#if john had just left south carolina......

[schraubd]

Will Matt Gaetz Finally Cause the Senate GOP To Stand Up To Trump? My Money's On No!

I really thought I'd laid the bar on the floor, but somehow Donald Trump has already burrowed under it by announcing (former*) Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz as his pick for attorney general. I had the pleasure of sharing this news with several of my law school colleagues, where it literally provoked a laugh-out-loud howl of incredulity. It wasn't just my people though. Senate Republicans also seem rather blindsided by the pick: The selection of Mr. Gaetz blindsided many of Mr. Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill. The announcement was met with immediate and unvarnished skepticism by Republicans in the Senate who will vote on his nomination. Senator Susan Collins of Maine said she was “shocked” by the pick — and predicted a difficult confirmation process. [....] Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, when asked about Mr. Gaetz’s selection, said, “I don’t know the man other than his public persona.” Mr. Cornyn said he could not comment on the chances that Mr. Gaetz, or Tulsi Gabbard, Mr. Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, would be confirmed: “I don’t know — we’ll find out.” “He’s got his work cut out for him,” Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, said as other senators dodged questions from reporters. Representative Max Miller, Republican of Ohio, told reporters that many members of the G.O.P. conference were shocked at the choice of Mr. Gaetz for attorney general, but mostly thrilled at the prospect that he might no longer be a member of the chamber. The House, Mr. Miller added, would be a more functional place without Mr. Gaetz. He predicted a bruising confirmation fight, adding that if the process revealed evidence to corroborate the allegations of sex trafficking against Mr. Gaetz, he would not be surprised if the House moved to expel him, as it did with Representative George Santos. Mr. Santos lost his seat after the Ethics Committee documented violations of the chamber’s rules and evidence of extensive campaign fraud.   But things aren't all bad. You'll never guessed who raced ahead of the pack to greet Trump's failson pick with open arms: One of the few lawmakers to offer a positive assessment was a staunch Trump ally, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who called Mr. Gaetz “smart” and “clever” but predicted tough confirmation hearings. So, how long will it take for the Senate GOP caucus to fall in line? I'm guessing it'll happen before the first confirmation hearing. (That is, if we have confirmation hearings). Oh, and speaking of organizations that have put their dignity in a lockbox, we did finally learn what bridge is too far for the ADL, which blistered the Gaetz selection because of his "long history of trafficking in antisemitism," including "defending the Great Replacement Theory." How he's distinguished from the ADL's glowingly-praised Elise Stefanik, who also promoted Great Replacement Theory, was left unsaid. * Gaetz hastily resigned his seat following the announcement, also getting ahead of a planned House Ethics Committee report that was set to issue findings on Gaetz's myriad, er, "controversies" -- including allegations of sex trafficking minors. Score one for QAnon! via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/WqtsjKg

[historypaintings]

The Death of Major Peirson

Artist: John Singleton Copley (American, 1738–1815)

Date: 1782-1784

Medium: Oil paint on canvas

Collection: Tate Britain, London, United Kingdom

Description

The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781 1783 is a large oil painting by the American-born painter JS Copley, showing a dramatic battle scene in a small square lined with buildings. At the centre of the painting, British soldiers in red uniforms support the body of their wounded leader, Major Francis Peirson (1757–1781). Peirson’s blood-spattered white shirt stands out against the bright red jackets of the soldiers, who cradle him below a large, billowing Union Jack flag, behind which flies the troops’ regimental flag, with only the small Union Jack in the upper corner visible. In the right foreground, a mother tries to flee the battlefield with a baby and a child. A golden statue is also visible below the flag. To the left of this group appears a uniformed Black man apparently shooting back at the French forces who have just killed Peirson. In the middle of a crowd of red-clad British soldiers, the man is depicted wearing a navy waistcoat, silver epaulettes, and a distinctive hat plumed with variously coloured ostrich feathers. The intended identity of the Black man is not known, nor is the possible identity of a real person on whom the portrait may have been based. Many of Copley’s contemporaries were slave-owners or had Black servants in their households in Britain. Copley’s own family in Boston, Massachussets, are known to have had in their household an enslaved African child.

On the night of 5–6 January 1781, a small army of French legionnaires launched a surprise attack on St Helier, the capital of Jersey, a Channel Island which had been controlled by the British since 1066. The French captured the Governor, Colonel Moses Corbet, forcing him to sign a document of surrender. However, in defiance of Corbet’s instructions to stand down, Peirson leapt to defend Britain’s possession of the island, leading his men to the market square of St Helier to engage. There he was fatally shot ‘in the moment of victory, after the French had given way,’ as reported in the Glasgow Mercury (11 Jan 1781). The setting of St Helier is depicted in careful detail, facing onto Royal Square along what is now Peirson Place, with the statue of George II in the background. Likewise, in this and other paintings, Copley tried to produce accurate portraits of models to populate his works. In this work, Copley has paid close attention to depicting the likenesses of two figures in particular whom he may have drawn from life: Adjutant Harrison, who cradles the fallen Major, and Clement Hemery, who stands at Peirson’s feet, wearing the blue uniform of his artillery company. In addition, Peirson and probably other figures in the painting were based on models and existing portraits in paintings and statuary. Historians have suggested the possibility that the Black man in this painting was actually modelled by one of two Black servants employed by Captain James Christie (Kamensky, p.320–1). On departing for Jamaica, Christie had left behind two servants named Abraham Allec and Isaac Burton in a rented flat in Golden Square, just a few blocks from Copley’s residence. He had taken them both into his service during his tour of duty in South Carolina. Both were most likely formerly enslaved, had fled to British lines in search of freedom and were taken into Christie’s retinue as ‘servants,’ wearing his livery and being bound to his and his family’s service, although probably not strictly owned by him (Kamensky 2016, p.320). Although the exact position of Allec and Burton in Christie’s household is unknown, at the time Britain was profiting heavily from the trade of enslaved people and the position of so-called ‘servants’ in British households was often closer to enslavement or indentured labour.

Copley’s painting heroises Peirson and celebrates the British victory, epitomised by the Union Jack held aloft above him. At the time, British colonial forces were on the brink of losing their American colonies in the American War of Independence, and despite it being little more than a minor skirmish, this victory did much symbolically to revive confidence in the British Empire. Indeed, the engraver and printseller John Boydell commissioned Copley – who had, since moving to London in 1774, already made his reputation there with The Collapse of the Earl of Chatham in the House of Lords (1779–81, Tate N00100) – immediately following the battle in order to take advantage of the moment. Copley accordingly created a fantasy in his work. The propagandistic aims of the picture were apparently successful – when it was first exhibited to the public in May 1784, crowds of people came to see it and, according to one contemporaneous critic, ‘the chorus of praise reached all the way to Buckingham Palace’ (quoted in Wilson 1990, p.35).

This pro-Empire propaganda also informed the inclusion of the Black soldier, whose act of retaliation for the death of the fallen British major isn’t borne out by any historical evidence. Rather, the figure was apparently designed to signify and falsely romanticise the fierce loyalty of the British colonies and people subjected to British exploitation. As Richard Saunders writes, ‘The thought of the duty-bound servant faithfully seeking retribution for a superior’s death undoubtedly warmed the hearts of many Englishmen of similar station’ (Saunders 1992, p.32). The soldier’s elegant livery is striking, especially the plumed ostrich feathers in his hat, which are out of place given the painting’s setting at the remote edges of the American War. The ostrich feathers lend an air of opulence to the soldier’s uniform, reproducing tropes of exoticity that were commonly brought to bear on representations of Black people in art of the period. Overall, the soldier’s elegant dress was probably chosen to elevate the status of the officer the Black soldier served, whose intended identity is also uncertain. Copley’s key to the painting, the ‘Description of the Picture of the Death of Major Peirson,’ published by Boydell on 22 May 1784, labels the figure as ‘3. Major Peirson’s black servant’, but this identification seems to be a later decision. Indeed, in one of Copley’s preparatory sketches (Tate N04984), he labels the man as ‘Capt. Christie’s Black Servt.’. A Glasgow newspaper did mention that a Black servant of Captain Christie ‘distinguished himself greatly’ in the battle (Glasgow Mercury, 18 Jan 1781) but the changes Copley made in the identification of the figure speak more of an artist serving the propagandistic aims of their painting, with little care as to the actual identity of the man.

This is reflective of stereotyped, dehumanising depictions of Black people at the time. It also echoes the contemporaneous position of Black men within the British army, which by the end of the eighteenth century had become the biggest single purchaser of enslaved African men, deemed dispensable in the defence of British colonies (see Roger N Buckley, ‘The British Army 's African Recruitment Policy, 1790–1807’, Contributions in Black Studies: A Journal of African and Afro-American Studies, vol.5, September 2008). Historian Jane Kamensky has commented on the ‘sensational’ effect of Copley’s depiction of a Black figure in such an active role, considering this a ‘striking departure from the figuration of black bodies in European painting’, referring to a tendency for European artists to represent Black figures in passive, subjugated roles (Kamensky 2016, p.326, 323). She argues that Copley’s inclusion of the man in this very active role serves a propagandistic function as it supposedly elevates ‘British liberty’ over the ‘false freedoms of the Americans and their French allies’ (p. 323). This she positions as a positive ‘progression … in the direction of black freedom’, which she sees as beginning with Copley’s earlier depiction of a Black sailor in a position of relative prominence in the painting Watson and the Shark 1778 (National Gallery of Art, Washington) (Kamensky 2016, p.324). However, she concludes that the fact that there is no evidence to support Copley joining any abolitionist cause or of his family freeing their enslaved child makes it impossible to connect Compley’s depiction of Black figures in both paintings with an antislavery conviction. Whether or not one detects antislavery sentiments in Copley’s painting (an assertion that is vague at best), his evident disregard for the individual identity of the Black man in the scene typifies a widespread recourse to undifferentiated, symbolic typology in the treatment of Black people as artistic subjects.

[presidentkittycherk]

okayy everyone so heres my very poorly written hamilton 70s au plot.....

please dont mind my writing im very bashful but i wanted to get it out for @x-fag ... also a big thank you to @hamilfreak for brainstorming and helping with ideas :]

A very basic timeline of events

1973-johnmovesto town, gets job at store

1974-burrens becomes irl

1975-herc, john n burr move in tgther -herc and laf begin their love and laf in need of a permanent place moves in (he contributs SO MUCH cuz he rich asl oh my god.) -eliza gets pregnant and the hamiltons get engaged and .. move uptown

1976- hamilton and eliza move to town -hamilton gets banned from gay club -burr quits job at office to full time queen(just the plot from her on out tbh meh)

Its "quiet" uptown… SETTING: 1976, a town right outside of new york city

an engaged couple,annoying deadbeat alexander hamilton and tired newly pregnant eliza schuler, move to new york. eliza aleady works at the groceey store bakery bur forces hamilton to get a job to support the upcoming family so he gets a job at "Office". The night before his first day, alexander decides to sneak out as he frequiently does. Alexander is proudly "bi-curious" and these desires led him to the towns local "gay club". Upon his arrival, his eyes are immediatly set on a young man with some groovy bellbottoms. alex immediatly approaches and starts a conversation. He attempts to flirt but the young man seems uncomfortable and confused and his eyes keep darting back and forth. Alex doesnt catch the hint and put his arm around him and insists he buys him a drink.

Suddenly alexander feels someone yank him by the hair and flip him around and away from the young man. Its the classiest queen in town, Purple Velvet! without letting go of alexs greasy slicked back hair, she damands to know what his problem is. alex mumbles a few half assed explanations, but Velvet already flashed her blinged pistol in her purse to alex and is dragging him out. by this point, a bouncer has arrived to asses the situation. Velvet queens out, tells the bouncer alex was harrassing her bitch and she wants him BANNED from the gay club. Sense she is one of the main attractions at the bar, the bouncer takes a polatroid of alex, tapes it up on the wall as banned and lets him go!!

The young man was John laurens, and him and aaron burr(purple velvet) have been lovers adn live together for two years now. John works at the grocery store as a cashier and is generally bummed out, but he is happy to at least have burr. He moved to new york from south carolina in 1973 coming from a rich family who just wanted him to move out. They give him a monthly allowance still, he pretends he doesnt get it but everyone knows! Aaron burr used to do theatre and opera, but found real success and passion in drag. His background isnt very clear, but his parents just recently died and he is rich as fuck right now and is fighting for his life budgeting for cocaine. He works at the office and preforms as Purple Velvet. Burr is a frequent at the grocery store john works at, and noticed him as cute when he started working there but didnt assume he would reciprocate so he left it be. John saw burr and was immedietly intrigued and conflicted. He hadnt had much interest in dating or love before, but he immeditaly understood what he felt when he saw burr. in exploring these feelings, john wound up finding the gay bar figuring this would lead him to discover more about himself. He wanders around and sees a poster with the stranger from the grocery stores face on it! it says purple velvet will preform on THIS FRIDAY NIGHT! John is confused and wasnt familiar with drag, but he was excited nontheless and goes home. All week he thinks about Purple Velvet and what it could mean.

Friday night comes, and john catches the last number in Purple velvet preforms. He is ENAMOURED if he wasnt already enough! He sits down and wonders what to do, he wants to talk to Velvet, but he doesnt know how! BUrr comes out in a more casual dress after changing out of purple velvet and noticed the cute cashier was over at the bar. Feeling more confident in his chances now that hes seeing him HERE, he approaches john, tells him he remembers him from the grocery store asks if he can sit by him and buy him a drink. John is speachless and bashful and these two rich gays hit it off and start chatting it up! burr take john home and the rest is HISTORY!!!!!!!!

The two have two other roomates(by 1976), Hercules and lafayette. Hercules mulligan is the most locked in person here and owns his own tailor shop and works on designing and is pioneering 1980s shillouettes. He is pretty good friends with Burr from the gay club.. Lafayette is an international salesman for his parents french phone company and is still learning english. He is a mess and rides a tiny motor bike around town trying to sell phones, but nobody knows what hes saying so he makes no sales, but he wont get fired cuz he a nepo baby! met when lafayette comes in to sell a phone, hercules cant tell what he says and thinks hes here for a suit! lafayette is confused and says yep hes here for a suit! hercules starts measuring him and it quickly becomes erotic cuz laf enjoyed it alot and thought it was some type of american sexual novelty. hercules is very very happy that lafayette is into it! lafayette has been staying at a hotel funded by his parents, as his job as an international sales man wasnt meant to keep him only in new york. Lafayette takes hercules back to the hotel room thats all dirty theres magots and german cockroaches everywhere. Hercules is very suprised and is confused about what lafayette is doing here and lafayette attemps to explain his positiobn as an international sales man, but hercules is mostly confused about the mess, sesne lafayettes only been here one and a half weeks. hercules suggests tey go back to his place instead, and lafayette takes them on his moped away to the house and lafayette loekwy just starts staying there

(I WILL REBLOG WITH PART 2) stupid fing tumblr cut me short wtf.,.

your president,

kitty!

[daresplaining]

Hiya~! You're always in the back of my mind as a kind and knowledgeable source for Daredevil. ♥

Do you know if it has ever been revealed exactly what chemical blinded Matt? Or even where it was coming from/going in the middle of the city? My knowledge of comic books exploiting all potential plots makes me feel like this is a thread that would have been pulled at some point over the last 60 years, but I don't see anything.

Aah, thank you! That's a great question, and the answer is that a lot of these details have actually been kept vague. There have been a lot of retellings of Matt's origin, but they haven't explored the actual context/nuances of the accident that much and the details they have included have tended to be inconsistent. The thing that blinded Matt was a radioactive substance of some kind, but visual depictions have varied wildly, from a glowing "radioactive cylinder" to leaky barrels of toxic sludge.

Matt's accident depicted by Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, and Glynis Wein (left); and by Chris Samnee and Javier Rodriguez (right).

As I mentioned, the details of the accident itself also vary. In Daredevil #1, we learn that the substance that blinded Matt was being transported by Ajax Atomic Labs, and that the accident was caused by the truck's brakes malfunctioning:

Daredevil vol. 1 #1 by Stan Lee, Bill Everett, and Sam Rosen

In Daredevil #164's origin rehashing, Roger McKenzie tells us that it was the army transporting bomb materials through the city, and that the accident was caused by the driver suffering a sudden heart attack:

Daredevil vol. 1 #164 by Roger McKenzie, Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, Glynis Wein, and John Costanza

Perhaps most compellingly (at least to me), Tony Stark's notes on Daredevil in the Civil War Files identify a Stark Industries project (under the leadership of Tony's father) as the source of the substance, which is referred to as radioactive waste:

Civil War Files #1 by Anthony Flamini, Stuart Vandal, Ronald Byrd, Madison Carter, et al.

Mark Waid added one more detail, which gave voice to something that had previously just been implied: that this dangerous substance—whatever it was—was not supposed to be going through a populated area at all:

Caption: "That's when the driver opted to finally look up. His tires screaming, his cargo tumbled loose. It had been secured with the same kind of care one would expect—from a fly-by-night company that thought it'd be okay to illegally transport toxic waste through New York traffic." Daredevil vol. 3 #23 by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, Javier Rodriguez, and Joe Caramagna

To this, I might add the inference that it was likely being driven through Hell's Kitchen in particular because it was (at that time) a low income neighborhood where the authorities would be less likely to notice or care.

Waid's description of the accident, and the visual of barrels of toxic waste rather than a radioactive cylinder, are reminiscent of the alternate universe version of Matt's origin that Frank Miller and John Romita, Jr. presented in Man Without Fear—which also included the juicy detail of lawyers for the corporation showing up at Matt and his father's apartment afterward and strong-arming Jack into not pressing charges.

But yes, though I understand keeping the science involved in superhero origin stories non-specific, this is definitely an area of the Daredevil lore that could use further clarification. For real-world inspiration, here's an interesting New York Times article from 1985 about the transportation of nuclear waste through New York City. This part in particular seems relevant, and fits the timing of the publication of Daredevil #1 in 1964:

"Brookhaven has had a nuclear reactor operating since 1954. From 1954 to 1976, the spent fuel - radioactive uranium - was carried by truck into New York City, across the 59th Street Bridge, north on Third Avenue and across town to the George Washington Bridge. It then went south to a site in South Carolina for reprocessing. But in 1976 the city passed a local law banning the shipments, and triggering a battle over who has authority to control the shipments."

Maybe Matt was blinded by radioactive uranium? That transport route doesn't hit Hell's Kitchen at all, but I will also point out that Matt's childhood neighborhood wasn't specified as being Hell's Kitchen until Daredevil #164. At the very least, we know that toxic stuff was going through Manhattan in 1964, so if you were interested in a potential real-world source for more details to add to Matt's accident, that seems like a good place to look.

[icarusbetide]

back on my bullshit y'all. implausible historical scenario: southern alexander hamilton (pt 1: lavien & laurens version)

Part 2: Washington's son dramatic-ass version

my favorite hobby is shoving historical figures into impossible scenarios so i can get them to do what i want. once again made up some convoluted series of events just to create a hamilton wildly out of character- god forbid, a southerner who might even get along with thomas jefferson. here's the first implausible scenario that make it possible.

Alexander goes to live with his half brother Peter Lavien.

Peter Lavien was the legitimate child of Rachel Hamilton’s first marriage. He moved to Beaufort, South Carolina in 1764 at eighteen and became a prominent merchant and member of the church. However, he returned to St. Croix in 1769 to settle his mother’s estate, aka get everything that she had wanted to go to James Jr. and Alexander. In 1769, the two boys were taken in by their cousin Peter Lytton (who died), and then Lytton’s father, who also died a month later. Probable that this happened after Lavien had once again left St. Croix, but let’s just imagine that he for some reason takes pity on the boys - and takes them with him. Nothing makes sense here, roll with it.

It would be even sadder and morbidly funny if he only took Alexander. I say this because in his 1778 last Will and Testament Lavien left “Alexander Hamilton and his brother Robert Hamilton” a fairly substantial amount of money. One brother must’ve left a greater impression on him and maybe poor James Jr. hears this half brother who took his inheritance say “Alex and Robert can come with me” and goes “Who tf is Robert, fuck this” and peaces out. 

Now, politically: Extrapolating since I’m not sure how prominent “prominent merchant” is, but maybe this means that Alex has the chance to meet prominent southerners early on, who like many others, are charmed by his energy and precocity. Does this mean he has more affection and allegiance for South Carolina than he did in real life for St. Croix? Does his politics and economic experience change? Assuming that like Washington, wartime experience is enough to make him a nationalist and he still had some experience at Cruger’s (and maybe helping Lavien) and thus does not have differing economic beliefs, his enemies would lose out on a major attack: perceived bias to the North. His connection to the Schuyler family would still serve, but maybe without as much weight, since he has those southern connections. 

I love the idea of a South Carolinian Alexander Hamilton who grows up in a fairly secure American home with a steady guardian. The personal implications! The family drama of being forced to rely on a half brother who resents you for taking his mom, and who you resent back for taking your inheritance! Does this give him more issues, less issues? No idea! Even worse, Lavien was apparently a Tory, so there’s that. Two brothers who perhaps got closer over the years, split apart again by political differences. “I take pity on a bastard brat and you repay me with this?” type shit. Lavien moved out to Georgia in 1777, and apparently died in 1780 or 1781 which means Hamilton would’ve been a prominent aide de camp to the commander in chief, and potentially married into a great New York family when it happens. How would he react to that?

And I can’t give up the idea of Colonel Alexander Hamilton of South Carolina meeting John Laurens of South Carolina. Maybe I push it further and say they meet early on and become childhood friends, even.

This is really stretching it but idc, they get to be childhood friends and Hamilton gains the favor of Henry Laurens. Maybe they even go to Europe together, wreak havoc on everything, and then disobey both Laurens' worried father and Alexander's Tory brother to join the army as aide de camps.

Maybe in this universe, Hamilton is chosen to go to South Carolina instead of John Laurens and their fates are switched. Maybe Henry Laurens who still wants to keep his kid out of danger asks Hamilton to go in his stead and pushes Washington about it, and Hamilton, wanting a command, readily agrees. Maybe that continues on after Yorktown, when Hamilton returns to South Carolina. Maybe Laurens has to learn that Hamilton died in a skirmish through a letter from his father and vows to continue on their shared dreams and Hamilton's plans, becoming the influential but even more abrasive leader of the federalist party. i want to see the switch, where it's the more idealistic laurens who isn't a good politician either (the two of them are a disaster) enters the public arena to be slandered and corrupted - laurens who is isolated from his fellow southerners and who seems to be mourning someone constantly and washington knowing exactly who it is. a laurens who looks back and yearns for a promising, brilliant young man who could've done so much more if he only had the chance WAIT WHO SAID THAT-

[applbottmjeens]

Spc. Sylas Thomas "Saint" Pham

AKA: Tommy, Phạm Tèo Sỹ , Tommy Graves, St. Thomas

Blood type: O Positive

Height: 6'4

Nationality: American

Ethnicity: Asian/Pacific Islander (Vietnamese + Filipino)

Languages Spoken: English, Vietnamese, Spanish

Religion: N/A

Marital Status: Single

Faceclaim: Aaron Bernards

Family:

Annabelle Graves née Pham - Mother (M.I.A)

Unnamed/Unknown biological father

Phillip Graves I - Step-Father (alive)

Phillip "Junior" Graves II - Younger half Brother (alive)

Russel Adler - Paternal Grandfather (deceased)

Phạm Vinh Trường / Thomas Pham - Maternal Grandfather (alive)

Maria Soledad Pham née Delgado - Maternal Grandmother (deceased)

Ryan Joseph "RJ" Pham - Uncle (alive)

-

Affiliates:

TASKFORCE 141:

WATCHER-1 / Kate Laswell

141's BRAVO TEAM

BRAVO 0-6 / Cpt. John Price

BRAVO 0-7 / Lt. Simon "Ghost" Riley

BRAVO 7-1 / Sgt. John "Soap" MacTavish

BRAVO 2-6 / Sgt. Kyle "Gaz" Garrick

141's ECHO TEAM / "LASWELL'S ANGELS"

ECHO 0-1 / Lt. Isobel "Medusa" Williams (@gipsyavnger)

ECHO 1-1 / Sgt. Maj. Hannah "Sparrow" Clayton (@revnah1406)

ECHO 0-0 / Alyssa "Aly" Martinez (@alypink)

141's TANGO TEAM / "THE AUSSIES" (@kaitaiga)

TANGO 0-1 / Cpt. Lachlan Jones

TANGO 2-1 / Sgt. Damien Whitlock (WHAT'RE YOU DOING HERE!?)

SHADOW COMPANY (Formerly):

Comd. Phillip Graves Sr., Phillip Graves Jr., Ms Sgt. Shane Sparks (formerly), Rozlin "Rose" Helms (formerly). Velikan, SO. Marcus "Lerch" Ortega

-

Tommy Pham was born during the 4 year disappearance of Phillip Graves in Charleston, South Carolina to a distraught Annabelle Pham after a brief tryst with a stranger. During the times his mother couldn't care for him, little Tommy stayed with his Uncle RJ or his grandparents.

When his mother married his stepfather, 3 year old Tommy had some trouble adjusting to him, but Graves would regard Tommy as his son just as much as his younger brother was, Phillip Jr.

Tommy and Junior's bond strengthened as they grew up, with the upbeat and sensitive Junior under the protection of his tougher older brother.

Both Tommy and Junior followed in their parent's footsteps and joined the army and eventually the Shadow Company, each brother talented in their own right: Tommy was a fighter, and Junior was a leader.

When his mother goes missing on a mission with the 141, his stepfather would refuse to divulge information on her whereabouts, only assuring him they were looking for her with little update.

Frustrated and with little faith in the Shadow Company, Tommy would turn to the Taskforce 141 for answers: specifically his godmother, Lt. Isobel Williams.

Tommy, now under the tutelage of the 141, is as unpredictable and crazy on the battlefield like his mother, but what he lacks in stealth (due to his height) he makes up with in brute force.

He takes himself a bit seriously and has the "patience of a Saint", and tends to hold his feelings close only to unleash when he's on the field later. While he and his stepfather have a somewhat strained relationship after he left the Shadow Company, he and Junior have become closer on their mutual goal to find their mother.

[jadeyharls]

Holy Crap, That is a Lot of Words: A "Brief" History of Jade E. Harley and the Alterra Timeline

April 13, Year 0 ATG (After the Game): Sburb is officially beaten and the new universe is created. This is where this timeline splits from the Alpha Timeline. Before opening the door, Karkat ends up speaking to Calliope and stops John from opening it. If she had been brought back from the dead, was it possible to bring back the other trolls? After some deliberation, the living players decided that it might be wise to do some preparation before entering the new universe. They didn’t know what to expect, and this was a second chance they were not ready to screw up.

Over the course of the next few months the players alongside representatives of the carapacians and consorts start laying out plans for the new universe. This includes how they would go about kickstarting the new civilization, starting with the foundation of a single settlement and a governing body. The Mayor is eventually elected the head of this governing body, with several of the “gods” playing active roles in society by serving or consulting on a variety of committees. All of the former players serve on a council put in place to safeguard the timeline, however, it is decided early on that no players would be permitted to hold elected roles that would influence governing policies. (Read as: Gods are not allowed to become president.)

After experimenting with several combinations of powers, the players finally figure out how to bring a ghost back without the use of a life ring… sort of. (This process became a bit more refined after Feferi was revived.) The hunt begins for the unaccounted for ghosts that are not currently a part of a sprite. During this time the players are guilt tripped convinced to bring the Beforian trolls with them as well. However, bringing back old friends does come with some cost. Davepeta for example had already vanished before the game ended. Nepeta’s ghost was eventually recovered (with her actually being the last to be revived), but there was no sign of what might be left of Davesprite. Hal is lost when bringing Equius out of the sprite, and Nanasprite and Jasprose both go missing during this time period.

Jade secretly stashes away a GREEN SUN spark somewhere during this time. To this day, no one knows but her. It’s hidden in a locket she keeps well buried in the back of her closet. She has methods in place to keep it from being detected. This is also why she still has a small degree of her first guardian powers. No one questions it (Rose and a few others probably do tbh) because “really, who completely understands how first guardians work anyway?” 

September, Year 0 ATG: The door to the new universe is opened. The players and those who joined them start looking for a place to settle, as well where the meteor lab might have crashed. However, it for some reason can not be found.

Sometime before the end of Year 0 AGT: Aranea, Gamzee, and Jack are put in trial for their various actions during the game. (Vriska and Eridan would later be addressed as well, but those were the big 3.) Since there really wasn’t much of a justice system in place yet, there wasn’t a whole lot that could be done. (They are still working on it. It’s not a super big priority though since most of the timeline’s residents are really chill.) The two trolls are basically given a second chance under extremely close supervision. Jack however is placed under “house arrest”, with Ms. Paint acting as his supervisor of sorts.

July 15th, Year 1 AGT: Cantown is officially founded and named. Located near a river about 100 miles off the east coast of what used to be the United States. I never officially decided where, but I think my original idea was that it might have been somewhere in where South Carolina used to be. Note though, that Earth’s geography has changed significantly.

Sometime during Year 1 AGT: Jade’s first post game death due to a construction accident. Not just or heroic.

Year 2 AGT: Jade and Jake (now 18) move out from their shared residence with John and Jane into the tower they built much closer to the coast. 

Sometime in Year 4 AGT: Dirk and Jade have a falling out after he and Jake get back together for the 3rd god dang time. Up until this point they actually had been decently good friends and often worked together since they both serve on the Science and Tech committee. 

Jade discovers a natural pool in what used to be Central America, and starts conducting research on wildlife that lives there, including the rapid evolution of sburb generated fauna (Hummingbirds and frogs).

Mid-December Year 5 AGT: Jade (now 21) accidentally discovers access to what she calls the multi-net through a website called Hivetale. She tells Jake about this fairly early on since he lives with her. Lots of weird stuff happens.

January Year 6 AGT: Jade meets her first moirail (Eridan). He is the first visitor from outside her timeline. These visits are mostly one sided though, as she has no way to leave her timeline at this point.

Aradia finds out about this and puts in place the secrecy rule. As long as the multiverse shenanigans stay under wraps, she is fine. If the secret gets out or the timeline is in anyway threatened, they will be going into total lockdown permanently.

Jade becomes close with another timeline’s Alpha Dave (David) and Hal around this point.

Spring Year 6 AGT: Hal gets severely injured. She convinces Aradia to help her break out of the timeline to go and help him. They end up needing another time player to make this work, and Damara is recruited after Aradia strikes a deal with her. Jade… wasn’t entirely sure what that deal was and was kind of afraid to ask. 

Turns out Hal’s version Dirk is the only one that knows how to fix him so enter this jerk. Seriously, she could not stand him at first because of how he treated Hal. Over time the two Striders ended up making up, and Jade befriended Dirk as well. (Aka, Grumpybutt.)

The ex moirail ends up moving in with her for a short time after his home gets destroyed by magical girls. Yes that is actually what happened, and no she did not tell Aradia about this.

Her timeline’s Rose and Kanaya get married.

Her timeline’s Dave and Karkat start dating.

John moves out from Jane’s house, and gets a place with Roxy and Calliope.

Summer Year 6 AGT: Hivetale says goodbye, Tumblr says hello. 

Jade meets Jack within like the first month. He keeps trying to fight her and she is NOT having it. Frankly, she doesn’t trust him. It’s freaking JACK NOIR, and still in full Bec mode at that. If being in contact with anyone is going to be a danger to her timeline, it’s going to be him right? 

“Wait who is this small dog child, and why/how the heck is she showing up at my house asking me to date her dad?” Jade meets Lily Noir, and the rest of the original 6 pups slowly make their way into her life. (Alpha, Bones, Timber, Demise, Lily, and Kami. The other 7 kids have not been born yet.) Jade reluctantly at first becomes friends with Jack. It… took awhile to get Lily to quit trying to get her to date Jack. 

Jake eventually ends up finding out about the Noir kids and proceeds to be like wtf. To be fair, Kami was painting occult rituals on their wall. 

Jade finds out Jake is planning to move in with Dirk. This ends up putting her in a really bad place mentally because she is terrified of the idea of living alone again after doing so for most her life. They come to a compromise, and this is when Dirk moves in with them much to her chagrin. 

Jade gets pale married?? Yeah, so… funny thing. She had no idea that is what happened, or that was even a thing. She was basically given a ring thought she was just getting a 6 month anniversary present. She didn’t know it was a marriage thing until months later. Luckily, she was okay with it, just really surprised. 

December, Year 6 AGT: Jade gets Poppy (her eevee) as a birthday present. Hiding her from Dirk is a massive pain, but she manages. Again, Jade didn’t tell Aradia. She found out of course eventually, but this was months later so by then Jade was able to convince her that she could keep the little terror hidden.

Year 7 AGT: Okay, so my memory gets a little foggy for the next few years, but I’m going to do my best. First off though, Jade finally gets a inter-dimensional portal device. 

Jade also gets Olena (her then Vulpix, now Ninetails) around late November. Dinah, her dog, was given to her by Jack that December.

Jade’s second death by plant spore induced strangulation. The purple stranglers are discovered and appropriately named. 

That one time she was magic anon-ed and given butterfly wings and antenna instead of her dog ears for like a week. That sucked. 

Also briefly turned into a griffin of all things by an anon. She hated that.

The dislocated knee incident.

Year 8-9 AGT: Okay, I might be off here, but I am about 80% sure this is when Flarping 2.0 happened. 

Olena evolves.

Hal and Grumpybutt Dirk vanished around Summer Year 8 a few months before she joined Flarping.

If I’m right then this is when she met Equius, Kris, EE, Vinny, and a few others. She was still on Tumblr some, but mostly on Flarping.

I want to say she met Nova as well? Which also means she got Gilligan (Her robotic humming bird assistant), though I do think that was post Flarping. 

Mer-May anon stikes. She basically gets stuck in a bathtub for a week.

I believe this is when Paradox Space was a thing for a little as well.

Built the cabin near the pool mentioned earlier, mostly to give her a place to let her pets wander freely and host visitors from outside the timeline where Dirk wouldn’t be an issue. But it also serves as a place to do her research. The ex moirail lived here for a few months at one point.

Year 10 AGT: Back to Tumblr.

Jade has to put Herbert the frog in solitary confinement away from other frogs. 

Roxy and John get engaged. No, they still aren’t married.

The ex moirail goes MIA. 

Jade and Equius start getting together. Not like “together” together though. Nooooo never.

3rd Death by late onset of the family peanut allergy. 

The tiny metal baby (Orion Pax the Aron) is hatched by an egg left at Jade’s cabin by Ivory Noir. 

Year 11 AGT: Not a whole lot happens unless I am forgetting something. Jade slowly starts to resent the now ex-moirail as he kind of just vanished without telling her, and she starts to realize some other things about the relationship as well. She finally decides to move on.

Equius gives her Oleander (Turtwig).

Gilligan starts acting… odd. 

Year 12 AGT: PRESENT DAY Jade turns 29 this year.

Gilligan starts acting more odd.

Not a whole lot of anything too crazy. 

Kris and Jade become moirails.

Year 13 AGT and forward: Gilligan is [Spoilers]. You’ll see it eventually. It’s about time I got that plot point moving. Anyway, from here on out, there is some discrepancy when it comes to the future of the timeline. Basically, Jade and the other immortals continue on their lives as civilization grows around them. Eventually though, there is a timeline split that leads to one of two potential far-off futures. Like hundreds of years off. One is the “good end”. Jade ends up raising a family of family of 4 adopted kids, and maaaaybe gets together with someone. (Big maybe) It’s just a happy, well-adjusted life where nothing bad will happen. No haha, not at all. The other is the “bad end”, which… basically involves Jade starting to take the goddess thing a bit too seriously after she gets ditched by most of the people in her life, and becomes the ruler of a new planet dubbed New Prospit. She does have an adopted son in this timeline who is killed during an attempted assassination, and whoops this starts a war. 

[my-deer-friend]

3, 7, 17 for the ask game 🙃

3. Do you have a nickname for them?

John Laurens is Jack, naturally, or when I'm feeling extra spicy he's Jaś (which is the nickname for Jan, the Polish version of John).

Bonus point: Equally naturally, Stanisław August Poniatowski (nine syllables?? my guy...) is Staś.

It does not in any way improve matters that this reminds me of legendary (to me) accordion duo Jaś i Staś.

7. Let us know three random facts about them!

Okay, let's see...

1. When Henry Laurens fell ill in 1770, he tasked 15-year-old John with writing an urgent letter to a correspondent. John opens with this wonderful bit of TMI:

My Pappa having been attacked with a slight Ague and intermitting Fever, has taken a Vomit this Morning, which is now in its full Operation

2. John was a thoughtful, considerate friend. Like the time where he left Thomas Paine on the side of the road in a broken carriage so he could rush off to Congress in Philadelphia, and, then per Massey,

So great was [Laurens'] haste that he completely forgot a promise to Tom Paine that he would ask Congress to compensate the pamphleteer. Instead, John left a request for Paine to pick up a pair of boots that he left behind with a shoemaker, but he enclosed no money to pay for the repairs. “I wish you had thought of me a little before you went away,” Paine chided.

Massey, G. John Laurens and the American Revolution (pp. 191-192). University of South Carolina Press.

3. John once rode all the way from London to Paris in three days flat, which I still consider an insane feat of trying to avoid paternal disappointment.

17. Is there a song that reminds you of them?

Is there!!

(Everyone's got a history blorbo playlist, right...?)

I'm not a Hosier!girlie but this is just 👌

And then, not to be Killers-posting in year of our lord 2024, but...

Bonus: pain!

[productofnfld]

The Horrible Hurricane of 1775

Newfoundland is no stranger to bad weather; storms blow in, they blow out again, and most of them are forgotten.

Not all of them though.

Nearly 250 years ago a storm hit the island with such force and left such destruction in its wake that it’s still not lost to time.

September 1775

The first week of September 1775 had been surprisingly good. The winds were light and the people of Conception Bay were busy. The squid were late that year and hundreds of small, open boats dotted the coastline engaged in the fishery.

Far south of Newfoundland it was a different story; there was a storm brewing.

In 1775 storms moved faster than news and the people of Newfoundland had no idea that on September 2 a serious storm had hit North Carolina, they had no idea that a hurricane was spinning it’s way up the seaboard and had Newfoundland in it’s cross-hairs.

Had they known they could have stayed ashore or sought sheltered ports but they didn’t, and what unfolded was horrific.

On September 11, the storm hit.

There was howling wind and torrential rain, perhaps worse still was the storm surge — the sea rose twenty-feet, throwing waves far inland, smashing buildings and sweeping them from the coast.

The strength of the storm was only half the story, the speed with which it struck left people with no time to prepare. The storm hit when Conception Bay was full of squid fisherman; their tiny boats were no match for the storm.

Boats capsized, sailing ships were thrown on shore.

Many fisherman never made it to shore, and even those who did struggled to find safety. Buildings and shelters were washing away.

The storm raged, leaving an unimaginable path of destruction. When the storm subsided parts of Conception Bay were in ruin. More than 700 hundred boats — 300 in Harbour Grace alone — were lost, including at least 11 ships, with most of their crews.

The death toll, counting those lost on the Grand Banks is estimated to be in the neighbourhood of 4000 people.

To put that in perspective, the summertime population of Newfoundland in 1775 is often cited at about 12000 people.

It was gruesome.

For days after the storm, bodies washed ashore. According to a report in the Annual Register for 1775, “for some days after, in drawing the nets ashore, they often found 20 or 30 dead bodies in them; a most shocking spectacle!”

It’s said that bones washed ashore for years afterward.

The staggering death toll makes the Newfoundland Hurricane of 1775 one of the deadliest storms on record in North America.

That said, when the storm comes up in conversation these days it’s not often in a discussion of meteorology. You’re more likely to hear about when people share spooky stories around the campfire.

The Hollies of Northern Bay

The community of Northern Bay, on the north shore of Conception Bay, was particularly hard hit by the Newfoundland hurricane of 1775.

Legend has it that a fleet of fishing vessels with a crew of migrant fishermen was driven ashore by the wind and storm surge and many of the crew drowned.

While they may have drowned, they didn’t quite go away. From time to time they still make their presence known.

It is said that just before a storm, particularly a storm out of the northeast, the voices of the dead seamen can still be heard crying out, acting as a sort of warning.

The ghosts are referred to as ‘the hollies’

In 1964, Mary Elizabeth McCarthy recorded her memories of Northern Bay and included a passage on the hollies. She said they “could be heard (because I did) on a foggy night with their sad heave-ho, for certain the sound was there, whatever it was.”

The phenomenon is described in a 1980 issue of Decks Awash magazine shares the story of John Hogan, a fisherman who died in 1972. Hogan, apparently, not only heard the hollies but saw them. He described them as looking like regular men who, at times, were quite helpful — even assisting him in hauling nets.

I think Hogan’s tale deviates from general ‘holly lore’ — they tend to be ghosts that are heard but not seen.

I suppose Hogan was right about them being helpful — they’ve spent almost 250 years issuing their supernatural forecasts, cautioning mariners of impending storms. It’s as if they are supplying the sort of warning no one was able to give them…

For some reason I think that makes the tales even creepier.

[deadpresidents]

Carter has passed Garner! He now holds ALL the records for anyone who has ever been President or VP! Only Alf Landon's still stands and he was never President!

Yes, you are correct! Jimmy Carter has now passed John Nance Garner on the list of longest-living Presidents or Vice Presidents (here was that list at the beginning of September). And we are 10 days away from President Carter becoming the first President or Vice President to ever celebrate their 99th birthday. Not bad for a guy who has been in hospice care since February.

And, yes, Alf Landon is the longest-living major party nominee for President or Vice President. Landon was the 1936 Republican Presidential nominee and lost the general election to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Landon was 100 years, 33 days old when he died in 1987. Think about that for a second: Alf Landon was the Republican Presidential nominee when FDR ran for his second term as President, and Landon died when Ronald Reagan had a little over a year left in his Presidency!

BUT, it's worth nothing that while Alf Landon is undoubtedly the longest-living Presidential or Vice Presidential nominee by a major party, he is NOT the longest-living person to ever win Electoral votes as President or Vice President.

In 1948, many Southern Democrats opposed to support for civil rights in the party's platform at the Democratic National Convention bolted from the party and formed the States' Rights or "Dixiecrat" party to run against incumbent Democratic President Harry S. Truman and Republican nominee Thomas Dewey. The Dixiecrats nominated South Carolina Governor (and future longtime Senator) Strom Thurmond as their Presidential nominee. Despite not being a major party nominee, Thurmond and the Dixiecrats, relying on voters in former Confederate strongholds in the South, performed better in the general election than just about any third-party Presidential candidate of the 20th Century.

Thurmond and the Dixiecrats won 4 states and 39 Electoral votes in 1948. In 1936, Republican nominee Alf Landon won two states and just 8 Electoral votes. So Thurmond's racist, third-party challenge performed far better than the GOP nominee had done twelve years earlier.

So, unfortunately, while we're talking about longest-living President or Vice Presidential nominees, we have to throw Strom Thurmond in the conversation considering the fact that he won far more Electoral votes in 1948 than Alf Landon did in 1936. And Thurmond lived longer, as well. Thurmond was 100 years, 203 days old when he died in 2003 -- he lived 170 days longer than Alf Landon did.

Thurmond is also almost certainly the oldest person to ever be one of the top officials in the Presidential line of succession. As I mentioned, Thurmond eventually served in the U.S. Senate from South Carolina -- a seat that he held from 1954-2003 (except for a period of about 7 months in 1956) -- where he eventually became the first (and only, so far) person to serve in Congress after their 100th birthday. Due to his lengthy tenure in office, Thurmond was president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate for several years when his party was in control of the Senate.

As president pro tem, Thurmond was third in the Presidential line of succession, behind the Vice President and Speaker of the House. This meant that, Thurmond was third in the line of succession well after turning 98 years old. In June 2001, Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords announced that he would begin caucusing with the Democrats in the Senate, which gave the Democrats a narrow majority and control in the Senate, However, if Jeffords had not made that decision when he did, Strom Thurmond would have been president pro tempore on September 11, 2001. That means a nearly 99-year-old man would have been third in the Presidential succession at the time of the 9/11 attacks.

[krunchymunchy]

John - P1 // short story

I'm john. I used to work as HR at Grace's Health and Services over in Mesquite. Mostly just handled payroll and logging. My birthday? God, uh; I think April 3rd, 85? So I guess I'm 38? God I haven't been asked that question forever ago. What was I doing day one? Uh, God that was years ago. Quite a blur but let me see if I can recall. I was at my desk when my phone started blasting. My ex-wife was calling saying she took Sophie out of school since she was nearby. Freaking out because I know she damn well knows weekdays are when Sophie is with me, I unlocked my phone and then the alert came on; "EAS: Undead rising." I took my glasses off thinking "What the fuck? Is the EAS hacked or something like what happened in Hawaii years back?" I clicked on the popup and read into the details. "EAS. The CDC has declared a state of Emergency in the following states: Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and Virginia. Health experts have confirmed a disease outbreak effecting those who have recently passed away. This disease is known to make those who are infected reanimate and have faster reflexes, increased motor function, and basic navigation. We urge you to stay indoors and avoid all contact with infected individuals. Please ensure to follow the following actions immediately: Secure your home Gather essential survival needs: Water, non-perishable food, weapons Stay informed via official outlets Avoid public areas and large gatherings to avoid the spread of the infection Stay quiet and alert- noise has been affirmed to garner infected individuals attention If you spot an infected individual before death, report all suspected infected to local authorities Follow local evacuation orders. Evac orders will be given to you via local EAS notifications. Remember to stay safe and vigilant. Do not go outside unless approved and safe guarded by military personnel to your evac zone." Shortly after reading that, everyone was freaking out in the office. Suddenly, my coworker Barry turned on the TV. I looked up and watched Governor Reyes on the podium speaking to the camera. "Today, I stand before you with a heavy heart and a sense of responsibility to safeguard our great state and its people. We are facing an unprecedented challenge, a threat to the health and well-being of our communities—a dangerous disease outbreak that requires immediate action. After careful consultation with our state's legal advisors and public health experts, I have taken the difficult decision to declare martial law in Texas. This decision has not been taken lightly. It is crucial that we act swiftly and decisively to contain the spread of this dis-" What happened next had Barry scrambling to turn off the TV, but he dropped it. I'd look back at the TV and witness the Lieutenant Governor, Patrick, rip into the neck of the Governor Reyes, his blue with white stripe suit now red, a dark maroon red. Something you'd see out of one of those cheap horror movies, but this wasn't a horror movie. I saw Samantha pass out from shock as she witnessed essentially our governor get murdered on live television. Shortly after Reyes fell and Patrick continued to devour on Reyes neck like a juicy pork shoulder, three shots rang out, multiple military personnel running over as one of them pushed the camera to the ground, still live, we could only hear the massacre and imagine what was happening. Eventually after around half a minute, it cut to a pre-recorded video of the national anthem. You know, those ones that were recorded during the cold war? Yeah, guess they never got around to rerecording those. The office was practically in chaos as people got shoved, people exiting through the front door, squeezing tightly together like a pack of sheep getting herded into a pen. I left through the back door, making sure I had my keys before I went to my car. I turned on the ignition as I quickly asked Siri to call Ada about Sophie

[molsons112000]

Do you know on average? It took me a year to two years to get my clients...

All of them were p***** off. They didn't have a representative for a long time. And then they thought I was just trying to sell them something which truly I wasn't... they had an issue.. and so I would spend time analyzing, and then I would call them, you know, because they truly had an issue, and I could solve the problems. And the ones that it's just hung up and didn't want me to call back, I didn't. Now sheila said I was wasting my time, but I believe in.Yeah, you have to have a reason... This is not a random courtesy call... i'm calling you because something needs to be updated....

When I was with metlife before I went to john hancock, because the other companies didn't have orphans, meaning these policies that were in force that the agent left the agency... and so I was at metlife, and I was calling on some orphan clients, and the guy said to me, are you new...??? I said yes, i've only been here a short period of time... Li said, I have. I think stage four cancer and yeah, i'm going to die soon. He was super nice to me... And he said every time you get new agents, they give me a call because I don't have a representative and every time they want to sell me more insurance, I can't buy insurance.I'm going to die in the near future.. So I would appreciate that you. Tell your boss, let's stop passing my policy around and people the stop calling me and disturbing me about purchasing more insurance.... I said no problem. I don't know why they don't make notes. They just gave me these.And do you need to update any beneficiary or any other information. And then we had a good general conversation and nothing about insurance. But I had problems with the agency.... i don't call people to sell things.I call people to solve problems... so all my clients, I had a good reason to call them... but even with that, unlike the other people, they were still p***** at not having representation for so long, like I had a huge case in another state and I didn't get in trouble in this case... because I wasn't licensed in that state but I was talking to him about this policy. And he did like what I had to offer, whether he refused to go with John Hancock and I don't know, I didn't have the money and so yeah, I learned and I pay for my licenses before I start asking for any questions. I got verbally censured... for soliciting a person in a state that I didn't have a license.... It was a huge case and I did win it and the case design and everything. But yeah, he would rather lose money than go with john hancock because he hadn't had representatives in like twenty years... And And the other guy was in there first... But I did show them, and we did the comparisons and yeah, I won, but I lost and then I got reprimanded by Ron. And I told him I didn't want to pay for the license if he wasn't going to move forward with the policy I need to it. You know, that's not how it works, and you're right, am Ibad? I never did that again. And do you know how many cases I lost a bunch in California? In other states that I paid for licenses. That I never ever got any business... Before I could talk to the person I had to have the license. So I never made that mistake, and yeah, before, that was my first time calling people from out of state... And it And it was only one time I made that mistake. I carried Michigan Indiana, South Carolina, California, New York, many states and really had no business in them. It was just to be able to talk to people in that state I had to be licensed... And And you know what state was the hardest California? They did an incredibly extensive background. Check harder than anyone else. It took a long time, and they had a lot of questions right?Which the other departments of insurance didn't... But they But they made it extremely difficult to get the license. They went back and wanted to know why in this history and this history we need to clarify this. We need to clarify that it took me. I don't know six months or more.They get a license... i mean Ii mean, I already have my license. Usually it's reciprocity, heaven in Illinois. You apply in Indiana. I got it, not in California. They ran me up and down the flagpole.New york took a little bit longer, too!!!!

But I didn't wear a tie 1 day. And Pat told Ron and Ron was out of the office, and I didn't wear a tie, and the next day I was passing manholly, told me that my minions told me you didn't wear a tie? I'm like yep, and he's like you ever do that again.You're gone... I'm like Yup, so the reason was because having breathing problems because the it was too tight on the collar. So what did I do I just stopped buttoning the collar. And I positioned a tie to hide that it wasn't buttoned until I could buy a shirt and yeah, a Walmart has a shirt, a dress shirt with a flex color or they did... But truly, I was having a hard time breathing, and so it constricts....

The only accent that I ever hit anyone in the police car when he was in the turn lane and I was turning left and I hit them at five miles an hour... i was wearing a tight collar and II couldn't turn my neck fully. And I shouldn't have buttoned my collar a little bit until I got to the interview, but I made a mistake.. And that's why I didn't see him, because I couldn't turn my head fully... But guess what that cop super nice... He came out and he wanted to know if I was okay if everything was okay and he was laughing about it. Mm, this is no big deal. I hit them on the opposite side and he was laughing about it. He was super nice, my car. You got that. The cheap power got severely damaged him small dent.. Then my sister she tore me apart.. Because the insurance I think it was with. She might have been on the policy, and she just rip me and rip me and rip me.... truly and I had to take all that all the verbal lashing, and then I couldn't drive the car again....

God doesn't give a s*** about your situation. Either you get it right or you should get your a**Kicked in front of me!!!! Why the hell should I have to put up with your incompetence!!!

My clients, even when I had exceptional returns. Even my nephew, he had almost 20% return on his investment and Mrs. Darden wanted him to to move it over because he married Ashley and like a coward, he didn't tell me and he moved it over. And I'm like, looking at the Returns and everything and I said, Dan, why did you move your account? And now tell me he's like, well, she wanted me to consolidate with their financial planner... And I said, you know the returns, and he's in a charge, you a higher fee, which he was And I said, you know the returns, and he's going to charge you a higher fee, which he was and what are the rates of return lower. Though he was charging more in fee and lower.And oh, who was he representing?He was one of the guys that did Though he was charging more in fee and lower. And oh, who was he representing? He was one of the guys that did did the.N f l... And I told dan, you know I can bring him up and for churning in that count, and I can report them to the regulators, and if And I told Dan, you know, I can bring him up and for churning in that count, and I can report them to the regulators. And if he's doing this with me four a small account, what is he doing with bigger accounts!! 🤔 but I let it go, but I was peed, I could have turned them in.... And they would have been good the.Regulators would have been chopping out of bits.... but the point is, I go through. Do you know how many people I saved an insurance? I fixed all their mistakes and it's unbelievable. You can ask all my clients, even my client. In Indiana, the guy with the fallonk, the doctor that had the uh plan his agent screwed up here here here here. And he could have, yeah, gone to jailbut the point is, I go through. Do you know how many people I saved an insurance? I fixed all their mistakes and it's unbelievable. You can ask all my clients, even my client. In Indiana, the guy with the fallonk, the doctor that had the uh plan his agent screwed up here here here here. And he could have, yeah, i've gone to jail ashley... And I fixed all the mistakes, and I still didn't get the business!!!, and I said this is ridiculous. I think I could have put you in jail. And you would have had these big bills, penalties, taxes and penalties, and I saved you all that, and you're still going to reward him with the business!!! And that's what's been going on. I don't get the business, and then you give it to somebody who doesn't deserve it, and I deserve it andAnd that's what's been going on. I don't get the business and then you give it to somebody who doesn't deserve it. And I deserve it and I sit here eating crow, and they go and eat steaks! And by the way, my partner David, I think we're about 4, but his dad brought the finest meat home every night he grew up eating steaks. His dad was proud that every dinner was exceptional, and david told me his father made sure every dinner they had exceptional food... Me, I had two pieces of white bread and some mayonnaise... And And we nicknamed it a jam sandwich? Whatever was there? So the bread tasted a little bit better. We ate so cheese mayonnaise, butter, you name it.... So I learn I eat to live and not live to eat!!!!

So these people aren't starving!!!! Because even at the shelter, we were like, they come clean about this, or that i'm like starving.If I gave you a piece of bread you'd be like thank you!!!! So you don't know true thirst!!!!!

But my friend raymond lee, he almost starved the death in the streets of china.... And we talked about.... people understanding true hunger, even if you want like. Miss park talks about in order to live.You still can't get.. So you learn the starve in silence... Because what would crying do?Ask her if he cried, I guarantee you.She never cried... Because what would crying do waste your time and energy like getting mad?It's a waste of time and energy to me... But these people that think it's okay, they don't know the value of life.... especially to be there. What hell is about?Is no one's going to answer, and no one's going to hear your cries... And so you'll learn that crane doesn't matter....

Like when I got my hand crushed, I yelled to stop stopped stopped. He just kept on crushing them. Truly, you gotta jam your own hand in our own foot in or you would have crushed my fingers and then he would have took him off very close to.... didn't do me any good, but make it worse.. acting... Again, you learn, just shut your mouth and focus on what you need to do or you're dead.... so what's crying going to do? But waste all your precious energy, and then you're not going to be a live, and it eats up all the air, if you're trapped, you won't survive....

[10bmnews]

A soldier goes AWOL, on the run with his 17-year-old girlfriend, right after his wife's murder. Is she in danger?

Hannah Thompson, 17, was on the run, heading out of Simpsonville, South Carolina with her boyfriend, U.S. Army soldier John Blauvelt. On Oct. 26, 2016, Cati Blauvelt, his wife of just a few months, had been found stabbed to death, her body left in a concrete box in an abandoned farmhouse. The knife blade broken off and left in her neck. “48 Hours” and correspondent Peter Van Sant reports on the…

[ivankahasbeentreatedsounfairly]

By Eric Schmitt and David E. Sanger

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has told Gen. Mark A. Milley, the retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that he is removing his security detail, revoking his security clearance, and ordering an inspector general inquiry into his record, the Pentagon said late Tuesday.

Mr. Hegseth’s spokesman, John Ullyot, said in a statement that the secretary directed the investigation to determine whether “it is appropriate” to review the rank upon retirement for General Milley, who stood up to President Trump in his first term. Essentially, Mr. Hegseth is asking whether General Milley should be demoted.

“We have received the request and we are reviewing it,” Mollie Halpern, a spokeswoman for the acting Defense Department inspector general, said of the referral to examine General Milley’s actions as chairman.

The general retired in 2023, and at a ceremony marking the occasion he reminded troops that they took an oath to the Constitution and not to a “a king, or a queen, or to a tyrant or dictator, and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator.” Senior Pentagon officials late Tuesday sought to cast Mr. Milley as an insubordinate political operator while in the chairman’s job.

“Undermining the chain of command is corrosive to our national security, and restoring accountability is a priority for the Defense Department under President Trump’s leadership,” Joe Kasper, Mr. Hegseth’s chief of staff, said in a statement late Tuesday.

General Milley could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Just days before General Milley’s retirement ceremony, Mr. Trump, then still planning a political comeback, suggested that the general had committed treason and should be put to death.

Amid continued threats from Mr. Trump of retribution against his enemies upon returning to office, General Milley received a pre-emptive pardon from President Joseph R. Biden Jr. hours before he left office last week. (In his first week back in the White House, Mr. Trump had the general’s portrait removed from the hallway in the Pentagon outside the chairman’s offices.)

Since General Milley has been pardoned, he cannot be court-martialed. But a finding against him could lead to a decision to reduce his rank, even in retirement.

General Milley and other former Trump administration officials had been assigned government security details because they remained under threat following the U.S. drone strike that killed the powerful Iranian general Qassim Suleimani in early 2020.

Two Republican Senate allies of President Trump urged him on Sunday to rethink his decision to strip security details from the former advisers who have been targeted by Iran, saying the move could chill his current aides from doing their jobs effectively.

Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas and the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, spoke after Mr. Trump abruptly halted government security protection for three officials from his first term who were involved in his Iran policy and have remained under threat.

Fox News earlier reported that Mr. Hegseth was moving to revoke General Milley’s security detail and order the inspector general review.

As the newly sworn-in defense secretary, Mr. Hegseth has been a sharp critic of General Milley.

General Milley’s split with Mr. Trump had its roots in his decision to apologize also for inserting himself into politics when he walked alongside Mr. Trump in 2020, through Lafayette Square, for a photo op after the authorities used tear gas and rubber bullets to clear the area of peaceful protesters. “I should not have been there,” he said later. “My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.”

Mr. Trump’s supporters have also attacked General Milley over his contacts with his Chinese counterpart during the first Trump administration, assuring them that the United States was not seeking to strike them, or trigger a military crisis.

General Milley, 66, was promoted to chairman of the Joint Chiefs by Mr. Trump in 2019. At the time, the president was impressed with his military record and his bearing. But he quickly soured on him. A book published by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, “I Alone Can Fix It,” reported that General Milley was worried that President Trump might attempt to stage a coup after he lost the 2020 election. He made efforts to ensure a peaceful transfer of power, and issued a statement condemning the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.

[goed]

20th Annual E-Money Year in Review: 2024 Edition

As I start to write this, it’s 11:56 on New Year’s Eve. I’m sitting in my apartment in Avalon. I’ve been drinking, watching (500) Days of Summer, and chatting with Petey on the phone. This is the 20th year I’ve reviewed my past year. If you had told me when I started doing this that this would be how I would be marking the occasion of my second full decade doing it, I can’t imagine I would’ve been happy. That reflects a common refrain I’ve considered over the last year. That is, that I don’t feel like I’m where I need to be in my life. I’ve been going to therapy for more than a year now. I think that’s been helpful. I describe the main reason I go to therapy as “trying to find out why I care about the things I care about.” I think I’ve made progress this year in that area, but there’s a lot of work left to do. I started this year a little more secure in my job than I had been a year prior. Work has been fine this year. Just a couple weeks ago, I learned that I’m going to get promoted. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. Let it be known that’s how I started the year 2025. Writing that last sentence. Anyway, when I talk about work with people, I always tell them, “It’s a lot less stressful than my old job, but a lot less fulfilling.” That remains the case. I still think that’s a tradeoff that I’m okay with. I was reviewing some old diary entries I had made in year’s past, and I was struck by how much of the stress I previously had was related to my job. I don’t have stress in my current job. Let’s hope it stays that way. I went to the NCAA tournament in Pittsburgh in March. That was a fun time. Got to see John Calipari lose his last game as Kentucky head coach, against Oakland at PPG Paints Arena. But the most memorable part of the tournament was getting to see South Carolina play in Pittsburgh. To be able to see my alma mater play in my hometown was an experience I’ll never forget, even though we lost. In June, I had another memorable experience. I traveled to Alaska, crossing off state #49, and ran my second half-marathon. I blew past my wildest expectations, and ran it in under 2 hours. Running has been a very gratifying experience for me this year, albeit with some difficulties in terms of staying healthy. But I’ve been working on training and pacing myself, and I’m hoping to complete my first full marathon in the new year. Alaska itself was incredible. It’s hard to encapsulate just how far it is from the mainland US. The I was there at the summer solstice, which meant sunrise was around 5 AM and sunset was around midnight. I don’t think I saw darkness the entire time I was there. Summer was filled with Pirate games. But honestly, it’s not the same as it used to be. I don’t have as many friends available to go to games with as I used to. That’s been something I’ve really struggled with. Many people in my life have moved on to the next phase of their lives. That’s understandable. But it draws a big comparison to where I am. In November, I went back to Nashville to see USC play Vandy in football. It was nice to be back in Nashville. But it’s definitely weird being back there. It’s not the same place as a visitor that it was as a resident. When I go there, it does remind me of everything I loved about that time of my life. But it also reminds me of a lot of things that I didn’t. At the beginning of December, I went down to Greenville for my friend Dustin’s wedding. It was great to see all my college friends again. I always get emotional after weddings, and this year was no exception. As I write this, this has come off a lot more melancholy than I would have hoped. Honestly, maybe that just reflects my overall mood. This year has been one where I have been struggling, to be honest. I’m lonely, Anybody who’s read the last 20 years of my musings can figure that out. What I learned this year though is that the only option I have is to try and make the necessary changes in my life to deal with that.