#fatally poisoned as a result of his affair

[cloudabserk]

the more i think about it the more my baby loves windows is also about amadeo. you want to grow up and be a real person? you are delusional. you will be infantilized forever. if you run away or attempt to become mature you will die.

[phantom-le6]

Film Review - Oppenheimer

Now we come to what I feel has been the cinematic centrepiece of 2023 films, and after so long on science-fiction franchises, it’s a real breath of fresh air in the realm of war-era biographical drama from what I’ve recently been looking through.  Yes, folks, this is my review of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer…

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

In 1926, the 22-year-old doctoral student J. Robert Oppenheimer grapples with anxiety and homesickness while studying experimental quantum physics under Patrick Blackett at the University of Cambridge. Oppenheimer clashes with Blackett and leaves him a poisoned apple but later retrieves it. Visiting scientist Niels Bohr advises Oppenheimer to study theoretical physics at the University of Göttingen.

Oppenheimer completes his PhD and meets scientist Isidor Isaac Rabi. They later meet theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg in Switzerland. Wanting to expand quantum physics research in the US, Oppenheimer teaches at the University of California, Berkeley and the California Institute of Technology. He marries Katherine "Kitty" Puening, a biologist and ex-communist, and has an intermittent affair with Jean Tatlock, a troubled communist psychiatrist who later dies by suicide.

When nuclear fission is discovered in 1938 after the Germans succeed in splitting the atom, Oppenheimer realizes it could be weaponized. In 1942, during World War II, US Army Colonel Leslie Groves, the director of the Manhattan Project, recruits Oppenheimer as the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory to develop an atomic bomb. Oppenheimer fears the German nuclear research program, led by Heisenberg, might yield a fission bomb for the Nazis.

Oppenheimer assembles a team consisting of Rabi, Hans Bethe, and Edward Teller, and collaborates with the scientists Enrico Fermi, Leo Szilard, and David L. Hill at the University of Chicago. Teller's calculations reveal an atomic detonation could destroy the world. After consulting with Albert Einstein, Oppenheimer concludes the chances are acceptably low. Teller attempts to leave the project after his proposal to construct a hydrogen bomb is rejected, but Oppenheimer convinces him to stay.

After Germany's surrender in 1945, some scientists question the bomb's relevance. Oppenheimer believes it would end the ongoing Pacific War and save Allied lives. The Trinity test is successful, and President Harry S. Truman orders the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in Japan's surrender. Though publicly praised, Oppenheimer is guilt-ridden and haunted by the destruction and mass fatalities. After Oppenheimer expresses his guilt to Truman, the president berates him and dismisses his plea to cease further atomic development.

As an advisor to the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), Oppenheimer's stance generates controversy, while Teller's hydrogen bomb receives renewed interest amidst the burgeoning Cold War. AEC Chairman Lewis Strauss resents Oppenheimer for publicly dismissing Strauss's concerns about exporting radioisotopes and for recommending negotiations with the Soviet Union after the Soviets successfully detonated their own bomb. Strauss also believes that Oppenheimer denigrated him during a conversation Oppenheimer had with Einstein in 1947.

In 1954, wanting to eliminate Oppenheimer's political influence, Strauss secretly orchestrates a private security hearing before a Personnel Security Board concerning Oppenheimer's Q clearance during which his loyalty to the United States is questioned. However, the hearing is a trial in all but name. Oppenheimer's past communist ties are exploited and his associates' testimony is twisted against him, with Teller's being the most damaging. After Kitty delivers impassioned testimony in defence of herself and her husband, the board no longer suspects Oppenheimer of disloyalty but revokes his clearance, thereby damaging his public image and limiting his influence on American nuclear policy.

In 1959, during Strauss's Senate confirmation hearing for Secretary of Commerce, Hill testifies about Strauss's personal motives for engineering Oppenheimer's downfall. Strauss's nomination is voted down. In 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson presents Oppenheimer with the Enrico Fermi Award as a gesture of political rehabilitation.

A flashback reveals that Oppenheimer and Einstein's 1947 conversation never mentioned Strauss. Instead, the two discussed Oppenheimer’s legacy, and Oppenheimer expressed his fear that they had indeed started a chain reaction that will destroy the world.

Review:

What began for me as just something I was just kind of curious to see at the cinema has, in hindsight, probably turned out to be my top film of 2023.  While efforts in the MCU, DC live-action and animation and the Transformers have wowed audiences with some element of spectacle or other, Oppenheimer wows us with acting ability and an all-star cast delivers on a great story.  Of course, when a film is handling the kind of subject matter that Oppenheimer does, a great story narrative is crucial, and thankfully the film delivers.  Now it isn’t a completely accurate story, but it is apparently very accurate, and where the inaccuracies occur, I would argue that these do not detract from the film we are presented with.  Why?  Well, let’s consider where the inaccuracies lie and we shall see.

Firstly, like any film, Oppenheimer is not a factual documentary, but a feature-length dramatic narrative, and moreover, it is based on a specific biography about Oppenheimer written by people other than Oppenheimer or any close family, friends or contemporaries.  As such, the medium of this story and its source material will bring inaccuracy to the table even before any effort is made to actually write a story.  Second, while some wider events are omitted, that is because they didn’t happen to Oppenheimer, so looking at the impact of nuclear weapons on Japan, other sites involved in the Manhattan project and the aftermath among Native Americans in the Los Alamos area isn’t relevant to this particular re-telling of this history.  The film is about the title character, so its focus isn’t going to be on wider events.

As such, if people want to see wider events in film in the wake of Oppenheimer, if Nolan’s work is to spark a cinematic chain reaction as much as the real Oppenheimer’s work set off a chain reaction of nuclear proliferation, then I would say write those films and get them made.  Don’t just criticise this film for not covering a wider perspective of things; if people really care about seeing more of World War 2 than just your bog-standard Pacific naval battle or soldiers and tanks rolling over Europe, then they need to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard.  This is what I do to try and create fiction with autistic main characters like myself, and if I knew more about World War 2, I’d probably dive into that myself.  We should see the other aspects of nuclear weapons being developed back in the 1940’s, as well as American internment camps for Japanese-Americans, a more nuanced and less America-centric look at the events preceding Pearl Harbour, and so on.  However, it is not the place of this specific film to tell those stories, as Oppenheimer is as much a biographical film as it is a war film, so let’s let it be what it is and make other war films to tell the wider stories.

The only other inaccuracy, or supposed inaccuracy, relates to the poison apple scene from early in the film.  This is apparently something Oppenheimer himself recounted, but it’s not anything that can apparently be substantiated.  However, given that some later film scenes take us into the imaginings of certain characters, particularly Kitty Oppenheimer, and given that the supposed poisoning occurs when Oppenheimer was homesick and sleep-deprived, it could well be that what Oppenheimer believed to happen was simply his sleep-deprived mind confusing imagination with reality, and his recounting of the event later could simply indicate he never untangled the two.  Regardless of whether this event is true or simply an error in the biography that the film replicates, it’s one of many examples that shows Oppenheimer to be a fundamentally complex, contradictory and fascinating human being.

The film handles its presentation of Oppenheimer’s life and work very well, in large part due to Cillian Murphy’s performance in the lead role, backed up by one of the most amazing all-star ensemble casts I’ve ever seen.  Many of the cast are people I recognise from at least one past film or another that I’ve seen, and not one of them ever seems to put a foot wrong here.  If I have any critique of the film, it’s only that some of the more badgering moments in Oppenheimer’s security clearance appeal hearings were not my personal cup of tea, which doesn’t detract in any way from the overall quality of the film, nor from its end score.  10 out of 10, hands down, and I would say that a lot of film makers need to watch this film before making anything more either in wholly original films or franchise instalments, because Oppenheimer really helps to showcase what other films are currently lacking.

[ghostlygravekeeper]

To eliminate the possibility of foul play, the ring in question was subjected to thorough examination, which included testing for any traces of poison. Astonishingly, the results came back negative, dispelling the notion of a lethal substance concealed within its intricate design.

Detective, I implore you to uncover the enigma that shrouds this tragic affair. What significance did the ring hold for the deceased? Why did he make those chilling predictions regarding his own demise? Is there a connection between these peculiarities and the mysterious circumstances of his death?

Of course it'd come back negative. If we go by the theory that supernatural forces are involved, I doubt whatever (or who) caused the man's death would use something so...simple.

Does the man have a record of meddling with things he shouldn't have? Peculiar connections? He could've been struck with a fatal curse, or failed to abide by a contract in time. Demons perhaps? The ring could've bound him to something quite nasty that had well enough of him by the days leading up to the ball, thus his desperate attempt to remove it.

[antoniakidman]

watch and review Oppenheimer (film)

WATCH MOVIE

In 1926, 22-year-old doctoral student J. Robert Oppenheimer studies under experimental physicist Patrick Blackett at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. Oppenheimer suffers from homesickness and anxiety and struggles doing the required lab work. Oppenheimer, upset with the demanding Blackett, leaves him a poison-laced apple but retrieves it. Visiting scientist Niels Bohr is impressed enough by Oppenheimer's intellect to recommend that he should instead study theoretical physics in Germany, where Oppenheimer completes his PhD. He later meets theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg at a conference in Switzerland.

Oppenheimer returns to the United States, wanting to expand quantum physics research there. He begins teaching at the University of California, Berkeley and the California Institute of Technology, starting with one student. He meets his future wife, Katherine "Kitty" Puening, a biologist and ex-communist, and also has an intermittent affair with Jean Tatlock, a member of the Communist Party USA, until her suicide a few years later. In 1938, Nazi Germany's progress in nuclear fission research spurs Oppenheimer and his colleagues to replicate their results. Leo Szilard and Albert Einstein then warn President Franklin D. Roosevelt of atomic weaponry's catastrophic potential.

In 1942, amid World War II, U.S. Army General Leslie Groves recruits Oppenheimer to lead the Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb after Oppenheimer's assurances he has no communist sympathies. Oppenheimer, who is Jewish, is particularly driven by the Nazis' potentially completing their nuclear weapons program, headed by Heisenberg. Oppenheimer assembles a scientific team including Edward Teller and Isidor Isaac Rabi in Los Alamos, New Mexico and also collaborates with scientists Enrico Fermi and David L. Hill; he and Einstein discuss how an atomic bomb potentially risks triggering an unstoppable chain reaction that could ignite the atmosphere and destroy the world.

After Germany surrenders, some project scientists question the bomb's relevance, while Oppenheimer believes using it will quickly end the ongoing war in the Pacific, saving Allied lives. The Trinity test is successful and President Harry S. Truman orders Hiroshima and Nagasaki to be bombed, forcing Japan's surrender. Oppenheimer is thrust into the public eye as the "father of the atomic bomb", but the immense destruction and mass fatalities haunt him. He urges Truman to restrict further nuclear weapon development. Truman rejects Oppenheimer's advice, considering him weak.

As an advisor to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Oppenheimer advocates against further nuclear research, especially the hydrogen bomb proposed by Edward Teller. Oppenheimer's stance becomes a point of contention amid the tense Cold War with the Soviet Union. AEC Chairman Lewis Strauss deeply resents Oppenheimer after he publicly humiliated him by dismissing his concerns about exporting radioisotopes and also for Oppenheimer recommending arms talks with the Soviet Union.

At a hearing intended to eliminate his political influence, Oppenheimer is betrayed by Teller and other associates. Strauss exploits Oppenheimer's past associations with Communist party members. Despite allies testifying in his defense, Oppenheimer's security clearance is revoked, damaging his public image and neutralizing his policy influence. At Strauss's later Senate confirmation hearing for Secretary of Commerce, Hill testifies about Strauss's personal motives in engineering Oppenheimer's downfall. The U.S. Senate votes against Strauss's nomination. It is revealed that an earlier conversation between Einstein and Oppenheimer, in which Strauss believed Oppenheimer denigrated him, instead concerned nuclear weapons' possible cataclysmic consequences, with Oppenheimer believing they started a chain reaction that may destroy the world.

[docgold13]

365 Marvel Comics Paper Cut-Out SuperHeroes - One Hero, Every Day, All Year…

August 16th - Betty Ross

Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Ross was born in California, the only child of Air Force General Thaddeus Ross and his wife Karen. Betty’s mother died when she was quite young and her father rarely had any time for her, always buried in his work for the Air Force.  Following college, Betty went to live with her father during a time where the General was in charge of top secret ‘Gamma Bomb Project’ at Desert Base in New Mexico.  Here Betty met and ultimately fell in love with the project’s lead scientist, Dr. Bruce Banner.  

An accident occurred where Banner was exposed to a highly concentrated dose of experimental gamma radiation, causing him to transform into the monstrous hero known as The Incredible Hulk.  Betty came to discover the Hulk’s true identity as Bruce Banner and she aided him in evading capture by her father and the military forces.  

Betty and The Hulk would embark on many adventures together.  Being the girlfriend of The Hulk made for a frequently a perilous affair as Betty found herself embroiled in all manner of action and intrigue.  And Betty proved up to the challenge, acting as the hero and saving the day nearly as often as her gamma-powered partner.  

At one point, the villain known as MODOK abducted Betty and used a sample of The Hulk’s radiation to mutate her into a powerful being with greatly enhanced strength, wings supporting high-speed flight and sharpened claws. Under MODOK’s mental control, Betty became ‘The Harpy’ and battled The Hulk.  While The Hulk was unable to defeat The Harpy, his alter ego of Bruce Banner was able to create a device that caused her to revert to her human form.  

Later, Betty and Bruce were married and enjoyed a short period of happiness together before new perils would drive them apart.  Not long thereafter, Betty came to discover that she was suffering from fatal radiation poisoning.  At first this was thought to be a result of her elongated exposure to the gamma radiation emanating from the Hulk; yet it was later revealed to be a furtive attack orchestrated by the villain known as The Leader.  

It appeared as though Betty succumbed to the poisoning and died.  Not long thereafter, the mysterious Red She-Hulk appeared on the scene heading a mercenary squad named Code Red.  It was ultimately reveled that this Red She-Hulk was actually Betty Ross, having been transformed into a hulk by way of the machinations of the villainous group called The Intelligencia.  These villains were initially controlling Betty’s will but she ultimately regained full control of her mind and body after a battle with Skaar.  

Betty would go on to have many more adventures as the Red She-Hulk.  She was later once more transformed into The Harpy and has acted as a member of The Incredible Hulks and, more recently, Dr. Strange’s reformed iteration of the Defenders.

Actress Jennifer Connelly portrayed Betty Ross in the 2003 movie, The Hulk; while actress Liv Tyler has played the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  The heroine first appeared in the pages of Incredible Hulk #1 (1962).

[bearseokie]

𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙖 𝙭 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩

i cannot control what you come across on the internet, but i do ask that you please do not interact with my (M) mature rated content if you are under 18 years old!

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dry humping (M)

blowjob while they’re working out (M)

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your kid walks in during the dirty (M)

FATAL LOVE. the thrills of danger and romance have crossed your path, their existence becoming important to you. in a messed up world, it’s the fatality of love that will show you that every beat of your heart counts. DETAILS — [ M | series | gn! | 11.5k ] GENRE — thriller, romance, vary per part. STATUS — DISCONTINUED!

WITHERED. • this series involves heavy warnings. Sentenced through a forest for your crimes, seven shape-shifters guide you to hell. DETAILS — [ M | series | gn! | 18k ] GENRES — psychological thriller STATUS — COMPLETED!

CUDDLES. Lost within the affair you share with your boss, the result of his decision completes the puzzle you’ve been putting together. DETAILS — [ NC-17 | drabble | gn! | 1k ] GENRES — infidelity! au, suggestive, fluff, angst

MASQUERADE. Attending a masquerade party where everyone is poisoned, you and Hyunwoo seem to be the only cognitive ones left. DETAILS — [ M | drabble | gn! | 1.1k ] GENRES — hellhound! au, familiar! au, supernatural, romance

VAIN. Feelings always overpower the circumstance, even if that means potential heartbreak. Constantly set aside by your best friend that you've been in love with for years, Hyunwoo's emotions and consistent intimacy begins to give you mixed signals. DETAILS — [ M | series | gn! | 5.8k ] GENRES — friends with benifits! au, angst, romance, smut

A PRICE WORTH PAYING. never a freelance worker, hyunwoo has always had his tie a little too tight around his neck. when bullets fly at your innocent head, he realizes those that are after you aren’t out for a bounty, but for blood. palm around his gun at his waist and you in his peripheral, it’s not a day’s work well done until you’re safe. DETAILS — [ M | fic | gn! | 6.3k ] GENRES — hitman! au, romance, thriller, smut, angst SERIES — FATAL LOVE

VILE. Accidentally running into a fallen angel on the path to resentment, he takes out his anger by fucking you into oblivion. DETAILS — [ M | drabble | gn! | 1.1k ] GENRES — fallen angel! au, smut, supernatural

JUST LIKE THAT. Awoken from a vivid dream, Hoseok is eager to please you. DETAILS — [ M | drabble | gn! | 1.1k ] GENRES — boyfriend! au, smut

ONLY SECONDS. Recommended a sex therapist by your friends to release extra stress, you never saw yourself actually going for it. As the waters grow deeper, you struggle to hold down your feelings during sessions with intense, emotional interactions that reach every nerve in your body; perfectly afflicted by Hoseok himself to open you up. DETAILS — [ M | fic | gn! | 4.6k ] GENRES — sex therapist! au, angst, smut, suggestive, romance

REVOLUTIONARY. On the train home one late night, the chilling setting becomes more unnerving when a man in all black appears from thin air and introduces you to death. DETAILS — [ PG | drabble | gn! | 1k ] GENRES — reaper! au, angst, supernatural

FLIP OF A COIN. When your superstitious best friend Minhyuk offers a solution for your mutual feelings through the flip of a quarter, you begin to understand the meaning of fate and its indescribable ways. DETAILS — [ PG | drabble | gn! | 1.1k ] GENRES — friends to lovers! au, fluff, romance

CROOKED. The case of sudden murders around the city is finally clarified when you witness the killer, himself. DETAILS — [ M | drabble | gn! | 1.2k ] GENRES — vampire! au, thriller, smut, supernatural

PLAYER THREE. Something that’s always been an infatuation for Jooheon, the way you take Minhyuk’s fingers - but an attempt can only last so long until senses turn keen. DETAILS — [ M | drabble | gn! | 1.8k ] GENRES — poly! au, smut

TRICK OR TREAT. When a curse turns everyone into their costumes, it's your job to revert it before midnight — but Kihyun's affected state turns your task awry. DETAILS — [ M | drabble | gn! | 1k ] GENRES — magical! au, horror, smut, supernatural

THIRD PARTY. Interrogated by the two men you never disclosed to each other, they construe a plan to get the truth while fighting for dominance. DETAILS — [ M | fic | gn! | 3.4k ] GENRES — poly! au, angst, smut, romance

[10:49 p.m] | M | gn! | forbidden! au

- their hair is really long, and they keep taking your scrunchies. Annoyed with Hyungwon stealing your scrunchies, you find something that’s just as useful to him. DETAILS — [ PG | drabble | fem/gn! | <1k ] GENRES — roommate! au, fluff,comedy

ESSENCE. On a cold night, you beg the universe for someone warm to hold - fully unaware that your wishes would be granted by a warlock in search of reason and aegis. DETAILS — [ M | drabble | gn! | 1k ] GENRES — warlock! au, fantasy, angst

THIRD PARTY. Interrogated by the two men you never disclosed to each other, they construe a plan to get the truth while fighting for dominance. DETAILS — [ M | fic | gn! | 3.4k ] GENRES — poly! au, angst, smut, romance

BLOOD ORANGE. an elusive man who had your heart from the get go, the bloodied bruises of his occupation lend you a new lifestyle—but at a cost. hyungwon had always run the money for the bar, always had control over the fights, but when you slip into his life and bring him love to learn from, he forgets to never mix work with pleasure. DETAILS — [ M | fic | gn! | 5k ] GENRES — bookie! au, forbidden love! au, mafia! au, thriller, romance, angst, smut SERIES — FATAL LOVE

LOST. Always enthralled by Jooheon’s presence, a kiss seals your fate and brings life to the things around you. DETAILS — [ PG | drabble | gn! | 1k ] GENRES — faerie! au, fantasy, fluff, romance

- “Jealousy isn’t necessary, but fucking you is.” Feverish rounds pass between you and Jooheon to make one another jealous until one of you finally snaps. DETAILS — [ M | drabble | fem! | 1.1k ] GENRES — boyfriend! au, smut

PLAYER THREE. Something that’s always been an infatuation for Jooheon, the way you take Minhyuk’s fingers - but an attempt can only last so long until senses turn keen. DETAILS — [ M | drabble | gn! | 1.8k ] GENRES — poly! au, smut

- “You’re not wearing anything under your clothes?” Unable to get the night before out of your head, you give in to Changkyun wanting another quick round before you leave for work. DETAILS — [ M | drabble | fem! | <1k ] GENRES — boyfriend! au, smut, comedy, fluff

- they have to get their ears re-pierced and they ask for you to tag along to hold their hand. Due to his piercings sealing up, Changkyun asks to you take him to get ears re-pierced. Uncomfortable with the use of needles, he holds your hand as tight as he can. DETAILS — [ PG-13 | drabble | fem! | <1k ] GENRES — boyfriend! au, comfort, fluff

INSIDE YOUR HEAD. An infatuation can bring more to your mind than just your own thoughts, and Changkyun’s sure to make you learn that. DETAILS — [ M | drabble | gn! | <1k ] GENRES — vampire! au, supernatural, romance

HOSPITAL. Going into an abandoned asylum to film wasn’t entirely a good idea, but Changkyun’s charming libido seemed to be a good motive — aside from the strange creaks and shadows. DETAILS — [ M | drabble | gn! | 1k ] GENRES — horror movie! au, smut, horror, thriller

LIQUID. Gaining the confidence to acquire a new secret about your boyfriend, Changkyun’s mystical appearance beneath the moonlight entices you to fall deeper in love with him. DETAILS — [ NC-17 | drabble | gn! | 1k ] GENRES — merman! au, fluff, suggestive

QUICK DUBS. Going to the dorms to offer your boyfriend takeout, you find him playing video games naked and decide to use the setting to your advantage. DETAILS — [ M | drabble | gn! | 1.2k ] GENRES — gamer! au, boyfriend! au, smut

A BUCKETLIST MOMENT. Hours into a road trip with his car’s gas tank on empty, Changkyun shows you that even a weird situation can be memorable for the right reasons. DETAILS — [ M | drabble | gn! | 1.5k ] GENRES — roadtrip! au, smut, romance

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS. When your bathroom’s shower stops working and Changkyun offers to let you use his, a scene that’s all too thrilling follows and it causes sparks to fly. DETAILS — [ M | drabble | gn! | 2.6k ] GENRES — roommate! au, smut, romance, fluff, comedy

↳ Please note that all works are purely fiction, and not intended for disrespectful purposes. © copyright bearseokie 2020-2022, all rights are reserved. do not modify, repost, or translate without my permission. please.

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[scotianostra]

June 30th 1857 marked the beginning of the trial of Madeleine Smith for murder.

Sex,blackmail, poison and death. With this heady mix it is hardly surprising that one of the most enduring murder cases from the past 150 years is the story of Madeleine Smith.

The 21-year-old beauty was the daughter of a well known Glasgow architect and socialised in high circles until she was charged with the murder of a previous lover.

Her one-time lover had been Pierre Emile L’Angelier of Jersey. The Crown alleged that she had administered arsenic to him between 19th February and 23rd March that year, at or near her father’s house. L’Angelier had collapsed suddenly at his lodgings in Glasgow on 23rd March. He was found in a doubled-up position at the door in the early hours of the morning and despite constant medical attention by a doctor he died the following day. After his death, his family insisted a post-mortem was conducted and the results were handed over to the police. A forensic examination detected over 30 grains of arsenic in his remains.

Previously, during their passionate affair, L’Angelier and Madelaine had corresponded through secret letters. L’Angelier often referred to his lover with the words “Wifie mine”. On one occasion Madelaine had written, “Am I not your wife? Yes, I am”, and there is reason to believe that L’Angelier assumed that they were married according to Scots law.

After L’Angelier’s death investigators uncovered the secret correspondence between the pair which revealed their passionate liaison and helped piece together the events surrounding L’Angelier’s suspicious death. It was discovered that, despite her affair with him, Madelaine had been attracted to a Mr Minnoch, a high class member of society. Soon after, she became engaged to Minnoch and wanted L’Angelier to return the letters. L’Angelier refused and threatened to bring them to the attention of her father and Minnoch. Madelaine buckled under the threats, and was forced to maintain L’Angelier’s company. His nightly visits resumed, but on two occasions he was seized with an inexplicable illness after being given a cup of cocoa from her hands. On the evening of his death witnesses testified that he had been seen heading in the direction of Madelaine’s house.

After her arrest Madeline’s family were said to be distressed and ashamed, however Miss Smith did not seem to suffer from the same discomfort. At her trial she entered the dock with “the air of a belle entering a ballroom or a box at the opera. Her steps were buoyant and she carried a silver-topped bottle of smelling salts. She was stylishly dressed and wore a pair of lavender gloves”. Throughout the trial she never appeared perturbed, and seemed to exert a peculiar fascination over the men in the court audience. She was later to tell her prison matron in a letter that she had received hundreds of letters “all from gentlemen, offering consolation, their hearts and money”. 

Madelaine claimed that she had not seen L’Angelier for three weeks prior to his death. In her defence she explained that a poison she had recently purchased was for killing vermin and also for cosmetic purposes, diluted with water, to wash her face, arms and neck. The prosecution case rested on the overwhelming motive that the prisoner had for disposing of her erstwhile lover. The defence proceeded to allege that there was no evidence that the couple ever met on the days in question. It was even suggested that the heartbroken L’Angelier may have taken his own life in despair. 

The jury took only half an hour over their deliberations. While they were absent, it was said that the least excited person in the court was the prisoner. When the foreman delivered a verdict of “not guilty of the first charge by a majority, of the second charge not proven, and by a majority find the third charge also not proven”, the result was greeted with great applause. 

Madelaine Smith left the trial a free woman. A short time after the trial, Smith married a gentleman of good social standing in London. She emigrated to America some years later, where she married yet again. 

The story was famous in Victorian times for the reason that the public could not believe that a woman could be so devious. Madelaine became something of a femme fatale and was sensationalised as a devil woman who captured unsuspecting men in her web of deceit.

Not  proven is a unique third verdict in the Scottish legal system, which is largely the same as before the nobility sold off our Independence, is widely regarded as an acquittal used when the judge or jury does not have enough evidence to convict but is not sufficiently convinced of the accused person's innocence. There have been regular calls for it to be scrapped over the years, a  study published in 2019 found removing the not proven verdict might incline more jurors towards a guilty verdict in finely balanced trials.

[dr-divinae]

Spirit Guide Session

Welcome to your Shamanic Healing Journey experience where you'll be introduced to your Spirit Guides for the second time tonight!! Yeah, I used GoogleNotes for your Spirit Guide Sessions and lost all of my work but I'm not terribly off track I had wrote some of le. Details down via Grimoire for ShamanicChanneling

@cosmic-badlarry

Thank you so much 💖 for joining me this evening 💞 or should I correct myself and say late evening 🌃 night!!

I'm noticing the moon right now 😹

First Quarter Moon 🌜 in ♉⚡💜 When the moon is in Taurus we are motivated by a place of serenity, security, peace, and comfort.🌺⚡Tonight, this evening my dear Gemini child you are going to meet your most active🍂 Spirit Guides...I just pulled some Oracle Cards from multiple decks and based on their Chakra balancing and literal meaning you've got a lot of 🌸Spirit Guides in the 💙fifth Chakra💙 or the 💎Vishudha❄���, and right away we know that that's the 🗣️throat Chakra🗣️💫

And the throat Chakra represents: All sound, Vibration , Communication, Self-expression, Listening, Speaking, Writing

This to me tells me that there could be something related to yourself in the mentioned areas of voice , or vibration?

Or perhaps it's a hint of who your Spiritual Guardians are and what your Spirit Guides gifts are as far as communication goes because that's another vibe I strongly get as a result of this card pulling set.

On my Oracle Card I can tell it's Gabriel's horn... So dear Gemini 💞💖 your first Spirit Guide that's showing up today is Archangel Gabriel as he is also associated with the fifth Chakra as well. Due to his communication link in literally each and every story we ever heard of him .. and he's even known to wear this blue which actually relates to the Chakra I am speaking on so much now ,

now now I'm going to get comfortably numb 😂😂😅 no drugs needed just my regular medical medication 😭dont tell them your dr is now! It's just that I'm ready to do the most in depth part of this Shamanic Session which you've paid for ... I just need to relax , I'm listening 🎧 to a specific type of binaural beats music 🎶 that allow me to channel your most Active 🍂 Spiritual Guardians hopefully I'll really connect with your Spirit Guide ☺️ here we go it's 12: 36 now wow long process🍂💫🌜 but worth it no?

When i begin typing again it will all be channeled information all from your Special shamanic experience with your Spirit Guide.. see you there in the channel 😎...

Hello 👋 Gemini 😁 I'm glad that you have made this choice to finally meet the voice behind all of the synchronicity 🏵️ in your life🍂🍁 to meet the real reason we have met this evening and I'm glad and honored to introduce you to your Spirit Guide🏵️🌸💐

Your most active and current Spirit Guide is a Greek Goddess from this tale I'm about to share and although she's been cursed by Juno and lost her voice somewhat; She is able to repeat sentences, fragments and makes a whole lot of sense when I have her communicate with your higher self 😅 because when I first found out through this Shanic experience that your Spirit Guide is sort of speechless I was lol pretty depressed. About the direction of this Shamanic Healing Journeys for you but going forward I did find the magical method to communicate with the ever forever silenced echos of your Greek. Spirit Guide.

And it's 1:17AM EST Did you guess your Spirit Guide 🏵️ yet? No...

Name: Echo

Origin: Latin

Meaning:reflected sound

Echo as a girl's name is of Latin and Greek origin meaning "reflected sound". In mythology, Echo was a nymph who loved Narcissus and faded away until only her voice was left behind.

In Greek mythology, Echo (/ˈɛkoʊ/; Greek: Ἠχώ, Ēkhō, "echo",[3] from ἦχος (ēchos), "sound"[4]) was an Oread who resided on Mount Cithaeron.[5] Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and often visited them on Earth. Eventually, Zeus's wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from Mount Olympus in an attempt to catch Zeus with the nymphs. Echo, by trying to protect Zeus (as he had ordered her to do), endured Hera's wrath, and Hera made her only able to speak the last words spoken to her. So when Echo met Narcissus and fell in love with him, she was unable to tell him how she felt and was forced to watch him as he fell in love with himself.

In Metamorphoses (8 AD), the poet Ovid tells of Juno (Hera in Greek mythology) and the jealousy she felt over her husband Jupiter's (Zeus in Greek mythology) many affairs. Though vigilant, whenever she was about to catch him, Echo distracted her with lengthy conversations. When at last Juno realized the truth, she cursed Echo. From that moment on, the once loquacious nymph could only repeat the most recently spoken words of another person.

Abode/Residential: Mount Cathaeron

Parents: Ouranos

Siblings: Nymphs

Children: Lynx and Lambe

Consort: Pan and Narcissus

Symbol: Crabgrass, Hemlock , the Skunk

Colors: Black, White, Blue, and Purple

The myth of the goddess is told in Book III of the Metamorphoses, and tells the story of a "talkative nymph" whom the goddess Venus admires for her magnificent voice and song. When she tricks Juno into believing that her husband, Jupiter, was in the city, Juno curses Echo by making her able to only finish a sentence not started, and unable to say anything on her own. "Yet a chatterbox, had no other use of speech than she has now, that she could repeat only the last words out of many." This is the explanation of the aural effect which was named after her.[1]

Sometime after being cursed, Echo spied a young man, Narcissus, while he was out hunting deer with his companions. She immediately fell in love with him and, infatuated, followed quietly. The more she looked at the young man, the more she longed for him. Though she wished with all her heart to call out to Narcissus, Juno's curse prevented her.[2]

During the hunt, Narcissus became separated from his companions and called out, ‘is anyone there,’ and heard the nymph repeat his words. Startled, Narcissus answered the voice, ‘come here,’ only to be told the same. When Narcissus saw that nobody had emerged from the glade, he concluded that the owner of the voice must be running away from him and called out again. Finally, he shouted, "This way, we must come together." Taking this to be a reciprocation of her love, Echo concurred ecstatically, "We must come together!"[3]

In her delight, Echo rushed to Narcissus ready to throw her arms around her beloved. Narcissus, however, was appalled and, spurning her, exclaimed, ‘Hands off! May I die before you enjoy my body.’ All Echo could whisper in reply was, ‘enjoy my body’ and having done so she fled, scorned, humiliated, and shamed.[4]

Despite the harshness of his rejection, Echo's love for Narcissus only grew.[5] When Narcissus died, wasting away before his own reflection, consumed by a love that could not be, Echo mourned over his body. When Narcissus, looking one last time into the pool uttered, "Oh marvellous boy, I loved you in vain, farewell", Echo too chorused, "Farewell."[6]

What's Hemlock?

Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) is a poisonous invasive weed that has caused many accidental deaths because of its resemblance to carrots, including the wild carrot (Queen Anne’s lace). The poisonous agents in the plant are volatile alkaloids, and they are found in every part of the plant. In addition to causing death when ingested, the plant also causes a miserable dermatitis in sensitive people upon contact with skin. Socrates drank the juice of this notorious plant to commit suicide, and ancient Greeks used it to poison their enemies and political prisoners. North American Natives dipped their arrowheads in hemlock to make sure every hit was fatal.

.........TO MOST DEFINITELY BE CONTINUED

Having technical difficulties as far as uploading and sharing this channeled session of Shamanic Healing so @cosmic-badlarry just pleeease hold on

Anybody who's interested inbox me

I can tell you who your Spirit Guide is not a problem just need to get a small fee 😊 and speak to you for a quick second of does not take long at all that part . . But my part of doing channeling does take it m afraid hours. This case I'm doing now omg I've been working since 11:33PM EST NOW ITS 5:44 EST

[alluringfiction]

CLC AS BEVERLY HILLS 90210 CHARACTERS

The series begins with the introduction of the Sajakul family— dad, mom, "B”, and Sorn—who have recently moved from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Beverly Hills, California, as a result of dad’s job promotion. In the first episode, "B” and Sorn begin attending West Beverly Hills High School, where they befriend several classmates: the self-centered and promiscuous Jang Yeeun, carefree and spoiled "S”, smart and driven Oh Seunghee, ditzy and virtuous Kwon Eunbin, brooding loner "A”, and younger and naive students “C” and "D”. The show follows the siblings as they bear witness and take part in the dramatic lives that their wealthy and privileged peers lead.

Trigger warnings: mentions of death, suicide, addiction, violence, weapons and sex!

"Everyone here looks like they stepped out of a music video. I don't even have the right hair."

wasn't popular at her old school

is desperate to fit in at the new school

naive

makes bad decisions in order to fit in

falls for bad boy "A"

on and off relationship with bad boy "A"

driven and fierce

really wants to impress Yeeun

takes drama classes with Eunbin and Seunghee

works at one time at a posh boutique and her boss mistreats her

is insecure about driving and initially fails her driver's test

her boyfriend "A" eventually lies and cheats

fights with Yeeun when she finds out she's hooking up with her boyfriend "A"

takes self defense classes with her mom and Eunbin

meets a guy that used to be a drug dealer and they get engaged and plan to elope to las vegas

"It's usually those with lofty ideals that are the first to sell them out."

stereotypical spoiled type

carries a lot of pain and leads a promiscuous lifestyle due to a troubled past

bad self-esteem

has a fling with Sorn's boyfriend "A"

is voted the school's most beautiful girl but is sometimes troubled by her own appearance, she thinks people only like her because she's physically attractive

becomes addicted to cocaine after her father disappoints her once again; a guy she's dating at the time is addicted but she manages to get clean

gets trapped in a fire and is tricked into joining a cult

overdoses on diet pills

has a nose job done

majors in psychology and is a lot smarter than people give her credit for

ends up dating Sorn's brother "B" after hooking up with and dating her boyfriend "A"

checks into rehab and meets an unstable girl who ends up moving in with Yeeun

unstable girl takes Yeeun hostage at gunpoint and tries to perform a murder/suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning

gets shot by two gang members after they stole her car and as a result she has to go through emergency surgery and suffers complications

those complications leaves her with temporary amnesia

"I better find a rich guy to marry me."

easy-going and good-spirited but can be quite bold in terms of personality

has sworn to remain a virgin for the foreseeable future

struggles a lot with her insecurities and tries to keep that a secret

rebels by smoking cigarettes, skipping class and hanging out with the wrong crowd

thinks she's stupid when she in fact has a learning disability

comes across as superficial

an art teacher discovers her talent for drawing

dates Yeeun's stepbrother "C"

her boyfriend "C" breaks up with her because she won't sleep with him

is held hostage by a serial rapist and is saved by her ex "C"

eventually gets back together with the ex "C"

works as the weather girl for campus tv and gains an unwanted fan; said unwanted fan turns out to be a stalker

after getting into a minor car accident and hurting her back she becomes addicted to pain killers

overdoses on pain killers and ends up in a coma

marries Yeeun's stepbrother "C"

"Why is it we call a male assertive and a female pushy? Why is a guy tough and a girl a bitch? What would Walt Whitman say about that?"

the editor of the school's newspaper

is very logical and socially awkward

her goal is to win a scholarship to Yale

tutors kids over the summer

according to her love is the meaning of life

exposes the use of steroids on the school's track team

leads the fight against the school's unrealistic sex-ed policy by distributing free condoms

has feelings for Sorn's brother "B"

is involved in a hit and run that leaves her with a broken leg

is accepted into Yale

she's voted "most likely to succeed" during senior polls

she's the valedictorian of her year

marries early and gives birth to a baby girl but the marriage falls apart a year later when both cheat on each other

BUT they decide to stick together because both think their family is worth it

BUT they divorce a few years later

"Well, stick with me. I'll teach you how to be heartless."

cunning, strong, smart

has trust issues

manipulates people and situations in an attempt to run from her own trauma

has a taste for drugs and hard liquor

pressures one of Eunbin's boyfriends into an affair

goes undercover as a prostitute to help a bounty hunter with a divorce case

but it doesn't work and she's arrested

hooks up with another one of Eunbin's boyfriends - "C"

has an affair with a married man

when she finds out that her lover lied about divorcing his wife for her she tells him she's pregnant

and she asks him for 100 000 dollars to stay away from him

she isn't actually pregnant though 

eventually returns the money

she can't stand Yeeun

is a hot mess

"I don't know why I always feel so... Just not good enough, not pretty enough... Not blonde enough."

a former olympic-hopeful ice skater

is fired from her position in a touring ice show

grew up thinking she's Eunbin's cousin

turns out she's Eunbin's maternal cousin AND paternal half-sister

tries to bond with their dad

he suffers a fatal stroke while they're working out together

and she's blamed for his death

dates her way through the friend group

first has a sexual relationship with bad boy "A"

when he's paying more attention to Yeeun she moves on to "B"

manipulative

grew up poor

with a mean-spirited, bullying stage mother

is enemies with Yeeun

after leaving town she finds work as a professionally successful skating commenter

[gardenofkore]

Ista Joanna Bonanno suspendatur in furcis altioribus donec ejus anima a corpore separetur, et exsequtio justitiae fiat in quadrivio plateas Villen huius Urbis

Extract from the death sentence

Giovanna Bonanno (otherwise known as "la vecchia dell'aceto", the old lady of the vinegar) was a beggar and later poisoner and convicted witch, who lived in XVIII century Palermo. According to some sources she was born Anna Pantò and in 1744 she married some Vincenzo Bonanno. The name Giovanna, as written in the recordings of the trial, might have been the result of an error or a falsification. She used to spend her days wandering and begging around Zisa quarter. One day, in 1786, while strolling through Papireto street, she witnessed (or someone related to her) a scene who'd change her life. 

In front of the aromatarius' shop (in ancient times the aromatarius dealt in spices, aromatic wines and sometimes also medicaments), she saw a woman holding a suffering little girl in her arms. The child had mistakenly drunk some of the "aceto per pidocchi"(lit. Vinegar for lices, a mixture of vinegar and arsenic used to kill those parasites), the same aromatarius, Saverio La Monica, had created. The man then forced the little girl to drink a lot of olive oil, to the point she threw up and expelled the poisonous liquid. Being a smart woman, Giovanna realised she could use that mixture to earn some money and improve her status, but she had to test her plan before. She bought a bottle of that special vinegar, then soaked a piece of bread in the liquid and gave it to a stray dog she had previously caught and tied at the rampart of Porta d'Ossuna. After some time, she returned to check on the dog and found it dead. She yanked the animal's fur and analysed the mucosa of the lips, finding of a natural colour. She was pleased with her finding, because if the fur had been easily ripped off or the mucosa had been black, it would have been clear the dog had been poisoned, but the lacking of these proofs, made it clear the animal died of natural death. Thinking she found a way to execute the perfect murder, Giovanna thought that now she was ready to test it on humans.

She started spreading the information she possessed a special liquor that could make families happy again. By paying out a modest sum (six tarì) , unhappy wives could acquire this potion to get rid of their unwanted husbands and finally being together with their lovers. She soon earned the reputation of being a magara, a witch, belief strengthened by her being an old, widowed beggar, the classic description of a sorceress. Her first client was Angela La Fata, who wanted to eliminate her husband, Giuseppe, to marry her lover Giuseppe Billotta. Giovanna gave the woman the same amount she had used in her experiment with the dog. The concoction didn't kill the man, but only caused him a dreadful stomachache. The following day Angela received another flask of poison, but again her husband didn't die. The wife kept administering the poison during the following days until the poor man died in great pain. As Giovanna had predicted, nobody had discovered Giuseppe La Fata had been poisoned, still she had to perfect the dosage.

The second client was Margherita Serio, who bought the poison on behalf of her friend Emanuela Molinari. The woman wanted to get rid of the husband, the baker Ferdinando Lo Piccolo. This time it had taken two administrations before the man died. Soon Giovanna's fame boosted to the point she appointed another woman, Rosa Billotta, to find her new clients, for a fee equal to a percentage of the reward. It's quite peculiar how the aromatarium never inquired about the large quantities of aceto the old woman kept buying from him nonstop, though certainly he enjoyed the profit. Other Giovanna's clients were Rosalia Consales who poisoned her husband Agostino Caracciolo, aided by her mother Michela Belviso; Giuseppe D'Ancona, who killed her wife Rosa Coschiera (the only female victim) and later refused to pay for the poison.  

Her business had got so big to the point she couldn't keep up with all her clients anymore, and often she had to delegate and wasn't able to keep everything under control. Among her agents, there was a Maria Pitarra. Pitarra procured Bonanno her last good clients, like Anna Maria Tabbita who poisoned her husband Cesare Ballo. But the last homicide proved to be fatal, and not only for the designated victim. In August 1788, a Francesco Costanzo, upon returning one evening in his house, found his wife Rosa Mangano in intimate conversation with the gardener, Emmanuele Cascino. Instead of fleeing, the gardener assaulted his lover's husband, and the poor man had to seek refuge in his mother's (Giovanna Lombardo) house for the night.  

Thanks to some friends, the married couple reconciled and moved in Costanzo's mother's house in Olivuzza quarter, while Giovanna Lombardo moved in turn in another house to give the couple some space and the opportunity to fully making up. By the end of September, the woman went to pay a visit to her son, only to find him seriously ill. He kept vomiting and suffered from severe stomachache. She then had him moved to her house, where she could tend on him and, in the meantime, she called for Doctor Giuseppe Ciofalo. Despite the mother and doctor's efforts, Francesco Costanzo died on September 27th among great pain.

Soon after Rosa Mangano (who had never showed any sign of being worried about her husband's condition) remarried, so Giovanna Lombardo started to grown suspicious her son's death might have been induced. She suspected his wife had bewitched him and started to make inquiries, determined to find out the truth. In the meantime, the actual supplier, Giovanna Bonanno, had only just recently discovered whom her last victim was. In fact, she had simply handed over to her accomplice Maria Pittarra a flask of the concoction, without asking about the identity of the person it was intended was. Bonanno knew Giovanna Lombardo, and thought she might have been able to earn some money by selling the mournful mother some information.

Little she knew, Giovanna Lombardo had managed to discover her former daughter-in-law had bought the special liqueur and from whom, and so she planned her revenge. She contacted the Captain of Justice, Matteo Fodali, who told her she needed to catch the culprit in flagrante delicto. Lombardo then faked her interest into purchasing herself a bottle of the liquor and arranged for a meeting with Bonanno. When the day arrived the old woman saw her supposed client had not come alone, but with a couple of witnesses. Caught in the act, with the poisonous liquid in her hand, Bonanno was finally arrested and took before the Captain of Justice. Along with her, many others were charged: the aromatarium, her accomplices, and her clients. All guilty, some more than the others.

Bonanno was then brought to Steri prison, which had been used to host witches, magicians and heretics. She was shaved and had to wear a white robe and subjected to the torture of the corda (or reverse hanging). On October 1788 her trial began. She was accused of being a witch, while the aromatarium and her clients were called to testify. When asked if she started her murderous market only for money, or because she was simply evil, she answered she did everything for good. When pressed, she explained she meant to make families happy again and proceeded to illustrate her reasoning. If a marriage was unhappy, there was a high chance the wife would fall into another man's arms. The betrayed husband, upon discovering the affair, would certainly kill his wife and lover, but then he would be arrested, processed and executed. That would make three lost lives. By eliminating the husband beforehand, the other two lives would be saved, the woman would not sin anymore by laying with her beloved, and a new happy family would result from it.

Of course nobody was touched by Bonanno's  good intentions, and she was condemned to death, with the charges of being a witch and a poisoner. It was July 27th. The woman was brought back to prison and entrusted to the Compagnia dei Bianchi, a religious brotherhood, who took care of the spiritual needs of those condemned to death. On July 30th 1789 the sentence was executed. Giovanna Bonanno, at the time almost 80 years old, was hanged in Piazza Villena (better known as Quattro Canti), at one of the city's highest forks. Certainly Maria Pittarra's fate was worse. She was paraded through the streets of Palermo with a rope around her neck, and, when she arrived at the gallows, she had to kiss the executioner's feet, before being finally hanged.

Some people dared to climb up the gallows to tear Bonanno's few teeth, nails and part of the tunic. Giovanna Bonanno went thus down in history and folklore. Mothers used her name as though she was some kind of boogeyman to scare their unruly children and when someone has to describe some other person as ugly and evil, it's not uncommon to use the expression: E’ cchiù laria di la vecchia di l’acitu!  (she's uglier than the old vinegar lady).

[kadeu]

Accepted — Thagard Kol

♣️   Kol Thagard aka. Enigma looks like Mads Mikkelson (actor) ♣️   He was born November 22, 1853 ; making him 167 years old but appears 50  ♣️   This Strongarm/Shifter Hybrid is Pansexual and Ace of Clubs ♣️   He is the owner of Dragonfire Hotsprings and the Armory

Biography

 "We are caught inside a mystery, veiled in an enigma, locked inside a riddle.“

Kol was born as one of the rare hybrids, that were favoured by fortune to become both of the species of their parents. His father, Vilho Thagard, was a strongarm and 9 of Clubs. In addition to it he was an owner of a small but well-known horse farm, so Kol already learned horseback riding while still young and developed a special bond to those animals. His mother, Naenia Thagard, was a shifter and a 8 of Clubs. She was a stunning beauty, which didn’t go unnoticed on numerous occasions. Thus is happened that one fatal day the head of the Park family came to the horse farm, looking for a horse but falling head over heels in love with his mother. So this man, Park Jitae, returned to the farm with a few loyal fighters in the deep of the night, murdering his father and setting the farm on fire, so that his mother had no other choice than marrying him. At that time Kol was still in his adolescent years and his mother begged him not to fight back, worrying they would kill her son as well. So for the sake of his mother Kol was putting up a brave front towards his new stepfather and played along, though he wouldn’t never forget, nor forgive. He even had to change his name to Kol Park.

The Park family owned the Armory for as long as anyone can remember and so Kol was able to learn a lot about the business and weapons by his stepfather, who was a King of Clubs and a shifter, while he also tried to be Kol’s mentor to please his new wife, Kol’s mother. Soon after their marriage Kol’s half brother, Park Juno, was born, the consequence being that the newborn offspring of the Park family got the full attention of his stepfather to raise his first born as the next head of the Park family. Not that Kol would mind being no longer in focus of his stepfather’s attention, he didn’t want to be part of the Park family after all, so as soon as he was grown up, Kol left the Park family to live on his own and changed his name back to Kol Thagard much to the disgust of his stepfather. Kol was quite successful living on his own. Over the years Kol took a liking to spend time at the Dragonfire Hotsprings and that is how it came that he became a close friend to the owner, Yurippe Chontos - 10 of Clubs and Water Elementalist-, despite the age gap between them. The onsen became his safe haven, a haven of peace, in which he had got things straightened out with himself and it worked well over the last few decades. A couple of years ago Yurippe died of illness and to Kol’s surprise his friend bequeathed the Dragonfire Hotsprings to Kol, who was now the owner of his favorite place of Kadeu.

Though in recent years Kol could observe how his stepfather was more and more corrupted by power and his position as the owner of the Armory. Park Jitae was never a honorable fighter, a bit of a coward you could say. It remained a mystery to Kol how his stepfather was even able to keep his rank as a King of Clubs for so long, he figured mostly because of his status due to his family. So hearing his stepfather defeated the current Ace of Clubs in a battle, it was clear from the outset that there was something fishy about that. It wasn’t long before rumors came up that the former Ace was poisoned before the battle had started. That’d fit in with his stepfather’s way of behavior. Things were getting worse after Park Jitae had gotten the rank of an Ace of Clubs, since he became more and more a tyrant and dictator to the Club faction by trying to establish something like a regime. Usually Clubs citizens police themselves and defeat anyone trying to change their chosen freedom and lawlessness, but it seemed like people were scared to fall into disfavor with the Park family and as a consequence thereof being unwelcome to the Armory. Only when rumors came up that Park Jitae wanted to sell even the best weapons, that are meant for Clubs only, on other factions as well, there were first attempts to bring down Park Jitae, but to no effect. At that time he had managed to develop a loyal following that were fighting against all his enemies. Kol still had no intention to meddle in his stepfather’s affairs, though his stepfather represented all the wrongs of the Clubs faction.

Kol didn’t go crazy until he heard that his mother had a fatal accident, knowing very well how his stepfather handled things, Kol couldn’t believe that his mother died because of an accident right from the beginning. It was no secret that Park Jitae had several extramarital affairs and thinking of the way his father died and his mother became Jitae’s wife, Kol was pretty sure that he knew the reason why his stepfather has killed his mother and naive as his half-brother Juno was, he believed in the story of an accident. Without the slightest hesitation Kol was going to see his stepfather and seek for revenge. It was a fight to the death, all or nothing, and his stepfather had no ther choice than agreeing to the fight because if not his stepfather would have proven Kol’s accusation right indirectly. The fight didn’t take long, of course Park Jitae weapon was prepped with poison - old habits die hard - but he underestimated Kol’s blind rage. With a high rush of adrenaline running through his blood, Kol was able to fight against the poison in his blood long enough to defeat his stepfather in the fight, but to everyone’s surprise Kol spared Park Jitae’s life. As a result of this fight Kol was an Ace of Clubs from now on and besides he took part over the position of Park Jitae in the Armory, so now he was even the new owner of the Armory while Park Jitae’s rank was demoted to Kol’s former rank a 8 of Clubs and put the Park family to shame, being in disgrace as of now. In the first days after the fight Kol was busy with demoting those who were loyal to his stepfather while he still recover from his injuries, but right now he cannot allow to show any kind of weakness. It wasn’t Kol’s intentions to take over the position of his stepfather from the beginning, but after all that happened he had to stop Park Jitae, wanting to bring back honor to the Club faction. We’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds…

Personality

"I’m an enigma. You can’t really figure out what I’m going to do next. I like it like that.”

Kol is by all means a proud resident of the Club faction. He was content to be a mid-ranker for years and didn’t care about becoming a higher rank, nor being part of the Park family’s business, the Armory. Also he is not really interested in someone’s rank, though from time to time he catches himself being prejudices against low-rankers, like ‘they are not strong enough to alter life for the better’. To put it at its simplest there is no problem that couldn’t be solved by a fight. What he can’t stand is cruelty and torture to get what you want, even in a fight he’ll always play fair. To him that’s the only way to win honor. He has no problem with the other factions, but he is unsympathetic to resistance members. Most of the time he is easy-going, cheerful, a helper in time of need and a philanderer, but yet he is difficult to understand. As soon as you think you 'solved’ the mystery - called Kol, he acts in a way you didn’t expect. That’s why he is called Enigma, even by those he is close to.

Congratulations Mel your app has been accepted and your personalized plot drop will be sent to you soon.

Please follow and welcome @kadeu-kol to Kadeu!

[returnn-of-the-mac]

Companions react to Sole thinking they’re only useful to the cause. So apologizing for getting hurt or fatally wounded because it means there will be work unfinished, mission failure, medical supplies wasted, etc. If you include the faction leaders too I’ll give you my first born and the smashed fragments of my heart.

Thank you @aintnoonefancy and @merpoi. So here is one of the longer, two-in-one reacts! To be honest, I struggled incorporating the wax-on, wax-off lesson into the writing— I’m sorry. I tried to think of a way to squeeze it in there, but I just couldn’t. I have them doing undignified settler work though. If I do think of a way to add in the lesson, I will make an update/part 2 and link it here. And yes, the companions are romanced. There’s not much fluff involved because I didn’t want to force anything, but it is subtly hinted. Sorry about that! Please enjoy! 😊 (side note: I have deliberately chosen to exlude Father and X6-88 from this react because it would be out of their character to help any “surface dwellers.” I felt like they would straight up refuse)

FO4 Companions React: Sole Getting Injured & Companions Helping With Settler Work

After an intense battle with the Gunners in Quincy that almost resulted in death, Sole wound up in a local clinic in critical condition.

Despite this, Sole continued to worry about the people of the Commonwealth— so much so that they felt guilty for being temporarily bedridden and unable to help. This burden was weighing on Sole, and they eventually revealed their feelings to their companions.

...

Preston

“General, you have done so much for these people, you deserve a break,” Preston explained, “And if we start falling behind on projects and running short on supplies, the settlers will be more than willing to chip in some extra time and resources.

Sole nodded, and Preston grinned.

“Please get some rest. I’ll go let the others know what’s going on. I’ll take care of things while you’re gone. Thank you for everything you do for us, babe.”

Codsworth:

“Oh, come on, [sir/mum]! The people will be fine, I’m sure,” the Mr. Handy reassured, “They are autonomous.”

Sole rolled their eyes. Honestly, they sometimes doubted that.

Codsworth sighed.

“Will it make you feel better if I were to lend them a hand in your absence?”

Sole nodded.

“Then consider it done!”

Piper:

“Aw, stop it, Blue!” Piper demanded, “You work hard every single day to keep the Commonwealth in one piece. Maybe you should take a step back and let the public solve their own problems. You need the rest.”

Sole frowned.

“I don’t want to mention that you’re in rough shape because if that information falls into the wrong hands, it could be bad. Really bad,” The reporter explained, “So how about I make an odd job or volunteer work column in my paper this week? That way, things can still get done while you’re recovering. I can also help out with some of the work, too.”

Nick:

“I can almost guarantee the Commonwealth won’t burn to the ground if you take a few days to yourself,” Nick commented, “Besides, how are you supposed to help the people if you can’t even help yourself? You need to give yourself some time to heal.”

Sole sighed in defeat. Nick was always right.

“Look, I’m sorry if that sounded harsh but I’m worried about you. Take care of yourself, [name]. I don’t want to see you work yourself to an early grave. You get some rest. I’ll do the dirty work until you’re up for it again.”

Curie:

“Non. You are not going back to work, [Madame/Monsieur]. You must get zome rest and recover vrom your injuries,” Curie insisted, “I will make zure I can get you ‘ealthy as quickly as possible, but you need to take a break. Burdening yourzelf with work will only make your condition worse. Please trust me.”

Sole sighed.

“Eef you are zo worried, I will ‘elp ze zettlers whike you are recovering.”

Gage:

“Why are ya so worried about the stupid settlers, babe? Those helpless simpletons need tah learn a thing or two about fighting anyway.”

Sole stared daggers at Gage, prompting the raider to raise his hands in defense.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that. I’m just tellin it like it is. Cold hard facts. They’re useless. And before you ask: no. I’m not helping them.”

Sole and Gage bickered for nearly a half-hour before the raider finally surrendered.

“Fuck! Fine, boss. Ya want me to help those incompetent morons, I’ll help them.”

Hancock:

“You’ve gotta take a break, gorgeous. Let the people take care of themselves, yanno?” Hancock stated, huffing some jet. Sole rolled their eyes at his nonchalant response, and the ghoul immediately sensed that they did not like his answer.

“Look, I know you're for the people. I get it. I really do. But you’ve gotta put yourself first sometimes. You’re gonna end up burning yourself out. I know that feeling all too well,” Hancock continued, “I can take care of the settlers for ya while you’re recovering, you dig? I promise I’m not going to let your settlements burn to the ground.”

Sole sighed in defeat, and the ghoul smirked.

“Thanks for not resisting, [brother/sis]. I gotchu.”

Maccready:

“Who cares about the settlers? You’re injured,” MacCready spat, “You need to take care of yourself.”

Sole protested and their lover put his hands over his ears.

“I’m not listening.”

Typical childish behavior. The merc really knew how to grind Sole’s gears.

After a few moments, MacCready removed his hands from his head and began to speak again.

“Don’t you think it’s about time these settlers learn to take care of themselves? I mean come on. How are these settlements going to last if they can’t even stand on their own two feet? They’re adults for crying out loud,” MacCready continued, heated, “ If Little Lamplight— a settlement run by me and a bunch of kids— could defend itself, why can’t the mungos do it? What’s so hard?”

Sole suggested that MacCready look after the settlements in their absence, considering he did such a good job running Little Lamplight.

The merc huffed.

“Fine. If that’s what it takes for you to get better, I’ll do it. But don’t think I’m going to enjoy it.”

Longfellow:

“C’mon kiddo. Relax. Rest up. Have a damn drink,” Longfellow suggested, holding up a bottle of rum in one hand and whiskey in the other, “Pick your poison.”

Sole sighed and the haborman shrugged.

“Something stronger?” he mixed the two drinks, but Sole held up their hand in protest, “Well, more for me then.”

After a few moments of silence, Longfellow spoke.

“This isn’t like you, kid. What’s wrong?”

Sole voiced their concerns to their companion, who sighed in response.

“To be blunt, these people shouldn’t have to be babied. They should be able to defend themselves,” he set the empty liquor bottles on the ground, “But I know how much this means to you, so I guess I can help you out a little bit. Maybe whip these settlers into shape.”

Strong:

“Human weak right now,” Strong commented, “Need to be strong again.”

Sole insisted that they were fine and sat up, but Strong shoved them back down.

“No human. Need sleep.”

Sole told Strong that they had to help the settlers, and the Supermutant shook his head.

“Strong said ‘no,’ human. Strong understand human help find milk. But human needs rest now. Strong will find milk on own for now. Strong help settlers.”

Cait:

“Rest up darlin. Don’t worry about the bloody settlers,” Cait insisted, “They can deal with their own shite.”

Sole insisted that the settlers needed their help, but Cait was not having it.

“Quit yer yimmering! Those damn settlers can fend for themselves.”

Sole begged their companion to show some compassion, but the redhead was stubborn. After a few minutes, however, Cait gave in.

“Fine. But only because I love ye.”

Danse:

“You can’t go back to work now. You need to recover.”

Sole argued that he was being hypocritical, and the Paladin frowned.

“No. We are discussing two entirely different scenarios. I’m the commanding officer of my ground squad. I am...er...was...essential for order in combat. If my brothers were to be ambushed without me to guide them, it would be detrimental to our cause,” Danse continued, “You are the overseer of several settlements, all of which contain settlers who are perfectly capable of defending themselves. They’ve just gotten complacent.”

Sole couldn’t deny the fact that the settlers had, in fact, become significantly more needy ever since they had taken over.

Danse sighed.

“If it makes you feel any better, I suppose I could help the settlers with some of their...affairs. Just please get some rest, [name].”

Maxson:

“Like mentor, like soldier I see,” Maxson scoffed, “You two never know when to quit. If only we knew what it was, I would have assigned you to another higher-up. Maybe you would have been more sensible. But I digress. You need to recover, Paladin. And that’s why I’m ordering you to stay in bed and rest.”

Sole protested but Maxson shook his head.

“No, I don’t want to hear it,” The Elder asserted, “That was an order. You are officially on leave until further notice. This directive is non-negotiable.”

Sole grumbled and Maxson continued.

“There are pressing matters I must attend to back on the Prydwen. But during your absence, I suppose I can spare an Initiate to assist your settlements with anything they may need.”

Deacon:

“Easy there, masochist,” Deacon teased, “You’re injured. I don’t care how much you enjoy torturing yourself. Take a break, buddy.”

Sole rolled their eyes, and Deacon stuck his tongue out.

He could be so infuriating.

“Listen. If babysitting the settlers is all it takes to get you to stay still, I gotchu,” he claimed, “Mama Deacon will keep all of the settlers in line. No problem.”

Sole was hesitant, but eventually caved. How bad could it be?

Desdemona:

“Please, take your health more seriously,” Desdemona scolded, “You need rest.”

Sole frowned, but did not want to argue with the Railroad leader. They knew there would be no point.

“Now, to ensure that you don’t worry yourself sick, I have—” Desdemona rubbed her temples, “-- I have assigned Deacon to help you with the labor. Unfortunately, he was our only option.”

Sole pursed their lips and Desdemona shrugged.

“I know it’s not ideal, but it’s the best I could do. I apologize.”

…

Preston:

Since Preston spent most of his time helping the settlers in Sanctuary, he was no stranger to farming.

In fact, he sometimes preferred farming to running the place. Having the ability to be outdoors and tend to plants was a welcomed change to his usual responsibilities of locating struggling settlements and dispatching Sole.

Codsworth:

Codsworth hummed to himself as he maintained the settlers’ community garden. Like Preston, he was already accustomed to helping the residents of Sanctuary with menial work. He was just happy that he could indirectly help Sole as they recovered from their injuries.

Piper:

“Phew,” Piper breathed, wiping beads of sweat from her forehead, “Farming is a lot harder than I had thought. I really need to get into better shape, don’t I?”

The reporter continued digging trenches and planting seeds for another hour before she plopped onto the ground.

“Oy vey! I need a break.”

She then noticed a large tear in her jacket.

“Dammit. This was my favorite coat, too. How the heck does [name] do this day in and day out?”

Nick:

Nick was deep in thought as he weeded a cluster of tomatoes in one of the planters behind one of the restored houses.

“This is exactly how Jenny had her garden set up,” the detective stated, taking a quick glance around the fenced-in area, “Brings back memories of caring for it. We made the best damn salad on the block.”

Nick paused and studied the vegetables, deciding that they were, in fact, ready to be harvested.

He smiled.

“I bet a fresh salad would be just what these people need to lighten their spirits. Good thing I still remember the recipe.”

Curie:

“Je suis toute seule encore une fois, sans une ami, sans rien à faire,” Curie sang, watering a planter containing young carrot sprouts, “Je suis pas pressée de retrouver ma solitude et ma misère.”

She stopped watering to take a look around her, appreciating the world around her. From the warm sunshine, to the cawing of crows, to the gentle autumn breeze that swept through Sanctuary. It was a rare moment of peace.

“I wish my love were ‘ere to zee zis,” Curie mused, “Eet ees truly a beautiful day. I wish I could zpend eet wiz zem.”

Gage:

“Ugh. Farmin. Reminds me of my childhood.”

Gage chewed on a piece of straw as he dug a hole for a corn crop.

“Heh. I wonder how mad the boss would be if I tried to ransack this settlement,” he questioned,

looking around swiftly and sizing up the settlers, “It would be a fuckin piece of cake. These people are weak.”

He shook his head.

“Nah. I can’t. Babe would kill me. Put my head on a stake like Nisha and her gang. I’m not lookin to be a human kabob.”

Hancock:

“This is so mundane,” Hancock mumbled, raking carrot seeds across dry soil.

He suddenly had an idea and looked around mischievously.

“Heh. Babe would definitely disapprove, but imma spice this up a wee bit.”

He injected himself with some Daddy-O and patiently waited for it to kick in. It didn’t take long at all.

The ground suddenly began wobbling and the sky turned a pretty shade of strobe-light-rainbow.

“Yes,” Hanock stated, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face, “Yes. This is much more fun.”

The seeds he had previously been raking started hopping up and down and cheering for him.

“Who’s the best seed daddy?” Hanock called, “I’m the best seed daddy!”

A crowd of confused and slightly disturbed settlers gathered around the ghoul who was currently screaming at the ground.

Sole sure did have some strange friends.

MacCready:

“I thought I’d be leading, not farming,” MacCready complained, “I’ve been duped.”

The merc scowled as he dug holes and planted seeds for hours on end.

“This is so pointless,” he complained, “We already have plenty of corn. Why do we need more? I hope we get attacked. I need some action.”

Longfellow:

“What will we do with a drunken sailor? What will we do with a drunken sailor? What would we do with a drunken sailor Early in the mornin!” Longfellow sang as he watered the tomato crop.

“Way hay and up she rises! Way hay and up she rises! Way hay and up she rises early in the mornin!”

The harborman pulled out a whiskey and popped the cap off, taking a violent swing. He then had an idea.

“I’m sure spirits will perk these withered tomatoes up.”

He proceeded to shower the crop in liquor.

“Shave his belly with a rusty razor! Shave his belly with a rusty razor! Shave his belly with a rusty razor! Early in the mornin!”

Strong:

“Strong dig, and dig, and dig. Strong shouldn’t be digging. Strong should be smashing!”

It was then that a crow decided to swoop down upon the corn crop, and pluck some kernels from the grain.

“Hey! Bird no eat crop! Crop for humans!” Strong bellowed, picking up the shovel and whacking the bird with it.

He knocked the poor crow into an eternal slumber.

“Stupid birds no get past Strong. Strong is strong.”

Cait:

“This is dumb,” Cait complained, harvesting some mutfruit, “What’s the point of this, even? These people can’t even pick their own damn fruit? I have better things to do.”

Cait walked away from the garden and headed toward the Sanctuary bar. She made it about halfway there when she began having second thoughts.

“After all [name] has done for me, the least I can do is pick some fruit,” The redhead looked back in the direction of the garden and sighed, “I can’t just leave this work unfinished. Gotta show my love somehow, ye?”

Danse:

“Why am I stuck digging holes? I’d much rather be on lookout duty,” Danse grumbled, “I’m more qualified for that anyway.”

The Paladin reached into his pockets and pulled out a handful of seeds, tossing them into the fresh holes.

“At least this is a good upper body workout,” he listened to the sound of the wind, “And it’s unusually peaceful.”

The former Paladin used this rare moment of silence to let his mind wander.

This menial farm work is definitely an inconvenience. But at least helping these settlers is putting [name] at ease. For that reason alone, it’s all worth it.

Deacon:

Deacon was decked out in farmhand clothes and a straw hat as he raked seeds across the soil.

“I could get used to this. Maybe I should take up farming as a hobby,” He kissed one of the little sprouts in front of him, “Right, Violet?”

The Railroad agent took a few steps backwards and felt something under his foot. He looked down in horror to see that he had accidentally crushed one of his precious baby saplings.

“Noooo! Daisy! I’m so sorry!” he wailed.

He quickly straightened the plant and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was still alive.

“Phew. That was a close one.”

[a-long-walk-in-the-forest]

Sasuke’s mars degree exploration

Now that I’m having another look at his chart he could have a grand cross. Building on this assumption, His pluto is also likely to be farther into aquarius than I had initially thought (though it’s probably before 24 degrees).  Anyways since I already did this for his moon and mercury I decided to just make this into a series and do some of his other planets as well. this post will be about his mars.

This one was a bit harder since non of them really worked as well as I would have liked them to but out of all of them 12-13 seems better than the rest.

12-13

It shows one of a powerful and independent nature, relying on his own counsel and capable of standing alone. A degree of taciturnity and reserve will add to the general inscrutability of the mind of this person, and dispose him to command the respect and regard of others. His position will be elevated, his success in life will be assured by his own innate strength, and his fortunes will remain untouched by the hand of change. It is a degree of’ STADILITY.

Whether the native is high-born or a self-made man coming of an obscure family, fate certainly has earmarked him to occupy an eminent, independent position and to hold sway over others, owing to his inborn inexhaustible force. To obey him is a matter of course, nearly of necessity. An untiring, hard worker, he is fully confident in himself, and his firmness of purpose borders on stubbornness. Laconic, or even silent, he can scan and pierce everything around himself at a glance without betraying any of his feelings. Close but long-sighted, strong but on his defensive, cunning yet intelligent, he has fortune on his side and all the good or evil qualities needed to assert oneself and achieve success, his main asset being an iron will, unshakeable and undaunted; his main defect, a selfish, despotic, scheming ambition. When other aspects point to a liking for the career of arms, this degree will bestow the gift of strategy. Should the stars point to agriculture instead, the native would be a great organizer and manager of farms.

Denotes one who is ever on selfish ends; he makes a good strategist.

Business: degree of attraction and repulsion; electricians; independent and self-reliant; stability; magnetic healing; dignity; artistic sensibilities; inclined to poetry; may be either mystical or unfeeling;

Denotes one whose work is destined to live and influence men long after he has left the earth, one of an intensely psychic nature, sensitive, and mediumistic. He will have many earthly struggles and will find many sharp rocks in the way of his progress. He suffers more from his absolute lack of sympathy with earth matters as they are at present. His wanderings in the summer lands, however, bring him infinite peace and joy in the midst of pain. It is a symbol of Reveries.

Defensiveness is very marked in this degree. However, for the most part it is well controlled. If he loses his balance defensiveness will be the result. However, it is not likely that this highly competent being will be put in this position. He, for some reason, seems to attract many people difficult to deal with. He seems to be adequate to these challenges and perhaps even thrives on having to cope with difficulties of this nature. He has a measure of compassion and understanding but his righteous indignation is potent and lasting when there has not been sufficient cause for him to relent. He has ample resources to defend himself. Although when he is sufficiently occupied in dealing with deceitful and malicious people and situations he is subject to mental distortions. These experiences may tend to color his general outlook on life. It is very difficult to remain cheerful and optimistic when most of the energy and skill that you have is taken up with such dealings. There is another not much emphasized quality here having to do with the power inherent in polarity of positive and negative charges. He seems to have some quality which enhances his ability to work with electricity and also some ability to do healing by use of the hands.

This area of Taurus, Scorpio sometimes called degrees of attraction and repulsion, often found in charts of electricians. Independent and self-reliant.

15-16 (it’s probably not this but I’ll still include it)

It is the index of a kind and benevolent nature; a generous and humane disposition; ever eager to befriend and comfort those who may be in distress of body or mind. The grandeur and spiritual loftiness of this soul will attract many friends, and the work of charity and benevolence will increase continually, gathering volume as it goes, till it reaches the ocean of human life, and enfolds all mankind. It is a degree of HUMANENESS.

Whatever the moral height of the native, foreign is the country where he is called to act, his outward appearance is nimble and ‘attractive, his wedding princely. Should other components allow, he would belong either to a secret sect or to the militant Church.

Denotes a person possessed with ardent desires; an enthusiast to the cause he espouses; a true friend and an open enemy.

May be an art collector or a person who works hard at some branch of art with little remuneration; business; associated with explosions (of nuclear plants) and bombings; the center of regeneration; the Eagle point; carefulness or (under affliction) carelessness; not a powerful degree; hardly typical of Scorpio

Denotes one who is mixed up in life’s battles and fights for every advantage. Gifted with endurance and a penetrative mind, he wins his way through obstacles only to meet more obstacles later on. But he knows, for all this, that the Power sustaining him is faithful, and he prays for peace in the midst of war. It is a symbol of Contrition.

This degree represents the most undeveloped of the Scorpio qualities. There is the dead weight philosophy of fatalism coupled with a masochistic drive to suffer. He may throw himself blindly into some kind of work but for some reason seems not to reap any reasonable benefit from his efforts. He is most likely to miss coming to grips with life in any way to produce an awareness of either the good or the bad of the action going on around him. He somehow remains detached from all meaningful contact. Of course, this is never the only degree to be stimulated in a chart. The course may be charted more clearly elsewhere and perhaps the real nature of this degree has not yet been seen in its true light. It will, however, add to the load rather than lighten it.

Not a powerful degree, and like 17-18, the natives are hardly typical of Scorpio. May be an art collector or a person who works hard at some branch of art, with little remuneration.

17-18

It is the index of a watchful, brave, but suspicious and jealous nature. Such an one will brave many dangers for the sake of mastery over the passions of others, and will be active in the attainment of the arts of conquest. Nevertheless it is probable that eventually the life will be endangered thereby, and, beyond the loss of power where it is most to be desired, the danger of a poisoned love, or a yet more sinister folly, will threaten to crush and obliterate this person. It is a degree of JEALOUSY.

A strict sense of justice, a liking for aimless leisure, unlucky love affairs thwarted by jealousy and mistrust (whether the native or the other partner is jealous, the whole of the horoscope must tell), an absolute lack of autonomy, a life weighed down by an excess of sloth. The native seems to lay little store by his own word, as he thinks little of entering an engagement and even less of subsequently breaking his pledge. Courage to act openly is conspicuous by its absence, and there is just enough courage to bear the consequences of one’s flippant fickleness or follies and to accept any sacrifice. Love for art, especially music, is deep-rooted. But one who has no character is unlikely to succeed unsupported in such a field, and there is no trace of any moral force here.

A just person, but prone to become too severe.

A musical degree; often a tall person (if afflicted; a dwarf); often works in connection with electricity or painting (artistic or other);

Denotes one for whom pleasure hides danger. His passions are high and not easy to control, and his appetites tend to follow his desires. There is a love of grace in art, movement, and sound which impels him to excitement and sensation. He attempts to influence and control, but is liable to be deceived himself in the end. Let him be warned. It is a symbol of Inflaming.

Mercury’s S Node is on this degree. It shows moral cowardice. Strangely, it does not seem to show the usual courage and wisdom of the sign. Perhaps Mercury’s S Node here rips away the mental logic of violence but without incorporating a solution by an awareness of other ways to solve problems leading to violence. There is a suggestion of an ability to work with color and vibration. Often there is sex appeal of a very surface quality. is associated with colitis, cancer, and appendicitis, w also indicates much frustration from buried resentments. Much of his action seems to indicate an attempt to escape. With Mercury’s S Node here the avenues of escape greatly narrowed.

Often work in connection with electricity or painting.

[aanotheruniverse]

Something close to my heart I wrote a few years ago

THE SUICIDE CLINIC 

CIARAN HARDIE 

 The Waiting Room Nobody made eye contact at the Suicide Clinic. Everybody knew why you were there. If you are about to kill yourself, small talk is not really a high priority. As George craned his neck to take in the high ceiling, he was reminded of the similarly high ceilings in airports, and the Suicide Clinic is a sort of an airport - a temporary drop-off point between life and death. The Clinics all looked the same inside: spacious, fashionably modern, with wide white corridors, littered with suicide prevention signs and pretentiously artistic glass panels. They were the type of place where the floor squeaks as you drag your feet across it. To George's left side was a black man, in his fifties, whose short hair had started to turn white. Chancing a glance at him, George couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to him, and how his life had brought him to this moment. On his left, was an elderly woman clutching a kitsch pink handbag. A man sat in the corner of the room, dressed like a rocker, had his head firmly in his hands. Amidst the waiting room, George felt his individuality and personality slip away; he was just another face in the crowd. He felt, and not just in this moment alone, merely an observant to the world, and not a participant. He was simply being. Nothing happens after death, it’s all just biology and chemistry. Life, George thought, my life, maybe life itself is wholly insignificant objectively, so he had stopped bothering to try to add any subjective meaning to his life either. Although everything is, eventually it will not be, so why bother? Before Emma had taken her own life, George had never really given suicide and the means of suicide much thought, which can be cited as a good thing. Carbon monoxide poisoning is pretty painless, and you could even sleep through it, but there’s a bit of a tedious wait. Best to get it over with as quick as possible with something like hanging, but that’s a tad dark and unpleasant. Suicide bombing would be quick, but George didn’t know the first thing about improvising an explosive. Lethal injection lacks the sex appeal of exploding, or setting yourself on fire, or whatever, and a pill overdose would be too painful. At the Clinics, they provide you with the most sought-after method of suicide - although a difficult commodity to come by in England - a handgun. You would think the handgun would be the ultimate solution to a quick and easy suicide, but all sorts can go wrong. People attempt to shoot themselves from funny angles and often, they shoot only their ears off, or their nose, or part of their chin, and some even miss entirely. If a non-fatal shot were to be fired, there are medics waiting on site at the Clinic, but there would only be one bullet per gun at a time, so you only had one chance to get it right. If you were to miss, you would have to get a new ticket and wait all over again. Once you were dead, the Body Disposers would come and take care of your remains. Afterwards, the room is tidied spotless for the next person. As the unattractive glare from the overly-polished floor caught George’s eye, he was stuck by the institution’s obsession with cleanliness; would people really care if the room they were coming to die in were a little dirty? When George had collected his ticket (Number #227) from the annoyingly pretty receptionist, she had explained the procedure and he had to fill out a form, savouring the Clinic from any responsibility over your imminent death. They also let you choose what you hear before you die. George had known this in advance and had brought with him a CD of himself and Emma talking. One night, a couple of years ago now, Emma had interrupted one of his recording sessions, and he had accidentally left the tape running for hours, and recorded their conversation. They laughed about it and listened to the tape back after realising. Now that she was dead, and things had changed so severely, it felt like a tape from another universe, a relic of a time that now it is over, felt like it had never really existed in the first place. You also got to choose what image was projected in front of you as you die too, and he had brought a photograph of Emma from when he first met her. First there were designer handbags, then designer babies, and now, you could even design your own death. They didn’t want people to kill themselves, but local authorities couldn’t deal with the amount of blood and carcass painting their streets. Washing out the high street every morning, before the foggy-eyed, grey-faced consumers came to... consume, became somewhat of a chore. First there was the Super Hose, which lived up to its name only in its size, and not in efficiency. A team of Body Disposers would hose down the streets and it would all be drained down the newly introduced sewer system - the Bloodstream. The larger pieces, too big to be collanderised, would be put in the back of a lorry and driven off to an infirmary. Naturally, people revolted. They didn’t like the Super Hose, they didn’t like the strewn organs down their high street, and they especially didn’t like the Body Disposers, with their threatening red jumpsuits. George, who was fairly up to date with current affairs, remembered how it all had started: a research team in Europe had been controversially investigating if suicide-prone individuals would be more likely to commit suicide if the process was facilitated for them. George could no longer recall the results of the experiment, and it had become irrelevant now anyway, as the English government had leapt onto the idea, and implemented Suicide Clinics in every major town to cope with the epidemic. A place you could go to kill yourself, and not make so much of a mess for everybody left here still existing once you were gone. 24/7, 365, a place to die. Everywhere had a McDonald’s and a Suicide Clinic. It was supply and demand. People still threw themselves off buildings, however. Some people just refuse to conform to committing in the way they are “supposed” to commit. Drowning maintained a popular alternative too, and it handily came without the dreaded stigma of pavement bombing. There was one case, George remembered, in the news, where one lake was deemed such a spot of idyllic beauty that it had to be dredged due to the sheer number of bodies in it. Of course, the biggest concern to the authorities was simply why were so many people suddenly killing themselves? What had happened in order to make suicide rates increase tenfold? Even now, nobody really knows. As George’s mind wandered the history of the Clinics, he ran in to the question that had driven him in to one of them. Why, like all the other hundreds of thousands of people, had Emma killed herself? She was the one who had handled the break-up; she was the one who’d carried on with her life and her degree and seemed unchanged by things. George was the one who had been made redundant; the one who begged for her back; the one whose life had shrivelled up to being no more than an exercise of misery. Yet two weeks ago to the day, George had received the news: Emma, like all the others, had walked in to a Suicide Clinic, collected her ticket, waited her turn, and ended her life. 14 days of looking for answers had driven George to do the same. Still, in this waiting room, as he anticipated his death, George couldn’t help but wonder why? TPs (Technological People) - “Robots” had been deemed a derogatory term - had certainly had something to do with the other suicides. If there was a TP that could do your job, within a few weeks, you would be out of work. That’s what had happened to George, who was once a recruitment consultant for the IT industry, but now there was a computer that could do his job better, and for free. Conglomerates totally replaced the working human race with TPs. As you would conduct your life; shopping, eating, working, living, you were no longer greeted by human faces, but by metallic, dead-eyed, machines. Technology had sucked all the life out of the world, and days and weeks could go by without seeing another human face. Human social interaction all but died out, and friendship can no longer exist in these conditions, unless it is virtual. George wondered all the time, what is everybody doing? The human race has never been so unproductive. After millennia of rapid evolution in the right direction, we have just ceased. We slowed down, and then we stopped altogether. Nobody is doing anything, they are just existing. Observants, and not participants. That’s the fundamental problem, George thought, people’s lives aren’t worth living anymore, and the people are realising it. Shit, he was realising it after all, and now had come to do the same as all the others. A collective air of nihilism is present at every turning. We are opting out of the game; we just don’t want to play any more. Every day, another lieu of faces at the Clinic, another batch of people who won’t play, if they don’t see the point in playing. The cliches about finding yourself, determining your own happiness, and bringing meaning in to your own life don’t stick anymore, and the futility overwhelms. What’s the fucking point? They want an objective answer to that question. George became aware that he had started breathing heavily, and tried to decelerate his thinking, and calm himself down. He realised he had been clutching his right thigh very hard, and let go. He looked around the room once more; everybody shared the same expression of utter resignation. In the 54th minute since George had collected his ticket (#227), the silence in the room reached a no longer bearable decibel, and his fidgeting could no longer oppress his discomfort. Desperately, George wanted to engage the rest of the room in conversation. He had no idea what he wanted to say to all of these strangers, but the urge was definitely there. Feeling an excruciating sensation rise up in to his chest, George found himself on his feet and then over at the annoyingly pretty ticket- giver’s desk. “Hi”, George spoke, with no idea what he was doing. “Hi”, the ticket-giver looked up at him with an ill-disguised look of animosity. “Er, do you reckon I could, like, wait somewhere else? Is there like a private waiting room?” “Does there seem to be a problem with this waiting room?” “No, it’s not that, it’s just, I feel, uncomfortable waiting around with all these strangers”. “Sir, I can assure you that everybody feels the same. Please take your seat”. “Okay, well that doesn’t make anybody feel any better”. “Sir, please take your seat and wait for your number to be called”. George opened his mouth to respond, but found himself heading back to his seat. Across the room, sitting with her legs crossed, was Emma. George blinked in incredulity, but she was still there. She gave him a flirtatious wave. George got to his feet and tentatively walked across the room. “Yes?”, said the girl, and after a beat, “Can I help you?” “No. Sorry. I just thought you were someone else.” Back in his seat, George mentally kicked himself for being so stupid. She’s dead, he told himself, she’s dead. “Seeing me everywhere are you, George?”, Emma’s voice hit his ears, “Can’t get me out of your head?” The black man was no longer sitting to the left of George. Instead, Emma was there, with her perfect legs and tangled brown mane of hair. Laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of it all, George replied, “Can’t get you out of my head? Well that’s why I’m here isn’t it?” “What if it doesn’t work though?”, said Emma, as if the idea gave her great pleasure, “What if after you kill yourself there’s some sort of afterlife based on your living psychology? What if your eternity is me?” “Then I’ll have to find a a way to kill myself again”. “You can only kill yourself once, silly”. “Oh I know, it’s a grand shame, I would have done it loads by now, if I could. I’d wake up every morning any kill myself” “So dramatic”. Even a hallucinatory image of Emma could still get right under George’s skin. “You always call me dramatic, when you’re the one that’s dramatic” “You’re the one who’s speaking to a dead girl”. Anger swelled in George but before he could release a venomous retort, Emma was gone, and the black man was back in her place. “Okay, number 227, you’re up next”, the ticket-giver’s announcement brought George back to reality. “If you’d like to follow me”. Checking his ticket, George got to his feet yet again and followed her out of the waiting room and down a narrow, white corridor. The gravity of the situation hit George at once, and he felt the need to gag. When they reached the menacing black door, George stifled his queasiness. George resented himself for not wanting to embarrass himself in front of the ticket-giver. “Everything in the room will be exactly as you’ve been told”, she said, “The sound will already be playing, and when you enter the room, the image you’ve chosen will be projected in front of you. The gun is on a platform right in the centre of the room, you can’t miss it”. She held the black door open for him, and George entered the last room he would ever enter. The door closed behind him, and he was left alone. The CD of George and Emma was already playing over the sound system, and his stomach continued to churn unpleasantly. But, there was no image being projected. Rather, Emma herself was standing in front of George, looking as she had in the photo George had chosen. Her school uniform brought out her immaturity, and George felt a twinge as this is how she had looked when he had first fallen in love with her. “Of course you chose to have an image of me where I’m in my school uniform. You’re such a perv”, she said, purposefully emphasising her disdain. “This is how you looked when I first met you”. “Yeah, before you knew me. Before you knew you couldn’t control me, and I wasn’t really just a little girl. You put me in this uniform because you want to keep up the charade of me loving you and you controlling me”. How could she still be torturing me, George thought. Even now, after she’s gone, she’s still hellbent on torturing me. “It wasn’t a charade”, George replied, flatly. “I didn’t love you, George. I never did. I was young, I didn’t know”. “That doesn’t mean anything. You still loved me”. He was yelling already; George was always quick to yell at her, as she had liked to point out when she was still alive. “No I didn’t, George”. At times like these, George didn’t know if he loved her or hated her. Clearly, the more obvious feeling was hate, and every single word she said was like a personal calculated insult to him. And yet, he was so willing to get her to submit to him and admit that she loved him. “I wish I could still kill you. I wish you weren’t dead, purely for that reason. I want to bring you back to life just to choke you with my bare fucking hands”. “Well, I’m here. And hey, you don’t even need to use your hands. There’s a gun”. George was totally disoriented, and things had stopped making sense altogether... maybe he was already dead. He didn’t know, but with immense satisfaction, he picked up with gun and pulled the trigger. It was a perfect shot, hitting her square in the temple, and blood that was so dark it was more black than red, began to gush from the wound. She stayed standing. “What the fuck?” George looked around and hit himself in the face, trying to put a stop to the insanity, “Why aren’t you dead?” “George, silly, you think that’s going to kill me. This isn’t what it looks like; you’re still in the waiting room”. The walls around George warped and blurred until he realised he was in fact, still sitting in his chair in the waiting room. Emma was now sitting in the ticket-giver’s chair behind the desk, and she teased George from across the room, “Think you’re going crazy, George? Think you’re losing it yet?” “I have nothing to lose”, he muttered. “Seriously! All the fucking drama all the fucking time!” She seemed to be completely unaware of the fact that she was provoking him. “Shut the fuck up”. He had to end it, and a force comparable to nothing he had felt before flung him to his feet and he made his way over to the desk. He was going to hit her... he was going to hit her so fucking hard... And she vanished again, out of thin air, leaving George trembling on his feet in the middle of the waiting room. Knowing her next move, he turned around and as he expected, saw her sitting in his chair, looking very casual, and very, very happy. She reached into her pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes, and lit one. “You can’t smoke in here”. Now, standing outside of the Clinic, each puffing on a cigarette, George racked his brain once more for answers. “You didn’t get this done, I don’t believe you. I know there’s something else going on here; this type of shit wouldn’t make sense to you”. “Because you know me so well?” God, why can’t she just turn it off for one second, George thought to himself. “Okay, maybe you’re right, maybe I don’t know you at all. I think that sometimes, that I just had it wrong the whole time. That we were so close and yet at the same time, we really didn’t know each other at all. But we spent 4 years together, Emma, I know for a fact that you did not kill yourself. You wouldn’t go to once of these places”. He was certain of it. “But you would, I know that. You have, after all”. “Only because you did”. “But you just said I didn’t do it!” “Okay, only because you allegedly did it!” “That’s not fun. You’re just gunna give up? You’re not gunna figure it out?” “I can’t figure you out”. “Draaaaaaamaaaaa”. A sigh escaped George. “Come on, George, if I killed myself, I wouldn’t have used this place. I would have just done it, you know, jumped off a bridge or slit my fucking wrists or something. I wouldn’t have come and sat in a queue and all this shit. Come on, you know I wouldn’t have done that”. “I don’t know why I’m here”. This was the truest thing George had said in recent memory. “You would’ve ended up at this place, whether you thought I had or not. This is so George; it’s got your name written all over it. You were always gonna kill yourself.” “I dunno. I guess, although everything is, eventually it will not be... So why bother?” “Come on, George, think. What happened to me?” George furrowed his brow, and concentrated. He visualised Emma, and his memories of Emma, trying to remember every moment they had shared together, in the hope of something somewhere igniting an epiphany. He remembered walking down his old suburban street with her, hand in hand. She would always instinctively take his hand, and not taking her hand would always cue an argument. He remembered how when she had so suddenly fallen out of love with him, how she had flinched when he had tried to touch her. He longed for the days when she would take his hand, without him having to take hers. Deeper memories... he remembered hugging her late one night down the high street after a comment from a tramp had made her cry. How something so stupid like a comment from a tramp could have shattered her, and made her need him. How truly fragile she had been underneath her tough demeanour. He remembered the smell of her hair, the smooth of her legs, and then, he remembered the sensation of her legs pressed against his head, and his tongue inside her vagina. He remembered how she would wither and moan, and clutch at the bedsheets. Was any of it real? Everything is so brief. Everything feels like it wasn’t true, like it was just a delusion, George thought. To him, everything just felt like some fucked up chemical imbalance in his brain. Too many drugs. Too much TV. But her, such a pretty, perfect thing. She had to have been real, the only real thing in a sea of distortion. Although everything is, eventually it will not be... George jolted in his chair in the waiting room. Emma was gone. The elderly woman sitting to George’s right turned to him, and said, “Were you thinking about eating out my pussy?” “What?!” George said, flabbergasted. It took a moment for Emma to take the place of the elderly woman. “I said were you thinking about eating my pussy? You were, weren’t you? Your lip quivers when you think about cunnilingus, George. I’m dead, you know, isn’t that a bit necrophilic?” “You’re not fucking dead!”, George yelled at the top of his lungs, and as he did, all the lights in the Clinic abruptly turned off, and all the people around George and Emma became immobile. Emma erupted in to tears and teared towards the door to the corridor. He couldn’t let her get away, she had to answer for this, so he pelted after her down the long, white corridor, calling after her. “Emma, wait! Emma! Emma! Come back!” She was impossibly quick, quicker than Emma had really been, quicker than anyone had ever been. George reached another door which had no handle, and began banging on it. “Emma, let me in! Emma, let me in, let me in now!” Emma called back from the other side of the door, her voice thick with authentic terror, “Leave me alone! I’m scared.” “I’m nothing to be fucking scared of Emma!” She had always said she was scared. Knowing she wouldn’t submit to persuasion alone at the time being, George kicked down the door which came off with surprising ease. George found himself in his flat kitchen, just as he had left it this morning before heading out. Emma was darting across the flat towards the front door, but he managed to catch up and grab her arm as she tried to negotiate her way around the furniture. “LET GO OF ME!” she squealed, still crying. “Emma, wait!”, there was tremendous force in George’s voice, “Listen to me”. “You’re fucking hurting me, George”. “How could you do that to me?!”, he screamed square in to her face, “How could you fuck those other guys! You’re fucking evil!” “Then let me go! Let me go, George, now!” Without thinking, he punched her and she fell to the floor. She was still fighting back, and with all his strength, he restrained her and, still without thinking, began to strangle her. She gasped and clawed at his face with her nails, but he wasn’t to be stopped. She pressed her thumbs in to his eye sockets, momentarily blinding him, and when he regained his vision, he was back in the waiting room. The lights were still off, the people around were still all in a dead sleep, and Emma was still in the place of the elderly woman. “Oooh, maybe that’s what happened!”, she said with tantalising excitement, “Maybe you killed me! What if you’re crazy? Like, like actually crazy. What if you killed me and you don’t even remember killing me?” “Emma, shut up. This is serious”. “What? Is it not dramatic enough for you?” The anger George had felt had climaxed with the sensation of asphyxiating her, and now he felt nothing but sad. “Were you scared of me, Emma?”, he asked. “Yes”. “Why?” “You’re obsessive, George. It’s too much. It’s scary”. The words instantly drew tears out of George’s eyes, and he wept. “Don’t you care that you hurt me?” Emma exhaled, and sounded more serious than she was normally capable of being. “You stole my childhood, George. You scandalised me”. “What fucking good is a childhood anyway! Hey! Who wants one!”, the notion of a spoilt childhood brought back George’s anger as if it hadn’t gone anywhere. She looked back at him with the same repulse that he recalled vividly from their last ever encounter. She spoke the same words, “I’m gonna go now”. George clutched her shoulder and searched her eyes for the person he once knew. “No, please, please don’t go Emma, not again. Don’t make me do this, please, please don’t leave me”. “See you on the other side, George” “NOOOO!” She had evaporated. The lights to the Clinic turned back on, and the people around came back to life. But George was really screaming this time, and the people around him jumped back in their seats. He wasn’t able to get out any words, he was just wailing at the top of his lungs. The ticket-giver instantly dashed out of her seat and over to George. “Sir, please, calm down, sir, sir, please, if you’d like to come with me”. “Fuck off!”, George mustered and threw his shoulder away from her as she tried to touch it. Two especially muscly Body Disposers with vacant faces barged in to the waiting area and each grabbed one of George’s arms. George was taken aback by their strength, and started flailing his legs around. The people in the waiting room looked in horror as George shouted, “No! This is wrong! This is all wrong!” The Body Disposers dragged George out of the waiting room, down the white corridor, and through yet another door. This time they had entered a much smaller room than any of the others, and the walls all matched the red of the Disposer’s ghastly jumpsuits. Before George could react, one of the Body Disposers was injecting him with a foul-smelling blue liquid. “What the fuck is that?!” George exclaimed. Nobody responded. After he had been injected, the Body Disposers softened their grip on him and he was able to break free, push the ticketgiver out of the way, and he flung open the door and began sprinting for the waiting room. The Disposers and the ticket-giver gave chase, and his feet slipped on the squeaky corridor floor. George felt as though his legs were filling up with concrete, and movement became an increasing struggle. His back hunched and he felt as though something invisible was pulling him down to the floor. Still, he pushed on and reached the waiting room door, and without a second of conscious-decision making, flung himself at the black man’s feet. “Don’t kill yourself. Please. Please, don’t kill yourself”. A few people jumped to their feet, and even the rocker with his head in his hands looked up at the commotion. The man looked back at him as if George had just asked for his hand in marriage. The concrete sensation as now filling his entire body, and he felt like an anchor was forcing him through the ground. “DON’T KILL YOURSELVES”, George screamed at the rest of the waiting room, and before the Body Disposers grabbed him again, he fell to the floor, unconscious.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

January 26, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

We are now a week into the Biden administration, and President Biden has set some clear and surprisingly dominant markers at the beginning of his presidency.

He has kept firmly to his constitutional responsibilities in what appears to be an attempt to remind Americans of the official roles in our democracy. He has deliberately refused to intrude on the Department of Justice, saying he would leave up to it which cases to pursue. When a reporter asked Press Secretary Jen Psaki whether Biden believes the Senate should convict the former president of incitement of insurrection in his upcoming Senate trial, Psaki answered: “Well, he’s no longer in the Senate, and he believes that it’s up to the Senate and Congress to determine how they will hold the former president accountable and what the mechanics and timeline of that process will be.”

Within his sphere in the executive branch, though, Biden is carving out a distinctive presidency. He is restoring the norms and guardrails of the office. We have had daily press briefings all week, which is the way things used to be done. The press secretary either answers questions respectfully or dodges them, as is her job, but there are no insults or accusations of “fake news.” We also get the traditional “readouts” when the president speaks to a foreign leader, giving us a sense of where the country stands with regard to its allies and rivals.

But Biden is also striking out in a surprisingly authoritative way. He has hit the ground running. He began work on the very afternoon of his inauguration and has not let up since. He has signed a pile of executive measures, seemingly adapting the policy of the Trump administration to change the direction of the nation quickly through executive actions.

But while Trump introduced measures that were applauded by his base but widely opposed, Biden’s measures are genuinely popular. Many of them rescind policies of the previous administration, but others move the country in a new direction, resurrecting the idea that the government has a role to play in regulating our economy and protecting individuals in our society. He has rejoined the World Health Organization and the Paris climate accords, scrapped the transgender ban in the military, expanded food assistance programs, and created new mechanisms to fight Covid-19. Today, he directed the Department of Justice not to renew contracts with private prisons, which prospered under the previous administration.

Biden has also made a mark already in foreign affairs. Exactly four years ago today, the entire senior administrative team of the State Department resigned, unwilling or unable to stay in office under the Trump administration and its original secretary of state Rex Tillerson, the former chief executive officer of ExxonMobil. In foreign affairs, Trump tried to reassert American power unilaterally, much as the nation had been able to do during the Cold War, but weakened traditional alliances in Europe and instead turned the nation toward Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Today, the Senate confirmed Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, a deeply experienced diplomat who was first the deputy national security advisor and then the deputy secretary of state under President Barack Obama. “This is the man for the job,” the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Jim Risch (R-ID), told Lara Jakes of the New York Times. Blinken set out immediately to rebuild alliances that were weakened over the past four years, recognizing that the world is now a multilateral one.

Notably, the Biden administration immediately parted from its predecessor with its approach to Russia. While Trump refused to question Russian President Vladimir Putin, Biden has taken a much more traditional position, one that reflects the position of both the Democrats and the Republicans of four years ago. Just three days before Biden took office, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny returned to his homeland after a near fatal poisoning in August by Putin’s operatives. Navalny’s return forced the hands of both Putin and, within days, Biden. Putin had Navalny arrested, sparking nationwide protests by Russians who are tired of the nation’s poor economy and like Navalny’s skewering of Russian government corruption.

The collision of Putin and Navalny just as Biden took office permitted Biden to use the moment to indicate the direction of his own foreign policy. Just three days after Biden took office, the State Department released a statement condemning the Russian government’s suppression of its people and its media and calling both for Navalny’s release and for an explanation of his poisoning. It concluded, “The United States will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our allies and partners in defense of human rights – whether in Russia or wherever they come under threat,” a statement that indicates America is resuming its traditional stance.

Today, Biden and Putin spoke for the first time, and the readout indicates that the equation of the last four years has changed. The leaders talked of extending nuclear and arms control treaties. Then Biden reaffirmed U.S. support for Ukraine and called out the recent Russian hack on U.S. businesses and government departments, the reports of Russian bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, Navalny’s poisoning, and interference in the 2020 U.S. election. According to the readout, “President Biden made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to actions by Russia that harm us or our allies.”

Biden has refused to get drawn into the drama taking place in Congress, simply forging ahead with his own agenda. Congress, meanwhile, is also adjusting to having a new game in town. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) tried to gum up the works, refusing to permit the Democrats to organize the Senate unless they promised not to end the filibuster, the Senate rule that enables a minority to stop any measure that can’t command 60 votes. New Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he had no plans to end the old rule (for legislation—it is already gone for judicial appointments) but refused to make any such promise. The filibuster would permit McConnell to stop any Democratic legislation, and Schumer needs at least the threat of it to prevent McConnell from abusing the rule. Last night, McConnell backed down.

Interestingly, though, tonight McConnell tweeted, “Today, I made clear that if Democrats ever attack the key Senate rules, it would drain the consent and comity out of the institution. A scorched-earth Senate would hardly be able to function. It wouldn’t be a progressive’s dream. It would be a nightmare. I guarantee it.” McConnell is, of course, the person primarily responsible for the current scorched-earth Senate, so his comment was a bit rich, but it was nonetheless an interesting statement. It is a truism that threats are a sign of weakness.

Today, as state-level Republicans embraced Trump and QAnon, 45 Republican Senators led by Rand Paul (R-KY) agreed that the former president should not be tried for inciting the January 6 insurrection or trying to overturn the 2020 election results. Also today, Google joined the many other corporations that say they will not give money to any Republicans who voted against the counting of the certified ballots on January 6. The collision between these two warring groups cannot be avoided once the Senate impeachment trial starts two weeks from today.

While the Republicans split and congress people struggle for power, Biden has stayed strictly within his constitutional role, where he has worked at breakneck speed. Staying out of the partisan fray in Congress, he has earned good marks from Americans for his first week, ending it with an approval rating of 56%.

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[cowperviolet]

6 New Ancient History Books of 2020

The fall of empires. Appalling divides between the haves and the have-nots. Deadly epidemics. Corruption in the halls of power. But enough of current affairs – let’s turn to the ancient world.

This year’s crop of history books seems to focus on the bad and the ugly (or, at least, the overlooked) rather than the great and good.

Infamy: The Crimes of Ancient Rome by Dr. Jerry Toner

This book with a pretty self-explanatory title focuses on the bloody side of the imperial capital. It touches upon different faces of it, from high-end assassinations in the empire’s political world to the riots, the mob violence, and the less exciting, but more sadly probable chances of getting one’s paper-thin apartment in one of city’s five-floor high-rises burgled while you are out having good time at the Colosseum.

Yummy.

Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe by Judith Herrin 

I’m going to confess it here: uncultured swine that I am, I first learned about the brief flourishing of Ravenna after encountering its fantasy counterpart in Guy Gavriel Kay’s Sailing to Sarantium. Now Judith Herrin has written a thorough book about the three centuries between the fall of Rome and the start of the Middle Ages proper when Ravenna became the capital of Western Roman Empire and then the chief Byzantine power in Italy (which resulted in the creation of some pretty sick mosaics).

Oscar Wilde wrote a poem about the place, so it’s got to be good.

 A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome by Emma Southon 

Violence in a great imperial city seems to be a popular theme this year (I wonder why). Emma Southon delivers on it in an incredibly entertaining, bloody romp through the Roman history, showing the grisly underside of the marble-columned empire we all know. It feels like a Roman-themed equivalent of a crime podcast, informing us very accessibly about all those history-driving murder cases, the politicians getting knife-happy (occasionally poison-happy) with each other, legendary fratricides and blood on the Senate floor.

Forgotten Peoples of the Ancient World by Philip Matyszak 

This slender volume takes attention away to the usual superstars of the ancient world - a.k.a. the Egyptians, the Romans and the Greeks - and focuses on often forgotten and misunderstood civilizations. Among these are the masters of the first cities of Mesopotamia, or the Philistines and the Vandals, whose names did not fare well in the long term

The Sons of Caesar: Imperial Rome's First Dynasty by Philip Matyszak

‘It is no easy thing to overthrow a democracy’, the first line of this book runs - then Philip Matyszak proceeds, over 304 pages, to chronicle the rise and fall of the dynasty that had done just that. Between Tiberius, Nero, the stern Augustus and the proverbially decadent Caligula, Julius Caesar who needs no introduction and the Robert Graves-sung Claudius, the Judeo-Claudian dynasty packed enough talent, vice, virtue and intrigue to fuel ten seasons of an HBO drama; Philip Matyszak describes them all in an accessible volume.  

 Philip and Alexander: Kings and Conquerors by Adrian Goldsworthy 

Alexander the Great accumulated a great score of biographers and fanboys alike over the centuries since he expired in his tent (the latter category counted one Julius Caesar). Adrian Goldsworthy’s book takes a fresh approach to him by rejecting the image of his father as a half-blind old man standing in the way of the young conqueror, and placing Alexander in the context of Philip’s own conquests, military and diplomatic, as well as the feat of unification of his country.