americans never fails to amaze me,” Jean shot back.

“You’ve got dual citizenship, Frenchie. I’m sorry to say it, but that makes you one of us.” With that, the little monster turned on his heel and headed down the stairs. Jean muttered a steady stream of curses as he followed Andrew out to the Maserati

Having Andrew on his team is literally the worst. All he ever does is laze around. Sometimes, he’ll just lay down in the middle of the goal and stare at the ceiling. Jean gets a lot of shit for it bc he’s the one that recommended him for the line. It’s the day of their first game and tensions are high at practice when Jean loses his temper. He picks up an exy ball and hurls it at Andrew. Without even looking up, Andrew catches it with one hand. He stands slowly and throws it back so fast that Jean doesn’t have time to react. The ball wedges itself into the grate of his helmet, the force of it knocking him off his feet. Everyone assumes that Andrew isn’t going to play that night or will just be his asshole self but, when Jean finds himself struggling to hold the line, Andrew gets sent out and he’s an absolute monster in the goal. Every shot that comes his way gets deflected all the way down the court. The last goal of the night is made in the final seven seconds when Andrew slams a shot all the way down the court into the opposing goal. It lights up red and the crowd loses their shit. Exhausted, Jean collapses on the floor.

“It’s hard not having anyone to have your back,” Andrew said as he passed by. By the time Jean found his voice, Andrew was already gone. Catching a ride home with one of the strikers, Jean felt a tightness in his chest. Andrew was an annoyingly lazy little bastard but Jean should have trusted him.

Jean doesn’t know how to apologize. Words are wasted on the likes of Andrew so he says nothing. He wakes early to make breakfast the next morning and says a silent prayer. Andrew is never late to anything but, when 6:30 rolls around and he isn’t there Jean’s heart plummets. He leaves the plate out on the counter while he eats. The ticking of the clock is deafeningly loud. At 6:47 there’s a knock at the door and Jean nearly faceplants in his hurry to answer it.

“Your food’s gone cold,” Jean blurted out. Andrew turned a glare on him but said nothing as he shouldered his way into the apartment. Dark circles rimmed his eyes. His shoulders sagged, weighed down by exhaustion. There was no way he’d gotten a wink of sleep last night.

“Moreau,” a voice said from the door. Jean whipped around to see Matt Boyd standing at the door. How he’d missed such a tall person standing in his doorway, Jean didn’t know. “Mind if I come in?” Jean stepped aside and Matt moved in.

“Are you hungry?” Jean asked, haltingly. Boyd was the starting backliner for the Virginia Cavaliers, a whole state over. What the hell was he doing here?

“I could eat,” Matt said brightly. He grabbed hold of a chair and dragged it over to where Andrew sat.

“Not out of my plate,” Andrew snapped when Matt made to steal his eggs. Jean made his way to the kitchen to fix a third plate. From the dining room he could hear Andrew’s voice and Boyd’s laughter. Handing the plate over to him, Jean took his seat at the far end of the table. For the next quarter of an hour, Boyd rambled on about something or the other. If you asked Jean what he’d talked about, he wouldn’t have been able to say. He was far too absorbed in watching Andrew.

The usual tension that pervaded his form had fallen away. Despite the obvious lack of sleep, Andrew seemed far more relaxed than usual. Every now and again, Jean saw his lips twitch up into the barest hint of a smile. From what he’d heard, Andrew had never had a good relationship with any of his teammates save Josten. But that made sense. Neil was his lover. What was it about Boyd that softened him so much?

As soon as breakfast was finished and the plates cleaned, Jean disappeared back into his room to grab his phone. By the time he’d returned, both Andrew and Boyd were gone from the dining room. Jean found the pair blocking the open door. He stopped short when he heard Boyd’s voice.

“I’ve missed you so much, Andy.” His words shook Jean to his core.

“Yes or no?” Andrew asked quietly. Jean watched in stunned silence as Matt leaned down, mumbling yes a hair’s breadth away from Andrew’s lips. The second the word left his mouth, Andrew closed the distance between them. A soft moan slipped from Boyd’s lips and Jean watched in horror as he tangled his hands in Andrew’s hair. “Stop staring, Moreau,” Andrew said as he broke the kiss.

“I thought that you and Josten-”

“We are,” Andrew cut in dismissively. “Matt is too.”

“Oh,” was all Jean could think to say. Back at the Nest, there had been no exclusive relationships. While most relationships in the real world weren’t like that, Jean had heard there were still a few. Boyd said his goodbyes before heading down the hall to the back stairwell. Andrew started off in the other direction. Jean had to run after him once he’d locked the door. Neither of them spoke in the car. They never did but there was a weight to the silence now that Jean didn’t know what to do about. A thousand small talk topics flitted through his head but he knew Andrew wouldn’t appreciate any of it so he kept his mouth shut, contenting himself to stare out the window.

Jean is ready to run by the time that they pull up at the court but he doesn't. He needs to prove that he’s going to have Andrew’s back so he stays with him.

It’s kind of awkward for a while. Andrew doesn’t like having Jean towering over him from behind bc it makes him feel vulnerable so he’s always really tense.

The turning point in their relationship is when a striker from another team tries to start a twitter feud with Andrew. He gets asked about it in an interview and the interviewer pulls a Kathy Ferdinand and reveals that the striker is backstage. Jean is sitting with Andrew for the interview and when they try to start shit live on air, Jean snaps. He cuts the striker a new one, roasting them within an inch of their life and the interview is forced to end bc the striker throws a punch. Andrew steps in front of Jean, catching the punch with ease and judo flipping them.

Neither of them really acknowledge that it happened but, when Andrew comes to breakfast the following Monday, he brings a loaf of sweet bread that he baked over the weekend.

Things kind of settle after that. Sometimes Andrew leaves recipes for foods he wants and Jean starts filling their silences with something other than the news. He complains about Americans and moons over Jeremy and starts teaching Andrew French too.

Jean has his own tiktok and most of his vids are of himself cooking and have Andrew reacting at the end but there’s a few subsections tho. One of them is Andrew and Jean and their baking escapades. It’s always super messy. Another is their ‘date nights’. On the weekends, the two of them get a little extra dressed up and go out to sample new restaurants. They’re both massive foodies so they like to try new restaurants together. Andrew is a surprisingly picky eater and listening to him critic food is the most Jean has ever heard him speak. Platonic dates are actually incredibly nice n more ppl need to indulge in them.

The final subsection is fashion/makeup. Jean likes to do makeup bc… why not? Sometimes, he manages to convince Andrew to let him be his model and does some really interesting looks on Andrew. Those videos never see the light of day but it’s something they do and it’s very important to Andrew. There’s something very intimate about letting Jean touch his face for hours on end but it also kind of feels nice. Also he loves the way Neil and Matt fawn over him when he skypes them with his makeup done. The fashion videos, however, do go up. The two of them go to the mall p often and take turns styling each other. They do style challenges too where they’re both given the same horrible item (something like crocs or a really ugly sweater) and they have to make the other person look good in them.

They do little nice things for each other. When Neil has a game against Bluefield, Jean gets Andrew front row tickets for him and manages to convince Matt to come down too. Andrew learns how to make french pastries that he leaves on Jean’s counter pretty often bc it reminds him of home. He also gets Allison to help him pull some strings and arrange for Jean to spend Christmas break in France with Jeremy. Jean doesn’t cry but he does tear up a little bit.

Andrew is still a menace and you see that on his tiktok. He rigs ridiculous pranks like setting up a tripwire to dump glue and feather on him or wrapping all his stuff in plastic wrap.

#just a pipe dream #all for the game #the foxhole court #aftg #tfc #andrew minyard #all for the gay #andrew joseph minyard #neil josten #the foxes #matt boyd #mandreil #jean moreau #reveal to me your deepest desires

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brookstonalmanac · 1 year

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Events 8.26 (after 1900)

1914 – World War I: The German colony of Togoland surrenders to French and British forces after a 20-day campaign. Togoland is the first German colony to fall to allied hand in World War I. 1914 – World War I: During the retreat from Mons, the British II Corps commanded by General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien fights a vigorous and successful defensive action at Le Cateau. 1920 – The 19th amendment to United States Constitution takes effect, giving women the right to vote. 1922 – Greco-Turkish War (1919–22): Turkish army launched what has come to be known to the Turks as the Great Offensive (Büyük Taarruz). The major Greek defense positions were overrun. 1936 – Spanish Civil War: Santander falls to the nationalists and the republican interprovincial council is dissolved. 1940 – World War II: Chad becomes the first French colony to join the Allies under the administration of Félix Éboué, France's first black colonial governor. 1942 – The Holocaust in Ukraine: At Chortkiv, the Ukrainian police and German Schutzpolizei deport two thousand Jews to Bełżec extermination camp. Five hundred of the sick and children are murdered on the spot. This continued until the next day. 1944 – World War II: Charles de Gaulle enters Paris. 1966 – The South African Border War starts with the battle at Omugulugwombashe. 1970 – The fiftieth anniversary of American women being able to vote is marked by a nationwide Women's Strike for Equality. 1972 – The Games of the XX Olympiad open in Munich, West Germany. 1977 – The Charter of the French Language is adopted by the National Assembly of Quebec. 1978 – Papal conclave: Albino Luciani is elected as Pope John Paul I. 1980 – After John Birges plants a bomb at Harvey's Resort Hotel in Stateline, Nevada, in the United States, the FBI inadvertently detonates the bomb during its disarming. 1997 – Beni Ali massacre occurs in Algeria, leaving 60 to 100 people dead. 1998 – The first flight of the Boeing Delta III ends in disaster 75 seconds after liftoff resulting in the loss of the Galaxy X communications satellite. 1999 – Russia begins the Second Chechen War in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade. 2003 – A Beechcraft 1900 operating as Colgan Air Flight 9446 crashes after taking off from Barnstable Municipal Airport in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, killing both pilots on board. 2009 – Kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard is discovered alive in California after being missing for over 18 years. Her captors, Phillip and Nancy Garrido are apprehended. 2011 – The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Boeing's all-new composite airliner, receives certification from the EASA and the FAA. 2014 – The Jay Report into the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal is published. 2015 – Two U.S. journalists are shot and killed by a disgruntled former coworker while conducting a live report in Moneta, Virginia. 2018 – Three people are killed and eleven wounded during a mass shooting at a Madden NFL '19 video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida. 2021 – During the 2021 Kabul airlift, a suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport kills 13 US military personnel and at least 169 Afghan civilians.

#Events

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365days365movies · 4 years

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January 30, 2021: Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

So, now that I’ve gotten through the first of these movies, it’s probably time to talk about the director of all four films, George Miller.

Miller’s an Australian director and medical doctor. Yeah, dude went to medical school, and in his last year there, started getting into filmmaking! Nice. He immediately came off as a budding director, and made his official directorial debut with his first film...Mad Max. Yeah. Very interesting guy. Today’s entry is his second film, and he’s since made films including Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Witches of Eastwick, Lorenzo’s Oil, Babe (yes, the pig one), Babe: Pig in the City (yes, the OTHER pig one), Happy Feet (not the pig one) and its sequel, Happy Feet Two. So, a pretty good filmography!

But throughout it all, Miller’s flagship passion was the Mad Max franchise, continuing with this movie, and eventually ending with Fury Road. And from what I’ve heard about these remaining two films, I’m in for a ride. Pun half-heartedly intended. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

An elderly narrator brings us in, telling the tale of the Road Warrior, Mad Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson). He speaks of the downfall of modern society, punctuated by increased savagery, and the takeover of gangs on the world’s highways. People are ruined and forgotten, and they lose themselves. And these people include Max, who’s wandered out into the wilderness since losing his family. Yeah, Jess from the last movie? Dead. Guess she wasn’t doing so great after all.

Max and his dog are on the roads of Australia, where things have definitely changed. Ho longer around any vestige of civilization, the Road Warrior’s driving the Interceptor, being chased by punks on motorcycles, led by Wez (Vernon Wells), a cray, screaming dude with a bike and a mohawk..

After the chase, Max happens upon a recently-wrecked truck leaking gasoline, a much treasured resource in this post-apocalyptic landscape. Wez leaves, having been defeated, and Max gathers the fuel and goes his way. He drives through the desert until finding a mini-helicopter (a gyrocopter, it’s called), abandoned on the ground.

After taking care of a carpet python (Morelia spilota; don’t know the subspecies), he finds himself ambushed by the Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence), who holds him up for his fuel. However, using his dog, Max gets the upper hand. Frightened, Gyro tells him of a huge supply of fuel somewhere in the desert. He agrees to show him in exchange for his life. Max agrees, and does this.

Yeah, he tied a string to the trigger of a gun, and tied the other end to Dog’s bone. Fuck yes.

Gyro’s true to his word, and he takes him to an oil refinery in the middle of the desert. It’s being used and guarded by a gang of some kind. Max sets up camp, tying Gyro to a dead tree and spying on the gang. That night, many gang members leave the refinery, and return the next day. I should mention, at this point, that we start to see some of the crazy vehicles I love so much in Fury Road. Which, yeah, HERE for that!

Anyway, the bikers, including good old Wez, go after a guy in a tricked-out buggy, incapacitating him and...taking...his wife. Yeah, these movies are really leaning on that to vilify their bad guys, huh? First it was Toecutter’s gang and the young couple, and now it’s these random people. Not the best gimmick in the world, but...OK?

Well, Max goes down to take their gasoline, and finds that the man has lived. Max brings him back to a small settlement, where they take him in. Meanwhile, a child with a boomerang, called Feral Kid (Emil Minty), watches. Cool.

Max is taken into the settlement, where oil is being refined as well. The settlers definitely don’t accept Max, and are ready to take his car and oust him into the wilderness without fuel. And then, the bikers return. And there are a LOT of them.

youtube

These are the Marauders, and they’ve taken some of the settlers captive. They’d gone out, only to be taken captive by Wez and the others. But Wez isn’t their leader. No...no, that would be the Warrior of the Wasteland! The Ayatollah of rock-and-roll-ah! THIS...is Lord Humungus (Kjell Nilsson)!

...Am I in love with this movie? Holy shit, I might be I mean, LOOK at that dude! With his voice and his scraggly-ass hair and Jason mask, he notes that the settlers sent out sentries to find a truck, with which to carry their gasoline and take it out of the desert. And as this is taking place, Feral Kid pops up, throws his steel boomerang, and kills Wez’ right hand man. WHAT

YES. MORE PLEASE. Feral Kid’s boomerang is thrown at him, misses, comes back and severs the fingers of the hand of Humungus’ mouth of Sauron dude, Toadie (Max Phipps). Humungus tries to calm the throngs, Wez included, and ends up putting Wez in a Sleeper. He tells the settlers to “just walk away, and [he] will spare [their] lives. Just walk away.”

...Yeah, I love Humungus. And his inevitable death saddens me more than I can properly say. Anyway, the settlers start debating whether or not they should walk away, and Max uses a little music-maker that he found to befriend the Feral Kid. The leader of the settlers, Pappagallo (Mike Preston) tries to convince them to flee with their fuel to a safe place. They continue to argue, until Max interjects with an offer.

Max can get them the vehicle to carry the tanker of gas that they have, but demands as much gas as he can carry, and the return of his vehicle. They agree to his terms, and Max heads off into the night to get the truck from earlier, with gas canisters and Dog in tow. With a little help from Feral Kid, he escapes the notice of the Marauders waiting nearby.

He catches up to Gyro, who’s managed to break free of the tree (well, mostly), and is quickly caught by Max in order to carry the gas canisters for the truck. They get back to Gyro’s gyro, where someone has died after being bitten by his...nonvenomous snake. Yeah, these films haven’t shown very high knowledge of zoology, huh?

They take to the air in the gyrocopter, and easily fly to the truck from the beginning of the film. They get it started, and Max leaves Gyro behind, although he protests to this, and follows behind in the copter. And then.he drives past Wez, who’s still enraged after losing his partner to boomerang hit.

By the way, I didn’t mention this about the gang, but they’re literally all wearing what looks to me like leather bondage gear? Like...I’m pretty certain that’s exactly what that is; it’s pretty obvious. ESPECIALLY Humungus and Wez’s partner, lemme tell you. Just a note, as this change in visual tone and style is going to carry throughout the rest of the series.

The Marauders run Max down, and Gyro saves the day with his snake, throwing it at one of the cars chasing him. Max JUST makes it into the Settlement, but a couple of the Marauders make it in as well, Wez amongst them. He kills a Settler using his favorite weapon, HIS OWN HEAD (fuck, this movie rules), and makes his was through the compound.

Max climbs the top of the wall, and uses a flamethrower on some of the men. Feral Kid throws a boomerang at Wez, who runs off with the rest of the Marauders. Gyro also arrives, landing in the settlement. Pappagallo, in the process, is shot in the leg with an arrow. Unfortunately, the damage sustained to the truck will take 12 hours to fix.

The Settlers thank Max for his help, but that doesn’t mean he’s staying there. That night, however, Humungus retaliates, and strings up their captured settlers for all to see, torturing them throughout the night. Nobody will make it out alive, by his promise.

For the time being, Max and Gyro are still in the settlement, waiting for their chance to leave. Gyro tries to sneak away with a young woman, but she opts to stay out of loyalty to the Settlers. Also, her hair looks like a Who from Whoville. It had to be said...it had to be said. Pappagallo berated Max for just leaving, rather than helping the rest of them and driving the tanker. Max shoves aside Feral Kid, and he takes off.

However, this is NOT the best move on Max’s part, as he drives RIGHT THROUGH the Marauder camp, and Wez isn’t far behind him. Using a NOS system (EAT IT FAST AND FURIOUS FRANCHISE), they easily overtake Max and run him off the road, DESTROYING the V-8 Pursuit Special, and injuring Max something fierce. Somehow, though, he manages to escape. But one of them KILLS DOG WHAT THE FUCK MAN

Max crawls away and escapes, but is found by...Gyro! Gyro picks him up with the copter, and takes him back to the settlement. He wakes up in a medical tent, still quite hurt. Pappagallo details the plan: use the tanker as a distraction to allow the others to escape. Max, although still injured, volunteers to drive the tanker after all. He doesn’t say exactly why, but he is now stuck there without a method of egress, and he’s the best chance they have. I’m going to choose to believe that he does it for Dog. JOHN WICK STYLE BABY

The time has come. On both sides, they head for conflict. Gyro’s air support, dropping bombs on them. But he’s quickly shot down. Meanwhile, the settlers get out in vehicles of their own, taking advantage of the distraction of the tanker. And once they’re all out…

Now, all eyes are on Max and the Marauders! With the assistance of Warrior Woman (Virginia Hey), Feral Kid, and a few more settlers, Max tries to outdrive Wez and his group. And a LOT of shit happens here, so do yourself a favor and watch this video!

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Rebecca and the other two settlers die, leaving only Max and Feral Kid behind. A LOT of Marauders die in the process, and then Lord Humungus catches up. As they shoot out the tires, Gyro (still flyin’, baby!) and some of the Settlers show up as backup. And...yup, another video. Yes, really.

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After ALL OF THAT, Humungus ONCE AGAIN goes the way of Toecutter, and is killed by a head-on collision with a truck. Said truck careens off the road, and Mac and Feral Kid get out. It’s then that we see that the truck NEVER had fuel in it! No, instead it was a decoy! It allowed the vehicles, which actually contained the fuel, to escape to the safe North, away from the gangs.

The Narrator comes back, revealing that he’s the Feral Kid, and that their new leader was Gyro! And the Road Warrior. That was the last they ever saw of him. He lives now...only in his memories.

And THAT...was The Road Warrior, AKA Mad Max 2. WHOOOOOOOO!!! Second verse, same as the first; epilogue at the end of the weekend! LET’S GO PART 3

January 31, 2021: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

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National Enquirer, April 19

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover

Page 2: Michael Douglas' short-term memory loss and frail frame have wife Catherine Zeta-Jones fearing for her older husband's well-being -- Michael once declared he'd beaten oral cancer, but harsh chemotherapy and radiation treatments have left him a shell of his former self and he has even admitted to suffering memory problems -- he was also affected by the 2020 death of his father Kirk Douglas and he hasn't been the same since his dad died -- this is a guy who cheated death with a horrific cancer ordeal, and he's had other medical issues over the years and some serious domestic dramas that have taken their toll -- Catherine always knew that their age difference would mean her taking care of him one day but she didn't expect it to be so soon

Page 3: Reese Witherspoon has ditched her wedding ring during recent outings, sparking rumors her marriage to Jim Toth is on the ropes but she feels their relationship isn't down for the count and refuses to give up the fight to keep their family together but they may not make it -- the desire to make things work is still there on both sides and they've been able to pull it all together all these years, even with personalities as different as theirs mainly for the sake of their family and they got on each other's nerves while cooped up together during the pandemic, but they don't bicker in public and that's one thing they have going for them

Page 4: Ryan Seacrest creeped out his pals when he gushed over Maria Menounos when she sat in for Kelly Ripa on Live recently -- Ryan thinks Maria is the smartest, most talented and beautiful woman to walk the planet and he can't help but swoon over her but Ryan understands Maria is happily married to TV writer and producer Keven Underago and he'd never cross the line and he doesn't want to date Maria, but he makes no secret he'd be dancing on air to have someone like her, which is kind of creepy, but he can't help it -- Ryan would never make moves on someone else's girl, but he does try to imitate her husband Keven's qualities like how funny and creative and sensible he is and Ryan adores Kelly and thinks she's great but he wouldn't mind if she takes more time off just so he can gaze at Maria

* Miley Cyrus' recent boozy night out with party pals, including British punk rocker Yungblud, has loved ones fearing she's slipping back into dangerous territory -- she was spotted at Hollywood's famous Rainbow Bar & Grill, drinking shots and beer chasers, just months after she admitted to her struggles with addiction and after fellow addiction-challenged singer Demi Lovato announced she was California sober, claiming she was safely able to drink in moderation, Miley didn't see any reason why she couldn't do the same -- her family and sober friends are deeply concerned for Miley's well-being and are begging her to stop drinking now

Page 5: Newly robust Celine Dion has her health back on track following a dangerous few years where she looked like a walking skeleton -- she has beefed up her wraith-like frame by making healthier choices during lockdown -- she went through a rough time of transition after husband Rene Angelil's death and lost a lot of weight, but lockdown has given her a chance to rest and focus on taking care of herself and now she looks 15 to 20 pounds heavier and seems in good spirits and is looking forward to rebooting her Courage World Tour when the pandemic ends

Page 6: Fitness fanatic Tim McGraw is a changed man since he kicked the bottle in 2008, but he's now hooked on working out and sculpting the perfect bod and he's publicly admitted exercise is what gets him flying high but his quest to get ripped to the max is now a 24/7 obsession and he spends hours in the gym and he's already flexing a muscular body most men would die for, but he doesn't want to stop until he's an Adonis and he works out twice or three times a day and packs his diet with energy-boosting smoothies and veggie juices and some might say he's going overboard with the workouts, but Tim craves those feel-good endorphins and he considers his workouts to be fun -- he loves the way he looks and thinks he can do better and he does spend a lot of time in front of the mirror admiring himself and tends to wear tight T-shirts that show off his pecs and six-pack abs, and wife Faith Hill loves the results -- a lot of people say he's traded one addiction for another

Page 7: Nearly six years after their bitter divorce, Miranda Lambert has finally extended an olive branch to ex-husband Blake Shelton, but she's still pretty envious over his professional success with fiancee Gwen Stefani -- last year, Blake and Gwen took home the collaborative video prize at the Country Music Television Awards for their duet Nobody but You, and also scored a Top Ten hit with their single Happy Anywhere and it makes Miranda jealous to see Blake making hay on the charts with Gwen but their success also made Miranda recall Over You, her hit collaboration with Blake, which won Song of the Year at the 2012 Country Music Association Awards and during a recent interview, Miranda affectionately blew kisses toward the camera as she recounted how her ballad with Blake was inspired by his grief over the loss of his older brother; still, Miranda also harbors a competitive streak and said she's angling to transform herself and husband Brendan McLoughlin into entertainment movers and shakers just like Blake and Gwen -- Miranda plans to enroll Brendan in acting school and Miranda wants them to act together and they are looking for scripts to make a television movie and even planning to launch a production company in Nashville and Miranda recognizes the musical chemistry Blake and Gwen share, and she believes she and Brendan can match that success on-screen -- meanwhile, as Blake and Gwen prepare to wed, Miranda is finally in a place where she can wish them well and Miranda carried a lot of animosity toward Blake and Gwen, especially since she suspected they started something before she and Blake split up, but she's very happy with Brendan so maybe all that pain she and Blake went through in ending their marriage was for the best

* Reba McEntire is reaching out to save her friend and former daughter-in-law Kelly Clarkson from suffering through a divorce that eerily mirrors Reba's own breakup -- Kelly split from husband and manager Brandon Blackstock in June 2020, and the divorce battle has them fighting over custody of their two kids as well as Brandon suing her for $1.4 million in unpaid commissions, but Reba has seen this before: Brandon's dad, Narvel Blackstock, dumped her in 2015 after 26 years of marriage, and despite initially agreeing to continue as her manager, dumped her as a client weeks later and Reba knows all too well how petty and conniving Narvel and Brandon can be, and her heart goes out to Kelly -- Kelly admits to Reba there are times when she just wants to run away and hide and Reba tells her to run away to me and it means the world to Kelly to have Reba in her corner -- Narvel and son Brandon head Starstruck Entertainment and are adamant that Kelly owes them big bucks for helping her land both her talk show and a coaching spot on The Voice, but with Reba's help, Kelly is fighting back and Reba learned the hard way the pitfalls of mixing business with family life and she's trying to help Kelly because she hates to see another woman suffer at the hands of a Blackstock

Page 8: Sicko Jeffrey Epstein has been accused of a horrific new litany of abuse by a woman who claims he forced her into unwanted genital surgery, raped her in front of her child and threatened to feed her to alligators -- the woman, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, is suing the late pervert's estate, claiming he and his alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell, groomed her for their sordid pleasure -- in the suit, she claims Epstein drove her to pick up her 8-year-old son and took them to a lake, where he threatened to feed her to alligators, as had happened to other girls in the past, if she dared to squeal on him -- at the time, the woman said she was 26, but she looked much younger and Epstein told her to say she was 17 and he also arranged for a man with a Russian accent to perform an unnecessary vaginal surgery to pass her off as a virgin to a client and this violent and illegal procedure was botched, leaving her mutilated, in pain, disabled, and permanently sexually dysfunctional

Page 9: Ghislaine Maxwell has been slapped with yet another sex trafficking charge and it's got her former pal Prince Andrew sweating bullets -- the new indictment details how Jeffrey Epstein's alleged madam reportedly groomed a 14-year-old for him, but crucially for Andrew, it expands the time frame of Ghislaine's alleged crimes from 1994 to 2004, a span that includes her meeting the British royal in 1999 and then introducing him to Epstein and that time frame also includes the period in which "sex slave" Virginia Roberts Giuffre claims she slept with Andrew three times, charges he's denied -- the new charge also opens the floodgates on other celebrities, politicians and high-profile figures who were in Epstein's orbit at the time and the new indictment widens the pool for Ghislaine and her defense attorneys because who wouldn't want to bring down all of these fat cats and who wouldn't be that desperate?

Page 10: Hot Shots -- Rumer Willis got to the root of her gardening needs in L.A., Michael B. Jordan and Chante Adams got cozy as they shared a snack while shooting Journal for Jordan in NYC's Central Park, Heidi Klum in L.A., Mario Lopez tossed the ceremonial first dice roll at the opening of the Mohegan Sun Casino in Las Vegas, Christopher Meloni shot his onscreen spouse's funeral scene for Law & Order: Organized Crime

Page 11: Tony Bennett has a secret weapon in his fight against Alzheimer's disease: his close pal and collaborator Lady Gaga -- Susan Crow Benedetto, 54, the wife of the 94-year-old singing legend, has enlisted Gaga to help keep Tony's faculties sharp as he struggles with advancing dementia because Gaga's telephone calls have always helped cheer Tony up and keep him focused and they laugh together, reminisce and sometimes sing and it always puts a smile on Tony's face and it's great therapy -- when asked whether Tony still recognizes the pop star, Susan joked that Gaga is hard to forget -- Gaga has also played a critical role in keeping the aging crooner active and creative by working with him and they plan to release their second album of duets this spring as a follow-up to their 2014 smash hit Cheek to Cheek

* Worried friends feared ailing rock god Ozzy Osbourne is coming unstrung while wife Sharon Osbourne's career goes into a death spiral -- Ozzy has been plagued by crippling illnesses over the years, including Parkinson's disease, and has to walk with the aid of a cane and now he's at wit's end and pushing himself into a danger zone as his wife fights tooth and nail after leaving The Talk amid a racism scandal and Ozzy's been under a great deal of distress over Sharon's problems over at The Talk and he worries and fusses over her and can't focus on anything else and it's left many in his circle very concerned for his health which is fragile enough already -- the bashing Sharon received during the scandal has the aging rocker concerned she may never work again and he'll have to be the breadwinner

Page 12: Straight Shuter -- five years after Angelina Jolie filed for divorce, she's still battling Brad Pitt over custody of their five youngest kids, now she's filed new court documents claiming she has proof of domestic violence against Brad and accusations like these would kill anyone else's career, but not in this case: Hollywood is 100 percent behind Brad and the sense in the industry is Angelina has weaponized the kids against Brad but Brad is very well respected in Hollywood, and most people find these new allegations hard to believe and if anything, Angie is only hurting the children and herself

* Real Housewives stars featured in the upcoming spinoff are cashing in and Bravo will pay Luann de Lesseps, Teresa Giudice and the others a sweet $200,000 for one week's work in Turks and Caicos and that's more than double what the ladies usually get for filming, plus they get a free trip to a tropical island

* American Idol could be on the chopping block because in just seven weeks the show has lost 2 million viewers and it's simple math: Idol cannot survive with its current budget and ABC has two options which are cancel the show or cut costs, which would mean hiring cheaper judges and a cheaper host to replace Ryan Seacrest and both options are being explored

* Britney Spears' beau, personal trainer Sam Asghari, shows off his toned abs in L.A. (picture)

Page 13: Palace insiders fear Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's vendetta against the British monarchy will take a shocking new turn: they'll bankroll a lurid movie about Princess Diana's death and the conspiracy theories that suggest the royal family was involved -- the rights to the movie script are owned by Hollywood producer Ben Browning, who was just hired by Harry and Meghan to run their film company Archewell Productions -- the controversial movie centers on Princess Diana's lover Dodi Fayed's father, former Harrods' boss Mohamed Al-Fayed, investigating his son's death and his belief that Dodi and Diana were murdered because she was pregnant and planning to marry, and The Firm did not want a Muslim in the royal family

Page 14: Crime

Page 15: Alabama Shakes drummer Steve Johnson has been busted on charges of willful torture and abuse of a child and was also charged with cruelly beating or otherwise maltreating a child under the age of 18 -- his arrest came just a year after he was slapped with a one-year suspended sentence and two years' probation after pleading guilty to menacing his ex-wife Whitney Lee, who called him mentally unstable -- Johnson helped the Shakes score three Grammys in 2016 for their album Sound & Color but the band has been on hiatus since singer Brittany Howard started a solo career in 2018 and Steve was lost after that; he went from playing in front of 50,000 people to playing in bars again -- even if the Shakes reunite, it's highly unlikely Steve would be invited back -- Steve remains in county jail awaiting his court date and his attorneys said Mr. Johnson maintains his innocence

* Danny Masterson and his lawyers believe they are victims of anti-Scientology bias and cannot get a fair trial in his Los Angeles rape case -- celebrity attorney Tom Mesereau, who successfully defended Michael Jackson against child molestation charges two decades ago, claimed his client has been treated unfairly because of his ties to the church, and that the police or district attorney's office leaked damaging details of the case -- Danny and his lawyers feel persecuted and that everybody in Hollywood who isn't a Scientologist is after them -- LAPD Robbery and Homicide Division Capt. Jonathan Tippet said his organization is keeping a tight lid on all information surrounding the case to ensure Masterson gets a fair trial

Page 16: Mormon church officials are being accused of corporate greed for using members' charitable donations to secretly create a $100 billion tax-free fund -- James Huntsman, the son of a prominent Mormon family, is suing the church for fraud, claiming donations solicited to finance charity work were actually used to fill church coffers -- the church boasts at least 15 million members worldwide, including celebrities like Gladys Knight, Donny and Marie Osmond, Katherine Heigl, Julianne Hough, Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling, Amy Adams and Aaron Eckhart and many could have tithed money that ended up in the tax-free fund

Page 17: Jen Shah of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City was recently fingered by the feds as the bogus businesswoman behind a multi-state fraud scheme dating back to 2012 -- the Bravo blowhard, known for her extravagant parties, designer outfits and extensive entourage, and her first assistant Stuart Smith were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering -- the U.S. Justice Department alleged the Park City resident and Smith of Lehi generated and sold lead lists of innocent individuals for other members of their scheme to repeatedly scam, and claimed the greedy creeps defrauded hundreds of victims -- the terrible twosome targeted older adults and computer illiterate folks by using both telemarketing and in-person sales teams to peddle nonexistent online services and then fight the refund efforts of wronged consumers -- if convicted, Shah and Smith each face up to 50 years behind bars

Page 18: American Life

Page 20: L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva triggered a cover-up scandal when he revealed his investigators determined why Tiger Woods drove off a California cliff, then refused to explain what happened, citing the golf legend's privacy -- Villanueva said the black box in the Genesis SUV that Tiger was driving when he flew off a suburban L.A. highway in the early morning helped determine the cause

* Hollywood Hookups -- Bethenny Frankel and Paul Bernon engaged, Melissa and Joe Gorga appear to have reached the finale of their marriage, Fernanda Flores and professional boxes Noel Mikaelian dating

Page 21: Britney Spears said she broke into tears after seeing bits of the new documentary about how she has been in the grips of a conservatorship for years, saying she was embarrassed by the light they put her in and she cried for two weeks and still cries sometimes

* Generous Hollywood legend Dick Van Dyke put a happy face on job seekers in Malibu when he handed out fistfuls of cash -- Dick was spotted withdrawing bills from a bank before driving to the Malibu Community Labor Exchange, a nonprofit that helps unemployed locals find day jobs and he stayed in his car as he handed out money to masked folks who were lined up to look for work

Page 22: The late Aretha Franklin left behind a royal mess of paperwork, including a newly discovered fourth will that has thrown her $80 million estate into fresh turmoil -- the eight-page document, titled The Will of Aretha Franklin, was apparently drawn up not long before her death in 2018, and was recently found among the files of the singer's onetime attorney Henry Grix along with the paperwork describing the terms of a trust but both items are stamped draft and neither has Aretha's signature but Michigan law changed seven years ago, and it made the admissibility of a document like this more flexible -- currently there's a bitter beef among Aretha's four adult sons over how their mother's assets should be divided

Page 23: The battle over Prince's $300 million fortune rages on, and the late pop star's siblings, and legal heirs, fear there won't be anything left after lawyers, accountants, administrators and the IRS take their cut -- five years after he died from a fatal fentanyl overdose without leaving a will, an avalanche of deals and court hearings have left his massive cash stash in limbo -- sadly Prince's distrust of lawyers and other professionals now means that millions will be spent paying those same people to try to sort out the mess he left behind and this could go on for a decade

Page 26: Weird Body Language -- stars cope with bizarre deformities -- Denzel Washington, Steven Tyler, Ashton Kutcher, Matthew Perry

Page 27: Lily Allen, Mark Wahlberg, Karolina Kurkova, Scar Service -- Tina Fey, Padma Lakshmi, Joaquin Phoenix

Page 32: Health Watch

* Ask the Vet -- Watch out for xylitol

Page 34: Just months after John Travolta's beloved wife, Kelly Preston, passed, the actor has been shattered by another death in the family -- his nephew Sam Travolta's badly decomposed body was found in his Wisconsin apartment last September, weeks after he died from a suspected heart attack -- John has suffered through so much loss and Sam's death was another huge blow but he's strong and has a deep faith in Scientology and the church brings him solace and comfort

Page 36: Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran has stepped up to get a tenant in one of her buildings back on his feet -- Barbara and building co-owner Alex Rodriguez came under fire after Ryo Nagaoka's possessions were reportedly tossed while he was hospitalized with COVID-19 and when Ryo got home he found only his piano and pet tortoise in his cleaned-out crib -- emptying Ryo's apartment was necessary because it had become a health hazard and had a biocleaning crew scrub it -- Barbara donated $12,000 to a GoFundMe page for him, while A-Rod has seemingly not yet contributed anything and Barbara also said the building's management company has renovated Ryo's apartment

Page 38: Beloved game show host Peter Marshall made a miraculous recovery from COVID-19 to celebrate with friends at his 95th birthday party -- Peter was in and out of the hospital for ten weeks and he was at death's door and doctors didn't give him much of a chance but Peter beat the odds to enjoy a Zoom party attended online by Leslie Uggams, Loni Anderson, Sandy Duncan, Ruta Lee, Karen Valentine, Rich Little, JoAnne Worley, Jack Jones and more

* Accused sex freak Armie Hammer's career is in the crapper and he's beginning to believe that's where it will stay -- the kink king was fired from the thriller Billion Dollar Spy amid sexual assault allegations and the release of social media messages claiming he has dark fetishes including cannibalism -- Armie has already gotten to boot from the movie Shotgun Wedding and the series The Offer, and more trouble may be on the horizon: Armie was accused of sexual assault by a woman called Effie, who alleged the actor violently raped her and Armie's attorneys issued a statement denying the claims, saying Effie's own correspondence with Mr. Hammer undermines and refutes her outrageous allegations -- Armie has been keeping a low profile at a Caribbean resort, but fears his entire career is in trouble

Page 42: Red Carpet -- Carrie Underwood

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