#guantanamo fun hit

[the-firebird69]

Watch "Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus (Official Video)" on YouTube

Each and every clone practically site for sergeants I'll have one personal Jesus and more this tons of these guys have programs and each of them in two of them they entombed them then there's just trillions and trillions and everybody is fighting all these clones trying to find out who it's a bloodbath all over the place whoever these sites are and it's moving fast now. Fairly soon Forrest Gump will find his way to Italy and starts with Tom Cruise with flying America or American drug dealer not sure and he gets in trouble and it goes from there and we think one time Guantanamo Bay is after The DaVinci code series this is an intense time I am so pleased with what's happening this is great and these two are helping this is amazing he says way way over the top and they're going to try blaming him and they won't and I make them bigger and that's going to come up pretty soon we think it won't be sometime until they come out and start hitting and taking the. After they have huge wars is the giant giant time for us

Thor Freya

It's an awesome time and we are very grateful and he said it earlier you can't believe it it is very huge and it probably take stress off and put it on but it won't be like it was before with every Tom Dick Harry every teeny retard saying stupid crap and have absolutely no idea what they're talking about just formidable and they're going to discover that they are very wrong and if I need Max and they don't get it it's horrible. There's so many of them that were bothering us and still are they need somewhere to go this afternoon was horrible that they chose to make fights with people at Comic-Con cuz they thought they had the power they got their asses handed to them each time and kept doing it and each time and then they finally stopped and said we don't want to fight anymore and people are too pissed off so they have to leave that's not really a way to go through things it's no fun and they did it they felt that way because they're putting them down they're putting him down and they're putting him down cuz the story is so huge and they're not and he says I tried to have a normal life when I was younger and it was impossible and now it's impossible at all until I'm free from every single Satanist you have a life it's much more fun and you have freedom and you should relish it you should treat each other better because something I won't have and they didn't laugh about it and they went off and talked so you know what you're right about some we can come up here and go there do what we want and we're all taking advantage of it it's dangerous we could be more careful but he has to sit there and do practically nothing and take abuse after abuse and it felt bad then he said I actually have warts and all this stuff but so they started feeling bad again so we're trying to heal it and I said well did these guys that want me to be big and they have absolutely no idea what they're doing they want to be big cuz they're evil and so they're looking around in there trying to figure it out and said you need to have control group and like others who are going to be accounted to them and all this it's like making a computer game up you can actually make a computer game like that there is one kind of so I figured out what you're saying second system they would do it and try to figure out why they didn't say this he wants to be a little bigger so he has an immune system so they're going to try it and they're going ahead with it shortly but wow this is an amazing night so many people are silent about what's going on and they are not giving people so much crap it's amazing and things are changing.

Can't wait until these guys will beat up really need them to get beat up but today we realize that the magnitude of it is finally there and we need troops so we need people to sign on and we need it now can I put the order out I said now is the time tons cuz they're all going to be involved and it started rolling on it this is amazing time and sickening too

Hera

It's very gross and they're going to be blamed for doing everything and then Tommy f and back and forth and it probably won't settle on us hopefully because of race and Tommy F will be blamed

Zues

She hopes so too then we really think it's true and there's a lot going on okay tons of tons of cars are out there and they're Bradley GT millions okay they came out this weekend and got ready we weren't ready last weekend or the weekend before and start getting ready millions are driving around town they are challenging people to races all over the world. And they're winning a lot of them and people want to know why and the design is becoming scrutinized and people want to copy it and we're going to stop them we're hiring like madness. I can't wait until tomorrow and there's going to be a huge number of them out there was a giant number tonight about 20 million globally and each City you can see like a few thousand that's enough for everyone to see it and then hard knock it over 5150 came out all over the city and it kept happening and kept happening and there are more and more motorcycles and tonight I guess probably thousands of city but it's a lot of fun everyone's having fun they love the bike and they want to buy one and they're going to start making them probably in China and we know what to do

Hera

And she was helping the whole time you need the stuff and she's pretty silent but he knows what she does is amazing things he was thinking 10 years ago just a little bit and she's right on it and she says I can't believe how well this works Texas brain is wired to succeed and people want to help him he says it's partially that is faith but I have a way of thinking of things it helps out and it's critical thinking and she's saying part of that yes but I'm very helpful persons and she is very helpful and we're going to get this done the bikes are amazing there's so many of them but I'll colorful and so funny and they're slower and lighter so people aren't like real afraid and they're waving it's good it's much better it's going to go on for a while this weekend and we hope they get it down here there was one driving around

Thor Freya

There is an amazing number of people on the line talking about how well it went today and we said it's really not that great we need people and they said what are you talking about you said we don't have enough troops and we've been screaming it and they said you're you're not manned up enough and it was a lot of people asking and a lot of them hurt it cuz he said it to everybody that's what needed to happen it was amazing cuz we kept saying it and saying it and saying it then we said you're not listening we need teammates we need you on board we need everybody who's asking these questions on board we need you to go to your families and friends and get them to sign up after you do and right now and along with shots all the time it was almost everything we got and we're tired and they ran out and and signed up tons of people and we really need it and we need a lot more what's going on now and your programs are helping it's simply have to keep them going and get them bigger

Zig Zag

These are huge huge ideas and concepts but we really need people and I signed up a ton today and that said you go get your neighbors and friends who aren't signed up and you tell them to we need them now and you know why now and so they're renting out there and grabbing them huge numbers and everybody should be doing that everyday

Nuada Ariana

We're actually in trouble globally still we're going to have a meeting and get the recruiting going much more really is way behind

I'm going to implement those ideas in their system right now all over too

Olympus

[grigori77]

Movies of 2021 - My Pre-Summer Favourites (Part 1)

The Runners-up:

20.  THE MAURITANIAN – acclaimed filmmaker Kevin MacDonald (The Last King of Scotland, Touching the Void) presents his best film in years with this stirring, troubling dramatization of the harrowing fourteen-year detention at Guantanamo Bay of Mohamedou Ould Slahi (A Prophet’s Tahar Rahim in a deeply affecting turn) between 2002 and 2016.  Jodie Foster is also impressive as Nancy Hollander, the crusading attorney fighting for his release, as is Benedict Cumberbatch as Lt. Col. Stuart Couch, her opposing counsel, who comes to realise Slahi’s confinement has been built on a tissue of lies.

19.  RIDERS OF JUSTICE – Danish writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen (Men & Chicken) brings his biting sense of humour and anarchic style to bear in this excellent black comedy starring Mads Mikkelsen as Markus, an emotionally distant soldier called home after his wife is killed in a tragic train wreck.  As he attempts to reconnect with his troubled daughter (Andrea Heick Gadeberg), Markus becomes convinced by the theory of a trio of intellectually gifted outsiders who believe that the accident was in fact an elaborately staged assassination by the eponymous criminal biker gang.

18.  STOWAWAY – Netflix dropped another sneaky sci-fi hit on us in the form of this deceptively understated space thriller about three astronauts on a mission to Mars who discover they no longer have enough life-support resources left to survive their journey after finding a member of the launch crew accidentally trapped on their spaceship.  Writer-director Joe Penna is in comfortably familiar territory after acclaimed survival thriller Arctic, while the compact cast – Toni Collette, Daniel Dae Kim, Shamier Anderson (Wynonna Earp) and, in particular, Anna Kendrick – are all excellent.

17.  OUTSIDE THE WIRE – in the near future, civil war has broken out in the Ukraine and US forces fight to keep the peace with the aid of newly-minted robotic soldiers called GUMPs. Drone pilot Thomas Harp (Snowfall’s Damson Idris) is reassigned to the warzone as punishment for insubordination, finding himself teamed with Captain Leo (Anthony Mackie), an advanced hyper-intelligent android tasked with hunting down insurgents bent on unleashing nuclear holocaust on the West.  Mikael Håfström (director of 1408 and Escape Plan) ably delivers some impressively weighty action sequences, while asking interesting questions about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence.

16.  THE EMPTY MAN – I was a little late stumbling across this spectacularly twisted cosmic horror based on a graphic novel by Cullen Bunn (The Damned, The Sixth Gun) and Vanesa Del Ray, but it grabbed me in the first ten minutes and wouldn’t let go.  The ever-excellent James Badge Dale delivers one of the best performances of his career as James Lasombra, an ex-cop who gets mixed up with a nightmarish conspiracy involving a doomsday cult built around the terrifying eponymous otherworldly entity in an head-fucking horror gem that entirely deserves its growing cult status.

15.  SOUND OF METAL – had to wait until Amazon Prime released this in the UK last month, but this challenging and emotionally-charged drama was worth holding out, Riz Ahmed delivering his finest ever performance as Ruben Stone, a heavy metal drummer whose life is thrown into turmoil when he goes deaf.  Ready Player One’s Olivia Cooke also impresses as his girlfriend Lou, a massively talented singer whose own personal demons are set loose as Ruben’s condition drives a wedge between them, while writer-director Darius Marder (who co-penned overlooked masterpiece The Place Beyond the Pines) shows he’s definitely gonna be a talent to watch in the future.

14.  CHERRY – Tom Holland reteams with his regular MCU directors Joe and Anthony Russo for this harrowing but achingly beautiful adaptation of author Nico Walker’s sort-of-but-not-exactly semiautobiographical novel about a former US army medic who returns from the horrors of Iraq with crippling PTSD at the height of America’s opioid epidemic, forced to embark on a spree of bank robberies to feed his drug habit.  Holland has never been better, while the Russos prove they’re capable of delivering more than just bombastic superhero action and big effects.

13.  SHOPLIFTERS OF THE WORLD – writer-director Stephen Kijak may be known for making documentaries about musicians (Scott Walker: 30th Century Man, Stones in Exile), but he proves he’s got a flair for fiction too with this cannily subversive comedy drama about a Middle American town that goes a little crazy one night in the 80s when a teenage boy hijacks the local heavy metal radio station and makes them play wall-to-wall tacks from The Smiths following the band’s sudden breakup.  There’s escapist fun to be had from the irreverent quirkiness of the premise, and the youthful cast are all excellent, while Joe Manganiello delivers a brilliantly nuanced supporting turn as the besieged DJ.

12.  BILLIE EILISH: THE WORLD’S A LITTLE BLURRY – I’ll admit to being a bit late to the party when it comes to Billie Eilish – I’d heard snippets of her music (most notably Bad Guy and her admittedly impressive theme for the new Bond movie), but until I watched this deep dive into her life and career, following the creation and promotion of her debut album, I didn’t yet know what all the fuss was about.  Well I’m now thoroughly converted – not only is she an incredibly talented young musical artist but also a fascinating and intriguingly down-to-earth person too, and I look forward to following her career in the future.

11.  SHADOW IN THE CLOUD – Chloë Grace Moretz gets a role to really sink her teeth into as Maude Garrett, a take-no-shit WAAF flight officer on a classified mission aboard Allied bomber Fool’s Errand in the Pacific in 1943, in this enjoyably unconventional action horror from My Wedding & Other Secrets director Roseanna Liang.  The film is largely a one-woman show, with the cameras clinging stubbornly to Moretz while the genuinely terrifying story unfolds around her, and she invests Maude with a ferocious stubbornness and intensity that’s crafted one of the cinematic year’s most impressive action heroines.

[zyalahmiscfandom]

How Well Do You Really Know Him? (The Master x Reader)

Summary: You’ve been travelling with The Master for six months now, and an attempt to celebrate makes you realise just how little you know about the Time Lord. 

Word Count: 1944

AN: First time ever writing for the master or anything doctor who, so sorry if its way too OOC

It was supposed to be a nice relaxing trip. A sweet way to celebrate your six month travelling anniversary with the Master. You hadn’t expected this, you weren’t even keeping track of how long you’d been with the Master. So when you had come into the console room of the TARDIS this morning to a beaming and excited Master, rambling on about how amazed he was that you had lasted this long with him, and how he wanted to show his appreciation to his favourite pet, you weren’t going to say no. Not that you had ever wanted to say no to your Master.

That’s how you ended up on The SS.Fairfax. The 32nd century’s most expensive and high class Space Liner. A cruise ship that only the best of the universes 1% was permitted to vacation on. But your fun day out had been ruined when you had ran into The Doctor and her quote ‘fam’.

The Master had told you a little about his best frenemy. You knew that she was a Time-Lord like him. That they had grown up together, and had even spent some time travelling together recently. Though he said he was a completely different person when that happened. But the main point you had gleamed from his vague stories was that she was his complete opposite, where the Master strode through the universe enveloped and reveling in the chaos he found, and often created. The Doctor was cautious and vigilant, trying her best to be a calming safety net for the universe and even beyond.

So when you found yourselves all in the Celestial Solarium on the 55th Pleasure floor an argument quickly rose up between The Doctor, Master and the 3 people the Doctor was travelling with. You had no idea what the hell was going on. During the fight you could only gleam a few things like;

“I thought you were dead!” “Gallifrey exploded!” “What are you doing here?” “Is the ship gonna explode?”

And most importantly,

“Who is she?”

A question that didn't get answered because the Fairfax security dragged you all to the brig, and to your surprise, The Master surrendered easily, he didn’t even fling a snarky hidden threat to your captors. The only time he protested was when they split you into gendered cells.

The guards didn’t care, and they threw you into a surprisingly posh jail cell, with The Doctor and the girl she had been travelling with.

And that’s where you sat.

Staring almost unblinking at the sealed door. Waiting patiently for The Master to burst through and take you back home to the TARDIS. You made a mental note to never celebrate anniversaries again, or maybe if you did, you’d suggest that you stay in an watch a movie or something.

You sigh, finally tearing your eyes from the door, to quickly glance back at the women behind you.

Awkward eye contact ensues.

“Uhhhhh...” You creak out just seconds before The Doctor bounds forward hand extended, beaming smile plastered across her face.

“Hi there, I’m The Doctor.”  She grabs your hand and vigorously shakes, whilst keeping unbroken eye contact with you. Clearly she was searching for something in your eyes. You just didn’t know what.

“Uh. Y/n.” You reply. Shaking your hand limply after she finally lets it go.

“Nice to meet cha’ Y/N. That’s Yaz by the way. Say hi Yaz.” You looked past the energetic blonde to her younger friend.

“Hi.” The beautiful girl beamed, as she gave you a little wave.

You were starting to question if people this extroverted really existed when The Doctor grabbed your shoulders tightly and gave you an almost too serious look.

“Don’t worry Y/N, I’m gonna get you home.”

“What?” You questioned. Taking a step back from the Time-Lord and shaking of her prying hands. Confusion swept over your face.

“It’s okay,” Yaz smiled, taking a tentative step forward. So she was directly beside The Doctor, she had an aura of helpfulness around her, though you knew it was misguided at the moment. “The Doctor’s here to help. We both are.” The Doctor and Yaz shared a look and a smile before placing their attention on you again.

“Help. Why would I need help?” You stated. Firmly standing your ground against these ‘helpful’ strangers.

“Well, first your in prison.” The doctor playfully remarked, to which your rolled your eyes.

“It’s a cruise liner not Guantanamo.” You retorted, your sass palpable in the air. You obliviousness to the seemingly serious situation seemed to irk The Doctor a bit, as you saw her eyebrow twitch.

“Second, you are travelling with THE most dangerous man in the universe.” Her tone was low, almost unnerving.

“I know.” You stated back. A statement that seemed to take both women aback.

“You know that he’s The Master?” Yaz inquired confused.

“Who else would he be?” You found their puzzled expressions amusing. Normally you wouldn’t be this antagonistic towards people you’d just met, but they where starting to push your buttons. Not many things did, but The Master was one of your buttons. You hadn’t realised it until now. But all your confrontations recently had been because someone (normally the alien The Master had come to destroy) had insulted your friend. You didn’t have much good in your life, and The Master had taken you to the stars and given your life more meaning that it would have on Earth. He could have left you behind after your first encounter, but he hadn’t. He’d seen something in you. Something he didn’t see in other humans, and so what if it had only been 6 months, you couldn’t deny he was so important to you now. He was your best friend, your family, your home. And the idea that someone was going to try and take you away from someone you loved was incomprehensible to you.

“Emil Keller, Martin Jurger,” The Doctor started pacing, rambling off names in increasing displeasure, “Professor Yana, Harold Saxon, Missy…”

“Don’t forget O.” Yaz chimed in.

“Exactly. The Master may have told you his real name Y/N. But how well do you really know him?”

“How well do your companions know you, dear Doctor?” The Masters voice sang out from behind you. You could hear the smirk in his voice before seeing it, and you couldn’t stop the beaming smile from taking over your face.

You spun instantly, coming face to face with the one person you wanted to see. The Master leaned casually on your open cell door, one hand in his pocket and the other clutching his TCE nonchalantly.

“Master!” You practically squealed out. You had to restrain yourself from hugging him right there on the spot. Your predilection for hugs had gotten you in trouble with the Master before, and you had come to an agreement that you can hug him all you want, as long as it’s in the TARDIS.

You quickly positioned yourself by The Masters side. The place you felt the most safe and most comfortable. The Doctor however had anger burning behind her eyes.

“Where’s Graham and Ryan?!” Yaz demanded.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” The Master teased. You sensed a history there, and a small pang of jealousy hit you. Which was new. You didn’t like it.

“Master, I’m warning you.”

“Oh I’m so scared Doctor.” The Master pressed a hand to his chest and feigning fear. “Come on, show me that Oncoming Storm.”

His goading was interrupted, by who you assumed was Graham and Ryan, though you didn’t know which man owned which name, bursting into the increasingly cramped room.

With the two men bursting the tension bubble. The Master seemed to become incredibly bored with the situation.

“Well, now you have your friends back,” The Master stressed the word friends out, “I’m taking what’s mine.”

Without warning The Master grabbed your hand, and took you away. Not stopping or caring when The Doctor yelled after him.

The walk back to the TARDIS was silent, and so was the take off. You sat silently in the soft brown leather chair in the console room. The Master was purposely avoiding your eyes. Something was off. You knew it, and he knew it too.

You realised how little you actually knew him, you only had his side of events, if he in fact told you anything about his past. And any adversaries you crossed with him, never lived long enough to tell their tales of The Master. You knew he had a dark past, one filled with pain, and death. You knew he had hurt people, that probably didn’t deserve it. But he never went into specifics. And you had been fine with that, but you realised now, that you had told him everything about you, anytime he’d wanted information from you, you’d given it. Did he not trust you, or did you mean so little to him that the truth wasn't worth you knowing.

“You were Harold Saxon?” You mumbled out quietly.

“Don’t.” The Master’s eyes met yours in a silent plea. As he clenched his fists on the controls.

You had started down the road of truth, and you weren't about to back down now. You slowly got up and went over to the man who was seemingly still a stranger. You gently placed a hand on his clenched fist, causing the man to flinch. His eyes filled with fear, or maybe regret. You couldn’t quite tell.

“Like…Prime Minister Harold Saxon?” You probed.

“Y/N I’m warning you. Don’t.” His steely face was turned to you. His expression deadly serious.

“Why?” Self preservation be damned, you needed his to trust you. More than you expected too.

“Because!” The Master yelled, yanking his hand from your grasp, and turning his back to you. His shoulders hunched, his breath heaving his short frame.

“Because is not an answer!” You yelled back, surprised at your rising anger. “Master tell me!” You demanded.

The Master snapped, twisting round and slamming your back against the console. Pinning your there with his surprising strength.

“Because I’m a monster.” The venom in his voice was tinged with despair. “I’ve bathed in the blood of stars and danced across the barren fields of the universe, and loved every minute of it.”

Tears threatened to spill from your eyes as the man who had been your saviour showed his hidden rage. Though you were sure it wasn’t entirely aimed at you.

“But you saved me, you took me with you.” The tears finally fell. “Was…was everything a plan, a ploy? Some kind of sick game to you?”

“No.” The Master eased off a little, no longer pinning you in place, but not letting you go either.

“Then why not tell me the truth?”

“I didn’t want you to leave me.” He sounded so, so broken. It killed you. Without thinking you pulled him into the tightest hug you’d ever given. His arms hung limply at his sides as he continued, “I wanted to pretend, see what it would be like to be THEM. To just have someone I...”

“Master, if I didn’t leave after what you did to that Anoxil General, I’m not gonna leave now.” You tried to make a joke, it was after all one of your defence mechanisms. “I promise you. I’m not going anywhere. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, and I want you to trust me, I need you to trust me Master.”

Slowly his arms wrapped around your waist, his nose nuzzled softly into your hair.

“If I tell you, you have to stay forever.”

“Deal.”

[hellyeahomeland]

“Catch and Release”: an HYH recap

LOL I guess we need to discuss these new opening credits? It’s a real throwback, incorporating some of the more famous images from the first few years of the show, especially young Carrie (also I don’t remember the maze as much the last few years but it was there, and it features heavily this year as well).

Some notable audio clips:

Saul: You had a relationship complicated enough to lie about. Carrie: Yeah, it’s complicated! I lost seven months of my life!

Saul: You will become the focus of an investigation that will define the rest of your life.

Saul: Please God, tell me you haven’t…

(had to include this cap because I’m trash)

So… this should be fun.

The episode opens right where the last one left off. Carrie is visibly disturbed by the site of Yevgeny walking out of G’ulom’s office. She wastes no time asking G’ulom what the hell they were doing there. He plays coy and says they’re just businessmen but Carrie is doing her whole righteous indignation, “New Car Smell” thing. She says he’s got to take back his comments about the POWs. There’s a pointed exchange where Carrie says they’re prisoners of war and G’ulom counters that they’re terrorists and OH MY GOD how much heavier could the Brody parallels get?? Anyway, G’ulom is very unconvinced by Carrie’s argument, which basically boils down to “please?” She seethes the whole way back to the CIA station and says her first mean thing to Jenna this episode.

Later on the phone with Saul, she asks if he knew Yevgeny was there. “Of course not,” Saul says, though I’m not really sure I believe him. But apparently they can’t do shit about this as it was part of the terms of Carrie’s release. Which I guess they forgot to mention in her debrief.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, Max is talking to the DoD’s version of Siri. His Hot Marines give him all a hair tousle, which he hates (obviously), but which also seems to be some sign of good luck. The nice guy in the hat from the last episode notably does not touch his head, so I’m sure he’ll be dead in 2-4 episodes. Apparently the DoD Siri is better than the real thing because he manages to comb through some conversations of Haqqani talking to his son about ending the war. Saul says this is “black and white” evidence, because as we know everything that happens on this show is “black and white.” He’s convinced that if he could just talk to Haqqani, they could end this war together. This is one of Saul’s more insane plans but it will probably work because: Saul.

Back at the CIA, Carrie’s gotten an “anonymous tip” which is basically a name written in large block letters inside an envelope. She manages to use a computer successfully and discovers the name is of a woman who was involved in a government corruption probe that got ~mysteriously~ shut down when it uncovered actual government corruption. How quaint! Anyway, then her husband was killed in a car bomb that was probably meant for her. So she’s justifiably pissed and probably has dirt on G’ulom that Carrie could use.

Carrie proposes to Mike Dunne an operation wherein they pretend to interview her for a job while Carrie breaks into her apartment to find said dirt. Mike Dunne brilliantly suggests Jenna for the operation since apparently Jenna set up a fake NGO with all her downtime on account of not being let outside. Their conversation goes something like this:

Carrie: Wait, just last week you told me Jenna is sort of an idiot. Mike: I said she was stuck in the starting gate. That is a horse racing analogy. Carrie: [raises eyebrows] Mike: We need her idiocy to add a little drama to this otherwise straightforward operation you’ve devised.

Later, Carrie prepares with Jenna:

Carrie: I’m phrasing this next bit as a rhetorical question with an obvious answer, because I don’t actually believe you know the right answer, because you are an idiot. Jenna: I promise I’m not an idiot. Did Mike say I was a fuck-up? Carrie: No, I said that. Jenna: Oh, right. Carrie: Are you not a fuck-up? Jenna: [blank stare]

Meanwhile, Tasneem is observing the transfer of Taliban POWs from Guantanamo, including one who is carted off on a stretcher. Also Saul is nowhere to be found. Between the ambulance and the “where the FUCK is Saul” of it all, this scene has several of the same elements of the iconique ending of “A Red Wheel Barrow.” Like Carrie then, Tasneem knows something is fishy.

…and something definitely is! Saul’s not back in America like Tim Guinee says. He’s with Haqqani’s cousin, one of the released POWs, trying to convince him to hand deliver a letter to Haqqani in exchange for his immediate freedom.

Saul and Haqqani’s cousin arrive in Peshawar, where Saul hands over the letter to Haqqani, which he then reads via voiceover. It’s all very “A False Glimmer.” He pleads with Haqqani to meet with him, claiming “it’s only the men with guns who can make peace.” Which, I guess?

The next day, Carrie’s operation is a go. Samira leaves right on time for the interview with Jenna’s fake NGO and Carrie and her crew easily break into her apartment. They don’t find much, until Carrie notices a burqa with a USB sewn into the hem. Incriminating evidence sewn into fabric that is discovered at the last moment is my FAVORITE device on this show.

Carrie is victorious in her search but Jenna royally fucks up the interview, because she’s an idiot (and a fuck-up, apparently), revealing that she knows about the “audit” Samira took part in. Jenna, you literally had one job! To her credit, Samira realizes what’s going on almost instantly and then takes a photo of Jenna. We have to stan!!

Samira doesn’t get away though. They abduct her and take her back to the CIA station, cuff her, and throw a hood over her head. Carrie is enraged, claiming they’ve just traumatized her all over again and now she definitely won’t talk. After a few seasons of getting a hood thrown over her head, Carrie sympathizes.

She does her best “here’s the lay of the land” with Samira and gets her to tell her the significance of the documents on the USB drive. Samira wants G’ulom arrested and says she can wait two more years, or even twenty, to take down G’ulom. Carrie knows the best they can do is just cut him at the knees by advancing the peace deal. In the end, she convinces her.

Carrie calls Saul from a big abandoned building, location unknown, which is supposed to be an army base. Key phrase: “supposed to be.” Samira’s documents show evidence of an entirely fabricated Afghan Army battalion. That’s right, G’ulom is a scammer! He’s been funneling millions of dollars meant for the Army base into his own pocket for years. Incredulous, Carrie exclaims, “We’ve been enabling this motherfucker for 18 years! What is wrong with us?”

In Rawalpindi, Tasneem pays a visit to her retired stepfather Bunny (last seen in season four). He’s fallen asleep in his massive garden shooting squirrels with a pistol. The neighbors are complaining.

Tasneem: If you took down the bird feeders, the squirrels would stop eating the bird seeds. Bunny: I prefer this. Also, that’s not fair to the birds. Tasneem: Is this a metaphor? [Later] Tasneem: Stepdad, I think Saul is up to no good. If he talks to Haqqani directly, there could be a real breakthrough. Bunny: Unacceptable. We must control everything. Tasneem: How far am I allowed to go then? Bunny: The Americans hate us and our God. Go as fucking far as you please. Tasneem: Coolio, it’s murder time. 

Wearing a nice set of gold bar earrings, Carrie is back in G’ulom’s office, presenting him with a slew of incriminating evidence about his scam. He has two hours to walk back the statements before she shares the papers with his own government, who’d likely have him killed. Finally she has leverage, but G’ulom still manages to give a menacing speech about how peace will be terrible for everyone. Carrie doesn’t relent.

Poor Max has not gotten any alone time at the Army base in Afghanistan, but he has realized that the ISI definitely know that Saul is in Peshawar. Apparently the Taliban does as well. Twist of twists, the ISI aren’t preparing to hit him, they’re preparing to hit Haqqani. Saul yells at the Taliban’s convoy to stop but it’s too late. Amid the panic, Saul is abducted again. I honestly cannot. How many times has this been? This was not the Homeland Greatest Hits I had in mind.

Later, Carrie is stomping her way through the streets of Kabul. She ends up at a bar with the rest of the crew. She says something encouraging to Jenna and orders a “soda water,” both of which are not things I would have expected Carrie to do. Mike Dunne is like, Carrie when the fuck are you gonna leave? Carrie does a cute lil’ shrug and randomly asks where the bathroom is.

That’s right, we needed Carrie alone and somewhat lost because YEVGENY IS BACK. Somehow he looks even hotter than last week. Apparently he gave the anonymous tip, which makes no sense.

Yevgeny: I thought you were gonna thank me. *wink wink* Carrie: I am so confused. Yevgeny: Who else would have done something so nice for you? *wink wink* Carrie: I am maximum confused. Yevgeny: Don’t play dumb. *wink wink* Carrie: I am more confused now than that time I saw a screensaver. Yevgeny: Hey, maybe we could go to Banana Joe’s together? *wink wink* [fades into darkness]

The episode closes somewhat awesomely with Saul, still blindfolded, entering a cement fortress. The blindfold comes off, his beard looks raggedy. I’ve seen this all before. Haqqani walks in. He’s not dead. Saul’s thanking the heavens, and then Haqqani smacks him across the face with a rifle. Cut to black. *chef’s kiss*

[forestwater87]

Gwenvid Week Day 5

Day 5: Community Appreciation / Favorite AU

To celebrate the amazing Gwenvid community, I took the really fascinating Ghoul AU that @color-theorist (or @color-theorist-art ) created, which has no explicit Gwenvid as of yet, and then somehow accidentally created several pages of momgwen with very little Gwenvid in it. Oops. And probably fucked up the lore. Double oops. Oh well, I hope y’all have fun anyway! :)

It wasn’t anything like Buffy, was the first thing Gwen realized about fighting monsters.

For one thing, it was a lot less fighting -- she wasn’t exactly built for dealing out pain -- and a lot more researching. And not in weathered tomes blanketed with a thick layer of dust with crinkled pages full of secrets. Sure, there was some of that, but ghouls in particular seemed to be a relatively new phenomenon, or were just so uninteresting to the ancients that they didn’t bother writing about them. Mostly it involved trawling internet forums and trying to arrange interviews with the leads who seemed the most promising. Which in itself required a great deal of convincing paranoid heroin addicts that she was neither a ghoul intent on devouring their flesh or a member of the government who would haul them off to Super Guantanamo. All that work, only to have her work dismissed by every publisher she’d recommended it to, and a pointed recommendation by the History Department chair that it would be best for her career at Sleepy Peak Community College if she found another subject to focus her studies on.

“‘It’s really all about the branding,’” she mimicked quietly, shifting her weight in a futile attempt to get comfortable. ”’Just call it “folklore.”’ That’s academically dis-fucking-honest, Mr. Bishop.” Gwen grabbed her bag from where it was dangling off the arm of a marble angel and hauled out a binder and a flashlight. “I’m the only professor under thirty who hasn’t gotten the fuck out of here after three months, Mr. Bishop. This shitty school wouldn’t even have a goddamn newspaper if it wasn’t for me, Mr. Bishop. Fuck, this is cold,” she muttered, glaring down at the polished granite with distaste before sliding down onto the grass, leaning back against the tombstone she’d just climbed off of. “I’m doing important work, here.”

Gwen opened the binder, eyeing the hand-drawn map of the Long Sleep Cemetery and tracing the scraggly line of bright red X’s that marked out fourteen ravaged graves, then flipping to a map of the entire city, which was covered in yellow dates around the church, hospital, and veterinary clinic. She glanced from these to the mausoleum she was staking out, like the ghoul would just appear there if she looked hard enough.

“Come on, asshole,” she said, flopping back against the tombstone and turning off the flashlight. “I know I did this right, so just show up where you’re supposed to.”

It was crazy, she knew all that. Knew her meticulous tracking of local robberies and vandalism looked from the outside like the scribblings of a madwoman fraying her last nerve. It was why she took so much care in repackaging every piece of evidence into a series of respectable, ponderous, academic -- boring, if she was being perfectly honest with herself -- books.

A series of respectable, academic, unpublished books.

Because this was all crazy. Believing in undead monsters that needed to consume the living (or recently-dead) was crazy. Objectively, she was probably rather crazy.

The thing was, she was right.

She just had to find a way to prove it.

“You’re not good at this, are you?”

Gwen jumped at the voice and whipped around, brandishing her flashlight in one hand and her binder in the other -- before she overbalanced and had to drop both, catching herself before she fell flat on her back in the dew-drenched grass. “Whaatherfucke --”

So. Not much like Buffy at all.

Her attacker was thin, stretched out and lanky like a very short Slenderman. As he stepped around the gravestone and moved towards her, his eyes reflected the light from a nearby streetlamp like a cat’s, gleaming out from underneath the dark hoodie that obscured most of his features.

Human eyes don’t glow like that.

She snatched up her flashlight and flicked it back on; she tried not to shine it in his face, but he flinched away from it anyway, hunching his shoulders and shoving his hands into his sweatshirt pocket. The light revealed a narrow brown face that was sickly yellow underneath the eyes and nearly gray in the hollows of his cheekbones. “Kids aren’t supposed to be out after ten pm,” she said, narrowing her eyes. She took in the teenager’s slouchy grace, the way he walked as though every movement was both naturally easy and indescribably exhausting.

“No one’s supposed to be in the graveyard after it closes, but that didn’t stop you,” he replied, slumping against the marble angel and watching her with those unnerving catlike eyes.

She’d found her ghoul.

Gwen drew herself up, standing so she could look down at him. “I have permission,” she lied. “I’m conducting research on the series of grave-robbings in the last few wee --”

“My dad’s a cop with really shitty password protection. You don’t have permission for shit.” He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his hoodie. “You’re one of those nuts who wants to hunt vampires.”

“Ghouls aren’t vampires,” she corrected before she could stop herself, the pedantic need to be right temporarily overpowering her common sense. “Blood is evidently not an essential component of their diet, and -- you know what, this is a stupid conversation and I’m not having it.” She settled back against her tombstone and turned her gaze to the mausoleum her ghoul was supposed to be raiding instead of making snide comments about her profession. “Go get your dead person snack.”

The kid jolted, and she watched his look of horror out of the corner of her eye. “How the fuck --” He shook his head, a shock of floppy black hair escaping the hoodie and falling over one of his eyes. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

She pulled her binder back into her lap with a small grunt of effort. Christ, this thing was getting heavy. “Whoever’s been raiding the cemetery’s been really smart about it,” she said, refusing to look up at him. “Always hits it just as the attention is beginning to die down -- pardon the pun -- and always far enough from the others that the area is totally isolated. But they do it without making it look like a pattern.” She glanced up at him, a little gratified to see him leaning over her map curiously. So this was what validation felt like! “I’d been wondering how they knew when to sneak back in here, but . . . having a dad in the police force might do it, if the cop was dumb enough.” She turned to another section of her notes, an alphabetical list of everyone in the SPPD. “I knew I should’ve paid more attention to their families,” she mumbled, flipping through the officers. “Which of you is the idiot with an undead son?”

“Hey, fuck you!” he snapped, stepping away from the binder and back to the marble angel. “You can’t just go around calling people monsters because they’re wandering around a graveyard. Hell, that makes you sound just as much like one of those things as me.”

Gwen ticked off on her fingers without looking up from the police directory: “Alarmingly thin, glowing eyes, a bit of a nasty undead pallor -- bet people are constantly asking if you’re sick --”

“Again, fuck you.”

“-- and a tricky-but-predictable pattern of raiding cemeteries, morgues, and . . . have you been eating dead animals?” She glanced up at him then with a frown. “I didn’t know ghouls could do that.”

“They can’t,” he muttered, kicking at the grass, “but it was worth a shot.”

She couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pride. This was her first legitimate monster sighting! She wasn’t crazy! “It’s all circumstantial, of course. You never really know if you’ve got a ghoul or just someone with, like, lupus. But the cat-eye thing was a big tip off. Also, you know, hanging out in the cemetery when no one in their right minds would go anywhere near the place.” He looked at her for a long moment, and she cringed. “Yes, fine, I heard it.”

“So you’re like an expert in useless information no one gives a shit about, huh?”

She thought about getting offended, but he was kind of right. At least, a boatload of publishers would agree with him. “Yeah . . .”

He looked back over at the mausoleum thoughtfully, and she couldn’t help but be curious. “Does it taste good when it’s been dead for a while?” she asked. She was sorely tempted to grab her pencil and notebook, but that might scare the kid off. “I’ve read it’s not supposed to be as . . .” Nutritious just felt gross, in this context, so she let the sentence trail off.

He shrugged. “A little bland, but I kinda like it better. Got this weird kind of . . . cheesy aftertaste? Not like I’ve had cheese since I was a kid, but like that really smelly stuff rich people put on everything.”

“That’s pretty disgusting.” She couldn’t quite keep the note of appreciation out of her voice. (She’d always been a sucker for gory movies.) “So what’s with the change?”

“What’re you talking about?”

That was in her other binder. Gwen rustled through her backpack until she found the right one and opened it up to a spread of newspaper clippings. “All the killings. Two this week, three in the last two months. I haven’t put a map together yet --” and god, she already felt tired thinking about it, “-- but they don’t seem to have any sort of pattern. I figure it can’t be you because, well, all my research suggests that if you were eating fresh kills you’d be a lot more . . .” She gestured vaguely at him. “Alive-looking.”

He bared his teeth, and if they were sharper-looking than normal she was almost positive that was just her imagination. “You don’t have a lot of friends, do you?”

She didn’t, but that was beside the point. “So do you know who’s doing this?” she asked, scrambling to her knees and finally giving in to the urge to grab her pen. “Can you tell me? I interned as a police sketch artist, so even if you just describe them I bet I could --”

“You expect me to narc?”

“They’re killing people!”

“Eh, I --”

“Max?”

They were both blinded; squinting past the flashlight, Gwen could barely make out a male figure. The newcomer lowered the light, stepping forward. His eyebrows drew together as he took in the scene: a kid lounging on a tombstone, having a conversation with a woman kneeling in the damp grass surrounded by open books and binders. “What are you doing out here? You know it’s past curfew!”

The ghoul -- Max, it seemed -- rolled his eyes and sighed. “It’s not like you’re gonna arrest me. I just saw this weird lady sneaking into the graveyard and wanted to see what she was doing.”

As surreptitiously as she could, Gwen glanced down at the list of police officers in her lap, comparing the smiling photos to the grim-faced man shaking his head at Max. Officer David E. Greenwood. On the force for about ten years. According to some gossip she’d scribbled in the margin, he’d turned down the opportunity to become a detective a few years ago, holding onto his lower-paying desk job for the sake of his --

His son.

“Miss?” Greenwood waved the flashlight, dragging her attention back to the conversation. “I’m going to need to ask you to leave the --”

“Yeah, fine,” she grumbled, shoving her work back into her bag. “You know, I should get a special pass or something for doing research,” she said, more to herself than to the officer.

He cocked his head to the side, looking for all the world like a big puppy wearing a police badge. “Well, I’m afraid we can’t do anything like that, but I’d be very interested in learning what you’re researching!” He frowned. “Actually, you look familiar . . .”

“I used to be the department intern,” she said with a shrug. She was a little older than Greenwood, so it wasn’t like he’d have been working there to remember --

“Oh, Gwen! Yes, of course I’ve heard all about you!” He took a step forward, like he was about to wrap her up in a hug, before his smile dimmed a bit and he coughed lightly into his fist. “Mr. Campbell speaks very highly of you! He’s been saying he wishes more people would be willing to work for no money, but I’m sure he just meant that you did such a fantastic job! You work at the college now, right? You know, I’ve been meaning to take some classes but I just haven’t had the time --”

“Dad,” Max interrupted, “it’s cold as fuck. Can we just go?”

“Right! Sorry, Max.” He shot his son -- though they really looked nothing alike -- an apologetic grin before turning the smile toward her. “If you’ll just follow me, ma’am. Goodness, isn’t it lovely out here at night? Sometimes I wish . . .”

When they were outside, Max broke through Greenwood’s stream of pleasantries. “Hey, can I talk to her for a second before we go?” When they both shot him a confused, surprised look, he shoved his hands in his hoodie pocket, hunching his shoulders defensively. “What? We were in the middle of a conversation.”

Greenwood hummed thoughtfully, glancing between the two of them. “Well, I suppose there’s no harm. It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Gwen.” He shook her hand enthusiastically.

“You too, officer.”

“Please, call me David!” He winked, then strolled along the outer cemetery wall until he was well out of earshot, his hands clasped behind his back like a military at-ease. Max scuffed his shoe along the asphalt; Gwen had dealt with enough students to know not to push him, so she watched the clouds slide like molasses along the sky and waited.

“You know a lot about this stuff, huh? Like, it’s useless, but you still have a lot of research.” She nodded, watching curiosity wage war with misanthropy across his face. Finally he blurted out, “So can I read some of it sometime? I mean, it’s probably mostly bullshit, but . . .”

She’d given up on carrying copies of her books around with her, on the off chance that someone might be interested if it came up in conversation. “I’m usually on campus at noon,” she said. “Stop by my office. I’ve got a couple things you could borrow.” She fought to keep the eagerness out of her voice, but the thought of her self-bound books actually being read by someone was way too exciting.

Even if that someone was a moody undead kid with the most improbable home life she’d ever heard of.

He nodded, a little awkwardly, and started to walk away before she put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, are you gonna be all right without eating?”

He shrugged. “Isn’t the first time.”

Gwen hesitated. It could get so so fired, but . . . “Listen, I work some nights at the hospital morgue. Just like, processing bodies and stuff.”

“I thought you were a professor.”

She sighed. “Adjunct,” she admitted. “Only part time. Anyway, I can’t always . . . like obviously we’d have to be really careful, and there’s no real good way to . . . but if there’s actual murderous ghouls around you probably shouldn’t be so hungry they’ll kick your ass or something --”

“How did you make offering help come out so insulting?” Max sounded impressed. He glanced over his shoulder at David, then raised one shoulder in a half-shrug. “We’ll work something out, yeah. Beats digging up coffins all night.”

David meandered back in their direction. “Would you like to be walked home, Miss Gwen? It’s not safe to be out alone at this time of night.”

She couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, sure.”

She knew how dangerous it was. Had written hundreds of pages on the subject, in fact.

But it was nice, for the first time in her life, to feel like she’d actually accomplished something useful.

“Dad wants you to come over for dinner again.”

Gwen jumped; Max had an infuriating tendency to just appear in doorways without a sound, usually when she was deep in concentration doing something else. She thought maybe he enjoyed scaring her. “I have class tonight,” she said, taking the book he held out, “but tell him thanks.”

Max slouched into the chair on the other side of her desk, watching her dig through her books for the next one in the series. Over the past few weeks he’d been going through her research, and while his habit of writing corrections or commentary in the margins -- with pen, no less! -- was unbelievably annoying, she was making more progress in two months than she had in years. “Second time this week,” he observed.

It took her a second to realize what he was saying. “Huh? Oh, yeah, I appreciate it. Seriously, make sure you thank him for me.” Dinners with Max and David were a little awkward, mostly because only David seemed to really want to be there, but it certainly beat microwave dinners in front of her computer.

“I think he likes you.”

She made a dismissive noise. “He likes everyone,” she said. In fact, she’d made it a personal goal to hear him say something unkind about somebody. It was unsuccessful so far, but she had faith. She handed him the next book, watching him turn it over in his hands appraisingly with something almost like nervousness. It was one thing to have someone read your life’s work -- it was quite another when the person reading your work was also literally the subject of it.

“So you’re gonna stop by after class, right?”

“I -- no?” Sure, sometimes Gwen did, if she’d forgotten to give Max something or if David’s texts had seemed especially plaintive; she got the sense that his life wasn’t as sunshine-and-rainbows as he tried to make it seem, and watching TV or sitting out on the porch after Max had disappeared into his room wasn’t much of a sacrifice. But it wasn’t a habit or anything. “Maybe I have shit to do.”

He snorted. “No you don’t.”

She didn’t, but she didn’t need to be reminded of the life she didn’t have by an obnoxious kid who literally had no life.

When she didn’t respond he stood up, tucking her book under his arm. “So I’ll tell Dad you’ll be by after class. And I’m gonna be at Neil’s tonight.”

She raised an eyebrow. “So?”

“Ugh, don’t make me say it. It’s fucking gross.”

Gwen watched Max lope out of her office, wondering if he was aware that he’d just told her his father was lonely. And that it worried him.

“For fuck’s sake, just go out already!”

Her pen jerked a scraggly line across the paper, jagged and uneven like the sudden spike in her heart rate. “Why can’t you knock, you shitty excuse for a Halloween monster?” she growled, shoving her notebook aside and glaring up at him.

He set her book on her desk with surprising gentleness for someone who reportedly didn’t care about anything. “First, Dad is so goddamn annoying, and if I have to hear him talk about how ‘sweet that Miss Gwen is, don’t you think so, Max?’ one more time I’m gonna eat him. Second, it’d probably be easier to sneak me food if you were dating, since it’d be less weird for me to hang out with my stepmom.”

“I’m not going to ask David out so it’s easier for you to feed,” she said, bristling at “stepmom.”

“No, you’re gonna do it because you keep staring at him like a creep whenever you think he’s not looking. That’s third, by the way,” he continued, holding up three fingers. “The only thing more annoying than him being all moony and stupid is you being all moony and stupid.”

“That . . .” is not true was on the tip of her tongue, but somehow she just couldn’t bring herself to say it. The problem was, she’d gotten accustomed to spending more evenings a week at the Greenwoods’ house than her own, and had started to find it more comforting. Which didn’t mean that she was interested in David, of course, but she’d been . . . surprised, by him.

By his genuine interest in her, and his support of her research even though it clearly made him uneasy. (Which was fair; “hey I think those murders you’re investigating are undead monsters” was a pretty uncomfortable thing to talk about, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t willing to listen.)

By how he remembered stupid little things, like her favorite foods, and how even when he was thoughtless and absent-minded it never seemed to piss her off the way it should.

By his horrible sense of humor and his worse taste in TV shows. By how his eyelashes were longer than hers, and framed his eyes so prettily. By the freckles she could only see when they were sitting thigh-to-thigh on the couch, or when he pulled her in for a goodnight hug. By --

Well, fuck.

“Everyone I know is a fucking idiot,” Max groaned, tugging her out of her heart-attack-inciting epiphany. He ran his hands through his hair -- glossy and sleek because he’d eaten last night; everything about him was glowing and lively compared to usual, making him look almost human -- and stood. “Don’t even bother getting me the next book. You can drop it off with Dad tonight.”

“But he didn’t invite me to dinn --” She cut herself off at the look of pure exasperation he gave her, one that implied he couldn’t even deign that with a response.

“Fucking idiots,” he muttered, slipping out of her office.

“Okay, I know I basically made this happen because you’re both too dumb to function, but I’m hating every second of this. I take it all back.”

David practically leapt out of Gwen’s chair, almost knocking her out of his lap and face-first into a concussion courtesy of the corner of her desk. “M-Max! What are you doing here?!”

She just sighed, adjusting her position so she wasn’t in danger of falling and brushing her hair out of her eyes. “He does this.”

“I’m a student, Dad. I belong here.” He held up the binder -- Gwen’s most recent book in the making -- with a sharp, sarcastic grin. He was looking a little gray and drawn, and she made a mental note to grab him some intestines or something that wouldn’t be missed at work that night. When he was looking sick like this, his inhumanness stood out in stark relief, like the crisp lines of his teeth that were too big and too pointy for his supposedly-human mouth.

“In high school! Why aren’t you in class?”

He shrugged. “Lunch break,” he said. Gwen and David exchanged a look, because neither of them knew if that was true. It’d been a while since either of them had been students, after all. Dropping the binder on Gwen’s desk, he retreated to the door like he was afraid to coming too close to them. “What’re you doing here, anyway?”

“Um . . . lunch break,” David replied weakly, his face flushing.

Gwen picked up a stress ball and lightly tossed it at Max’s head. “Get out of here, you little shit.”

“I hate you both. See you at dinner,” he said casually, ducking out of the office and letting the door bang shut behind him.

David sighed, shaking his head. “Do you think he looks sick, Gwen? I’m worried he’s coming down with something.”

She winced. “Probably a 24-hour bug. Bet he’ll be fine tomorrow,” she said, ducking her face into the crook of his neck and kissing behind his ear. Sometimes she couldn’t fathom how someone who knew about ghouls could miss the fact that his own son was one.

But then again, David wasn’t an academic, and he certainly wasn’t trained in this kind of thing. And he had a tendency to ignore red flags when it came to people he cared about.

It was one of the things she loved most about him.

[thesinglesjukebox]

ARIANA GRANDE FT. NICKI MINAJ - THE LIGHT IS COMING

[6.36]

It's Ariana Gran-Day! Starting off with this Nicki duet, containing an unexpected sample...

Rebecca A. Gowns: The sample is fascinating. It reminds me of the baby coo in "Are You That Somebody"; a non-musical sound transformed into a musical refrain, then multiplied so often it becomes the beat itself. And seemingly not connected to the actual content of the song... or is it? Like, is "Are You That Somebody" really about making babies? (Not just euphemistically, but about conception itself?) And is this song really an anti-establishment taunt? (Not just the music industry, but the clowns in Congress, if you will?) Well, who the hell knows. The music here is so much more fascinating than the lyrical content; the man yells about not being interrupted between stringent beep-bop-boop sounds crossing over from Dan Deacon territory. Honestly, it's reminiscent of a certain other pop/rap song that could also be called equal turns annoying, political, and just plain fun. And like that song, I like it even when it starts to grate. Maybe even because it's grating -- like, thank God established pop artists take risks like this sometimes. [8]

Katherine St Asaph: Gather around, folks, for a recent history lesson! The man sampled all over "The Light Is Coming," Craig Miller, was part of a Tea Party-organized, "almost entirely white and irritable" crowd protesting an 2009 Arlen Specter town hall in soon-to-flip-red Pennsylvania. The protest was against Obamacare, but it devolved almost immediately into more general right-wing bullshit. You can watch the whole thing on C-SPAN, if you're short on despair. Lowlights include: "What about this Guantanamo closure? ... The [mispronounced] Koar-ann says that all unbelievers shall be executed, killed. That's why I cannot support Islam." "He's right." (43:56); cheering at "we can take the non-U.S. citizens and give them an airplane ticket and ship them back" (38:47); even louder cheering at "the illegals, they shouldn't even be here" (18:34), and, toward the end (1:13:13), a familiar refrain: "The people in this room want their country back." One of them felt the need to clarify that she didn't have "any Nazi symbols with [her]" (7:45), perhaps because the previous day, in Georgia, someone painted a swastika outside Democratic representative David Scott's office after his town hall. Do I think Pharrell -- who also sampled Specter's own remarks in "Lemon" -- is maliciously sneaking far-right propaganda into our children's pop music? No, of course not. Maybe he just thought it sounded cool. But including a sample this obscure, this prominently, must have some point, and choosing one so politically charged brings in connotations -- connotations that just don't play nice with the light/darkness/taking-back/theft imagery and taunting delivery of "the light is coming to give back everything the darkness stole." It doesn't help that the Manchester bombing, which every Sweetener interview unavoidably alludes to, was quickly exploited by the far right. It also doesn't help that Grande's verses don't rebut but echo Miller, targeting someone who's a "know-it-all" (see other protesters' gripes about "elitists" and a bill written above "junior high school" language), who's irrational and doesn't listen, who's "tellin' everyone, stay woke" -- sides clearly assigned. The beat is great, the most inventive and sinuous Pharrell's sounded in years, but it's wasted on -- what, exactly? Both-sidesing? A Producers-esque attempt to squash innovation in pop with a bizarre sample set up to fail? Or inadvertently (I hope) something more reactionary than anything Taylor Swift's ever released? It could be worse. The track's a "Sleazy"/"Dark Horse"/"Jewels 'n' Drugs" urban crossover attempt, for which Grande's team "auditioned eight rappers," one of whom may have been much-streamed XXXTentacion. Nicki's winning verse, self-promotion and fuckboy dissing written remotely, doesn't engage with the song at all, which is probably for the best. As for fan consensus? Seems to be: "Will that old guy please STFU?" [2]

Vikram Joseph: Ladies and gentlemen, 2018's most bizarre sampling decision! I've read the context behind the "You wouldn't let anybody speak, and instead..." quote, and it still makes minimal sense to loop it continuously behind what's otherwise a seductive, abrasive, very N.E.R.D. throb of a beat. Thematically, it seems to be an attempt to take down condescension and echo-chamber complacency in debate ("if it ain't your view, that's the bottom line"); this is ambitious, and only occasionally hits the mark, too often stumbling into jumbled nonsense such as "give you a box of chances, every time you blow it all". Nicki Minaj, meanwhile, is relegated to a brief, off-topic turn in the intro. And all the while, that shouty man keeps shouting (and, god, I really can't emphasise enough what a strange choice of sample this is). Good Beat, B.A.A.D. Decisions. [5]

Tobi Tella: I mean, you don't know how HARD I tried to like this. Coming off their three amazing previous collaborations, this should've been great. But there's so much about this I don't like: the repetitive chorus, the weird way she sings so you can't actually understand a word she's saying, the sample of a conservative yelling? It's all just off-putting and irritating to me. Nicki gets in the best line of the song with "Yo Ariana come let give you a high five", but even her solid verse can't save the trainwreck around her. [3]

Abdullah Siddiqui: Little about this track is normal for a Top 40 single. And I find that very refreshing. The hook is effective, in that it hasn't left the back of my mind in weeks. The instrumental is beautifully minimalistic; the drum sequence at the start reminds me of Björk's "Heirloom". I love when the track kicks into double time. Minaj delivers a few solid bars at the top. Grande doesn't rely too much on her vocal tricks for this one, and it works to the song's benefit. The track is not without its flaws, however. It feels somewhat structurally underdeveloped. The "you wouldn't let anybody speak" is a bit overused, and it feels particularly misplaced during the verses. But these flaws are not by any means fatal. This is definitely one of Grande's most adventurous releases, and I'd go so far as to say, one of her best. [8]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Aside from Nicki Minaj, whose tacked-on verse sounds less like its own contribution and more like another mandatory installment in the "Chun-Li" cinematic universe, all the many moving parts here end up making a lot of sense. Ariana's vocal performance darts between the little open spaces of Pharrell's beat, expanding and contracting as he brings in bizarro-bounce elements (including a sample from an anti-Obamacare town hall, of all things.) It's almost interesting enough as a pure physical feat, the way she moves from taunting cadences to breathy whispers to damn-near belting on a second's notice, but fortunately there's a good enough song as scaffolding around her too, one that provides enough structure to support "the light is coming" in its pursuit of weird pop glory. [7]

Alex Clifton: Ariana seems to be reinventing pop this year; the work off of Sweetener so far is the most eclectic stuff I've heard on the charts in quite some time. Where "No Tears Left to Cry" refused to resolve in any particular tonality (major or minor? why not both!), "The Light Is Coming" stutters and glitches with a sample of an irate citizen from hearings over Obamacare paired with video game beeps and boops. On paper, it shouldn't work, and it doesn't overwhelm me the way that all of Ariana's best tracks have in the past. But in practice it ends up sounding like a dystopian dance song/spoken word poem, which in 2018 feels like a real mood. Ariana and Nicki work well together as always although once Nicki's initial verse is gone she's out of the song for good; she could've come back pretty easily, and that would've made for some nice vocal interplay. But the more I hear of Ariana's music the more I keep wanting to hear, even when it misses the mark. It's been a while since I've seen a Pop Diva experiment so boldly away from her typical formula, and I'm revelling in every moment of it. [6]

Ashley John: The dismembered corpses of pure pop hooks and Pennsylvania politics roughly stitched together with a Pharrell beat is as close to a summary of Me as a song can get, so I'm partial to and suspicious of it right away. "The Light is Coming" should feel gimmicky, like Ariana is rushing in a rebellious phase, but instead it hits closer to a teaser--of what I am not sure. A Lorde song without the specificity or the groove, a Gwen Stefani track without the whimsy, and in those places just a hollow, trembling core. The track feels like it could collapse in on itself at any point, and actually, how fitting for a chorus of chanted, demanded optimism. [7]

Alfred Soto: A gesture -- an attempt to coalesce Pharrellistic effects around a would-be aphorism. One of the effects is Nicki Minaj. [6]

Thomas Inskeep: The beat, the slightly off-kilter rhythm was nagging at me, and then once I looked up the credits it made sense: it's Pharrell. And what he's brought for Ariana here is Trio's "Da Da Da" cut with Hot Butter's 1972 smash "Popcorn"! And then, on top of that, Minaj drops a solid opening 12 bars before Grande cuts loose with a message of positivity -- the chorus is "the light is coming to give back everything the darkness stole" -- that's obviously another reference to Manchester. And it works. I hope this hits on radio, because it'll sound glaringly different, and radio needs more of that right now. [7]

Will Rivitz: Man, Pharrell can't miss, can he? No one quite does the minimal beat like he does, and the versatility of his productions -- fitting everyone from Clipse to Ed Sheeran -- is on full display here, addictive vocal sample and all. Of course, it helps that everything else clicks, too: Ariana's finally embracing her "sardonic" side in her music, Nicki's verse is serviceable and appropriate if not particularly memorable, and the eerie nonchalance of the chorus perfectly encapsulates the song's uncanny ambience. Dangerous Woman is one of the best pop albums of the decade, and if Grande's current singles are any indication, Sweetener could be even better. [9]

Stephen Eisermann: Pharrell's production has been a bit shaky lately, but here his experimentation works. Nicki gives a perfectly serviceable verse to Pharrell's noisy beat, but it's Ariana's commitment and sass that elevates the track. To take on a track this playful, you need an artist who is willing and able to dance along to the track and Ariana is no slacker; even if the song is a bit weird thematically, sonically it's a gem and I'll be dancing along all summer. [7]

Maxwell Cavaseno: The unlikely world where I can imagine if Ariana thought the kind of music that came out of Ghostly International at the start of the decade would be the perfect sort of music to top the charts. Nevertheless, she's utterly at home, crooning and yammering through the strange pinball playground of her design, and to make the retrofitting all the more complete, you have Nicki doing her best to remember when she last sounded interesting... way back at the dawn of the decade. [7]

Pedro João Santos: It's a idiosyncratic mix of atypical vocal restraint by Ariana, boundless structure and glitchy, angular production courtesy of Pharrell. The verses are amorphous and abstract; Nicki makes a perfunctory but reliable appearance; the circular hook is repeated ad infinitum. Somehow, it all amounts to moderate success, after the brilliant "No Tears Left to Cry", even despite the appalling sample, which might serve for texture, but not much else. At least, it led to interview gold: "Is Ariana Grande a Christian?", the man whose voice was sampled, unbeknownst to him, asks an MTV reporter; his wife Karen sensibly replies: "Craig, I think she's more like Madonna." [7]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[aion-rsa]

Hulu New Releases: November 2020

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

All streaming services go through a down period after the excitement of Spooky Season, it’s only natural. Thankfully with its list of new releases for November 2020, Hulu is making the best out of a barren pop culture landscape.

For starters, Hulu is premiering one of its major 2020 reboots this month as Animaniacs arrives on Nov. 20. Yakko, Wakko, Dot, and the rest of the Warner gang are set to return for this long-awaited revival of the animated classic. That’s about it as far as original series go but Hulu is also premiering original movies Greta, about climate activist Greta Thunberg on Nov. 13; and Run, a horror film starring Sarah Paulson, on Nov. 20.

Still, despite all the Animaniacs, Gretas, and Sarah Paulsons, the biggest hits this month might just be on the library content side of things. November 1 sees the arrival of some major TV properties. For starters, racy British teen show Skins will be made available in its entirety on the first of the month. So too will Rick and Morty season 4 arrive on that date. And those hits will be followed by Killing Eve season 3 on Nov. 6.

If there ever were a time to do some serious streaming, it’s November 2020 on Hulu.

Hulu New Releases – November 2020

November 1

Ayesha’s Home Kitchen: Complete Seasons 1 & 2 (Food Network)

Best Baker in America: Complete Seasons 1 & 2 (Food Network)

Christmas Cookie Challenge: Complete Season 1 (Food Network)

Flip or Flop Fort Worth: Complete Season 1 (HGTV)

Giada’s Holiday Handbook: Complete Seasons 1 – 4 (Food Network)

Holiday Baking Championship: Complete Seasons 1 – 5 (Food Network)

Holiday Gingerbread Showdown: Complete Season 1 (Food Network)

Kids Halloween Baking Championship: Special (Food Network)

Macy’s Thanksgiving Cake Spectacular: Special (Food Network)

Malaysia Kitchen: Special (Cooking Channel)

Rick & Morty: Complete Season 4 (Adult Swim)

Skins: Complete Series (All3Media)

Tia Mowry at Home: Complete Seasons 1 – 3 (Cooking Channel)

Ultimate Thanksgiving Challenge: Complete Season 1 (Food Network)

12 Rounds (2009)

3 Ninjas (1992)

A Christmas Solo (2017)

A Nanny For Christmas (2010)

A View to a Kill (1985)

Alien Nation (1988)

Antwone Fisher (2002)

Article 99 (1992)

Beerfest (2006)

Big Daddy (1999)

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The Bourne Identity (2002)

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Breathless (1983)

Bringing Down The House (2003)

Broadcast News (1987)

Children Of The Corn (2009)

Christmas In Compton (2012)

Christmas In Vermont (2016)

Christmas on Holly Lane (2018)

The Christmas Tale (2005)

Crimson Tide (1995)

Dead Presidents (1995)

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

The Dog Who Saved Christmas (2009)

The Expendables (2010)

The Expendables 2 (2012)

The Expendables 3 (2014)

Firewalker (1986)

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Foxfire (1996)

From Russia with Love (1964)

Fun in Acapulco (1963)

The Horse Whisperer (1998)

Hud (1963)

I Heart Huckabees (2003)

I Spy (2002)

Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

Jumping The Broom (2011)

The Kingdom Of Heaven (2005)

Kiss The Girls (1997)

Knocked Up (2007)

The Last Waltz (1978)

License to Kill (1989)

Little Giants (1994)

Live and Let Die (1973)

The Living Daylights (1987)

Lord Of War (2005)

Lost In Space (1998)

Love Hurts (1990)

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

Maverick (1994)

Moonraker (1979)

Mr. Majestyk (1974)

Much Ado About Nothing (1993)

The Net (1995)

Next Day Air (2009)

Octopussy (1983)

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

Once Upon A Time At Christmas (2017)

Pacific Heights (1990)

Paws P.I. (2018)

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2009)

Platoon (1986)

The Prestige (2006)

Ronin (1998)

School Dance (2014)

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Spy Next Door (2010)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (2007)

The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

Thunderball (1965)

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Universal Soldier (1992)

W. (2008)

Wanted (2008)

The Waterboy (1998)

Wetlands (2019)

Wild Hogs (2007)

Wild Things (1998)

Working Girl (198)

The World is Not Enough (1999)

You Only Live Twice (1967)

November 3

The Good Doctor: Season 4 Premiere (ABC)

The Real Housewives of Atlanta: Complete Season 12 (Bravo)

General Commander (2019)

The Assault (2019)

November 4

Blue Story (2020)

November 5

Braking for Whales (2020)

November 6      

Killing Eve: Complete Season 3 (BBC America)

The Real Housewives of New Jersey: Complete Season 10 (Bravo)

November 9      

The Mighty Ones: Complete Season 1 (Hulu Original)

Power: Season 6A (Starz)

The Nice Guys (2016)

November 10      

A Teacher: Limited Series (FX on Hulu)

Vik the Viking (2020)

November 11    

Eater’s Guide to the World: Complete Season 1 (Hulu Original)

The Girl Next Door (2005)

Tonight You’re Mine (2012)

November 12      

Chicago Fire: Season 9 Premiere (NBC)

Chicago Med: Season 6 Premiere (NBC)

Chicago P.D.: Season 8 Premiere (NBC)

Man who Invented Christmas (2017)

November 13     

I Am Greta: Film Premiere (Hulu Original)

Grey’s Anatomy: Season 17 Premiere (ABC)

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Season 22 Premiere (NBC)

Station 19: Season 4 Premiere (ABC)

Sputnik (2020)      

November 14      

The Dictator (2012)

November 15      

12 Pups of Christmas (2019)

A Christmas Movie Christmas (2019)

A Nice Girl Like You (2020)

Cartel Land (2015)

Christmas Crush (2019)

November 16      

Seven Stages to Achieve Eternal Bliss (2018)

November 17      

Soul Surfer (2011)

November 18      

No Man’s Land: Complete Season 1 (Hulu Original)

Big Sky: Series Premiere (ABC)

Body Cam (2020)

McQueen (2018)

November 19      

For Life: Season 2 Premiere (ABC)

Amulet (2020)

November 20

Animaniacs: Complete Season 1 (Hulu Original)

Run: Film Premiere (Hulu Original) 

A Million Little Things: Season 3 Premiere (ABC)

Tesla (2020) 

November 21

Burden of Truth: Complete Season 3 (eOne)

November 24

Black Narcissus: Series Premiere (FX)

My Hero Academia: Season 4, Episodes 77-88 (DUBBED) (Funimation)

November 26

Bombshell (2019)

November 27

Centigrade (2020)

November 29

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The Big Ugly (2020)

Leaving Hulu

November 30

Absolute Power (1997)

Anywhere But Here (1999)

Bad Girls from Mars (1991)

The Bank Job (2008)

Because I Said So (2007)

Blade (1998)

Blade 2 (2002)

Broken Lizard’s Club Dread (2004)

Call Me (1988)

Casino Royale (2006)

The Cold Light Of Day (2012)

Company Business (1991)

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

Deep Blue Sea (1999)

Demolition Man (1993)

Evil Dead II (1987)

Extreme Justice (1993)

Fallen (1998)

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)

Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (2004)

The Hurt Locker (2009)

Jessabelle (2014)

Julia (1977)

Killers (2010)

The Last Boy Scout (1991)

Notorious (2009)

The Omen (2006)

Outbreak (1995)

Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

Quantum of Solace (2008)

Reasonable Doubt (2014)

Religulous (2008)

Snakes On A Plane (2006)

Stanley & Iris (1990)

Tyler Perry’S Daddy’S Little Girls (2007)

Up in the Air (2009)

The Weight of Water (2002)

The Woods (2006)

You Don’t Mess With The Zohan (2008)

The post Hulu New Releases: November 2020 appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3j2qpdb

[danneel-ackles-love]

aloiciousmcnastyackles:

Bombshell Danneel Harris is Fired Up about her role in her latest flick. Whether she’s playing fiery, Rachel, from the hit CW show “One Tree Hill,” or Kumar’s love interest in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, one thing’s for sure, this red-headed beauty has never forgotten her roots—cheer roots, that is. Take a peek into Danneel’s past and find out what it was like to cheer in the South and why you should go see her new movie, Fired Up in theaters now. AC: So, before you played one on TV, you were a cheerleader in real life. When did you pick up your first poms? Danneel: I began cheering in eighth grade on the JV squad at St. Edmund HS in Eunice, LA, and then transferred to Eunice HS, where I cheered on the JV and varsity squads. But I knew I wanted to be a cheerleader my first day of kindergarten! My elementary school was connected to the main high school, so I could see the older girls practicing in the field right outside my classroom window. The love affair was instant! Several of the girls and I formed a squad and would practice every day at recess over the next couple of years. If memory serves, I believe we were instructed by our fearless 6-year-old leader, Kyra Martel. She was elected captain of our group due solely to the fact that her older sister was a “real cheerleader.” But truth be told, I believe my mother was dressing me up like a cheerleader before I could walk. AC: What was your position on the team? What were you known for? Danneel: My position on every squad was as a base. Our squads were all-girl, so if you happened to be over 5-foot-2-inches, which I was, you were automatically a base. I guess I was best known for my really loud cheering and all-around spastic behavior on the field. AC: Any cheer memories you can share with us? Danneel: I loved cheering at football games the most. Although, now that I think about it, basketball games were pretty fun, as well. They had the added element of danger…We only had a tiny space along the back of the court to cheer on and were constantly dodging both the ball and the boys. AC: So how did cheer influence your career choices? Danneel: I owe a major part of my career to cheerleading. I used my knowledge of the sport in my portrayal of Rachel Gatina on “One Tree Hill.” Rachel’s first appearance on the show was actually at cheerleading tryouts. I was definitely drawn to the character, because like me, she changed schools midway through and joined a brand-new squad. However, the similarities end there, I assure you. I didn’t drive limos off bridges or steal boyfriends as a hobby. And then in Fired Up, we had to learn several routines for the film, and my knowledge of the basics allowed me to spend more time on the complicated dance moves. AC: Tell us a little about your character in Fired Up. Danneel: I play an average high school girl named Bianca. Like most cheerleaders, she’s concerned about fitting in, shopping, relationships and coming in first at the cheer camp competition. AC: What drew you to this particular role? Danneel: I often play the antagonist role, and while that’s fun, I was up for a change. Bianca is a sweet girl who’s a loyal member of the underdog squad. I thought it would be fun to be on the good guys side for once—and I was right. AC: What was it like working with so many cheerleaders on this set? Danneel: Fired Up was such a blast to be a part of, it was hard to consider it work. We supported each other throughout the filming, and I made a couple of lifelong friends—it was as real as any squad I’ve ever been on. 5 REASONS YOU SHOULD GO SEE FIRED UP NOW: By Danneel Harris 1. Because it’s about cheerleading, duh! 2. It’s pee-in-your-bloomers funny. 3. There are cute boys in it. 4. Your boyfriend will love it—just tell him Molly Sims is in it. 5. It’s got heart and a great ending.

[Danneelfans lj]

aloiciousmcnastyackles:

Bombshell Danneel Harris is Fired Up about her role in her latest flick. Whether she’s playing fiery, Rachel, from the hit CW show “One Tree Hill,” or Kumar’s love interest in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, one thing’s for sure, this red-headed beauty has never forgotten her roots—cheer roots, that is. Take a peek into Danneel’s past and find out what it was like to cheer in the South and why you should go see her new movie, Fired Up in theaters now. AC: So, before you played one on TV, you were a cheerleader in real life. When did you pick up your first poms? Danneel: I began cheering in eighth grade on the JV squad at St. Edmund HS in Eunice, LA, and then transferred to Eunice HS, where I cheered on the JV and varsity squads. But I knew I wanted to be a cheerleader my first day of kindergarten! My elementary school was connected to the main high school, so I could see the older girls practicing in the field right outside my classroom window. The love affair was instant! Several of the girls and I formed a squad and would practice every day at recess over the next couple of years. If memory serves, I believe we were instructed by our fearless 6-year-old leader, Kyra Martel. She was elected captain of our group due solely to the fact that her older sister was a “real cheerleader.” But truth be told, I believe my mother was dressing me up like a cheerleader before I could walk. AC: What was your position on the team? What were you known for? Danneel: My position on every squad was as a base. Our squads were all-girl, so if you happened to be over 5-foot-2-inches, which I was, you were automatically a base. I guess I was best known for my really loud cheering and all-around spastic behavior on the field. AC: Any cheer memories you can share with us? Danneel: I loved cheering at football games the most. Although, now that I think about it, basketball games were pretty fun, as well. They had the added element of danger…We only had a tiny space along the back of the court to cheer on and were constantly dodging both the ball and the boys. AC: So how did cheer influence your career choices? Danneel: I owe a major part of my career to cheerleading. I used my knowledge of the sport in my portrayal of Rachel Gatina on “One Tree Hill.” Rachel’s first appearance on the show was actually at cheerleading tryouts. I was definitely drawn to the character, because like me, she changed schools midway through and joined a brand-new squad. However, the similarities end there, I assure you. I didn’t drive limos off bridges or steal boyfriends as a hobby. And then in Fired Up, we had to learn several routines for the film, and my knowledge of the basics allowed me to spend more time on the complicated dance moves. AC: Tell us a little about your character in Fired Up. Danneel: I play an average high school girl named Bianca. Like most cheerleaders, she’s concerned about fitting in, shopping, relationships and coming in first at the cheer camp competition. AC: What drew you to this particular role? Danneel: I often play the antagonist role, and while that’s fun, I was up for a change. Bianca is a sweet girl who’s a loyal member of the underdog squad. I thought it would be fun to be on the good guys side for once—and I was right. AC: What was it like working with so many cheerleaders on this set? Danneel: Fired Up was such a blast to be a part of, it was hard to consider it work. We supported each other throughout the filming, and I made a couple of lifelong friends—it was as real as any squad I’ve ever been on. 5 REASONS YOU SHOULD GO SEE FIRED UP NOW: By Danneel Harris 1. Because it’s about cheerleading, duh! 2. It’s pee-in-your-bloomers funny. 3. There are cute boys in it. 4. Your boyfriend will love it—just tell him Molly Sims is in it. 5. It’s got heart and a great ending.

[Danneelfans lj]

[overwatchneedsyou]

Hello and how are you? I LOVE (I LITERALLY CANNOT EXPRESS HOW MUCH) your baby headcannons and was wondering if you can do them for Reinhardt and Genji? Please and thank you!

~I’ve done just about everyone with this head canon. I went a little overboard with these two.

Reinhardt

Their first word was Hund, which means dog. Reinhardt had been pushing them in a stroller down the street and they’d past a shelter. Long story short, they left with not one dog but three. 

Overprotective Dad af. Everything in the house is baby proofed to hell. It takes him five minutes, a prayer, and the jaws of life just to open the fridge. It’s Guantanamo Bay and no one is escaping. God help him once the baby learns how to escape their crib. That was an adventure. 

The baby is just as affection as their father. They liked hugs and kisses from just about anyone. Reinhardt wasn’t allowed to leave the base until the kid had given literally everyone at least one hug or they’d be mopey about it all day. There was one time where they had to leave without Junkrat getting his hug. Junkrat and the kid were not happy. 

A really hyperactive kid. They yelled and screamed all throughout the house. Reinhardt was constantly behind them every step of the way to make sure they didn’t hurt themselves or someone else because they were strong. They once ripped the leg off a chair with their bare hands and Reinhardt just watched on, amazed, upset, and impressed. He could only blame himself. Still, he wouldn’t change them for the world. 

As a toddler, they loved riding on Reinhardt’s shoulders. In fact, they loved being high up in general. As they got older, they climbed on the roof and in trees if Reinhardt wasn’t watching carefully enough. He almost had a heart attack the first time they fell out of a tree. He wouldn’t stop crying until Angela told him they were okay. 

The kid found one of Reinhardt’s old hammers in a closet and started playing with it one day. They learned a bunch of tricks from watching their father train on the base. When they got old enough and strong enough, they pulled Reinhardt aside and showed him what they learned. He saw himself in them as they swung the hammer and they hadn’t even gotten halfway through their moves before he burst into tears. He loves them and they make him more proud every day. 

Genji

Their first word was in English. Hanzo had been holding them while Genji did something in another room. He’d told the baby how much he loved them and how much he wouldn’t fail them like he had Genji and the baby reached up and said “Love” (though it sounded more like ‘wuv’) while touching his face. Genji came into the room to find his brother crying while the baby just kept repeating it. He took a picture. 

As a baby they were clingy. They were either in Genji’s lap, Hanzo’s lap, or floating around in Zenyatta’s lap. Genji loved to cuddle with them and sleep with them on his chest. He could feel their little heartbeat against his. 

His kid actually helped him get rid of what little insecurities about his body he had left. He always perked up when his kid bragged about how their daddy was a cyborg ninja. They wanted to be just like him when they got older and he couldn’t even express how much that made him happy. 

The Fun Dad™ Is there a new internet trend? He knows about it. Is there a party coming up that his kid wants to go to? He’s okay with it if they’re safe. There will be no daddy issues in this household. He’s got everything on lock. This kid will know they’re loved or he’ll die trying to prove it to them. 

Genji knows that’s he’s getting his payback when the kid hits their teen years. I’m talking Angst™, I’m talking Teenage Rebellion™. The first time the kid dyes their hair some wild color, he sulks for 20 minutes while Hanzo has to go into another room to laugh.

The first time the kid released their dragon was a complete accident that destroyed a tree in their front yard. They thought Genji would be upset about it but he just couldn’t stop hugging them as the grass caught fire. 

(Requests are open!!)

[the-firebird69]

Watch "He feels the force #monaco #lifestyle #luxury #money #rich #style #supercars" on YouTube

It's really overdone and we're taking losses cuz we keep on entertaining this piece of crap next door and I have to write it out because people keep on doing it he's a f****** huge s*** head to us too and pisses us off all the time I want him out of the way you see his plan and that's one of them it makes sense here is beating him severely beating him and everything he's taking him down he's ripping his stuff out of him taking his money which is ours taking businesses over which were ours I was just sitting here laughing at him because we're still cold stupid I want you to get off your asses and stop Trump and leave him alone what are you saying is you guys don't have nothing huh you just want me to take all this s*** from this guy completely take everything every stupid thing he dishes out I'm afraid that he's dumber than a f****** box of empty crackers doesn't understand what's happening to him everybody around everybody there knows what's happening to the piece of s*** so I hear that he's over there doing that and they're telling him off and they're saying you this happy f****** piece of s*** getting rid of your stuff and making fun of him and we don't know what you look like he says it's a Greek hero is a f****** moron it is a Greek hero and is a moron it's like euripides or something it's like ripping them I mean he's a little f**** and I don't care to drive a car that I can get killed in and I'm the one who invented all the stupid s*** that he's showing you and everybody knows it but that's stupid s*** in front of you. So he went ahead and he was telling them he went ahead and said I don't think he's telling you the truth you said you're a liar and a piece of s*** and you're not going to let you near him we could get rid of you and they start mobilizing people and the reason is quite obvious he's sitting there harassing him and harassing him and harassing him and it's illegal to do but it's wrong mathematically we get him to Guantanamo Bay he takes most of himself out and that's this guy Trump in this video that's his fate he's going to die because he's a loser and I don't care at all I have to get rid of him but wow talk about rubbing it in and he was doing things for reasons but really it helped you take the steering wheel with you it has the ignition it's very hard to start without it cuz the way it's wired and he did that he knows about it and you'd have to be a genius it's like a device it's got like eight wires or 10 wires and you can't connect them in any any which way and the hand thing is his stuff there's just a lot of things that he did now it's going back to a key because it's such a pain in the ass and you have a key cover and you have keys that are hard to replicate it came up with that idea too you know I could do with cameras but with these you can't no I'm thankful for all these things that make a little less nervous but this guy is trying to make up for it all he's trying to blame him that's why he's showing the stuff to him and he went ahead and said it he said that stuff turned out to be detrimental if you do about robotics so computers apparently you don't and it's the key that works now and you use those keys so you start dumping on them all day long I said I don't want you going in the format of whatever the f*** you think you're going in you're calling yourself by name so I have to do stuff to you like electrocute you a lot and he said that to him and we heard a story but we don't know if it's true no he got hit by a lightning ball and fried a bolt and I don't want to hear from this stupid s*** next door at all we're going to take him down

Mac

[dandelion-san]

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Fandom: Yuri on Ice tags: humor, friendship, alternate universe, implied murder summary: While disposing of a corpse, an alien crashlands into Yuuri. (or the one where Yuuri is an assassin, Phichit is an alien and now his roommate, and Victor is the very ordinary bartender who is in love with Yuuri and is also his neighbor) notes: how many genres and tropes can I fit into one series? Answer: a lot. (warning for probable job inaccuracies?) 

–

Yuuri is just taking a break from dragging the two hundred pound corpse from his car to the woods when the world suddenly turns bright and a high-pitched ringing sound makes itself known. He covers his ears by reflex and quickly squeezes his eyes shut, taken so off-guard that he is half-delirious in both pain and panic.

But as soon as it came, the ringing stops and the light seems to fade away from behind his closed eyelids.

Before he can tentatively open them, something heavy crashes into his body and sends him to the ground.

“OW,” says a young voice.

Yuuri’s eyes snaps open. He blinks rapidly at first, clearing away blurriness and the black spots appearing in his vison, but the first thing he sees is the starry sky.

…Actually no.

The first thing he sees is smoke and fumes coming out of a very large saucer-shaped ship that is currently crashed into some trees just up ahead. That – that is – something with a size of that magnitude – how could he have missed – what?

No, seriously. What?

Very slowly, he turns his head.

There is a boy who looks just a little younger than Yuuri himself (NOT AN ALIEN, his brain says in Denial) lying next to him, eyes closed, curled up in fetal position and rubbing a bump on his head. His hair is in a funny bowl-cut that is currently sticking out with leaves and sticks and there’s dirt on his face. There are two antennas sticking out from his hair that is curling and uncurling (NOPE, his brain continues to say). Obviously a physical deformation, of course. Obviously.

Yuuri swallows thickly.

The boy opens his eyes finally, dark brown mirroring Yuuri’s own. The boy blinks, a reflection of his previous actions.

The boy grins sheepishly. “WHAT’S UP, DUDE,” he says. “I COME IN PEACE. THERE IS NO NEED TO TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER.” He sticks his hand out in an oddly familiar gesture, palms flat with his ring and pinky sticking together and out from the others to make a ‘V’.

Yuuri, eyes wide, asks, “Can you, please, not shout?”

“SORRY,” the boy says. Then, “sorry. Is this better?” He gains a look of satisfaction at Yuuri’s whimper and then starts stretching his limbs out. “Wow, this is great! What a lucky night it is for me!” He laughs loudly and then rolls over to his other side, startling when he nudges the target’s body. “Hm, and what about you? Sorry about the landing, dude. Didn’t mean to land on top of you two. My name’s Phichit, by the way.”

Yuuri stares at the sky, refusing to look at the giant, smoking ship, or the Not-Alien talking to the corpse of his last target.

“Not a talkative one, are ya?” Then the boy pauses.

It is a long pause.

  “Oh my dear stars, I killed an Earthling!”

–

Yuuri has never had a conversation on this end before so he’s quite a bit out of his depth. But he’s trying his best, repeating what Mari used to do for him during his crying-sessions, and he’s not doing too badly if he does say so himself.

“Come on now, just breathe,” he says in a croon, rubbing the Not-Alien’s back. They are currently sitting upright together while the boy has his knees up and currently sobbing into them. He is so distraught that everything about him looks like it’s drooping, like his antennas which are hanging low over his ears like a sad puppy. “Yup, there you go. Just let it all out. You’re doing so well, buddy.” The tears are glowing a bright blue. Yuuri refuses to acknowledge this.

Phichit says, hysterically, “I’m so – sooo sorry, I didn’t mean to k-k-kill your friieeeend.” He can barely even get the sentence out and wails out the last word.

“No, no, no you didn’t!” Yuuri is quick to reassure him. “See, he was already dead. And he wasn’t my friend,” he adds.

The tears are actually starting to stain his shirt. Not that it is glowing, or anything.

Yuuri gently tilts Phichit’s head up with one hand. “It wasn’t your fault, I promise. Okay?” He gently pats his head with his other. “There you go. Shh, shhhh.” Thankfully, Phichit is visibly calming.

He peers up at him with watery eyes. There are two rings in his irises. “R-really?” He hiccups.

“Oh yeah,” says Yuuri. “He was definitely already deader than dead.” He smiles a little, fondly reminiscing his little adventure from that afternoon. It was such a challenge trying to get into the target’s office. The mercenaries were a bit of an obstacle, of course, but nothing that he couldn’t handle.  

Phichit is staring at him in wide horrified realization. “Oh kriff.” He scrambles away, pointing a finger at him and shrieking, antennas standing straight up. “You! You killed him!”

Yuuri puts his hands up and slowly stands. He sweats. “Come on, buddy, uh – Phichit –“

“Back off!” Phichit hits the trunk of a tree. “They warned me about this! Earthlings are crazy, war-mongering people! I mean, what kind of species chooses to live on a Class F-designated planet that you people named after DIRT.”

Yuuri sighs. “Oh boy.”

He hopes he doesn’t have to kill this one.

–

“Twooooooooo Piña Coladas, please. One tab!”

The bartender, to his credit, just widens his eyes at both of their appearances – Yuuri, who is wearing a muddy and blood stained trench-coat over a skin-tight black jumpsuit with leaves and dirt in his hair, and Phichit who is Phichit. They both reek of alcohol.

(He mostly just widens his eyes at Yuuri. His breath catches in his throat. BA-THUMP, screams his heart, while his mind screams ohmygodit’shimwhatishedoingherehe’sadorableaseverIhopethat’snothisboyfriend.)

“Dun listen to ‘im, he’s a murderer,” Phichit slurs. His eyes reflect oddly in the dim lighting of the bar, like a cat’s. His antennas are wriggling.

“Imma good murderer,” Yuuri grumbles. He shoves a hand over Phichit’s mouth. “Shh, listen. Listen! Imma good guy and the dead man was not a nice man which is why he’s dead!” He shoves his other hand over Phichit’s head. “Stop movin’!”

“I canna help it!” wails Phichit. “I canna control ‘em!”

Yuuri giggles, letting go of Phichit to cover his face. The bartender, whose nametag reads VICTOR, shoves two cups at both of them.

“Here are your Piña Coladas,” he tells Yuuri. Yuuri wonders why his voice sounds so deep and why the bartender is smiling at him like this. He squints at him.

“Ya look kinda… familiar…”

The bartender gives a sparkly grin, and pulls at his tie. “D-do I?” He looks pleased.

They both get cut off from this line of conversation as Phichit spits his drink out. “GROSS,” he howls. He tears up, his eyes gaining a wet blue shine. “What’s happenin’ ta me? What didja do ta me? Who are ya? Who am I?”

Yuuri is not listening. He quickly downs his drink, wiping off his lips with the back of his hand when he’s done.

He strips off his gloves. Then his coat. Then he turns to the bartender and gives him a saucy wink.

“Wanna see my guns?” he purrs. “Victor.”

The bartender looks around wildly, but most of his customers are not paying attention to them as they are too busy wallowing in their own lives. There are a couple drunken people who are staring at them, but they are mostly staring at Phichit. “Um,” he says. His face is so pink that it looks like it’s glowing. He turns back to Yuuri and swallows thickly.

Yuuri licks his lips and stands up. Without breaking eye contact, he slowly raises his leg up and places it on the counter. He reaches down to the holster that is wrapped around his thighs.

“Oh,” the bartender says weakly. “You mean guns, literally.” He’s staring at Yuuri’s legs now, visibly sweating. (He misses the fact that there is something very obviously illegal going on his bar and instead feels a hint of disappointment.)

“Mmmhmm.” Yuuri pulls out a black handgun. “Beretta 90Two,” he says dreamily. He sets it down on the counter. Then he puts his leg down and starts to strip out of his jumpsuit.

–

“Oh my god,” Yuuri whispers the next day, after vomiting three times in the toilet. Phichit is snoring somewhere on his bedroom floor, covered in glitter and lipstick stains. Yuuri stares at him for a while and then sighs.

Okay, yeah. So aliens are real and now there’s one in his apartment. Whatever, what’s an alien compared to the time he slipped into Guantanamo Bay for a mission? Or the time he was caught in a power struggle between two mafia groups and Interpol? Or even the time he was kidnapped by a megalomaniac and had to pole-dance his way out? Now that was wild.

Besides, there are more pressing matters to attend to. So Yuuri cleans himself up as best as he can. He throws on some clean clothes and takes off his contacts, which feel like they have been crusted to his eyes. After grabbing his glasses, he walks outside and across the hallway and contemplates death.

He knocks instead.

A dog barks somewhere on the other side and then someone curses – there’s a crashing noise. A few minutes tick by with Yuuri growing ever more concerned, when the door finally opens, revealing his neighbor whose eyes are bloodshot and hair in a wild disarray. He’s still wearing his bartending uniform, only now it’s stained in various places.

“Hey Victor,” Yuuri says. “I am so sorry about what happened last night.”

Victor shuts the door in his face.

Yuuri stands there, stunned, as he hears what sounds like muffled screaming, but then the door opens again.

Victor leans against the frame, casually. “Don’t worry about it,” he says with a mega-watt smile. “It was fun!”

Yuuri doesn’t really know what to say. He still kinda wants to go die in some ditch after humiliating himself in front of his attractive neighbor last night, but also because he may have outed himself and he really really really does not want to kill Victor, who is constantly running out of flour, sugar, or other miscellaneous baking/cooking ingredients. Yuuri has yet to taste a single non-alcoholic creation of Victor’s and Victor owes him after two years of begging off some sort of ingredient from him.

(Yuuri does not think about other reasons he may not want to kill Victor)

“Do you want to come over for breakfast?” he says instead and then blushes.

Victor brightens. “Yes!” he shouts and then coughs. “I mean, yes.”

–

Phichit – whose skin is now green, like actually green – runs into the kitchen where Yuuri has just finished making oatmeal and eggs.

“Everything hurts,” he warbles.

Yuuri sighs and shoves a glass of water at him. “Drink. Drink it all. Then go lie down.”

“Ugh.” He wobbles to the couch and collapses, sobbing of “war-mongering dirt people.” His antennas sway back and forth soothingly.

Victor, eyes wide, starts to yell.

–

Well, if Victor has finally noticed that there is something just a little different about Phichit, then Yuuri figures he’s probably safe for now.

[cartoonessays]

Ralph Wiggum 2020

Back in 2008, there was a Simpsons episode called “E Pluribus Wiggum” that poked fun at the presidential primaries.  In the episode, Springfield pushed up its primaries before New Hampshire so the candidates in both parties and the press descended onto the town.  Disillusioned by the phoniness and cynicism of the presidential candidates, the citizens of Springfield elected a write-in candidate, Chief Wiggum’s eight-year-old son Ralph, as a mass protest vote.  In response, both the Democratic and Republican parties badgered Ralph in order to convince him to run for president in their party.

The absurdity of the situation is obvious, right?  Both of America’s major political parties seeking to pick not just a second grader, but this second grader as their presidential candidate is obviously ridiculous to everyone, right?

I have to pose this as a question because it feels like a lot of what would have been considered over-the-top absurd sitcommy scenarios back when The Simpsons was at its peak are now within the realm of reality if not already reality.

Who remembers The Boondocks episode “Return of the King”?  Remember the way that episode ended?

This was supposed to be a joke.

So why the fuck am I seeing headlines like these from credible news sites?

Let’s go back to the 2008 election.  The United States witnessed the election of the first black president, Barack Obama.  Through all the subtle and unsubtle racist and xenophobic digs taken at Barack Obama throughout his campaign, he endured it all to secure a decisive victory over his Republican opponent John McCain.

The Republican Party was quite shaken by the loss they suffered that year.  After spending the next couple of months recollecting themselves one of their first responses to Obama’s victory was to elect this man as the head of the Republican National Committee.

Remember Michael Steele?  Obama’s ascendancy to president signaled to Republicans what Americans really wanted.  An end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?  The closing of Guantanamo Bay?  A more fair and less costly healthcare system?  Punishment towards the banks and Wall Street speculators that destroyed the economy to line their own pockets?  Nope, a “jive” talking black man in a high position of power!

Surprisingly, this decision soon blew up in their face.

The Democratic Party similarly came away from the 2016 election shaken and distraught, so sure that their presidential candidate was a shoo-in into office and horrified that she lost to a crass carnival barker of a reality TV star with no political experience.  And after months of supposed introspection of what went wrong for them, they think the answer to Donald Trump is their own billionaire TV star?  If not Oprah Winfrey, they think rallying behind Mark Zuckerberg, Bob Iger, Mark Cuban, or Tom Hanks as Trump’s opponent in 2020 is any less moronic?   Even if none of them actually go for this, the fact that this is being floated out there is damning enough.

Shenanigans like this are not actual responses to the legitimate antipathy millions of American citizens have towards the Democratic Party.  Electing Michael Steele as head of the RNC was not an actual response to the legitimate antipathy millions of American citizens had towards the Republican Party.  This is nothing more than marketing at its most tawdry and cynical.  As cynical as a billionaire elitist from Manhattan successfully marketing himself as the champion of the common man.  And as cynical as this #Resistance marketing itself as this elitist’s opponent.

I have little reason to believe that this so-called “Resistance” against Trump in Democratic party circles is just a way to take advantage of Trump’s unpopularity to rally support for the same ineffectual politics that left so many voters and non-voters angry and disillusioned at the end Bill Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s second terms.  They’re already making this clear in their praise of monsters like John McCain and George W. Bush just because they’ve been critical of some of Trump’s policies.  This economically privileged top-down “Resistance” just wants to put back in power the same Democratic elites that will continue to prioritize high-stakes standardized testing, the closure of public schools, perpetual war, offer little more than lip service to black, Latino, and Native American victims of police brutality, and ignore all of the impoverished working class neighborhoods they’re not interested in gentrifying.  I don’t even believe that they’re an equal counterbalance to the white nationalist faction of Trump’s administration because a lot of them will turn into that dog from Up if you speak eloquently enough.

By the way, your favorite liberal comedic talk show hosts aren’t going to save us either.  The economic interests of those comedians and the major corporations they work for more aligned with the people in Trump’s administration than with the majority of their fans.  They’ll be comfortable doing nothing more than writing jokes for eight years about how stupid and backwards everybody who doesn’t vote Democrat is.  The companies they work for didn’t hire them for anything more than that.  If they do use their platform for a bigger statement, they’ll either go the Bill Maher route i.e. devolve into someone who, to quote a hilarious comment I saw on YouTube, will start voting Republican once weed gets legalized or go the Jon Stewart route i.e. gather millions of your fans for a big Kid Rock concert that champions a centrist apathy because the discourse is much more peaceful that way.

Speaking of Kid Rock, people want him to run for office now too, don’t they?

Fucking hell…

Plenty of people have compared our political culture to the Mike Judge film Idiocracy.  As of late, I think this movie is more of an apt comparison.

For anybody that hasn’t seen it, Natural Born Killers is a film about how a serial killer couple played by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis is elevated and glamorized in the media.  This film was director Oliver Stone’s angry satire admonishing the sensationalism, vapidity, and willful amorality of American culture in the 1990s.  I watched it several years ago and I really liked it.  I thought it was brilliant and hit the nail on the head (by the end of the film, I was more disturbed by Robert Downey Jr.’s character than I was by the literal serial killers).  With that said, this film was extremely uncomfortable to stomach and by the time I finished it I never wanted to sit through something like this again.

But what has been going on with our politics as of late has made me want to rewatch this movie.  A film like this seems more cathartic to me these days than disturbing.  Hell, our mass media isn’t glamorizing serial killers but they are currently glamorizing neo-Nazis.  The dog-and-pony show our major political parties are trying to sell us may not get innocent people shot in the head (unless you’re a soldier or innocent civilian caught in the crossfire of one of our perpetual wars), but it’s going to lead to scores of dead bodies in the wake nonetheless.

[quantum-displacement]

Trumps Cabinet

Secretary of State

Rex Tillerson (Oil Tycoon)

He broke the law by illegally doing deals with State Sponsors of Terrorism.

He broke the law by illegally doing $50 million dollars worth of deals with Iran and selling their military "chemicals" while they were under sanctions.

He bragged about being a personal friend of Putin and estimates put that he has spent more time with Putin then any other American citizen.

He lied under oath to Congress when asked about him lobbying against Russian Sanctions.

He was sued for anti-gay discrimination.

He was Director of a Russian Oil Firm in the Bahamas that helped companies use offshore tax haven loopholes to avoid paying taxes.

When the threat of rising sea levels due to climate change were brought up his response was, "We'll adapt to that."

He is being sued for ignoring environmental regulations.

He was fined after he ignored safety regulations and that resulted in 2 people being killed and another 13 injured.

He refused to agree that Saudi Arabia violates human rights or Putin has committed war crimes.

He has been investigated for fraud.

He was personally mentioned in court documents where at least 14 different witnesses have testified private military security forces employed by Exxon Mobil working in Indonesia had engaged in serious human rights abuses, including murder, torture, sexual violence, kidnapping, battery, assault, rape, arbitrary arrest, detention and false imprisonment. Instead of denying these things occurred his lawyers have argued he shouldn't be held responsible for the actions of employees even though he directly was involved in the management.

Secretary of the Treasury:

Steven Mnuchin (Worked for Goldman Sachs)

He has been accused of racism by enacting company policies to refuse to give loans to minorities and giving Latinos higher mortgage rates than whites.

If you were a Latino who didn't pay your morgue to Steven Mnuchin's bank you are 20% more likely to be foreclosed on than if you are white and in the same situation.

The bank he headed broke the law numerous times with unethical and illegal foreclosure practices. Such as trying to evict an elderly couple who had already paid them $525,000 in mortgages for a house that was only worth $200,000.

He has been sued dozens of times and settled or was found guilty in multi-million dollar lawsuits on several separate occasions.

He has been forced to testify and received subpoenas from the Department of Housing and Urban Development multiple times during government investigations against him.

He tried to take a 90 year old woman's house because a clerical error made it seem like her payment was 27 cents short.

Secretary of Defense:

James Mattis (Former General)

He says it's fun to shoot people.

He's been implicated in committing war crimes.

After his own soldiers were hit by friendly fire he refused to send rescue and left them to die.

He is on the board of executives of a medical company currently going through bankruptcy after they committed fraud and misrepresented their products.

Attorney General:

Jeff Sessions (Alabama Senator)

He said he supported The K.K.K until he learned they smoked pot.

He admitting to making racist jokes during the investigation of two Klansman whom had kidnapped, beaten, tortured, slit the throat and murdered a young black man in 1981 before hanging his body in a tree at a local park in Mobile, Alabama.

He called an attorney a "race traitor" for defending a black client in a voting rights case.

He was considered by the Reagan administration to racist to be a Judge 30 years ago.

He called the ACLU and the NAACP "un-american" and "communist" for forcing civil rights down Americas throat.

He used racial slurs to address black co-workers. And told one Black Attorney, "You best be careful how you talk to white folks, boy."

He referred to the only black commissioner in Mobile Alabama as "the n*gger"

Dozens of former co-workers allege he is a racist and when asked about racist comments he has refused to give a straight answer.

Q: "Did you refer to him as the N-Word? Yes or no?"

A: "I am not the Jeff Sessions my detractors have tried to create."

He tried to fight against the passage of the violence against women act and fought against laws to make spousal rape a crime.

He said if a person is gay it should automatically disqualify them from getting a job as a judge.

He attempted to pass laws that would defund any school that allowed gay student groups or clubs such as the Gay-Straight Alliances. "An organization that professes to be comprised of homosexuals and/or lesbians must not receive state funding or use state-supported facilities to foster or promote those illegal, and sexually deviate activities that break the sodomy and sexual misconduct laws."

He voted in favor of laws that would make it legal for the U.S military to perform torture.

He supports seizing peoples homes without due process.

He has received a 0% rating from The Human Rights Campaign.

Secretary of Interior

Ryan Zinke (Former Congressman)

When he was in the military he was caught in a pattern of fraud.

He used techniques thought up by Stephen Colbert as a joke as part of a campaign money scheme to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations.

He repeatedly voted in support of logging, drilling, and mining on federally protected land.

He tried to make it legal for hunters to be able to hunt endangered species.

He fought to give federal park land to a coal company who donated $160,000 to his campaign.

Secretary of Agriculture

Sonny Perdue (Former Georgia Governor)

His solution to a drought was to organize a group to go outside the capital building and pray for rain.

He cheated on his property taxes by avoiding to include any mention of his vacation homes to the IRS.

He appointed people to government position in exchange for them selling him land for a cheaper price on at least two separate occasions.

He snuck a bizarre measure into a state law bill about State Safety Regulations that said people don't have to pay property taxes if they buy properties in other states. This saved him $100,000 in property taxes.

He moved all of his money to Florida so he wouldn't have to pay state taxes in Georgia.

He diverted $4.3 million dollars that was supposed to go into building a reservoir into buying massive amounts of land for himself.

Even far right websites managed to create a 22 incident long, 3 year timeline just of scandals involving Perdue either unethically buying or stealing land. Or Perdue trying to use his political power to find bizarre ways to not pay taxes.

Secretary of Commerce

Wilbur Ross (Billionaire coal mine owner, his nickname is "the king of bankruptcy")

He was fined $2.3 million dollars by the SEC for swindling over 10 million in unnecessary fees out of investors.

He killed a dozen miners by knowing violating safety regulations that he was warned would lead to deaths.

He once bailed Trump out of bankruptcy.

Secretary of Labor:

Andrew Puzder (CEO of Carl’s Jr)

He had been accused of beating his wife, medical records prove it was long term and the police were called on atleast two separate occasions.

When asked about the domestic violence charges in court while his wife was trying to get a restraining order he gave bizarrely worded excuses.

Instead of saying:

"Yes I shoved her to the ground so she couldn't call 911."

He said:

"I didn't shove her, I grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her back I don't know if her foot caught or what happened.”

A year before this incident when he was in court again and asked to describe what happen when he was driving drunk, crashed his car and then punched his wife.

Instead of saying:

"I don't remember what happen that night, I did have a minor accident but it wasn't because of my wife it was because I was driving drunk."

He said:

"I recall no such incident. I do recall going up on a curb but it had nothing to do with my reaction to Lisa. I think it had to do with the liquid refreshment we had with our dinner more than anything else."

At the time of these Domestic Violence allegations he was chair of an anti-abortion task force created by the Governor of Missouri.

When asked if he would resign he said:

"This is a personal matter and has nothing to do with issues I'm speaking out on. The fact that I was appointed to the task force, I don't think is relevant to these issues. This is what normally happens in a divorce case. You're blowing it way out of proportion."

He later was forced to resign from the state run Anti-Abortion task force...

Neighbors called the police on another occasion when he started breaking furniture and plates.

The U.S. Department of Labor found that more than half of his restaurants were committing wage violations.

He was sued and found guilty for discriminating against the physically disabled.

He was sued and found guilty for refusing to pay employees overtime.

He was sued and found guilty for refusing to pay employees overtime again. This time he was forced to pay $9 million dollar.

He was sued and found guilty for refusing to follow safety regulations.

He was sued and found guilty in a class action lawsuit for refusing to compensate employees for work expenses.

He was sued and found guilty for allowing sexual harassment to continue.

He has been accused of racial discrimination.

His company is one of the highest ranked in the country in terms of employees reporting gender discrimination or harassment.

He hired Illegal Immigrants and paid them below minimum wage.

He is against there being a minimum wage.

He argues overtime pay shouldn't exist.

He blames poor people for being in poverty while he earns more money every day than employees at his fast food restaurant earn in an entire year.

He wants to replace employees with machines.

Secretary of Homeland Security:

John F. Kelly (Former General)

He doesn't believe women should be allowed be in the military.

He argues Guantanamo Bay, "Isn't as bad as it seems."

He supports Trump building a wall because Terrorists might sneak in through the Mexican boarder, aided by illegal immigrants.

He lied and said Narcoterrorism have killed 500,000 Americans since 9/11.

Secretary of Energy:

Rick Perry (Former Texas Governor)

He was indicted on Felony Abuse of Power charges.

He promised to abolish the Department of Energy before being picked to lead it.

He allowed the execution of a man later proven to be innocent and stalled the investigation to clear the mans name until after he was executed. Then fired all the people who warned him the man was innocent from the start.

He carries a semi-automatic handgun while jogging, “because he is afraid of snakes.” and for the past several years has bragged during interviews he used it to kill a coyote with a single shot. Though everytime he retold the story there were more inconsistencies.

He has told blacks that racism doesn't exist anymore while at the same time having owned for 33 years a hunting camp named simply, N*ggerhead.

He made sexist comments against the former Governor and then argued against a woman who said she was insulted by them by arguing she wasn't really offended.

He said income inequality isn't a problem because there are poor people in the bible.

He proposed a plan to lower taxes on the rich and raise taxes on the poor to compensate, when a New York Time reporter brought up how this would create massive levels of income inequality his response was, "I don’t care about that."

He gave a lengthy speech about how Atheists deserve hell and will go there when they die, and how they have to much power in society.

A whistle blower discovered that state juvenile detention facilities had employed sex offenders and had been covering up complaints of abuse in what may of been the largest child sex abuse ring in U.S history, the whistle blower contacted Governor Perry and spoke to him numerous times but Perry refused to do anything about it. Three years later in 2007 the FBI determined that at least 750 girls age 10-17 had been sexually abused by guards and several high ranking administrators who either covered up the abuse or participated in it were arrested. Many of these administrators were personally appointed by Perry himself.

He said the BP Oil spill had nothing to do with poor safety regulations and was actually caused by god.

In college he got a D in a class titled, "Meats."

He vetoed a bill saying the state can't execute the mentally ill.

He has threatened that Texas can secede from the United States more than once.

He said drugs were the cause of the Charleston Church shooting not racism.

He compares being gay to alcoholism.

He suggested Immigrants trying to cross the boarder should be drone striked to keep them from getting in.

He signed an executive order making it so all girls over the age of 12 had to receive a vaccination against sexually transmitted diseases. Then it was revealed his chief of staff was an executive for the company that made the vaccine.

He threatened the Chairman of the Federal Reserve and accused him of treason.

Secretary of Education:

Betsy DeVos (Billionaire private education advocate )

She wants creationism taught in public schools.

Her family made their fortune through a literal pyramid scheme.

She wants to get rid of Child Labor Laws.

She owes millions of dollars in government fines for election fraud.

She lied during Senate Hearings.

She illegally omitted anti-union donations on disclosure forum.

She wants to use American Schools to "Build Gods Kingdom."

She hired a Felon to run her school lobbying group.

She thinks schools should be armed in order to protect themselves against bears.

White House chief strategist:

Steve Bannon (CEO of Breitbart News)

He was arrested for three counts of domestic violence in the 90s.

The charges were dropped after him and his attorney threatened his ex-wife into fleeing the state.

He choked his ex-wife and smashed her phone so she couldn't call 911.

He was accused of sexual harassment by female co-workers. “Saftey Regulations? I’m going to ram those Safety Regulations down her fucking throat,”

“There are some unintended consequences of the women’s liberation movement, the women that should lead this country would be pro-family, they would have husbands, they would love their children. They wouldn’t be a bunch of dykes that came from the Seven Sisters schools up in New England.” ― Bannon during interview when asked about women in government

He was outraged when he found out that Jews were allowed at his daughters school and complained to them over it.

He helped promote the white supremacist novel The Camp of the Saints which depicts non-white immigrants as barbaric invaders whoes goals for moving to Europe and America is to bring forth the downfall of civilization.

He was a member of a Facebook group that produced racist rants and death threats against President Obama.

He complained about there being to many Asian CEOs.

National Security Adviser:

Michael Flynn (Disgraced former General)

He says Islam is Cancer and it's irrational for people not to be afraid of Muslims.

He ordered female Defense Intelligence Agency employees to "dress sexy" and wear short skirts and makeup.

He was fired from the Military for trying to demand too much power and authority. Though he says the reason was, "political correctness."

Leaked Bush Administration emails show he show he had extreme anger issues, refused to follow orders, went against policy and became, "physcially abusive with staff."

He wants to bring back torture.

He retweeted anti-semetic Tweets.

He is a Board Member for what The Southern Poverty Law Center considers the largest Anti-Muslim Hate Group in America.

His son and top adviser is famous for posting online Conspiracy Theories and racist memes.

Leaked 2010 memo reveals he shared Top Secret Information without permission.

He facilitated the murder of civilians in Afghanistan.

Domestic Policy Adviser

Ken Blackwell (Former Ohio Secretary of State)

He says, "Gays can be reformed, just like arsonists."

He works for an anti-gay hate group who wants gays deported.

He advised Trump to change the laws so youth Homeless shelters could legally refuse to help gay and transgender youth.

He believes mass shooting are caused by America's lack of morality which stems from the country allowing gays to exist.

He wrote an article saying Mosques don't have a right to exist in New York City.

He was accused of rigging the 2004 election in Ohio for George Bush. After he was called to testify in legal hearings by Congress he just refused to show up.

During his term he had 18 major lawsuits.

He accidentally published a list of 1.2 million Social Security numbers of Ohio citizens.

He fought tooth and nail to move too electronic touch screen voting machines instead of paper ballots, after it was discovered the machines had a backdoor software "glitch" it was revealed that Blackwell owned the company that made the voting machines.

A group of 31 pastors contacted the IRS alleging that a number of Churches in the state had been secretly funding Blackwell which violates laws prohibiting charity groups involvement in political campaigns

Blackwell sent an email claiming he had never heard of any of the churches that he was accused of getting illegal donations from. But after media outlets traced the I.P address of the email it was revealed he sent the email inside of the church that he was claiming he had never heard of in the email he was sending from their building...

Click here to vote who you think is the worst pick.

[folkpunkrock-littlewing-blog]

Killing Me Softly

So, today while with my vocal coach, we were going over songs she thought would be fun for me to cover. Well. HA. Okay. With no preamble whatsoever, she tells me that two of the songs that she's been thinking about are ABBA's 'Dancing Queen' and Sheryl Crow's 'Soaking Up the Sun'.

'Dancing Queen' is literally my favorite ABBA song, but then the kind of parallels it automatically draws for an ARMY-- I about collapsed. And then she hit me with 'Soaking Up the Sun'! Like, what kind of world-- what kind of BS-- WHO HAVE YOU BEEN TALKING TO, REBECCA?! Lmfbo. I about cried. Not really. But did a tear threaten to make a prison break from the Guantanamo Bay that is my tear ducts? Yes. Yes it did. I had to suck that hoe right back up in there (Sunny with a Chance of Meatballs style).

Anyway. Not like anybody actually follows me or reads this crap. Lmfbo.

[nightmareonfilmstreet]

Another Reward for the Highest Bidder; Looking Back at HOSTEL: PART 2

Ah, 2007, the year the iPhone was first announced. We all shook our heads in disbelief at the ridiculousness of this strange new device. “But what about the iPod!“, we cried! “We already have one of those!” 2007 was also the year I graduated high school, got a puppy, and Harry Potter came to an end with the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Oh, and it was the year a little ol’ movie came out called Hostel: Part 2. It was a pretty good year!

The movies blowing up the box office that year were things like Spider-Man 3 (aka emo Spider-Man is revealed), 300, The Simpsons Movie, and Ocean’s Thirteen. In the background, horror was pumping out sequels like The Hills Have Eyes 2, 28 Weeks Later, and Saw 4.

    On June 8th, 2007, Hostel: Part 2 hit theatres, coming two years after the original success of 2005’s Hostel. Most folks remember Hostel being a ground breaker for the torture genre, but by the time it had arrived on scene, there were Saw movies bringing in big bucks and Haute Tension was making waves. But Hostel remained one of that genre’s biggest hits. Hostel arrived at that perfect moment in time when North America was still dealing with post 9/11 trauma, being faced with leaked photos from Guantanamo Bay and constant replays of 9/11 clips that reminded us that violence was in our own backyards. Eli Roth tapped into that zeitgeist and brought people out of their dark holes to distract themselves from every day violence with the constant violence on screen.

Lionsgate was in a rush to release a sequel so that they could capitalize on their original success and brought Eli Roth back along for the ride. Roth sat down with Fear.net back in 2007 and said he joined back with the studio only if he could make the film better than the original. He cites Aliens and Road Warrior as his favorite sequels and wanted to create that same experience. Ultimately, the sequel could not reach the hype of the first and the first weekend profits fell short, bringing in $8.2 million compared to $20 million for its original.

Hostel: Part 2 was directed, produced and written by Roth with lots of help from Mike Fleiss and Chris Briggs who both went on to do Hostel: Part 3 and Hostel: Part 4. Filming took two months and three days with a budget of ten million dollars. When it opened it came in sixth place being beaten by Shrek The Third, a new Pirates of the Caribbean film and Ocean’s 13. Roth also speaks very openly about internet pirating during that period that he believes affected his film. Hostel: Part 2 had a workprint leak online and they believe almost 2 million illegal downloads were done on the same day the film was released in theatres.

    But at the time, a majority of horror fans did enjoy the film and still applaud it to this day. Hostel: Part 2 was nominated for six Spike TV Scream Awards including best horror film and best director and made it onto Entertainment Weekly’s list of 20 best horror films of the past 20 years.

Hostel: Part 2 makes it easy for us to fall right back into the story, spending the first ten minutes reminding us of the original and gently setting things up for the next chapter of the story. It returns to its muted colors and over the top gore almost immediately, just checking that you’re still paying attention. But soon slides back into that mellow storyline that slowly leads up to something more terrifying and you quickly feel lulled into the hypnotic pull of a bunch of innocent tourists on vacation getting in waaaay over their heads. The biggest difference with the sequel is that you like these characters and root for them, they don’t make dumb decisions, they just get wrapped up in something much bigger than they could ever imagine.

This film focuses on three art students, Beth, Lorna, and Whitney. They are studying in Italy, where they meet the model they are tasked to draw who invites them to a spa in Prague on a weekend getaway. Once they arrive, they book into the hostel and instantly the game is set – which kicks off an incredible scene where the girls begin unpacking and celebrating, intercut with clips of the creepy old rich folks bidding on them on their phones and computers. In the town there’s a Harvest Festival going on and the girls happily attend, drinking and partying and flirting with the locals. The two men who won the bid watch from across the river, distanly eyeing the young women.

One by one the women are kidnapped and must fight for their lives inside the compound we know so well from the first film.

    Hostel: Part 2 is enough of a departure from the original that you can enjoy it without seeing the first. But it does make a great companion. Roth spoke about how Hostel was the boy’s version and Hostel: Part 2 is the girl’s version. And despite the obvious being the main characters, I completely agree with him. Part 2 touches on the fears that women face when travelling, having to deal with drunken men leering at them, an aggressive group of drunken men who try to hunt them down, getting robbed.. and that’s just in the span of a few hours! While they’re supposed to be on vacation, they are constantly reminding each other to stick together and not trust any local men.

It’s also funny how suspicious you feel as a viewer after knowing what happened in the first movie. You feel instantaneously protective of the three women introduced and incredibly paranoid of everyone around them. I think the knowing is what makes it more edge-of-your-seat type watching, and it’s easy to relate to these young girls. In Hostel, the guys are pretty awful and honestly most of the time you’re rooting for them to die, but in Part 2 you don’t want these characters to die. You know what’s waiting for them and you want to protect them.

There’s stand out performances all around. Honorable mentions being Lauren German who portray Beth with incredible determination and likeability. She’s tough, sensitive and has these stunning blue eyes that pierce through the screen, showing every scrap of emotion. Bijou Phillips who plays Whitney, Beth’s best friend is another standout. She plays the horror movie sidekick to a tee. Stuart, one of the men who wins the bid, is played by Roger Bart who dabbles the line of endearing and absolutely insane so well it’s mind blowing. He makes an incredible villain who at first, you’re rooting for and hoping he’ll change his mind, and very quickly you’re cheering as Beth castrates him.

Speaking of that…specific…scene…

    The violence in Part 2 is over the top like Roth is known for, but is not in your face constantly. He chooses his moments specifically to be incredibly violent and that’s something I’ve always enjoyed about his films. There’s some stomach dropping moments (like when Whitney takes a saw to the head) that stick with you long after the film, but I still feel they are necessary to the plot. There’s an incredible scene when Lorna is murdered by a woman who bathes in her blood, an homage to the “Blood Countess” who was supposedly a real person who killed over 600 young females in Hungary in the early 1600s. The legend being she would bathe in the blood of virgins to retain her beauty. The scene ends up being simultaneously beautiful and horrifying. It also shows another side of the rich folks who are bidding on these young men and women.

The ending of Hostel: Part 2 is the most fun part of the film. It has that kind of epic conclusion where you find yourself on your feet cheering. Beth manages to turn the whole compound on its head, using her own wealth and confidence to buy her way out of the situation in an epic scene where she’s got a gun pointed at the creator, a wrench wrapped around Stuart’s dick and is just yelling, “don’t tell me what I can’t afford, there’s nothing I can’t afford, I can buy and sell everyone in this room!” It’s incredible.

If we wrap it all up, I think one of the greatest themes that gets touched on, which Roth has spoken out about as well, is of course the price of life. These rich folks are making a game of buying people and cracking jokes about the process when ultimately, they are getting bought themselves by the company. Because there is always someone richer or more powerful out there. Wealth is, of course, a huge thing touched upon in both part one and two and I think it’s what makes these movies so powerful ten years later. And Part 2 sticks with me a lot more, especially in 2018.

  Highly recommend you take another watch of Hostel: Part 2 if you haven’t in awhile because it’s not just torture porn, it’s a great romp that touches on some important issues and brings you along for one hell of a ride!

The post Another Reward for the Highest Bidder; Looking Back at HOSTEL: PART 2 appeared first on Nightmare on Film Street - Horror Movie Podcast, News and Reviews.

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[usnewsaggregator-blog]

American hostage mom describes brutal treatment by Taliban captors

New Post has been published on http://usnewsaggregator.com/american-hostage-mom-describes-brutal-treatment-by-taliban-captors/

American hostage mom describes brutal treatment by Taliban captors

The American mom held hostage by the Taliban for five years says she was beaten and raped as she tried to protect her children from their captors.

Caitlan Coleman Boyle, 31, from Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, who was abducted while traveling in Afghanistan with her husband Joshua Boyle, 34, of Smiths Falls, Ontario, and had three children in captivity, described the brutal treatment her family endured in captivity in an exclusive broadcast interview with ABC News.

She said some of their guards “hated children” and would target their eldest son for beatings, sometimes with a stick, claiming the young boy was “making problems” or being “too loud.” When Caitlan tried to intervene, she was beaten as well. “I would get beaten or hit or thrown on the ground,” Caitlan said.

According to her husband, Caitlan sustained serious injuries while fighting to keep her captors from her children.

“She had a broken cheekbone,” Joshua said. “She actually broke her own hand punching one of them. She broke her fingers, so she was very proud of that injury.”

She also accused her captors of even more grievous crimes, saying the guards murdered their unborn daughter in a “forced abortion,” and she was later raped by two men in retribution for trying to report the crime to their superiors.

“They just kept saying that this will happen again if we don’t stop speaking about the forced abortion, that this happened because we were trying to tell people what they had done, and that it would happen again,” Caitlan said.

The couple told ABC News they are speaking out so soon after their release because they want justice for their abusers, hoping Taliban leaders will be put on trial for war crimes or otherwise held accountable within the tribal justice system.

“Our focus is on trying to hold accountable those who have committed grave human rights violations against us and against others,” Joshua said. “I lost a daughter. That was more of a crushing blow to me than the years. What they did was a crime against humanity by international law.”

The couple was abducted while traveling in eastern Afghanistan’s war-torn Ghazni Province in 2012, taken prisoner by the Haqqani Network, an extremist element of the Afghan Taliban, and quickly transported to Pakistan. Caitlan, who was pregnant at the time of their capture, would give birth to three children while in captivity.

The family was frequently moved to different locations through Pakistan’s tribal belt. According to Joshua, who says he was shackled for the duration of his captivity, the family was usually held in a single room, often underground, sometimes on a cement floor, sometimes on a dirt floor. The parents used discarded items as makeshift toys for their children.

“We would just teach them to use things like bottle caps or bits of cardboard, garbage essentially, but what we could find to play with,” Caitlan said.

Caitlan said they taught their eldest son the alphabet, geography and constellations and tried their best to make the horrible tolerable. They used British history — the tale of the execution of Charles I in 1649 — to make up a game about beheadings, to ease their eldest son’s fear should their captors do the same to his parents.

“He certainly knew that this type of thing could happen to his family, so he had great fun pretending to be Oliver Cromwell chasing Charles I around and trying to behead him,” she said. “So we made it a game so that he wasn’t afraid because there was, you know, there was nothing we could do if it came to that except try to make him less afraid.”

Danger, however, was never far from their minds. Caitlan said they told their son “some” of what was happening to them, but tried to keep “the worst bits” from him.

“But he had to know that these people were bad that he was interacting with outside of his family,” she said. “That everyone else he saw, you couldn’t trust.”

The physical abuse of the family escalated, Joshua said, when the Haqqani Network demanded he join them as the extremist group’s western propagandist.

“They had come four different times — to offer employment in the group… and I made it very clear that I’d rather be the hostage than be on ‘your side of the cage.’” Joshua said. “I’d rather be inside than outside.”

His refusal would have serious consequences.

“There were beatings. There was violence. Then they’d come to make the offer again. Still said no. More beatings, more violence. Maybe that’ll be the solution. Still no,” Joshua said. “And after the final time — that’s when they killed our daughter. And after that there were no more intimations of recruitment.”

Caitlan, who was taken hostage when she was already five months pregnant with her first son, had to hide the pregnancies of her two other children born in captivity.

“They didn’t want us to have any more,” she said.

She believes the guards put something in her food in 2014 to force a miscarriage of their unborn daughter, who the couple named Martyr Boyle. The couple complained to their captors and tried to slip notes to Taliban visitors informing them of the crime, so Caitlan and Joshua say their guards raped her while their eldest son was in the room to compel her to stay silent.

“One day they came into the cell, and they took my husband out forcefully, dragging him out, and one of the guards threw me down on the ground, hitting me and shouting ‘I will kill you,’” Caitlan said. “That’s when the assault happened. It was with two men. And then there was a third at the door. And afterwards, the animals wouldn’t even give me back my clothes.”

Caitlan said she successfully hid her next two pregnancies from the guards, and her husband helped her deliver them with no doctor present.

The couple was freed in mid-October in what was described by the Pakistani Army as an operation carried out by Pakistani troops, but details about that operation remain unclear.

Now living in Canada and trying to adjust to freedom with the help of supporters such as HostageUS, Caitlan and Joshua say the scars from years of abuse in captivity are only beginning to heal. The couple wasn’t ready to answer lingering questions about Joshua’s past and the circumstances leading to their capture and release.

Joshua was previously married to a fellow Canadian, Zaynab Khadr, who had family ties to al-Qaeda. Her father was a suspected al-Qaeda financer killed by Pakistani security forces, and her younger brother Omar was once the youngest detainee at the U.S. terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He has since been released.

When the family arrived in Toronto a month ago, Joshua told reporters at a press conference that he and Caitlan had been captured while trying to help poor Afghans.

“I was in Afghanistan helping the most neglected minority group in the world, those ordinary villagers who lived deep inside Taliban controlled Afghanistan, where no NGO, no aide worker and no government has ever successfully been able bring the necessary help,” he said.

Joshua refused to discuss with ABC News why he was in Afghanistan, however, saying he has already answered those questions from the news media.

Caitlan confirmed that she and her husband “made the decision” to have more children but both she and Joshua declined to explain that decision further.

“I think it’s a sad statement on the state of affairs of the world when a family is asked to justify their decision to have children in any circumstance,” he said.

And the circumstances of the family’s release remain in dispute. The U.S. government had planned a commando raid to secure the family, but officials were blindsided when the family suddenly appeared in the custody of the Pakistani military. Boyle maintains the family was rescued in a firefight.

“The only thing being exchanged was bullets,” he said.

In the meantime, the couple is focused on the future and on their family. Caitlan says it was the children who kept her going while she was in captivity, so after years of trauma she hopes it’s time for them to heal.

“I hope that they find enough happiness and joy to make up for it,” Caitlan said.

Sean Langan is a British filmmaker and ABC News contributor who was also held hostage by the Taliban’s Haqqani Network in 2008 and has produced a new documentary, The USA vs. Bergdahl, about former Taliban prisoner U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

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