#a year in the life came out november 2016

[reasonsforhope]

The Klamath River’s salmon population has declined due to myriad factors, but the biggest culprit is believed to be a series of dams built along the river from 1918 to 1962, cutting off fish migration routes.

Now, after decades of Indigenous advocacy, four of the structures are being demolished as part of the largest dam removal project in United States history. In November, crews finished removing the first of the four dams as part of a push to restore 644 kilometres (400 miles) of fish habitat.

“Dam removal is the largest single step that we can take to restore the Klamath River ecosystem,” [Barry McCovey, a member of the Yurok Tribe and director of tribal fisheries,] told Al Jazeera. “We’re going to see benefits to the ecosystem and then, in turn, to the fishery for decades and decades to come.” ...

A ‘watershed moment’

Four years later, [after a catastrophic fish die-off in 2002,] in 2006, the licence for the hydroelectric dams expired. That created an opportunity, according to Mark Bransom, CEO of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC), a nonprofit founded to oversee the dam removals.

Standards for protecting fisheries had increased since the initial license was issued, and the utility company responsible for the dams faced a choice. It could either upgrade the dams at an economic loss or enter into a settlement agreement that would allow it to operate the dams until they could be demolished.

“A big driver was the economics — knowing that they would have to modify these facilities to bring them up to modern environmental standards,” Bransom explained. “And the economics just didn’t pencil out.”

The utility company chose the settlement. In 2016, the KRRC was created to work with the state governments of California and Oregon to demolish the dams.

Final approval for the deal came in 2022, in what Bransom remembers as a “watershed moment”.

Regulators at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) voted unanimously to tear down the dams, citing the benefit to the environment as well as to Indigenous tribes...

Tears of joy

Destruction of the first dam — the smallest, known as Copco 2 — began in June, with heavy machinery like excavators tearing down its concrete walls.

[Amy Cordalis, a Yurok Tribe member, fisherwoman and lawyer for the tribe,] was present for the start of the destruction. Bransom had invited her and fellow KRRC board members to visit the bend in the Klamath River where Copco 2 was being removed. She remembers taking his hand as they walked along a gravel ridge towards the water, a vein of blue nestled amid rolling hills.

“And then, there it was,” Cordalis said. “Or there it wasn’t. The dam was gone.”

For the first time in a century, water flowed freely through that area of the river. Cordalis felt like she was seeing her homelands restored.

Tears of joy began to roll down her cheeks. “I just cried so hard because it was so beautiful.”

The experience was also “profound” for Bransom. “It really was literally a jolt of energy that flowed through us,” he said, calling the visit “perhaps one of the most touching, most moving moments in my entire life”.

Demolition on Copco 2 was completed in November, with work starting on the other three dams. The entire project is scheduled to wrap in late 2024.

[A resilient river]

But experts like McCovey say major hurdles remain to restoring the river’s historic salmon population.

Climate change is warming the water. Wildfires and flash floods are contaminating the river with debris. And tiny particles from rubber vehicle tires are washing off roadways and into waterways, where their chemicals can kill fish within hours.

McCovey, however, is optimistic that the dam demolitions will help the river become more resilient.

“Dam removal is one of the best things we can do to help the Klamath basin be ready to handle climate change,” McCovey explained. He added that the river’s uninterrupted flow will also help flush out sediment and improve water quality.

The removal project is not the solution to all the river’s woes, but McCovey believes it’s a start — a step towards rebuilding the reciprocal relationship between the waterway and the Indigenous people who rely on it.

“We do a little bit of work, and then we start to see more salmon, and then maybe we get to eat more salmon, and that starts to help our people heal a little bit,” McCovey said. “And once we start healing, then we’re in a place where we can start to help the ecosystem a little bit more.”"

-via Al Jazeera, December 4, 2023

[tonichelleak]

Dallas Seavey at the Ceremonial Start and ReStart of Iditarod 52. Dallas. Seavey. The kid that believed he was on a trajectory for an Olympic career and not a dog mushing one. Oh, sure, he was like many others of his generation who not only grew up in the presence of many great mushers - all the while helping his dad build a successful racing kennel - but one who watched Iron Will and tried to recreate many of the scenes from the movie... but as he often told tourists - he had no desire to make it his life like his dad had.

Then injuries sidelined his Olympic wrestling dream (was on his way to making the 2008 USA team) so he came home and continued helping his dad build monster teams.

After a while running the puppy team just wasn't enough. Puppy teams are competitive and if you know Dallas even a little bit you know the dude is extremely competitive.

He studied like he was working on a Masters Degree. No one knows the science and stats of the race more than Dallas. Guarantee it.

He won his first title in 2012, then again in 2014, 2015, 2016... took a break after his second place finish in 2017 (we won't rehash the whys) and came back in 2021 to win it again (granted the shorter "Gold Loop Trail" - thanks Covid - but he battled the Rainy Pass Pony Mafia so it still is a huge accomplishment). His '21 race meant he tied for most wins, sharing that record with the legendary Rick Swenson. Swenson was one of Dallas's childhood heroes... and Dallas had broken or tied just about every record Rick had.

This year, Dallas won number six. He is the winningest Iditarod Champion.

It wasn't easy. In November he and two of his handlers took teams out on a training run. His handler running many of Dallas's top dogs was hit by a snow machine. Dogs were killed, some injured with career ending, life altering injuries. The mushers were physically all fine, but mentally... mentally it took a while to feel "normal" on the runners.

Dallas borrowed dogs from his dad to make a competitive Iditarod team, it wasn't ideal - but he'd done it before. The Ceremonial Start and ReStart seemed to go on without an issue. Crowds cheered the musher on and he quickly slipped into the routine.

Monday of race week rolls around. Dallas' birthday. Early that morning an aggressive moose plowed into Dallas' team, the only thing for the musher to do was dispatch the moose. If you've followed the race you know what happened next. Dallas did not properly gut out the moose, one of his dogs was injured but it wasn't noticeable right away (dog is fine now), he was penelized for the improper dressing out of the moose. Dallas was not going to win.

Then things changed in the second half of the race. Teams who decided to try to outrun Dallas who was already dealing with time penalties pushed too hard, too long, too soon. Dallas caught up. And then Dallas did what Dallas does.

And now Dallas Seavey is the only six time champion in the history of the race.

That's a wild ride. (see what I did there? no, oh, well.... you can find out what I mean here.)

To view high quality photos, or purchase, click here.

For more see ReittersBlock.com

[klebolddeath]

The case of Carlos Eduardo Robledo Puch, the "Angel of Death"

Carlos Eduardo Robledo Puch, born in Buenos Aires on January 19, 1951, is an Argentine serial killer who was sentenced to life imprisonment for ten qualified homicides, one simple homicide, one attempted homicide, seventeen robberies, two kidnappings and two thefts, becoming one of the biggest criminals in the history of Argentina.

Crimes:

On March 15, 1971, Robledo Puch and his accomplice named Ibáñez entered the Enamour nightclub, taking 350,000 Argentine pesos.

Before fleeing, Carlos murdered the owner and the night watchman of the place by shooting them with a .32 caliber Ruby pistol while they were sleeping.

On May 3, 1971, at four in the morning, Robledo Puch and Jorge Ibáñez entered one of the rooms of a Mercedes-Benz auto parts store and found a couple with a newborn baby.

Carlos shot the man and wounded the woman in the same way. Ibáñez tried to abuse the woman (she survived and testified in a trial).

Before fleeing and stealing 400,000 Argentine pesos, Robledo Puch shot the baby's crib, who managed to stay alive (the authorities did not discover if he wanted to miss or if he really missed).

On March 24, they murdered the night watchman of a supermarket.

In June, Carlos executed two young women on the road who had been victims of abuse by Ibáñez in the back seat of the car they were using.

On August 5, in a dubious manner, Ibáñez died in a car accident and Robledo Puch, who came out unharmed, escaped.

On November 15, together with a new accomplice named Hector Somoza, they assaulted a supermarket in Boulogne, riddling the watchman with a .32 caliber pistol obtained from a gun shop.

On November 17, they broke into a car dealership and murdered the caretaker, a week later they did the same at another dealership in Martinez, subduing the watchman, taking his keys and stealing 1,000,000 Argentine pesos.

Robledo Puch killed him with a shot to the head.

Arrest, conviction and requests:

On February 3, 1972, Robledo Puch and Somoza entered a hardware store in Carupá and murdered the guard and tried to open a safe with the keys.

Carlos shot Hector dead and burned his face and fingerprints with a blowtorch to make the police's job more difficult, and fled with the stolen goods.

He was arrested on February 4, 1972, when his identity card was found in Somoza's pants pocket.

At that time, he had just turned 20.

On November 27, 1980, Carlos Eduardo Robledo Puch was sentenced to life imprisonment for an indeterminate period, the maximum sentence in Argentina.

In the San Isidro court of appeals he said: "This was a Roman circus and a farce. I am condemned and prejudged in advance."

Carlos is currently still deprived of his freedom in a ward in Sierra Chica.

Since July 2000 he can request conditional release.

On May 27, 2008, Robledo Puch requested parole but was denied because he had not improved positively in any of the sociological aspects necessary to live in freedom.

On August 31, 2011 and October 39, 2013, he was again denied parole.

In November 2013, he asked for his sentence to be reviewed or to be executed by lethal injection, but this was not possible because the death penalty cannot be applied in Argentina.

On March 27, 2015, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation rejected an appeal filed by Robledo Puch against the aforementioned sentence that denied him parole.

He was also denied parole in 2016 when he threatened to kill then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

On May 10, 2016, after 44 years in prison, Robledo Puch left the Sierra Chica prison for a day. He was taken by the San Isidro Forensic Consultancy to undergo a series of medical tests due to his deteriorating health.

Nicknames and Movies:

He was nicknamed by several Argentine journalists as the Black Angel or the Angel of Death, due to the crudeness with which he committed the crimes at such a young age.

On August 9, 2018, the film El Ángel was released in Argentina, based on his criminal story, directed by Luis Ortega and starring Lorenzo Ferro.

That's all, sorry if the translation is not exact and thanks for reading ;)

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ramon Antonio Vargas at The Guardian:

Kamala Harris on Saturday released a report on her health and medical history which found that “she possesses the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the presidency” if voters elect her in November. A senior aide to Harris, 59, said the vice-president’s advisers viewed the publication of the health report and medical history as an opportunity to call attention to questions about the Republican White House nominee Donald Trump’s physical fitness and mental acuity. The 78-year-old Trump would be the oldest president elected if Americans give him a second term in the Oval Office. Saturday’s report – in the form of a two-page letter from the vice-president’s physician, Joshua Simmons – described Harris as being in “excellent health” and asserted that her medical history was notable for seasonal allergies and hives. Harris manages those conditions with over-the-counter medications such as Allegra, Atrovent nasal spray and Pataday eye drops, and she has also been on allergen immunotherapy for three years, the letter said.

Otherwise, Harris is mildly nearsighted and wears corrective contact lenses as a result, had abdominal surgery when she was three years old and has a maternal history of colon cancer. “She has no personal history of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cardiac disease, pulmonary disease, neurological disorders, cancer or osteoporosis,” said the letter from Simmons, who added that the vice-president’s most recent physical examination in April was “unremarkable”. The statement on Harris’s health came on Saturday as Trump has become increasingly incoherent at campaign rallies, something the Guardian US reported on earlier in October. He has been slurring, stumbling over his words, hurling expletives – and showing signs of cognitive decline consistent with someone approaching his 80s, according to medical experts.

Recent speeches have seen him rant about topics ranging from his purportedly “beautiful” body to “a million Rambos” in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Harris campaign aides pointed to Trump’s backing out of an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes that the vice-president granted and his refusal to debate her again after their 10 September face-off. They argue that the former president is “avoiding public scrutiny” and giving voters “the impression … that he has something to hide and may not be up for the job”. “Contrast her age and vitality with his,” the senior aide to Harris, 59, said early on Saturday. Trump has repeatedly declined to release detailed information about his health during his public life. For instance, before winning the White House in 2016, he only offered a four-paragraph letter from his personal doctor which bragged that Trump would be “the healthiest person ever elected to the presidency”, as the New York Times recently reported.

Trump’s first physical as president resulted in perhaps the most detailed overview of his health to date. According to the Times, the physical flagged “worryingly high” cholesterol and a body mass index that left him 0.1 points below the threshold for medical obesity. Nonetheless, in a statement on Saturday, a Trump campaign spokesperson claimed the former president regularly distributed medical updates and that all “have concluded he is in perfect and excellent health to be commander in chief”. “It is said [Harris] does not have the stamina of … Trump,” the campaign spokesperson’s statement also said. Questions over whether he was too enfeebled forced Joe Biden to halt his bid for re-election to the presidency during the summer. The 81-year-old Democrat dropped out of a rematch with Trump on 21 July and endorsed Harris to succeed him.

Kamala Harris releases her medical report, reveals that she is in an excellent health state.

Dementia DonOld, however, has yet to release his, and he has a massive cognitive and mental decline.

See Also:

HuffPost: Harris Releases Medical Report, Putting Pressure On Trump

[hsfan94]

You Belong With Me

AN: another older one from the drafts that I’ve finally found an ending for.

Y/n moved in with Harry back in 2016, after he discovered he couldn’t handle being alone for long periods of time. They had been friends for a little over a year and she was struggling to afford a place on her own in any of the three cities she worked in (NYC, LA, London), so they made arrangements to share his places. Y/n hesitated when he pitched the idea for a few reasons. For starters, he had been seeing Kendall Jenner at the time. She knew they weren’t doing anything more than “having fun”, Harry’s words, but she still thought it might be weird for him to live with one girl when he was sleeping with a different one. The other reason was that she had been in love with him, so getting more time to be domestic with him was dangerous.

However, not even a year into it she realized she worried too much. They were seldom at the same house for more than a week at a time with each other because they had different and busy schedules. She even asked Harry if it actually helped him and he said just knowing someone else lived there and seeing her stuff soothed him tremendously.

To tell the truth, she never expected them to still be living together years later. She always assumed Harry would eventually get serious with someone and give her an eviction notice. She held her breath every day the year he was with Camille. She kept expecting them to take that step as it was the longest he’d been with someone in the time she’d known him, but they never did. Camille was sweet and would never admit to it but Y/n’s pretty sure she played a part in their breakup. When she told Harry that Camille might not have been comfortable with him having a roommate he brushed her off saying, “We were at different points in life. We wanted different things.” She had trouble believing that after Fine Line came out.

When the pandemic hit they finally got to spend more time than ever together under the same roof and Y/n got used to it. She liked watching movies and tv with Harry. She liked cooking with him. They got very experimental in the kitchen. She liked going on hikes and trying at home workouts together. She even liked getting drunk and playing games, especially two person Twister. All of the things they did she liked, but what she loved was the fact that they felt and acted like a couple. One night the illusion had been so strong that they almost kissed! She’d be lying if she said she didn’t expect them to cross that line but sadly they never did.

When he came home to pack a bag in November, because he had to do a quarantine somewhere else due to someone on set testing positive, she felt the intimacy bubble pop. She could feel it deep within her that things would change from that day forth and they did. Two months later she found out he’d been sleeping with Olivia Wilde since October, which she’s not even sure how that’s possible, and they had been dating ever since. She was honestly shocked. She for sure expected this one to fizzle out faster than the rest but it didn’t. It kept going. What made her sadder was that they had hardly been in the same city the last two years let alone at the same house. So, she had just been waiting patiently for him to kick her out. He knew she could afford it now. The only thing that bothered her about leaving Harry’s house was the woman lined up to take her place. They weren’t right for each other.

Tonight was the first time in months Harry and Y/n had been at the same house. She had come to London to work on a project and he was there on a little break before his European tour started. They were staying at his place in Hampstead. It was her favorite for many reasons but one of those being that it was his first place he ever bought himself and it gave her insight to what he was like before they met. She should have expected to not be the only house guest he had but she was still thrown off guard when he came in, not alone.

The door slammed against the wall and voices bickered in the distance.

“I just don’t understand why you were rude to the waitress.” Her Harry spoke.

“She asked you for a picture. Why does it matter? They make a living wage here.”

Y/n rolled her eyes. She worked as a waitress for a couple years before her entertainment career kicked off and people that were rude to service staff were the worst kind if you ask her.

“God you don’t get it. It’s about being nice. And it didn’t bother me that-“ He stopped speaking when his eyes landed on his best friend cooking dinner in the kitchen. The frown that had taken over his face amid the argument turned into a bright smile at the sight before him. “Y/n! I totally forgot you said you were going to be here this week.”

He walked over to her and gave her a hug. Over his shoulder she saw his girlfriend shoot her a death glare.

“Yeah. I hope I’m not intruding.” She knew she was.

“Not at all. You live here. How could you be intruding?”

“Seriously?” It was muttered under Olivia’s breath but she knew they could hear her.

“What are you cooking? It smells lovely.” He glanced at the pots his friend had momentarily forgotten and ignored his girlfriend completely.

“Miso ramen with salmon and tofu.” She stirred the broth again and flipped the fish in the pan.

“My favorite. Too bad I already ate.” He seemed like he wished he hadn’t gone out with Olivia at all now. “Well, I’d hate to disturb your plans. We’ll get off to bed.”

He sauntered towards his pink stairs expecting her to follow him and she did so like a petulant child. Just before they reached the top Y/n heard her say, “Why is she here? Can’t she afford to live alone by now? She’s 26.”

Y/n was not offended. In fact, she thought that was rich coming from a 38 year old who was not only dating a 28 year old but acted like she was only 20.

Y/n thought with their retreat the night would be peaceful but shortly after they disappeared their argument got louder.

“I’m not doing this with you again!” Harry screamed.

She could only hear bits and pieces from both of them.

“Kick her out,” Olivia said.

“I don’t know what else you want from me. We’ve made it this far, isn't that enough proof?”

“How am I supposed to trust you?”

“Me!? Trust me!? You’re the one that was with someone else.” She had never heard him this angry.

After that she decided to put on music to tune them out. She had many reasons she didn’t like Olivia but the main one was the Harry she brought out. Y/n’s Harry was calm, easygoing, loving and happy but above all drama free. Olivia’s Harry was dark, angry, haunted and all over the tabloids and internet gossip. It might have had nothing to do with her and everything to do with their compatibility but either way it broke Y/n’s heart to see him this way.

~~~~~~~~~

The next morning she decided to put as little strain on their relationship as possible. She made them both breakfast and after they came down to see her plating the food, she told them to enjoy and made a swift exit. Before her escape she caught some glares and words from Olivia.

“This wont make me like you or fix our living arrangements.”

Even though she knew Harry would chew her out for it Y/n couldn’t help but let it get to her. She thought about the living arrangements comment all day and decided she should talk to Harry that night.

On her walk back to the house she remembered the day he proposed the idea.

“Live with me. It’d fix both our issues.” He had blurted out randomly amid her rambling about the state of rent prices.

“Won’t it get weird? Like if we have partners and stuff?”

“No. We’ll make it work. Come on, it'll be fun. Like we’re in university, I never got to do that.” He was persistent, she gave him that.

“Okay. But just till I can get on my feet or you find a replacement.” She winked at him and he laughed.

She had been joking about the replacement but now she feared he had taken her seriously.

Stepping off the tube, Y/n decided to take the longer, more scenic route to their house. As she walked she thought about the night they almost kissed.

Harry almost fell over trying to spin the wheel.

“Oi! Okay… It says right hand on green.”

Y/n had never been this drunk before. She chalked it up to wanting to keep up with Harry but now she regretted it as she was trying to remain in her twister position. Upon hearing his instruction she realized moving her hand to green would put them in quite the compromising position. She did it anyway.

“Hey there. Don’t get any ideas, love,” he said, peering down at her.

Her face was practically in his crotch.

“Don’t worry. I’m not interested.” She smiled up at him.

“Ouch.” He went to spin again but drunkenly lost his balance and fell on her.

“Oi! Harry! That hurt.”

They both laughed and when they collected themselves she became aware of how close they were. His hips were perched between her legs and she could feel his breath on her lips.

“Your eyes have a bit of green in them. I’ve never noticed,” he said. He brought a hand up to her face to swipe her hair away from her cheek.

“Yeah, they’re hazel. It’s like a cross between brown and green.”

He started to lean in and just when she thought they were about to kiss his head fell to her shoulder.

“Can we just sleep here? I don’t think I can get up.”

And they did sleep there that night. On the floor, tangled in each other.

She walked through the outside door of their house not even remembering coming out of the park or the rest of the walk. She had been lost in her thoughts. She was relieved that he was home alone.

“Harry?”

He was in the kitchen, at the island reading a book and drinking something out of a mug.

“There’s my favorite girl!” He turned to face her.

Her heart clenched and fluttered at his words.

“We need to talk. Is Olivia here?”

“No, she took the kids to the zoo.”

It made her uncomfortable that he was dating someone with kids because it made her think about him being a father to kids that weren’t hers.

“Okay cool.” She took the seat next to him, facing him fully.

Just as she was about to start his phone rang.

“Hang on.” He glanced down to see who it was and rolled his eyes. He got up and walked to look out the window as he answered. “What’s up, Olivia?”

Y/n wasn’t sure what had happened in the time she was gone but she assumed they were still fighting.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at the zoo with the kids?”

She wished she could hear the other end but she just pretended to be busy.

“How did you forget it’s not your day?”

A bit of silence.

“No, I’m busy.”

More silence.

“Why are you still on that? It was a fucking joke! You’ve known me long enough that you should know that.”

More silence and then he shook his head.

“I’m not doing this with you right now. Bye.” He hung up and came back to his spot like nothing had happened.

“You okay?” She asked.

“I just don’t know what happened. We had been drama free and then for the last few months she’s been picking fights. Getting angry at my jokes, at my job and at my relationship with you. It’s exhausting. I just want one good day.”

She felt horrible for potentially making his day worse but she had to bring it up.

“About that… I don’t think we can do this anymore.”

“Do what?”

“Live together.” She paused to take a deep breath. “We’re getting too old for it.”

“What? Where’s this coming from?”

“Last night. I felt like I was intruding.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t intrude when it’s your house.”

“It’s not my house though, Harry. It’s yours. You bought it with your own money a decade ago.”

“But you live here.”

She sighed. She stood up and walked over to turn on the kettle.

“Do you not like living together anymore?” He sounded so hurt.

“Harry, you’re in a serious relationship now. Things are just different.”

“How are they any different from when I was with Camille? You didn’t threaten to move out then.” His voice was getting louder, like he was getting angry.

“No, but I probably should have. Then you might still be together.”

“That doesn’t make any sense Y/n, I’m with Olivia now, I’m over her.”

“I just mean I don’t want to cause another breakup.”

“I don’t know what to say.” He just stared at her from across the island.

“Look, Harry, I love you and I have thoroughly enjoyed our arrangement but things are a lot more complicated now then they were back then.”

He stayed silent. After a moment he came around the island and stood in front of her. He slowly pulled her into a tight hug.

“Okay. If that’s how you feel, I won’t try to convince you otherwise, but at least stick it out a little longer yeah? Until you secure another place. I’ll help you look for something and my door will always be open for you.”

They didn’t say much else after that. Luckily that night, Olivia stayed somewhere else so Y/n could have a moment to think about everything in peace.

~~~~~~~~

Harry was terrified. Y/n telling him she wanted to leave was the worst thing that had ever happened to him. That conversation between them hurt worse than any breakup he’s ever had. He wasn’t really sure why though.

He was also confused. It sounded like she didn’t actually want to leave but more like she felt she had to. He also didn’t understand why she brought up Camille and why it seemed she wished he was still with her. Did she miss Camille? He knew she and Olivia did not get along but he couldn’t recall her and Camille ever interacting much either.

He was hurt. He wanted her to stay. He wanted her, period. He knew he’d fucked up. He always fucked up. The truth is Y/n was the last thing he had left of his time in the band. If he lost her he wouldn’t have anything that reminded him of that time in his life. Sure, he could call the boys whenever, but Y/n was someone who liked him before he was successful on his own and that meant something to him. She was genuine. They had never really had a fight before. That night was the first. If you could call it a fight anyway.

He felt ashamed. Over lockdown, they had been so close to becoming what he wanted them to be but he got scared. The night they almost kissed was his favorite memory to date. But the next day, because he was scared, he went and did something stupid.

There was a knock at his trailer door. Even the smallest of sounds sent a pounding through his head. He rushed to open it to make it stop.

“Hey, sexy thing, are you ready for your scene?” It was Olivia.

She had started calling him names like that pretty early on. He was bummed at first because this was his first time to have a main part and he was excited to work with professionals only to find out how unprofessional the director truly was. He had gotten used to it though.

“No. I got too drunk last night.”

“Alone?”

“No, me and my best mate live together. She used to be a bartender and we were experimenting with new recipes. She’s a heavy pourer, that's for sure.”

“You poor thing.” Olivia had entered the trailer and was now inappropriately close.

“What are you doing?” He said, backing up into the wall.

“Don’t think about it.”

He knew he should have said no, but he was so tired of pining over Y/n. He had given her so many chances to make a move and she never did. He hadn’t thought that this thing with Olivia would turn into what it had. He thought for sure back then it was a one time thing but she kept wanting to do it again and then one day she was claiming she loved him. Then, factoring in that she had ruined her family for him, he felt obligated to be with her. He wasn’t happy. So, Y/n was the best thing in his life and she was threatening to leave. He didn’t want to force her to stay so he didn’t say much when she brought it up but now he wished he’d said more.

The next day he had already felt a shift between them.

He stumbled down to the kitchen to find her there making chocolate chip pancakes.

“You’re like a proper housewife, you know that?”

She didn’t smile at his joke. In fact she hardly looked at him. His heart cracked.

“Come on, Y/n. Don’t do this.”

Silence. She put his food on a plate and placed it in front of him. She turned around to make herself a latte with the espresso machine he bought just for her. When she came to sit beside him and still said nothing he snapped.

“That’s enough!” He had never heard his own voice so loud.

She flinched away from him and he had never wished to die more.

“Hey, I’m sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.” He reached for her and she finally looked at him, allowing him to grab her hand.

“Y/n I can’t do this. I didn’t say anything last night because I didn’t want to force you to stay but I can’t live without you.”

“Harry, I’d just be moving out.”

He shook his head aggressively.

“You don’t get it. I can’t live without you. I don’t want you to go, you're all I have.”

“That’s not true and you know it. If anything it’s the other way around.”

They had both forgotten their food.

“You are. It’s been hard not being in the same place at the same time but when we are, it brightens my day. When I came home the other night and you were in the kitchen cooking dinner, it was like a dream. It’s all I want, for the rest of my life.”

“Okay, but don’t you want it with someone you love? You don’t need your silly best friend when you have a girlfriend.”

How could someone be so dense?

“Never mind.”

“It’ll be okay I promise. In fact, I’m mainly looking at places in the neighborhood.”

They didn’t talk much more about it. He couldn’t handle it.

That was in May. It was now November. And he hadn’t seen his pretty best friend in so long. She had come to the first two New York shows as she was working on stuff in New York that week, but that had been over two months ago. So much had happened. When she came to those shows it was the first time he’d seen her since the moving out conversation. He wanted to drop to his knees and beg but he was trying not to upset Olivia. He’s not sure why now because they’ve had so many fights since then. Including a big one in September that led to them breaking up and he hadn’t been upset by it either.

He was getting ready to go on stage when there was a knock at the door.

He rushed to open it. There she was, standing in front of him like a dream.

“Y/n.” It was no louder than a whisper.

“Hey. I know you’re about to go on, but maybe after the show we can talk?”

He nodded so fast he thought his head would fall off.

“Okay. Great. I’ll see you in a few hours.” She turned to leave but he wouldn’t have it. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her to him.

“There’s no need to run away. You can hang out until show time.”

He had her in a tight hug.

“I just… I need to get a drink and find my seat.”

“Seat? You’re not gonna stand with Jeff and them?”

“No. My friend bought tickets before she realized I could get us VIP access.” She laughed like it was a joke but it hurt his feelings. How did she have a friend that didn’t know that? He talked about her to all his friends all the time. “Plus, your girlfriend is here and I don’t want to cause any issues.”

“Okay. Well, I’ll see you after?”

She nodded and left. He felt empty. It was like he had already lost her. He pushed his feelings down and went on stage pretending to be the happiest man alive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y/n was nervous. She lied about a friend buying tickets. She didn’t want him to know it was her choice to be further away. She figured he knew anyway. She had been putting space between them since May. She knew that if she wanted to stay in his life, she needed to get over him and she couldn’t do that being around him all the time. So, she was nervous because she was going to tell him she found a place. Not just one though. She found three flats, one for each city. That news wasn’t so bad she supposed but she was scared to tell him that they weren’t in his neighborhood. She lied before. Y/n couldn’t afford to live in North London, Malibu or the upper west side in Manhattan, but she didn’t want to hurt him anymore than she had.

When Harry started singing Kiwi she excused herself and made her way to his dressing room. She was surprised no one else was waiting there.

She was sitting on the couch in his dressing room when the door burst open.

“Hey stranger.” She smiled at him. He looked terrified and she didn’t know why.

“Thank god. I thought you left.” He closed the door behind him.

“I said I wanted to talk, didn’t I?”

“Yeah but I saw you get up and leave and then you weren’t outside the door.” He made his way to the couch and sat beside her. “What did you want to talk about?”

She sighed. “I don’t know how you’ll take this.”

He was silent so she continued. “I found a place. Well more than one.”

“Oh.” He stood up and went to change.

“I haven’t signed anything yet, it's not a done deal.”

“Okay? Why is that important?” He didn’t look at her once.

“They aren’t in your neighborhood.”

He turned around at that.

“I thought you said you were only going to look at places in the neighborhood. Do you really not want to be around me that badly?” His face was drenched in hurt.

“No! Not at all.” She stood up too and made her way over to him. “I just can’t afford the same areas you can.”

“That’s not all it is and you know it.” The hurt was now mixed with anger.

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb. You’ve been keeping your distance. We’ve hardly seen each other or spoken since May.”

“We’re busy people, H.”

“That's bullshit and you know it. I always make time for you.”

He pulled on his sweats and walked to the vanity.

“I don’t understand why you’re mad.” She followed right behind him.

“Because my best friend doesn’t like me anymore.” He whipped around to face her as he spoke. “I’m not mad either. I’m fucking depressed.” She thought she saw the shimmer of tears forming in his eyes.

“Hey.” She cautiously reached for his hands and held them in hers. “I love you. It’s just been hard to be around you lately.”

“Why? What did I do?” He held her hands tighter.

“You did nothing. It’s all me.” She looked at their hands. She couldn’t look at him as she came clean. “I’m in love with you and having to watch you be with someone else, it’s gotten to be too much. I have to move out because if we keep living together, I’m going to start to believe you love me too. Don’t you want to live with someone you love? Don’t you want to come home to the person you love most cooking for you after a late night and cuddle them to sleep?”

She looked back up to see him smiling.

“I do want that.”

“See. And you could have that with Olivia, I just need to not be in the way.” She started to step back but he held her tighter.

“I don’t want it with Olivia.”

“What?”

“I don’t love her. Not the way you are insinuating.”

“Then why are you with her?”

He took a deep breath.

“Because I couldn’t be with you.”

Her mouth fell open.

“What?” It was barely louder than a whisper.

“That night we got drunk, do you remember?” She nodded so he continued. “Well, I almost kissed you but I knew it would ruin everything so I didn’t. Then the next day, on set, Olivia made a move and I don’t know, I was tired of being alone.” He couldn’t look at her, he was ashamed of himself.

“Are you serious?” She sounded angry so he looked up to see her face and it was indeed set in a frown. He let her continue. “Harry, you have to be the dumbest person I’ve ever met.”

She put distance between them and he missed her the minute she let go of his hands.

“You have never been alone! I don’t know why you can’t understand that. Being single and being alone are not the same thing. You have always had me. We fucking live together.”

“You don’t get it, Y/n. It’s so hard being around someone you are madly in love with and can’t have.”

She looked at him stunned.

“I don’t get it?” She shook her head. “Harry, I’m not the one who brings other people around! In the time we’ve known each other, how many guys have I dated, do you know?” He couldn’t recall so he shook his head. “None! Because I have only had eyes for you.”

His heart jumped, he didn’t get time to bask in her words because she continued.

“I’ve had sex and been on dates but only at the extreme difficulty of having to pretend they were you. Meanwhile you have come around with at least four different women and practically rubbed it in my face that you didn’t want me. And now you’re just here telling me you don’t even want to be with the woman you’ve been with for two years. The one that I have to see treat you like shit. The one I’ve watched break you down into this shell of a man all because you didn’t want to be alone.” She started to cry. “And for what? Because I told you I should move out because seeing you with someone else kills me inside and living with you is all I want but it confuses the hell out of me because we aren’t together.”

“Hey, Angel, don’t cry.” He walked over to her, feeling the need to be delicate since she was mad. “I’m so sorry. I genuinely had no idea you felt that way. I wish I had known sooner.” He gently raised his hands to her cheeks and when she didn’t pull away, he began stroking her tears away with his thumbs.

“Why can’t you just call it what it is, H? You are scared of something real. Something that has the potential to be the end of the road.”

He leaned his forehead against hers and started to talk in a soft voice. “You’re right. I am scared. Because like I said I can’t live without you and I’ve been doing everything in my power to keep you but clearly I’ve made some mistakes. I just… I love you so much and so intensely it scares me and I don’t know it just felt like you didn’t feel the same so I’ve tried to move on but keep you close at the same time. It backfired clearly.” He chuckled a bit.

His words made her peer back up at him with a smile. It was the first time he actually said the words. The first time she heard them.

“Yeah it did. Look how much time we’ve wasted.”

His heart skipped. Did that mean?

“Time we’ve wasted? You aren’t mad?”

“I am but just because we could have done this sooner.”

Before he could say anything she pulled him into a heated kiss.

He pulled back after a minute. “Does this mean you’re not going to move out?”

“It means I’m going to move out of my room and into yours.”

He smiled and kissed her again. He pulled her flush against him and spun them around to push her against the vanity counter. Just as he was about to lift her onto it she pulled back.

“Wait… you have a girlfriend.”

“No I don’t.”

“What?”

He placed her on the counter and came to stand between her legs.

“We broke up. Like a week ago.”

Instead of responding, Y/n moaned and pulled his lips back to hers. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him as tight to her as she could.

She came up for air and said, “Good. You belong with me.”

He hummed his agreement of, “I belong with you,” and dove right back in.

His tongue slipped between her lips ever so lightly. It just gently brushed hers and caused her to buck her hips against his.

Her hands snaked into his hair and pulled gently. She had been waiting to be with him like this for so long that she was going to take advantage of it. She lowered her hands to his shoulders, brushing his neck as they passed it, and pulled him even closer.

Harry was hard. He knew if they kept going he wouldn’t be able to stop so he pulled back.

“Baby, if we don’t cool down, I’m gonna have to fuck you right here.”

“God,” she groaned. “Please do.”

“You want to? Right here? You don’t want it to be more special?”

She cooed at him. “You’re so cute, my love. But I’ve wanted to do this since I was nineteen. I can have it be special later.”

“Okay then.” He dove back in finding a place on her neck to attach his lips to. She threw her head back and arched her back giving him more access.

While he sucked on her neck he started undoing the buttons on her top. Once he popped the last one, he made his way down to her chest. His lips traced a path with his tongue coming out every so often to lick at her skin.

When he reached his destination he reached around to undo her bra. When it slid off her body he let out a single “fuck” before he dove onto the left one, kissing and sucking vigorously.

“Fuck, Harry.” She put her hands back on his head and pushed him into her chest even more.

He moved to the right one whispering, “fucking perfect” before mimicking his movements from before. Y/n was going crazy above him and it was everything he had ever dreamed of.

“Harry.” She pulled his head up as she spoke.

“What?”

“Take your clothes off right now.”

Without another word he stood up straight and yanked his sweats off. He came back between her legs and carefully pulled her leggings down, stopping to kiss her legs every so often. When they were both naked, he came back to stand in his original position. He felt her reach down and grab him, to guide him to her entrance but he stopped her.

“Protection?” It was all he could say.

“The pill.” She matched his energy perfectly and that was why he loved her so much.

He pushed in and it was everything they both could have dreamed of.

“You feel perfect,” he whispered against her ear and then gave it a little nibble.

“You too.” She wrapped her legs all the way around him to hold him as close as possible.

His thrusts were slow and tender, as if still trying to make their first time special but it was perfect. She could feel every detail and the dragged out pace allowed for her climax to build slower and eventually release in one of the strongest orgasms she’d ever had.

She could tell Harry was close. She ran her hands through his hair again and whispered, “Let go, baby, let go.” And biting into her shoulder he did just that, as if he’d just been waiting for permission.

They stayed still, just breathing heavily, for a moment and then she felt her shoulder dampen.

“What’s wrong, Honey?” She softly combed his hair with her fingers, scratching at his scalp every so often.

“I just… I don’t…” He paused to take a deep breath, then leaned back so he could look in her eyes. “I don’t deserve you. As a partner or friend. I’ve been so shitty and oblivious and ignorant and an ass-”

“Hey, hey, hey,” she cut him off. “You are an amazing friend to me. You gave me a place to live for the last six years and you’ve given me opportunities to come see the best live shows I’ve ever seen.” He smiled at that and she kissed him lightly before continuing. “And if you feel for me how I feel for you, I bet you will be a phenomenal partner. Have you made some mistakes, including ones that hurt my feelings? Yes. But that’s over now. It’s just you and me against the world.” She brushed her thumb over his lips and they puckered to kiss it. “You’re stuck with me now though. You can’t get rid of me if you tried, so I hope that’s okay with you.” She giggled and he did too.

“It’s everything I’ve ever wanted. I promise I’ll never hurt your feelings like that again. You are the most important thing in my life and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you.”

She kissed him on the mouth. “Good.” She kissed him again. “Now I don’t know about you rockstar, but I’m starving.” He let out a loud laugh, and she realized they were still connected and winced a bit. “How about we get dressed and go get pancakes or something?”

“Pancakes sound great.” A mischievous smile took over his face as he untangled them and helped her off the vanity. “But how about we go home and make your pancakes,” He paused, the smile dropping for dramatic effect as he added, “naked?”

She cackled. She didn’t answer right away. She just put her clothes on (well she put on the t-shirt Harry had never managed to fully change into and her leggings) and he did the same. Then finally she turned to face him.

“Alright. Let’s go home.”

“And round two after pancakes?”

“Is this gonna be my life now?” She giggled. “Cooking and fucking on an endless loop?”

“I sure hope so.” He smiled sheepishly.

She leaned up to kiss him again.

“Me too! Now let’s go!” She grabbed his hand and led them out of the room.

[bettyshoweduptotheparty]

Reputation to Midnights and Final TPD Predictions

With 4 days until the Tortured Poets Department and two lines of lyrics we have so far, here are my thoughts on how we got here over the last 5 albums and final predictions for what's coming on Friday:

2016 changed the game - reputation era and long-term bearding

Many people might disagree, but I think the year 2016 changed a lot of things for Taylor. Without going into detail about snakegate, a possible failed coming out and scrapped album and the presidential election, her music has had a different tone ever since reputation (and I don't just mean sonically). As someone who writes a lot about love and relationships, the way she was writing about them changed from fairy tale love, pining and heartbreak to forever/long-term love, commitment/endame, 'us against the world' sort of love. And I do think she wanted to put that album out in 2016 but can't really do that when you're newly single and writing about wanting forever with someone... so in came Joe Alwyn who became the free pass for writing songs about long-term relationships, marriage and kids for the next six years. But LWYMMD (the song and the mv) made it pretty clear that this was not her first choice. Whatever happened, she had her agency taken from her, and she was mad about it. She may have made one hell of a comeback, but rep Taylor was on a revenge mission, and she has been ever since. Now, add to that the very same people foiled her coming out (possibly) a second time in 2019, I can well imagine the tortured poet that Taylor became during the pandemic with all that built up anger and misery pouring out into the folklore and evermore albums. And my guess is that with the plan to re-record the first 6 albums came an idea of how she could possibly get her revenge after all, which brings us to Midnights and TPD.

Midnights and Tortured Poets Department - Reflection and melancholia

Midnights had a similar tone to me than what we have seen of TPD so far: introspective, sombre and looking back on happier times and missed opportunities (hence the whole '13 nights throughout my life' concept). There is a lot of wondering about what ifs and regrets and always with a sense of vengeance in the background, which shows how Taylor clearly holds a grudge and has a hard time letting things go that have hurt her. And this continues in the two lines we have seen from TPD so far. The 'full eclipse' gives me love blackout vibes and this line

is so similar to many folkmore and Midnights songs where she talks about not being able to move on from a traumatic event (failed coming out *cough cough*). So, this album clearly continues the theme of reflection, regrets and vengeance, but with an additional touch of reckoning or impending judgment. I've seen some people say it seems like Taylor is putting someone (else or herself) on trial, and both the evidence file esthetics and the legal language she has been using in the hidden words puzzle on Apple Music have been feeding that theory:

She told us back in February she'd be entering all of her defenses and her muses into evidence, so is she the one being trialed and we are the jury? Or is she presenting evidence in her defense and accusing someone else? I initially thought the former, but now I'm thinking it could be either or both.

The songs will tell the story of the most painful times of her life and we will be able to decide if she chose her suffering or if the context/industry is to blame. My favourite swifties pointed out this morning that the ‘un-recall’ lyric is a parallel to CIWYW “I recall late November”. So what is she trying to forget? The 2016 election. The start of the love blackout. Much like the ‘full eclipse’ lyric. They almost had it all but then her plans got foiled and Tr*mp was elected which forced them underground. And where did she run off to? London. And what’s track 5 called? So long, London…

So, a lot of this album so far gives 2016 vibes. And I’ve said in a previous post (here) that the visuals seem very rep-inverted. Black vs white and the half yin-yang ☯️ in the logo. It’s looking likely that this is going to be the reflection on that time where her vendetta originated before she goes for revenge. And I’m not trying to clown but the rep parallels haven’t stopped:

This QR code mural in Chicago is very rep-cover coded and leads to a website that has the same 321 error message as the TS website the night of the Grammys. The message then was red herring. And not to sound too crazy, but I've said from the start that something feels off with this album. The absence of proper promo or merch is still weird. And would an entire album as a red herring be too crazy? Probably. But is she a crazy woman? Definitely! 😉

[offender42085]

Post 1302

Frankie E Bybee, Florida inmate S42207, born 1970, incarceration intake November 2017 at age 47, scheduled for release July 2025

Exploitation of Elderly or Disabled Person, Fraud Use of Personal Identification

In January 2021, a former Sarasota County deputy whose sentence was partly reversed was resentenced.

Frank Bybee appeared frail and visibly shaking as he entered court in a wheelchair. He made an emotional plea to Judge Donald H. Mason: “I want to apologize to Marcia Sohl. She should never have had to go through any of this, the court’s distress. I want to apologize to my profession. The Sheriff’s Office is top notch, one of the best in the state of Florida. I used to work with (Assistant State Attorney and prosecutor) Karen Fraivillig. I’m sure it was hard for her and personal to come after me. I apologize for what it’s done to my family and my marriage, my three boys.”

Assistant Public Defender Marc Gilman said Bybee has had two brain surgeries to remove a tumor the size of a grapefruit and a stroke since he was imprisoned in 2017 for crimes against the elderly.

The victim, Marcia Sohl, 82, a former New York City teacher, died in July 2019.

Despite arguments that his health was declining because of poor medical care in prison, Judge Mason resentenced Bybee to 10 years in prison for exploitation of the elderly and 10 years probation for three counts of computer crimes.

Bybee will receive credit for time served on seven counts of fraudulent use of identification information, and five years probation on a count of fraudulent use of identification information. 

"I'm happy the judge took his medical condition into consideration," Assistant Public Defender Marc Gilman said. "I'm happy he got a little time off his sentence. That shows sometimes things can work out in good ways. I understand he still needs to be punished. That's part of what the system is designed to do."

In November 2017, Bybee was sentenced to 15 years in prison for 13 felonies that included kidnapping, exploitation of elderly, three counts of computer fraud and eight counts of fraudulent use of information.

But in an opinion filed by Second District Appeals Judge Susan Rothstein-Youakim in May 2020, Bybee’s kidnapping conviction was reversed. Rothstein-Youakim said Bybee received ineffective assistance from his defense attorneys. Their failure to move for a judgment of acquittal when there were serious concerns about evidence is reviewable on appeal, the judge said.

The charges against Bybee arose out of his relationship with the then 79-year-old woman and covered a period of about three months. He was sent to her house Oct. 16, 2016, because she was threatening suicide. She was transported to the hospital and involuntarily committed under the Baker Act. Bybee stayed to pray with her, and they exchanged cell phone numbers.

The woman and Bybee began communicating regularly. Over the next few months, the deputy came to her house to do chores such as painting and minor repairs.

As the woman’s health began to decline, she was admitted to the hospital more than once and spent time in rehabilitation facilities, according to court documents.

By December 2016, their relationship had soured.

The woman called the Sheriff’s Office twice to complain about Bybee’s involvement in her life. The agency told him not to have further contact with her.

After interviewing the woman, the Sheriff’s Office opened an internal affairs investigation of Bybee to determine if he was engaging in an inappropriate relationship with someone with whom he had been involved in an official capacity, court documents stated.

Investigators found that Bybee repeatedly accessed the woman’s AOL account and emails, accessed her financial information, accessed her PayPal account and withdrew money using her debit card.

On Dec. 29, after Bybee was told to cease his contact with the woman, she was once again Baker Acted. While evidence exists that Bybee sent a message from the woman’s email account that set in motion law enforcement’s response to her home, deputies and medical staff at the hospital made the decision to Baker Act the woman based on their observations.

“Both the responding deputies and the hospital staff were statutorily authorized to make the determinations that they made,” Rothstein-Youakim wrote.

Assistant Public Defender Karen M. Kinney, who handled Bybee’s appeal, called state prosecutors’ assertions that there was kidnapping a refutable “theory.” However, Bybee’s counsel, John Lakin and Ronald Kurpiers, did not raise an issue with the charge at the right time, she said.

Fraivillig, who represented the state during Bybee’s trial in October 2017, wanted his sentence to remain the same at 15 years for four second-degree felonies. She said the original judgment was a “merciful sentence.”

Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight said at the original trial that Deputy Frankie Bybee had befriended the victim, a 79-year-old Sarasota woman, while responding to a service call.

Knight said when the woman entrusted Bybee -- an 18-year agency veteran and married father of three -- with her dog, whom the deputy sold the dog through Craigslist. The dog was reunited with the woman.

Knight said at the time, Bybee was placed on administrative leave after the deputy’s fingerprint was found on checks totaling $65,000 that the victim said had been fraudulently signed.

Bybee will need constant medical care and CT scans for the rest of his life.

4l

[sseung00]

when i was thirteen, in middle school, i knew some english, and i loved to read. i snuck in books under my desk, read them during math classes.

at that time our family was moving to the other building of the same apartment complex, and it was december, or maybe november, i can't remember exactly. the only thing i can clearly recall is that i was reading homestuck for the first time then.

i loved it so, so much. i did not get any of the ACT 1, but i was totally mesmerized. i've never once in my life read anything like that. right now there is a much more polished korean translation for the entirety of homestuck, a team project in which i had also contributed a couple pages, but at that time there was only one naver blog that had translated it all the way up till act 6. Undertale was being hyped everywhere - it was 2016 - but for me it was the year of homestuck and it always will be. it was during that last big pause, and the only thing we were waiting for was the end of everything.

and the end came. with a gangnam style mix, even. we had a good laugh about it. i graduated middle school that year, and went straight into arts highschool, to pursue fine arts. after four years i entered the university i am attending now.

i know it's childish, even cringe, but now, i really miss homestuck. unironically. i miss it so much. i miss the unreadable texts, the flash animations, the joy of coming across something new, memes and pop culture and brands and names i've never known. making my first tumblr post, first Ao3 account, first fanfiction, trying to find out every foreign vocabulary's meaning, listening to shitty fanmade comic dubs without subtitles, trying to figure out exactly what point of salt and pepper diner is hilarious. that was my childhood. no particularly traumatic events, just homestuck, and everything else followed.

english became something like a second language to me. i've never once paid for any english tutor since then. i made new friends and i lost them, tried some more web comics but failed every single time, so i watched movies and dramas instead. (sloppy attempts at bandaging) i listened to melanie martinez, marina, imagine dragons, mumford & sons, linkin park in middle school because they made lyricstuck based on their songs. just yesterday i finally saw the ending of Disco Elysium, it was good, but it didn't hit me like that. i laugh until i cry watching stand-up comedy clips. no one else in my family gets it.

i was 19 when i finally read the homestuck epilogues, and got absolutely fucking ruined for a couple of months. i don't think i'll ever come across something i'll like more than i did with homestuck. it's simply the best and the worst thing that happened in my juvenile years. did you know that my all-time favorite work from Ao3 is The Eurydice Suite?

i still look up the soundtracks, just to feel that thrill again, the nostalgia. but it's never the same. it's turning stale, tides washing it away, for every passing minute. it will be gone soon. all those years, everything changed, but i still feel like a fucking kid, living in the same house, sleeping on the same mattress, never once managing to grow up, achieving nothing, wishing the thrills come back.

i thought homestuck would last forever. i thought i'd be a child, thirteen forever.

but it doesn't. i wish it came back.

[scotianostra]

Scottish Rugby Player Doddie Weir was born on July 4th in Edinburgh.

Born George Wilson Weir, Doddie was educated at Daniel Stewart’s and Melville College and given the school’s heritage with the sport, and Doddie’s size, it was only natural he would take up the rugby.

After his education finished he played for Stewart’s Melville FP, the FP stands for former pupil, he then went on to play for Melrose in the Scottish Borders, and was part of the team that won six Scottish club championships.

He was brought uup on Cortleferry Farm, near the village of Stow in the Scottish Borders. horses were a big part of his early life and he competed at local gymkhanas along with his sister Kirsty. Later he went on to represent Scotland at national equestrian events. Once, at the Scottish Horse Trials, he competed against Princess Anne.

As his rugby career progressed he moved to England in 1995 to join the Newcastle Falcons, helping them win the Premiership in 1998.

Lock Weir was capped 61 times by Scotland, and was part of the victorious Lions tour to South Africa in 1997.

He moved back to Scotland to join the newly reformed Borders team in 2002 where he remained until his retirement from professional rugby. He finished his playing career together with Gary Armstrong at Borders Reivers in 2004.

In 2016 Doddie was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in 2016 and made his diagnosis public the following summer. Although the average life expectancy is between one and three years, he has defied the odds to keep battling and his charity, the My Name'5 Doddie Foundation, has raised more than £4million for research into a cure. Doddie was also told that a year later he would not be able to walk, he defied what the doctors said still walked in up to the final months of his life a testament to the determination and fighting spirit of this remarkable man.

A big favourite with the Murrayfield crowd, the 6ft 6in lock was famously described by the late commentator Bill McLaren as as being “on the charge like a mad giraffe”.

Doddie spoke of his MND

“As a bloke you just think ‘I’m fine’, but with this that’s not quite the case. Basically it’s a muscle wasting disease and that’s how in the later life of MND it’s horrific because you need help everywhere.

"Basically your muscles in your legs disappear so you can’t walk; you can’t really eat, and then your muscles within your speech disappear so you can’t speak; you can’t swallow and can’t breath so it’s horrific what happens.

”….“But it’s such a debilitating condition and there’s nothing out there that can help any patient with MND.

He has signed a “Do not resuscitate” (DNR) IN 2020.

In February 2020 Doddie said his decision to refuse potentially lifesaving CPR came after a tough chat with his sons Hamish, Angus, and Ben, "I’ve had to talk to them about DNR. We’ve just signed a document for that at the moment, which isn’t easy.”

He added: “You just have to be honest and open and they took it really well.”

Weir set up a charity called My Name's Doddie Foundation to help fund treatments for motor neurone disease.

In 2018 The Doddie Weir Cup was inaugurated, a perputual Rugby Union trophy to be played between Scotland and Wales, the first match in Cardiff in November that year was won by Wales, Scotland are the current holders.

Neither the Welsh Rugby Union nor the Scottish Rugby Union originally intended to contribute any of the gate receipts from the inaugural match to the charity, but pressure from fans and in the media resulted in them eventually donating a six-figure sum

On the evening of 26 November 2022, his family announced that he had died of motor neuron disease, aged 52. A memorial service was held at Melrose Parish Church on 19 December, with audio from the service relayed to Melrose RFC's ground The Greenyards.

Clinical trials into motor neurone disease (MND) have received a £500,000 boost from the My Name's Doddie Foundation to mark what would have been his 54th birthday.

[shaahrazad]

Well I was browsing through articles about Harington and came across this gossip site. There's a lot of gossip there, I took some that convinced me, and maybe some that wasn't

September 2016

“Game Of Thrones stars (Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke) dated in 2011, but then Kit started dating Rose, and his romantic relationship with Emilia fizzled out. But now it seems he's having a sexual relationship with Emilia again.

They were spotted in Spain, shooting season 7 of Game Of Thrones. They were very close, they spend time together, they often have lunch and breakfast in restaurants together. Just friends sitting next to each other, laughing and touching, and having breakfast in the early hours of the morning? Just friends spending time together in Seville, and romantic places in Andalusia, that's very exciting, isn't it?”

November 2016

“Kit has been spending a lot of time with Emilia in her trailer. What's going on behind the door?”

April 2017

“Kit Harington and Rose leslie pretend they're still together but, they broke up last year, (our sources say) in the show their characters were in love, then they started dating in real life. Yes, it was a real romantic relationship, but it ended. Most importantly, they're a celebrity couple, which has brought them a lot of roles and a lot of press attention.

They don't want to lose all that, they've agreed to pretend they're together, and maybe break up, when the show ends. They have no problem pretending to be together for promotional purposes, our sources say.”

November 2017

“We heard that one of Emilia Clarke friends from the show told her to forget whatever happened between her and Kit Harington, he's engaged now.”

January 2018

“The star of Game Of Thrones show seems heartbroken, he is always seen in bars, he drinks himself until he gets drunk.”

Golden Globe Awards 2018

“At the Golden Globe Awards , there were so many cast and crew, they needed two tables. When Kit Harington found out he wasn't sitting at the same table as Emilia Clarke, he was so upset he asked to be seated next to her. Seating changes at events like this are common, we don't know why Kit was so upset.”

May 27, 2018

“We heard that Kit Harington never ended his sexual relationship with Emilia Clarke, he was always seen at her door, why would he marry another woman?”

June 2018

“Was Emilia Clarke invited to Kit Harington and Rose Leslie's wedding? What if she didn't show up? Surely she would assure people that everything said about her and Kit Harington was true. People wouldn't stop talking about it?”

[shefanispeculator]

On her new single “Somebody Else’s,” Gwen Stefani makes it clear that the only man she’s ever deserved is her country-singing husband Blake Shelton. The song arrived a day following the GXVE Beauty founder’s announcement for her fifth studio album, Bouquet, out November 15.

On the pop-rock anthem, Stefani candidly opens the first verse singing, “I don’t know why a heart like mine was doing in a love like that.” She continues: “I don’t know why a woman like me was doing with a man like you.” 

When Stefani released 2016’s This Is What The Truth Feels Like, she was feeling the heartbreak and pouring her heart out. Fast forward eight years, she’s beyond over it and never looking back. “You’re somebody else’s, and it doesn’t even break my heart,” she sings during the chorus.

As she brags about herself continuing to blossom, she realizes her past life is no longer a concern. In fact, if she were able to, she’d remove her ex’s existence entirely. “If I could go back in time, I would erase you,” Stefani sings. Referring to Shelton as the “real thing,” Stefani recognizes her ex-lover doesn’t compare.

Co-written alongside Madison Love (Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez), Stefani admits that the song is lyrically different to the rest of the album.

“I get a text from Madison with a start of a song called ‘Somebody Else’s,’ after a bunch of sessions that we’d done, and in those sessions there’s a lot of confession and just talk about life and where we’re at now, where we were,” Stefani tells Rolling Stone.

“She came with the idea of this song, and I was like, ‘Uh oh, I don’t even know if I want to give that any energy.’ What I kind of realized was, after writing the rest of the songs, it felt you needed to see a little bit of the dark to see the light and see where I’d just come from originally.”

Sonically, the song is a slight departure from Stefani’s early solo material and more in the direction of some of her recent offerings, “True Babe” and “Purple Irises,” the latter being a collaboration with Shelton and the 10th and final track from her upcoming album. With a guitar-driven production, Stefani, so far, has yet to go full country like many have been assuming. Posing on the official album artwork with a cowboy hat and eight other tracks still yet to be heard, Stefani reveals Bouquet is “not a country record.”

“It’s all the stuff I listened to in the station wagon on the way to church,” Stefani says of the album’s sound. “Yacht rock, though it wasn’t called yacht rock then. The music I listen to now, I wanted this album to reflect that.”

The same month Stefani drops her long-awaited fifth studio album Bouquet, she will also celebrate the 20th anniversary of her debut solo record, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. — the pop classic behind some of her biggest hits, “What You Waiting For,” “Rich Girl,” and “Cool.”

[lilithism1848]

Atrocities US committed against NATIVE AMERICANS

In 2016, the US army corp of engineers approved a Energy Transfer Partners’ proposal to build an oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, sparking the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests, evoking a brutal response from North Dakota police aided by the National Guard, private security firms, and other law enforcement agencies from surrounding states. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe believes that the pipeline would put the Missouri River, the water source for the reservation, at risk, pointing out two recent spills, a 2010 pipeline spill into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan, which cost over billion to clean up with significant contamination remaining, and a 2015 Bakken crude oil spill into the Yellowstone River in Montana. Police repression has included dogs attacking protesters, spraying water cannons on protesters in sub-freezing temperatures, >700 arrests of Native Americans and ~200 injuries, a highly militarized police force using armored personnel carriers, concussion grenades, mace, Tasers, batons, rubber bullets, and tear gas. In November 2017, the keystone XL pipeline burst, spilling 210,000 gallons of oil in Amherst, South Dakota. 

In 1975, FBI agents attacked AIM activists on the Pine Ridge Reservation, in the ‘Pine Ridge Shootout’. Two FBI agents, and an AIM activist were killed. In two separate trials, the U.S. prosecuted participants in the firefight for the deaths of the agents. AIM members Robert Robideau and Dino Butler were acquitted after asserting that they had acted in self–defense. Leonard Peltier was extradited from Canada and tried separately because of the delay. He was convicted on two counts of first–degree murder for the deaths of the FBI agents and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life in prison, after a trial which is still contentious. He remains in prison.

In 1973, 200 Oglala Lakota and AIM activists occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, called the Wounded knee incident. They were protesting the reservation’s corrupt US-backed tribal chairman, Dick Wilson, who controlled a private militia, called Guardians of the Oglala Nation (GOONs), funded by the government. FBI, US marshals, and other law enforcement cordoned off the area and attacked the activists with armored vehicles, automatic rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers, and gas shells, resulting in two killed and 13 wounded. Ray Robinson, a civil rights activist who joined the protesters, disappeared during the events and is believed to have been murdered. As food supplies became short, three planes dropped 1,200 pounds of food, but as people scrambled to gather it up, a government helicopter appeared overhead and fired down on them while groundfire came from all sides. After the siege ended in a truce, 120 occupiers were arrested. Wilson stayed in office and in 1974 was re-elected amid charges of intimidation, voter fraud, and other abuses. The rate of violence climbed on the reservation as conflict opened between political factions in the following three years; residents accused Wilson’s private militia of much of it. 

In Nov. 1969, a group of 89 Native Americans occupied Alcatraz Island for 15 months, to gauge the US’s commitment to the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868), which stated that all abandoned federal land must be returned to native people. Eventually the government cut off all electrical power and all telephone service to the island. In June, a fire of disputed origin destroyed numerous buildings on the island. Left without power, fresh water, and in the face of diminishing public support and sympathy, the number of occupiers began to dwindle. On June 11, 1971, a large force of government officers removed the remaining 15 people from the island.

From its creation in 1968, The American Indian Movement (AIM) has been a target of repression from law enforcement agencies, and surveillance as one of the FBI’s COINTELPRO targets. This includes the wounded knee incident and the pine ridge shootout. 

In 1942 the federal government took privately held Pine Ridge Indian Reservation land owned by tribal members in order to establish the Badlands Bombing Range of 341,725 acres, evicting 125 families. Among the families evicted was that of Pat Cuny, an Oglala Sioux. He fought in World War II in the Battle of the Bulge after surviving torpedoing of his transport in the English Channel. Dewey Beard, a Miniconjou Sioux survivor of the Wounded Knee Massacre, who supported himself by raising horses on his 908-acre allotment received in 1907 was also evicted. The small federal payments were insufficient to enable such persons to buy new properties. In 1955 the 97-year-old Beard testified of earlier mistreatment at Congressional hearings about this project. He said, for “fifty years I have been kicked around. Today there is a hard winter coming. …I might starve to death.”

In 1890, US soldiers killed 150-300 people (including 65 women and 24 children) at Wounded Knee (19-26 people, including two women and eleven children.) on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Twenty-five soldiers also died, and 39 were wounded (6 of the wounded later died). At least twenty soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor. The event was driven by local racism towards the practice of Ghost Dancing, which whites found distasteful, and the Native Americans arming up in response to repeated broken treaties, stolen land, and their bison-herds being hunted to near extinction by the whites.

In 1887, the Dawes Act, and Curtis Act, resulted in the loss of 90 million acres of native-alloted land, and the abolition of many native governments. During the ensuing decades, the Five Civilized Tribes lost 90 million acres of former communal lands, which were sold to non-Natives. In addition, many individuals, unfamiliar with land ownership, became the target of speculators and criminals, were stuck with allotments that were too small for profitable farming, and lost their household lands. Tribe members also suffered from the breakdown of the social structure of the tribes.

Starting in the 1870s, The US army, aided by settlers and private hunters, began a widespread policy of slaughtering bufallo and bison, in order to destroy many tribe’s primary food source, and to starve Native Americans into submission. By 1900, they succeeded; the bufallo population dropped from more than 30 million, to a few hundred. The country’s highest generals, politicians, and presidents including Ulysses S. Grant, saw the destruction of buffalo as solution to the country’s “Indian Problem.” By destroying the food supply of the plains natives, they could more easily move them onto reservations.

Starting in 1830-50, The Trail of Tears was a series of forced removals of Native American nations, including Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, Cherokee people and the African freedmen and slaves who lived among them, from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to an area west of the Mississippi River that had been designated as Native Territory. The forced relocations were carried out by various government authorities following the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830. “Marshaled by guards, hustled by agents, harried by contractors,they were being herded on the way to an unknown and unwelcome destination like a flock of sick sheep.” They went on ox wagons, on horses, on foot, then to be ferried across the MississippiRiver. The army was supposed to organize their trek, but it turned over its job to private contractors who charged the government as much as possible, gave the Indians as little as possible. The Cherokee removal in 1838 (the last forced removal east of the Mississippi) was brought on by the discovery of gold near Dahlonega, Georgia in 1828, resulting in the Georgia Gold Rush. Approximately 2,000-6,000 of the 16,543 relocated Cherokee perished along the way.

In 1848, the California Genocide is a term used to describe the drastic decrease in Native American population in California. The population decreased from ~300,000 in 1769, to 16,000 in 1900. 

The Second Seminole War, also known as the Florida War, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between various groups of Native Americans collectively known as Seminoles and the United States, part of a series of conflicts called the Seminole Wars. The Second Seminole War, often referred to as the Seminole War, is regarded as “the longest and most costly of the Indian conflicts of the United States.” ~3000 seminoles were killed, and 4000 were deported to Indian territory elsewhere. 

In 1832, the Black Hawk War, was a brief 1832 conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader, in Illinois. The war gave impetus to the US policy of Indian removal, in which Native American tribes were pressured to sell their lands and move west of the Mississippi River and stay there. Over 500 Native Americans were killed in the conflict.

In 1832, the Chickasaw Indians were forced by the US to sell their country in 1832 and move to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) during the era of Indian Removal in the 1830s.

In 1813, the Creek War, was a war between the US, lead by the then notorious indian-hunter Andrew Jackson, and the Creek nation, residing primarily in Alabama. Over 1,500 creeks were killed. The war effectively ended with the Treaty of Fort Jackson, where General Andrew Jackson insisted that the Creek confederacy cede more than 21 million acres of land from southern Georgia and central Alabama. These lands were taken from allied Creek as well as Red Sticks. In 1814, Andrew Jackson became famous for his role in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, where his side killed more than 800 Creeks. Under Jackson, and the man he chose to succeed him, Martin Van Buren, 70,000 Indians east of the Mississippi were forced westward.

The Red Sticks, a faction of Muscogee Creek people in the American Southeast, led a resistance movement against European-American encroachment and assimilation; tensions culminated in the outbreak of the Creek War in 1813.

From 1785-96, the Northwest Indian War was a war between the US and a confederation of numerous Native American tribes, with support from the British, for control of the Northwest Territory. President George Washington directed the United States Army to enforce U.S. sovereignty over the territory. Over 1,000 Native Americans were killed in the bloody conflict.

In the 1800s, Indian removal was a policy of the United States government whereby Native Americans were forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands in the eastern United States to lands west of the Mississippi River, thereafter known as Indian Territory. That policy has been characterized by some scholars as part of a long-term genocide of Native Americans. 

The Texan-Indian Wars were a series of 19th-century conflicts between settlers in Texas and the Southern Plains Indians. Its hard to approximate the number of deaths from the conflicts, but the Indian population in Texas decreased from 20,000 to 8,000 by 1875.

The Indian Wars is a name given to the collection of over 40 conflicts and wars between Native Americans and US settlers. The US census bureau reports that they have cost the lives of about 19,000 white men, women and children, including those killed in individual combats, and the lives of about 30,000 Indians. The actual number of killed and wounded Indians must be very much higher than the number given… Fifty percent additional would be a safe estimate.

From 1500-1900s, European and later US colonists and authorities displaced and committed genocide on the Native American Population. Ward Churchill characterizes the reduction of the North American Indian population from an estimated 12 million in 1500 to barely 237,000 in 1900 as a “vast genocide.. the most sustained on record.

[dedieamars]

The infamous friendship of Nct Dream’s Park Jisoo and Park Jisung ♡

[Park Jisoo is a fictional member of the group NCT DREAM. She trained with them during SM ROOKIES and debuted with them August 2016!]

It was two years after Jisoo made her official debut, November 5th, 2013. On this particular day, two staff called Jisoo down to the trainee’s room so they could speak with her. Jisoo, curious, thought she was going to be able to start helping Mark with his training, but unfortunately for her that wasn’t it.

Not Mark, but some little small boy. As she walked into this room she was met with the two staff with bright smiles, but behind those staff was the boy. He was staring at the ground, playing with his hands like he was nervous. He slowly looked up at her, only to be met with the eyes of a young girl who he recognized. Once he noticed it was THE Park Jisoo, he immediately looked back down to the ground and he looked even more nervous then before.

The two staff explained to her that this is 11 year-old Jisung’s first day at the company whom they recruited at a dance contest. Since Jisoo was the dancer of the group and liked to help the trainee’s out with their dancing they figured it would be a perfect match. They furthermore explained that they were told by his mother that he has a hard time making friends as he’s very shy. They requested that she become his friend in an effort to get him adjusted.

Jisoo immediately saw a part of herself in him, so she knew becoming his friend would be a challenge.

I like a challenge Jisoo thought to herself.

Although Jisoo was also shy and not outgoing whatsoever, she empathized with him as it took one year for her to become close with her group mates. For a long time the only friend she ever had was Mark. Mark makes a really great friend, but she hated how she had to constantly rely on him.

Jisoo thought about all of the things she could do for him. Putting herself in his position, she knew that just starting a conversation would get her nowhere.

She came up with the idea of making a dance for him, sharing snacks with him, as well as writing him notes you would give a friend. That way he’ll notice these things and understand the effort she’s putting in for him, ultimately leading him to strike up a conversation with her.

But then she remembered he’s only 11 and probably wouldn’t be able to comprehend that but it’s okay, she’ll try anyway.

Tried was an understatement. She did as planned, left him notes of encouragement, helped him with his dancing, shared her snacks, and went the extra mile to create a special dance just for him. For the next three weeks she had continued these small gestures in hopes that it would bring them closer together.

However, nothing she did seemed to interest him. He would read the letters but would just give her a blank stare. He ate the snacks and thanked her, but it never went further than that. He watched her dance routine, but then just continued practicing.

Jisoo would follow him around and try to hang out with him but just nothing seemed to get him to actually speak to her.

Was he nervous? Or did he just not want anything to do with her.

Jisoo’s timid nature led her to feel humiliated and she grew tired of constantly putting herself out there, only to be met with distance and blank dull eyes.

She eventually gave up. Something that she has never in her life done. She stopped doing all the things she had done before and left him alone as per silent request. She really believed that he just didn’t like her and didn’t want her as a friend.

That was until Jisoo was walking to the trainee room and was stopped by the sound of sobs from the bathroom. She could see Jisung’s small figure from the crack of the door. Concern fluttered her heart as she pushed the door open and saw Jisung sitting on the ground with tears streaming down his face.

She immediately crouched down in front of him and placed a hand on his shoulder and asked him what was wrong.

Jisung slowly picked up his head to look up at her and make eye contact. Something that he avoided doing for the past few weeks.

Through hiccuping breaths, Jisung said that he thought she hated him considering the fact that she had stopped interacting with him completely.

Part of Jisoo felt frustrated because she had tried so hard for him but he was the one not interacting, if anything it should’ve been the other way around.

That frustrated side was washed away as Jisung started to sob even harder because he thought Jisoo was mad because she wasn’t replying to him.

Jisoo softened at the sight and embraced him in a hug. She put his head in her chest and wrapped her arm the back of his head with one hand, and pat his back with the other.

“Shhh. Don’t cry Jisung..”

Jisoo started to tear up. It reminded her of her younger siblings who she was never able to see due to her being in the company.

At this point she didn’t care if he continued to ignore her, she just wanted to help and guide him.

As Jisung’s sobs slowly died down she moved her hand off of the back of his head and looked at him.

“are you okay Jisung?”

He wiped his tears, looked at her, and nodded.

“I want to be friends with you Jisoo, and I also want to learn your dance.. and keep reading your notes..”

[dykehayleywilliams]

may I ask about the mitski curse or is it secret knowledge

*LONG POST INCOMING* It all started in 2016.

I've been a Mitski fan since 2014 when First Love/Late Spring premiered on Stereogum and desperately wanted to see her live. The chance finally came after I moved to New York; I had tickets for her show in February 2016 at The Knitting Factory. But then. A freeze hit the city that weekend, resulting in a pipe in the shitty apartment bursting so I missed the show because I had to wait for the emergency repair guy to come by. Okay, well that's a bummer, I though. I've been waiting for almost two years to see Mitski but surely I'll get another chance. July 2016. I was living in Texas for the summer, a few hours away from Austin, where Mitski had a show scheduled. Perfect! I can drive up to the show! My old, barely functioning truck can handle the drive! It did not. My car broke down two hours outside Austin.

November 2016. Third try to see Mitski in a year is the charm, right? Oh wait, I waited too long to buy a flight to my grandma's for thanksgiving and I had to fly out the day of the Mitski show because every other flight was $500 more expensive.

By 2017 I was starting to get worried. I had tickets to see her April 2017, but I got horrific food poisoning and couldn't get out of bed for three days.

I didn't get another try until late 2018 on the Be The Cowboy tour during her 4 night residency at Brooklyn Steel. Except Mitski's popularity had blown up significantly and I couldn't get tickets when they went on sale the first three shows. BUT THEN a fourth show was added, on a Monday night, and I finally got tickets! Perfect! Until I had a final project for one of my classes scheduled the same night that I could not miss without failing the class, and I desperately tried to find tickets for another night but none were available for under $300.

At that point I was convinced: I was cursed. There were no tour dates I was even able to TRY to make, and then in September 2019 Mitski played Summer Stage (two weeks after I moved from New York) and announced it would indefinitely be her last live show.

October 2021: Mitski releases Working for the Knife and announces a tour. The closest tour date to where I was living was 8 hours away, but I fought for my life for tickets and was determined I would finally break the curse.

I got COVID two days before Mitski's Denver show in March 2022.

BUT WAIT! Mitski was announced as one of the openers for HSLOT's European stadium leg! And my friends and I planned a bar trip to Scotland that lined up with the weekend of Harry's show in Glasgow! Okay, maybe seeing Mitski as an opener at a stadium show isn't ideal, but I was desperate. Except, of course, the stadium entry was a complete mess, and we didn't get into the show until the very end of Mitski's set. I had finally seen her live, but for 8 minutes and at what cost.

I wasn't happy, but I told myself it wasn't the end of the world because I already had plans to see Mitski at the All Things Go festival in October, so redemption would come soon enough. Then Hurricane Ian hit and my flight to DC that had a layover in Orlando was cancelled the day before I was supposed to leave. At that point, there was nothing I could do but laugh. Why did I think it would go any differently this time? No. I couldn't take it anymore. I dropped wayyyyy too much money on a different flight to DC with no layover. That flight was delayed by 5 hours, but I made it. Nothing was going to stop me.

Mitski's set starts. We're in the pit, I'm 5'2" so I'm on my tip toes, straining my neck to keep my eyes on Mitski. And then. Everyone's BeReals went off during Francis Forever and the crowd became a sea of phones. I was crushed. I had broken the curse, but 9 years too late.

[linkseasonmaster]

“To Sir Donald Trump, the two-faced bastard of bigotry. You are arrogant and out of touch with the needs of the American people. Your campaign of greed and hate makes you unfit to lead a nation. Thus we have decided to make you confess all your crimes and expose the coward beneath all that orange. From, The Phantom Thieves.” The above image is a fan-made calling card I found online, one written in the style of those delivered to all kinds of horrendous villains by the heroes in a video game franchise near and dear to my heart. And if Donald J. Trump were to find copies of this calling card plastered to every visible surface of each and every property he claims ownership of, I unashamedly would scream with joy, for he would deserve every single one of them along with the change of heart that follows, confessing to all of the awful things he has ever done and demanding to be thrown in prison. After all, Trump and his supporters are just like the corrupt authority figures from the games, indulging in revolting behavior and hiding behind their power base. I have felt this way for years, and now I shall explain why.

Back in 2015, when there were still more than 10 candidates in the running to be the Republican candidate for President of the United States, I was on a cross country road trip with two members of my family. One of our stops was in a town in Illinois attributed to being where Abraham Lincoln, a man famous for making the practice of slavery illegal in the USA, was born and raised. This was at a point in time between two specific derogatory remarks made by Donald Trump, each targeting a different demographic, namely Mexicans and Muslims. That evening, after spending the afternoon learning more about Lincoln than I ever learned in school such as his efforts to combat antisemitism, I would have one of the worst nightmares of my life.

In my dream, Trump made the proclamation that “Abolishing slavery was a mistake!” at one of his political rallies. That comment gets him the presidency, and once he is in office, he begins setting up concentration camps for countless minorities. If you were a person of color, belonged to a religion that wasn’t “Christianity,” had a non-neurotypical brain, possessed any form of mental health issue, or whose gender identity, sexual orientation, and romantic preferences went outside of narrow expectations, you were to be rounded up and imprisoned or executed within the walls of hellholes like those of Nazi Germany.

I tried telling my traveling companions about my nightmare the following morning, but they brushed me off, saying Trump would never win the nomination. I spent so much of the rest of 2015 warning everyone I could about that awful dream, but even come the 2016 November election, only two people ever took me seriously: my therapist as well as a family friend who all but fled the deep south years earlier and was just as terrified as I was. The day after that malignant narcissist was elected the first time, young children at the after-school program I worked at came up to me, frightened for their lives as well as those of their loved ones because of Trump’s rhetoric. But when I was rendered speechless in my attempt to respond, the site director yelled at me for not reassuring them, even if it meant intentionally lying to them. And when Trump’s administration started abducting people crossing the borders, separating families, and locking kids in cages, coworkers would insist it was made up. Yet considering these same coworkers openly complained about Jews and liberals, all while trying to hurriedly assure me I was “one of the good ones” whenever I pointed out I was Jewish and a liberal, there’s no doubt in my mind they knew it was real and just didn’t want me calling them out on it. And all too often, when my family gets together, they’ll all start complaining about the news and current events, yet continue to make it difficult for me to make any sort of contribution to the conversation. With all of that, I just started to feel like it didn’t matter whether or not I talked about my views on Trump and his cult. I’d get told off for saying nothing, and no one wanted to listen when I actually spoke. So why bother? Well, considering the sheer number of people who voted for Trump this time around, I can’t help but wonder if I’ll ever get another chance after he’s sworn into office again. Because whether or not he knew about the creation of Project 2025, Trump and every single person who supports him either actually want to see it come to fruition or have no problems selling out their fellow citizens if it means potentially putting a tiny, short-lived dent into their believed rising inflation rate for goods and services. From trying to thrust their interpretation of Christianity down the throats of children all around the country, all while ignoring that the religion’s namesake was himself a Jewish rabbi who preached about providing aid to the impoverished, to punishing any teachers trying to educate children about how their bodies change over time or the history of slavery and racism in the US, these hateful adults have made their wishes crystal clear.

In my eyes, everyone who has ever voted for Trump, be it now or back in 2016, from those who actually agree with his rhetoric to those simply not wanting to rock the boat, are blood-drenched, puss-filled, urine-soaked, vomit-coated, diarrhea-covered, sweat-stained, mucus-caked, wretched abominations masquerading as sentient beings. It doesn’t matter if I am a stranger, an acquaintance, a blood relation, or someone considered to be a loved one. By supporting and enabling Donald Trump and every single bigot in this nation, you’ve all but shown that you would enthusiastically see me and everyone even remotely like me enslaved, locked up, exiled, or dead. But I guess I shouldn’t expect anything else from those who could witness firsthand Trump raping, killing, and eating one of their own children yet would rather ask the person next to them to pass the popcorn than raise an objection. I can only hope that one day, be it in this life or the afterlife, all of these awful bigots experience a punishment right out of a Danganronpa game: personally tailored, horrifically brutal, and utterly humiliating.

Oh, and if you are wondering if I’ve had any other dreams about the future since Trump was elected in 2016? I’m honestly confused as to why you suddenly decided to stop treating me like Cassandra from Greek mythology, an oracle cursed to accurately predict the future but to have no one ever listen to her warnings. But since I’ve already come this far, I might as well tell you. During Trump’s first term, I dreamt on two separate occasions of dying in an atomic blast. Once, the bomb was dropped right on my house, and I died in my own basement. The second dream took place at an elementary school, and I could only watch in horror as myself and the children I was supposed to be looking after all disappeared in a flash of light. And yet there’s one other premonition I began to receive as soon as Trump was first elected. There’s a single phrase I’ve echoing in my head ever since that night, even eight years later, and when I share it with people around me, it almost always renders them silent.

Blood. There will be blood.

I’ve heard those five words promising future bloodshed repeating in my brain every day since the outdated electoral college decided to let Trump win instead of Hillary Clinton. They didn’t stop when white supremacists killed a counterprotestor in Charlottesville. They didn’t stop after the Parkland High School shooting in 2017, nor the mass shooting in Uvalde in 2022. They didn’t stop when protestors were killed during the George Floyd demonstrations of 2020, nor when COVID took the lives of countless people around the world. They didn’t stop when Trump whipped his fanbase into a frenzy following his defeat to Joe Biden in 2020, or when said followers tried to usurp the United States government in an assault on its capital and Trump refused to condemn the attackers. They didn’t stop when China stole the freedom of those who live in Hong Kong, or when Putin began his invasion of Ukraine. They didn’t stop when Hamas brutally murdered and kidnapped Israeli citizens, or when Netanyahu used said attack as an excuse to bomb Gaza and invade Lebanon, civilians and hostages be damned. And a day after Trump won a second term in the White House, following the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year that anyone who holds the position of president is above the law, that phrase hasn’t quieted in the slightest. So if none of these incidents and others have been destructive enough to satisfy that premonition, it can only mean one thing at this point: the worst is yet to come.

But I refuse to just roll over for these blatant oppressors. I won’t sink to the level of these bigots and mistreat others because of their heritage or orientation, even if all of Project 2025 comes to be passed into law. After all, it’s because of people like those who penned that accursed document, the cops and armed forces who have gotten away with attacking and even killing protestors, the Supreme Court that has gutted key protections against women and minorities, and countless others that I have long since stopped viewing the law as a means to ensure that those who do wrong are punished and those who do good are protected. So long as the wealthy and corrupt are allowed to hold power over the government, the law is nothing more than a tool for those holding all of the chips, with Trump and his ilk having done nothing but try to rig these twisted, unjust games in their favor. They care nothing for the intended spirit of the law, only how to twist the word of law to their benefit. It is for these reasons that I hope I am never put in a situation where I have to choose between doing what is moral and what is legal, because I am sure I will become an outlaw should that happen. And an outlaw worth their salt never goes down easy, no matter what happens to them. 

So go ahead, you fascist creeps. Try to rob me and those I care about of our futures. We’ll continue searching for ways to create our own destinies, if for no other reason than to spite those who see themselves as gods. And even if one day my own journey ends before true justice has prevailed, I know that there will be someone, someday who can carry this torch onwards through the harrowing night and towards a brand new dawn.

[horizon-verizon]

If we're going to use the YT version of the dance I'm just going to point out that VB are blonde and it's only mentioned that they're bastards in one of them. If you watch just the video that narrates the beginning you might even think that the 5 are Hero children with Daemon and Rhaenys is her mother

Probably an answer to this post. And the Blu-Ray recorded narration for the Dance of the Dragons is this video.

The Youtube Video of the Dance portion was Published 7 years ago, March 16, 2016. Fire and Blood was Published November 20, 2018.

The entire "Game of Thrones: Histories & Lore" animated series of six installments that began back in 2012, ending 2019. *EDIT- 10/18/24* Found out I already had a post about this, and the episode came out in 2016, AND it was based on "The Princess and the Queen" more, and not F&B. The latter has Cregan's short stint as Hand; the blu Ray doesn't have The Hour of the Wolf...which canonically occurred before Aegon and Jaehaera marry. If that's not enough to pose this Blu Ray rendition of the Dance and its aftermath as irrelevant, esp when GRRM completed his telling of the Dance and its aftermath in F&B , then people are lying to themselves. Or stupid. *END OF EDIT*

Yes, they were blonde in that narration. Rhaenys was also at first white-golden haired before GRRM changed it.

Still, I don't think it's bad nor does it undermine Rhaenyra's claim to admit that her kids might not be Laenor's; me, I think they weren't and I thought that since before HotD bc the timing is just too off and I really don't think that Aegon III and Viserys II would let such a weird inconsistency (that their older brothers were brown haired, yada yada) go nor in the popular tale nor in the Citadel.

Yeah, Rhaenys has Baratheon blood and Baratheons have dark hair and perhaps the details abt the boys' dark eyes and "pug" unturned or "button" noses could have come from her genes from again the Barathons (the eyes, not so much: Baratheons don't typically have dark eyes, they have grey to blue...mostly blue). Yes, perhaps Aemma had dark hair herself.

But Rhaenyra getting pregnant by Laenor 3 times...for each boy to come out having all these same physical characteristics when he didn't really stay around even after a certain event occurred? When he himself had purple eyes, white-gold hair, etc.? That's a bit much.

Why does it not undermine the "legal" claim (if there had been no greens)? Because they are claimed by the necessary parties and are Rhaenyra (the heir)'s children. Legal vs ideological; in Westeros and often in real life, even bigots often move way if they find themselves unable to really enforce their own ideals if they don't have much money or resources to do so. What more self concerned nobles who have luttle to really gain by inviting royal punishments on themselves if they were to say her kids weren't Laenor's? Again, it does matter, but it's not necessarily a 100% death sentence for either Rhaenyra or her kids; and if handled right, the probability of disaster lowers. What Rhaenyra's issue was that Alicent provided dragonriding sons and a daughter (who was made pretty inactive aside from giving babies) who she then made sure to think they had to usurp Rhaenyra to gain their "birthright" as males, which gave them a chance to access what Otto/Alicent wanted when she was married off to Viserys--the throne. Alicent was also the Queen consort. Thus, they had a reason and ability to indirectly accuse Rhaenyra of infidelity and lying to the King to ruin the line of succession.

I don't think anyone should really stress that much over the boys' appearances/indications of paternity as much as this whole "they had pale hair" thing leads people sometimes.

It's valuable in getting green fans to shut up about a supposed lack of ambiguity GRRM wrote for it, about their parentage and thus them trying to close what I described as legal vs ideological meaning and effects of "bastardry" for Rhaenyra (history showing us what "bastard" meant and how one applied it functionally). Which was always meant to make readers think and guide them to why it doesn't really matter in the way they think nor in the degree they think in the first place. Meant to put to question what sort of "fault" they should apply and to whom to reveal biases or misunderstandings of human behavior and intent.