#arkley

[dubmill]

Arkley, Barnet, London; 25.4.2021

[thegarbagechute]

We're strolling down memory lane and I forgot about the perfect, hilarious shit down along that path ksdjfksdfkjsdf

I made it better.

Again.

[bineshbpt]

Arkley/Barnet

[topcat77]

"well situated home", 1991

Howard Arkley

[justmuscle4u]

Marshall Arkley 🇬🇧

[thunderstruck9]

Howard Arkley (Australian, 1951-1999), Sampler: Formal, 1998. Acrylic on canvas, 150 x 120 cm.

[zushwood]

[atlantes96]

Marshall Arkley - 15.1.25

✅ 530

🏳️‍🌈CLICK 👇👇👇

[dubmill]

Barnet Gate, London; 17.12.2023

[dubmill]

Moat Mount Open Space, Barnet, London; 28.10.2023

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Joan McCarter at Daily Kos:

The Senate Judiciary Committee has given the right-wing benefactors of Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito plenty of opportunity to tell their side of the story when it comes to the lavish gifts and trips the backers have supplied. But those wealthy benefactors—Leonard Leo, Harlan Crow, and Robin Arkley II—have refused to cooperate. So they’re getting subpoenaed. Sens. Dick Durbin, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sheldon Whitehouse, chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights, announced their intent to subpoena the three Monday, writing, “Due to Crow, Leo, and Arkley’s intransigence, the Committee is now forced to seek compulsory process to obtain the information they hold.” The vote will be held as soon as Nov. 9, the leaders told The Washington Post.

Durbin told Politico he believes that Judiciary Committee subpoenas could reveal more information about the connections between these Republican megadonors and the conservative justices. “I’m sorry to say, I think there's a lot more there,” he said. His isn’t the only committee delving into the finances and ethics of the justices. The Senate Finance Committee has an ongoing investigation into the largesse Thomas has received from multiple donors—or “friends,” as they insist on calling themselves. Durbin is confident he will have the votes of all of the Democrats on the panel to approve the subpoenas now that newly appointed California Sen. Laphonza Butler is on the panel. The long illness and death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein meant that the committee was in a stalemate with Republicans for much of this year. Democrats have the majority again, and they plan to use it.

Leonard Leo, Harlan Crow, and Robin Arkley II will finally be subpoenaed to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee led by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).

[sepublic]

            I want to discuss Kress, and specifically why the Arkley Gang cast her out. As I’ve established, it’s because Arkley saw the type of magic she was getting into as too threatening even for him, or more specifically, it had too much potential to be turned against Arkley.

         Right now, I’m trying to decide on the nature of this magic; What exactly was Kress dabbling in? I’ve considered that maybe she had a particular innate talent for Chimera Casting, having the potential to create entire armies of chimeras at her beck and call. But the thing about Chimera Casters is that their creations are loyal to them, and them only; They can order a chimera to prioritize someone else, but nothing’s stopping them from changing their mind, either.

         To Kress, there were only benefits to indulging in this potential of hers; The idea that she could turn her army against the Arkley Gang was unimaginable, she didn’t even bother to consider it. But to Arkley, the idea of one of his ‘children’ being such a load-bearing element for an entire aspect of his organization, and one that had all of the control for whom he could only depend upon the loyalty of, did not sit right with him. He didn’t like relinquishing that much control, and reasoned that any benefits of having an army of chimeras would be immediately offset the moment Kress realized she could turn against him.

         At least with Three-Bladed Sam and her Terror Triads, they were still their own independent people who could think for themselves and be reasoned with; Theoretically, Sam could order her troops to turn on Arkley, but Arkley could always appeal to the Terror Triads’ greed to have them maintain loyalty to him. But the chimeras were bound to their creator and wouldn’t entertain treachery, nor would they hesitate to uproot their entire system on the whims of someone who wasn’t even at the absolute top.

         This might be why the Arkley Gang discouraged Kress, who either felt betrayed and THEN attempted open defiance and was exiled, and/or was directly betrayed ahead of time by the Arkley Gang. I’m still figuring this out, but by the present day, Kress is working with Trexdis to gather materials for all manner of chimeras, gradually amassing an army, one beast at a time, and storing them somewhere. Chimeras are still very mortal, so Kress insists on saving them only for the big push against Arkley, and not against other threats like the Escapees, or even her fellow alumni; This is for balancing purposes.

         That’s one consideration… But I’ve also had another in mind;

         Remember what I suggested earlier about Nick Dragomir Kajumon just being Ottish Ven, after he lost his memories and was indoctrinated by the Arkley Gang? Arkley would have big reason to fear Ottish Ven, having heard the legends of this charismatic conqueror, maybe even having been alive during his big heyday. He’s a powerful force on a leash, but one that could easily turn against and rival him if it got back its memories…

         So maybe what Kress was doing, unwittingly, threatened to restore those memories. I’m workshopping different abilities/powers for Kress, and I’m currently partial to the idea of sound-based magic… There’s not too much of a correlation with memories and sound, so maybe I’d still have to change/add to Kress’ arsenal, or maybe it was a new field she explored. If that were the case, she’d probably continue exploring that field out of spite when she was betrayed, though…

         Regardless, Kress isn’t a Chimera Caster in this version of events; She doesn’t have the potential to create an entire army loyal only to her. It’s just that her type of magic could allow her to, by accident, undo whatever’s keeping Nick’s memories from returning to him, if it were some sort of mental block, something like that. And THAT’s what scares Arkley… And it’s what also breaks Kress when she finds out.

         Because in this scenario, she doesn’t know what she did wrong; All she knows is that this type of magic was considered a particular threat by Arkley, for some reason, and she didn’t know why. But she’d dive into it regardless to figure it out… For years, Kress nurtured herself on the reassurance that she really was something special and dangerous; That even if she felt stung about the betrayal, at least it affirmed for her just how much she could stand on her own, that she could do her own thing, and really was THAT good. She became Valedictorian for a reason, right?

         There’d be the belief in her capability, to uproot the Arkley Gang; And that’s what would keep her going, help Kress believe she could take on this massive goliath (maybe I should keep Kress male just to retain the name David for symbolism…), because the goliath itself seemed to think so, and was certain enough about that to betray! So to find out the truth…

         In the end, Kress herself wasn’t actually a threat; It was all just someone else. It wasn’t about what Kress was capable of, it was about what her fellow alumnus could do. And that could just add to Kress and Nick’s dynamic, Kress feeling like Nick is an idiot who has wasted his potential, being lowkey jealous… And then finding out that Nick is the sole reason for Kress being taken so seriously, for being cast out by Arkley, unloved. It turns out most of Kress’ coping confidence relies on Nick, so can you imagine how she’d feel? She's nothing without him, and now that Kress has fulfilled her purpose, she’s just nothing, period.

         I can envision it; The big twist that Nick is Ottish Ven, coupled with the big reveal of why Kress was feared. And it wasn’t actually about Kress, and someone, probably Draik or Metallicus, rubs that in her face when the truth is revealed; It was never about you. We never feared you specifically. All you can do is knock down a tiny domino that pushes forward the actual monster, Ottish Ven, and that’s all you’re good for, setting someone else up. And that someone is a person who can't even make full use of his potential, unlike you, at least until now...

         That would break Kress, and I might rub salt in the wound by having Nick’s memories return not even from her, but from some other method, making her feel truly useless. I can imagine Draik or Metallicus feeling particularly cruel, and rubbing it in her face by musing; Well, we only feared you because of your capacity to restore Ottish Ven. But now that that’s already done, you’re no longer the danger we thought you were… So why not come back to us? We’ll welcome you! We have no more reason to be afraid of you, not that it was ever you who mattered, really.

         I just feel like it’d really mess up Kress, even more than she already is, and tie into another character’s arc. It’d be thematically tragic. It’d play into Kress’ whole inferiority complex and struggling relationship with strength, feeling the need to prove a point to someone, to play by their game and its rules. Wondering if there’s anything else to her besides revenge, if she can have that other thing AND revenge, or if they’re mutually exclusive. How does Kress pick herself back up after this revelation, how does her feelings and potential resentment towards Nick, amplified, play into the chaos of Ottish Ven’s return? Does she help, does she just want him dead, what happens?

         So as you can imagine, I’m caught between these two takes, and for all I know I may even come up with a third in the future. Alas, I consider these options mutually exclusive; The whole point of Kress being the one to unlock Nick’s memories is that it’s a tragic realization that shatters her self-perception even further. But if she has an entire army of chimeras cooking somewhere, then that defeats the point. I’ll probably have Nick be Ottish Ven either way, for the sake of HIS storyline… But that raises the question of how Kress will factor into it, and whether it’s the one good thing she’s apparently good for, or not.

         Because I’ll be honest, I REALLY want to explore the fun of a character who can make all manner of horrible fusions from organic life, and have them be based in a ‘normal’ world in order to contrast with the setting. Maybe I should hand this role over to the Horned Demon, who is Tamericus’ master and an alchemist anyhow; That might make more sense. And then I figure out some connection between Kress’ sound magic and Nick getting back his memories.

[dubmill]

Shenley, Herts; 31.7.2022

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Justin Elliott, Joshua Kaplan, and Alex Mierjeski at ProPublica:

In early July 2008, Samuel Alito stood on a riverbank in a remote corner of Alaska. The Supreme Court justice was on vacation at a luxury fishing lodge that charged more than $1,000 a day, and after catching a king salmon nearly the size of his leg, Alito posed for a picture. To his left, a man stood beaming: Paul Singer, a hedge fund billionaire who has repeatedly asked the Supreme Court to rule in his favor in high-stakes business disputes. Singer was more than a fellow angler. He flew Alito to Alaska on a private jet. If the justice chartered the plane himself, the cost could have exceeded $100,000 one way. In the years that followed, Singer’s hedge fund came before the court at least 10 times in cases where his role was often covered by the legal press and mainstream media. In 2014, the court agreed to resolve a key issue in a decade-long battle between Singer’s hedge fund and the nation of Argentina. Alito did not recuse himself from the case and voted with the 7-1 majority in Singer’s favor. The hedge fund was ultimately paid $2.4 billion. Alito did not report the 2008 fishing trip on his annual financial disclosures. By failing to disclose the private jet flight Singer provided, Alito appears to have violated a federal law that requires justices to disclose most gifts, according to ethics law experts. Experts said they could not identify an instance of a justice ruling on a case after receiving an expensive gift paid for by one of the parties. “If you were good friends, what were you doing ruling on his case?” said Charles Geyh, an Indiana University law professor and leading expert on recusals. “And if you weren’t good friends, what were you doing accepting this?” referring to the flight on the private jet. Justices are almost entirely left to police themselves on ethical issues, with few restrictions on what gifts they can accept. When a potential conflict arises, the sole arbiter of whether a justice should step away from a case is the justice him or herself. ProPublica’s investigation sheds new light on how luxury travel has given prominent political donors — including one who has had cases before the Supreme Court — intimate access to the most powerful judges in the country. Another wealthy businessman provided expensive vacations to two members of the high court, ProPublica found. On his Alaska trip, Alito stayed at a commercial fishing lodge owned by this businessman, who was also a major conservative donor. Three years before, that same businessman flew Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016, on a private jet to Alaska and paid the bill for his stay. Such trips would be unheard of for the vast majority of federal workers, who are generally barred from taking even modest gifts. Leonard Leo, the longtime leader of the conservative Federalist Society, attended and helped organize the Alaska fishing vacation. Leo invited Singer to join, according to a person familiar with the trip, and asked Singer if he and Alito could fly on the billionaire’s jet. Leo had recently played an important role in the justice’s confirmation to the court. Singer and the lodge owner were both major donors to Leo’s political groups.

ProPublica’s examination of Alito’s and Scalia’s travel drew on trip planning emails, Alaska fishing licenses, and interviews with dozens of people including private jet pilots, fishing guides, former high-level employees of both Singer and the lodge owner, and other guests on the trips. ProPublica sent Alito a list of detailed questions last week, and on Tuesday, the Supreme Court’s head spokeswoman told ProPublica that Alito would not be commenting. Several hours later, The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by Alito responding to ProPublica’s questions about the trip. Alito said that when Singer’s companies came before the court, the justice was unaware of the billionaire’s connection to the cases. He said he recalled speaking to Singer on “no more than a handful of occasions,” and they never discussed Singer’s business or issues before the court. Alito said that he was invited to fly on Singer’s plane shortly before the trip and that the seat “​​would have otherwise been vacant.” He defended his failure to report the trip to the public, writing that justices “commonly interpreted” the disclosure requirements to not include “accommodations and transportation for social events.”

This spring, ProPublica reported that Justice Clarence Thomas received decades of luxury travel from another Republican megadonor, Dallas real estate magnate Harlan Crow. In a statement, Thomas defended the undisclosed trips, saying unnamed colleagues advised him that he didn’t need to report such gifts to the public. Crow also gave Thomas money in an undisclosed real estate deal and paid private school tuition for his grandnephew, who Thomas was raising as a son. Thomas reported neither transaction on his disclosure forms. The undisclosed gifts have prompted lawmakers to launch investigations and call for ethics reform. Recent bills would impose tighter rules for justices’ recusals, require the Supreme Court to adopt a binding code of conduct and create an ethics body, which would investigate complaints. Neither a code nor an ethics office currently exists. [...]

It was a common sentiment among conservative lawyers, who often accuse liberal judges of activist overreach. While Singer’s career as an attorney was short-lived, his convictions about the law stayed with him for decades. After starting a hedge fund that eventually made him one of the richest people in the country, he began directing huge sums to causes on the right. That included groups, like the Federalist Society, dedicated to fostering the conservative legal movement and putting its followers on the bench. In the last decade, Singer has contributed over $80 million to Republican political groups. He has also given millions to the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank where he has served as chairman since 2008. The institute regularly files friend-of-the-court briefs with the Supreme Court — at least 15 this term, including one asking the court to block student loan relief. Singer’s interest in the courts is more than ideological. His hedge fund, Elliott Management, is best known for making investments that promise handsome returns but could require bruising legal battles. Singer has said he’s drawn to positions where you “control your own destiny, not just riding up and down with the waves of financial markets.” That can mean pressuring corporate boards to fire a CEO, brawling with creditors over the remains of a bankrupt company and suing opponents.

[...] The only clear thread connecting the prominent guests on the trip is that they all had a relationship with Leo. Leo is now a giant in judicial politics who helped handpick Donald Trump’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees and recently received a $1.6 billion donation to further his political interests. Leo’s network of political groups was in its early days, however, when he traveled with Alito to Alaska. It had run an advertising campaign supporting Alito in his confirmation fight, and Leo was reportedly part of the team that prepared Alito for his Senate hearings. Singer and Arkley, the businessmen who provided the trip to the justice, were both significant donors to Leo’s groups at the time, according to public records and reporting by The Daily Beast. Arkley also sometimes provided Leo with one of his private planes to travel to business meetings, according to a former pilot of Arkley’s. In his statement, Leo did not address detailed questions about the trip, but he said “no objective and well-informed observer of the judiciary honestly could believe that they decide cases in order to cull favor with friends, or in return for a free plane seat or fishing trip.” He added that the public should wonder whether ProPublica’s coverage is “bait for reeling in more dark money from woke billionaires who want to damage this Supreme Court and remake it into one that will disregard the law by rubber stamping their disordered and highly unpopular cultural preferences.” Arkley is a fixture in local politics in his hometown of Eureka, California, known for lashing out at city officials and for once starting his own newspaper reportedly out of disdain for the local press. By the early 2000s, he’d made a fortune buying and servicing distressed mortgages and also become a significant donor in national GOP politics.

ProPublica exposes yet another conservative judge on the Supreme Court with ethics problems, and this time, it's Samuel Alito. Federalist Society founder Leonard Leo plays a major role in these ethics breaches.

Read the full story at ProPublica.

See Also:

Vox: The Supreme Court has an ethics problem. Justice Alito’s fishing trip is the latest proof.

[xiakato]

GISELLE- The Bitch In The Red Dress (M)

A/n: I've been playing too much resident evil lately

September 1998, you'll never forget it. The grizzly murders in the Arkley Mountains to the zombie outbreak in Raccoon city, her. She strung you along with little to no effort. Her beauty was something else, something not of this world. You and her got along per se, a kiss to stop your overthinking while you were in the thick of it. The hive was when everything went south. Her lies came out in the open due to the person you have been chasing with her.  The explosions destroy the bridge and they are desperate to hold her from falling. The slipping of her hand from yours. The sinking heart as you watch her fall with the metal bridge. You had to get out, the city was forfeit.

Years later

You got hit by an assignment, the president's daughter was kidnapped by a cult in Spain's countryside. Ever since Raccoon city, you've tried to get away from the fight with the B.O.Ws that Umbrella left behind and the ones that are hidden away from greedy eyes. The cult leader, Saddler, is an extremist. Possibly due to the influence of the plaga or perhaps he always had these ideals and beliefs and the discovery of the plaga allowed him to act on it. The countless lives of the villagers, those part of the cult and those who were experimented on were lost. You fought through the village, Castle De Salazar, the place where you ran into her, The one that stole your heart amidst chaos. The red dress is reminiscent of the one she wore all those years ago. The knife shines in the moonlight as it is pressed against her neck, her porcelain skin reflecting in the polished finish. 

“Use knives next time, they’re better for close encounters,” You take the handgun from her hand tossing it to the side sheathing your knife. 

“Y/n,” You look at the woman as she takes off her sunglasses, you thought she was dead.

“What are you doing here Giselle?” You ask her, keeping your feelings in check. You’re on a mission, you have to be on guard at all times. 

“Don’t worry about it, handsome,” She walks towards the window, “So cold to me after all these years apart.” 

“After your lies, you’re lucky I don’t shoot you here and now,” You stare at her, fighting the urge to soak in her moon kissed beauty. 

“Oh honey, I didn’t mean to lie to you, we both had a job to do that day,” You shake your head at her as she smirks,” Well see you around handsome,” She tosses her glasses causing a flash bang to go off blinding you as she takes off out of the window.  You stare out of the window she left from,shaking your head leaving to the maze below. The castle was something else, the castellan was an interesting character to say the least. Ningning got taken to an island off the coast. Chasing after the man that took her, he’s quick perhaps beyond human limits. Getting to the dock, seeing a boat with a woman inside. She looks at you, “Need a ride handsome?” 

The rough waters did little to deter you from looking at her, her hair neatly done despite the situation. You shake your head, getting rid of the excess thoughts. “Why Giselle?” 

“All these years and that’s all you can ask Y/n?” She quirks an eyebrow, “You disappoint me.” 

“I have something to ask you, but I won’t get a straight answer,” She chuckles as you sigh,”Raccoon City, after the incident. You try to save one, a hundred more die. The world changed and so have I. So the question is have you changed Giselle? or are you just trying to use me again?” 

“You? Changed? You only think you have, what do you think? Do you think I’ve changed?” She looks over as she pulls the boat over to the side off the cliff aiming her grapple gun, “Don’t think too hard, handsome,” She takes off rocking the boat, you react quickly, steadying the boat before leaning back in the chair and sighing. 

“Story of my life.” 

The island was just as you expected to be, until you ran into him, Krauser. The man that trained you, the sparks from the knives slashing against each other. He knocks you onto your back diving his knife for your neck, a gunshot rings out making Krauser jump back and look over where it came from.

“Well if it isn’t The Bitch In The Red Dress,” He smirks as she starts firing down at them, with his enhancements, he can run faster than humanly possible. Dodging the bullets and jumping towards her, she grapples out of the way with him still chasing. 

“What the fuck is happening here?” 

The island of horrors, abdominations, fucking lasers, a comfy throne. You are pretty sure you’ve seen it all on this island alone. Finding Ningning again, you managed to find a machine that can get rid of your plaga after Giselle saved your ass again. Sending electric currents into a certain spot at a single spot, for one fucking hurt, and two killed the plaga so You are free from the plagas control and Saddler has another thing coming. Rushing outside to see Giselle tied by her wrists hanging in the ai. 

“Y/n isn’t that?” Ning asks, as you nod.

“Stay here,” You tell her as you get into the elevator heading up, meeting Saddler as you ignore him tossing your knife cutting down Giselle. His form changed into a spider-like form with eyeballs on his legs. The fight felt like it took forever, Until you spot Giselle running over, “Y/n use this~” She yells out tossing a RPG towards you, you rush picking it up. Shooting it at Saddler as he recoils from the blast, his body sizzles away, you spot the vial, you grab it as you feel a gun press against your head. 

“Hand it over,” Giselle says as you hand it behind you, she takes as she runs off the side getting an helicopter, “The island is set to blow,” She tosses a key ring, “Better hurry up Prince Charming.”

The helicopter takes off as you run back to the elevator, grabbing Ning by the hand, “We have to go,” You rush towards the underground water way, seeing a jet ski waiting for you, you hop on with her and speed away dodging the falling rocks, you get out of the waterway with Ning holding on tightly. 

“Wow that was close,” She says resting her head on your back, “So um.. what do you think about some over time?” 

“I’m good,” You chuckle, “I have some one else in my mind.”

“Is it her?” She asks and you merely nod as you drive off, “I figured,” She mutters leaning her head down on your shoulder. 

You get a nice vacation after getting the president's daughter back to the states. You take in a breath of fresh air standing in front of your house, getting to the front door, you notice it's slightly opened. Immediately drawing your 9mm, turning the safety off you make your way through the living room. Clearing every room in the bottom floor before moving up. Clearing rooms up to yours. Opening the door, your laser lands in the middle of the forehead of the intruder.

"Oh my, what a welcome," she's says as she crosses her legs in her trademarked red dress.

     "What are you doing here Giselle?" you ask her holstering your gun, sighing.

"just thought I'll see you again," her eyes trailing your body in suit. "You look good like you always do, perhaps the president's daughter flirting with you did you some good."

“Don’t even talk about that,” You place your gun onto the dresser by the wall before looking back at her as she stands walking over to you, her hands trailing down your shirt undoing button by button. She pulls off your shirt and suit jacket in one swoop. She kisses your scars soflty, her eyes lock onto the gunshot on your shoulder. 

“I remember when this happen,” Her fingers softly glazes over the gunshot, “I was scared to be honest.” 

“Even though you say that, were you really?” You question her as you feel her fingers quiver against your skin

“I’m telling the truth for once, Y/n. I didn’t want to lose you even though I only just met you a few hours prior,” She kisses the scar, her kisses trail down your body as she gets to her knees undoing your belt. Pulling your cock out, she smiles licking her lips, “I missed this,” She pushes you towards the bed, taking off your boxers and slacks. She strokes your cock slowly as she spits on it, “I feel you throbbing already~” She kisses up your shaft, “Already needy for Mommy?” She takes your tip into her mouth, you feel her tongue swirl around it sending shivers throughout your body.She pushes herself deeper as your cock reaches her throat.

“Fuck,” You mutter as your hand reaches the back of her head pushing your cock deeper. She pulls back, her saliva cascades down onto your cock as she strokes it faster and faster, her other hand caressing your body, her hand going over your abs and scars as she sucks your cock.She pulls your cock out with a pop as she stands up, dropping her red dress onto the floor,  her naked poreclain body on perfect display for you as she straddles you, her thighs covered in her juices as she slides your cock into her, hearing her breath hitch as you feel her up. Your arms wrap around her waist, as she starts to ride you. Her ass bouncing on your cock, her tightness squeezing every inch of you. She wraps her arms around your neck as she rides your cock faster and faster. 

“Fuck me babyboy, Use me fucking use me baby,” She pleads with you as you thrust upwards, hitting her womb as you ravage her, her moans fill your ears. You hear nothing else other than her, she is in every one of your senses. Her juices dripping down your balls creating a puddle on the bed, “Give me that dick baby,” She moans out as her hands grip onto your hair as her hips meet your thrusts. You feel her walls tighten around you as she cums over your cock, her body shaking as you don’t stop chasing your own orgasm, “Fucking cum in me, fill me the fuck up with your cum babyboy,” She urges you as you feel it coming you fuck her faster and faster and you feel the first shot, you push yourself as deep as you could. You see her bright smile as she feels you fill her up, “So so much~” She giggles as she sits up, your cock still in her, “You filled up Mommy so well,” She moves her hips slowly, milking the rest out of you, “Surely you have more for me~?”

[wixkian]

William and Wesker... I js know that arkley lab gossip go HARD