#break-in to Mayor's home in LA

[nicecarito]

(English text version below the spanish one)

“ Ugh…. Diablos…Esto se esta haciendo cada vez más difícil día con día. ¿Pero que más puedo hacer? Estoy haciendo todo lo que puedo para mantenerme al margen, ser lo mas productivo posible y no dejarme llevar por mis preocupaciones. Tomo los medicamentos que el psiquiatra me ha recetado y me descargo con mi terapeuta en cada cita … aunque no puedo ser completamente honesto y decirle a detalle lo que me agobia realmente….

¿Cómo puedo decirle a mi terapeuta que guardo el oscuro secreto de mi hermano gemelo? Un secreto que puede destruir a mi familia definitivamente.

¿Cómo le explico que me mata la incertidumbre y el miedo de no volver a ver a mi gemelo con vida, cada vez que sale a completar alguna “misión?

¿Cómo le explico el miedo que tengo de que mi hermano mayor también salga herido o muerto cuando sale a cumplir con su deber como jefe de policía?

¿Qué haré yo si pasan esas cosas?

¿Qué haré si Café llega a enterarse del verdadero trabajo de Doppio y esto le destroza el corazón?

Si Doppio no llega a casa nunca y Café no sabe el por que… ¿Cómo deberé explicárselo?

¿Qué hare con Vanilla? … Ella es la que mas me preocupa… Ella es tan joven… no quiero que llegue a sufrir por esto…

¿Qué haré yo?….

Solo puedo callar, no puedo hacer nada más…

No puedo demostrar mi preocupación, no puedo hacerlo.

Trato de distraerme , tengo más de cinco trabajos que me ayudan a fijar mi atención en cualquier cosa menos en esto…Quiero ver lo positivo del mundo, ver a los otros sin preocupaciones …

Debo sonreír para no preocupar a nadie…

Y debo mantener todo esto para mi mismo… porque mis problemas son míos y de nadie más…

Nadie debería preocuparse por mis problemas, solo yo soy quien puede lidiar con ello…. Aunque este completamente agotado…."

Lungo, el personaje más carismatico , sin embargo, el mas complejo.

(practicamente no puede tener relaciones porque su vida esta echa un despapaye jejeje, el si le da importancia a estar bn primero antes de empezar algo, y las relaciones en las que ha estado son practicamente de solo una noche. Aunque bromeé con Pinzell, el mismo no le pediria en s erio el ser pareja. ojalá haya contestado bn a tu pregunta!)

English Version

" Ugh…. Damn…This is getting harder and harder everyday. But what else can I do? I'm doing everything I can to stay out of it, be as productive as possible and not get carried away with my worries. I take the meds the psychiatrist has prescribed and I vent to my therapist at every appointment…although I can't be completely honest and tell her in detail what is really overwhelming me…..

How can I tell my therapist that I'm keeping my twin brother's dark secret? A secret that could destroy my family for good.

How do I explain to her how I am overwhelmed by the fear of never seeing my twin alive again every time he goes out to complete some "mission"?

How do I explain to her the dread I have of my older brother also getting hurt or killed when he goes out to do his duty as chief of police?

What will I do if such things happen?

What will I do if Café finds out about Doppio's real job and it breaks his heart?

If Doppio never comes home and Café doesn't know why… How should I explain it to him?

What will I do with Vanilla? … She is the one that worries me the most… She is so young… I don't want her to suffer because of this…

What will I do? ….

I can only keep quiet, I can't do anything else….

I can't show my concern, I can't do it.

I try to distract myself , I have more than five jobs that help me to fix my attention on anything but this…I want to see the positive in the world, to see others without worries ….

I must smile so I don't worry anyone ….

And I must keep all this to myself…because my problems are mine and no one else's…..

No one should worry about my problems, only I am the one who can deal with it…. Even if I am completely exhausted…."

Lungo, the most charismatic character, however, the most complex.

[assiraphales]

You've reached water 7 yaay! Would love to hear your thoughts about all the galley la crew! Their dynamic is so interesting and i love their introduction at the start of the arc

I know this ask was about galley la but here's a collection of a few of my thoughts on water 7 in general!

-starting off with galley la. UMMM!!!! I will say that is one of the twists that genuinely shocked me so far in the series. the fact that half the town gathered to watch them work n fangirl over how strong they all are was so funny, and they seemed like such a tight knit group. I can't imagine working with them for five years as close friends and then finding out they were evil government workers

-lucci was a lot more fun when he was a ventriloquist who made his pet pigeon talk for him lmaooo

-the aesthetics of the water 7 amazes me! I love the design so much! i'm optimistically hoping there will be enough live action seasons that they make it here, and i've been thinking about how they'll put it off especially considering practical effects are so important to them. i'm thinking they'll build small parts of town like the shipyard, franky's house, and a main drag. and perhaps a model like they did in lotr for shots of the city ?

-usopp honey boo boo...................I get where his insecurities come from, and why the merry is so important of him (a piece of his home town) but he really brought the drama huh

-sanji is always more tolerable when he didn't have as much time to fawn over women. he did what he did best -- looking Cool smoking cigs and kicking ass. he's always so much cooler when he's on his solo missions and as soon as he's back with the crew the Dumbass gene takes over. I also DID think it was funny when he left the love note for nami in paint on the wall

-luffy getting stuck in a wall TWICE!!!!!!!! and being so in sync with zoro. naps at the same time. breaking into places at the same time. their little tag team move on the train.

-i've already talked about them in another post but franky n iceburg have one of the most interesting dynamics i've seen in the series. they make me ill. shipbuilder and ship demolitioner. mayor and criminal. they can never be friends but they'll always be brothers. etc

-franky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was on the fence for like 2 seconds but the blue haired hawaiian shirt wearing freak of nature won me over. he's so silly. he has a cola cooler in his stomach. he runs around in a speedo causing mischief. I love him. new little bug i'm shaking in a jar

-the two train station workers are two of my fave minor characters. they're eavesdroppers who live for gossip. they're making up love triangles and shipping strangers. good for them. good for them.

-nami literally cares for her crew so much. begging luffy to talk to usopp. crying / collapsing with joy when she found out robin didn't hate them. running into the path of a tsunami for luffy.

-luffy always gets this little :o face when he sees someone cry or hears their story. and he uses them as a power up. like yah he was angry but now he's REALLY!!! angry

-sanji's relationship w usopp. this arc revealed sanji ARGUABLY knows him the best

-oh tom :/

-the people of water 7 are v kind and live as a giant community which I think may have come from their struggles before the sea train came to town. the man who gave usopp the lumber and food. franky and co protecting the city. the shipbuilders / paulie helping nami luffy zoro n chopper. the townspeople rallyiing around iceburg and willing to risk their lives for him.

-the going merry :( I knew i'd eventually have to say goodbye to her but when I heard galley la say she was damaged beyond repair I was like no!!!!! NO!!! it's too soon!!!!!!!

-the found family of it all

[thetavolution]

Modern Day AU

I spent a moment to think what everyone would be up to in a modern day AU.

Astarion: He was pre-law when he got caught up with Cazador. It's less a vampire spawn situation and a more straightforward abuse situation. I think in the AU he was also much younger when Cazador found him. Once he breaks free of Cazador, he might go back into law. He'd end up in therapy and he'd probably have to take a step back to re-evaluate what he wants in life.

Gale: Of course he's a professor. With magic off the table in this particular AU, he'd probably teach as many subjects as they'd let him. Students would constantly have deja vu seeing him in so many classes. He'd be teaching somewhere like Cambridge or Oxford. The subjects that came to mind were English, History of Art, Linguistics, Philosophy, and for reasons I can't explain, German.

Shadowheart: Her ass would be in a cult. She was kidnapped into some kind of Gloriavale situation as a kid. She'd eventually get a taste of freedom and leave the cult for good, especially if a Tav comes her way. Then she'd write a tell-all book and do a lot of Ted Talks about it. As she got older, she'd become more reclusive. She'd write books from her little countryside house full of animals.

Halsin: Halsin would still be a tree-hugging hippy. He'd have an environmentalism related job, like wind turbine technician, environmental technician, or solar installer. (I imagine he'd want something very hands on.) He'd 100% be part of a nudist colony. He'd still be poly, and he'd be very choosey about who he lets into the polycule.

Lae'zel: She'd go to university where she'd be expanding her world. It would force her to unpack her unhealthy home life is. She was probably raised in a jingoistic family. After discovering the power of friendship and self-discovery, she'd make better choices for herself. She'd still be INCREDIBLY disciplined so I imagine she'd be an athlete. Either she'd do professional rugby or MMA. She might do pro wrestling. She wouldn't join the theatrics on purpose. They'd just tap into her natural persona for her character.

Karlach: She worked for Gortash before he made a name for himself in politics. I'm still trying to work out exactly what would happen to her. I imagine he framed her in this universe and she spent 10 years in prison instead of Avernus. Now she's out and wants revenge... but also would love to get her life back. Possibly she has a chronic illness that, if untreated, could kill her. It's not a 1-to-1 for her heart situation, but close.

Jaheira: She refuses to ever retire from her work. She's been a part of almost every humanitarian world org that'll have her, like The Peace Corps. She now runs her own organization that travels the world for humanitarian efforts. She's a widow and she's still the mother to several adopted children.

Wyll: He was on track to make his father proud. He was going to Oxford to study politics until he realized how much he hated it. His father is the mayor of a major city. I'm hesitant to say London because it feels too obvious. Instead, Wyll drops out to pursue humanitarian work. This is where his path crosses with Jaheira as he joins her organization. His father just doesn't get it and they're at odds over it.

Minthara: Military brat who grew up to join the British Military. In her off time, she's in the BDSM scene.

Orin: She is either running a true crime podcast or being talked about on one. Either that or she's a CEO of a drug company a la The Fall of the House of Usher (2023).

Gortash: This dude is running as a Tory and you know it. He left a huge trail of problematic behavior on his Twitter. He made an anonymous Reddit account to post relationship problems on, but everyone figured out it was him almost immediately.

Barcus: This poor man is so tired. He never found his "dream" and he's been going from job to job for decades. After he starts to stand up for himself, he opens an online store based on all his interests and thrives.

I might do more later, but this is all I could think of for now.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

George Chidi at The Guardian:

Atlanta is, from time to time, the center of the political universe. It is also home to all things evil and villainous, a festering cesspool of lurid crime, a “shooting gallery” in the words of Donald Trump, spoken in the vile confines of a brand new college basketball arena amid the unspeakable horrors of a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood with a microbrewery. Conservatives stoking fear of big cities would be a joke, if not for the damage it does. In May, the FBI arrested Mark Adams Prieto, a 58-year-old gun show dealer from Prescott, Arizona, on firearms trafficking charges. Prieto had been on the way to Atlanta at the time, according to court documents, because he planned to kill as many Black people as he could at a Bad Bunny concert while planting Confederate flags and shouting white power slogans, to provoke a race war ahead of the 2024 election.

“The reason I say Atlanta,” Prieto allegedly told an informant working with the FBI, “Why, why is Georgia such a fucked-up state now? When I was a kid that was one of the most conservative states in the country. Why is it not now? Because as the crime got worse in LA, St Louis and all these other cities, all the n****** moved out of those [places] and moved to Atlanta.” Prieto is a product of decades of Republican fearmongering, not just about Atlanta, but about big cities across the country. This is the message that Tucker Carlson and other conservative pundits have been pushing for years about San Francisco, New York and Detroit – it’s exactly the same way conservatives amped up their rhetorical combat on Chicago in the wake of Barack Obama’s ascension to the White House 16 years ago. It’s not because of crime. Cities in every country have long had more crime than their suburban counterparts, simply because it’s easier to commit a crime in a city, and it has largely trended downward. It’s because Democrats – often Black Democrats – control most big city governments, and they help national politicians win. Joe Biden won 85% of San Francisco’s votes in 2020. He also won 83% of Chicago, 77% of Los Angeles and 76% of New York City.

As a result, conservative state governments are cauterizing upstart municipalities, burning any pretense of respect for small-D democracy at the local level in the process. They fear those blue dots will bleed enough Black political power into red states to turn them purple and cost them the White House, not just in 2024, but permanently. Race is at the center of the fear. “Any mayor, county judge that was dumb-ass enough to come meet with me, I told them with great clarity, my goal is for this to be the worst session in the history of the legislature for cities and counties.” That’s former Texas House speaker Dennis Bonnen, in a conversation recorded with another legislator leaked to the Texas Tribune in 2019. In response to Austin legislation requiring water breaks for construction workers in the punishing Texas heat, the Republican-controlled legislature in 2023 passed what progressives call the “Death Star” bill. The law in effect ends the practice of home rule in Texas governments – a legal principle enshrined in the Texas constitution and that of many states – giving cities broad autonomy to create local laws, as long as those laws do not conflict with state or federal law.

House Bill 2127 takes that power away from cities in a swath of policy areas, from managing climate change to labor law. The law is in legal limbo today. But the damage is already being done to municipal leaders, who are frozen in place waiting for the case to be resolved. This story is playing out across the country, with red state governments seeing big blue cities as launching places for progressive ideas. In the wake of the deadly police beating of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, the city government created a police review board. Tennessee’s conservative legislature promptly passed a law banning such boards. Nashville’s response to the Covenant school shooting led to protesters in and outside the state capitol. The legislature responded with an attempt to cut Nashville’s elected metro council in half and threatened takeovers of the city’s sports and airport authority boards. Florida has blocked its cities from passing LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination ordinances, from regulating pit bulls, from making socially conscious investments, and from passing local zoning laws around “missing middle” housing and building construction. Florida’s famous “don’t say gay” bill mandates local school boards to provide politically vetted instructional materials.

[...]

Why would Trump trash a city like Milwaukee – or Atlanta, for that matter – in a swing state in an election year? Because those cities cost him those states in 2020. On the podium on a fateful 6 January 2021, speaking to a group of supporters who would eventually become a riot storming the Capitol, Trump intoned a litany of grievances with no regard for evidence and repeating debunked claims from these cities. Trump said Fulton county in Georgia was “corrupt” and had stuffed machines with fake votes. Detroit had “139%” turnout – a lie – after canvassers were “re-scanning batches of ballots over and over again” – another lie. The grievance lives on. When Trump was speaking in Atlanta’s Summerhill neighborhood in August, he described Atlanta as “like a killing field”, referencing a recent high-profile murder downtown. When Congressman John Lewis refused to attend Trump’s inauguration in 2017, Trump suggested by tweet that the city was “crime infested” and that Lewis “should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart”.

Trump refused to observe Lewis’s death with dignity as a revered civil rights icon. He instead attacked Lewis’s legacy, telling a reporter he “couldn’t say one way or another” whether Lewis was worthy of praise, complaining again about being snubbed at the inauguration and musing about how the Civil Rights Act had “worked out” for Black voters. Atlantans have not forgotten these insults. Fulton and DeKalb counties – Atlanta’s core – delivered a net gain of about 140,000 votes for Biden in 2020. Overall turnout in Georgia increased by about 20% four years ago; in these counties, Democratic turnout increased by about 32%. Lewis’s name was on their lips as they stood in line to vote. The Trump campaign had been trying to coax Black voters into their camp, with events like the launch of his Black voter coalition group at a historically Black church in Detroit in June. Even then, in an audience packed with almost exclusively white supporters, he once again railed against cities and crime. “Look, the crime is most rampant right here and in African American communities,” Trump said at 180 Church in Detroit. “More people see me and they say, ‘Sir, we want protection. We want police to protect us. We don’t want to get robbed and mugged and beat up or killed.’” Between the rise of Kamala Harris after Biden’s withdrawal and the pratfall of comments about “Black jobs”, in front of a group of Black journalists, Trump has begun abandoning the pretense of cross-racial outreach in favor of railing against “sanctuary cities”. Over the last few weeks, he has made a tour of sundown towns – communities that would terrorize Black people caught within the city limits after sundown – on the campaign trail.

Why are Republicans stoking fears of big cities, especially big cities in red states? It’s because those cities are Black-majority and are heavily Democratic.

[bloodyke]

(aqui esta el articulo en español de CPIPR)

(link to english articule from washington post)

[image ID: the first image is a picture of a road on one of puerto ricos forrested mountains with the headline "Más personas muerten en Puerto Rico mientras el sistema de salud se desmorona." The subheading reading "Pese a las vacunas y a la disponibilidad de medicamentos para el COVID-19, en 2022 murieron 35,400 personas en el Isla, la mayor cifra de los últimos 20 años."

the second image is an overhead shot of various graves located in Puerto Rico, with the headline reading "More people are dying in Puerto Rico as its healthcare system crumbles." The subheading reads "Islanders died of chronic conditions and COVID-19 in 2022 at numbers that surpassed even Hurricane Maria's toll." : end ID]

Excerpt from The Washington Post Article:

AGUAS BUENAS, Puerto Rico — In a purple house along a narrow road in Puerto Rico’s Central Mountain Range, Margarita Gómez Falcón’s breathing suddenly grew labored one March evening. She called an ambulance and began a grim two-hour wait for paramedics to arrive.

Health services across this self-governing island have been deteriorating for years, contributing to a surge in deaths that reached historic proportions in 2022, an investigation by The Washington Post and Puerto Rico’s Center for Investigative Journalism has found.

[....]

The case of Gómez Falcón, 67, underscores the many ways a faltering medical system has contributed to elevated death rates.

[...]

Aguas Buenas, a small, working-class town in the central highlands, had one working ambulance for its 25,000 people when Gómez Falcón called for help, so dispatchers sent a private one that had trouble finding her home in the town’s winding back roads.

[...]

Puerto Rico, with a population of 3.3 million people, experienced more than 35,400 deaths last year. That’s nearly 3,300 more than researchers would ordinarily expect based on historic patterns, according to a statistical analysis by The Post and Puerto Rico’s Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI).

This “excess mortality” — a term scientists use to describe unusually high death counts from natural disasters, disease outbreaks or other factors — resulted in part from a covid spike early last year that killed more than 2,300 people, health data shows.

[...]

The recent jump in mortality is the latest warning sign that years of natural disasters and financial crises have taken a deadly toll.

[...]

“It’s been nearly six years since Maria, and nothing has been resolved,” said Nereida Meléndez‚ a community activist in Aguas Buenas. “Here there are bridges that no one has done anything for. There are damaged highways no one has done anything to fix. Here one says, ‘What about that money they sent us? Where is it? What are they doing with it?’”

[...]

Puerto Rico’s public health system was once the envy of the Caribbean. Then-Gov. Pedro Rosselló privatized it in the 1990s, in what became known as “La Reforma.” Most government-owned hospitals were sold in an effort to control costs and streamline operations. But the opposite took place: By 2006, Puerto Rico’s economy tanked and public debt ballooned[.]

Puerto Rico's healthcare system is crumbling (alongside many other public utilities - one notable such example is the powergrid, as many of you have probably heard about recently due to the massive wave of protests against LUMA the current private company in charge of maintaining it) due to lack of resources and support. This is a crisis that has been building for decades due to many factors, such as the installment of an unelected board of overseers who have control of the puerto rican economy due to the enactment of. PROMESA in 2016, the enactment of ACT 60, a bill that incentivizes wealthy mainland U.S. citizens to move to Puerto Rico due to the increased tax breaks they will recieve that include a 100% tax exemption from Puerto Rico income taxes on: dividends, interest, short-term and long-term capital gains, and an exemption from the local and state property taxes equal to 75%, the withholding of emercency aid and support after natural disasters (the most notable example being the absolutely horrendus response to Hurricane Maria, that ended with the then Governor, Ricky Rosselló, resigning from his position after his sexist, racist, and homophic Telegram messages that included disparaging remarks about the victims of Hurricane Maria were leaked.)

This also includes the contiuned privitization of all aspects of puerto rican life, including the attempt to privatize the public beaches, lakes, canals, and parks in 2020, and the attempt to privatize the Taíno Caguana Ceremonial Indigenous Heritage Center in April 2023, though these are only two of many many many examples.

[xxkitty13]

Circus Freaks

LA Buggy x Fem Reader

Dark themes, Mention of suicide (not towards reader)

Previous Chapters: Part 1, Part 8

Previously: With the delivery of an invitation, Y/n's presence is needed at the Abask mansion. Dinner with the Abask men goes smoothly before a surprising proposal for marriage is announced. As it turns out, the Ti’s debt is one of the factors for the proposition. Now, Y/n must decide on her answer.

A/n: Information in this chapter refers back to Part 4

Part 9: Arising Tensions

Ruckus fills the ring of the circus tent. Props fly left and right as Buggy goes on a rampage. He throws everything in sight, the empty chests are thrown onto the bleachers, breaking at the force.

“Buggy! Calm down!”

“How do you expect me to stay calm when another man wants you?”

“Buggy please, just listen!”

He stops and snaps his head at her. “Will you except?”

Y/n stays quiet.

“I said, will you except?” his tone stern.

“I-I don’t want to, but. . .”

The pirate approaches her and harshly yanks her towards him. “But what?”

“It’s complicated Buggy. Trust me, I don’t want to marry Yasi.”

“Okay, whatever it is. . . we can just kill them and be done with this.”

“No! Buggy, we can’t kill them. Murder isn’t the answer.”

The pirate rolls his eyes. Everything would be solved if they could get rid of them.

“I need to speak to my sister and her parents.”

“Why’s that?”

“Yasi’s father is threatening their home with the marriage.”

“Damn bastard.”

Y/n goes to sit on the empty bleachers and Buggy follows after her. Her elbows press against her thighs, resting her face on her hands. “I don’t know what to do. The land they have has been passed down through generations. I wished they would have mentioned the debt to me. Even so, I’m pretty sure he’s been scheming this for a while.”

"I heard he gives out loans to the townspeople and makes it impossible to pay it back."

"Yeah, it's what he does. He also owns a lot of the farming land here; my adoptive parents are one of the few families that own property besides the Abasks." She pauses and takes a deep breath. "Yasi mentioned something to me earlier and it has been bothering me ever since."

Buggy raises his eyebrow at the statement. "What was it?"

"I think he's genuinely terrified of his father. He said someone will get hurt if we don't go along with Kija's plans."

"What?!" Buggy yells out. He begins to manically laugh before wheezing out loud. Cabaji, who silently stood at the whole scene, began to creep away. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Who, me?"

"Yes, dumbass. Who else? Geez." Buggy facepalms. “Well, that bastard has no idea who he’s dealing with.”

Y/n tilts her head in confusion. “Are you saying that you can go against the Abasks?”

“Darling, we are pirates. The sea is much tougher than that old prune.”

Cabaji cracks up at his captain’s words. “Y/n, do you really think we’re afraid of that man?” Buggy scoffs, a moment ago Cabaji was sneaking away.

“Well, it never occurred to me that they’re people who can stand up against him. He’s basically a tyrant on this island.”

"He won't be for long."

"Oh,"— Cabaji cuts—" Y/n, I have to show you this. "

Y/n's ears perk up. "What is it?"

The acrobat hesitantly takes out a folder from his stash bag. "Y/n. . . I didn't want to add more to your stress, but you have to know."

"What do you mean?" She walks to the pirate, her full attention set on the closed file. Carefully, she opens it, going through the numerous pages. One document in particular catches her eye.

“He killed my father. . ..”

Buggy’s ears perk at the word. “Who?”

She gulps in the silence that fills the ring.

"It was the mayor. . ."

Y/n's face scrunched in confusion. All this time, she was right. "I knew it!" she gleams in joy. Buggy and Cabaji tilt their heads, shocked to see her happy. "I knew he would never kill my mother!"

"Uh, what do you mean?"

Overrun by excitement, she trembles, barely managing her emotions. "It was said that my dad fatally shot my mom and then killed himself. This shows that it was all a lie," she shouts, waving the paper in the air.

"So, is he 15? The one from the other letters?" Buggy asks.

"I don't know, the letter is written to Kija and it is signed by the mayor. He just gives him a notice about the death, no other information is provided."

Buggy pondered on that. It seems too good to be true. "Cabaji, where did you find it?"

"It was in a safe from his office. I may have broken it, but that's not the problem at the moment."

"Great, very suspicious." He rolled his eyes. “And where exactly was it located at?”

“Behind a large painting.”

That is a very common hiding spot, maybe the old hag is dumb. Still, Buggy thought the letter was too convenient, but he didn’t want to ruin Y/n's joy.

“What do you plan to do?” he asks.

Her smile fades. What is she going to do? “I. . . don’t know. . .”

Buggy couldn’t help but feel sorry for the young woman, so naive. Luckily for her, he already has a diabolical plan in mind.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Huh?”

He rests his arm on her shoulder, giving her a smug look. “This whole situation is pissing me off. The marriage, Yasi, and now this.” He takes the paper from her hands and gives it to Cabaji.

“Leave it all to me. You no longer have to deal with the matter.”

“Are you talking about the marriage or. . ?”

“Like I said, leave it to me.” Buggy pecks her on the cheek and shoos her away. “Don’t you have to talk to your sister?”

She hesitantly walks away. “Uh yes, but-“

“Come on go. I have work to do.”

In defeat, she sighs. “Okay, just don’t kill anyone.”

Buggy crosses his fingers behind his back. “Mhm.” No promises. She squints her eyes at him before turning away and leaving the tent.

“So captain, what are you planning?” Cabaji asks.

“Get Mohji, looks like we have to speak to mayor once again. I guess our little talk didn’t work last time,” he chuckles darkly.

.°˖✧.°˖✧

“Wakey wakey sleeping beauty.”

Cold water splashes over the mayor’s face. Awakening in such a freight, he is incoherent, frantically looking around the darkness that fills his bedroom. He violently coughs out the water than he breathed in.

The lamp on his bedside table turns on, illuminating his view.

“Boo.”

He jumps back at the appearance of the deranged clown.

“What the hell?! What are you doing here?!”

The clown draws back, circling around his bed. The mayor grips his bedsheets, his eyes never leaving the man. He’s not alone either, two of his subordinates are with him. He remembers them well. Maniacs.

“W-what do you want? I thought we settled this on our last ordeal.”

Buggy moves his pointer finger in disapproval. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. . . that was then and this is now,”— he stops— “something else has popped up.”

“Whatever it is, you know I didn’t snitch to Kija,” he quickly states.

Buggy walks to the opposite side of the bed, sitting down on the nice cushion. “No, it’s nothing of that matter.” His hand reaches out to inside of his coat and pulls out a folded piece of paper. “Do you know what this is Mr. Dun? Or should I say 15?”

Mr. Dun eyes widen at the code name. He snatches the paper out of his hand. “Where did you get this?”

“That is none of your concern. What’s important is whether you’re 15 or not.”

“15? I don’t know what’s the meaning of this. Why do you care about Zimik anyway?”

Irritated by this, he grabs the mayor by the collar of his neck and pulls out a knife, pressing it against his skin. “I’m the one asking questions here. Did you or did you not kill Zimik?”

“No. I would never kill Zimik, he was a good friend of mine.”

Buggy lets go of his collar, annoyed by his response. “Tsk, you better not be lying to me. You know what will happen if you are,” he smirks, waving the blade over his face.

“N-no, please. . . you can’t release that information to the public.”

“So then answer my question.”

“I told you I’m not involved in Zimik’s death.”

“Are you sure? I’m pretty sure the town would be shocked to hear that you’re Kija’s little bitch.”

The mayor grits. “I’m telling you the truth. There is no evidence to pinpoint this at me.”

Buggy rolls his eyes. “Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Let’s go.” he waves for Mohji and Cabaji to exit the room. Leaving Mr. Dun in a petrified state.

“Shit.” He waits for time to pass before dialing his snail transponder. It rings for a while until someone picks up the line. “I’m sorry for calling this late, but this is urgent.”

“It better be important for waking me up this late.”

“It’s Buggy. He’s accusing me of Zimik’s death.”

“. . .”

The person doesn’t say word.

“Hello? This isn’t funny.”

“Where the hell did that clown get that information?”

“I don’t know, but he's threatening me again. I have a feeling it won't be long before he finds out I've been communicating with you.”

"Well then, I will have to put a stop to that clown. I found something very interesting about him, I am sure it will drive him away," the voice chuckles.

"What is it?"

"You'll find out soon enough." With that, the call ends. Mr. Dun angrily throws the snail transponder across the room. A cold sweat runs down his forehead, he feels cornered between two beasts. What will he do now?

.°˖✧.°˖✧

"Lyla! Are you home?"

The door swings open. "Y/n? What's with the urgency?"

Y/n enters inside of her sister’s home without saying a word. Lyla looks at her confused. “Hey what’s gotten into you? You don't barge into someone’s home you know.”

“I’m sorry. . . it’s just there’s a lot going on.”

“What do you mean? Come on take a seat,” she says pointing at her sofa, where the two take a seat.

“I just wanted to ask you something.”

“What is it?

“Did you know that we’re in debt?”

“Debt? What are you talking about?”

“Your parents. . . they owe a lot of money to Kija.”

Lyla’s eyes widen as she got up from her seat. “They owe who money?!” She tugs on her hair, pacing back and forth from her spot. “You’re lying. They wouldn’t be, right?”

Y/n sighs, “The man told me himself.”

“What?! When?!”

“It’s a long story. . .”

“Well, I want to hear every single detail, you better not hide anything from me.” Her voice stern.

Y/n looks around the room, avoiding eye contact with her sister. She wasn’t sure if she should tell her everything, but there’s no backing out. She takes a deep breath. “Yasi’s father wants me to marry his son,” she manages to spit out.

Lyla mouth drops wide open. “Oh my god. . . that’s ridiculous. What does that have to with anything?”

“You see, he’s using the marriage as a way to pay for their debt. . . I would be a method of payment.”

“What the fuck y/n?! You’re not money, you’re a human being. You can’t accept, we have to find another way.”

“Look, we need to speak to your parent’s first, but who knows when they’re coming back. I have a feeling Kija sent them away for this reason.”

Lyla slumps on the couch, running her hands through her hair. She sighs, “Do you know the amount of money they need? Maybe I can my husband for help.”

“I’m working on a plan as well.”

“What is it?”

“Uhh. . .”— Y/n fidgets her fingers— “It’s. . . rather complicated. . .”

“Come on, tell me. You know we don’t keep secrets from each other,” she says holding her hand. “We can’t let that bastard win.”

“Just promise to keep it secret.” Lyla nods, squeezing the palm of her hand. “I’m with the clown. . . he’s finding a way to solve our problem.”

“You’re with that clown?! That pirate?!” she yells in shock. “Girl, how long have you been with him?! Why haven’t you told me?”

Y/n covered her ears from her sister’s loud voice. She is angry and rightfully so. They never kept secretes from each other. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t know what you’d say if I told you I’m dating a pirate.”

“Y/n a pirate? I know he’s a clown, but do you know the reputation they carry? They are not good people.”

“Y-you don’t know him. . .” her voice cracked.

“But do you know him? He’s only been here for a short time.”

This time Y/n froze. It is true. . . she knows nothing of him, but his circus act. Who is he truly? Her hands behind to shake and were immediately ceased by another pair of hands.

Lyla eyes softened as she sighed. “It’s okay, as long as he treats you right. It’s just. . . I never saw it coming.”

“Neither did I.” Y/n felt confused, she’s known about her partaking in the circus, what’s so different this time? Either way, she rather not argue with her.

“Well, I’m sure a pirate has their ways to bribe people. I think he’s just the guy to go against the Abasks. Still, I will talk to Walo about the situation; after all, he works for them.”

“I just hope everything works out. I’m not sure how long we have before they lose it all.”

Lyla goes to embrace Y/n, holding her tight in her arms. “Don’t worry, we won’t let him win.” She let’s go and grabs her shoulders, adding a bit pressure to them. “Just be careful. . . pirates are dangerous, I don’t want you getting hurt. I can’t tell you what to do, you’re an adult. You know what you’re doing, remember that.”

And all Y/n did was nod in agreement.

.°˖✧.°˖✧

Dusk hit the island as Y/n returned to the circus grounds. Buggy’s hoarse voice became louder at each step. She opened the tent and found herself in the middle of a commotion at the ring.

“What do you mean they saw you?!”

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know they were home.”

“Shit, can you fuckers do anything right?”

He tightened his fist around his throat and squeezed tightly. “Don’t fuck up again, we can’t let our act fall apart.” With one final squeeze her lets go. The man gasps out for air.

Y/n watched in horror. Has he’s always been this way?

“Buggy you almost killed him!”

“So?”— the pirate turns to face the voice— “Oh- darling, you’re back.”

“Um. . .”

He looks at her and back down at his subordinate.“Don’t worry about it. He’s fine. Besides, he was careless. We don’t want the attention on us while Kija is planning to have a wedding.”

Y/n only stared at Buggy.

Buggy huffed. “Baby, forget about it. Come on, it’s getting late, you should get some sleep.”

“Yeah. . .” she replied, walking away from the scene.

Dangerous. Should she be worried? No. . . Buggy wouldn’t hurt her. Well, he did tie her up that one time and destroyed her doll, but he’s changed. . . or so she thought. He’s a captain, he has to put his crew in order. That’s all it was, discipline.

She looks back at Buggy who dismissed the man. The large purple bruise marks cover his throat. She felt herself wince at the sight as she grabbed her own. The pirate has incredible strength, she’s felt it first-hand. Lyla is right, maybe she should be careful around these people. She takes one last look, as Buggy pulled out three blades from his coat and began his target practice. What is this plan he’s talking about? Whatever it is, she hopes no one loses their life.

.°˖✧.°˖✧

A/N: Okay, this took forever to write and it's kinda boring. I was really stuck on writing this for a while, but I think it should be easy from here on out.

[89845aaa]

Well, if you make a shithole, don’t be surprised if you have to live in one…

[kingtry]

Missing Faces In Empty Pictures

Author: MyLiteraryItinerary Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark Series: Part 1 of Spider-Man: Charting The Way Back Home Language: English Stats: 12 Chapters (Completed)

Summary:

Something’s wrong. He’s certain of that now. The photos, the dreams, and now this. It’s too much to be a coincidence. He feels as though his mind has slowly evolved into a puzzle with one piece out of place. One very big piece out of place. And until he can find it, the rest of the picture will be skewed. His memories have been tampered with, he can feel it in his gut, though why or how he cannot say. But, after tonight, he has a sneaking suspicion that it all traces back to Spider-Man.

Or: two years after the snap that saved the universe, Tony Stark wakes up to a world in which no one remembers Peter Parker–including himself. But when puzzling memories of Spider-Man come to light, will Tony be able to break the spell and bring his kid home?

Autor: MyLiteraryItinerary Clasificación: Audiencias adolescentes y mayores Fandom: Universo cinematográfico de Marvel Relaciones: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark Series: Parte 1 de Spider-Man: Charting The Way Back Home Idioma: Inglés Estado: 12 Capítulos (Terminada)

Resumen:

Algo esta mal. Está seguro de eso ahora. Las fotos, los sueños, y ahora esto. Es demasiado para ser una coincidencia. Siente como si su mente se hubiera convertido lentamente en un rompecabezas con una pieza fuera de lugar. Una pieza muy grande fuera de lugar. Y hasta que pueda encontrarlo, el resto de la imagen estará sesgada. Sus recuerdos han sido manipulados, puede sentirlo en sus entrañas, aunque no puede decir por qué o cómo. Pero, después de esta noche, tiene la leve sospecha de que todo se remonta a Spider-Man.

O: dos años después del chasquido que salvó el universo, Tony Stark se despierta en un mundo en el que nadie recuerda a Peter Parker, incluido él mismo. Pero cuando los desconcertantes recuerdos de Spider-Man salgan a la luz, ¿podrá Tony romper el hechizo y traer a su hijo a casa? 

Divisores de  cafekitsune

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Thursday, November 16

Spike: It's bloody chaos over there without you. Buffy: It is? Spike: Yeah! Yeah, it's, uh... There's junk... You know? Food cartons, sleeping bags not rolled up, everyone's very scared and, uh, unkempt. Buffy: Sounds dire. Spike: I didn't see a lot. I came, hit Faith a bunch of times, and left. Buffy: Really? I mean, not that I'm glad, but— Spike: Oh, you say the word, and she's a footnote in history. I'll make it look like a painful accident.

~~Touched~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

One Little Dance (Buffy/Spike, E) by HollyDB

Tierney Tishler is Definitely, Totally, Not Gay (Mrs. Tishler/Ms. Murray, G) by Jess_Ann_Perreault

Consolation (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Harlow Turner

[Chaptered Fiction]

Memory Lane, Chapter 2 (Crossover wtih Smallville, NR) by Callarose_aka_FireDragon

Obsession, Chapter 3 (Crossover with Harry Potter, M) by Callarose_aka_FireDragon

New Blood, Chapter 1 (Crossover wtih Naruto, T) by danu40k

The Prodigal Boyfriend, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, 18+) by myrabeth

New Normal, Chapter 27 (Crossover with Jericho, AO) by holetoledo

Rise, Chapter 20 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by CheekyKitten

The Mayor Dates, Chapter 2 (Buffy/Spike, PG) by Desicat

L'amore trovera la via, Chapter 17 (French language, NC-17) by Violette-Milka

56 Hours, Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Soulburnt

Dawn Rising, Chapter 25 (Crossover with Lord of the Rings, FR15) by Luna

Going Home (to a place we’ve never been before), Chapter 13 (Crossover with Lord of the Rings, FR15) by curiouslywombat

Cross Purposes 4, Chapter 37 (Multiple crossings, FR13) by DianeCastle

Bring Him Home, Chapter 34 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Acb6293

What the Drabble?, Chapter 42 (Buffy/Spike, R) by VeroNyxK84

[Images, Audio & Video]

Gifset: Surprise by detectivedawnsummers

Gifset: Buffy the Vampire Slayer | 3x08 - "The Wish" by slayerdaily

Gifset: slept so long by jay gordon by fuffygifs

Gifset: I was your Watcher, Faith. I know the real you. by mycatismyfriend

[Reviews & Recaps]

NASTY!! (nasty) | Buffy the Vampire Slayer 5x9 "Listening to Fear" | Normies Reaction! by The Normies

SCARIEST EPISODE?! - Angel Reaction - 5x4 - Hell-Bound by TheLexiCrowd

Let's Rewatch Buffy! Season 2, episode 1 by Jenny Trout

Buffy Season 6: Older and Far Away & As You Were by Revisiting the Buffyverse

Podcast: HELLMOUTH HOMOS: Lovers Walk by Fear Queers

Podcast: HELLMOUTH HOMOS: The Wish by Fear Queers

Podcast: Water’s Cancelled - Angel S05E05 - Life of the Party by Pop Culture Role Call

[Fandom Discussions]

Angel and Spike being in prophetic dreams of Buffy's by OveliaGirlHaditRight

i’m so intrigued by the fact that soulless spike is able to curb his desire for bloodshed by goresbian

Prophecy Girl by multiple authors

Buffy telling Dawn about Joyce in "The Body" breaks me EVERY TIME - one of the best performances from Sarah and Michelle by multiple authors

The Zeppo by multiple authors

Flooded and Anya suggestion Buffy should charge by multiple authors

The Willow and Xander affair by multiple authors

Angel's finances by multiple authors

Why did demons serve glory? by multiple authors

How powerful was Connor exactly??? by multiple authors

What exactly is the difference between the PTB and the Old ones other than "morality" by multiple authors

Stakeless Buffy? by multiple authors

Turok-Han by multiple authors

It's never really explained in the show but [What happens when a slayer actually lives until old age?] by multiple authors

The spell in the episode "Chosen" by multiple authors

Season 7 Appreciation by multiple authors

Why do the werewolves in this show look so bad compared to everything else? by multiple authors

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

Publication: Buffy Finally Reveals What Would Have REALLY Happened If Dawn Had Been There From Season 1 via ScreenRant

Publication: Slayers: A Buffyverse Story's Emma Caulfield Shares Hopes for Sequel, Including a Taylor Swift Nod via comicbook

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

[uniquejellyfishqueen]

Fun fact. My senior superlative was most likely to be on facebook at 2 am.

Ace week (formerly asexuality week) falls during the last week of October, 2024 it was October 20th-26th.

Within that week 8 of T.Swizzles albums celebrated birthdays..

(1) Taylor Swift 10/24/2006. 18 years old

4 YEARS LATER

(3)Speak Now, Speak Now Deluxe, & SN World Tour 10/25/2010. 14 years old

2 YEARS LATER

(4)Red & Red Deluxe Edition (oh my goodness the acronyms of that spell RED, was this album supposed to be a double? Does it have a sister? There is more to the ATW story…) 10/22/2012. 12 years old.

10 YEARS LATER

(10)Midnights, Midnights 3 AM 10/22/22. 2 years old.

1 YEAR LATER

1989 TV 10/26/2023 *1989 Deluxe which was released the following day only had 1 additional track on it and that was Bad Blood (ft. Kendrick Lamar). 1 year old.

42101 (8) is the Zip Code for Bowling Green Kentucky. The Area Code is 270 (9) Its also in Warren county which is home to the national Corvette Museum. And was named after Joseph Warren on 12/19/1796. The mayor of Bowling Green is a dude by the name of Todd Alcott, which may make you think of The Alcott by The National ft Taylor Swift which was released on 4/28/2023 and this was also recorded at Long Pond—> Folklore Long Pond was released on 11/25/2020. It was recorded in September of 2020. According to Spotify the total of 34 songs has a run time of 2:14 (there’s 2/14 again)

The next single to be released by tswizzle is Karma and that was released on 5/1/23 (3 days after The Alcott) lol karma is a KAT.

The music video for Karma was premiered on 5/26/23 N1 East Rutherford, NJ. The National also released Alphabet city on August 17 2023. 8 days after her last show in LA which she did not say thank you.. (“Hey kids spelling is fun”) also Alphabet City is in New York.. so like Welcome, I guess?

*ps we haven’t gotten the solid green 1989 set yet. Is this possibly in connection to another album that was also released on 10/22/2012? Kendrick Lamar released Good Kid, M. A. D. D. City on 10/22/2012. Track 5 on this album is Money Trees “pick your poison, tell me what you’re doing. Everybody gon’ respect the shooter” -> imgonnagetyouback “pick your poison, babe, I’m poison either way.” -> poison “that girl is poison. Never trust a big butt and a smile. That girl is poison poison”

**atari means "to hit a target"

But also on that same album track #6 is Poetic Justice ft Drake. Drake is from Toronto, where TS will be for shows 141-146 11/14-11/16, 11/21-11/23. There is a 7 day break for her in between these shows. Then when the Toronto shows end that is 6 days before the release of her BF Target release. (7+6=13).

AND THEN 13 days later the last stop of the Errors Tour is on 12/6 in Vancouver.

I see the VT as a mirror of TV as Taylor’s Version, but also it’s the state abbreviation for Vermont. 8/31/2007 Brad Paisley, Kellie Pickler, and TS were there it was rare.. no idk if it was but they were at the Champlain Valley Fair, in Essex Junction Vermont.. it apparently became Vermonts 10th city on 7/1/22, it was incorporated as a village on 11/15/1892.. what an unfortunate date, dear john go fuck yaself.

11/15/2024 N2 in Toronto 7 hours and 43 minutes to Essex Junction. (7+4+3=14)

743 is the area code for Greensboro, North Carolina… (grew AGAIN) *no idea what I stumbled upon but there is going to be a Taylor Swift Camp here on July 14-18, 2025. *speaking of 1989 10/21/2015 apparently is the last time TS was at Greensboro, NC with Vance Joy, and Miranda Lambert. From what the interweb shows me she didn’t play a surprise song at this show. *ok so she might not have given them a surprise song but she did write the song Carolina (6/24/2022) for the movie Where the Crawdads Sing which was released on 7/15/2022.

Carolina was played on the Errors Tour on 6/15/2024 N3/3 Liverpool show #102. This was played on the guitar mashed up with No Body, No Crime. (Sure there was no thank you post for LA, but on the thank you post from Santa Clara on 7/31/2023 she mentioned that she will never forget the HAIM sisters coming out in their dresses from Bejewled to sing No Body, No Crime this photo is from 7/28/23 because she is wearing the yellow dress.)

*HAIM joined TS on 7/22-8/9, 3 cities, 10 shows, with No Body, No Crime replacing Tis The Damn Season.

Seattle, Santa Clara, Los Angeles…. CLASS.

Area codes 310 and 424 are the telephone area codes for West LA, a small portion of Ventura County, and Santa Catalina Island… (like the Catalina Wine Mixer?) the area code 310 was created on 11/2/1991. Then on 1/25/97 it was split to 562 for the southeast portion of LA county and a large portion of Orange County. (The OC? Premiered 8/5/2003. RIP Marissa, Mischa Barton was actually named the It Girl of 2003, kinda like Clara Bow?)

[izzysarchivedblogs]

Clint doesn't comment, because the last avengers team he had been on was Kate's West Coast, than before that he hadn't been on one officially for some time. He misses the times when he was with his friend, he thinks the last time may have beeen before he even had his bed-stuy apartment. He can't be certain.

Technically, he had been on the SECRET avengers, but the problem was that it was meant to be SECRET. It felt like forever, and how had Blade ended up there but than he's not a fan favorite nor did he had have specific strengths that no one else had. OKAY. He had trick arrows, but you put him next to Tony Stark or any guy with neat gadgets paired with their super brain?

❝ I mean I have been traveling. ❞ Settled down in LA for a bit, but otherwise. Clint has called the road home more than anything. Even, when he got the call from Steve to meet him in Doverton which turned into a whole Carnage thing. He didn't stay in New York when all of that was over.

He had his little ragtag bunch here and there. West Coast.

He bumps Tony back, doesn't break either of their hearts with the reminders that Clint's an alcoholic who burned a lot of bridges with their friends. Who put on two costumes and went out to fight crime when superheroes were banned. He ignored that law blatantly while Wilson Fisk was mayor. HE CONTRIBUTED TO MAKING THINGS FOR OTHERS.

A special taskforce got approved specifically to take down Clint's Ronin.

HE'D KILL TO BE ON A TEAM WITH HIS FRIENDS AGAIN.

❝ So you'll pitch a tent, sleep under the stars, smell the dirt? ❞ He's grinning like a cat who caught the morning bird. Tony's little scoffs were something that he collected with pride, and that was another win for him. ❝ Robin Hood has nothing on me, bet he couldn't do archery, STANDING on a horse's back, and backflipping off. ❞ One of his many tricks, a not so humble brag.

❝ I think maybe we did, yeah. ⸺⸻ I.. mom... ❞

It's as Tony points that out, that he thinks he may be right. Clint had his own anger, but Barney's was different. He thinks that maybe he and Edith did have their own little thing. Sure, that may have come from Clint's desperate need to be a good son, the perfect son. He tried to work hard, do good, and be better. Do as asked, so that he'd be loved by mom and maybe dad would want to be a better day. Followed his brother around, followed his mother around, and would constantly look to Harold in the butcher shop as a five year swept the floor over and over, trying to see if he was impressed with his help.

IT'S SO TRUE. He rolls his eyes at Tony, because he's got an act and image. A lie to tell himself. Clint went from the guy who wanted to be taken seriously to whatever he was now. Keeping up a dumb act, playing the joke. ❝ Oh no, my reputation. ❞ He mumbles sarcastically, but doesn't reinforce the act. He can drop it.

Clint chuckles when Tony sits forward to stretch. ❝ Old man, ❞ he points out and than starts to it forward as well as Tony offers for him to lie down with him Clint's got nothing better, he was just going to stay up all night and stare at a tv screen, space out in his own thoughts and process the day. The AA meeting not an hour ago and all the emotions.

Talking about Edith. Tony. Carol. Their eyes on him as he said it. The look. The pride.

❝ Nineteen seasons, hundred and sixty four episodes. ❞ He'll probably change it after two or three episodes because even Clint could only take so much conspiracy theory.

❝ Cast up, so you figure that out and make our puzzle pieces fit. ❞

Yes, he'll lie down with him.

Tony smiles and bumps his shoulder against Clint's. "I'm glad you stayed. Need to get you back on a team. This first though. I went to Thor and Steve about restarting the team. I specifically said I missed them. You know. A team? Family. Then I don't know what happened. How did we end up with Blade on the team and not you? T'Challa's in charge but I don't even think that's it. It was just like a thing happened and we were there and then anyone else who was there just ended up on the team."

I'M SORRY.

He scoffs at the glamping comment. "The tech and the camping were separate thoughts. Anytime I'm with you with horses it's like the wild west or fucking medieval England and you're dressed up as Robin Hood. I'm gonna bring my phone with me, but I don't think that'll make it glamping."

He smiled at the new memory. "That was a good one. I bet you two got up to all kinds of mischief that you don't remember."

It was making more sense. Clint was making more sense. Everything from the absolute willingness to do anything Natasha told him to when they first met because he had learned so young that you did what you were told or you were denied love. To the cockiness. To the strong moral compass. Even the fact that he had given Steve so much shit when he first joined the team. He was getting so many pieces of Clint filled in.

"It's so true, Clint. But if you want I can keep pretending you're simple. But I will in fact be pretending."

He yawns and stretches, the joints in his back popping. "Lie down with me?" he asks. "I'll keep being offended by your stupid show, but from a reclined position. What position is more comfortable for you? Cast down or up?"

[thatstormygeek]

Here’s what seems to have actually happened in New York and LA on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning. At Columbia and the City College of New York, riot police, called in by Columbia President Minouche Shafik and CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, violently stormed the campuses in an overwhelming show of force — breaking students’ teeth and ankles, firing pepper spray at close range, throwing protesters down flights of stairs, and conducting mass arrests using zip-ties and police buses. New York Mayor Eric Adams justified this act of wanton violence on the age-old claim that these weren’t really students, but “professional outside agitators.” The sole piece of evidence offered thus far: police recovered a heavy-duty bike chain, which happens to be a model offered at a discount by Columbia’s Department of Public Safety. The UCLA story was even wilder. According to video evidence and detailed accounts, including the BBC (which led with it) and the New York Times (who buried it), the major escalation seems to have happened when pro-Israel counter-protestors broke through makeshift barricades and started viciously assaulting the Gaza solidarity protesters. Before even doing that, the massed pro-Israel agitators (many of whom appeared to be older than college age, for what it’s worth) shot what appeared to be an artillery shell firework into the encampment, exploding in a crowd of screaming people. As they carried out their assault, they shouted “Second Nakba!” — a reference to the Israeli military’s 1947-49 ethnic cleansing of non-Jewish Arabs from what is now the State of Israel — and chanted “USA! USA!” as if they were at a Trump rally. Another video features pro-Israel fighters shouting “You stand no chance, old lady!” as they muscled past an older woman (possibly a professor?) who was trying to put back a barricade. The pro-Israel counter-protesters also severely beat student journalists, at least one of whom was treated for her injuries at a hospital, according to the Los Angeles Times.

As I said, the effect of these overheated reports is to terrify people into fearing the protesters more than the police — or the Military-Industrial Complex they are protesting. And it is working. During the Columbia raid, a devoutly pro-Israel rabbi I am close with posted a “shelter in place” notice sent to students of the Jewish Theological Seminary, which is adjacent to the Columbia campus, as evidence that the Gaza encampment was “#notapeacefulprotest” — unaware that it was police, not the protesters, who students had to take cover from. At UVA, the local Chabad reacted to news of the new encampment with an overheated Instagram post. “DEAR STUDENTS,” the rabbi and rebbetzin wrote, “TODAY WE JOINED THE GROWING LIST OF CAMPUSES WITH HATE ENCAMPED ON OUR DOORSTEPS. WHILE YOU SHOULD BE STUDYING FOR YOUR EXAMS AND ENJOYING HOT SLICES OF POST PESACH PIZZA, INSTEAD YOU'RE DEALING WITH YOUR FELLOW STUDENTS AND PROFESSORS ATTEMPT AT INTIMIDATING YOU OFF THE VERY SPACE YOU CALL HOME.” The encampment, they said, consisted of “DEPRAVED PRO-TERRORIST HUMANS MOTIVATED BY PURE HATRED OF JEWS.” I didn’t see any of that in the eight hours I spent at the encampment and a pro-Palestine teach-in on the nearby Lawn. I mostly saw kids hanging out, occasionally gathering for a chant (“From Palestine to the Philippines / Stop the U.S. war machine” was one hit. A chant in Spanish didn’t take off as well.) The message went out frequently: Don’t talk to or engage with the small clutch of pro-Israel who briefly set up across the street, nor media (sigh), nor police.

[hughescocksworthnews]

Criminals Break-In and Overrun Woke LA Mayor's Home!

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

The world is on the move (WSJ) Migration from the world’s poorer countries to more affluent ones is at the highest level in decades. Millions of people are on the move, taking routes both legal and illegal to secure work or refuge. The surge in arrivals is stoking social tensions, helping to topple governments and fostering the rise of right-wing nationalist groups from France to the Netherlands. In the U.S., border security is expected to be a focal point in Washington this year. But an agreement in the Senate has proven elusive so far, and mayors of New York, Chicago and Denver say the flow of migrants arriving from the southern border has already pushed their cities to the breaking point.

Forget the 4-day week. Mexican workers are fighting the 6-day week. (Washington Post) On a recent Friday, like nearly every day, Maricela de la Cruz woke up at 5 a.m. She caught two buses to get from her parents’ modest apartment on the outskirts of Cancún to the J.W. Marriott Resort & Spa. As tourists sunned on the white-sand beach outside, she spent eight hours scrubbing bathrooms and making beds. The 28-year-old housekeeper works six days every week. So do millions of other working-class people in Mexico—hotel staff, auto assemblers, waiters. But now, workers in the United States’ No. 1 trading partner are rebelling. The Mexican Congress is debating a constitutional amendment to guarantee employees two days off per week, a proposal pushed by unions. Over eight decades after President Franklin D. Roosevelt ushered in the five-day workweek in the United States, it finally might be coming to Mexico. The Mexican workers’ fight for the 40-hour week comes amid a growing global debate over work schedules. Yet there is a vast divide in how that conversation is playing out. While North Americans and Europeans experiment with a four-day week, many employees in developing countries toil six days—or more. (In India, a tech billionaire recently caused an uproar by suggesting a 70-hour week.)

Cats Filled the Prison. Then the Inmates Fell in Love. (NYT) Some say they were first brought in to take out the rats. Others contend they wandered in on their own. What everyone can agree on—including those who have lived or worked at Chile’s largest prison the longest—is that the cats were here first. For decades, they have walked along the prison’s high walls, sunbathed on the metal roof and skittered between cells crowded with 10 men each. To prison officials, they were a peculiarity of sorts, and mostly ignored. The cats kept multiplying into the hundreds. Then prison officials realized something else: The feline residents were not only good for the rat problem. They were also good for the inmates. “They’re our companions,” said Carlos Nuñez, a balding prisoner showing off a 2-year-old tabby he named Feita, or Ugly, from behind prison bars. While caring for multiple cats during his 14-year sentence for home burglary, he said he discovered their special essence, compared with, say, a cellmate or even a dog. “A cat makes you worry about it, feed it, take care of it, give it special attention,” he said. “When we were outside and free, we never did this. We discovered it in here.”

Brexit has completely failed for UK, say clear majority of Britons (Guardian) A clear majority of the British public now believes Brexit has been bad for the UK economy, has driven up prices in shops, and has hampered government attempts to control immigration, according to a poll by Opinium to mark the third anniversary of the UK leaving the EU single market and customs union. The survey of more than 2,000 UK voters also finds strikingly low numbers of people who believe that Brexit has benefited them or the country. Just one in 10 believe leaving the EU has helped their personal financial situation, against 35% who say it has been bad for their finances, while just 9% say it has been good for the NHS, against 47% who say it has had a negative effect. The poll suggests that seven and a half years on from the referendum the British public now regards Brexit as a failure. Just 22% of voters believe it has been good for the UK in general.

Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II to step down from throne on Jan. 14 (AP) Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II announced Sunday that she plans to abdicate after 52 years and hand over the throne to her son, Crown Prince Frederik. The queen, who is Europe’s longest-reigning living monarch, announced during her New Year’s speech that she would step down on Jan. 14th, which is the anniversary of her own accession to the throne at age 31 following the death of her father, King Frederik IX. Margrethe, 83, said the back surgery she underwent in early 2023 led to “thoughts about the future” and when to pass on the responsibilities of the crown to her son. “I have decided that now is the right time,” she said in her speech.

Zelenskiy speaks of war, Putin makes passing reference in contrasting New Year speeches (Reuters) Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy honoured his people’s resilience in times of bloodshed in a long and lyrical New Year speech, while Russian leader Vladimir Putin stressed his country’s unity in a short and stern message that made only passing reference to the war. The speeches—traditional Dec. 31 messages in both Russia and Ukraine—came as both countries marked the end of the year with increased air attacks on each other’s territories. But neither side can point to any major frontline achievements in 2023.

Xi says China will ‘surely be reunified’ with self-ruled Taiwan in New Year’s address (AP) Chinese President Xi Jinping said China would “surely be reunified” with Taiwan during his televised New Year’s address, renewing Beijing’s threats to take over the self-ruled island, which it considers its own. Taiwan split from China amid civil war in 1949, but Beijing continues to regard the island of 23 million with its high-tech economy as Chinese territory and has been ramping up its threat to achieve that by military force if necessary. China has described Taiwan’s Jan. 13 presidential and parliamentary elections as a choice between war and peace. Beijing considers the presidential front-runner, William Lai, who currently serves as vice president from the ruling Democratic People’s Party, a “separatist” and has accused him and Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen of trying to provoke a Chinese attack on the island.

Powerful earthquakes leave at least 48 dead, destroy buildings along Japan’s western coast (AP) A series of powerful earthquakes that hit western Japan have left at least 48 people dead and damaged thousands of buildings, vehicles and boats. Officials warned that more quakes could lie ahead. Aftershocks continued to shake Ishikawa prefecture and nearby areas a day after a magnitude 7.6 temblor slammed the area on Monday afternoon. Forty-eight people were confirmed dead in Ishikawa, officials said. Sixteen others were seriously injured, while damage to homes was so great that it could not immediately be assessed, they said. Japanese media reports said tens of thousands of homes were destroyed.

Iran showcases its reach with militia attacks across Middle East (Washington Post) The Gaza war has given Iran the opportunity to showcase the capacity of its newly restructured network of allied militias, demonstrating Tehran’s strategic reach while allowing it to keep a distance from the fight, according to members of the groups and military analysts. On any given day since the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel, one or other of these militias has carried out an attack somewhere in the Middle East—and on some days several in different places. The Houthis in Yemen are targeting ships in the Red Sea; Kataib Hezbollah and other Iraqi groups are hitting U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria; and Lebanon’s Hezbollah is engaged in daily exchanges of fire with Israeli forces across the Israel-Lebanon border. The attacks can seem random, but they are the fruit of a carefully calibrated strategy forged in the wake of the 2020 killing of Qasem Soleimani, leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force, to bring cohesion to the loosely formed alliance of militias—designated by Tehran as the “axis of resistance.”

Israel’s high court strikes down Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul law (Washington Post) Israel’s high court on Monday struck down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s polarizing law that sought to limit the court’s power over government decisions and sparked mass anti-government protests and international condemnation. Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul the judiciary upended Israel in the months leading to the Israel-Gaza war—and now threaten to cause a constitutional and leadership crisis just three months after the hotly divided country united behind the war effort. Netanyahu’s Likud party slammed the decision as “in opposition to the nation’s desire for unity, especially in a time of war.” Monday’s ruling concerned an amendment to Israel’s “Basic Law,” which serves in place of a constitution, that was pushed through and passed by Netanyahu’s far-right government in July. The altered law removed the right of the Israeli Supreme Court to block decisions made by government ministers that the judges deem “unreasonable.” In striking down the law 8 to 7 on Monday, the top court’s ruling calls for the legislation to be removed. If Netanyahu’s government refuses to honor the ruling, the wartime country could face a constitutional crisis.

Half of Gazans Are at Risk of Starving, U.N. Warns (NYT) Walaa Zaiter’s four children have been hungry for weeks, but she can barely find them food. They ask for sandwiches, fruit juice and homemade Palestinian dishes like she used to cook before the war began. In a fleeting moment of internet access, she said, she once caught the children huddled around her phone to watch a YouTube video of someone eating French fries. The most they can hope for these days, she said in a recent telephone interview, is a can of peas, some cheese and an energy bar distributed as a family’s rations by the United Nations once a week in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where they fled to in early December to escape Israeli bombardment farther north. It is not nearly enough to feed her family of seven. Israel’s war in Gaza has created a humanitarian catastrophe, with half of the population of about 2.2 million at risk of starvation and 90 percent saying that they regularly go without food for a whole day, the United Nations said in a recent report. Arif Husain, chief economist at the World Food Program, said the humanitarian disaster in Gaza was among the worst he had ever seen. The territory appears to meet at least the first criteria of a famine, with 20 percent of the population facing an extreme lack of food, he said.

A Toast to a Year and a Word (NYT) Toasting is a tradition that dates back to ancient Greece. The act of raising a glass to wish someone good fortune “came around even before the word,” Paul Dickson, the author of a book on toasts, said. For example, Ulysses drank to Achilles’ health in Homer’s “Odyssey,” though the word itself was not used in the poem. The word came to us through the Middle English “tosten” in the 12th century. The noun, meaning bread that had been browned with heat, and the verb, “to brown bread,” may have derived from the Old French toster, “to roast or grill,” or the Latin torrere, “to burn.” Over the years, toast has enjoyed menu makeovers, with results like French toast or avocado toast. But in the Middle Ages, toast was used to flavor a drink. Sam Sifton, the founding editor of New York Times Cooking, said that the practice of “toasting” someone stemmed from the days when people would put “pieces of spiced toast into your mead or your wine.” Toasting a person, he said, is like “putting their name in your glass,” as if they add spice or sweetness. So raise a glass or two. Just beware of getting “toasted.” (That’s slang for drunk.)

[rockinnews]

ELI PAPERBOY REED: gira española en septiembre para presentar su nuevo disco "Hits and Misses: The Singles"

Viernes 8 septiembre - Sant Boi De Llobregat - Festival Altaveu  Sábado 9 sept - Pamplona - Beltza Weekend Lunes 11 septiembre - Sevilla -  Sala X Miércoles 13 septiembre - Zaragoza - Rock & Blues  Jueves 14 septiembre - Valencia - Loco Club  Viernes 15 septiembre - Madrid - Lula Club  Sábado 16 septiembre- Bilbao - Sala BBK Hiriz Hiri 

Cada vez que un artista graba un álbum, acaba acumulando más material de lo que puede incluirse en él mismo. Canciones que, por una u otra razón, no llegan a incluirse en la versión final del disco. La gente los llama todo tipo de cosas: “Bonus Tracks”, “Non-LP”, “B-Sides”, “Extras”. Puedes llamarlas como quieras, estas canciones nunca se relegan deliberadamente al basurero de la historia del artista de turno. Independientemente de lo que suceda a lo largo del proceso de creación de un disco, la música que queda fuera de de la sala de montaje se hizo con el mismo cuidado, emoción, dedicación y compromiso que el material que se encuentra en el master original. ¡Estas canciones no merecen ser olvidadas!

Ladies and gentlemen les presentamos "Hits and Misses: The Singles", una nueva colección de ese venerado compositor y guardián de la esencia de las músicas también denominadas Soul, Rhythm and Blues y Americana: Eli Paperboy Reed. Hoy el artista ha anunciado que su nuevo disco estará disponible el próximo 20 de octubre. Pese a su juventud cuenta con un extenso bagaje que abarca ocho álbumes en una carrera que se extiende cerca de dos décadas desde su más tierna adolescencia. Estos bonus tracks fácilmente podrían ser los singles de éxito de otro. Desde versiones genuinamente reinventadas que abarcan todos los géneros hasta sus propios originales para bailar o llorar de emoción. No son sobras.

"Hits and Misses" recopila canciones que, en su mayor parte solo estaban disponibles en sencillos de 45 rpm a la venta en la mesa de merchandising durante las giras internacionales de Reed. El primero de estos se grabó en 2009, justo después del álbum de lanzamiento de carrera "Roll With You" y el último a principios de 2020, justo antes de su LP aclamado por la crítica de canciones de Merle Haggard "Down Every Road".

De hecho, Reed probó a grabar canciones de uno de sus ídolos como Merle Haggard en "Hits and Misses" con el sencillo y sucio "Break Every Heart I Can". También podéis escuchar a Reed probar suerte con canciones de Bob Dylan, Steely Dan, Motörhead (!), The Violinaires, Latimore, Lee Moses y Jimmy Hughes. Menuda sucesión de joyas ¿no?. Para completar este póquer de versiones incluye un trío de originales de Reed inéditos y estarás de acuerdo en que "Hits and Misses" llega a todas las bases para coronar un “home run” ... utilizando la jerga beisbolera.