#electrical grid collapse

[marciodpaulla-blog]

Bracing for the Unforeseen: Thriving in the Face of an Electrical Grid Collapse

In our contemporary world, electricity is an omnipresent force, a lifeline connecting us to the vast digital universe and powering the comforts of modern living. We are so acclimated to its conveniences that imagining a life without it is like envisioning a world without air. But what if our stable, electrified world is suddenly plunged into darkness? What happens if the electrical grid that…

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Kanye West, legally known as Ye, is selling the Malibu, California home he ruined, for $53M (He bought it for $57M). The house was designed by one of the world’s most eminent architects, Tadao Ando, and Ye stripped it clean of windows, doors, electrical, and many of the architect’s signature interior finishes.

Sitting since 2021, the mansion is now rotting. Wait. This is $53M for a cement shell, basically. The brutalist style home has 1,200 tons of poured concrete and 200 tons of steel reinforcement to hold it all together with 12- 60 ft. pylons sunk into the sand.

The beachside house was once the epitome of artistic ingenuity.

The floor-to-ceiling windows facing the water have long been removed, leaving the rear of the building entirely open to the elements.

All of the interior photos are before it was gutted. The alleged plan was to try to turn the mansion into a “Bat Cave” so he could “hide from the Clintons and Kardashians.”  

Ye’s new celebrity realtor believes the renovations are a selling point b/c he left a blank canvas, making it easier for the new owners to design the home exactly to their liking.  

The house needs windows and doors, along with plumbing, electrical, HVAC and interior finishes, b/c they've all been removed.

Although Ye removed the interior finishes, “this creates an unbelievably rare opportunity to buy a Picasso on the water," said the agent.

“This architect is known for his concrete work, which is what remains,” he says, "It was a very minimalist interior previously and will likely continue to be that in order to allow the architecture to speak louder than the finishes.”

The plan was to go off grid. The contractor said, “Ye wanted no electricity. He only wanted plants, candles, battery lights; and to have everything open and dark. You can’t keep food in that house, because you had no refrigerator left. You had no windows. I had seagulls flying in.” 

The former architectural tour de force was only one of the few private homes in the United States designed by the renowned Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect. Best known for his minimalist structures and “smooth-as-silk” concrete.

The upper-level terrace pictured here comes out from a main bedroom suite that takes up the entire top floor.

I don't know what to think. Everything is gone- no utilities, none of the original elements the architect is known for, not even any windows. And, he's only knocked off $4M from what he paid for it, complete.

It's rotting from the inside out. Here's a collapsed concrete wall and rusted railings. On top of all of this, it's unsafe b/c concrete is falling. It's like a total knockdown.

[lafayette-paw-arts]

How would the vees react to one of them almost dying or actually dead

Oh you want an angst meal with extra sad. Comin' up!

There was the one time that Velvette got caught up in an extermination, she had been so badly hurt she lost consciousness. Valentino and Vox got there before the final blow was struck. Val's wings had been completely flared out to make himself look as big and intimidating as possible, Vox meanwhile appeared in a flash of electricity that just didn't leave him, sparking off his body and swirling around his claws dangerously. They were both absolutely pissed but Valentino had a very important job, getting Velvette to the safety of the tower. So he grabbed her and flew off as fast as his wings would take him while Vox had quite the time electrocuting the shit out of those angels. Obviously it didn't kill the angels but it did stun them long enough for Val to get away with Velvette. The angels had recovered fast tho and one had managed to throw an angelic spear through his screen, it nearly killed him, he had just enough energy to get himself into the power grid and get back to the tower where he promptly collapsed and shut down. Valentino was alone to deal with both of them on the brink of death, panicking and worried they'd never wake up, he patched up Velvette's wounds the best he could and screamed through the intercom for someone to send Vox's technician up to the floor they were on to fix his screen. It was the most terrifying night of Valentino's afterlife and one he REALLY doesn't want to repeat. (so that one is kind of a twofer)

Valentino has thankfully only been near death once, he pissed off the wrong person who set a trap for him and and tortured him for days using an angelic weapon they had picked up. This fucker made only one mistake, posting a picture about it online, Velvette saw it, her and Vox were there so fast. Vox started to deal with Valentino while Velvette took the angelic weapon and literally impaled the person up the ass with it, face it to say they were dead and she posted the pictures of it all over social media as a warning to anyone stupid enough to even think of trying something like that again.

Velvette wasn't around for the last time Vox and Alastor actually fought, she's only heard about it from Valentino since Vox doesn't like to talk about it. She knows Val will tease Vox about it to his face, but when Vox isn't around it's a totally different story. Valentino spins a tale of a horrifying night finding Vox on the destroyed battleground, thinking he was dead from the fight (especially because Alastor was nowhere to be seen so he assumed the victor left) He had been enraged trying to find Alastor but the deer demon was long gone, a small glitch from Vox was what indicated he was still alive which Val almost cried from relief. He took him back to the tower and got him fixed up, then proceeded to watch over his unconscious body for weeks with no sign of him waking despite how many times the technician told him Vox was fine it was just taking time to recover. (He wasn't happy to hear of Alastor's return and is happy Vox seems to be keeping his distance and just poking from afar this time)

Hope that does it for ya. I don't do character death stuff really, near death or believed death sure, not actual death. It's just not my style

[meanpregcomm]

What Is Happening?

It was dark, and the man lay down next to her on her futon. She was very sleepy and warm and comfortable. He lay down behind her, spooning her, and touched her between her legs with his fingers. It didn't feel good or bad, just weird. She was too sleepy and comfortable wrapped in his arms to tell him to stop, and after a while it started to feel better. She could feel that she was slick between her legs, where the pee came out, and she start to feel a little achy. The man could tell, she thought, because he began to push his fingers inside, which made the ache stop. He'd stop, and it would start again, and she'd move against him to make him go back to pushing. Even when she felt a sudden sharp pain, she still wanted him to push, and the pain went away almost instantly. After a while he pulled his fingers out, and she was annoyed, until he put something bigger in her to push with and that felt softer and thicker than his fingers.

He only pushed inside her for a few second before he stopped, and wet sticky stuff ran out between her legs. In the dark she could hear him fumbling with his clothes, and then he got up and left, just as suddenly as he came.

Living on her own, in the remote Alaskan wilderness, after her doomsday prepper parents died in a house fire when she was seven. Alta had only met six people her entire life--her mother, father, little brother, their next-"door" neighbor, a man in his seventies living five miles away, the clerk at the county store, and a hiker who had gotten lost in a storm and stayed with them in their cabin for a few nights before setting back onto his trail. Her brother had died only weeks after her parents from his injuries, but Alta had managed to stay alive. The house had sustained only minor damage, Alta's parents had been unlucky enough to be in the only part of the house that had collapsed, the back porch, and as a child living off grid, she knew enough to keep herself fed. The goats had survived, and some of the chickens returned after their initial flight of terror, and Alta had never been to school or on a playdate, so she continued doing the only thing she knew--surviving off the land and reading the bible her father had heavily annotated.

A few times a year as a teenager she made the twenty-mile walk to the store in the county seat, picking up electrical tape, bulk oatmeal, new underwear and kerosene, and, one year, a kitten. She always left if another customer came in--years of solitude had made her very shy.

But now that she was a young woman of nineteen, when a strange man had walked onto her property, asked quietly if he could rest there, and lay down with her in the dark, she didn't feel as shy.

To her surprise, he came back a week later. He came a little earlier in the evening, and she offered him a bowl of black bean soup. He wasn't much of a talker, and she appreciated that. When the sun went down, she lay down, hoping he'd follow her. He did, and this time he got on top of her and spread her legs gently with his thigh. She could see him holding his penis, and he put it in her again, pushing gently against her as he did. Remembering the last time, she gritted her teeth at first, but as he rocked against her over and over it began to ache again in that satisfying way, and she started to feel pins and needles. But then he grunted and the white sticky stuff came out again, and dripped down between her thighs. He knelt next to her and cleaned himself off, then lay back down beside her and threw his arm over her. Soon, he was snoring. She carefully snuggled back against him and listened to his heartbeat as she drifted off to sleep.

The next morning he did it to her again, and this time she had lots of pins and needles and she started to feel like she was about to pee, but then he released inside her again and it was over. He left for good that time, thanking her for letting him stay with her and telling her he was headed back to Idaho.

---

It started with a feeling like the flu. She had had the flu once, and her mother had wiped her forehead with icy cold washcloths, and given her mullein tea and extra food. She tried that, and it helped for a few days, but soon she wasn't keeping anything down in the mornings. And then she wasn't keeping anything down in the afternoons either. She had trouble keeping the property running, but she grit her teeth and told herself for the hundredth time what her dad had always said: if you can't trust yourself to take care of yourself, who can you?

Then the dreams started. She dreamed of him coming back and putting himself inside her, and this time, not exploding until she found out what that pins and needles feeling would turn into. She would lie in her bed, stroking her suddenly hyper sensitive nipples, and one evening she found out that touching where he'd touched while touching her nipples gave her that pins and needles feeling really quickly.

The dreams were the least of her problems though when she realized what was happening to her belly and breasts. They could only be described as ballooning outward. Her breasts were much larger and heavier than they had been four months ago, and they would have hung off her body uncomfortably were it not for the drum-tight shelf of flesh where her flat tummy used to be. She was utterly confounded by her weight gain--she was so fat now and yet she hadn't changed her eating habits at all.

Her belly only continued to get bigger over the months. She began to wonder if something was horribly wrong with her. The dreams stopped, and the nausea stopped, and her breasts even stopped their alarming rate of growth, but her belly just continued growing outwards until she was as wide as the doorway to her living room--a fact she discovered when she got stuck in it for two embarrassing, painful hours, eight months after she'd met the strange man. And then her belly got so fat that she couldn't get into her house at all, through any of the doorways. Luckily it was summer, so she slept outside in a hammock, but doorways weren't her only problem. She was too fat to bend at the waist, too big to sit upright, and her belly was so hard and heavy that she couldn't work for more than a half an hour at a time. Things were getting so dire that she contemplated walking into town and asking the clerk to phone the town doctor. Her father had warned her against the evils of western medicine, but she wasn't going to be able to work at all if she kept growing like this.

Before she could decide to call the doctor, nine months after the man from Idaho had stayed with her and made her feel good between her legs, her enormous belly suddenly seized in a terrible cramp. She gasped, the wind nearly knocked out of her by the pain.

Before she could fully recover, another contraction seized her burdened belly. She dropped to her knees and held her swollen middle with both hands.

to be continued...

[troythecatfish]

"Hezbollah could make Israel uninhabitable in 72 hours..."

Shaul Goldstein, CEO of Israel's National Electrical System Management Company (NOGA), warned that Israelis are unprepared for war, stating the power grid could collapse within hours of conflict.

Speaking at the Institute for National Security Studies conference in Sderot, he said, "After 72 hours without electricity, living in Israel will be impossible." Goldstein highlighted the entity's vulnerability, noting that Hezbollah could easily disable the power grid, causing a rapid breakdown of infrastructure, communication, and fuel supply if a full-scale war were to be waged against the Lebanese resistance group.

Source: Mintpress

[this-user-is-sus]

Scientists this week warn that the collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current (aka AMOC, contains the Gulf Stream) is closer than they previously predicted, as early as 2025.

This is bad and will lead to ripples in climate, weather patterns, local "normal" temperatures, storm severity, ocean oxygenation and fishery productivity (hello phrase "fish die-offs" 😭), and sea level that will disrupt life as we know it and cannot be reversed in this century or maybe (likely) for centuries to come.

(You can check the Wikipedia page for more information.).

Scream at someone about this.

Go here -- https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ -- or here -- https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials. Start typing. Feel free to use the template I'm putting under the "read more." Press send. Repeat if you have the energy. Ily if you do it even once. Thank you, and keep fighting the good fight!

Dear <NAME OF OFFICIAL>,

<OPTIONAL SENTENCE OR TWO TO INTRODUCE YOURSELF. Say why climate change matters to you. Say if you're frightened. Say if you're depressed. Say if you're anxious. Make it personal.>

This week a study was released (https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/world/gulf-stream-atlantic-current-collapse-climate-scn-intl/index.html, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-39810-w) showing that the collapse of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation is far closer than scientists had previously thought. When this current stops, it will have far-reaching impacts on sea level, weather, storm patterns, and fishery production that will be irreversible for a century or far longer.

I am deeply worried about the future. We need climate change ACTION now, not just voluntary incentive programs. Please take action to improve our electrical grid, transition our power plants to clean fuels, transition to clean modes of transportation, and tax carbon emissions.

Sincerely,

<YOUR NAME HERE>

[manorpunk]

3️⃣

History only makes sense in retrospect. 

Take, for example, the decade-long period of the French Revolution, or the decades between World War I and World War II. A decade is like a blip to the casual historian, a mere moment, so short it was nearly one-dimensional, like a line separating the before from the after. Those who lived through it, however, must have spent years wondering each morning whether their current government and/or life would still exist by lunchtime, and even when the dust finally settles, that’s not really a feeling that one can easily forget. People can only draw neat, dispassionate little lines around such events when they no longer live in its shadow, and the shadow of the Polycrisis still loomed menacingly over the American League.

There were some who were eager to move on, who would say that progress is always disruptive - the old must be dismantled to make way for the new. Others would say that it was one thing to have a controlled demolition, and an entirely separate thing to wake up one day to find that your electricity and plumbing were no longer working, and the government was not going to help you because its existence was tenuous at best, and all of the sub-contracted third-party subsidiaries who actually did the work of repairing power grids refused to take responsibility with your piddly little suburb because they were too busy trying to keep the lights on in places that ‘actually mattered.’ 

The causes of the Polycrisis were many and varied, hence the name, but a certain pattern had emerged in retrospect - climate change caused natural disasters, natural disasters destroyed infrastructure, destroyed infrastructure caused economic collapse, economic collapse caused political collapse. Casual historians might note how that pattern echoed the fall of most empires going back to the fall of Rome. But it was never supposed to happen to America. The blessed antipodes were not supposed to be like everywhere else. They were supposed to be where the lights always stayed on. Always.

Well, sometimes.

As the US federal government shrank, retreated, and finally collapsed, new states sprang up soon after. New England, Tidewater, and the Free Imperial New York drew their lines along the east coast; Cascadia created itself and formed a personal union with the Californian Commonwealth on the west coast after the Jefferson Rebellion was put down; and the Texaplex Megapole asserted its authority over Texas and neighboring states promising protection against Norteño incursions. The Great Lakes Republic formed shortly and reluctantly afterwards, becoming a sprawling Germany-esque collection of mid-sized cities jockeying against one another.

The rest of America, its vast and abandoned plains, its hollowed-out mountains and sinking coasts, became ‘the manors,’ places where power had devolved down to the newest class of rural gentry: fast food franchisees, car dealerships, beverage distributors, and the like. They were small-business tyrants and petite-bourgeoise corporate middlemen who had spent their lives wishing for the government to hurry up and collapse already so that they could live out their fantasies of being petty kings, bandit chiefs, and lords of the manor (hence the name). They would not give up their fantasies without a bitter and bloody fight.

Also, Orlando had become the microstate of Disneystadt, the Founderist equivalent of Vatican City.

Also, the western side of Appalachia was now a khaganate.

Perhaps one day people would see it as something like the French Revolution or interwar period, as a goofy but brief period of liminal turmoil wedged between two separate worlds. Here is how some of her contemporaries saw it:

“They elected fucking Spongebob president,” said Cornelius Mammon, the pale and wraithlike governor of New England, seated at one end of a long semicircular table, lined with chairs along its curve, all facing a gigantic wall-mounted screen on the far end of the room. ‘Old money’ seemed inadequate to describe the austere and sunken appearance of Cornelius; he was more like undead money. 

On the one hand, New England was populous, urbanized, relatively geographically sensible, united by a distinct and storied culture, and had been poised to shrug off the Polycrisis and carry on as normal. On the other hand, Boston and Philadelphia.

“Here I thought things were going to get back to normal,” Cornelius continued hoarily, “and now she’s going to rename the White House to ‘the Fun Zone.’ This is why democracy was a mistake.”

“Normal?” Young Oldman, governor of the Tidewater region, scoffed. He had a calculated plain appearance, revealing little about himself. Even his skin was a beige ‘off-white’ color that made people guess whether he was biracial or Middle Eastern or just a white guy with a tan. Ruling over the former head of the imperial American government and its intelligence apparatus, Young had learned to play it so close to the vest you’d need a seam ripper to get any answers out of him. He always kept his mouth shut.

Well, sometimes.

“Would that Sunny were some unwelcome intrusion of oddness into an otherwise august body. Have you seen the other nut bars we’ve been packed in here with?” Young jabbed a thumb at his neighbor, Vinny Vidivici, mayor of Free Imperial New York, who looked like a clogged shower drain that had gained sentience and put on a suit.

“You folks ever been to New York? We exchange money for goods and services there. Greatest fuckin city in the world baby,” Vinny said.

Young nodded and silently daydreamed about hunting him for sport.

“Personally, I think Sunny is just some GLN cabalist with a voice modulator,” said Johann van Gekkehuis, the pasty, gravelly-voiced, flannel-wearing governor of the Great Lakes Republic, with a bushy copper beard and a receding hairline, “have you ever seen her and Harold in the same room?”

“Yes,” said Young. Just because he played it close to the vest didn’t mean he couldn’t mess with people, and Johann was easy to mess with.

Johann had made his bones as a podcaster and had a natural talent for disguising all manner of conspiracy theories and ostensibly playful bigotry as good old-fashioned hard-nosed socialism. But being a conspiracy theorist wasn’t fun anymore. There was no point. The globalist puppet-masters didn’t hide in shadowy backrooms. They had HR departments, they had newsletters, they sent spam emails demonstrating the ways they controlled and surveilled every moment of your life, and that was so much more demoralizing than keeping it secret.

Behind Johann paced a meticulously handsome black man in a crisp navy blue suit, his eyes hidden behind a large pair of shades. He nodded to himself as he walked and talked into his headset. He was Michael McCoy, governor of the Piedmont region. Piedmont, encompassing the eastern half of Georgia and the Carolinas, was one of the newer states, and its constituents had carried the extra burden of rebuilding and reorienting themselves after the race war. They finished what the Northerners had started and then abandoned, two hundred years ago almost exactly, Northerners who decided they would let millions of black people linger as third-class citizens rather than hang even a few openly seditious gentlemen. But not Michael McCoy. Enough with being respectable, enough with being nonviolent, enough with taking the high road. Michael McCoy wanted blood.

That was a lie - Michael McCoy was an agricultural manager who rose to prominence shortly after the bloodshed had ended thanks to a series of excellent ad campaigns and his public image as a squeaky-clean family man. He simply enjoyed a victory lap as much as the next guy. And maybe wanted a little blood.

“Listen,” Michael said into his headpiece, “I’m not saying we need the change to be permanent. I just want it to be called ‘N[redacted]land’ for like a couple hours, then it can go back to being Piedmont. We don’t even have to tell anyone else about it.”

(Certain words have been redacted in the interest of not saying them. If you wish to see racial slurs, they can be unlocked by submitting proof of relevant ancestry to your local department of reclamation).

He listened through his earpiece, then scowled. “Why? I’ll tell you why - because then Sunny would have to say it on camera, and that would be fucking hilarious. See? You laughed, you get it. You want to know what would happen. It’s - listen, just - yeah - no - if - alright, alright, fine,” he sighed, “no name change. It’s staying as Piedmont. Y’all pussies.”

The atmosphere of general grumbling was interrupted by a choir of air horns blaring the opening bars to the Star Spangled Banner. The massive screen at the far end of the room turned itself on, revealing a towering Sunny Roosevelt with a long red dress and a thin, fuming smile.

“Hi! Wow. I heard all of that,” she said.

Michael McCoy took off his headset and looked up. “Miss Roosevelt, I have an urgent request-“

“No. Let’s get a few things straight here-” Sunny began.

“No, let’s you get something straight,” Cornelius fumed, jabbing a bony finger at her and half-standing up, “you have no power over us. You’re a fucking mascot, and we are the directors of-”

“Michael, slap him,” Sunny said.

Michael turned, grinned, and dutifully slapped Cornelius across the face in one smooth unhesitating motion. Cornelius was stunned into silence, looking between the two of them, not sure who to fume at. Young bit back a smile. Sunny pounced on the momentary silence.

“Okay, thing one - people actually like mascots. They do not like a bunch of rich old ghouls who are three minutes away from eating each other alive. Thing two - I’m so much more than a mascot. I’m a widely-beloved celebrity with millions of psycho-sexually obsessed followers hanging on my every word. So, what do you think that means for the next person who pisses me off?”

Nobody said a word, but as they pondered the threat of a weaponized legion of John Hinckleys, there was the sound of several sphincters involuntarily clenching (for the curious, it sounded a little like jumping on a rubber mat).

“That’s what I thought. You see this?” Sunny pointed at her own face, “this is Angry Sunny. You get Angry Sunny because you weren’t niceys to me. If you are niceys to me, you get Happy Sunny, and you want Happy Sunny. Happy Sunny will get you re-elected. Angry Sunny will kill you. Am I understood?”

There was a nervous, shifting silence as the east coast branch of Neo-Congress began to digest their new situation, except for Michael, who was hoping he would get to slap someone again.

“Am I understood?” she barked.

There were guilty, mumbled agreements. That would have to do for now. Sunny snapped her fingers. Her red dress became shorter and frillier. A blue collar lined with white stars appeared on her shoulders. Even the lines of her face became softer and more youthful. Happy Sunny clasped her hands together and smiled radiantly.

“That’s great! I’m so glad we got that little whoopsie-doodle figured out, and I’m sure it won’t happen again. I’m looking forward to working with all of you towards our common goal of making America… well, extant again.” 

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Since we're heading into winter...

The Supreme Court of Texas narrowly decided Friday that sovereign immunity, which largely shields government agencies from civil lawsuits, also protects the operator of the Texas electric grid.

The 5-4 opinion will likely free the nonprofit corporation from lawsuits filed by thousands of Texans for deaths, injuries and damages following the deadly 2021 winter storm, unless lawyers find another way forward.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the power supply for most of Texas, qualifies for immunity because it “provides an essential governmental service,” Chief Justice Nathan Hecht wrote in the majority opinion. State law intended for ERCOT to have the power of an “arm of the State government,” Hecht wrote. If anyone is going to hold ERCOT accountable for its actions, Hecht wrote, it should be state regulators or the Legislature, not the courts.

Freezing temperatures gripped the state during the 2021 winter storm, straining the power supply so much that ERCOT called for cutting power to millions of homes and businesses to prevent the grid’s collapse. More than 200 people died. Experts estimated afterward that financial losses totaled between $80 billion and $130 billion, including physical damage and missed economic opportunity.

Thousands of residents accused ERCOT, power companies and distribution companies of failing to prepare for the freezing weather.

Lawyers expect the high court’s decision will allow ERCOT to be dismissed from the litigation, although it does not shield other defendants.

Attorney Mia Lorick, who represents some of those plaintiffs, said she sees only a slim possibility that lawyers could keep claims against ERCOT alive by arguing that their cases have differences that somehow skirt the sovereign immunity finding.

Majed Nachawati, whose firm is representing other plaintiffs in the related cases said, “The Texas Supreme Court’s decision is disappointing to say the least. People lost their lives and the only recourse to the citizens of Texas is to be able to go through the judicial process, and the judicial system, to try to remedy or right the wrong that occurred in this case. And if you can’t count on our judiciary to protect its citizens, I think we’re in a lot of trouble.”

Justices Jeff Boyd and John Devine, along with two others, disagreed that ERCOT has sovereign immunity. Purely private entities are clearly not sovereign, and making them so undermines the public trust, they wrote. The justices argued that “no statute designates ERCOT as a part of the government” and that courts should not be barred from hearing claims against it.

The ruling sprang from two cases filed against ERCOT. San Antonio’s municipally owned utility, CPS Energy, alleged that ERCOT mishandled the soaring price of power during the 2021 winter storm. And private equity investors at Panda Power Funds alleged that 10 years earlier ERCOT issued reports that misled them about how much power the grid needed.

ERCOT spokespersons issued a statement saying that the organization was pleased with the decision. CPS Energy said in a statement that it was disappointed but thankful that four justices agreed with the utility as it sought relief for customers. The utility said the litigation still led to “critical discussions at the highest levels that are necessary to improve our power grid and energy market.”

[ralfmaximus]

Here's the complete list of DHS flagged search terms. Don't use any of these on social media to avoid having the 3-letter agencies express interest in your activities!

DHS & Other Agencies

Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Coast Guard (USCG)

Customs and Border Protection (CBP)

Border Patrol

Secret Service (USSS)

National Operations Center (NOC)

Homeland Defense

Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Agent

Task Force

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

Fusion Center

Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)

Secure Border Initiative (SBI)

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF)

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS)

Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS)

Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

Air Marshal

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

National Guard

Red Cross

United Nations (UN)

Domestic Security

Assassination

Attack

Domestic security

Drill

Exercise

Cops

Law enforcement

Authorities

Disaster assistance

Disaster management

DNDO (Domestic Nuclear Detection Office)

National preparedness

Mitigation

Prevention

Response

Recovery

Dirty Bomb

Domestic nuclear detection

Emergency management

Emergency response

First responder

Homeland security

Maritime domain awareness (MDA)

National preparedness initiative

Militia

Shooting

Shots fired

Evacuation

Deaths

Hostage

Explosion (explosive)

Police

Disaster medical assistance team (DMAT)

Organized crime

Gangs

National security

State of emergency

Security

Breach

Threat

Standoff

SWAT

Screening

Lockdown

Bomb (squad or threat)

Crash

Looting

Riot

Emergency Landing

Pipe bomb

Incident

Facility

HAZMAT & Nuclear

Hazmat

Nuclear

Chemical Spill

Suspicious package/device

Toxic

National laboratory

Nuclear facility

Nuclear threat

Cloud

Plume

Radiation

Radioactive

Leak

Biological infection (or event)

Chemical

Chemical burn

Biological

Epidemic

Hazardous

Hazardous material incident

Industrial spill

Infection

Powder (white)

Gas

Spillover

Anthrax

Blister agent

Exposure

Burn

Nerve agent

Ricin

Sarin

North Korea

Health Concern + H1N1

Outbreak

Contamination

Exposure

Virus

Evacuation

Bacteria

Recall

Ebola

Food Poisoning

Foot and Mouth (FMD)

H5N1

Avian

Flu

Salmonella

Small Pox

Plague

Human to human

Human to ANIMAL

Influenza

Center for Disease Control (CDC)

Drug Administration (FDA)

Public Health

Toxic

Agro Terror

Tuberculosis (TB)

Agriculture

Listeria

Symptoms

Mutation

Resistant

Antiviral

Wave

Pandemic

Infection

Water/air borne

Sick

Swine

Pork

Strain

Quarantine

H1N1

Vaccine

Tamiflu

Norvo Virus

Epidemic

World Health Organization (WHO and components)

Viral Hemorrhagic Fever

E. Coli

Infrastructure Security

Infrastructure security

Airport

CIKR (Critical Infrastructure & Key Resources)

AMTRAK

Collapse

Computer infrastructure

Communications infrastructure

Telecommunications

Critical infrastructure

National infrastructure

Metro

WMATA

Airplane (and derivatives)

Chemical fire

Subway

BART

MARTA

Port Authority

NBIC (National Biosurveillance Integration Center)

Transportation security

Grid

Power

Smart

Body scanner

Electric

Failure or outage

Black out

Brown out

Port

Dock

Bridge

Canceled

Delays

Service disruption

Power lines

Southwest Border Violence

Drug cartel

Violence

Gang

Drug

Narcotics

Cocaine

Marijuana

Heroin

Border

Mexico

Cartel

Southwest

Juarez

Sinaloa

Tijuana

Torreon

Yuma

Tucson

Decapitated

U.S. Consulate

Consular

El Paso

Fort Hancock

San Diego

Ciudad Juarez

Nogales

Sonora

Colombia

Mara salvatrucha

MS13 or MS-13

Drug war

Mexican army

Methamphetamine

Cartel de Golfo

Gulf Cartel

La Familia

Reynose

Nuevo Leon

Narcos

Narco banners (Spanish equivalents)

Los Zetas

Shootout

Execution

Gunfight

Trafficking

Kidnap

Calderon

Reyosa

Bust

Tamaulipas

Meth Lab

Drug trade

Illegal immigrants

Smuggling (smugglers)

Matamoros

Michoacana

Guzman

Arellano-Felix

Beltran-Leyva

Barrio Azteca

Artistics Assassins

Mexicles

New Federation

Terrorism

Terrorism

Al Queda (all spellings)

Terror

Attack

Iraq

Afghanistan

Iran

Pakistan

Agro

Environmental terrorist

Eco terrorism

Conventional weapon

Target

Weapons grade

Dirty bomb

Enriched

Nuclear

Chemical weapon

Biological weapon

Ammonium nitrate

Improvised explosive device

IED (Improvised Explosive Device)

Abu Sayyaf

Hamas

FARC (Armed Revolutionary Forces Colombia)

IRA (Irish Republican Army)

ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna)

Basque Separatists

Hezbollah

Tamil Tiger

PLF (Palestine Liberation Front)

PLO (Palestine Libration Organization)

Car bomb

Jihad

Taliban

Weapons cache

Suicide bomber

Suicide attack

Suspicious substance

AQAP (Al Qaeda Arabian Peninsula)

AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb)

TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan)

Yemen

Pirates

Extremism

Somalia

Nigeria

Radicals

Al-Shabaab

Home grown

Plot

Nationalist

Recruitment

Fundamentalism

Islamist

Weather/Disaster/Emergency

Emergency

Hurricane

Tornado

Twister

Tsunami

Earthquake

Tremor

Flood

Storm

Crest

Temblor

Extreme weather

Forest fire

Brush fire

Ice

Stranded/Stuck

Help

Hail

Wildfire

Tsunami Warning Center

Magnitude

Avalanche

Typhoon

Shelter-in-place

Disaster

Snow

Blizzard

Sleet

Mud slide or Mudslide

Erosion

Power outage

Brown out

Warning

Watch

Lightening

Aid

Relief

Closure

Interstate

Burst

Emergency Broadcast System

Cyber Security

Cyber security

Botnet

DDOS (dedicated denial of service)

Denial of service

Malware

Virus

Trojan

Keylogger

Cyber Command

2600

Spammer

Phishing

Rootkit

Phreaking

Cain and abel

Brute forcing

Mysql injection

Cyber attack

Cyber terror

Hacker

China

Conficker

Worm

Scammers

Social media

SOCIAL MEDIA?!

[tomorrowusa]

Texas is still suffering from power outages triggered by Hurricane Beryl which dissipated a week ago.

More than a week after Hurricane Beryl swept through Texas and left millions without power, nearly 60,000 people in the state still do not have electricity. The issue is more than an inconvenience, as many in the state have faced a deadly days-long heat wave that claimed its latest victim on Tuesday. Local news reported that a woman was found dead in her apartment after spending the last eight days in her home without electricity and air conditioning. The heat index in Houston had climbed to 110F (43F) the day her body was discovered. With the power issue lingering and more than a dozen deaths now linked to the heat, frustrations in Houston have started to boil over - particularly as the forecasts for the coming days warn of high temperatures. Armed residents living without electricity have reportedly harrassed and threatened workers from CenterPoint Energy, the local energy provider, who have been sent out to restore power. Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a statement saying that CentrePoint Energy "has lost the faith and trust of Texans". He issued a July 31 deadline for the company to respond to questions about what went wrong and what can be done to mitigate hurricane damage to the electric grid.

Climate-denying Republican Gov. Greg Abbott followed that Texas GOP tradition of leaving the state whenever climate causes a disaster leading to misery and death for residents. We remember Sen. Ted Cruz heading to Cancún when a winter storm caused the state's separate power grid to collapse.

Gov. Abbott went to Milwaukee to attend the GOP convention to brag about himself sending busloads of migrants to Chicago.

Gov. Abbott says Texas will continue busing migrants to Chicago during RNC speech

Those migrants are being sent north with taxpayer money in air conditioned buses while Abbott's Texas constituents are dropping dead from the heat.

Abbott himself was enjoying the moderate climate of the Upper Midwest where the high temperature in Milwaukee on Thursday is expected to be a refreshing 75° F/24° C. No place in southeastern Wisconsin will even make it to 80° today.

Abbott and other MAGA Republicans will be celebrating the climate policies of the Orange Dear Leader whose election would guarantee even more climate disasters for the Lone Star State.

Trump asks Big Oil for $1B in campaign cash

^^^ just sayin'

[bloghrexach]

💥 … good news!!! — July 20, 2024!!

By: LaillaB, founder of ‘Reclaim the Narrative’, from LinkedIn …

“As Israel's genocidal war against Gaza continues unabated, the Israeli economy is facing a catastrophe.

The economic indicators speak of nothing less than an economic catastrophe.

Over 46,000 businesses have gone bankrupt, tourism has stopped, Israel's credit rating was lowered, Israeli bonds are sold at the prices of almost "junk bonds" levels, and the foreign investments that have already dropped by 60% in the first quarter of 2023 (as a result of the policies of Israel's far-right government before October 7) show no prospects of recovery.

The majority of the money invested in Israeli investment funds was diverted to investments abroad because Israelis do not want their own pension funds and insurance funds or their own savings to be tied to the fate of the State of Israel.

This has caused a surprising stability in the Israeli stock market because funds invested in foreign stocks and bonds generated profit in foreign currency, which was multiplied by the rise in the exchange rate between foreign currencies and the Israeli Shekel.

But then Intel scuttled a $25 billion investment plan in Israel, the biggest BDS victory ever.

Three Israeli historians, two Zionists and one anti-Zionist, have declared that the Zionist project has come to an end.

Israel's power grid, which has largely switched to natural gas, still depends on coal to supply demand.

The biggest supplier of coal to Israel is Colombia, which announced that it would suspend coal shipments to Israel as long as the genocide was ongoing.

After Colombia, the next two biggest suppliers are South Africa and Russia.

Without reliable and continuous electricity, Israel will no longer be able to pretend to be a developed economy.

The physical destruction in Israel has been minimal, but one thing has been destroyed: its future.

When a critical mass of Israelis, regardless of their political opinions, become convinced that Israeli apartheid has become unsustainable, they will no longer agree to invest energy and money and risk their lives and their families for the sake of the Zionist project.

They will seek out a better future for themselves, as every sane person would, either by leaving Israel, or better yet, by working towards a new and democratic political system in Palestine 🇵🇸 إن شاء الله

Mondoweiss.

🃏 An economy built on the exploitation and suffering of others is a house of cards destined to collapse.

إن شاء الله

#reclaimthenarrative — 🍉🕊 — #FreePalestine … @hrexach

[hufflepuffwritingstuff2]

Secret Santa Snippet!

This snippet is a secret Santa gift for @gingerly-writing ! I hope you like it, Ginger! Your request was super fun, I hope I did it justice!

It started out as a normal work relationship. Supervillain would work in the shadows while Hero tried to undermine them from outside. But eventually Supervillain stopped sending villains and henchmen and started showing up to fights themselves. Now, Hero was narrowly dodging balls of electricity while simultaneously sending out their own ice beams.

“You won’t get away with whatever it is you’re planning,” Hero shouted across the warehouse, “I’ll make sure of it!”

Hero sent throwing stars made of ice in Supervillain’s direction, which Supervillain destroyed with carefully aimed electric bolts.

“My dear little Hero,” Supervillain said, seemingly unbothered by Hero’s threat, “whatever do you think I’m planning that’s got you so worked up? Global destruction? The collapse of society as we know it?”

“Well, yes!” Hero said, “what else could you be up to?”

As they were speaking, Supervillain had slowly been closing the distance between them and Hero. Now, Hero had been backed into a wall, with Supervillain mere inches from their face.

“Have you ever considered that I’ve merely been trying to get your attention?” Supervillain asked.

Hero froze.

“W-what?”

“I’ve been watching you for some time, Hero, and I must say, you’re quite the distracting little thing. It started as mere surveillance, making sure you weren’t a threat to my plans. But then… then, all my plans fizzled out as you became the only thing I could think about. I stopped sending my subordinates out to fight you, you’re mine to fight and mine alone. Let’s just say, I’ve become infatuated with you, and I intend to make you mine.”

Hero felt fear twist in the pit of their stomach. Suddenly the threat of global destruction or the collapse of society seemed a lot easier to deal with.

“I’ll give you some time to put your affairs in order,” Supervillain said, “after that, you’ll be coming with me.”

“Excuse me?” Hero blurted, “no- I, I’m not coming with you! I’m not yours to have!”

“One week should be ample time to let things sink in,” Supervillain continued, ignoring Hero’s protests, “until then, little Hero.”

Supervillain put a hand on Hero’s shoulder, letting electricity flow from their body into Hero’s. Hero cried out and fell to the ground. Their eyes fluttered shut. When they came to, Supervillain was gone.

…

One week later

Bolts of lightning shot down from the sky all over the city, catching buildings and trees on fire and causing outages on across the power grid. In the center of it all, a figure stood over another on a rooftop.

“Accept that you’re mine, and all of this stops,” Supervillain said softly.

Hero tried and failed to push themselves off the ground. They crashed back down on the rooftop, tears springing into their eyes.

“I’m not yours,” Hero bit out.

Supervillain chuckled, like a parent patiently trying to explain something obvious to their child. The storm only grew stronger as they summoned another bolt of lightning right toward Hero. Hero screamed as the electricity rippled through them.

“Please, please stop,” Hero whimpered.

Supervillain crouched down to Hero’s level and petted their hair lovingly.

“Only you can make it stop,” Supervillain whispered.

Supervillain shot another weak stream of electricity through Hero’s body. Hero cried out as their body convulsed on the ground.

“Alright!” Hero sobbed, “Alright, I’ll come with you.”

“Good Hero,” Supervillain said.

Supervillain picked Hero up as though they were the most fragile thing in the world, and carried them bridal style off the rooftop and into the city sky. As soon as Hero was in their arms, the lightning across the city ceased to strike.

…

Supervillain landed inside their lair, Hero still in their arms. The ceiling closed over them as their feet touched the ground. They carried Hero down several hallways until they reached a large, modern-looking bedroom. They laid Hero down on the bed.

“Now, little Hero,” Supervillain said, pulling off their gloves, “I hope you realize that I except total and complete surrender from you if you want to keep your city safe. We’re going to have to establish some ground rules.”

“G-ground rules?” Hero asked, still twitching from residual electricity.

“Mhm,” Supervillain said, “for instance: you’re free to roam the grounds at your leisure, but if you want to leave my lair, you’ll have to be accompanied by me.”

“But-”

“The next rule is you are not to use your powers against me, is that clear? I don’t fancy becoming an ice sculpture in my own home.”

Supervillain tucked a strand of hair behind Hero’s ear.

“I think you’ll become accustomed to living here soon enough,” Supervillain said, “in fact, I daresay you’ll enjoy your new way of life. Anything you want, within reason, name it, and its yours. You’ll never have to work a day in your life again. All you have to do is be mine.”

Hero looked out the window at the city outside. Some buildings were partially destroyed from Supervillain’s lightning, and firefighters were still putting out the blazes on the trees. It would only get worse if Hero fought. So, Hero became Supervillain’s, and the city was finally at peace.

Tags: @gingerly-writing @mythixmagic @princessofonwardsworld @infinityshadows @fishtale88 @valiantphantomangel @thelazywitchphotographer @the-beasts-have-arrived

[isleofdarkness]

Jasmine's Next supply Drop

She can't fix everything Maverick is worried about, but she can at least try to ease her burden

A couple hundred gallons of bleach (can be used to purify water)

20 solar-powered desalination machines, as well as a couple dozen copies on how to make their own out of the meagre "supplies" (trash) they get on the Isle

5 crates of high-calorie emergency rations (3600 calories per bar, each bar the size of a pop-tart but twice as thick)

10 crates of assorted nuts, seeds, jerkeys, rice, and other easily-stored nonperishable.

10,000 pounds of flour (100 100-lb bags)

3 crates milk power

3 crates powdered eggs

5 crates baby formula

5 crates peanut butter

50 cameras with solar-powered chargers

Supplies and instructions to build ~20 medium hydropower generators, promises to send more if the generators work

200 fuel cubes for starting fires and 100 books of matches

Several very thick books (all copies of the same book) written by Aladdin, giving them advice for doing their distribution covertly and escaping when things go south.

Several books from Kuzco about creating irrigation canals and long-standing roads

Several books on creating and maintaining a hydroponics system, as well as 25 bags of uncursed soil and several dozen packets of seeds

A book of sigils, circles, and runes from Adam Constantine, and how to use each one to protect possible distribution centres from unwanted company

While there's not much that can be done about the guards, they gave Maverick a small book of tricks to keep fae like Maleficent or Twisted Neverfay contained in a certain area

4 large church bells blessed by a Catholic priest (he was absolutely delighted to be part of inconveniencing Maleficent, as he's been a victim of that hundred-year sleep,) as well as 8 small-ish ones

A couple dozen books on creating infrastructure (sewers, plumbing, electric grid, bridges, roads, telecommunication, water supply, etc.) They're hard to build now but it's better they already know what they're doing before they actually have to, as Maverick and the others pretty stubbornly insist on staying on the Isle after everything and seeing if they can make it work without be constantly sabotaged

Some tips on how to figure out what was wrong with their water supplies (rivers, lakes, etc,) so that Jasmine could start working with them to clean up the pollution in their water.

Veterinary rabies vaccines, five samples for every animal that can be vaccinated for rabies

Maverick is still preparing for a worst case scenario ("I expect the worst, so I prepare for the worst, so when the worst happens, I'm ready" and all that,) but she thinks, at the very least, these supplies and books can help them put it off or at least slow how rapidly it progresses. Jasmine is also considering sending livestock but, considering how nervous Maverick got about the idea (one of the cows had tried to attack Mordred and she is traumatized,) decided to put it off for a while to give the Isle time to recover from the idea of rabid cows.

And she's doubling, tripling, her efforts to get at least civilians off of the Isle. She can't take too many at once, knowing she would run the risk of collapsing the new systems she'd put in place, but she's trying. They're getting the children off first, because they're the ones who will be hit hardest by malnutrition and starvation, but the adults will follow as quickly as possible. Hopefully, by the time Beast realizes people are disappearing from the Isle at an alarming rate, they'll have at least gotten a half of the Isle's population evacuated. That'll make the lack of supplies easier on those who remain.

They're putting major plans in place to prevent or at least improve the future Maverick saw. And Jasmine is already drawing up plans for how she's going to make this all legal.

[sunnyie-eve]

33 | For the Best

Series: Indispensable | Teen Wolf

Paring: (Stiles Stilinski x OFC Martin)

Word Count: 1.9k

Warnings: None

| MASTERLIST |

~

Julia wakes up and looks around to see Stiles sitting a good distance away from her and it looked like they were in the school's basement.

When he looks over at her she curls up in a ball so he gets up going over to her slowly, "It's me, Julia. I swear it's me." He puts his hands up.

"How do I know for sure?" She gets up taking a step back.

"I promise, Jules. I don't remember much but I know you're scared of me because of him. Trust me please."

"Why are we at school?" She asks him so he tells her to talk to Scott so he turns on the alarm to get his attention hopefully.

Scott end up coming down with the twins so Stiles turns to them as Julia looks over at them, "Okay, I know what you guys are thinking but it's me. I swear to God, it's me." He tells the three and the twins rush at him.

Julia steps aside and Scott stops the twins to from hurting Stiles, "It's me, Scott. I swear it's me. I don't know where I've been for the last two days or what I've been doing, or why Julia is with me, but this is me. I promise."

"You know what happened at the hospital?"

"I know more than that." Stiles goes to show everything blueprints and plans saying he might have been up to something a lot worse.

"Julia, why have you been just staying with him?" Aiden asks her as she holds herself.

"Void have been keeping me sedated. He took me to know of his plan will work and it will. I've only been awake once for the past two days. He said hopefully next time I wake up Stiles will be himself." She looks over at Stiles, "So I'm guessing he is himself."

Going through the back more Stiles had a blueprint of the hospital electrical grid and a bag full of rope, wire and tools as well as well a map of the Cross Country Team running trail. They all come up with believing the Nogitsune had used Stiles to set up booby-traps along the trail, so they race to stop the team.

When they pull up in the jeep coach was surprised to see Stiles and Julia so they quickly explains they need to stop the team.

As the team arrives and they manage to stop the rest of the cross country team. Stiles finds a chain under some leaves but it is attached to nothing.

Coach believes this is just another funny/weird Stilinski moment begins to berate him. "Coach!" Julia watch's as he steps forward into a tripwire and an arrow punctures his diaphragm causing him to collapse.

Julia rushes over bending down by his head, "Coach, open your eyes." She taps on his cheek making him start to scream.

"Get it out of me! Get it out of me! Get it out of me!" He yells as the guys. "I'm gonna die!" He yells looking at all of them.

Stiles tries telling him he's not going to die. Julia looks at Scott indicating he should use his ability to take away pain so Scott does so and Coach passes out.

Stiles looks at his bloody hands ranting about how he could have killed him. "He's gonna be alright Stiles." Julia looks up at him as they hear an ambulance.

When they show up to take Coach to the hospital Stiles and his dad hug since he was relieved to see his son was alright. "Julia, I'm glad to see you're okay too." He pulls Julia into a hug as well, "Where have you guys been?"

"We don't remember anything." Julia tells him, "But we're okay right now." She adds till Scott shout for Noah so he rushes over.

They all end up at school since they believe that's where the bomb was. As everyone was watching on it turns out it was just a distraction because the bomb was somewhere else. Turns out it was at the station so they get there after it went off.

Rushing inside to help multiple officers were down, Scott tries taking someone pain but Julia said he was going to die and he did.

Noah tells the three to get out and when they start to, Kira shows up telling them the Oni were coming and that they had to leave quickly. They head to the animal clinic to be safe and when they get there the Oni show up.

Scott gets implied by one of the swords fighting the Oni and when they all get inside Kira tries to take it out of Scott but Stiles stops her. He knocks her out then points at Julia shaking his finger no.

"Void, don't please." She begs him so he walks over to her making her back away.

"Don't worry sweetheart." He turns back to Scott and grabs the sword twisting it.

Julia wanted to help, she did but she was scared of him sliding down the wall curling up into a ball till Deaton showed up injecting Stiles with a poison to the fox in him. He helps Scoot then asks if she okay.

"I'm sorry, Scott. I couldn't. He scares me." She cries.

Going home Lydia rushes to Julia pulling her into a hug, "Where have you been? Are you okay? What happened?" She grabs her face asking her all the questions.

"I'm okay, and Void kidnapped me to make sure his plan will work. I've been out mostly for the past two days." Julia tells her as she sits on her bed.

"Are you really okay?" Lydia sits next to her.

"No, I'm terrified." She tears up, "Void scares me and what makes it worse is that he's using Stiles. I know he would never do these things yet he technically is."

"Are you scared to be around Stiles even when he's himself?" Lydia asks her.

"A tad bit but I can't help it. How Void had a hold of me when I was trying to fight him away." She looks at her sister.

"Don't let him make you scared of Stiles, Julia. You know he could never hurt you like that. He cares too much about you." Lydia hold her hand, "Don't satisfy him."

~

The next day Julia got a call from Noah asking her if she wanted to go with him and Stiles to be by his side moving into Eichen House for 72 hours. Stiles and Noah told her not tell Scott but he found out anyways showing up as they waited outside.

Noah explains that Stiles' MRI results looked exactly like those of his wife and that he was terrified. That he is going to LA tomorrow to talk to a specialist and that it was Stiles who had requested that he be locked away in the mental health facility so that he doesn't hurt anyone.

Scott tries to talk him out of the plan saying that Deaton's got some ideas and Argent is calling people to try to find something to help him rid himself of the Nogitsune. Stiles tells him if they don't find something then Scott must make sure he never gets out.

As the three leave Scott going in Stiles grabs Julia's hand, "I know you're scared of me. Why are you here?" He asks before they walk inside.

"I'm not scared of you. I'm scared of him. You're my best friend Stiles and I care about you so much. He wants me to be afraid of you and I won't give him that." She explains to him, "What he did to me wasn't you and I know that. You could never do that to me."

"But it's still my face you see when he hurts you." He squeezes her hand.

"Maybe but when I make eye contact with him I can tell it's him and not you. Your eyes tell a whole different story when you look at me." She smiles squeezing his hand now, "They're always so gentle."

Stiles pulls her into a tight hug not wanting to let go. He just wanted to keep apologizing. She was just too good to be true.

Inside the Eichen House attendant explains the rules that there are no phone calls, emails or visitors allowed in the first 72 hours. As she lays out the process, a physical, meeting with a psychologist, and group therapy, Noah becomes more and more agitated.

Julia notices that so she places her hand on his shoulder. The attendant takes Stiles shoes and gives him brown slippers because no laces allowed and then makes him empty his pockets of keys and other items.

Suddenly Noah declares that they forgot Stiles' pillow and that they must leave to go and get it. He manically explains that every time they've stayed in a hotel, the first thing they pack is Stiles' pillow. Stiles explains that he hasn't slept well in weeks and hugs his father tightly.

"Hopefully this works out." Julia speaks up as Stiles goes to hug her next.

"That's why I'm putting myself in here." He chuckles squeezing her tightly. As he pulls back he looks into her eyes wanting to kiss her so badly.

"Don't worry about your dad. I'll keep an eye on him." Julia smiles looking over at Noah with her sweet smile. Stiles is off down the hall with the attendant, leaving Julia and his father standing alone, "It's for the best." She adds turning to face Noah.

"I know." He sighs, "Let's just get you home since it's late." He motions for her to walk ahead of him.

"I was actually hoping I can stay with while Stiles is here so you aren't alone. My mom wouldn't care trust me." She tells him hoping he'll let her.

"That sounds nice. Then let's go home." They leave together.

When they get to the house Noah tells Julia goodnight as she walks upstairs going to Stiles room. Walking into his room she gets clothes to sleep in before changing and getting into bed.

Cuddling one of his pillows she starts to cry a bit wishing for Stiles to be himself again. She wished void possesses one of the others instead of him. Why Stiles? Why her best friend she was in love with sadly.

While Stiles was in for the first night he didn't sleep at all just sitting up all night. The next day he wanted to use the phone changing his mind about being there but it was still turned off.

When trying to figure a way out, Stiles ends up running into Malia, who attacks him since she hated being normal. As he was held down he notices the basement was the same from the time he was asleep.

Later in the day he finds Malia taking a shower in the boys room. They chat for a bit while Stiles tries not to look at her. She rants why she hates being human and wants to go back to being a coyote. They said they would help each other out in order of what they want.

Sadly when Malia gets the keys for Stiles the plan doesn't work and Stiles gets caught and the force him to go to sleep. Malia ends up helping him out and they get to the basement. They go through files that were down there but Stiles couldn't find anything that could help him.

Asking Malia to check the lines on his back, she said they were fading causing him to sigh. Malia ends up kissing Stiles taking him by surprise.

"Umm, okay." Stiles moves away a bit not knowing what to feel.

"Was that bad?" She asks him.

"No, but..." He looks away from her, "I kinda like my friend outside of here." He tells her.

"That short red head?"

"Strawberry blonde but yeah her. Things have been confusing lately." He explains to her.

[hypervoxel]

Referencing one of the fics I talked about here, the "this was supposed to be about Redemption. it isn't." Vox-centric rape aftermath one, which will now be going behind a readmore with that description as your warning

I need to talk about this forever but I am not close to publishing anything yet. But I do have a lot of it plotted out (with no ending in sight though, unfortunately).

Vox, at his core, wants to be liked. Where other Overlords lean into the fear their power inspires, Vox softens himself and puts on a friendly smile. He needs public approval. He yearns for their affection, their eyes, their obsession. He made an AI assistant modeled and named after himself on all of their phones/watches/devices.

But Vox still is an Overlord, and you don't get power in Hell without making people hate you.

The Vees have a hold not just on media, but on drugs, real estate, construction, data centers, manufacturing, the entire electrical grid and fiber optic lines, the list goes on and on. Vox's empire touches every corner of their city; no one is free from his influence unless they shun modernity entirely.

It's the drugs that cause an issue this time.

Valentino has been beefing with The Alchemist since that mutt first made a name for himself. His aesthetic was ancient to match the name, but the Alchemist is a new sinner, some lowlife who thought that because he knew how to make lean in life, he could make a name for himself here and branch out into all sorts of new, hellish drugs. Thing is, addicts are the easiest soul contract you'll ever make. Promise to supply their addiction, and as long as you can, you'll collect souls as quickly as you can make Deals. The Alchemist getting to new Sinners before the Vees get a chance to becomes a problem.

Valentino has plenty of enforcers to take care of uppity wannabe Overlords encroaching on their turf though. The problem should be short-lived.

It isn't.

Vox hasn't been paying much attention to it. These things come and go, as gangsters die and Valentino forces them into submission. Val may focus more on his Porn Studio now, but he got his Overlord status through taking out the old families and cartels, the mobs and mafias running Pentagram City, taking over their drug trafficking and brothels. So Vox didn't worry about it. Val might need direction when dealing with his public persona, didn't know when to tone himself down for polite company, but when the situation called for Val's brand of violence? Vox let him handle it.

He realized, after the drinks at his investor meeting led to him collapsing dizzily to the floor, reaching out blindly for the now non-existent electrical grid and realizing that the building's power had been cut off, that he should have paid more attention to who might have it out for The Vees right now, and which investors weren't in Valentino's pocket.

... He escapes eventually. They may have been smart enough to keep him away from electrical wires, but one finally made the mistake of not putting his phone on airplane mode while recording their captive Overlord, and Vox used it as a jump point.

The damage had already been done.

Val is still ranting about his typical inane drama, and Vox wants nothing more than to look at his phone. He can't do that. Not until his algorithm cleans up any mention of. Himself. In compromising situations. It's being posted faster than the bots can take it down, but at least Vox has turned off any direct messages, blocked the usual pings alerting him every time he's mentioned, and filtered emails to only show what is absolutely and immediately necessary for the continued running of VoxTek. Even that decision has also been posted about online, people making fun of him for not being able to handle the backlash. He used to have a language model AI answering comments and DMs, a personal touch for his fans. It had responded to far too many messages about how good he looked in his latest broadcast with the standard thanks and appreciation for their support, before he disabled it. Vox was sure screenshots of those responses were also still going around.

The Vee's retribution on the other Overlord is to torture him and his inner circle on live video. The Alchemist posted several recordings of Vox's rape online to further humiliate him, so the Vees will pay back like with like, making use of Val's stash of angelic bullets to slowly kill off everyone who touched Vox. Until the Alchemist begs for mercy, tells them he'll give them anything, everything, offering up everything to them, his soul, his territory, all of his Contracts...

Velvette takes the deal. "I'll give you anything," was the phrase they agreed on, "my Contracts, yours. Money, apothecaries, everything, please." They shook on those terms, the Alchemist too out of it at this point to realize that he didn't ask for anything in return for all that he just handed over. Vox shoots him.

His death, his defeat, it doesn't fix anything.

It was supposed to. It was supposed to make everyone stop talking about Vox like he's the new most popular porn star - or at least focus on him when he's in control of the situation. Wasn't that hotter? Filmed professionally by Valentino's best director instead of on a handheld shaking cell phone and. It was supposed to show everyone that you can't mess with The Vees. Wins against them are only temporary. They'll come out on top in the end. But everyone was still talking about old news.

Anyway. Many more thoughts but this is long enough lmao. A huge focus of this multi series wip is how other characters react to it, not just Vox. Like: Valentino has so many issues of his own and he is projecting them onto Vox. Valentino escaped victimhood long ago, and he is no longer the kind of person who can be targeted by abusers or bigots. Vox was his equal. Vox was his.

"Hey! Vox!" There's hands on him and he reels back, but there's nowhere to go. His shoulders are wrenched out of place, arms bound by his own bowtie, nowhere to run. This isn't happening. There's something in his mouth— no there's not?— Bite me and I'll knock out your teeth,* a gruff voice is saying. Vox, they mock, Vox, they ask if he likes hearing his name chanted during. No, Vox! He puts his name on everything, should they brand him with his own logo? Would he like that? He screams when they grab his antenna and wrench his head to the side. "Vox! "You're not listening to me!" Val's expression clears as Vox blinks to awareness. His glare melts into a on of concern. "Are you seriously still thinking about that gangbanger?" Val scoffs. Frowns. Thinks of something with a smile growing across his face. One hand is on Vox's chest, another two on his hips, he guides Vox back, gently. Vox stumbles when he hits the arm of the couch, falling, flailing, landing on his back with an oomf Val crawls over top of him. "Stop thinking about them, Voxxy. You know I can show you a much better time." Vox flinches when Val's hand trails lower onto his thigh, trying to wiggle away for the first time, and Val's brows furrow. "I didn't think you were hurt there," he mutters. "Skin graft," Vox squeaks, breathless. He hated feeling breathless. He didn't even need to breathe.

Velvette, well. She was the person Vox teleported to. He manifested out of her phone and knocked them both to the ground, passing out on top of her. She got the first look at him before any of his technicians were called in to fix things. He came to her. And she can't help but feel responsible for him.

In the video, they fucked him like he was a toy. No, not even that. They treated him with less regard than anyone fucked even a FizzBot. It wasn't a good video. These weren't porn directors. They weren't sex workers who had trained to make this art. It was brutal and it was vulgar and it didn't even look good. Bad angles and shaky camera, but shared tens of thousands of times and the number was still growing. The original had been removed. She made sure of that. But that hadn't stopped its spread, couldn't do anything when people downloaded the video as quickly as they could to reupload it, far too many reposts to track down, especially with Vox still. Offline. She couldn't exactly plug herself into his supercomputer. Velvette was the Social Media Queen. She was the Online Overlord. She was meant to be in charge of The Vees' images online, currating how they presented themselves to that hungry audience. This wasn't supposed to get out of her control. —— But she had posted about Vox in the afteraffects of Val's venom, doped to his gills on the thing she had recreated into Love Potion. She had tagged it for a free promo of her own products. Vox was funny when his tongue was loose and his affection and attention freely given. And Vox thought humanizing himself was important, some twisted idea leftover from life about being "robotic" that dictated his body in the afterlife and left him desperate to be understood as a living, albeit no longer breathing human being. He softened himself to be less of a monster to anyone looking, dressed himself like he wasn't a threat, smiled and laughed and and. It was her idea to capitalize on Val and Vox's relationship. Well, Val was the one who first callously posted about breaking Vox's screen, but it was her idea to turn it into a running joke. It was funny when Val punched Vox and threw things at him and broke his fucking face. It was funny, because unlike bruises and bloody noses, Vox's screen was easily replaceable glass. It broke so easily, anyone who managed to get a lucky hit on him while fighting could no longer feel satisfied by that when Vox's boyfriend did more damage than a rival Overlord could ever manage to. Glass was easy to break. Vox didn't like fighting back, but it was funny, was barely even violence. It meant nothing more than rolled eyes and a swiftly scheduled appointment with a technician to switch out screens. No one was supposed to look at the image she created and come to the conclusion that Vox was easy to subdue. It wasn't supposed to make Vox look weak. It was supposed to make him impossible to hurt, because any damage done was so easy to fix that it was no big deal at all. But. His face was so easy to break. He was so loose limbed and pliant on Love Potion. He might have claws, but he preferred not to use them, hiding behind cameras and screens all day. What the fuck were people supposed to take from that?

Other characters have thoughts too. Alastor isn't online, doesn't know the backstory, but Vox makes his picture shows impossible to miss with displays all over the city. Vox has become unrecognizable. Alastor is disgusted that they used to be acquaintances.

Cherri gleefully sends Angel every vindictive meme about Vox she sees. She wishes it had happened to Valentino instead, but Vox is also profiting off of her bestie's abuse, so he absolutely deserves everything that happened to him and more.

Angel laughed about it at first, but... It doesn't feel right to celebrate anyone's rape. And some of Cherri's comments... Angel has been used to sell this lifestyle to the new talent Valentino wants to make Deals with. He's responsible for ruining so many lives, hanging off Val's arm and telling people how great it is to work for him. And long before that, Angel was involved in the Mafia and, well, like Val himself, they didn't just make money on drugs, did they? Angel wonders if his best friend would be so supportive of him if she knew all this. He wonders of she'd think he deserves his fate too.

Carmilla, like Alastor, is not very online. She hears from her daughters that there's a reason The Vees are doing this, but the girls aren't sharing any details, and don't stay to watch the broadcast Vox has forced onto their TV. She watches The Vees make a Deal with a Sinner and immediately turn around and kill him with one of her weapons. Overlords are meant to protect the Souls that have been entrusted to them. Souls are valuable, the most valuable thing you have to offer anyone. What message is Vox spreading, making mockery of Deals this way, acting like Souls are worthless and can be thrown away. The Vees are just making Sinners less likely to sell themselves to anyone.

Carmilla had scheduled a meeting for fellow Overlords to talk about saving as many Sinners as possible in the upcoming Exterminations. The Vees were meant to attend, but obviously, they are uninterested in keeping the Sinners entrusted to their care alive. She uninvites them. (Vox is still filtering out his emails. He doesn't get this one. The Vees show up anyway.)

Charlie thinks about violence a lot. It's inescapable. She doesn't use her phone much, but she learns what happened to Vox and nearly cries. She makes a post about how violence shouldn't be celebrated and wishes Vox well in his recovery. Days later, she watches Vox take over the television and the three Vees torture the people who tortured him, and she thinks about what will happen when she has the opportunity to reach out to two Sinners who hurt each other. She wants to think they can all be redeemed, that her hotel should be open to anyone. She watches the screen through her fingers, unable to look away as Vox kills the Sinner on his knees before him, cackling. She watches The Vees kiss each other over the dead body, tender and loving, the broadcast ending as Vox rests his screen against Velvette's hair and Valentino wraps all of his arms around the two. And she thinks about forgiveness, and she wonders what she would do if someone hurt Vaggie.

[mariacallous]

Kate Middleton and the Baltimore Bridge collapse were just warm-ups. For conspiracists in 2024, the total solar eclipse taking place on April 8 is their Super Bowl.

Over the past few weeks, social media channels, Telegram groups, and conspiracy-focused message boards have been flooded with every conceivable wild allegation about what will happen when the moon blocks out the sun.

The rare astronomical event has proved incredibly fertile ground for conspiracists to express their wildest fantasies, and they have theorized about everything from the end of the world, to the secret deployment of balloons to poison the population, to occult rituals and even the imposition of martial law to usher in a “new world order.”

Far-right trolls and extremists in particular have been using the total solar eclipse to push their belief that a group of “elites” is using the event as cover to impose new controls on the population. The theory has been promoted by figures including disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Sandy Hook shooting conspiracist Alex Jones, who in recent weeks has posted numerous videos and comments about it on his X account, racking up millions of views.

“Major Events Surrounding The April 8th Solar Eclipse,” Jones wrote. “Masonic rituals planned worldwide to usher in New World Order.”

Authorities along the path of the eclipse in the US have issued warnings about loss of cell coverage and electrical outages. Additionally, some towns have already declared an emergency, and National Guard troops have been put on standby. This has made the conspiracists only more convinced, even though the preparations in these towns have often been centered around the huge influx of tourists expected to congregate on April 8. For those deep in conspiracy land, the context doesn’t matter.

“I think [it’s] another test,” one user of the far-right message board known as The Donald wrote this week. “See how many follow orders and how close they are to declare martial law without a fight.”

On Telegram, one well-known conspiracy influencer known as the Health Ranger, who has 75,000 subscribers, wrote that the eclipse “sure would be the perfect cover story if our terrorist government wanted to take down the power grid and cause mass chaos while blocking all citizen communications. Kinda convenient if you want to declare martial law and unleash a dictatorship before Trump can win in November.”

Many conspiracists have also focused on other coincidental events happening on April 8, all of which add to the supposedly portentous nature of the day.

There are dozens of examples being shared online, but among the most quoted involve the fact that the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) will be firing up the Large Hadron Collider on that day for the first time in two years. Many online are linking the celestial event to the restart of the device that, more than a decade ago, found the Higgs boson, which many misleadingly label the “God particle.”

If that wasn’t enough, NASA is launching three satellites as part of its Atmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path (APEP) mission. Unfortunately for NASA, Apep is also the name of an ancient Egyptian snake god associated with darkness and destruction—a coincidence that conspiracists have decided is relevant. A celestial body known as the devil’s comet will also be visible to the naked eye during the eclipse.

Finally, many have linked the eclipse with the imminent sacrifice of red heifers in Israel, a practice that some Jews and evangelicals believe will variously herald the construction of a Third Temple in Jerusalem, the return of the messiah, or the end of the world.

“Red Heifers from Texas have arrived in Israel where they will be sacrificed during the Solar Eclipse,” the operator of a prominent conspiracy channel on Telegram wrote this week in a post viewed more than 120,000 times. “At the same time, CERN will be opening up demonic portals.”

Videos citing all of these coincidences have been posted by conspiracists—as well as many Christian evangelical pastors and churches—and have amassed millions of views on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok in recent weeks.

“There are many indications that the total eclipse in America on Monday is the start of something big,” a renowned UK-based QAnon promoter told his Substack subscribers in an email on Thursday. “Whether the day itself is obviously epic—Nibiru? ETs? DNA activation?” (Nibiru is a conspiracy-laden reference to a predicted cataclysmic encounter between Earth and a large planetary object.)

Sovereign-citizen guru David Straight has also posited a wild conspiracy called Operation Balloon, claiming that the government, using the eclipse blackout as cover, will deploy balloons filled with poisonous gas. Straight didn’t, however, explain why the government wouldn’t just do this at night, when it’s also dark and people are typically not staring at the sky.

One image showing the path of the eclipse passing over more than a dozen significant landmarks has also been shared widely online. Among the landmarks are the birthplaces of former president Bill Clinton and former vice president Mike Pence; the site of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio; the site of the 1993 massacre in Waco, Texas; and the location of former president John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

As one UK-based dyed-in-the-wool conspiracist wrote on X last weekend, in a post that has been viewed 7.7 million times: “That’s a hell of a lot of coincidences right there.”

There is, of course, absolutely no evidence to back up any of the conspiracies being outlined by these individuals and groups. But if they are unable, or unwilling, to marvel at a celestial phenomenon that has been enjoyed by humans for centuries, that probably warrants at least some introspection.