#Washington State Toy Show

[heckyeahponyscans]

I had such a blast at the Puyallup toy show and met a couple people who follow / recognize my Tumblr, including someone who does G3 MLP panels at Everfree and someone who gave me this amazing print of their art! I looove it!

Thanks for coming to my table everyone! <3

[plasticnpastel]

Today’s haul from the Washington State Toy Show! My total budget was $150. I don’t think I got any screaming deals, but I did get some wishlist items.

There was an RC Popple I wanted to get but I prioritized Salty and Catrine with the last of my budget. Other highlights include some MIB G3s (including my first one ever, Kimono!) Only thing I didn’t see I was really hoping for was Bratz or Winx dolls.

The Flutterina came from a stall where a guy bought an abandoned barn and went through it. He found someone’s entire G1 collection (they have G. written under a paw or hoof) along with a ton of MIB Transformers. Sigh. The things you wish went to actual collectors…

[whencyclopedia]

US Presidential Election of 1789

The US presidential election of 1789 was the first presidential election to take place after the ratification of the United States Constitution. Held on 4 February 1789, it resulted in the unanimous election of George Washington (l. 1732-1799) as the first president of the United States, with John Adams (l. 1735-1826) elected as the first vice president.

This election was very different from modern-day presidential elections in the United States. For one thing, candidates did not campaign for office, as outward displays of political ambition were viewed with suspicion by the public; instead, aspiring politicians discreetly made their interests known while their allies publicly lobbied for them. Additionally, as there were not yet any formal political parties, presidential and vice presidential candidates did not run on a shared ticket. Instead, the candidate who received the most votes from the Electoral College became president, while the runner-up became vice president. Finally, the president was chosen by electors – who were themselves selected by each state through various methods – who were each allowed to cast two votes. Washington, after his unanimous election, travelled to the temporary US capital of New York City, where he was inaugurated on 30 April 1789.

Background

In March 1781, as the American Revolutionary War neared its end, the Articles of Confederation went into effect as the first framework of governance for the fledgling United States. The Articles, which bound the 13 states together in a league of perpetual union, deliberately kept the new central government weak to protect the sovereignty of the individual states. Congress' lack of authority would soon lead to problems, however; the central government's inability to raise its own taxes meant that the national treasury was constantly depleted, while its lackluster response to Shays' Rebellion (1786-87) showed that it was ill-equipped to handle domestic crises. By the mid-1780s, many Americans viewed the Articles of Confederation as ineffectual and demanded they be revised, if not replaced. George Washington certainly spoke for many of his contemporaries when he called the Confederation Congress a "half-starved, limping Government that appears to be always moving upon crutches and tottering at every step" (mountvernon.org).

On 25 May 1787, the Constitutional Convention met at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with Washington presiding. While the initial goal of the convention had been merely to revise the Articles of Confederation, it was soon decided that an entirely new framework of governance was needed, and the delegates got to work debating and drafting what would become the United States Constitution. As suggested in the Virginia Plan (drafted by Virginian delegates James Madison and Edmund Randolph), it was ultimately decided that the new federal government should consist of three distinct branches: executive, legislative, and judiciary, each expected to exert checks and balances on the others. Debate over the exact powers and functions of these branches consumed much of the convention, particularly regarding the executive branch; under the Articles, the US had no executive officer, as the 'president of Congress' had served more of an administrative role.

On 1 June, it was decided that the nation's chief executive would be a single person rather than a group of persons and that this officeholder would be called the ‘president'. Believing that the masses were too easily manipulated, the delegates decided against electing the president directly through a popular vote and instead set up an Electoral College, wherein voters in each state would choose electors who would, in turn, elect the president. After toying with the idea that the president should serve a single, seven-year term, the delegates instead went with the notion that multiple terms could be served. While the idea of the presidential office seemed foreboding to many convention delegates, who still feared the tyranny of kings, most were lulled into compliance by the idea that Washington would become the first president. Time and again, Washington had demonstrated his patriotism during the American Revolution and had voluntarily resigned his position as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. The idea that he would be the first one to define the office of president did much to ease fears that the office would become an elective monarch.

Washington at the Constitutional Convention, 1787

Junius Brutus Stearns (Public Domain)

Continue reading...

[therogerclarkfanclub]

Roger's* 2024 Comic Con Schedule

Interested in knowing if Roger is coming to your city or town? Check the listings below. Updated as new info becomes available.

If you've been waiting for the opportunity to meet Roger & The Gang, or you would like to meet him/them again, feel free to bookmark ("Like" 😉) this post if you want to keep up with Roger's Comic Con appearances. I will update and reblog this list as soon as new info becomes available.

Alternatively, you can always keep tabs on Roger's social media for the latest dates.

*This is listing is not limited to just Roger, it will also include any other cast members attending a specific Con.

⭐ LAST UPDATED: October 01, 2024 ⭐

JAN 07 - Added: Fanboy Expo

JAN 25 - Added: FANEXPO Cleveland

JAN 31 - Added: RetroGameCon

MAR 04 - Added: Fanboy Expo Orlando

MAR 06 - Added: Washington Gaming Expo

APR 10 - Added: Florida Supercon

APR 21 - Added: Stellar Con York

APR 22 - Added: Sci-Fi Valley Con

MAY 04 - Added: Fanboy Expo Orlando (Alex, Roger)

MAY 04 - Added: WonderFest 2024

MAY 07 - Added: Rob to Sci-Fi Valley Con

MAY 15 - Added: New York Comic Con

JUL 02 - Added: Brasil Game Show

JUL 26 - Added: Pittsburgh Gaming Expo (Roger)

JUL 28 - Added: Pittsburgh Gaming Expo (Benjamin)

AUG 06 - Added: FanEXPO San Francisco (Rob)

AUG 11 - Added: Soda City Comic Con (Roger)

AUG 26 - Added: Rhode Island Comic Con (Alex)

AUG 31 - Added: Comic Con North East (Roger, Rob)

OCT 01 - Added: Rhode Island Comic Con (Benjamin, Roger, Rob)

─────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────────

🌟🌟 Animate! Raleigh 🌟🌟

Dates: January 5-7, 2024 City: Raleigh, North Carolina Venue: Raleigh Convention Center 500 S Salisbury St. Raleigh, NC 27601 Confirmed attendees: Roger, Benjamin, Peter Cancellations: Rob

🌟🌟 Fanboy Anime Toy Gaming Knoxville 🌟🌟

Dates: March 9-10, 2024 City: Knoxville, TN Venue: The Knoxville Convention Center 701 Henley Street Knoxville, Tennessee 37902 Confirmed attendees: Roger, Rob

🌟🌟 GameOn Expo 🌟🌟

Dates: March 15-17, 2024 City: Phoenix, Arizona Venue: Phoenix Convention Center - North Building 100 N 3rd St. Phoenix, AZ 85004 Confirmed attendees: Roger & Rob

🌟🌟 Washington State Gaming Expo 🌟🌟

Dates: March 29-31, 2024 City: Puyallup, Washington Venue: Washington State Fair and Events Center 110 9th Ave SW Puyallup, WA 98371-6811 Confirmed attendees: Roger & Rob

🌟🌟 FANEXPO Cleveland 🌟🌟

Dates: April 12-14, 2024 City: Cleveland, Ohio Venue: Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland 300 Lakeside Ave E Cleveland, Ohio 44113 Confirmed attendees: Roger and Rob

🌟🌟 PopCon Indy 🌟🌟

Dates: April 26-28, 2024 City: Indianapolis, Indiana Venue: Indiana Convention Center 100 South Capitol Ave. Indianapolis, IN 46225 Confirmed attendees: Roger and Rob

🌟🌟 WonderFest 2024 🌟🌟

Dates: June 1-2, 2024 City: Louisville, KY Venue: Crowne Plaza Louisville Airport Hotel 830 Phillips Lane Louisville, KY 40209. Confirmed attendees: Rob

🌟🌟 Sci-Fi Valley Con 🌟🌟

Dates: June 7-9, 2024 City: Altoona, PA Venue: Blair Country Convention Center One Convention Center Drive 100 South Capitol Ave. Altoona, PA 16602 Confirmed attendees: Roger and Rob

🌟🌟 Stellar Con York 🌟🌟

Dates: June 15, 2024 City: York, Pennsylvania Venue: York Fairgrounds 334 Carlisle Ave York, Pennsylvania 17404 Confirmed attendees: Roger

🌟🌟 Black Hills Redemption 🌟🌟

Dates: June 21st - 23rd, 2024 City: Deadwood, South Dakota Venue: The entire town of Deadwood Panel will be held at: Homestake Opera House Meet & greet sessions: Saloon No. 10 Confirmed attendees: Rob, Steve, Benjamin, Robert Bogue, Mick, Peter, Alex, Jim Santangeli, Howard Pinhasik, Kaili, Meeya, Jim Pirri, Curzon, Roger, Samantha, Jo, Gabriel, Penny O'Brien, John Hickok, Sophia Marzocchi Cancellations: Gabriel

🌟🌟 Florida Supercon 🌟🌟

Dates: July 12 - 14, 2024 City: Miami Beach, Florida Venue: Miami Beach Convention Center 1901 Convention Center Drive Miami Beach, FL 33139 Confirmed attendees: Roger and Rob

🌟🌟 Comic Con Wales 🌟🌟

Dates: August 10-11, 2024 City: New Port, South Wales Venue: International Convention Centre Wales Coldra Woods Newport South Wales NP18 1HQ United Kingdom Confirmed attendees: Roger and Rob

🌟🌟 Soda City Comic Con 🌟🌟

Dates: August 24 & 25, 2024 City: Columbia, South Carolina Venue: Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center 1101 Lincoln Street Columbia, SC 29201 Confirmed attendees: Roger

🌟🌟 Fanboy Expo Orlando 🌟🌟

Dates: September 6-8, 2024 City: Orlando, Florida Venue: Orange County Convention Center - West Concourse 9800 International Drive Orlando, FL 32819 Confirmed attendees: Benjamin, Roger, Alex, Rob, Peter, Kaili

🌟🌟 Pittsburgh Gaming Expo 🌟🌟

Dates: October 4-6, 2024 City: Monroeville, Pennsylvania Venue: Monroeville Convention and Events Center 209 Mall Plaza Blvd Monroeville, PA 15146 Confirmed attendees: Roger, Benjamin

🌟🌟 Brasil Game Show 🌟🌟

Dates: October 09-13, 2024 (10th and 11th only for Roger) City: Sao Paulo, Brazil Venue: Expo Center Norte Rua José Bernardo Pinto, 333 Vila Guilherme São Paulo - SP 02055-000 Brasil Confirmed attendees: Roger

🌟🌟 RetroGameCon 🌟🌟

Dates: October 11-13, 2024 City: Syracuse, New York Venue: The Oncenter Convention Center 800 South State Street Syracuse, NY 13202 Confirmed attendees: Roger and Rob

🌟🌟 New York Comic Con 🌟🌟

Dates: October 17-20, 2024 City: New York City, New York Venue: The Jacob Javits Convention Center 429 11th Avenue New York, NY 10001 Confirmed attendees: Roger, Rob, Benjamin, Peter, Alex, Kaili, Meeya, Mick, Curzon, Noshir, Robert Bogue, Gabriel

🌟🌟 Comic Con North East 🌟🌟

Dates: October 26-27, 2024 City: Newcastle upon Type Venue: Utilita Arena Newcastle Arena Way Newcastle upon Tyne Tyne & Wear NE4 7NA, UK Confirmed attendees: Roger and Rob

🌟🌟 Rhode Island Comic Con 🌟🌟

Dates: November 1-3, 2024 City: Providence, Rhode Island Venue: Rhode Island Convention Center & Amica Mutual Pavilion 1 Sabin Street Providence, RI 02903 Confirmed attendees: Alex, Benjamin, Rob, Roger

🌟🌟 FanEXPO San Francisco 🌟🌟

Dates: November 29, 30, and December 1st, 2024 City: San Francisco, California Venue: Moscone Center West 800 Howard Street San Francisco, CA 94103 Confirmed attendees: Rob

[gingergofastboatsmojito]

Full focus

In working out like a maniac for at least 1 hour a day before going to bed, Carmy had found his solace.

He hadn't completely conquered his insomnia, but his sleep patterns had improved considerably since he'd collapsed into bed after a hot shower and an intense and painful workout session that always left him aching all over and sweating like a sinner in church. Every muscle burned like hell and every joint felt like a death threat after working out to the point where exhaustion was just a fogbank his body would trespass in a state of welcome mindlessness. Like a zombie. The only reminiscence of life he felt after the fact was the blood rushing through his veins and the pain coursing through his limbs.

Needless to say, he wasn’t expecting company when in the middle of his third set of Russian twists he had to let go of his beloved kettlebell, get up, and jogg to the door.

His sweaty face and messy hair framing it, his labored breathing that made his voice sound different, sexier, his old football jersey that he had cut shorter because he had partially burnt it trying to put out a fire a few years prior and now showed his perfect V-lines and sometimes even his bellybutton, his dick printed grey sweatpants that also showcased his perfect V-lines, his incredibly blue eyes showing surprise and also satisfaction, all of it was what Sydney saw as soon as he opened the door. And she had to remind herself to breathe after taking it all in.

"Hey there!"

"Hi, hello!"

"Come on in… What’s going on?"

"You forgot these."

She handed him a manila envelope that contained forms he had to fill out, sign, and submit the next day, well in a few hours actually, first thing in the morning.

"Natalie was furious so I thou-"

"So you saved the day, as usual…"

"Well, when you put it that way…"

"Sorry for the mess, Syd… I wasn’t expecting…"

"Oh, no no, don’t be. I gotta go now anyway, it’s almost midnight so…"

"Oh that’s not what I meant, please stay, give me a sec, and I’ll take a quick shower and drive you home. K?"

"No, it’s OK. I’ll catch a cab if I miss the train. Don’t sweat it. Well, too late for that, but, it’s fine. No worries. I mean. It’s cool, it’s fine, it’s-"

She was ranting, her speech rate had skyrocketed.

"This late? Good luck with that… No way! Lemme give you a ride, it’s the least I can do. Just… just help yourself in the kitchen and I’ll be right back. OK? Make yourself at home. Give me 5 minutes!"

"Um… OK. OK…"

Before jumping in the shower he speedily picked up his “toys” and put the kettlebell, the dumbells, the push-up bars, and the cast iron disc away as he casually tried to make conversation:

"So.. who… who let you in?"

"Your neighbor, the one with the little brown dog that looks like a squirrel."

"Oh, Mr. Washington! Yeah, he told me once you reminded him of his daughter."

"Yeah! He just told me that too. Shouted that at me, actually."

"He’s hard of hearing…"

"Yup. I’ll just wait here. OK?"

Syd sat down in the living room and texted his dad to let him know why she was running late and to reassure him that Carmy was going to drive her home soon.

"K, as you wish, I’ll be right back."

The more she went through his books the more she found herself wanting to ask him about what he had learned from each of them.

She wanted to know it all, what recipes had he already tried, which ones he didn’t like, where had he purchased that other book that was so hard to get, etc.

The pile of books by the window also served as an impromptu coffee table on top of which a little black ashtray was on display. She found that so endearing, so very “Carmy.”

She ran her index finger along the edge of that ashtray and could see him standing there by the window, smoking a cigarette, thinking about the restaurant, about Michael, about a recipe maybe… Did he ever think about her? She wondered. Her finger was still on the edge of the ashtray, tracing circle after circle, then venturing inside the receptacle to play with the ashes, drawing more circles in there. Sydney was deep in thought by then and had completely forgotten about the books, she was now only thinking about Carmy. 

In a state of semi-trance, she unknowingly got to the shelves on the wall and started inspecting each of the items there. Her curious mind was having a field day.

This red hard-cover sketchbook caught her attention and she couldn't help it, she had to know what kind of Sistine Chapel-level drawings with shading and all Carmy had come up with, so she opened it. 

If she momentarily forgot how to breathe earlier when her EC opened the door looking like a Greek God of testosterone, stamina, and cross-fit, covered in sweat, what she saw in that sketchbook straight out made her forget how to maintain a proper brain function altogether.

Each page, dozens of them, showed a different expression of her face, a different hairstyle of her braids, and a different design of her headscarves. A flawless variation of her. She was all over those pages. The resemblance was uncanny. She was beautiful on that paper, she was like enhanced but not to the point of not looking like herself, her essence was captured perfectly and she couldn’t help but be mesmerized by her own features.

That’s when Carmy showed up behind her.

She didn’t even have to ask. 

He started explaining himself immediately. He stuttered his way through that explanation as his cheeks started to burn and his mouth began to feel dry.

Her surprise didn’t allow her to close her mouth. She kept it open all along, while Carmy tried to talk his way out of that predicament.

He kinda did by saying that he always drew portraits of people and that he didn’t think they were any good so that’s why he hadn’t shown her those yet, but that if she liked them she could keep them.

After a few more moments of silent blinking, Syd, while still flabbergasted, finally managed to shut her mouth, compose herself, swallow, and then form a short sentence:

"Um… thanks."

Carmy tried to fake calm. He wanted to sound as if he had everything under control and nonchalantly said:

"So you like them?"

"Sure."

"Wanna keep them?"

"I wanna frame them."

"Oh well… OK, thanks, I guess…"

"You are sooo talented, Carmy. These are… great, I’m—I’m in awe! I don’t know what to say, really…"

"Thank you."

"How did you-"

"I see you every day Syd."

"So… you didn’t take any pics or anything like that? I mean, I never posed for these…"

"Nope, just… I thought of you… that’s all."

"Wow!"

"You wanted my full focus, didn’t you? Well, there you have it."

He smiled sheepishly.

"I’d say…"

They both laughed on the way to the car.

That ride was awkward. The tension in the car was palpable. They couldn’t hold each other’s gazes. They would just steal a look at each other now and then, at a red light mostly… Then the tension continued to build up and they kept trying to ignore it and act as if nothing happened. Syd was holding on to that red sketchbook for dear life, she held it firmly against her chest like a shield.

When he pulled to the curve in front of her house, he looked at her intendedly, but couldn’t say a word. He was still too nervous and too embarrassed. His cover had been blown.

He had been caught red-handed, loving her.

His cover was up in the air like a fucking zeppelin.

Loving the memory of her.

His cover was now a satellite orbiting around Earth.

Loving the very thought of her.

He was sure she knew that by now. She was too smart to not have figured it out.

Syd looked at him and this time she was able to hold his eyes for a moment, then she stuttered something along the lines of: “Thanks for the ride” and got out of that car as fast as she could.

The walk to her door felt endless. Torturous even.

She wanted to go back in her tracks and kiss the genius out of him but she kept walking.

When she heard him drive away Sydney felt equally sad and relieved.

As soon as she got in bed she started going over the drawings again, and she was still so blown away by them that she couldn’t get any sleep that night.

She twisted and turned and her mind kept playing tricks on her. She pictured him alone, at his place, smoking a cigarette by the window, maybe wearing sweatpants, perhaps *only* those grey sweatpants that looked so hot on him, surrounded by his amazing books and thinking of her, drawing her perfectly by heart.

Her heart was all of a sudden a wild horse.

She wanted to call him up, wake him up, listen to his voice, and ask him about each drawing. She wanted him to walk her through each of those masterpieces. She wanted him to tell her why he did that, the truth this time around, not the PR version. She wanted... him.

6:00 AM Sydney was on her way to The Bear, still wired up, with the image of her own charcoal face firebranded on her brain and her every thought circling back to Carmy.

6:40 AM She was already at work, going through her to-do list, which included a lot of things that Carm usually did because he had to run that errand downtown, that morning.

9:07 AM Carmy walked through the front door of the restaurant and went straight to the office trying to avoid Sydney.

9:08 AM Syd was in the office telling him they needed to talk and do it elsewhere because Natalie was on the way.

9:08 AM Carmy was kicking himself on the inside.

9:10 AM They were outside, in the back alley, trying to sound like 2 adults having a serious yet friendly conversation about art.

9:11 AM They were making out. No, they were obscenely sucking face. Syd’s tongue was deep in his mouth and his hands were on her back pulling her closer.

9:20 AM They were still making out in the back alley, now her back was pressed against the wall, her hands were in his hair and his mouth was exploring hers as if his life depended on it, they were running out of oxygen, but that didn’t stop them, they continued locking mouths for a moment longer.

9:21 AM They finally broke the kiss to catch a breath, now their eyes were locked, they were panting, and they were nowhere finished. He went for her neck. Then back to her lips, she did the same. His hands on her waist, keeping her pinned to the wall, pressing himself against her. Her hands all over his back, trying to learn it by touch, like blind people learn to recognize faces with their hands.

9:22 AM Tina went out the back door carrying a huge trashbag, quickly made her way to the container, and dropped it there. She only saw them when she turned around and headed back to the restaurant. At that point, her spidey senses told her *something* was up, but Carm and Syd tried their best to look like 2 innocent people who happened to just be chit-chatting about the weather. Tina decided to play it cool and shot: “Morning!” Then promptly left them to it.

9:23 AM Syd and Carmy were back in the kitchen, pretending to fully focus on the tasks at hand. Not looking at each other. Still feeling their lips on one another. Still trying to control their respective heart rates.

11:08 PM Syd was on his couch, he was on top of her, he was all over her, inside her. She was grabbing his ass and urging him deeper as she sank her teeth into his shoulder and commanded him to fuck her.

11:29 PM Carmy was smoking a cigarette by the window, in his white boxers, using the ashtray he kept on top of his pile of books and looking at her, basking in her naked beauty, memorizing it. Syd was still on the sofa, lying on her side and resting her head on her hand, looking at him, enjoying the view as well. Their full focus: On each other, only this time around none of them were trying to hide it.

:The 💋 end:

You can find more fics like this one by me on AO3.

Thanks for reading!

XOXO

[kyistell]

What kinda headcanons do you have for California

I didn't think the list was going to be as long as it is but once I started thinking more and more I couldn't stop lol

California-

Wet cat

He/They and no he won’t stop reminding you

Was very obsessed with shiny things, especially gold, when he was younger, now he’s only a “normal” amount of obsessed

Very pretty, like the definition, like if you look up the definition of pretty in the dictionary he comes up

Has an obscene amount of stim/fidget toys, squishies, the poke ones, even fidget spinners, they have them all 

Worked at the Berkeley laboratory in the 90s, specifically Berkeley’s element hunting team

Used to be obsessed with Creepypastas, however is now obsessed with cryptids (“They aren’t the same thing shut up *state name here*” has been said a lot)

Will slip into a southern accent without warning, has given multiple southern states heart attacks because of this on more than 10 occasions

Loves to write, especially fanfiction, however there is no way they would EVER willingly show anyone these, they did once when he was drunk but New York never mentioned it and Cali did not remember

Loves Stardew Valley and Minecraft, will play them both for hours without realizing

Has absolutely horrible time management, as well as their general perception of time is also atrocious

Loves podcasts, tends to listen to them more than YouTube videos

The times that Jersey dragged him to Action Park ended with hospital stays and praying that the doctors wouldn’t notice that he should definitely be dead

Been watching Smosh since it first started

Disney adult and proud

He started streaming on Twitch during the pandemic, occasionally being joined by Jersey, Nevada, or York, Florida joined stream once and has since been banned

Don’t listen to what York says, he definitely knows how to cook (re: he has no idea what they are doing in the kitchen without help)

Knows a handful of languages but only fully knows English and Spanish, though he can read and understand Russian, they just can’t speak it

Was forced to wear a dress once by Nevada and that’s how they realized he wasn’t fully male

He doesn’t actually mind feminine pronouns, just prefers He/They

Has a ridiculously long skincare routine, at least 2 hours at night and an hour in the morning

Used to be attached at the hip with Washington and Oregon, they are all still close in a similar but not as much way like the NE are

They and New Mexico go out with Arizona once every few weeks to different areas of their respective states, occasionally Texas will join

Cali and Texas aren’t related, they were both raised at one point by Mexico at the same time sure but they aren’t related

Loves to learn about different cultures, especially Asian cultures

Didn’t hate crowds until the pandemic, now can’t stand them

His room is extremely cluttered and disorganized, can’t even be considered organized chaos, their working on it (York had a stern talk with them about it)

They actually do understand Football, he just doesn’t like the sport all too much

Feel like this is obvious but he is a HUGE nerd, like a bigger nerd than New York not that Cali knows that of course

[loquaciousquark]

I have an elderly neighbor who lives across the street from me. She's eighty-seven and survived pancreatic cancer last year (she went into surgery and they got it all), and she's one of the spryest elderly ladies I've ever met. She walks up and down our street daily and still doesn't use a walker or cane, and she has at least a dozen grown grandchildren and several young great-grandchildren who all visit her often.

A few months ago, I had to call her and ask a favor: I'd ordered myself some cut flowers, and they'd been delivered early while I was out of town. I'd set out a vase by the counter just in case; would she mind terribly using her spare key to put them in water for me? Not at all, not at all, and the flowers were saved until I got back.

Today I was out working in the garden when she came by on her daily walk. She came over to chat and said she was going to have to be the nosy neighbor; she'd seen an organ in my house when she'd come in to do the flowers, and did I play? Where did it come from?

I told her it had been my grandmother's and I'd asked for it when she died. My grandfather had bought it for her in the sixties and we used to sing Christmas carols around it during the holidays. I played very, very badly, but I'd be happy to show her if she wanted to see it. She did, very much, and she happened to be free now, and obviously I happened to be free now, and the next thing I knew in she'd come.

So I showed her my grandmother's teacups and the Japanese screen my grandfather had bought during World War II and the organ, and I was very glad that my monthly house-cleaning service had come just this morning. Hamlet behaved himself beautifully and brought her his new cow crinkle toy, and then I turned on the organ and badly sight-read my way through four or five first-grade-level pieces for her. It was embarrassing and wonderful and she told me stories about her daughter who's a lawyer in Washington State who'd love to see this organ, and she'd have to bring her over next time she came to visit.

And then I walked her out and we talked about my garden and her garden and the stray cats in the neighborhood; she said she hadn't seen the kittens, but knew they were probably in her backyard (or other neighbor-up-one's backyard under their deck), and she'd let me know if she saw them.

It was just a beautiful moment, not more than twenty minutes, and I'm so glad I had the chance to share it with her.

[saccharinexvenom]

" and oh, my tongue is a weapon . "

; pinterest | wanted dynamics | wanted connections ;

aesthetics.

a venus fly trap closing around its prey. the raw instinct to survive. all you have is lies. secrets held close to the heart. sharp tongue and even sharper mind. the taste of bourbon on the tongue. the kiss of death upon a cheek.

basics.

full name. dakota holbrook ( or is it )  nicknames. dakota, kota, koa  gender. male  pronouns. he/him  sexuality. it's 2024, who cares for labels  age. thirty-five  date birth. unknown  zodiac sign. unknown  traits. meticulous, deceitful current location. new york city  occupation. con-artist for the crimsons

appearance.

face claim. richard madden voice claim. richard madden, in various roles, because dakota loves to change his voice & accent as he pleases  height. 5'10 piercings. none, he has the scars from piercings done when he was young  tattoos. none, he can't afford to be remembered like that other distinguish features. have you seen his cute lil smile  style. this wholly depends upon the mark, whether or not he's in one role or another. this man can go from looking like a downtrodden individual to your sugar daddy in a flash

biography.

you had been born in canada, just over the border. or no ... you had been born in the bustle of seattle, the heart of washington state. or had it been the midwest, some podunk town that no one had likely ever heard of ? save for those other poor souls that had been born there, and had died there. and had only ever known it's one blinking red light in the middle of town.

you wouldn't know. where you had been born. or even when you had been born. the day had always seemed to change as the years had slipped by. one hot june day, your mother would show up with an ice cream cake. some of it already melted. and a single candle carelessly placed on top. then, in the dead of winter, she would come bearing a cake with someone else's name spelled out in icing. on sale, that's what your mother had told you. on the cake, on your clothes ; with practically everything else in your life.

she had always said that being poor was a frame of mind. that if you believed hard enough, you could be the richest boy in the world. that you could eat all the junk food that you could ever want. have all the nicest toys. if you just believed. you hadn't understood when you were younger that she had been referring to your imagination. that so long as you made up these stories in your mind, that you could be anything that you wanted. that the days old hamburger on your plate was the mac and cheese you had begged her to get from the store. that the teddy bear with its missing eye and arm was a returned soldier from the war.

just as your father had been. or hadn't he been a doctor ? sent off to save those in need in some other country. or was he an astronaut ? and that's why he hadn't written to you in so many years. with his fancy handwriting, and the way he always ended it with ' be good, my boy '. you had tried so hard to always be good for him. because who knows, maybe he had been watching you from the space station. or from one of the many airplanes that soared over your head.

you had been good. for so, so long. you had stayed in the car when your mother had instructed. you hadn't asked questions when she had told you to leave your belongings at the latest motel. you had kept quiet when she urged you. and you never argued with her. not even when you hadn't eaten anything during yet another day. you had been so, so good. until being good had no longer benefitted you.

you had woken in the darkened room of another shoddy motel. through the blinds, you had seen the neon hue of numerous signs. you wouldn't remember how long you stared at them, waiting for your mother to return. you had watched the sun rise. you had watched the sun set. your stomach had gurgled with the want for food. you had gone into the bathroom. you had rushed back into the room at the sound of a door opening. but it had only been the guest in the next room over. so you had gone back to staring at the neon hue of the numerous signs.

you would not remember how long you had waited there. how long you had stared at those signs, wondering when your mother would return. eventually, you had decided that you couldn't wait any longer. and you had finally gone down the stairs of that motel, across the parking lot, and into the small diner. it was there that you would learn what it would take to survive. that a few carefully spoken words would set a plate with a stack of pancakes on it before you. that you would get hot chocolate with extra whipped cream, simply because you had said what needed to be said. you had watched the eyes of the woman who had served you. and you had understood that survival had always been at the tip of your tongue.

you had become what it took to survive. from a boy scout selling popcorn, to a newspaper boy. and eventually, when your voice had begun to deepen and your boyish features started to hardened, you became more. you had begun to set your sights on bigger scores. you had batted your eyes at one, you had offered the world to another. you had said you could show them art that would blow their mind. pieces that were saved for only those of an elite status. you had offered them precisely what they had always wanted. because as you had grown up, as you had watched these people from the shadows. you had been able to read them, to see them better than they saw themselves. and you used that to your advantage.

it had only ever taken the right set of words that granted you all that you needed to survive.

[http-paprika]

MEET THE OC! a tedtalk by paprika that no one asked for

after writing GOLD RUSH and spending some time toying around with the little character of Beau, I decided I'd take a chance and share her with you! If you have any further questions and want to know more about her or her story, please reach out in the comments or my inbox!

GENERAL INFORMATION Government Name: Beaumont Khalil Summerlin Preferred Name: Beau

Date of Birth: June 23, 1991 Star Sign: Cancer

Hometown: Yuma, Arizona

Native Languages: English and Arabic Learned Languages: Spanish and a Bit of Russian

CAREER Occupation: Linguistics and Intel Officer; Special Field Agent Branch of Government: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Supervisor: Kate Laswell Former Occupation: Translation and Negotiations with the US Marines under Captain Yoko S. Tanaka

RELATIVES and ASSOCIATES Father: James H. Summerlin, Sr. -- Retired US Marine Mother: Sana E. Summerlin -- Arabic and Anthology Professor

Brothers: James H. Summerlin, Jr. -- Enlisted Military Police in the Army; Asher G. Summerlin -- Enlisted Air Force Linguist Sister: Mona R. Summerlin -- Student at the University of Texas

Best Friend: Jolene H. Maxfield-Graves -- Intel Officer Partner: Alex Keller -- CIA-SAD Officer

APPEARANCE Height: 5'11 Build: Athletic

Complexion: Tanned Noticeable Markings: Scar from Bullet Wound on Left Shoulder, Barbed Wire Tattoo on Lower Back

Hair: Light Brown, Wavy Texture Eyes: Dark Green, Almond Shaped

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Favorite Book: Jack Reacher; Running Blind by Lee Child Favorite TV Show: The X-Files Favorite Album: Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel

Choice of Cuisine: Vietnamese Favorite Dish: Duck Pho

MBTI Personality Type: ENTP Ennagram Type: 8 - The Active Controller Love Language: Words of Affirmation

HER PAST In 1982, when James Sr. was stationed in Lebanon during a peacekeeping tour with the US Marines, he met his wife Sana who was a local working as a translator for the Marines. The two often worked together and quickly fell in love, and when his deployment came to an end, he promised to return to Lebanon for her so they could be married. In 1984, he returns to Lebanon and much to the displeasure of her religious parents, Sana leaves with James and they elope. Bringing her back to the states, he is stationed in Jacksonville, North Carolina where Sana persues further education and later gives birth to their firstborn son, James. Jr. in 1888. In 1990, after being restationed in Yuma, Arizona they have their second child and first daughter, Beaumont.

Beau spent her first years of life moving from one place to another and was often withdrawn as a child. Prefering to be alone than playing with her brother and younger siblings. From an early age her parents noted that she had a greater interest in knowledge and reading, being more idept in Arabic than the rest of her siblings. In her teen years, with newer gained confidence, she sought higher education with hopes to attend university in Hawaii where her family was stationed at the time, receiving a handsome scholarship from the school of her choice. But an old colleague of her father, Scott Hardy, encouraged her to join the Marines and follow in her mother's footsteps as a trained translator, later becoming a negotiations specialist who was known for being level-headed and quick witted.

Feeling unfilled with her career choice, Beau left the Marines at the age of 22 to return to academics. But received attention from Kate Laswell after narrowly saving a whole Marine Corp Squard from bombing with her quick ability to process intel. Laswell, determined to recruit Beau under her, offers her a position that'll allow Beau to attend university in Washington, DC while working for the CIA as a linguistic and intel analyst.

After a few years of office works and receiving her degree through excelurated work, Beau accepts a field assignment to work in her mother's homeland of Lebanon. Stationed there, she spends time reconnecting with her heritage whilst helping filter through intel for all of the middle east. During her time in Lebanon is when Beau first meets Alex Keller during his time in SAD. And though there is an instant spark, the two are off and on, never having the avaliabity and emotional energy to commit to a full-term relationship.

Beau is referred by Laswell to a new field assignment to work alongside the US Marines and International Corp in Urzikstan as tense begins to arise between forces. (Where MWII starts up) During her time in Urzikstan, her relationship with Keller becomes more serious in the threat of terror and her specialty and skills catch the eye of Captain John Price who tries to recruit her as a support member of TF141. Hoping it'll give her a chance to return and finish her work in Urzikstan along with letting her be with Keller, Beau accepts the position and begins working alongside TF141.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

You have to wonder what it would take to get House and Senate Republicans to get off their collective duffs and walk across their respective cloak rooms to smell the proverbial coffee. City after city after city in Ukraine has been leveled by Russian artillery and rockets.  The port of Mariupol is a shell of its former self.  Large areas of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, are in rubble.  Bakhmut doesn’t exist anymore.  There isn’t a square mile of Ukraine from Kharkiv in the north through Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia, all the way to Kherson on the coast of the Black Sea that hasn’t been severely damaged if not utterly destroyed by Russia’s war of aggression.

Wait.  Let’s stop right there.  I’ve been writing words like these for nearly two years about the war in Ukraine, and they accurately convey what has happened in the war.  So do Ukraine’s numbers of the dead and wounded, both military and civilian.  But sitting here in Northeast Pennsylvania, or more to the point, in a limestone and marble building in Washington, D.C., there is no way to adequately conceive of the horror Russia has wrought in the country that stands between it and Europe. 

We in the United States don’t have cities that have had to be rebuilt or great expanses of cemeteries in which are buried the civilian dead of wars.

From 1939 to 1945, Nazi Germany wreaked havoc through Europe all the way to the outskirts of Leningrad and Moscow.  When I lived in Germany in the 1950’s and took trips with my parents through Germany and France and Italy, you could still see the damage done in World War II.  Churches from the 13th and 14th centuries in small towns lay in ruins with maybe a single stone wall still standing.  City after city still had not finished cleaning up the rubble from bombings and artillery shelling.  I still have images in my mind of old women in long dresses with headscarves stacking bricks along the sides of blown-up streets in Stuttgart as we drove through on our way to visit friends stationed at an army post in Baumholder.   

Today, having seen the damage wrought by World War II in Western Europe as a boy, it’s hard for me to transfer those images through 65 years to Ukraine, but there they are:  new photographs and videos of similar destruction only a thousand or so miles from the destroyed cities I saw in the 1950s.  We founded the United Nations in 1945 and NATO in 1949 in an attempt by nations that gathered together to try to ensure that the horrors the world had just been through did not happen again.  There was a hope years ago that we wouldn’t have wars if they could be adequately described and remembered. But here we are, looking at our televisions and phone and computer screens at the tragic images all over again. 

All this because one man, Vladimir Putin, went to bed one night and woke up the next morning and said he wanted to invade Ukraine and make it part of Russia.  It didn’t matter to him how much damage such an invasion would wreak, how many lives it would take, just like it didn’t matter to Hitler what it would cost for him to remake Europe in his own image. 

We in the United States don’t have cities that have had to be rebuilt or great expanses of cemeteries in which are buried the civilian dead of wars. Maybe that is why it’s all so abstract for us. On a continent thousands of miles away from the war that happened in Europe 80 years ago or even the war that is happening in Ukraine right now, today, this minute, it’s someone else’s history, it’s someone else’s problem.

That appears to be the attitude of the Republican Party.  Here is a political party that for decades stood for the defense of our nation and the defense of liberty around the world, and now under the thumb of a so-called leader who is now fully showing his totalitarian nature, many Republicans in the House and the Senate have decided all that is in the past.  Ukraine is Europe’s problem.  Aides and advisers to Donald Trump have already begun to talk about withdrawing from NATO if he is elected. The Heritage Foundation is hosting a meeting between Republicans on Capitol Hill and advisors to Hungary’s Viktor Orban, a close Putin ally, as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy heads to the White House to make a last-ditch plea for funding before year's end. 

If Putin believes Ukraine is not a sovereign nation but a part of Ukraine, well, that’s Ukraine’s problem, not ours, say some Republicans led by Donald Trump and the Heritage Foundation. They express admiration for Putin and the way he runs things in Russia. They say, he knows how to get things done. Donald Trump wants to be like him.  He is telling us if he is elected, he will be a dictator on “day one” so he can build his wall, apparently by fiat, and “drill drill drill,” even in national monuments and parks.

Republicans are falling in line behind Trump.  That’s what’s going on with the refusal by Republicans to fund the war in Ukraine unless Democrats go along with changes in policies on the border that would effectively build the wall Trump failed to build, not with concrete and steel, but with draconian immigration laws.

Republicans and their putative leader profess to be unconcerned by what would happen if Ukraine runs out of money and artillery shells and rockets and anti-missile batteries that defend Kyiv and other cities.  They are unmoved by the scenes of destruction caused by Russian shelling and rockets.  They are unmoved by the scenes of mass graves in Bucha and Izium and the reports of the Russian murders that filled them with bodies of dead civilians.

Let me tell you what is happening in Ukraine while the Republican thumb-twiddler caucus turns its head and votes the way Donald Trump tells them to vote.  All along the 600-mile front line, Ukrainian soldiers are being killed by Russian artillery, rockets and drone strikes every day.  They launch attacks across muddy fields from makeshift bunkers where they defend themselves from Russian shelling.  They have no heat. All around them lie the ruins of whatever city they’re defending, all the way from the Russian border to the Black Sea. In Dnipro, where some of the heaviest fighting is going on, it’s freezing, in the low 30’s at night, mid 30’s during the day.  It will be 35 on Tuesday and 36 on Wednesday.  It will warm up to 47 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday and rain all that day and part of Friday, making fields and forests even more difficult to move through, slowing resupply convoys, even preventing drone overflights of Russian positions by Ukrainian forces that need the surveillance and intelligence the drones provide.

Conditions for soldiers on the front lines are miserable in the extreme, and conditions in Ukrainian cities are not much better.  Russian attacks on energy infrastructure have caused blackouts and no heat in Kyiv and Kharkiv and other large population centers.  Trucks filled with dead and wounded soldiers keep coming from the front lines.  The wounded need medical care, and the dead need to be buried. 

In Washington, D.C., it will be in the high 40s and mid-’50s this week, perfect weather for members of the House and Senate to call an Uber and take a ride into Georgetown to dine at their favorite restaurant on veal scallopini or sushi or fresh-caught Chilean sea bass, a favorite at high end restaurants right now.  Tomorrow, they can hold press conferences in the Rotunda of the Capitol and speak defiantly about how they are standing fast against President Biden’s demand for help with funding Ukraine’s war against Russian aggression.  A few of them have even talked about a “war on our southern border” that must be funded before they will approve funds for the real war in Ukraine.

There is no war on our southern border, nor are there problems on our northern border, which some Republican members of Congress have also cited as one of their excuses for not funding Ukraine.  Next, we’ll be hearing about the “threat from Canada” in the ignorant babble from Republicans on Capitol Hill and the few Republican candidates left on the hustings nibbling like ducks at the crumbs from Trump’s table.

This is a time of disgrace for the United States of America, that we are sitting here on a continent thousands of miles away from the war fought by Ukraine to defend its democracy and its existence from Russia and the threat it will pose to the rest of Europe if Ukraine does not prevail in its war against Russian aggression.

Putin won’t stop with Ukraine.  He’s already got allies in Belarus and Hungary, and Russia is funding right-wing political movements in other European states as we speak.  But that’s okay with Republicans who plan on electing Trump as president, and he will pull all U.S. funding for NATO and all U.S. troops out of Europe, so they can push for tax cuts based on all our savings from our abject failure to be the leading defender of democracies around the world.

Ask any Republican planning to vote for Trump in 2024, and they’ll tell you:  Who needs to defend democracy at home and abroad when they’ve put a man who grins approvingly as he uses the word “dictator” in a sentence talking about himself?

Lucian K. Truscott IV, a graduate of West Point, has had a 50-year career as a journalist, novelist and screenwriter. He has covered stories such as Watergate, the Stonewall riots and wars in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan. He is also the author of five bestselling novels and several unsuccessful motion pictures. He has three children, lives in rural Pennsylvania and spends his time Worrying About the State of Our Nation and madly scribbling in a so-far fruitless attempt to Make Things Better. You can read his daily columns at luciantruscott.substack.com and follow him on Twitter @LucianKTruscott and on Facebook at Lucian K. Truscott IV.

[heckyeahponyscans]

Back at the toy show today! A little girl was very happy to buy "a mermaid pony" (sea pony Fluttershy) because her friend also has one :)

[vote-democrat-president-congress]

How Trump’s rhetoric compares with Hitler’s

Washington Post: Donald Trump has long toyed with the language of famous autocrats, authoritarians and fascists. Think: “enemy of the people,” “retribution” and the frequent, years-long allusions to political violence.

But even by his standards, the former president is now mining darker territory — with overtones of some of the ugliest episodes in recent world history.

The Washington Post this weekend summarized Trump’s Veterans Day speech in a headline thusly: “Trump calls political enemies ‘vermin,’ echoing dictators Hitler, Mussolini.”

Trump not only likened his political opponents to “vermin” but suggested they represent a “threat from within” that is more dangerous than threats from beyond our borders. Both are themes seized upon by strongmen to foment populist movements.

Trump’s campaign responded by seemingly taking issue with the “ridiculous” framing. But in the same breath, it also promised that Trump’s “snowflake” critics’ “entire existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House.” (It later sought to amend that to “sad, miserable existence.”)

As that response indicates, the campaign is not exactly apologizing for this type of rhetoric, which is, at the very least and to be quite charitable, a calculated attempt at provocation. And after years of this kind of rhetoric and events like Jan. 6, you could certainly forgive people for worrying that it’s more than that.

“The language is the language that dictators use to instill fear,” Timothy Naftali, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, told The Post. “When you dehumanize an opponent, you strip them of their constitutional rights to participate securely in a democracy because you’re saying they’re not human. That’s what dictators do.”

The deepening radicalization of Donald J. Trump

Just how similar is Trump’s language to the actual words of those figures? Let’s examine how his recent comments compare with AdolfHitler’s.

‘Vermin’

Trump said Saturday: “We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country, that lie and steal and cheat on elections.”

As The Post’s story noted, likening one’s political opponents and certain elements within the country to vermin and beasts was a tactic employed by Hitler.

Hitler used the construct to justify the extermination of Jews and to attack Marxists, while Trump has used it more broadly to suggest that his opponents are subhuman.

“Should I not also have the right to eliminate millions of an inferior race that multiplies like vermin?” Hitler said, according to Joachim C. Fest’s biography.

“The rats that poison our body-politic gnaw from the hearts and memories of the broad masses even that little which distress and misery have left,” Hitler wrote in “Mein Kampf,” according a translation published by Project Gutenberg.

A 1939 report from a French official recalls Hitler and a Nazi official pressing the idea that “this vermin must be destroyed. The Jews are our sworn enemies.”

As Hitler historian Max Domarus recalled in his book “The Essential Hitler”:

Marxists, ‘root out’

The idea that the German government was being haplessly overtaken by Marxists and those who must be rooted out — as Trump has suggested is happening in the United States — also coursed through Hitler’s commentary.

“The German State is intensely overrun by Marxism,” Hitler wrote in “Mein Kampf.”

He added at another point: “But there is one thing [Germany’s leaders] have not known how to do, and that is how to save the German people from falling into the arms of Marxism. In that they have shown themselves most pitiably and miserably impotent.”

And at another: “What must be said of those State officials, chiefs of police, and even cabinet ministers, who showed a scandalous lack of principle in presenting themselves externally to the public as ‘national’ and yet shamelessly acted as the henchmen of the Marxists in the disputes which we, National Socialists, had with the latter.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/13/how-trumps-rhetoric-compares-hitlers/

[anitabyars]

Book description

From USA Today and Amazon Charts bestselling authors Kerrigan Byrne and Cynthia St. Aubin, comes their latest Romcom featuring a quirky cast of characters who represent the hilarious absurdity of life while making you fall head-over-heels in love. This steamy, laugh out loud, opposites-attract small town romance reminds us that we don't have to be perfect to deserve our own happily ever after!

Gemini "Gemma" McKendrick knows just about everything about everybody in Townsend Harbor. When she's not serving on one of the many civic positions or leaping headlong into another hobby, she's hosting the Sunday Stitch 'N Bitch at her yarn and craft shop, Bazaar Girls. With her quirky boutique in big financial trouble, she makes a snap decision to rent out the basement of her cozy craftsman to Townsend Harbor newcomer Gabe Kelly. A man with a past as colorful as his tattoo sleeves, who has become an urban legend since he blew into town. And who better than Gemma, Townsend Harbor's own gossip guru, to answer the rumor mill's most pressing questions? Like whether the silver-tongued mechanic is as good with his hands as he is with a socket wrench.

Gabriel "Gabe" Kelly wasn't born into a family so much as a criminal enterprise. Taught to lift, chop, and rebuild cars since before he could tie his own shoes, he's obliged to pay his debt to society before deserting South Boston for Townsend Harbor, Washington. Surely he can stay out of trouble here, right? He immediately finds the only position an ex-con with prison muscles and neck tattoos could easily find in a town like this, and buys the vintage car mechanic shop from it's retiring owner . Moonlighting as the only tow truck in a thirty-mile radius, he rescues the absent-minded hottie who runs the local yarn shop. But he quickly discovers that a toy-sized car with a dashboard lit up by Christmas isn't the only thing in Gemma McKendrick's life desperately in need of maintenance. Gabe, who is uniquely qualified to diagnose and fix complicated mechanisms, finds his sexy landlord is impossible to figure out. Looks like he'll have to take a peek at her undercarriage to find out what makes her purr before he hits the road again.

Because women of her caliber don't take home guys with his make and model...

But he knows she wants a test drive.

Order link: https://amzn.to/47rIQSV

My Review

5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One of the most entertaining series I’ve read in a long time! So many laugh out loud moments, sexual innuendo, secrets and with a great group of strong-willed, independent, women, who all have their own unique problems. These women have bonded together to support each other, any way they can, as they find their way through life…and love! Townsend Harbor seems to be the perfect place with its quaintness and quirkiness for all these characters to blend and live in. This is Gemma and Gabe’s story and I never saw this sizzling relationship coming!!!! And it is an eye opener! Just saying Gemma really surprised me in this opposites-attract romance!

Gemma McKendrick lives in a constant state of clutter and disorganization due to her inability to stay on task for any length of time. Thanks all to her ADHD’s delightful bonus, of body betrayals but also because she constantly overextended herself in Townsend Harbor. But when her father and sister start questioning her, regarding her quirky boutique and its profit margin, she suddenly decides to rent out the basement of her house to Gabe Kelly. The same Gabe Kelly that happened to be the most soul-crushingly beautiful man Gemma had ever met. But when her identical twin Lyra and her fiancé Harrison shows up unexpectedly, and catches her in a rather awkward position, what will her family think of her attraction to the hot bad boy? Her family surely wouldn’t approve of him, if she brought him home for Sunday dinner. But she wants so much more out of life and she was willing to finally reach out and take it.

"If experience is what you want, I'd be more than willing to help you with that. Anything you want to know, anything you want to try, anything you want do. No strings attached."

Gabe "The Babe" Kelly was an old friend of Darby's from Boston, who had made his Townsend Harbor debut in a duet on aerial silks that left neither eyes nor panties dry. A man with a past as colorful as his sleeves of tattoos. Born into a family of criminals, he’d learned at an early age to lift, chop, and rebuild cars. Gabe was full of a past filled with darkness and danger, Southie trash with a rap sheet to prove it. As an ex-con he decides to buys a vintage car mechanic shop from it retiring owner in hopes of staying out of trouble in Townsend Harbour. But when Gemma McKendrick offers him her basement to rent out, he knew he was in deep trouble. Because he hadn't been able to get the image of her out of his head, since the night of Darby's benefit. Which was exactly why he couldn't get tangled up with her. Gemma was sweetness and light, the girl next door with a heart of gold. Until she needed him!

"I'm attracted to you," she said, her voice barely audible above the waves. "Like, a lot. Like, so much that it's basically an obsession”

These two are so…HOT! Sexy, charming and totally head over heels in…lust with each other. Their relationship is so sweet and captivating, I loved watching these two opposites come together and be exactly what the other needed. With Gemma, Gabe was starting to imagine a real future together. But when trouble shows up again, will Gemma and Gabe get their HEA? Or will family cause the end of their future together? You will want to read this one to get all the spicy and sexy details!

I received an early copy and this is my honest review.

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Ken Sudo and the secret Barrytown 120-day training manual and UC telephone fraud

▲ Ken Sudo

1976

To whom it may concern:

I, Janis, was a member of the Unification Church cult for 13 months.

When I completed toy 120-day training session at Barrytown, New York, I was given a manual which included the lectures that Mr. Ken Sudo, the head of Barrytown, had given in this 120-day session, I, as well as each graduate of that session, was told to guard that manual with my life, not to show it to even another Unification Church member. We were strongly cautioned that the press and the police would not understand it.

When I was rescued from this cult, I was home a week before my parents brought in a deprogrammer. In this period I kept this manual in a locked suitcase and had told my parents that the suitcase contained winter clothing. I lived in fear that someone might see this and was trying to decide on a safe place to hide it.

When I was deprogrammed and could see that I had been deceived by this so-called “Church”, I brought out this manual for my deprogrammer and my parents to see.

Since then I have had many nightmares in which the cult was trying to kill me for having brought this manual out of the cult and having shown it to others.

My parents in a recent trip to Washington, D.C. gave a copy of this manual to the Justice Department, in the hope that it will encourage them to investigate this cult, I believe this manual to be an excellent example of the "brainwashing" or "mind-control" techniques used by this Unification Church cult.

I have never known such terror as I did the moment I came to the realization that I could not control my own mind, that I had been given a new pattern of thinking.

Janis F.

______________________________________

Voices of parents of children lost to the moonies 1

To whom it may concern:

Our daughter, Janis, was a member of the Unification Church cult for thirteen months. We rescued her from this cult in August 1975.

In January 1976, a Mrs. Gardiner who is a collector for the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in Houston, Texas, called our home trying to locate our daughter, Janis. We inquired as to what her purpose was. She then informed us that Janis had an overdue telephone account in Houston. We assured her there must be a mistake as Janis had never lived in Houston, Mrs. Gardiner said the Unification Church had opened an account in Janis’ name; so she contacted the Yonkers, N.Y., office and a Kevin McCarthy gave her Janis’ home phone number.

Since Janis was totally unaware that such an account had been opened and had never given anyone permission to charge calls to her, Mrs. Gardiner has since written a letter exonerating her from this liability.

Mrs. Gardiner did inform us that this was the way the Unification seems to operate—they open telephone accounts in the name of members with telephone accounts in good standing. This was not the first such experience the telephone company had had with the Unification Church.

We requested that the telephone company write us a letter stating this but, because of having nothing written, no signatures, they would not as they did not want to become liable for a suit from the Unification Church. Their records would be open for investigation only under order of a subpoena—should any government agency decide to look into such matters.

We feel that this constitutes a conspiracy to commit fraud or theft and that it also constitutes slander or defamation of character against our daughter.

J. F. R. F., Lt. Col. (Ret.)

______________________________________

Sun Myung Moon makes me feel ashamed to be Korean

Papasan Choi and Boonville’s Japanese origins

Moon church of Japan used members for profit, not religious purposes

How Sun Myung Moon bought protection in Japan

At Barrytown all members must continually strive to lose their identity and become one with Moon’s will (1976)

Voices of parents of children lost to the moonies 2 Moon’s mass marriages are “a form of sex perversion”

Voices of parents of children lost to the moonies 3 Our son “seemed to be in a bizarre world of science fiction”

Voices of parents of children lost to the moonies 4 “only if she got rid of the baby and gave it up for adoption”

Voices of parents of children lost to the moonies 5 Moon is a man devoid of of human compassion

Voices of parents of children lost to the moonies 6 “One of your ancestors was a peeping Tom.”

Voices of parents of children lost to the moonies 7 Secret 1975 marriage, shaking and vomiting

Voices of parents of children lost to the moonies 8 Many parents suffered heartbreak after losing their children to the Moonies

[melmac78]

So… My Christmas decorations this year.

Penguin in the center is new, and supposed to be a mantle piece but as you see: I have a fireplace but no mantle.

From top left:

The clouded leopard is Kali, yes named after my dear sweet cat I lost in April. Kali never was too fond of the toy. She used to think it was another cat and bat at it, but it just needs to be there.

The floppy black bear and the one third from right are from the Bavarian Lodge in Leavenworth, Washington. Been there a couple of times, and it is a fantastic lodge. The whole village is small, but has a lot of activities including touring, Salmon runs and shopping and state shows and is famous for a presentation of the Sound of Music performed literally in the mountains.

The tan and white bears on the left were given to me by two friends of mine from Taiwan in college.

The two on the right are St. Jude bears Kay Jewelers sells yearly.

••••••

I decided no tree this year. It’s just too hard for me to put up this year because Christmas last year December 29. I wasn’t sure if I was going to have Kali and I have to make that tough choice before New Year’s

As you know she loved the tree, so I decided this is was going to do this year.

Ash is perfectly fine with it. She doesn’t bother any plushy except for a Webkinz googles I have.

I think honestly with Ash, as long as I give her the Christmas present, which is a simple ball. She’ll be happy.

So… just an update. I’m doing well overall some stressors with my job but that’s not uncommon this time of year. Won’t lie though, I’m looking forward to letters to Santa edition being done.

[brookston]

Holidays 7.12

Holidays

Alkanet Day (French Republic)

Battle of the Boyne Day

Carver Day (Missouri)

Day of Struggle and Martyrdom of the Polish Villages

Different Colored Eyes Day

Disco Demolition Night (Chicago, Illinois)

Divad Etep’t (Elder Scrolls)

Etch-A-Sketch Day

Fjord Day

Founder’s Day (Rhodesia)

Hijab and Chastity (Iran)

International Cabin Crew Day

International Day of Combating Sand & Dust Storms

International Malala Day

Internet-Wide Day of Action for Net Neutrality

Lawyer’s Day (Mexico)

Malala Day

National Cancel Culture Awareness Day

National Hair Creator’s Day

National Keder Day

National Rodeo Day

National Tyler Day

New Conversations Day

Night of Nights

Orangeman’s Day (a.k.a. “The Twelfth;” Northern Ireland, Newfoundland and Labrador)

Rainmaker Day (Salem, Oregon)

Ratha Yathra (a.k.a. King; parts of India)

Relieve Stress By Walking Outside and Calling the Hogs Day

712 Day (Iowa)

Shonen Knife Day (Japan)

Simplicity Day

Tirana Festival (Chile)

Tube to Work Day (Boulder, Colorado)

USA Woman VP Day

Visitation Day

World Paper Bag Day

World Penis Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Eat Your Jell-O Day

International Cava Day

Michelada Day

National Pecan Pie Day

Pani Puri Day

Independence & Related Days

Granda Aŭtista Duklando de Sophia (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Kiribati (from UK, 1979)

Pacificonia (Declared; 2017) [unrecognized]

Pibocip (Declared; 2000) [unrecognized]

Sao Tome and Principe (from Portugal, 1975)

Unification Day (England; by Athelstan of England, 927 CE)

2nd Friday in July

Collector Car Appreciation Day [2nd Friday]

Flashback Friday [Every Friday]

French Fries Day [2nd Friday]

Fry Day (Pastafarian; Fritism) [Every Friday]

Kebab Day [2nd Friday]

National Motorcycle Day [2nd Friday]

Wayne Chicken Show begins [2nd Friday thru Sunday]

World Kebab Day [2nd Friday]

Worldwide Art Day [2nd Friday]

Weekly Holidays beginning July 12 (2nd Week of July)

Kilburn Feast (Yorkshire, England) [2nd Friday thru Sunday]

Sea Festival (Jūras Svētki Sākas; Latvia) [2nd Friday]

White Cloud’s Birthday & Tatanka (Bison) Festival (North Dakota) [2nd Friday thru Sunday]

Festivals Beginning July 12, 2024

Art of Wine Festival (Fayetteville, Arkansas)

Ballard SeafoodFest (Ballard, Washington) [thru 7.14]

Baltimore Washington One Carnival (Baltimore, Maryland & Washington, D.C.) [thru 7.14]

Bospop (Weert, Netherlands) [thru 7.14]

Boston JerkFest Rum & Brew Tasting (Boston, Massachusetts) [thru 7.13]

California State Fair (Sacramento, California) [thru 7.28]

Copper Country Strawberry Festival (Chassell, Michigan) [thru 7.13]

Corn & Clover Carnival (Hinckley, Minnesota) [thru 7.13]

Dine L.A. Restaurant Week (Los Angeles, California) [thru 7.26]

Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival (Edinburgh, Scotland) [thru 7.21]

Famous Food Festival (Deer Park, New York) [thru 7.14]

Farm Toy Show (Metropolis, Illinois) [thru 7.13]

Halal Ribfest (Chicago, Illinois) [thru 7.14]

Hanover Tomato Festival (Mechanicsville, Virginia) [thru 7.13]

Kaltenberg Knights’ Tournament [Kaltenberger Ritterturnier] (Geltendorf, Germany) [thru 7.28]

Loveland Loves BBQ, Bands & Brews (Loveland, Colorado) [thru 7.13]

McLoud Blackberry Festival (McLoud, Oklahoma) [thru 7.13]

New Jersey State Barbecue Championship (Anglesea, New Jersey) [thru 7.1]

North Carolina Blackberry Festival (Lenoir, North Carolina) [thru 7.13]

The Odessa International Film Festival (Kyiv, Ukraine) [thru 7.20]

Ohio Brew Week (Athens, Ohio) [thru 7.19]

Parke County 4-H Fair (Parke County, Indiana) [thru 7.19]

Pori Jazz (Pori, Finland) [thru 7.20]

Rib & Wing Festival (Seven Springs, Pennsylvania) [thru 7.14]

Square Roots Music, Craft Brew & Local Food Festival (Chicago, Illinois) [thru 7.14]

Trempealeau Lions Catfish Days (Trempealeau, Wisconsin) [thru 7.14]

Umbria Jazz Festival (Perugia, Italy) [thru 7.21]

The Wayne Chicken Show (Wayne, Nebraska) [thru 7.14]

Whiskies of the World (Dallas, Texas)

Wireless Festival (London, United Kingdom) [thru 7.14]

World’s Largest Wild Rice Festival (Deer River, Minnesota) [thru 7.14]

Feast Days

Alphaeus Philemon Cole (Artology)

Amedeo Modigliani (Artology)

Andrew Wyeth (Artology)

Carl Lundgren (Artology)

Day Sacred to Dikaiosune (Ancient Deity for Justice; Everyday Wicca)

Donald E. Westlake (Writerism)

St. Elizabeth of Hungary (Positivist; Saint)

Eugène Boudin (Artology)

Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (Eastern Orthodox)

Gaulbert (Christian; Saint) [Foresters, Parks, Park Rangers]

Germ (Muppetism)

Henry David Thoreau (Writerism)

Hermagoras and Fortunatus (Christian; Martyrs)

Jason of Thessalonica (Catholic Church)

John Gualbert (Christian; Saint)

John the Iberian (Christian; Saint)

Kronia (Kronos Festival; Ancient Greece)

Louis Martin and Marie-Azélie Guérin (Christian; Saint)

Max Jacob (Artology)

Millennial Fairy Olympics, Day 7 (Shamanism)

Mr. Screech (Muppetism)

Naadam, Day 2 (Mongolia)

Nabor and Felix (Christian; Martyrs)

Nathan Söderblom (Lutheran, Episcopal Church (USA))

The Old Dances (For Yama, Buddhist God of Death & the Underworld)

Pablo Neruda (Writerism)

Pam Grier Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Paisios of Mount Athos (Greek Orthodox)

Requiem in D Minor, by Gabriel Fauré (Mass; 1900)

Solstitium VIII (Pagan)

Surrealism Day (Pastafarian)

Take a Walk in the Woods Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Vardavar (Pagan Prank Festival; Armenia)

Veronica (Christian; Saint)

Viventiolus, Bishop of Lyon (Christian; Saint)

We Come to the River, by Has Werner Henze (Opera; 1976)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Luckiest Day of the Year (Everyday Wicca)

Lucky Day (Philippines) [39 of 71]

Prime Number Day: 193 [44 of 72]

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Premieres

The Adventures of Sam Spade (Radio Series; 1946)

Alice Wins the Derby (Ub Iwerks Disney Cartoon; 1925)

Amateur Night (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1935)

Booby Socks (Phantasies Cartoon; 1945)

Breakfast of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut (Novel; 1973)

The Bride Came C.O.D. (Film; 1941)

By the Sea (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1931)

California Girls, by The Beach Boys (Song; 1965)

A Dance of Dragons, by George R.R. Martin (Novel; 2011) [A Song of Fire and Ice #5]

A Distant Mirror, by Barbara W. Tuchman (History Book; 1978)

Everything That Rises Must Converge, by Flannery O'Connor (Short Stories; 1965)

Explorers (Film; 1985)

Family Feud (TV Game Show; 1976)

Fighton’ Pals (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1940)

The High Window, by Raymond Chandler (Novel; 1942)

The Hunter, by Richard Stark (Novel; 1962)

I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke, by The New Seekers (Radio Jingle; 1971)

Last Date, by Floyd Cramer (Song; 1960)

Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League — Gotham City Breakout (Animated Film; 2016)

Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome (Film; 1985)

Monk (TV Series; 2002)

Northern Exposure (TV Series; 1990)

Oz (TV Series; 1997)

Pacific Rim (Film; 2013)

The Playful Pup (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1937)

Point Break (Film; 1991)

Princess Mononoke (Animated Studio Ghibli Film; 1997)

Road to Perdition (Film; 2002)

Rock-a-Bye Bear (Tex Avery MGM Cartoon; 1952)

Rupert the Runt (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1940)

Salt Water Tabby (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1947)

She (Film; 1935)

Silverado (Film; 1985)

The Sword of Shannara, by Terry Brooks (Novel; 1977)

Trouble for Trumpets, by Peter Cross and Peter Dallas-Smith (Children’s Book; 1984)

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (Film; 1961)

When Harry Met Sally (Film; 1989)

Today’s Name Days

Nabor, Felix (Austria)

Fortunat, Hilarije, Mislav, Proklo, Tanja, Živko (Croatia)

Bořek (Czech Republic)

Henrik (Denmark)

Armand, Härm, Härmel, Härmo, Herman, Hermann, Hermo (Estonia)

Herkko, Herman, Hermanni (Finland)

Jason, Olivier (France)

Siegbert, Henriette, Felix, Elenore (Germany)

Veronike, Veroniki (Greece)

Dalma, Izabella (Hungary)

Ermacora, Fortunato (Italy)

Heinrichs, Henriks, Indriķis, Ints (Latvia)

Izabelė, Margiris, Vyliaudė (Lithuania)

Eldar, Elias (Norway)

Andrzej, Euzebiusz, Feliks, Henryk, Jan Gwalbert, Paweł, Piotr, Tolimir, Weronika (Poland)

Nina (Slovakia)

Fortunato, Juan (Spain)

Herman, Hermine (Sweden)

Hilary, Ilary, Larry, Veronica (Ukraine)

Bud, Buddy, Jason, Jay, Jayla, Jaylen, Laylin, Laylon, Jayson, Oscar, Osvaldo, Oswald, Oswaldo, Ozzie, Waldo (USA)

Jace, Jacey, Jacy, Jaison, Jase, Jasen, Jason, Jayce, Jaycee, Jaycen, Jayson, Live, Olivier, Olivia, Oliver, Ollie, Olly (Universal)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 194 of 2024; 172 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 5 of Week 28 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Tinne (Holly) [Day 6 of 28]

Chinese: Month 6 (Xin-Wei), Day 7 (Ding-Chou)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 6 Tammuz 5784

Islamic: 5 Muharram 1446

J Cal: 14 Red; Sevenday [14 of 30]

Julian: 29 June 2024

Moon: 37%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 25 Charlemagne (7th Month) [St. Elizabeth of Hungary]

Runic Half Month: Ur (Primal Strength) [Day 4 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 23 of 94)

Week: 2nd Week of July

Zodiac: Cancer (Day 22 of 31)