#home inspection canada

[amanhomeinspec]

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[thecanadiandiary]

Don’t Fear the Inspection: How It Makes You a Savvy Home Buyer

In the blog post titled "Don’t Fear the Inspection: How It Makes You a Savvy Home Buyer," the emphasis is on the significance of home inspections in real estate transactions. It portrays inspections not as obstacles but as crucial steps toward informed decision-making and risk management. The post explains that inspections reveal potential issues that could impact the property's value or safety, enabling buyers to negotiate repairs or adjust the purchase price accordingly. It highlights how transparency and understanding of a property's condition foster trust between buyers and sellers, ultimately facilitating smoother transactions.

[futureassetsgroup]

Learn why a home inspection is crucial in the buying process for Canadian homebuyers. Understand the inspection process, its importance, and how it ensures property standards.

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

I have to start this one with the sad news that the hero who saved others by stopping the terrorist yesterday, despite being stabbed in several places (including in the neck), has passed away. His name was Uri Moyal, he was 51 years old, he leaves behind a wife and three kids. Yesterday, the number of wounded was still not fully clear, today it's confirmed that in addition to Uri, the terrorist managed to injure 2 more people. In the pic below you can see Uri holding up a lifetime achievement award. At his funeral today, his daughter Sapir mourned him: "Thank you for being a dad, who was also a teacher for life. There is no one who knew you and didn't fall in love with you."

The German press has reported (so far I've only managed to find this English source) that this week, the antisemitic, genocidal slogan "From the river to the sea" has been found painted in Arabic on the site of the 1972 kidnapping and massacre of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists. I'll point out that recently, the grandson of one of the murdered athletes was attacked (he had several bones in his face broken) in Berlin by an Arab anti-Israel activist.

A terrorist attack was prevented from happening, when two Palestinians, carrying a big knife and a sword, were arrested on their way to a Jewish community in the middle of the night. They're currently being questioned.

After Canada and Sweden, now Australia has also announced that it will renew its funding of UNRWA. I may sound like a broken record, but this is morally broken. They KNOW that UN agency is complicit in countless crimes of helping anti-Jewish hate and violence, the IDF evidence uncovered thanks to the war are just the tip of the iceberg when we're actually talking about decades of complicity, and resuming the funding without any changes, without even an investigation into this being completed, means these countries don't even care about looking as if they care about Jewish and Israeli lives. It's beyond ccontemptible. So. Canada, Sweden and now Australia, whenever these countries' heads tell you that they care about human rights, know that this includes, "but not for Jews."

And because I mentioned the long, long complicity of UNRWA (and many in charge of or dealing with it), here's the CEO of the NGO UN Watch explaining it better than most can, because they have been working for years on calling attention to the wrongdoing of UNRWA:

There's this common lie spread by the anti-Israel crowd, that everything was just peachy between Jews and Muslim in the Middle East, until Zionism came along. This is a blatant erasure of repeated discrimination, persecution, forced conversions, expulsions and massacres perpetrated against Jews living in Muslim majority countries for centuries. The ethnic cleansing of the entire Middle East of Jews (other than in Israel) is only the climax of that long history of antisemitism under Muslim rule, exactly like the Holocaust is just the climax of the long history of antisemitism under Christian European rule. And yesterday, I came across another reminder.

I was listening to an interview with Rabbi Abraham Cooper, an American rabbi, about the discrimination he had recently suffered during a trip to Saudi Arabia. I'd read the headlines, but hearing him tell it in his own words (in amazing Hebrew, might I add) really drove it home. He was heading a US delegation meant to inspect the state of religious freedom in Saudi Arabia, when he gets a phone call from the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, telling him that the Saudis have laws which must be respected, and which dictate that no one but "the members of our religion" (meaning, Muslims) can walk around publicly displaying signs of their religious identity. In other words, Rabbi Cooper was told to remove his kippah (the head cover religious Jews wear). Rabbi Cooper asked the official on the phone, whether he was sure, and tried arguing against this decision. When the demand was reaffirmed, Rabbi Cooper responded that he wouldn't take off his kippah for the Soviets decades ago, and he wouldn't be taking it off for the Saudis, either. That meant he had to leave, and so the delegation had to end its visit. This isn't a small incident of anti-Jewish discrimination in the 1930's, in an Arab country where no one would even bat an eye at that. This is a Saudi official, speaking to an American Jew, in 2024, during an official visit, meant to check the state of religious freedom in that country, while Saudi Arabia is doing its best to present a more tolerant, modern and progressive image for the world. And this still happened. There is a long tradition of antisemitism in the Middle East, it doesn't simply disappear even when Jews were forced to, and the attempts to deny it with the excuse of "But Zionism!" are antisemitic, too.

This is Hadar Gadol.

He's an Israeli author, a practitioner of alternative medicine, and as a reservist, he serves as a casualty officer (an army official who lets a family know that their loved one was killed in combat, in Israel a casualty officer also continues to work with and support the family after the initial notification, kind of like a social worker appointed by the army). In January, IDF soldier Mark Kononovich was killed. A few weeks ago, as party of taking care of the family, Hadar took Mark's dad Alex on a tour of the last army post where Mark and the friends who died with him had slept. In the middle of that, Hadar got a heart attack. Alex happens to be a doctor, he recognized the signs, administered some first aid, and made sure Hadar would be taken to the hospital to receive the treatment he needed. This is Hadar after being released from the hospital, visiting Alex to thank him (you can also see Mark's younger brother in the pic):

During this visit, Alex told Hadar, "You took our case as very close to you, you felt it like we do, very close to the heart." I have no doubt their bond is gonna be there for years to come. Hadar is actually not the first Israeli casualty officer I've heard of, who collapsed and was in need of hospitalization since Oct 7, just the latest. I think that in a way says something about how acutely Israelis feel the pain of the massacre, whether we personally lost someone or not.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

"Queen Elizabeth didn't like POTUS Trump..." says a nobody trying to be somebody during a USA election year. 🙄

As we approach the anniversary of the dearly beloved Queen Elizabeth's death, a nobody is determined to speak for QE about POTUS Trump.

This gossip is beneath the dignity of the most admired woman in the world, but it confirms how terrified these globalists are to have DJT back in the White House.

This old chestnut: "Queen Elizabeth was displeased with Donald Trump because of his behavior while inspecting the Guards..." (sigh)

Trump is a BIG guy and QE was a little woman.

To inspect the guards, POTUS was to walk quickly AHEAD of QE11, but he wanted to stroll along & chat. He's so much taller than her that he stopped as if to say, "where'd she go?"

I'm sure he was told to walk quickly for the inspection, but he stood looking around for the little, tiny Queen who then motioned (again) for him to KEEP GOING.

Melania did something similar to her husband w/her "keep going" hand motion in Israel, but people chose to make a mountain out of that molehill bc unfortunately, Melania accidentally swatted her husband's hand.

Recently at Barron's graduation, Melania laughed outloud as she coaxed her husband with both hands to sit down. I thought it was a cute moment because POTUS was beaming. It was reminiscent of Charlotte ordering Louis to "sit down" in his chair at the Platinum Jubilee celebration.

President Trump has a genuine affection for the BRF. Donald Trump's mother was born and raised in Scotland with her parents and siblings. After she emigrated to the United States, she traveled home to Scotland at least once per year with Donald's sister.

Ivana, Donald's first wife and mother of his 3 eldest children was fond of the BRF and had a friendship with Princess Diana. Ivana was born in Czechoslovakia, but also possessed citizenships in Austria and Canada where she skied and learned English before emigrating to the United States.

Of course Donald's current wife Melania is also European. Melania emigrated to the United States as a model from Slovenia.

The Trump family has always possessed a sincere admiration for Great Britain and for Queen Elizabeth. It was obvious to me that POTUS Trump looked upon Queen Elizabeth as a mother figure and would never do anything to disrespect her as a person or her professional role.

Over the years, Neal Sean, Lady C and all the other leftist royal vloggers have been giddy to share anything negative about POTUS Trump.

It makes me sad that Charles and William have pledged allegiance to the WEF and to that Great Reset. They are woefully ignorant of the repercussions of such alliances. There are dark days ahead for the UK. They better pray DJT is re-elected.

Perhaps writers should focus on what is rotten in the UK instead of QE-DJT gossip. Why not write and discuss the reasons QE felt she had to hold on (despite such intense pain) for such a very long time. She knew..., and yet she trusted God. 🥺

[jessiarts]

Seeing the difference in coverage (news media vs social media) on the Feb 3rd train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, USA on and all the issues caused by the incident, I want to see something;

The incident summed up (and there may be even more I missed):

train carrying 150 cars, twenty of which contained hazardous materials, derailed due a failure of a wheel bearing, due to poor inspection because inspections were cut from 3 minutes per train to 90 secs per train. (Remember the railroad strike? Yeah. Part of what they wanted, in addition to better conditions, was more time to inspect trains and to get faulty parts fixed. They were refused, and now we're here.)

the derailment (of 50 cars) caused a fire which threatened to make a car(s) with the vinyl chloride explode, so a controlled release (burn) of the vinyl chloride (toxic, flammable gas) was done to prevent this

residents within a 1 mile radius were evacuated beforehand

the event resulted in contamination of the air/water and mass deaths of animals like fish and chickens

residents were told it's safe to return home a week after the evacuation, and found their pets dead; water smells wrong; air smells and/or burns their eyes

People miles away are having the same issues with animals dying (schools of dead fish in water, livestock sick/dying) and water contamination

The chemicals are contaminating the Ohio River Basin (which is more than just the Ohio River, and effects/includes KY, WV, TN, IN, OH, and parts of IL, PA, VA, and NC) and could potentially also lead to the whole Mississippi River Watershed being contaminated. (that's like, 40% of the continental United States and starts to touch into Canada.)

That all said,

Please reblog if you vote so we can get a larger sample size!

Many think the Railroad company (and the government, because they sided with the railroad company in ending the strike) are trying to cover this up in the news as much as possible, and that most coverage is coming from social media (specifically TikTok) and I want to see just how true that is.

I'm not not kidding when I say I have people IRL, who do keep up with the news, who never heard about the derailment at all until I told them just a couple days ago. It doesn't look good.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

A 10-person team of long-term care investigators in Ontario will now look into allegations of homes failing to protect their residents from abuse or neglect. Long-Term Care Minister Stan Cho made the announcement Monday, saying the new unit is supported with $72.3 million in funding. He says Ontario already has "the toughest inspection and enforcement program in Canada," and the new investigations team will help ensure residents have the best quality of care. The investigators will be able to look into allegations of failing to protect a resident from abuse or neglect, repeated and ongoing non-compliance, failing to comply with ministry inspector's orders, suppressing and/or falsifying mandatory reports and negligence of corporate directors.

Continue Reading

Tagging @politicsofcanada

[tomtenadia]

Detours to you - ch 10.

Happy Monday everyone...

Your truly is heading to Canada tomorrow so I decided to leave you a pre holiday chapter. I hope you will love this one.... there's very little angst and a bit of a happy moment.

Enjoy.

A couple of weeks had elapsed and December arrived with all its solstice celebrations in full swing.

Aelin and Rowan were still barely talking but had at least created a sort of routine to share Maya. They would do a weekend each and then some nights she would stay at Rowan’s.

What worried Aelin was that her daughter was getting crankier and recently she had been less cheery than her usual. She feared that the situation was causing her distress. The teachers at school had warned her that she seemed disinterested and her mum had warned her too.

Her worst fear became reality one afternoon when she was called at school. Maya apparently had punched a kid. According to the head teacher the boy had made some nasty comments and Maya had reacted. Her heart ached. What was happening to her little girl?

The meeting with the head teacher had been long enough to make Aelin deeply sad. The boy had called Maya a loser for not having a dad and said that he left because she was horrible and he did not want to be with her. Aelin was aware that some mums had started talking at the sudden apparition of Rowan and he had confirmed that some women had approached him wondering who he was to pick up Maya. Gossip had started to spread and although she had a word with them, eventually her daughter got caught in the crossfire.

A teacher took Aelin to the class where Maya  was waiting and as soon as she saw her, her daughter ran to her in desperate need for a hug, her sobs hard. Aelin kneeled and tried to console her daughter.

“Shh… I know, my love.”

“I am not bad,” she shouted while still crying.

Aelin cradled Maya’s face in her hands “You are not.”

Maya kept sobbing and anger rose in her. She had tried to protect Maya as much as possible but had not taken into account school and horrible parents gossiping on other people’s lives. She was furious. 

While holding her crying daughter she realised that had waited too long. It was time for the truth to come out.

Aelin kissed her “Can you stay here a moment? I need to make a call.”

Maya nodded while still sobbing quietly.

Aelin quickly went just outside the door and called Rowan.

“Hi.”

“Rowan are you free?”

At Aelin’s urgency he started to worry.

“I am on my way back from a factory inspection. What’s wrong?”

A sob broke Aelin’s lips “It’s time.”

“Are you going home?”

“Yes.”

“I will meet you there.”

Aelin agreed and hung up running back to Maya “Shall we go home?”

“No.” Her arms folded at her chest.

“Maya, please.”

“No. I want a dad too!!” She screamed “I am not horrible.” When the tears started again Aelin wanted to get out and throttle all the mothers who spread horrible gossip about her family.

“Shall we go home and then I will tell you about your dad?”

Maya looked at her and seemed to calm down “Ok.”

“Good.” Another kiss and then she helped put her jacket and together they walked out of the school.

At the end of the corridor she saw the mother of the awful kid. Remelle La Fleur was known for her penchant for gossiping. She changed husbands as much as a normal person changed socks, but husband number three left her with a kid as a parting gift. A boy spoiled and with no respect for anything. Brought up without knowing the meaning of the word no and an inkling at being at cruel. He was known to the teachers  and that’s why Maya was not getting into trouble.

“You!!” Aelin marched to Remelle “Stop telling lies about my family. Go and get a job to keep you occupied but you stay away from my daughter and my own business.”

The woman gave her a snide smile “My son just said the truth. The silver haired fox who has been picking up Maya must have hated you both so much to disappear for so long.”

Aelin was about to punch the woman but she wanted to lead by example and restrained herself.

“Leave Rowan alone.” A deep growl left her and a second later she was walking away with Maya on hand.

When she arrived at her block of flats Aelin spotted the red pickup of the TFD and noticed that Maya brightened up all of a sudden.

“Is Rowan here?“ she asked hopefully.

“Shall we go and find out?”

“Yes.”

When the lift doors pinged open Aelin spotted Rowan’s towering figure leaning against the wall near her door. Gods he looked just as upset as she was.

His finger pointed to the flickering emergency light “This is not safe.”

“I know, we have reported it a lot of times but the building manager keeps ignoring us.”

A wicked smile “I guess the manager will not be able to deny the visit of the fire chief.”

“Thank you, this building has gone downhill since management changed.” She was about to open the door when Rowan stopped her “What do you mean?”

“The lift keeps breaking, the emergency lights are not working properly and I have a feeling the fire alarm is not up to code.”

Rowan’s face turned harsh “You are coming to my place tonight. You are not staying here.”

“I can’t.”

“Aelin, I am not kidding, I will get an inspection sorted tomorrow but tonight you two are not staying here.”

“Are we going to Rowan?”

He kneeled “Yes baby, you are coming home with me.”

The three of them went inside and Rowan helped Maya to pack some of her stuff “You left your shark at my house.”

“I know, he loves the big house, but Elf comes with me.” Rowan internally smiled at that statement. He had gifted her the elf and she would take it anywhere. It was a small consolation but he’d take it.

When all the bags were packed to Rowan’s satisfaction they left the house. Rowan climbed in his pickup and Maya and Aelin in the other.

It took them a good forty minutes to reach his house and as soon as the door was open Maya ran inside to the sofa where her toy was.

“He missed you too.”

“Aelin, I have a spare bedroom upstairs next door to hers. You can use that.”

“Thanks.”

“Maya, take your mum upstairs while I make dinner, do you want dinosaur nuggets?”

“Yes!!”

“Can I have them too?”

He smiled “As if I can stop you.”

Twenty minutes later they were all down in the living room with Maya in-between them while eating. 

Aelin looked at Rowan and nodded. When Maya was finished she pulled her daughter closer “Remember at school when I promised I would tell you about your dad?”

“Yes.”

Aelin pulled her daughter on her knees and turned her towards Rowan “Your dad had to leave before you were born,” she started explaining “His dad had died and he had to go home to look after his mum who was ill too.”

Aelin extended her hand to Rowan “He was really sad and did not know about you.”

Maya hugged her mother “His mum is okay?”

“Yes baby, she is fine and your dad could come back to us.”

Her daughter’s green eyes lit up in happiness “I want to meet him.”

Rowan extended his hand “Hi, my love.”

“Dada?”

Rowan nodded and Maya climbed to him and hugged him koala style.

Aelin sobbed in joy at the scene and her hand joined Rowan’s on Maya’s back.

Rowan basked in the feeling in silence, swaying lightly side to side.

“Do you want me to be your dad, Maya?”

She looked up at him “Yes.”

“I love you.” He kissed her silver hair and she just nested her face in the crook of his neck. Aelin leaned against Rowan’s shoulder and the three remained in silence for a minute. Maya then wiggled out of her father “Mama we need to live here with dad, he has woods!”

“Maya, it’s just for a few days until he checks our house, then we are going back.”

Maya folded her arms at her chest and her face scrunched up in an expression that was totally Rowan when he was upset “No. I want to stay here. I hate the city centre.”

“Maya, your mum and I have to sort out a few things first.”

The girl huffed, grabbed her toys and climbed down from the sofa and went to sat on the carpet giving them her back “Adults are annoying.”

Both Aelin and Rowan looked at each other in surprise “She definitely has your fire,” commented Rowan quietly.

After Maya finally went to bed Aelin and Rowan remained on the sofa trying to deal with what was coming next “You know that you can both stay here? This house is big enough for all of us and I’d love the chaos.”

“I know,” she left out in a puff of breath “I love this house too. It’s basically my dream home.”

“Then what is the issue?”

“Us, Rowan.”

He looked at her puzzled.

“Are we going to live here like roommates? Isn’t that going to confuse the hell out of her? She accepted you as her dad far too easily and I am scared that this will mess her up.”

He nodded “but maybe being under the same roof will help feeling a bit more stability? These past few weeks she has been grumpy. Aelin, she punched a kid.”

She snorted “The little bastard deserved it.”

“I am not arguing that.” His hand covered hers on her thigh “Stay here, please, I am worried about your house. I am not having my girls live in a death trap.”

“Look at your, mr fire Chief.”

“Aelin, I do not joke about these things,” he added seriously “Even regular firefighter me would have begged you to stay away. I am the chief, I can help.”

Aelin eventually nodded “Ok, let us go back for a couple of day to get our stuff sorted and then we can start move here. I just hope you are ready for madness.”

On instinct Rowan pulled Aelin to him “This house needs a bit of chaos.” A gentle kiss on her head  and Aelin melted in his arms at the old familiar feeling.

*

The following morning Aelin and Maya had gone back to their house and Rowan was in his office pouring over a pile of documents related to their block of flat. It all had been perfect until three years prior when Hamel group took over and the sloppiness had started. He searched for records of accidents and found far too many callouts for problems, a lift cable snapped and an electric fire in the basement where all the meters were and the main electric frames.

That place was a disaster waiting to happen. When he saw that it was his old house to attend the fire he knew what to do.

Rowan left the office in a hurry and drove to station 15.

When he arrived he parked at the front and got inside where his old team greeted him cheerfully “Chief! Coming for a ride with us?”

Rowan smiled at Brullo one of his lieutenant.

“No, is Lorcan in the office?”

“Aye, pouring over reports.“

“Thanks.”

He made his way to his old office and knocked, waiting to be allowed in.

“Rowan? I will give you those reports from yesterday, we have been quite busy.”

“It’s fine,” he dismissed him and threw a folder on his desk “This incident here.”

“Lorcan grabbed the folder and his face morphed as soon as he realised which one it was “Nasty one. Luckily we contained it quickly, but it could have been a fucking disaster.”

Rowan sat down “that building is not up to code.”

A deep sigh from Lorcan “We know, the TFD knows.”

“So why nothing has been done?” Anger lining his words.

“The old chief got very friendly with Hamel group. It’s the reason why he got the boot. It was a huge scandal, he took bribes to falsify inspections.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Lorcan shook his head.

“People live in that building. Families.” He shouted, leaving out the hidden meaning my family.

“Hamel got cleared and the bastard owns two office buildings in the financial district and a fabric in the south that is getting very acquainted with Hazmat recently.”

Rowan stood in anger “Well, there is a new chief in town.”

He thanked his friend and left the building on a mission.

taglist

@rowaelinismyotp @swankii-art-teacher @whimsicallyreading @elentiyawhitethorn @aelin-bitch-queen @bruiseonthefaceofhumanity  @mis-lil-red @thegreyj @sailorsassley @leiawritesstories @clairec79 @morganofthewildfire @sv0430 @heartless--aromantic @autumnbabylon @rowanaelinn @backtobl4ck @susumaus98  @gracie-rosee @mybloodrunsblue @tanvee1231 @avenrebekah @whoever-you-choose-to-love  @theywillnotsingforme @universallytreepost @black-daisy-water @goddess-aelin @whispers-in-the-darkest-heart @lovely-dove-zee @athena127

[alicepao13]

Hudson and Rex S02E17 - The Graveyard Shift - PART A

Probably my favorite S2 episode. Bring Mankiewicz back!

There's no way this won't be split into two parts. I won't even try.

Bossman looks cool.

Oh, CSIS mention.

Charlie, you're on camera, man. Look alive.

Agreed. That was awful lol

Jesse's first "television cameo".

"I have a dinner. With a woman. Who is not my mom this time". Oh my god, Jesse.

You guys are oversharers. Also, what was the point of Sarah looking at Charlie as she says it? Is she going to need help washing her back?

He's back!

True. I don't remember if I'd figured it out at first, either.

"Nobody needs to know that we're talking". Maybe you should have that discussion in private, then.

Not Queen Elizabeth II on the Canadian dollar bills. It's so easy to forget that Canada is under constitutional monarchy.

1200 dpi is... a lot. And I honestly can't tell if it's needed, the most I've used is 300. I'm not googling "is 1200 dpi good for printing fake dollar bills".

Why make Jesse stay if it's just the flash drive you need? I'd just keep the flash drive.

Yeah, definitely not you. Jesse does need to get a life, though.

Can we just agree that every time Jesse is interested in someone they should do a background check on that individual? I know what I said about him doing a background check on Charlie's barista in S1 but Jesse has like a 90% chance of crushing on a criminal.

Admiring his own work. Humility is for losers.

As always, great security, guys.

Mankiewicz picked up Charlie like he weighed nothing. That man is a gorilla.

"Who dares to aim a gun at me?"

Slow-mo here, for whatever reason. I'm sorry but I think this would have been brilliant at normal speed.

I love, LOVE the desperation in Charlie's voice when he yells "don't shoot". Whoever doesn't think that Charlie won't become unhinged if something happens to Rex hasn't been paying attention.

This episode shows that once again, Rex can become Charlie's weakness, even though he's usually one of his strengths.

"But... he's the bad guy."

That's humiliating. Cuffed with his own cuffs.

He figured it out. Point for Charlie.

"Get me out of here, I'm too cute for jail."

Wow, Rex goes wild when he hears Sarah's name there.

One of the first shippers.

The real question is, is any extra loyal to the SJPD or are they all on someone's payroll?

Bro's looking for grooming tips.

Of all the little details that made it to other episodes... Jesse's dislike for mushrooms in pizza? Really?

They forced us out of our own precinct!

No way the fake gas company dude who's actually a criminal starts with "Sorry, folks". Only in Canada.

They certainly picked quite a night for filming outside. I think our own actors would have actually died if they had to film in those conditions.

"How very Ocean's 11 of you". Well, whatever works (and isn't utterly ridiculous). I'm not sure who to blame for this. Realistically, you have to check the credentials of the people from the gas company. But if someone were to fake gas company credentials that pass inspection, I don't think that would be far-fetched.

"[Dogs] understand and respect the chain of command. I can see it in his eyes. He already feels the balance shifting". You're describing something spineless. Definitely not a dog, and certainly not Rex.

You see, that's why he's going to betray you, Mankiewicz.

Translation: We're seriously dying from the cold here.

Joe: "Everyone's gone home except the skeleton crew". Jesse: "And we're the skeletons, right?" lol

So, Hudson and Rex had predicted AI voice generators? What I mean to say is that it's kind of unrealistic for the technology in 2020, no matter what Mission Impossible says. Even now, real-time masking using another person's voice (not just using a distorter) needs a lot of things. First of all, powerful machinery. Then, training on the target's voice (something that apparently someone did with John Reardon's voice to scam people? Ew). Then you need to be able to do this in real time as you talk to someone else, without pauses that would make one suspicious. Most of these things are text to speech. Oh, and of course you need to know that person well enough to not make the voice sound like the person has gone through a lobotomy.

Did you just call Charlie, "poor creature"?

To be continued in PART B because I already maxed the image limit.

[cheerfullycatholic]

The Wreck of The McIntosh

If you work on the water for long enough, you start to see things. If you decide to stay on the job afterwards, you start to accept them.

I was young when I joined The McIntosh’s crew, a cargo ship transporting logs from Canada to Michigan over Lake Superior. The other men on the ship told me their ghost stories at night, but I never believed them until I started seeing things for myself.

The McIntosh is named after the man who designed her, Fredrick Vaughn McIntosh. He spent the last half of his life making her the fastest, most efficient ship on the Superior. Stories say he loved her more than his own wife, Marianne. The first night she set sail after her completion, Fredick died on the bow. They say the crew found him with a glass of wine still clutched in his hand, head turned toward the sunset. When I saw him for the first time, standing in the same place he died, watching the horizon, I hadn’t realized who he was. When I questioned how he got on board, he just smiled and said, “Isn’t she a beauty?” before fading away. I was terrified, running to the bridge as quickly as my legs could take me. Everyone laughed after I told them what happened.

“He’s harmless, don’t worry too much about him, yeah?” The captain said, patting me on the shoulder.

“Yeah,” another crewmate said, “it’s that old weeping widow you gotta worry about!”

The crew burst out laughing again as I demanded her story. Twenty years ago, one of the crewmembers, a man named Henri Tautou, died during a storm on their way back home. A wave hit the side of the ship and the giant cedar logs came loose, sending him into the water. His wife, Angela, so overcome and distraught with grief, snuck onto the ship and jumped overboard, joining her husband at the bottom of the lake. Some say you can still hear her moans of agony during storms, late at night, and if you’re not careful, she’ll take you with her to their watery grave.

After a while, the ghosts that haunted the ship stopped scaring me. What I saw on the Superior is a different story.

When you hear sailor stories, they’re usually about beautiful women singing their siren song, but all I ever heard was screaming. The first night I heard it, I ran to the side of the ship, searching frantically for its source. In the distance, illuminated by the full moon’s bright light, I saw a figure standing on top of the water, reaching their hands out towards me. I only got a glance before hands were pulling me back, my name being cursed.

“You must never pay heed to the demons of the lake, boy!” A crew member, an old man with an angry face only ever called Haggard, yelled as he roughly pulled me below deck. “They’ll swim off with your soul, do you understand!?”

Despite Haggard’s warning, I was intrigued. Any moment I could spare, I was at the bow, gazing into the water. I learned that there was a whole world under the surface. Humanoid creatures with fins and long, stringy hair would inspect the boat, banging on the metal with stones to listen to the echo. Some would spot me and wave with their pale, webbed hands. Others would screech and dive below the surface, never to be seen again.

Occasionally, Fredrick would join me. He did and said the same thing each time, like a broken record, perhaps reliving his last moments on earth. My Ma always warned me about meddling with the dead, but I didn’t consider it meddling. I never spoke to him, we just watched the sunset, and he’d say his line; “Isn’t she a beauty?”

A year and a half into my time on The McIntosh, I started smuggling extra food onboard to feed the creatures. The merpeople had their own language that I couldn’t understand, but they learned my name, and I theirs. With a basket tied to a rope, we’d pass each other trinkets. They loved most dearly the jewelry I would bring them, and I adored their shells and agates.

The creature I was most taken with was what I could only describe as a mighty dragon. The first time I saw her, I thought I was dreaming. I was gazing over the side of the ship, like I usually did, when a darkness overtook the water. I had looked up, thinking a cloud had shielded the sun, but that wasn’t the case. The great mass in the water was longer than The McIntosh, its sleek, scaled head, peering up at me from just below the surface. I stared back in absolute shock, horror, and wonder, pondering if this was my last moment on this earth. However, she only stared at me, her shining, amethyst eyes piercing my very soul. I gave her that name, and told her as much. She looked wholly unimpressed, seeming to roll her eyes at me before swimming off. Yet, she came back the next night, and all of the ones after. She became my closest friend, and I loved her, but the time I would spend at the bow had been noticed by the crew, and they were unhappy.

On the third night of The McIntosh’s last sail, I stood at the bow, a pistol in hand.

“You can’t hurt her, she’s peaceful, and my friend.”

“That thing is a beast! You’ve brought death onto this ship, and if you don’t move aside and let us take care of it, you will be cut down, too!”

The crew yelled in anger, torches and petrol cans in hand as I pleaded with them, but they were too overcome with fear to understand that the lake and its creatures weren’t what we thought they were. For so long we lived afraid and unwilling to accept the world as it is. In that moment, I worried that it was too late for change.

“Amethyst, you must leave. Never return to the surface!” I cried behind me, at the beautiful sea dragon in the water below. With a look as sorrowful as she could make, she disappeared into the inky depths, and my heart sank with her.

“You were never meant for life on the water, boy,” Haggard growled, moving to the front of the crew. “I knew that as soon you stepped on deck. You’re weak. You got no guts.”

So overcome with grief, I didn’t act quickly enough to stop him from driving his filet knife into my stomach.

As if a siren went off, all around us, the lake wailed in agony. I saw the crewmembers cover their ears against the noise, before a large, black mass shot out of the water and landed on the ship as I went overboard.

As I sunk deeper into the lake, icy, webbed hands stroked my face and hair. Through blurry eyes, I saw the merpeople gathered around me, weeping as they pulled the knife from my stomach. The pain faded as I looked up at a great, yellow light on the surface; fire encasing the sinking ship as the crew jumped into the water, dodging debris and spears as the creatures of the lake attacked.

Amethyst swam under me, allowing me to rest on her back, as my eyes slid shut, and water filled my lungs.

[coochiequeens]

Update on a story I already posted about

By Anna Slatz February 5, 2024

The family at the center of a custody battle with Montana Child and Family Services over their 14-year-old “transgender” daughter is reportedly facing imminent arrest after speaking to media about their ordeal. Krista and Todd Kolstad had previously been ordered by a judge to remain silent on the case, but chose to speak out about their situation last week.

Reduxx was first to break the story after speaking to the Kolstads about their tragic situation on January 29. In the interview, the Kolstads revealed that their 14-year-old daughter, Jennifer*, had been removed from their custody after they declined to actively “affirm” her newfound gender identity. Montana Child and Family Services (CFS) argued to a court that it was in the child’s “therapeutic best interest” to have her gender identity “respected,” and a petition was presented for the child to be sent to a family member in Canada.

Stepmom Krista and “Jennifer” Kolstad. Photo Source: Provided.

The removal was the culmination of a months-long battle between the Kolstads and CFS which started on August 18, 2023, after Jennifer claimed to a friend that she was suicidal and suffering from terminal cancer. The friend reported the claims to police, who reached out to the Kolstads to confirm that Jennifer was alright.

Later on that evening, a CFS case worker arrived at the Kolstad home for an inspection and private interview with Jennifer, at which point the child declared she had drank toilet bowl cleaner and overdosed on pain medication.

Though she showed no symptoms of illness and had no access to either substances, Jennifer was taken to the hospital on an emergency basis for bloodwork, which conclusively determined she had fabricated her claim of overdosing. She also does not have a medical history of cancer despite having claimed to her friend that she was terminal.

The Kolstads attempted to inform CFS that Jennifer had a tendency of attention-seeking behavior and fabricating wild claims, but throughout the incident, Jennifer’s “gender identity” was the main point of contention. The child told CFS she identified as a “boy” named Leo, and that her parents were abusive and not willing to facilitate her gender transition.

Jennifer spent two days in the hospital for suicide monitoring, at which point the Kolstads agreed with CFS that she would benefit from being sent to a residential treatment facility for counseling. While there were a number of Montana-based facilities floated as options, the possibility of Jennifer being sent to Wyoming was also mentioned as an unlikely alternative.

The Kolstad family. Photo Source: Provided.

On August 22, the Kolstads were told that Jennifer was next in line for a bed in Billings. But, later on that same day, they received a call from the hospital informing them that she was instead being sent to an unnamed facility in Wyoming. Faced with a number of unanswered questions and a concern about Wyoming’s laws allowing children to transition, the Kolstads expressed a hesitancy to allow Jennifer to be sent across state lines.

Within 10 minutes of refusing to immediately sign paperwork releasing Jennifer to the facility, Montana Child and Family Services arrived at the Kolstad residence with police and served them with paperwork temporarily removing Jennifer from their custody.

Jennifer was eventually returned to Montana to enter a youth group home for additional counseling, but the Kolstad’s fight with CFS had only just begun.

Though initially told that Jennifer would be returned to their care after her time at the group home was finished, CFS petitioned the court to remove Jennifer from their custody completely and have her sent to her long-estranged biological mother in Canada.

“We were told that letting Jennifer transition and live as a boy was in her ‘therapeutic best interest’ and because we aren’t willing to follow that recommendation, the court gave CFS custody of Jennifer for six months,” Krista told Reduxx. “CFS is now going to place Jennifer in the care of her birth mother in Canada, who has never really been a part of her life. The judge said to us ‘you need to expect that reunification with your family may not be what you are expecting.’”

In response to the decision, the Kolstads released a video on social media pleading for help. The court demanded they remove it and issued a gag order restricting the Kolstads from speaking further on the case.

They voluntarily defied the order, re-uploaded the video, and spoke to press regardless out of concern over what was happening to their family. While a contempt of court hearing was set for January 29, the Kolstads had to file for a continuance in order to leave the state and attend to a severely ill family member in Ohio.

But the already-mind boggling story has only continued to grow in complexity after the Governor of Montana, Greg Gianforte, released a statement on X (formerly Twitter) siding with the decision of the state’s Child and Family Services.

While not directly accusing the Kolstads of abuse, Gianforte suggested that Jennifer was removed from the household for legitimate reasons.

While the CFS affidavit does extensively detail the child’s complaints of abuse for not being “affirmed” in her desire to live as a “boy,” the argument made by CFS that resulted in her being removed from her parent’s care was their hesitancy to immediately sign paperwork sending her to Wyoming.

Both the CFS affidavit and the accompanying report neglect to acknowledge that Jennifer had lied about having terminal cancer, drinking Clorox toilet cleaner, or overdosing on prescription medication — all statements that would lend weight to the parent’s initial warnings that Jennifer had a history of attention-seeking behavior.

The Montana Safety Assessment completed by CFS.

Previous accusations of household instability detailed in the CFS report from 2016 and 2017, both of which involved Todd’s ex-wife, were noted “unsubstantiated,” and there has never been any history of Todd nor Krista physically harming or otherwise neglecting any of their children’s care.

But despite the clear indications that the “abuse” in the Kolstad residence was limited to not affirming Jennifer’s “gender identity” and expressing a hesitancy to sign paperwork allowing Jennifer to go to Wyoming, a push to paint the Kolstad’s as legitimately abusive has begun in an apparent effort to justify CFS’s actions. Disturbingly, many of those pushes appear to originate directly from the Governor’s office.

Travis Hall, Governor Gianforte’s senior advisor, has shared two posts to his social media account in which it is implied that the Kolstads were severely abusing Jennifer.

In one post shared by Hall, a user claims that even children living in “absolute filth, meth labs, with both parents being dealers and addicts” were not taken away from their parents in the way Jennifer was, implying what was happening in the household was far worse.

Another post shared by Hall features a link to an article from TownHall reporter Stephen Brown which appears to have been created with the input of the Governor’s office. In the article, Brown refers to Jennifer with “they/them” pronouns, and runs defense for Gianforte’s suggestion that the Kolstads were abusing Jennifer and that CFS acted appropriately.

On X, an individual claiming to be a lawyer who works to “protect trans kids” in Montana has been spreading the false accusation that Todd Kolstad, Jennifer’s father, was “convicted” of domestic abuse. In actuality, documents reviewed by Reduxx demonstrate the charges, which were unrelated to Jennifer, were dropped in 2021. The Kolstads are currently engaged in a lawsuit against the Glasgow Police Department for their alleged mismanagement of that case, and the officer at the center of the suit is also being pursued by other Glasgow residents for similar acts of misconduct.

But while the Kolstads have experienced an outpouring of support on an international level after taking their story public, Governor Gianforte appears to be doubling down once again.

This time, the Kolstads have been made aware through their lawyer that they may be arrested when they return to Montana from Ohio where they are still caring for a sick relative.

“We were very concerned, but not surprised, to learn from a credible source that the Governor of Montana plans to arrest us the moment we step foot back in Montana. We are also told that he has tasked his senior adviser and director of strategic communications to use the media to punish us for speaking out about the state’s medical kidnapping of our daughter,” Krista Kolstad said to Reduxx in an exclusive statement.

“It was an abuse of power for the state to revoke custody of our daughter because we wouldn’t affirm her ‘gender identity.’ It is an abuse of power to use tax-dollars to smear us as negligent in the press despite records that prove we have always proactively sought care for our daughter’s ongoing, unrelated mental health issues. We have also followed medical recommendations pertaining to these issues since she has been in state custody. The only thing we ever objected to is ‘transitioning’ our daughter.”

Krista continued: “Any accusation that she was taken from our home due to abuse or neglect secondary to this issue is a bald-faced lie with political foundations. Our daughter is not a political pawn. She is a child and she should be with her family – not the state. We are never going to stop fighting for our daughter.”

Since receiving the news of their possible arrest, the Kolstads have no plan to return to Montana at this time.

Mattie Watkins, the family’s media representative reiterated Krista’s sentiments, and slammed Gianforte’s office for participating in the “smear” campaign against the Kolstads.

“We anticipated Governor Gianforte’s next move would be to smear US Air Force veteran, Todd Kolstad and his wife, Krista, as abusive parents. It’s clear that his top priority is his political reputation – not the child at the center of this increasingly political fight,” Watkins said.

“Surely to defame parents as abusive, to take away their child, requires some standard of evidence. If not, where does this stop? Which family, in which state, is next? In my opinion, Gianforte is giving state agents a manual on how to sever the parent-child relationship and bypass all levels of law and government in order to put any minor they like on the affirmation to lifelong medicalization pipeline. Our children are not safe in government care.”

*The child’s name has been changed at the request of her parents.

[ju1ian]

ending of nypw is gonna go like this:

James is out pacing the streets in distress while on tour in Canada. He hates not knowing what Dave's been up to while he's away, and he knows it can't be good. He decides he needs to try to call Dave's house, just to check in, but there aren't any pay phones for blocks, and plus, he doesn't have any change on him, so he ducks into a local business to see if he can borrow the phone. Maybe the clerk will be young and won't notice that he's making an international call.

Upon entering the store, a hush falls over him. The scent of aged paper and bindings is unmistakable - he's stumbled into a bookshop, and an old one, at that.

The man behind the counter is engaged with another customer so James pretends to look around the store. The pretending becomes honest-to-goodness intrigue when one particularly large book catches his eye. He reaches out and grabs it, pulls it from the shelf. It's heavy in his hands. Leather bound.

'INCANTATIONS AND SUMMONINGS'

He inspects the front, opens it, and flips through some of the pages. There's pictures, lots of words, and the paper has an old feeling.

A familiar feeling.

The shop goes cold around him. He looks back to the counter, but everyone is gone. It feels like a brisk wind has picked up, indoors, and he hears a familiar voice, deep and threatening, not really in his ear, but maybe in the wind. Maybe inside his head.

"We've been waiting for so long to welcome you back home."

His spine prickles. His head hurts. He touches his scalp. Hard horns are poking out of his skull. His pants shred as something erupts from behind.

It's a forked tail.

And it seems to be getting higher and farther away from the floor because... he's growing. Definitely growing.

It should be scary; should be wrong. But the flesh remembers - and all his past lives begin to flood back.

NYPW TO LOVERMAN PIPELINE ACTIVATED

don't ask me to connect this to Hook In Mouth.

The scream I just scrumpt at my workplace while reading this was insane.

This was great thank you so much this is the one true ending.

[altschmerzes]

gang you would not believe the week i am having. extended explanation of my current nightmare under the cut. please understand this is also mid ramp-up to finals season at my second year of law school and still trying to find a summer student position which means one million cover letters and applications.

when i moved to canada i tried to import my car. i did this twice, once by calling a company before i left that does this professionally, and they were like oh don't worry about it. you're fine, you don't need to do anything. i get to the border and the man at the border tells me the same thing. don't worry about it. you're fine you don't need to do anything. i go to the dmv here to try and title my damn car because my registration is expiring and i need to do that. the woman who works there is like oh you needed to import it :) but also get your driver's license first, trust me. okay. i go through the hell process of getting my ontario license. i now have my ontario license. i need to get a safety inspection and two forms from border control. sure. i don't have the first fucking idea how to do this but i'm sure i can figure it out.

fastforward. i got in an extremely minor accident on wednesday. entirely my fault, i was slightly distracted for a moment in stop and go traffic and a like. spider in my sleeve or something bit my arm and i hit the wrong pedal. got a ticket, spent 90 minutes dealing with the cops including the part where one of the cops spent several minutes lecturing me about how he can and should seize my car on the spot because it's registered out of country and i live here and that's tax evasion. i explain that i have been trying to get this dealt with but everybody kept telling me i didn't need to do that or worry about it. he tells me that's not his problem. sure. not his problem. understood. this has now become a problem that Cannot Wait though.

so what do i need to do to get my car registered here? still need those pieces of paper. i can get the safety inspection done at any old canadian tire, which, sure. that's fine. word. so what about the border forms? well. i call the canadian border services agency. i sit on hold for a while, and eventually the man on the phone not only can't seem to fucking comprehend anything i'm saying at first, he then also tells me that the solution to my problem is to drive to the fucking us/canada border, go back to the states, then drive back immediately and get the form then. oh my gd.

so i did that. i make the two hour drive to niagara fucking falls and i tell the us border agent what i'm doing there and he's like you can't do that. you need to export it from the us first or you'll get a five thousand dollar fine. and i'm like. okay. thank you sir. have a nice night. thank gd they give me no issue returning on the canadian side. so i make the drive home. having achieved nothing. nobody has given me any actionable information and the only thing more confusing and complicated than importing a car for personal use in canada is exporting one from the united states. literally on the government website it says 'every export office operates differently' which made me almost collapse into tears when i read it.

last night i decided okay, tomorrow i am calling a professional import/export service to throw myself on their mercy and beg them to help me. i might need to leave the country for a few days to get this dealt with bc it's possible i can't export it except for from us soil. all i am trying to do is follow the rules and every single person at every juncture of this nightmare has given me different, conflicting information.

just had that phone call. the good news: i am not going to need to go to the states for several days to deal with this. some nice lady from a company who does this professionally is gonna do the paperwork for me and has found me apparently the only us/canada border crossing that will let me do the us export shit from this side of the border. the bad news: it is an even farther crossing than the one i drove to yesterday, and i’m gonna have to wait a couple days to do it and then do it immediately, which means missing more class than i already missed yesterday trying to do this. hopefully then it will be sorted.

[fuzedatti]

IX. Infertile

───── ❝ 𝐀𝐧 𝐒𝐂𝐏 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞 ❞ ─────

Masterlist

CW ; suggestive

──────────────────

—See this part here? It is called the frontal lobe, it is in charge of voluntary movement.

The older man had a severed head in his hands, the fresh and recently dissected brain was arranged by parts on the metal table.

—The Pestilence must be there, if they don't move they are cured.– Said the little doctor pinching the pink tissue.

—Wrong, the Pestilence is human mortality, they are cured by not dying, that is what we are looking for.

With a scalpel, he cut the area to continue inspecting it closely. The patient suffered from intense mood swings, this was caused by abnormalities on the tissue, resulting in sudden errarthic behaviors in the person. He let the minor get closer to make an incision for himself, surprisingly he was able to do it without any problem, he showed that he was capable of being a doctor just like him, he just needed to change his technique.

—Fascinating, SCP-049-J, maybe you have talent after all.

—My name is Junior dear mother.

—For the last time I'm not-

—Hello family!– The mask entered the house with great encouragement and joy. Leaving his hat on the rack next to his briefcase, he went straight to Louis to kiss him with great love and hold his "son" and turn to the invisible camera. —I love my life.–

—You haven't stop acting like a fool since you adapted the personality of those characters on that strange device.

Dýo's new body belonged to a bussiness with a perfect wife and daughter. Now that they were all dead, the entities took the opportunity to usurp their home, anyway, they lived in the middle of nowhere and far from the city. The county of Pennsylvania had been their refuge for these weeks, their plan was to go to New York and camouflage until they reached Canada and settle in indefinitely. It had been a long time since they had heard about the foundation, if possible, they wanted to come to Italy to settle permanently and live as "normal" as possible.

Dýo pushed Louis aside to crouch down to Junior's level. —Hey champ, why don't you go play outside for a while? Me and your mother have to talk about adult things.–

—But I'm a doc-

—Yes, yes, I love you too son, now go away.

He kicked the little boy out. Now alone, the mask grabbed his lover by the waist, slowly pulling him closer as it whispered something in its native language. With his hand he gently removed the doctor's mask, revealing his face. Seriously, he would never get tired of seeing and adoring him. It made him weak, very weak.

—Stop calling me mother,– He muttered annoyed. —I don't like it.–

—Ow, but it does sound so beautiful on you.– He caressed the lower part of his chest, brushing his ribs.

—Meská...

That name made him stop, if he was upset. He moved his hands to his back, making circles with it.

—How many times have I begged you for forgiveness? It'll make me soft, you make me soft...– His breath felt warm on his now uncovered neck. —Forgive me, I won't do it again, you can also be his father.–

—It is enough for me.

The clothing under his cloak was scant. Just a turtleneck and simple pants of the same dark tone. It was no problem for his partner to get rid of them easily, now, with only his heeled boots on, he lay exposed to the world. And his world was his God and his God was Dýo.

—Eons have passed since I've seen you like this αγάπη μου, you're as sublime as the day we lost each other.– The words took control over his being, allowing himself to be totally manipulated by him. The thespian undressed him without taking his eyes off of him, the body had turned out to be much more resistant than the others and it still had all its functions well preserved.

It is as if they were inside a fantasy, the outside world disappeared around them, leaving them only with the melody of a violin. Human mortality was not compatible with their fusion, with the way they loved to procreate. Leaving aside binarisms or categories, it was a dance between them, between incompatibles.

The way Dýo touched his lover was romantic, leaving him in spasms. When you are loved, you love back, and you never stop loving. No matter how bizarre their bodies were, or how indecent they got, they enjoyed each other. The manhood fit perfectly inside the womb, infertile, withered.

—Let me please you, tell me what you want, my love; Tell me your desires, tell me how you feel.–

—Teach me to love, Dýo.

His hands clenched his forearm, which supported his slender legs. His sweaty forehead glistened with fury, just as his body turned reddish. He collided with his lips repeatedly, panting with excitement.

—Nicéphore, oh Nicephore... Tell me, have I been good? Have I been a good lover, a good God to you?– He groaned. —Have I made you cry, more than I have now?–

—You kept me warm in the summer, and cool in the winters. For me, it's all I need, mon seigneur et maitre.

And in a flash of inspiration, the seed was planted, where a tree will never grow but roots. Roots of union, roots of love. Both bodies embraced to never let go. Polonoí planted sweet kisses on his partner's face, letting him rest. Louis felt his eyes heavy, letting the weight of the mask take over him, he adjusted his body to let himself fall.

The floor was cold and the wood rough. For some reason, he felt bad about what he has just done just a few seconds later. He observed his hands then Dýo, who was now sitting looking at a point in nothing. His neck was sore as were his hips. He was not made for this, he was not made to endure. He ran the tips of his fingers through his pelvis, feeling a old bite mark; Other marks were on his body, on his shoulders, thighs, and chest.

Wanting to formulate words, he just let out a breath and started crying. His sobs were low, his lungs were failing to breathe properly, and more than anything, his heart was beating at abnormal rates. Louis' old body couldn't take these adrenaline-filled situations anymore, he just felt miserable, disgusting.

—What's wrong Louis?" Have I done something bad again?

—I want to rest but my legs ache and my elbows are in agony...

The entity took pity on him, taking him carefully to carry him to the bedroom. The house was small but that walk felt eternal, the silent suffering in Louis's gaze violently stabbed Dýo's consciousness. He left the afflicted body on the mattress, adorned between sheets, outlined his lugubrious figure.

—If I hurt you or was rough, tell me.

—Dýo, I promise you that you didn't do anything, on the contrary, you showed me your love...– He wasn't looking into his eyes, maybe he was lying. —It's just, I feel guilty for having done it.–

—Guilty of what? You shouldn't mourn something that has yet to be dead.

Dýo's anguished face didn't improve, somehow he felt that it was his fault but he didn't know how to avoid it. He sat on the opposite side of his lover and leaned back. For a few moments they remained silent, speaking to each other between sighs. For a few moments the plague doctor was able to sleep.

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Thousands evacuate from Nova Scotia wildfires (AP) Wildfires in Canada’s Atlantic coast province of Nova Scotia have caused thousands to evacuate. The Halifax Regional Municipality said late Monday that preliminary estimates indicate approximately 200 homes or structures have been damaged, based on initial visual inspections by first responders. Halifax deputy fire Chief David Meldrum said an estimated 14,000 people were told to flee their homes, most of which are about a 30-minute drive northwest of downtown Halifax.

Police agencies are desperate to hire. But they say few want the job. (Washington Post) The San Francisco Police Department is down more than 600 officers, almost 30 percent of its allotment. Phoenix needs about 500 more officers to be fully staffed. The D.C. police force is smaller than it has been in 50 years, despite troubling gun violence and carjackings, as officers leave faster than they can be replaced. Police departments across the country are struggling to fill their ranks, creating what many current and former officials say is a staffing emergency that threatens public safety. They cite an exodus of veteran officers amid new police accountability measures that followed the 2020 murder of George Floyd, increased hostility from the communities they police, and criminal justice laws that seek to reduce the number of people in jail. Advocates for police reform see the moment as an opportunity to hire a new generation of officers and reimagine policing. But as agencies seek fresh recruits, they are getting fewer qualified applicants than in past years—leading some to make the risky move of lowering the bar for hiring to fill their ranks.

Gun violence rages with at least 20 mass shootings recorded over Memorial Day Weekend (USA Today) Gun violence erupted across the U.S. over Memorial Day weekend: At least 20 mass shootings left 16 people dead and over 80 injured. The Gun Violence Archive, which tracks mass shootings, logged 20 incidents in which at least four people were injured or killed, not including shooters, from Friday afternoon through Monday night. The bloodshed started with a spree in Arizona, where a 20-year-old man was accused of killing four people and injuring one in five different shootings in the Phoenix area. Over the next three days, people were killed and injured in Virginia, Mississippi, New Mexico, Illinois and more. And Monday evening, as Memorial Day revelers in Hollywood Beach, Florida, celebrated the holiday, nine people were injured by gunfire along a boardwalk.

Drought-struck Barcelona quenches thirst with costly desalination (AP) Where once the population of Barcelona drank mostly from its rivers and wells, Spain’s second city now relies upon a labyrinth-like mesh of green, blue and purple pipes inside an industrial plant to keep it from going thirsty amid a prolonged drought. Water is pumped from two kilometers (1.2 miles) into the Mediterranean Sea to where the Llobregat desalination plant sits on an isolated stretch of beach. After journeying through several cleaning and filtering systems it reaches its final stop: the twisting and turning multi-colored channels that squeeze every drop of water free of its salt. Barely used after being built in 2009, Europe’s largest desalination plant for drinking water is running at full throttle to help the greater Barcelona area and some five million people adapt to the impact of climate change, which has contributed to the drying up of southern Europe’s fresh water reserves through heat waves and drought. In April 2021, before the drought, rivers provided 63% of Barcelona’s drinking water, wells provided 34% and desalination just 3%. Two years later desalination makes up 33% of Barcelona’s drinking water, while wells provide 23% and its shrinking rivers just 19%, according to Barcelona’s municipal water company.

Paranoid atmosphere (Washington Post) Parishioners have denounced Russian priests who advocated peace instead of victory in the war on Ukraine. Teachers lost their jobs after children tattled that they opposed the war. Neighbors who bore some trivial grudge for years have snitched on longtime foes. Workers rat on one another to their bosses or directly to the police or the FSB, the Federal Security Service. This is the hostile, paranoid atmosphere of Russians at war with Ukraine and with one another. As Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime cracks down on critics of the war and other political dissenters, citizens are policing one another in an echo of the darkest years of Joseph Stalin’s repression, triggering investigations, criminal charges, prosecutions and dismissals from work. In March last year, Putin called on the nation to purge itself by spitting out traitors “like gnats.” Since the invasion began, at least 19,718 people have been arrested for their opposition to the war, according to legal rights group OVD-Info, with criminal cases launched against 584 people, and administrative cases mounted against 6,839. Many others faced intimidation or harassment from the authorities, lost jobs, or had relatives targeted, the organization said.

Russia says drones damage Moscow buildings in pre-dawn attack (AP) Russian air defenses stopped eight drones converging on Moscow, officials said Tuesday, in an attack that authorities blamed on Ukraine. The attack caused “insignificant damage” to several buildings, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. Two people received medical attention for unspecified injuries but did not need hospitalization, he said. The attacks have raised questions about the effectiveness of Russia’s air defense systems. A senior Russian lawmaker, Andrei Kartapolov, told Russian business news site RBC that “we have a very big country and there will always be a loophole where the drone can fly around the areas where air defense systems are located.”

30 international peacekeepers injured in fierce clashes with ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo (AP) The NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo, KFOR, on Tuesday raised the number of its troops injured in fierce clashes with ethnic Serbs to 30. The Serbs had tried to take over the offices of one of the municipalities in northern Kosovo where ethnic Albanian mayors took up their posts last week. A statement said that 11 Italian soldiers and 19 Hungarian ones “sustained multiple injuries, including fractures and burns from improvized explosive incendiary devices.” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic spent the night with his troops on the border with Kosovo. They were placed on the highest state of alert on his orders last week. Vucic said 52 Serbs were injured in the clashes, three seriously. Kosovo and Serbia have been foes for decades, with Belgrade refusing to recognize Kosovo’s 2008 sovereignty.

Erdogan continues divisive rhetoric following victory (Washington Post) President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sang and smiled, reveling in the applause of the supporters he addressed Sunday after the toughest election of his long career. In victory, though, instead of soothing the nation, he lashed out at a familiar set of villains, in remarks that may set the tone for his next term. He was dismissive of his opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. “Bye, bye to Mr. Kemal,” he said. And he ruled out any release for an imprisoned Kurdish political leader, calling him a “terrorist.” As the country moved on from the election, Erdogan would not easily abandon the bitter rhetoric, analysts said, setting Turkey on a divisive and turbulent course for the foreseeable future, even as Erdogan juggled a need to stabilize the economy as well as Turkey’s often stormy relations with allies in the West. In fact, “I think he is going to harden” his rhetoric, said Berk Esen, a professor of political science at Istanbul’s Sabanci University. “We are going to see him adopt a very polarizing discourse using ethno-religious themes” to maintain his “winning coalition” of voters. The value of the Turkish lira sunk to a record low on Tuesday, just days after Erdogan entrenched his authority into a third decade.

Chinese police clash with protesters over plans to demolish mosque (Washington Post) Residents of a majority-Muslim town in southwestern China clashed with police over the weekend as they tried to stop the demolition of a domed roof from a centuries-old mosque, part of the Chinese Communist Party’s expanding effort to control religion. The incident appeared to be related to a court judgment from 2020 that ruled some of the mosque’s most recent renovations were illegal, and ordered demolition. With a history that may stretch as far back as the 13th century, the Najiaying Mosque was expanded many times over the years to add buildings, as well as four minarets and a domed roof. In 2019, part of the structure was listed as a protected cultural relic. In recent years, however, Communist Party restrictions on the pious have escalated sharply. The country’s top leader, Xi Jinping, has demanded absolute political loyalty of faith communities and the “Sinicization” of religion. Surveillance of religious leaders has also intensified. A nationwide database of officially approved Islamic, Protestant and Catholic religious teachers was launched this month. The campaign has focused on Islam and Christianity because of the party’s deep-seated fear of faith being a vector for foreign influence.

North Korea says it will launch its first military spy satellite in June (AP) North Korea said Tuesday it would launch its first military spy satellite in June and described space-based reconnaissance as crucial for monitoring the United States’ “reckless” military exercises with South Korea. The statement came a day after North Korea notified Japan’s coast guard that the launch, sometime between May 31 and June 11, might affect waters in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and east of the Philippines’ Luzon Island. Japan’s defense minister warned its forces to shoot down the satellite or debris, if any entered Japanese territory, and its coast guard issued a safety warning for ships that would be in the affected seas during the expected launch, citing a risk of falling debris. While North Korea’s rivals have condemned the country’s planned launch as a banned test of ballistic missile technology, it’s less clear whether the satellite itself is advanced enough to support the North’s stated goals of tracking and monitoring U.S. and South Korean military activities in real time.

Celebrations in Jordan ahead of kingdom’s first major royal wedding in years (AP) Several thousand cheering and flag-waving Jordanians packed a sports stadium for a free concert in the capital of Amman as part of celebrations leading up the kingdom’s first major royal wedding in years. Crown Prince Hussein, 28, is to marry Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif, 29, on Thursday at Zahran Palace in downtown Amman, the same wedding venue previously chosen by the prince’s father, King Abdullah II, and his grandfather, the late King Hussein. The nuptials come after a rough patch for the royals, including a public rift between the king and his half-brother, and are seen as a way of shoring up public support at a time of persistent economic difficulties.

Racers chase cheese wheel down a hill in chaotic UK race (AP) The big cheese of extreme U.K. sports events is back. Hundreds of spectators gathered Monday to watch dozens of reckless racers chase a 7-pound (3 kilogram) wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down the near-vertical Cooper’s Hill, near Gloucester in southwest England. The first racer to finish behind the fast-rolling cheese gets to keep it. The cheese-rolling race has been held at Cooper’s Hill, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London, since at least 1826, and the sport of cheese-rolling is believed to be much older. Few competitors manage to stay on their feet all the way down the 200-yard (180 meter) hill, and this year several had to be helped, limping, from the course. Matt Crolla, 28, from Manchester in northwestern England, won the first of several men’s races. Asked how he had prepared, he told reporters: “I don’t think you can train for it, can you? It’s just being an idiot.” Delaney Irving managed to cross the finish line first to win the women’s competition, even after having been knocked unconscious. Irving, 19, said the race was “good … now that I remember it.”

[boriys]

@seasailed ( plotted starter )

Boris hadn't gotten one, but two offers on taking the painting, used only for collateral, off of his hands. It wasn't anything nearly as famous as many paintings that were on display in museums, and yet he became keenly aware of it holding a greater significance after a young man had offered him some sort of coin with gems engraved into it : a coin worth at least ten times more than what the other man had offered him for it. He had thought it fake at first, a means to scam him, but further inspection would reveal that it was in fact genuine. This single coin would make him rich beyond his dreams.

Even odder was the way the coin so precisely resembled the numerous coins depicted in the painting, each with a pirate-like symbol etched into the surface. He had agreed to the exchange, but he grew increasingly curious as to why this young man wanted the artwork so badly and how he'd gotten his hands on the coins that appeared to be just like the ones in the painting. He decided then to pursue the strange man in secret. Through a window, he observed something that was downright baffling, something that made his eyes widen and jaw fall open. He was taking apart the painting! Why, Boris wondered, would someone pay so much money for something just to destroy it? What would he gain from it? His question was soon answered when it was revealed that the painting was home to a secret that would've gone a lifetime undiscovered in his own hands. The exact details were lost on Boris, but he knew that whatever secret it held, it was worth being in on and that was exactly what he relayed to those he worked with.

That brought Boris to where he was now, a stowaway aboard a ship and hidden in the cargo area. It was an uncomfortable spot, but far from the worst he'd endured and it didn't take long for him to fall asleep. Hours passed before he awoke, his muscles stiff and aching from the hard floor he'd laid upon. He pushed himself to his feet, shoving his dark hair from his eyes, and finally pulled himself out of hiding to observe the people at the pier. He expected to see something of a familiar sight, but he became increasingly aware that everything about this place looked foreign -- and Boris had seen many places, ranging from Alaska, Las Vegas, Australia, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and many other places that would take more than ten fingers to keep count of. This didn't look like any of those places, nor did it resemble other areas in the world that he would at least recognize from television or movies or pictures.

A puzzled frown settled on Boris' face as he studied the scene before him further. Many figures were cloaked and they were speaking in tongues that sounded nothing like he'd heard before, but the real giveaway to things being abnormal was the creatures that lurked about ; creatures and things that would be called monsters if he were to give a description. For a moment, Boris wondered if he was tripping on acid or something of the sort, but he'd done such a drug plenty of times and this was a much different experience.

Boris' attention snapped to the tattooed man who had given him the coin, which resided in his pocket, and he swiftly approached him without care of revealing his secret. He grabbed him by his arm, preventing him from leaving the ship. Not only did he want answers, but staying with him seemed like the wisest idea all things considered.

❝ My god, what is this fucking place? Where are we? ❞ An idea struck him, one that seemed plausible and yet one that he desperately wasn't true. ❝ Did somebody finally kill me and I am dead? Gone to Hell? It would maybe explain those monster things down there. ❞ God. He knew he had done some unfavorable things, but he tried not to be a terrible person despite it all.