#ohio state english

[scary-ivy]

Hugh Laurie in House is kinda 😳 good thing they made him do a fake American accent thus ruining him so that I don't have to watch House now

[arctic-hands]

[Image Description: first image: stock photo of three black t-shirts. The first one says on top "Irish By Blood American By Birth" followed by the American flag (thirteen horizontal stripes alternating between red and white, a blue box in the upper left corner containing fifty white stars) merging with the Irish flag (three vertical stripes of green, white, and orange), with the bottom text saying "Patriot By Choice". The second shirt has a fading out Thin Blue Line flag used by American police (a vertical American flag with the red replaced by black, usually with the third white stripe from the right replaced with a blue line, but on this shirt the blue line has been replaced with green, followed by a white stripe and then an orange stripe). The third flag has a somewhat transparent police badge superimposed over the Irish flag, with the word "Irish" up top in big letters, and smaller letters I can't make out on the bottom. Second image: a screenshot of D.W. from the cartoon Arthur (an anthropomorphic animal nominally called an aardvark but lacking the long nose, leaving a flat, tanned fur face and with darker human-like hair in a bob), looking at someone/thing offscreen with a look of disbelief and/or disgust on her face. End I.D.]

Irish people, I NEED to know: What do you think of these weird shirts that rednecks in my home town wear?

[cannibaldaughter]

IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO HAVE IF YOU PLAN ON VOTING IN THE US ELECTION (November 5th, 2024):

IF you don’t have a way to get to your polling place both Uber and Lyft are offering 50% off of trips to your polling place! For Lyft you can use their code VOTE24 and on uber there will be a space on the app that says “Go Vote!” that will show you all the available promotions you can use to get to your polling place.

if you don’t know what your polling place is you can go to vote.org/polling-place-locator and check the voter registration logs in your state OR you can google “polling place locator” and there should be a widget that will show you where to go if you enter in your address (NOTE: ENTER YOUR PERMANENT ADDRESS, I.E the address on your drivers license or the address that you put down when you registered to vote)

If English is not your first language or primary language, you can ask for a translator to assist you or you can ask one of the workers at your polling place if they have non-English language ballots (this is only available in some states and counties but it is a good idea to ask regardless)

IF YOU LIVE IN ANY OF THE FOLLOWING STATES, YOU MUST HAVE A PHYSICAL GOVERNMENT ISSUED I.D TO VOTE:

Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming

USE THIS SITE TO FIND OUT IF YOUR STATE HAS SAME DAY VOTER REGISTRATION -> https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/same-day-voter-registration/

USE THIS SITE TO FIND OUT IF YOUR STATE REQUIRES YOUR EMPLOYER TO GIVE YOU TIME OFF TO VOTES -> https://ballotpedia.org/Time_off_work_for_voting

UNDER THE READ MORE I HAVE LINKS TO VOTER GUIDES FOR EVERY STATE + WASHINGTON D.C. THAT HAVE INFORMATION ON THE POSITIONS OF EACH CANDIDATE AND SUMMARIES OF BALLOT MEASURES YOU WILL BE VOTING FOR/AGAINST - YOU ARE ALLOWED TO BRING YOUR PHONE INTO THE BOOTH SO USE THESE AS A GUIDE!

Alabama Voters Guide from Alabama Reflector -> https://alabamareflector.com/voter-guide/2024/

Alaska Beacon’s 2024 voter guide -> https://alaskabeacon.com/voter-guide/2024/

Arizona 2024 voter guide -> https://www.azvoterguide.com/

Arkansas Voter Guide from the Arkansas Advocate -> https://arkansasadvocate.com/voter-guide/2024/

California Voters Guide from the League of Women Voters of California (Available in Multiple Languages) -> https://cavotes.org/easy-voter-guide/

Colorado Voters Guide from Colorado Public Radio -> https://www.cpr.org/2024/10/14/vg-2024-colorado-voter-guide-to-the-2024-election/

Connecticut Voter Guide from Connecticut Insider -> https://www.ctinsider.com/projects/2024/elections/ct-election-2024-voter-guide/

Delaware Voters Guide from Delaware Journalism Coalition -> https://www.dejournalism.org/2024-voter-guide-for-delaware/

Florida Voter Guide from League of Women Voters Florida -> https://lwvfl.org/vote2024/

Georgia Voters Guide -> https://thegeorgiavoterguide.com/

Hawaii Voting Information from Vote411 -> https://www.vote411.org/hawaii

Idaho Voters Guide from Idaho Capital Sun -> https://idahocapitalsun.com/voter-guide/2024/

Illinois Voters Guide -> https://illinoisvoterguide.org/

Indiana Voters Guide from Vote411 -> https://www.vote411.org/indiana

Iowa Voters Guide from Iowa Public Radio -> https://www.iowapublicradio.org/political-news/2024-09-18/iowa-ballot-2024

Kansas Voters Guide from BallotReady -> https://www.ballotready.org/us/kansas

Kentucky Voters Guide from Kentucky Election Org -> https://www.kentuckyelection.org/

Louisiana Voters Guide from The Louisiana Illuminator -> https://lailluminator.com/voter-guide/2024-louisiana-voter-guide/

Maine Voters Guide from Maine Morningstar -> https://mainemorningstar.com/voter-guide/2024/

Maryland Voters Guide from Maryland Matters -> https://marylandmatters.org/voter-guide/2024/

Massachusetts Voters Guide from CBS News -> https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/whats-on-2024-election-ballot-massachusetts/

Michigan Voters Guide from the Michigan Voters Information Center -> https://mvic.sos.state.mi.us/publicballot/index

Minnesota Voters Guide from the Minnesota Star Tribune -> https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-2024-voters-guide-whos-running-where-they-stand-on-the-issues/601147912

Mississippi Voters Guide from the Mississippi Clarion Ledger -> https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2024/10/31/mississippi-voter-guide/75894837007/

Missouri Voters Guide from Missouri Channel 8 News -> https://www.komu.com/news/elections/november-2024-voters-guide/article_9ef3fa62-8cbf-11ef-903d-2bc40682f247.html

Montana Voters Guide from Montana Free Press -> https://apps.montanafreepress.org/election-guide-2024/

Nebraska Voters Guide from Flatwater Free Press -> https://voterguide.flatwaterfreepress.org/

Nevada Voters Guide from Vote411 -> https://www.vote411.org/nevada

New Hampshire Voters Guide from Seacoast Online -> https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/11/03/seacoast-nh-election-2024-voter-guide-candidates-where-to-vote/75988328007/

New Jersey Voters Guide from Ballot Ready -> https://www.ballotready.org/us/new-jersey

New Mexico Voters Guide from Source New Mexico -> https://sourcenm.com/voter-guide/2024/

New York Voters Guide from Times Union -> https://www.timesunion.com/projects/2024/new-york-voter-guide-general-election/

North Carolina Voters Guide from NCVoterGuide -> https://ncvoterguide.org/

North Dakota Voters Guide from The North Dakota Monitor -> https://northdakotamonitor.com/voter-guide/2024/

Ohio Voters Guide from The Ohio Capital Journal -> https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/voter-guide/2024/

Oklahoma Voters Guide from The Oklahoma Voice -> https://oklahomavoice.com/voter-guide/2024-oklahoma-elections/

Oregon Voters Guide from The Oregon Capital Chronicle -> https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/voter-guide/2024-general-election/

Pennsylvania Voters Guide from BallotReady -> https://www.ballotready.org/us/pennsylvania

Rhode Island Voters Guide for Rhode Island Current -> https://rhodeislandcurrent.com/voter-guide/2024/

South Carolina Voters Guide from Vote411 -> https://www.vote411.org/south-carolina

South Dakota Voters Guide from South Dakota Searchlight -> https://southdakotasearchlight.com/voter-guide/2024/

Tennessee Voters Guide from Tennessee Lookout -> https://tennesseelookout.com/voter-guide/2024-election/

Texas Voters Guide from Vote411 -> https://www.vote411.org/texas

Utah Voters Guidefrom The Utah News Dispatch -> https://utahnewsdispatch.com/voter-guide/2024/

Vermont Voters Guide from BallotReady -> https://utahnewsdispatch.com/voter-guide/2024/

Virginia Voters Guide from The Virginia Mercury -> https://virginiamercury.com/voter-guide/2024-virginia-voter-guide/

Washington Voters Guide from Cascade PBS -> https://www.cascadepbs.org/voter-guide/washington-statewide-voter-guide-2024

Washington D.C. Voters Guide from WTOP News -> https://wtop.com/dc-election/2024/10/dc-2024-general-election-voter-guide-everything-you-need-to-know/

West Virginia Voters Guide from Mountain State Spotlight -> https://mountainstatespotlight.org/west-virginia-2024-voter-guide/

Wisconsin Voters Guide from My Vote Wisconsin -> https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/Whats-On-My-Ballot

Wyoming Voters Guide from WY VOTE -> https://wyvote.vote/

[odinsblog]

Funny how SCOTUS “originalists” ignore this history

Benjamin Franklin is revered in history for his fixation on inventing practical ways to make everyday life easier. He was a prolific inventor and author, and spent his life tinkering and writing to share his knowledge with the masses.

One of the more surprising areas Franklin wanted to demystify for the average American? At-home abortions.

Molly Farrell is an associate professor of English at the Ohio State University and studies early American literature. She authored a recent Slate article that suggests Franklin’s role in facilitating at-home abortions all started with a popular British math textbook.

Titled The Instructor and written by George Fisher, which Farrell said was a pseudonym, the textbook was a catch-all manual that included plenty of useful information for the average person. It had the alphabet, basic arithmetic, recipes, and farriery (which is hoof care for horses). At the time, books were very expensive, and a general manual like this one was a practical choice for many families.

Franklin saw the value of this book, and decided to create an updated version for residents of the U.S, telling readers his goal was to make the text “more immediately useful to Americans.” This included updating city names, adding Colonial history, and other minor tweaks.

But as Farrell describes, the most significant change in the book was swapping out a section that included a medical textbook from London, with a Virginia medical handbook from 1734 called Every Man His Own Doctor: The Poor Planter’s Physician.

This medical handbook provided home remedies for a variety of ailments, allowing people to handle their more minor illnesses at home, like a fever or gout. One entry, however, was “for the suppression of the courses”, which Farrell discovered meant a missed menstrual period.

“The book starts to prescribe basically all of the best-known herbal abortifacients and contraceptives that were circulating at the time,” Farrell said. “It's just sort of a greatest hits of what 18th-century herbalists would have given a woman who wanted to end a pregnancy early.”

“It's very explicit, very detailed, also very accurate for the time in terms of what was known ... for how to end a pregnancy pretty early on.”

Including this information in a widely circulated guide for everyday life bears a significance to today’s heated debate over access to abortion and contraception in the United States. In particular, the leaked Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade and states that “a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the nation's histories and traditions.”

Farrell said the book was immensely popular, and she did not find any evidence of objections to the inclusion of the section.

“It didn't really bother anybody that a typical instructional manual could include material like this,”she said. “It just wasn't something to be remarked upon. It was just a part of everyday life.”

(continue reading) more ←

[cillian-gets-me-wetter]

prologue- kiss it better (series)

warnings: implied smut (18+ only), mutual pining, sexual talk, cheating

disclaimer: i do not own people or teams mentioned in this story besides the original character(s). this is strictly for fictional purposes only.

a/n: did i get a little carried away with this? maybe. but did i enjoy writing it? absolutely

masterlist 🩰

word count: 951

erika and joe first met in 2018 when he transferred over to louisiana state from ohio state to have more opportunities to play football. he sat next to her in a lecture during english class, showing up a bit late after struggling to find his classes. as the school year progressed, they had become good friends, being supportive and encouraging of one another’s goals and aspirations. they still remained friends after they graduated from college and moved to pursue their different career paths, but whenever they had time to see each other, it was as if time didn’t exist. in 2022, a year into her relationship with nicholas, she felt like something was missing within it despite everything going great. she was in cincinnati, visiting joe and attending the bengals home game against the los angeles rams. 

september 2022

erika and joe sat on his couch as they were watching the hangover after his win earlier that night as they were catching each other up on their lives. he looked over and asked her, “so, how’s it going with you and nick?” she shrugged, taking a swig from her beer before answering, “i don’t know. it’s been okay, i guess.” he eyed her curiously, seeing the conflicted look on her face. “just okay?” she sighed, unsure to describe how she feels about her relationship. “i mean, it’s going great; don’t get me wrong. but i just feel like there’s something missing." he chuckled softly, “what? is the sex bad?” the question made her look away, telling him everything he needed to know. “damn.. that bad, huh?” 

erika rolled her eyes at what he said, not outright denying anything. “joey.. it’s not funny.” joe shook his head; the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her feelings. “i never said it was.” she sighed, “it’s not that it’s bad sex. it’s decent, but after, i just feel so.." she met his gaze; he listened intently as she tried to find the right words. he broke the brief silence, completing her sentence with one word that summed up what she was feeling: “unsatisfied.” she nodded, biting her bottom lip as a wave of guilt flowed through her. he scooted closer next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. his expression softened, pulling her close against his body. “i’m sorry, bunny. i didn’t mean to make you feel upset or uncomfortable.”

she shook her head; her heart skipped a beat whenever he called her that since he gave her the nickname in college. “it’s okay; what you said didn’t upset me. i feel so guilty for thinking that way, like i’m an awful person for viewing my own boyfriend in that kind of light.” he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “hey, you aren’t a bad person for having that opinion. it’s how you feel; don’t downplay it. what makes you feel unsatisfied?” she gave him a small smile; he always knew how to make her feel better and at ease. she leaned into him more, resting her head against his shoulder. “like after we have sex, he always asks if i came, and of course, i say yes. but i actually didn’t.. or i question if i did or not.”

he feels her body warmth as she leaned against him, his heart beating out of his chest. “well, usually if you have to question it, it means you didn’t. maybe he just needs to get to know how your body works more, like what makes you tick, rather than focusing on just his own pleasure.” she let out a short laugh; she wasn’t making fun of his response, but having something like that was out of her element. “yeah, i’ve never experienced that.” he looked at her in curiosity once more, wondering what she was implying. “what do you mean?” she shrugged, a bit self-conscious and embarrassed when she answered his question. “i’ve never had a guy make me cum before.” his eyes widened slightly in disbelief, not expecting that to be her answer. “oh shit. are you serious?”

she looked away, her face flushed with embarrassment that she’s having this conversation with her best friend. “yeah, it’s pretty embarrassing.” he shrugged, and while he understood why she was embarrassed by it, he couldn’t help but want to help her out. “i get it. but if i’m being honest, i don’t find it embarrassing.” she met his gaze again, feeling a sense of relief. “you don’t? or are you saying that to make me feel better?” his hand moved down her body, giving her hip a gentle squeeze. “i really don’t. in fact, your little confession makes me want to help you out.” her breath hitched in her throat when she felt his hand squeeze her hip, her hands falling into place on his chest. “you want to help me? how?”

his hand moved up to her face, his thumb caressing her cheek. “want me to show you?” she felt chills run down her spine after he asked, nodding wordlessly. he leaned in, closing his eyes and capturing her lips in a slow, exploratory kiss. immediately kissing him back, her fingers ran through his hair, parting her lips for him. he slipped his tongue into her mouth, as she let his tongue overpower hers. he guided her back onto the couch and parted her legs to feel more comfortable against her body, breaking the kiss. “is this okay?” she nodded, her hands trailing down his chest. “yes, joe.. i’ve wanted you for so long.” he groaned at her confession, “fuck, bunny.. i’ve wanted you too.” he kissed her again, but this time it was urgent and heated as erika allowed herself to get lost into the pleasure.

a/n: part 1 is still in the works! but i definitely had too much fun writing out this little introduction for y’all :)

[reasonsforhope]

Seven thousand more UAW members just walked off the job, expanding the strike to two more plants. Twenty-five thousand autoworkers are now on strike, and the walkout could continue to escalate if the Big Three don’t budge in negotiations.

[UAW president Shawn] Fain announced that Stellantis would be spared this time. The union had been expected to strike all three companies, but, said Region 1 director LaShawn English, three minutes before Fain was scheduled to go on Facebook Live, the UAW received frantic emails from company representatives.

[Note: Love that for the UAW. Also laughing so hard. Three minutes before the next round of strikes were annouced!!]

According to Fain, Stellantis made “significant progress” on cost-of-living allowances, the right not to cross a picket line, and the right to strike over product commitments and plant closures. “We are excited about this momentum at Stellantis and hope it continues,” Fain said...

“See You Next Week — Maybe?”

“These guys wanted to go out a long time ago,” said Cody Zaremba, a Local 602 member at the Lansing GM plant after the news broke that his plant would be joining the strike. “We’re ready. Everybody, truly, I believe, in the entire membership. They’re one with what’s going on.”

Five thousand workers at thirty-eight parts distribution centers across twenty-one states have been on strike since last Friday [September 22, 2023], along with thirteen thousand at three assembly plants in Michigan, Ohio, and Missouri who walked out on September 15. (See a map of all struck facilities here.) ...

The UAW is now calling on community supporters to organize small teams to canvass dealerships that sell and repair Big Three cars and trucks. On Tuesday, the union issued a canvassing tool kit with instructions, flyers, press releases, and talking points.

In negotiations with Ford and GM, autoworkers have clinched some important gains. Among them is an agreement by both companies to end at least one of the many tiers in current contracts, putting workers at certain parts plants back on the same wage scale as assembly workers. The top rate for Big Three assembly workers is currently around $32...

Ford was spared in last week’s escalation, because bargainers there had made further progress on gains for workers.

But today, the UAW once again called out workers at Ford and GM, putting some muscle behind its bold demands — a big wage boost, a shorter workweek, elimination of tiers, cost-of-living adjustments tied to inflation, protection from plant closures, conversion of temps to permanent employees, and the restoration of retiree health care and benefit-defined pensions to all workers.

-via Jacobin, September 29, 2023. Article continues below.

Keep Them Guessing

This year, for the first time in recent history, the union has played the three auto companies against each other with its strike strategy, departing from the union’s tradition of choosing one target company and patterning an agreement at the other two.

The stand-up strike strategy draws inspiration from an approach known as CHAOS (Create Havoc Around Our System), first deployed in 1993 by Alaska Airlines flight attendants, who announced they would be striking random flights. Although they struck only seven flights in a two-month period, Alaska had to send scabs on every plane, just in case. The unpredictability drew enormous media attention and drove management up the wall. Meanwhile the union was able to conserve its strength and minimize risk.

The companies miscalculated where the UAW was going to strike first, stockpiling engines and shipping them cross-country to the wrong facilities. Autoworkers relished the self-inflicted supply chain chaos on UAW Facebook groups and other social media platforms.

Nonstrikers’ morale on the factory floor has gotten a boost from rank and filers organizing to refuse voluntary overtime. With support both from Fain and the reform caucus Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD), workers have been encouraging each other to “Eight and Skate,” meaning to turn down extra work and decline to do management any favors.

Majority Public Support

A majority of Americans support the UAW strikers, and the Big Three have taken a PR hit since the strike began, according to a new survey conducted by the business intelligence firm Caliber.

“Eighty-seven percent of respondents told us they were aware of the strike,” Caliber CEO Shahar Silbershatz told the Intercept. “It’s clear the strike is not just causing commercial repercussions, but reputational repercussions as well.”

These reputational repercussions will only worsen...

"We Can Unmake It"

Fain didn't pull any punches in his speech... “That’s what’s different about working-class people. Whether we’re building cars or trucks or running parts distribution centers; whether we’re writing movies or performing TV shows... we do the heavy lifting. We do the real work. Not the CEOs, not the executives.

"And though we don’t know it, that’s what power is. We have the power. The world is of our making. The economy is of our making. This industry is of our making.

“And as we’ve shown, when we withhold our labor, we can unmake it.”

-via Jacobin, September 29, 2023

[mariacallous]

Growing up in Lancaster, Ohio, I remember discovering a book in the local library that ultimately helped to change how I viewed my hometown’s history. The book, “Jewish Literacy” by Joseph Telushkin, had a small sticker on the inside cover indicating it was purchased through the B’nai Israel Synagogue of Lancaster Jewish Book Fund. This was surprising, as there hadn’t been an organized Jewish community in Lancaster for years.

I later learned that the fund had been established by the remaining members of the synagogue after its sale in 1993, with the intention of ensuring that the tradition of Jewish education continued in Lancaster, even in the absence of a physical synagogue.

This discovery, along with other signs like a Star of David engraved next to a cross on the town’s war memorial and the presence of the building that once housed the B’nai Israel synagogue downtown, hinted at Lancaster’s former Jewish community. During its nearly seven decades of existence, B’nai Israel not only served its congregants but also hosted groups — including church youth organizations and civic societies — to educate others about Judaism. As in many small towns across the United States, the synagogue provided the only accessible resources for learning about Jewish culture, history and theology.

For the last several years, I’ve dedicated myself to documenting the Jewish histories of small towns in both my home state of Ohio and my adopted state of New York. I am drawn in by the realization that many of these once-active communities, despite their contributions, were in danger of fading into obscurity. As a volunteer, I have spent countless hours piecing together the stories of Jewish families, tracing their lives and legacies in over 20 small towns. In most of these places, the written record of their Jewish past was sparse, with local historical organizations often lacking the resources or staffing to fully explore these stories. These constraints also create opportunities for volunteers and community members to engage in uncovering stories still waiting to be told.

Small-town synagogues often function not just as religious institutions but as unique centers for education and community engagement. In Lancaster, the B’nai Israel synagogue opened its doors to various groups seeking to learn about Judaism. Its book fund ensured that, even after the synagogue’s closure, locals could continue to conveniently access resources devoted to Jewish culture and history.

Eighty miles to the south, in Portsmouth, Ohio, the Jewish community was also engaged in interfaith efforts from its earliest days. When Beneh Abraham, the local synagogue, was consecrated in 1858, Christian residents of the town supported the construction, and the First Presbyterian Church choir even sang during the dedication. Such partnerships went both ways, with Jews contributing to the building funds for nearby churches.

The local rabbi, Judah Wechsler, taught in both English and German. Wechsler’s leadership helped Beneh Abraham function as more than a religious space — it became a center for community engagement in Portsmouth. Portsmouth’s first synagogue, like many other historic religious structures in America, no longer stands today, but this early story from the town’s Jewish community reminds us of how intertwined religious groups in small towns can be. Beneh Abraham continues to exist in Portsmouth and is one of Ohio’s oldest Jewish congregations.

In Auburn, New York, the former B’nai Israel Synagogue played a crucial role in bringing neighbors together and fostering understanding. Throughout much of the 20th and early 21st centuries, B’nai Israel welcomed interfaith activities, particularly through its long-standing relationship with St. Luke’s United Church of Christ. This engagement included an annual exchange of pulpits, novel when it began in 1939, where the rabbi of B’nai Israel and the minister at St. Luke’s would preach at each other’s congregations. This effort, undertaken each year during the national Brotherhood Week campaign, continued for over 30 years, helping strengthen ties between Jewish and Christian communities in Auburn.

In both Auburn, New York, and Lancaster, Ohio, the B’nai Israel synagogues’ efforts to educate non-Jewish neighbors about Judaism often left lasting impressions, in keeping with studies showing that ​​the more people know about Jews, the less they embrace antisemitic tropes. With the closure of these small-town synagogues in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the physical presence of Jewish life in these towns has largely disappeared, raising questions about how this loss impacts interfaith understanding and broader cultural awareness.

As small-town Jewish communities across America continue to contract, preserving their histories becomes not just an act of remembrance, but also an essential part of understanding the broader American story. Though often small in numbers, small-town Jewish communities have played crucial roles in shaping the civic, cultural and economic landscapes of their communities.

As the physical reminders of small-town Jewish life — such as synagogues, social centers and long standing family-owned businesses — fade, there is a danger that their stories will disappear, a loss not only for Jewish history but American history. They remind us that America’s heartland is not as monolithic as it is often portrayed, and that diversity has long been part of the stories of many communities.

In Lancaster and Auburn, the efforts of individuals and institutions to preserve local Jewish histories stand as models of how this work can be done. In its last years, members of Auburn’s former B’nai Israel synagogue donated many of the congregation’s religious artifacts, including the synagogue’s historic stained-glass windows, to the Cayuga Museum of History & Art, ensuring that the congregation’s memory would live on in a public space.

But in most of the communities I’ve studied, there was no such effort until recently. In some towns, synagogues were demolished or fell into disrepair, their histories largely unrecorded. It wasn’t until I began this work as an undergraduate  that the stories of these Jewish communities began to be gathered and pieced together, bringing their legacies back into the light.

Preservation alone is not enough. These histories must be shared and integrated into broader conversations about American identity. We not only honor Jewish families who helped to build and sustain so many small-town communities but also ensure that future generations understand the complexity and richness of small-town life in America.

In a time when debates about national identity dominate our public discourse, preserving the histories of small-town Jewish communities offers a crucial reminder: that the American story is, and always has been, one of diversity and change.

[leclercsredhelmet]

So Highschool ✰ Joe Burrow

A/N: Hi hi! Haven’t posted in a while because I’ve been busy writing and editing, fellow Joe Burrow fans I come bearing gifts for everyone! So Highschool is one of my favorite Taylor songs and I had been waiting to write a Joe blurb based on this song so here you go! Hope you all enjoy it <3

“Tell me ‘bout the first time that you saw me”

The balcony doors were wide open and the summer breeze was felt inside the room. Joe had his head in your lap while a book was held in your hands as you read out loud. You had been reading quietly when he entered the room after he had finished watching some game tape. His glasses were on and you smiled, a twin smile spread across his face when he saw you wearing glasses as well. 

Wordlessly he lay on the bed and placed his head in your lap, your fingers weaved their way through his hair as you combed through it softly. “You’re reading The Alchemist again,” he observed. “Yeah, I am,” you replied softly. “Read it to me please,” he said. You chuckled, “I like hearing your voice when you read, it’s soothing,” he said. Placing a soft kiss on his forehead you began to read. 

Joe traced patterns on your bare legs as he listened to your voice. It was soft and you would take pauses whenever a comma came up. Just by your voice, he could tell if the texts had any commas or punctuation marks. “So, I love you because the entire universe conspired for me to find you,” you read and chuckled. Joe chuckled, “It sure did,” he stated and you hummed in agreement. Setting the book aside you leaned down to look at him, he smiled and kissed the tip of your nose. 

“Do you remember when we first met at school?” he asked. Laughing you nodded, “I do, we were nine and I had just moved to Cincinnati,” you said. “It was English class and the only free seat was next to me, your hair was up in two curly pigtails and your glasses were the same color as the Mystery Machine,” he said with a smile and you laughed. “Then you said, cool glasses, I’m Joe,” you said. Joe chuckled “And we sat together in every class, from fourth grade until senior year,” he recalled. Fondly you smiled and recalled your childhood with Joe. 

Flashback

At nine years old you didn’t think you would move to Ohio of all places but your father’s job had brought all of you here. He had accepted a teaching position in Athens, Ohio. The move was a little unexpected due to circumstances you really can’t remember but you arrived during the third week of classes. 

You didn’t know anyone at the school and that terrified you, following the principal he introduced you to your teacher and classmates. There was only one spot available at the front of the classroom next to a light-haired boy with baby-blue eyes.” Cool glasses, I’m Joe” he whispered. With a small stutter, you replied, “Thank you. I’m Y/N.” 

Later in the day, you found out you were neighbors and that was the start of your friendship with Joe. Your parents joked that you would forever be glued at the hip and wouldn’t be a surprise if you got married one day. Little did you both know that you would get married you were engaged as of this moment. 

Joe taught you about football and you in return introduced him to books, he was smart but always said you were the smartest out of the two. “When I make it into the NFL you’re going to be a college professor,” he said matter-of-factly one evening when you were studying. You chuckled, “What makes you so sure?” you countered. Joe shrugged, “I just have that feeling,” he replied. 

Growing up with Joe you never thought you would like him but one day you almost accidentally kissed in the library while he helped you reach for a book. From that day on you realized that you had a crush on your best friend but you never said anything because you were fearful of ruining things. Joe also had that lingering feeling but your eighth-grade selves were too scared to say anything and it wasn’t until high school when he finally decided to tell you. 

High school

Joe had a girlfriend in high school and it pained you a little to watch how happy he was. You were happy for him but couldn’t help your dislike towards the girl after she had cornered you to tell you she didn’t want you near Joe. Naturally, you didn’t listen and Joe noticed you were hiding some discomfort. Hiding your feelings from people came easy to you, but Joe knew you like the back of his hand. Reading you was just as easy as memorizing a playbook, it was second nature to him. One evening while you studied for a science test in his room he confronted you and you had no chance but to tell him. 

The next day he had talked with his girlfriend and she acted normal when he was around but you were aware she was talking about you in the halls. You didn’t find it in you to care but still, the lingering feeling that she truly did not like Joe loomed. No one knew him like you, and no one knew you like him. 

Senior year had come and you were both focused on what lay ahead, Joe was set on making it to college football and you were sure he was going to be there. You were putting in the work as well, your focus was set on Yale. He had been having some trouble with his girlfriend and you had done your best to help him through it. “I think I’m breaking up with her,” he said and your attention drifted from the math homework you were working on. “Are you sure about that?” you asked. “Yeah, I need to focus on finishing what’s left of the year and I don’t love her,” he said. “Oh,” was all you said and he raised an eyebrow. “No hey Joe think this through,” he said with a chuckle. You chuckled weakly. “Joe I’m sorry I can’t help with that, you know that I lack in that department,” you said. “You also don’t like her!” he said with a grin and poked your side. 

Playfully you rolled your eyes, “My dislike towards her is not the point, it’s your relationship anyways,” you said firmly and he knew that was you shutting the topic down. Joe broke up with her the next day and you expected to see him beat up but he was fine but her, well she had made a scene that day and stormed off the field. You watched her and fought back a snicker. 

It was Joe’s last practice before the Homecoming Game and since you were leaving with him you sat on the bleachers to wait for him. A book was perched on your lap and Joe looked at you while he stretched. “Has anyone asked her out to Prom?” one of his teammates asked. “Some but she’s turned them down,” he replied. “What if I ask her, do you think she’ll say yes?” he asked. Joe felt a sense of jealousy wash over him. “She’ll say no,” he snapped. “Damn Joe, chill. It was just a question,” his teammate said, “And that was just an answer,” he said before walking off. 

His mind was racing, the past few weeks he’d spent his spare time wrestling with asking you to prom until he eventually planned something. It was true that you had turned everyone down, and he knew why. You were still holding on to your end of the deal from seventh grade, and he was too. He had asked no girl out and turned down the flock of girls that asked him out to prom. 

Practice was almost done and he looked at you, breaking into a smile you waved and he waved back. The book had disappeared in your bag and he knew that you had most likely finished it halfway through practice. Being friends through the years meant that you’d developed an unspoken routine, you would read before his practice started and occasionally set the book down to observe him and sometimes go as far as to cheer for him. Seeing you clapping for him always brought a smile to his face and pushed him to score more during games. 

A sweaty Joe ran over to you, he set his helmet down and you looked at him with a grin. “Hey Joey,” you said. “Hey Belle,” he said using the nickname he had for you. In response, you giggled, “Are you done?” you asked. “Mhm, we can go soon,” he said while he dried his face with a towel. Wordlessly you handed him his water bottle and he smiled. “It was a good practice, you looked good out there,” You said. He cocked his eyebrow at you and your cheeks flushed, “Playing, I mean” you added clearing your throat. “Of course, nothing else,” he said standing up. You furrowed your brow, he was being a little fidgety but you ignored it. Slinging his bag over his shoulder he said goodbye to his teammates and you walked off the field and got into his car. 

“Do you want to come in?” you asked, “No I’m good, open your window after dinner,” he said. “Okay, is there a reason?” you asked confused “Just open the window Belle,” he said winking. “Don’t do anything stupid,” you said before kissing his cheek and walking inside. 

Joe’s leg was bouncing under the table, “Joe you nervous for the game?” Jimmy asked concerned, “No, it’s something else,” he said. “Is it Y/N?” his dad asked. “How’d you know?” he asked. His parents smiled, “It’s not that hard for us to see it, honey,” his mom said. “You like her,” Jimmy said nudging him. Joe chuckled, “Y-yeah I like her a lot,” he said. “She likes you too, but don’t tell her I said that,” Robin said with a wink. “Go,” Jimmy urged and he darted up the stairs, before opening his room door, he breathed in and out and fixed his hair. 

When he opened his door, his attention went next door. You were lying in bed with a new book held high above your head. Faintly he heard some music playing and took a breath before grabbing the box from under his bed. Your window was open and he walked towards him, he whistled and your head cocked to the side. Climbing out of bed you made it to your window. “You okay Joey?” you asked. “I’m gonna climb in!” he exclaimed. Your eyes went wide, “You’re crazy!” you called back. “Maybe!” he replied. “Use the front door dumbass you can hurt yourself,” you stated. 

Joe ignored you and grabbed the box as he climbed up, he could hear you muttering and he chuckled. Carefully he walked over to the edge of the roof and jumped. Your hand shot out and he grabbed it, you were hanging out the window. “You’re fucking crazy!” You said and he just laughed as he pulled himself up. With a yelp, you tumbled backward and fell on the floor. Joe’s arms were protectively around you, your noses were touching. Gulping you pulled apart and slapped his shoulder, he laughed and helped you both up. 

“Why in the heavens did you jump out the window? You could’ve hurt yourself, Joey,” you said. “Not the point, here. I got this for you,” he replied while handing you a black cardboard box. Smiling you grabbed his hand and you sat in your bed. The black box was between you and carefully you undid the blue ribbon. Opening the box you saw some pictures you’d both taken over the years. Your eyes watered a little and Joe wiped a stray tear from your face. A copy of your favorite book was in there and you grabbed it, “Was this the one I gave to you?” you inquired. Joe nodded, “Open it, there’s something in there,” he said. Opening the book your eyes scanned across the dedication page and saw a post-it with his handwriting. Will you be my prom date?

Laughing you looked at him, “Yes, I’ll be your prom date!” you said and hugged him. Joe pulled back and kissed you sweetly. The action shocked you but you kissed back, “This might be late because you already got into Yale and I’m going to Ohio State but, I love you, like actually love you,” he said looking at you. “And I know it’s crazy because Yale is nine hours and thirty-two minutes away but I want to date you, so will you be my girlfriend?” he asked. Chuckling you grabbed his hands, “I love you too and yes I’ll be your girlfriend,” you said with a laugh. 

“We’re really doing this huh,” he said while holding your hands. “Finally,” you said with a laugh. Joe laughed, “Would’ve been sooner if I had just asked you in freshman year,” he said. “Maybe it happened now because it was meant to be that way,” you said with a smile. “Since when did you know?” he asked. Reaching up you stroked his cheek, “It started in eighth grade, the day you reached up to get me the book and we almost kissed,” you said with a chuckle. “Me too,” he said with a laugh. 

“I was scared so I never said anything because I didn’t want to lose you,” you spoke. Joe pressed his forehead against yours, “Belle I don’t think nothing could’ve made you lose me,” he said. “You’re so cheesy, Joseph!” you exclaimed and he laughed. You stayed there for a few minutes, “You should go, you need to rest. Friday is a big day,” you said. Joe pecked your lips, “Wear my shirt, please” he said. You nodded, “Always, the back door is unlocked c’mon,” you said. 

Sneaking out of your room you led him outside through the backyard and crossed into his yard. His hand was on the door outside and as you turned to leave he grabbed your waist. Spinning you around he pressed a quick kiss to your lips and you smiled before kissing back and leaving him there to go inside. 

When he made it to his room he waved at you from the window and drew a heart in the air, you giggled and mimicked him. 

“Truth dare spin bottles, you know how to ball, l know Aristotle”

You had finished your degree and had come to Baton Rouge for Joe’s last game with LSU. They had won the NCAA and you smiled when you saw him hoist the trophy over his head. His teammates cheered and you laughed while wiping a tear from your face. Both of your parents were there along with Jimmy and Robin, you waited for him in the field and you grinned once he saw you. Last month he won the Heisman Trophy and you couldn’t have been prouder. Everything he had worked so hard for was falling into place, the next step was the NFL and you were certain he was going to get drafted. 

With a grin plastered on his face and backward cap, he ran over to you and picked you up. Spinning you around you giggled and held on to him, gently he set you down and dipped his head to kiss you. You smiled into the kiss and pulled apart, “I’m proud of you Joey,” you said holding onto his face. “Right back at ya Belle,” he said and you smiled. His parents hugged him and so did yours, his arm was around you and you looked up at him with a dopey grin and love-filled eyes.

You were with him at his parent's house when he got drafted first overall for the Cincinnati Bengals. When you got hired at the University of Cincinnati the next day he was by your side. Both of you had shared victories and defeats together, after all these years it was amazing to see that your support for each other never wavered. You had seen each other grow over the years, you’d supported each other through the ups and downs and when either of you needed an extra nudge you were there. 

End of Flashback

“Belle, you’re even better the Heisman and the Lombardi,” Joe said and you chuckled. “I love you too,” you replied. Joe kissed your forehead, “Hey you were right all those years ago,” you said. Joe chuckled knowing what you meant, “You’re a Literature professor in college and I’m in the NFL,” he said. Laughing you kissed him, “You know how to ball and I know Aristotle.” He looked at you and grinned, with every glance, laugh, kiss and touch you felt like it was high school all over again. 

(all photo credits go to the respective owners)

[liberalsarecool]

25 years of 'thoughts and prayers'.

Thurston High School

Columbine High School

Heritage High School

Deming Middle School

Fort Gibson Middle School

Buell Elementary School

Lake Worth Middle School

University of Arkansas

Junipero Serra High School

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Appalachian School of Law

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Central Elementary School

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Central Academy of Excellence

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Texas A&M University-Commerce

Sonora High School

Western Illinois University

Oxford High School

Robb Elementary SchoolThurston High School

Columbine High School

Heritage High School

Deming Middle School

Fort Gibson Middle School

Buell Elementary School

Lake Worth Middle School

University of Arkansas

Junipero Serra High School

Santana High School

Bishop Neumann High School

Pacific Lutheran University

Granite Hills High School

Lew Wallace High School

Martin Luther King, Jr High School

Appalachian School of Law

Washington High School

Conception Abbey

Benjamin Tasker Middle School

University of Arizona

Lincoln High School

John McDonogh High School

Red Lion Area Junior High School

Case Western Reserve University

Rocori High School

Ballou High School

Randallstown High School

Bowen High School

Red Lake Senior High School

Harlan Community Academy High School

Campbell County High School

Milwee Middle School

Roseburg High School

Pine Middle School

Essex Elementary School

Duquesne University

Platte Canyon High School

Weston High School

West Nickel Mines School

Joplin Memorial Middle School

Henry Foss High School

Compton Centennial High School

Virginia Tech

Success Tech Academy

Miami Carol City Senior High School

Hamilton High School

Louisiana Technical College

Mitchell High School

EO Green Junior High School

Northern Illinois University

Lakota Middle School

Knoxville Central High School

Willoughby South High School

Henry Ford High School

University of Central Arkansas

Dillard High School

Dunbar High School

Hampton University

Harvard College

Larose-Cut Off Middle School

International Studies Academy

Skyline College

Discovery Middle School

University of Alabama

DeKalb School

Deer Creek Middle School

Ohio State University

Mumford High School

University of Texas

Kelly Elementary School

Marinette High School

Aurora Central High School

Millard South High School

Martinsville West Middle School

Worthing High School

Millard South High School

Highlands Intermediate School

Cape Fear High School

Chardon High School

Episcopal School of Jacksonville

Oikos University

Hamilton High School

Perry Hall School

Normal Community High School

University of South Alabama

Banner Academy South

University of Southern California

Sandy Hook Elementary School

Apostolic Revival Center Christian School

Taft Union High School

Osborn High School

Stevens Institute of Business and Arts

Hazard Community and Technical College

Chicago State University

Lone Star College-North

Cesar Chavez High School

Price Middle School

University of Central Florida

New River Community College

Grambling State University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Ossie Ware Mitchell Middle School

Ronald E McNair Discovery Academy

North Panola High School

Carver High School

Agape Christian Academy

Sparks Middle School

North Carolina A&T State University

Stephenson High School

Brashear High School

West Orange High School

Arapahoe High School

Edison High School

Liberty Technology Magnet High School

Hillhouse High School

Berrendo Middle School

Purdue University

South Carolina State University

Los Angeles Valley College

Charles F Brush High School

University of Southern California

Georgia Regents University

Academy of Knowledge Preschool

Benjamin Banneker High School

D H Conley High School

East English Village Preparatory Academy

Paine College

Georgia Gwinnett College

John F Kennedy High School

Seattle Pacific University

Reynolds High School

Indiana State University

Albemarle High School

Fern Creek Traditional High School

Langston Hughes High School

Marysville Pilchuck High School

Florida State University

Miami Carol City High School

Rogers State University

Rosemary Anderson High School

Wisconsin Lutheran High School

Frederick High School

Tenaya Middle School

Bethune-Cookman University

Pershing Elementary School

Wayne Community College

JB Martin Middle School

Southwestern Classical Academy

Savannah State University

Harrisburg High School

Umpqua Community College

Northern Arizona University

Texas Southern University

Tennessee State University

Winston-Salem State University

Mojave High School

Lawrence Central High School

Franklin High School

Muskegon Heights High School

Independence High School

Madison High School

Antigo High School

University of California-Los Angeles

Jeremiah Burke High School

Alpine High School

Townville Elementary School

Vigor High School

Linden McKinley STEM Academy

June Jordan High School for Equity

Union Middle School

Mueller Park Junior High School

West Liberty-Salem High School

University of Washington

King City High School

North Park Elementary School

North Lake College

Freeman High School

Mattoon High School

Rancho Tehama Elementary School

Aztec High School

Wake Forest University

Italy High School

NET Charter High School

Marshall County High School

Sal Castro Middle School

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

Great Mills High School

Central Michigan University

Huffman High School

Frederick Douglass High School

Forest High School

Highland High School

Dixon High School

Santa Fe High School

Noblesville West Middle School

University of North Carolina Charlotte

STEM School Highlands Ranch

Edgewood High School

Palm Beach Central High School

Providence Career & Technical Academy

Fairley High School (school bus)

Canyon Springs High School

Dennis Intermediate School

Florida International University

Central Elementary School

Cascade Middle School

Davidson High School

Prairie View A & M University

Altascocita High School

Central Academy of Excellence

Cleveland High School

Robert E Lee High School

Cheyenne South High School

Grambling State University

Blountsville Elementary School

Holmes County, Mississippi (school bus)

Prescott High School

College of the Mainland

Wynbrooke Elementary School

UNC Charlotte

Riverview Florida (school bus)

Second Chance High School

Carman-Ainsworth High School

Williwaw Elementary School

Monroe Clark Middle School

Central Catholic High School

Jeanette High School

Eastern Hills High School

DeAnza High School

Ridgway High School

Reginald F Lewis High School

Saugus High School

Pleasantville High School

Waukesha South High School

Oshkosh High School

Catholic Academy of New Haven

Bellaire High School

North Crowley High School

McAuliffe Elementary School

South Oak Cliff High School

Texas A&M University-Commerce

Sonora High School

Western Illinois University

Oxford High School

Bridgewater University

Robb Elementary School

Michigan State University

Covenant Christian School

.

TBA

***feel free to copy and paste, then share ****

[truth4ourfreedom]

THE LEFT IS GETTING SERIOUS AND PULLING OUT ALL OF THE STOPS TO STAY IN POWER! GET READY!!!!

BOOOM!

Judy Byington Bombshell Report!

Cyber Attack Nationwide Communication Blackout Planned For Nov. 5 Election

DayBreaking News Alert!

Judy Byington’s explosive new report exposes plans for a massive cyber attack aiming to unleash a nationwide communication blackout on Nov. 5, Election Day! Prepare yourselves; this is a warning you can’t ignore. Spread the word before it’s too late!

Free and fair election in 2024? Forget it. The Election Fraud Machine has been hard at work, creating chaos and tampering with early voting across the nation.

On Nov. 5, the Deep State Elites are set to launch a cyber attack to manipulate results, silence communication, and paralyze the nation. Their endgame? Martial Law, giving Biden control to cancel the election and keep the Biden-Harris puppet show running, all in the name of keeping their Global Elite handlers in power.

But it gets worse: Deep State biometric scanners, satellites, and AI have been spotted erasing Trump votes in early voting districts. White Hat Military Alliance has struck back, destroying Dominion voting machines in Ohio that were flipping Trump votes. The Ohio Attorney General has even indicted six non-citizens who illegally cast ballots in previous elections.

In Washington and Oregon, fires at ballot boxes have obliterated thousands of ballots that will never be recovered, all thanks to Antifa, who many believe orchestrated the attacks.

In Texas, election fraud arrests are piling up, while in Utah, voter fraud cases are ignored, leaving dead voters receiving ballots before living ones! No investigation, no answers—just silence from election offices.

Last week in Pennsylvania, non-English speaking “citizens” sporting Harris Walz stickers were pushed to the front of voting lines, directed by “translators” while actual Americans waited outside. Police in the state shut down a voting booth for “overwhelming Republican turnout.” Trump supporters arrested simply for encouraging freedom to vote! Voter suppression is in full swing.And in Florida, people discovered a mysterious box of ballots by the Turnpike. Who left it there? Authorities haven’t figured it out, but the implications are chilling.

Democrats are now fighting to prevent drop box surveillance in Georgia—why would they oppose election transparency unless they have something to hide?Illegal immigrants and non-citizens have been handed voter IDs and social security benefits. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian “refugees” now receive American taxpayer money and voter IDs, ready to cast their votes this November.

Reports reveal that 46 out of 50 states confirmed Biden lost the 2020 election in their state, but Congress ignored this to certify Biden’s victory without any investigation.

And it’s not just election fraud—Byington exposes horrifying secrets in her re-released book, “22 Faces”, detailing how Satan-worshipping elites subject children to ritual abuse to maintain control over their victims. Upon its release, “22 Faces” faced vicious attacks by pedophiles desperate to bury the truth. They smeared the book with one-star reviews to suppress its exposure of Satanic Ritual Abuse.

Help expose these monsters: leave a review on Amazon to ensure “22 Faces” reaches the light. The more we reveal, the more innocents we can save.

They want us silent; we won’t be. Spread this message.Join, while it's not too late:

https://t.me/EtheFriendQ

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Hunter Walker at TPM:

President-elect Donald Trump has been filling out his administration in the week since his landslide election. On Tuesday, he announced that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is his choice to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Israel. The pick is notable because Huckabee has a long history with the country, including statements that indicate he doesn’t necessarily believe in the two state solution to the country’s conflict with the Palestinian people. 

In multiple posts on the site once known as Twitter, Huckabee has suggested the nation of Palestine does not exist at all. For example, in 2019, Huckabee tweeted “there has NEVER been a nation called Palestine.” That comment came as a response to reports about the first Palestinian-American congresswoman, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (R-MI), including a new report at the time about a map in her office that was branded with a post-it note saying Palestine placed next to Israel. Huckabee offered a similar perspective in a 2020 tweet where he endorsed former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) against the man who ultimately won her seat, Raphael Warnock.  “Until terrorist Yassar Afafat ‘invented’ a ‘Palestinian nation’ in 1962, the term applied to ALL who lived in the region, including the Jews,” Huckabee wrote.

Huckabee did not respond to a request for comment. His contention that Palestine has never been a country and that the term “Palestinian” has applied to everyone in the region is a decidedly ahistorical one. The modern nation of Palestine, which includes the territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, is recognized by over 140 other countries. That list does not include Israel, which has been engaged in a decades long conflict over borders with the Palestinians since its own founding in 1948, and the United States. The Palestinian people, a group that includes Arab Christians and Muslims, have been described as inhabiting the region since the Biblical times. English translations of the Torah and Bible translate the Arabic and Greek references to the group by calling them Philistines. In the relatively modern era, the region was ruled by a series of colonial powers, including the Ottoman Empire and the British, who left the territory in 1948, setting off a conflict between the newly-declared Jewish State of Israel and Arabs in the region. 

However, in Huckabee’s telling, any notion of a Palestinian state seems to be totally illegitimate. He reiterated this view in February when President Joe Biden visited the town of East Palestine, Ohio. On Twitter, Huckabee quipped that Biden made a mistake and thought it was “actually a visit to the mythical land of ‘Palestine’ where Jew-hating genocidal Hamas & Fatah rule and celebrate murder of Jews.”

The long simmering Israeli-Palestinian conflict reached a new level of urgency in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack staged by Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. During the violence, Hamas militants invaded southern Israel, killed over a thousand people and took more than 200 hostages. The Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by staging an invasion of Gaza, which is ongoing and has left over 40,000 people dead, so far. Fighting has also spilled over into Lebanon, Israel’s Northern neighbor.  President Biden’s support for Israel despite an invasion that many on the left view as a genocide is one of the issues believed to have helped erode support for Vice President Kamala Harris as she lost last week’s election to Trump. While some Democrats and leftists may have been unhappy with Biden’s support for Israel, during the election, Netanyahu displayed a clear preference for Trump. And, despite shifting comments on the conflict, Trump has increasingly indicated he would be open to a so-called one-state solution that saw Israel take control over the Palestinian territories. 

Mike Huckabee, who is set to serve as US’s Ambassador to Israel, has repeatedly pushed the pro-Israel Apartheid apologist false notion that Palestine doesn’t exist. Well, Mr. Huckabee, various agencies and several countries would beg to differ there.

[mepuppy]

Let It Ride - Supernatural rewrite

A.N.: I do not own the characters, nor the storylines. I'm simply adding a twist to the episodes. Please feel free to help me out with constructive criticism on the story or the writing. Sorry for the mistakes, not proofread and english is not my first language. Sorry for not posting yesterday, I had a little moving day because I'll be spending the next 3 months in another state for work. But here it is, I hope you like it!

1x01 1x02 1x03 1x04

Word Count: 7.1k

1x05 - Bloody Mary

“Sam, wake up.” Sam jolts awake and looks at his brother on the driver seat of the Impala looking at him concerned. Y/n is on his window with a hand still on his shoulder, from trying to wake him up. The large building in front of the parked car tells him they arrived in the hospital in Toledo, Ohio, where they found a possible next case.

“I take it I was having a nightmare.” Sam looks between the two older hunters.

Y/n nods “Yeah, another one.”

“Hey, at least I got some sleep.” He gives Dean a small smile.

“You know, sooner or later we're gonna have to talk about this.” his brother replied sternly

“Are we here?” Sam tries to change the subject.

“Yup. Welcome to Toledo, Ohio.” Dean tells him and gets out of the car. Y/n gives Sam space to do the same. He grabs the newspaper with the obituary they circled earlier  from his pocket.

Shoemaker, Steven

The Shoemaker family is sad to announce the sudden death of their beloved husband and father Steven Shoemaker. Steven was 46. A short service will be held on Wednesday, [...] 31 at 2:00 p.m. at the Toledo [...] and cherish you [...] Your [...]

“So what do you think really happened to this guy?” Sam looks at the two in front of him.

“That's what we're gonna find out.” Dean says turning around and heading inside. “Let's go.”

The trio walks into room 144, marked Morgue. There's two desks. The empty one has a nameplate that says Dr. D. Fejklowicz and y/n tries to memorize the name. The table has the morgue technician. “Hey.” the man looks up at them.

“Hey.” Dean replies and smiles at him.

“Can I help you?” he asks when noone says anything.

“Yeah. We're the, uh… med students.” Dean replies after a quick glance at Sam and y/n.

“Sorry?” the technician asks, frowning.

“Oh, Doctor…” y/n tries to save but the name was complicated “...Figlavitch didn't tell you?” she tries knowing she got it wrong, but keeps going “We talked to him on the phone. He, uh, we're from Ohio State.” she smiles fondly at the man sitting down “He's supposed to show us the Shoemaker corpse. It's for our paper.”

“Well, I'm sorry, he's at lunch.” the man tights his lip in a false smile and points with his thumb to the other desk.

“Oh well he said, uh...” she looks quickly at her best friends and back at him

“Oh, well, you know, it doesn't matter. You don't mind just showing us the body, do you?” Dean tries.

“Sorry, I can't.” he simply says and looks down at the magazine he is reading. “Doc will be back in an hour. You can wait for him if you want.”

“An hour? Ooh. We gotta be heading back to Columbus by then.” Dean looks at y/n with a concerned expression.

“Yeah.” she agrees.

“Uh, look, man, this paper's like half our grade, so if you don't mind helping us out…” Dean tries one more time looking back to the man.

“Uh, look, man...no.” the technician sits up, putting the magazine down, and stares at Dean.

Dean laughs a little, turning around and mumbles to Sam and y/n. “I'm gonna hit him in his face I swear.” 

Y/n puts her hand on Dean’s arm and pushes him out of the way a little. Sam steps in front of them and opens his wallet pulling out some twenties. He lays a few of them, at least five, down on the technician's desk. He picks up the money and gets up. “Follow me.”

 Dean grabs Sam when he tries to follow. “Dude, I earned that money.”

“You won it in a poker game.” y/n retorts and passes between the two following the morgue technician.

“Yeah.” he replies but Sam already followed her and Dean is alone. He goes after the rest of the group.

“Now the newspaper said his daughter found him. She said his eyes were bleeding.” Sam states when the man pulls back the sheet over Steven's face.

“More than that. They practically liquefied.” he tells Sam and the trio looks at the corpse’s face.

“Any sign of a struggle? Maybe somebody did it to him?” Dean asks, going to the side of  the table.

“Nope. Besides the daughter, he was all alone.” the man answers.

“What's the official cause of death?” y/n looks at him with curiosity.

“Ah, Doc's not sure. He's thinking massive stroke, maybe an aneurysm? Something burst up in there, that's for sure.” the guy says as he motions to Steven’s head.

“What do you mean?” Sam looks back at the dead man.

“Intense cerebral bleeding. This guy had more blood in his skull than anyone I've ever seen.”

“The eyes. What would cause something like that?” y/n asks him with her eyebrows knitted.

“Capillaries can burst. See a lot of bloodshot eyes with stroke victims.” 

“Yeah? You ever see exploding eyeballs?” Dean looks at the man.

“That's a first for me, but hey, I'm not the doctor.” he laughs humorlessly.

“Hey, think we could take a look at that police report? You know for, uh… our paper.” Dean asks him.

“I'm not really supposed to show you that.” the guy looks back at Sam who  pulls out his wallet again looking annoyed.

The man takes them back and shuffles through his desk pulling one folder out and hands it to Sam. He opens it while the man sits back down and reopens his magazine. Dean and y/n go to each side of Sam and look at the papers with him.

After some time, they give the folder back to the technician and head out. “Might not be one of ours. Might just be some freak medical thing.” Sam says as they start climbing down the stairs.

“Yeah, but how many times in John’s long and varied career has it actually been a freak medical thing and not some sign of an awful supernatural death?” y/n looks over her shoulder at him without stopping.

“Uh, almost never.” he replies.

“Exactly.” Dean agrees and they head out of the door going to the vehicles.

“All right, let's go talk to the daughter.” Sam says entering the Impala when Dean and y/n go to their respectives driving seats.

When they arrive at the house the funeral is still happening. There is a picture of Steven on the desk. The attendees are all men in black suits and women in black dresses, except the trio.

“Feel like we're underdressed.” Dean jokes when they walk in looking around. They keep going through the house towards the back. They ask a man about Donna and Lilly, Steven’s daughters, they are sitting with their friends.

“You must be Donna, right?” Dean asks when they get close enough. Dean and Sam get to the circle first and y/n see one of the friends eyeing the two hunters with interest, making the woman roll her eyes.

“Yeah.” The girl with the shorter hair says.

“Hi, uh… we're really sorry.” Y/n tells her making the 

“Thank you.” she replies.

“I'm Sam, this is Dean and that's y/n. We worked with your dad.” As Sam tells the girls look at each other and Donna looks back at Sam.

“You did?” she asks incredulously.

“Yeah. This whole thing. I mean, a stroke.” Dean cuts in quickly.

“I don't think she really wants to talk about this right now” one of their friends says.

“It's okay. I'm okay.” she replies looking at her friend and smile.

“Were there any symptoms? Dizziness? Migraines?” y/n questions the girl and she shakes her head.

“No.” the little girl by her side turns around facing them. 

“That's because it wasn't a stroke.” she states. The trio frowns.

“Lily, don't say that.” the older sister looks at her.

“What?” Sam asks.

“I'm sorry, she's just upset.” Donna tells them.

“No, it happened because of me.” the girl looks back at the hunters.

“Sweetie, it didn't.” her sister tries one more time. Y/n goes around the group and crouches in front of the girl.

“Lily. Why would you say something like that?” she asks worried.

“Right before he died, I said it.” the girl looks sadly at the hunter.

“You said what?” she questions looking in the girl’s eyes.

“Bloody Mary, three times in the bathroom mirror.” she says. Y/n pauses and looks at the boys “She took his eyes, that's what she does.” 

“That's not why Dad died. This isn't your fault.” her sister puts her hand in Lilly’s shoulder.

“I think your sister's right, Lily. There's no way it could have been Bloody Mary. Your dad didn't say it, did he?” Dean goes close to her as well and stops behind y/n.

“No, I don't think so.” The girl looks up at him. Y/n gets up and turns around, realizing Dean is much closer than she expected.

“I’m sorry for your loss, again.” Sam says and turns to leave. Y/n and Dean stare at each other for a heartbeat and then follow him. Her heart is running a marathon, but she keeps her face straight as they enter the house and go up the stairs.

“The Bloody Mary legend… Dad ever find any evidence that it was a real thing?” Sam pushes the bathroom door open. There is still some dried blood on the floor.

“Not that I know of.” Dean looks at y/n wondering if she remembers something, but she shakes her head denying it as well.

Sam stoops to the floor and touches the dried blood. “I mean, everywhere else all over the country, kids will play Bloody Mary, and as far as we know, nobody dies from it.” he looks up at the other two.

“Yeah, well, maybe everywhere it's just a story, but here it's actually happening.” Dean says looking around the bathroom. 

“The place where the legend began?” Sam wonders out loud and gets up. Dean shrugs and y/n opens the medicine cabinet. “But according to the legend, the person who says B…” he stops short when he notices the medicine cabinet mirror is now facing him, and closes it “The person who says you know what gets it. But here…”

“Shoemaker gets it instead, yeah.” y/n finishes for him.

“Right.”

“Never heard anything like that before. Still, the guy did die right in front of the mirror, and the daughter's right. The way the legend goes, you know who scratches your eyes out.” she eyes the mirror too.

“It's worth checking in to.” Sam says as they start going out of the bathroom.

“What are you doing up here?” One of Donna’s friends asks, stopping in front of them.

“We… we had to go to the bathroom.” Dean says and the other two look at him with slightly widened eyes in disbelief with the lie.

“Who are you?” the girl questions them.

“Like we said downstairs, we worked with Donna's dad.” Dean explains.

“He was a day trader or something. He worked by himself.” the girl retorts with both hands on her hips.

“No, I know, I meant…” he starts.

“And all those weird questions downstairs, what was that? So you tell me what's going on, or I start screaming.” she looks at them, specifically to the two men, threatening..

“All right, all right. We think something happened to Donna's dad.” Sam raises his hands.

“Yeah, a stroke.” she adds.

“That's not a sign of a typical stroke. We think it might be something else.” y/n tells her.

“Like what?” 

“Honestly? We don't know yet. But we don't want it to happen to anyone else. That's the truth.” Sam tells her.

“So, if you're gonna scream, go right ahead.” Dean tells her, narrowing his eyes a little.

“Who are you, cops?” she asks them. The look at each other.

“Something like that.” Dean tells her.

“I'll tell you what. Here.” Sam reaches into his pocket, pulls out a paper and pen, and starts writing down his cell number  “If you think of anything, you or your friends notice anything strange, out of the ordinary… just give us a call.” he hands her the paper as they walk down the hallway.

⬛️◼️◾️▪️◾️◼️⬛

“All right, say Bloody Mary really is haunting this town. There's gonna be some sort of proof… Like a local woman who died nasty.” Dean says as they walk into a building.

“Yeah but a legend this widespread it's hard. I mean, there's like 50 versions of who she actually is. One story says she's a witch, another says she's a mutilated bride, there's a lot more.” y/n turns to enter the library.

“All right, so what are we supposed to be looking for?” Dean looks down at her.

“Every version has a few things in common. It's always a woman named Mary, and she always dies right in front of a mirror. So we've gotta search for local newspapers… public records as far back as they go. See if we can find a Mary who fits the bill.” she adds.

“Well that sounds annoying.” Dean looks back ahead.

“No it won't be so bad, as long as we…” Sam starts but he then sees the computers which all say ‘Out of Order’ on them and stops giving a light chuckle “I take it back. This will be very annoying.”

They check some files out and head back to the motel. At the motel, Dean went to check in and y/n hopped off the Harley grabbed her duffel, unbuckling it from the passenger seat, and went to Sam and the Impala. 

“202” Dean announced and motioned in the direction with his head. The two followed him. The room was simple, it only had two beds, no pull-out. So they would be sharing.

Growing up the way they did, sharing beds wasn’t something new. They would sleep in the same bed more often than not, as a matter of fact. They would alternate pairs (and sometimes, when John was away, one would have a bed for themselves). They even slept all three on the same bed when they were kids, but soon enough Dean was too big to share with other two, so they went back to pairs.

Dean entered first and dropped his papers on the table by the window. Y/n and Sam followed, each dropping a bag on one bed. “I’m going to grab some snacks, want anything?” Y/n asked the two brothers. 

“Mm-hmm” Dean answers but Sam only shakes his head. She leaves the room and follows the hallways until she finds a vending machine. Grabbing a turkey sandwich for Dean and cookies for herself she heads back to the room. They accommodate themselves, each on a different spot, and start reading different obituaries to try and find a Mary who was killed in front of a mirror.

“This is imp…” Dean starts but the woman shushes him.

She lowers the finger she had put in front of her lips. “Sam’s asleep.” She whispers. 

He looks past the bed she’s crossed legged on and spots a laying Sam with his eyes closed. “Good.” He whispers back.

“Yeah. How can he function so well with the amount of sleep he’s been getting is beyond me.” She turns back to look at Dean “18 years having a bad sleep routine and I’m still not used to it.” She rolls her eyes chuckling a little.

“At least you’re not too grumpy when you’re tired. Otherwise I would’ve murdered you and blamed on a werewolf.” He gives her an amused smile and she rolls her eyes, going back to read more obituaries.

After 20 minutes Sam jolts awake and looks around. The other two look at him “Why'd you let me fall asleep?” He asks passing his hands through his hair.

“‘Cause I'm an awesome brother. So what did you dream about?” He asks putting te file down.

“Lollipops and candy canes.” The youngest say sarcastically.

“Yeah, sure.” Y/n disapproves his scorn.

“Did you find anything?” He asks them

“Oh besides a whole new level of frustration?” Dean starts and Sam sits back up on his bed “No. we’ve looked at everything.”

“A few local women, a Laura and a Catherine committed suicide in front of a mirror, and a giant mirror fell on a guy named Dave, but uh, no Mary.” Y/n says as she reads through the files on the side.

“Maybe we just haven't found it yet.” Sam falls back into the bed

“I've also been searching for strange deaths in the area, you know...eyeball bleeding, that sort of thing. There's nothing. Whatever's happening here, maybe it just ain't Mary.” Dean says looking over all the papers spread through the bed and table.

Sam’s phone rings and he answers it. “Hello?” He says and a concerned look crosses his face before he speaks again “okay, try to calm down we’re coming to you. Stay there!” He hangs up and looks up to Dean and y/n “It was Charlie, Donna’s friend. She’s at the park waiting for us. Their other friend is dead.” He explains getting up and the the other two already started putting their shoes back on to leave.

⬛️◼️◾️▪️◾️◼️⬛️

Already at the park Charlie is telling them about the phone call she had with Jill, the friend who died, right before her death “And they found her on the bathroom floor. And her… her eyes. They were gone.” She chokes.

“I'm sorry.” Sam says sitting by her side.

“And she said it.” Sam looks up at the two “I heard her say it. But it couldn't be because of that. I'm insane, right?” She looks between the three hunters.

“No, you're not insane.” Y/n reassures her

“Oh God, that makes me feel so much worse.” The girls looks back down.

“Look. We think something's happening here. Something that can't be explained.” Sam starts trying to catch her attention back.

“And we're gonna stop it but we could use your help.” Dean tells her.

“Do you think you can get us to Jill’s bedroom?” Y/n asked hopeful.

“I think so. Can you guys get to a second floor window?” She looks at the woman.

“We’ll manage.” Dean reassures her.

The three hunters climbed to the roof from a tree and are waiting Charlie by the window she pointed at Jill's. She comes in from the bedroom door and locks it. Going over to the window and opening it. Sam enters first and Dean throws him a duffel bag, giving space for y/n to enter and following right after. Sam sets it on the bed and starts going through it.

“What did you tell Jill's mom?” Sam asks as he ruffles through the bag.

“Just that I needed some time alone with Jill's pictures and things.” She answers as Sam pulls something out of the bag and Dean shuts the curtains. “I hate lying to her.”

“Trust us, this is for the greater good.” Y/n tells her and Dean goes to the interruptor and turns the lights off.

“What are you guys looking for?”

“We'll let you know as soon as we find it.” Dean answers her at the same time Sam stretched a digital camera to y/n.

“Hey, night vision.” He says and she turns the thing on for him and he hands her the camera.

She grabs the digital camera and it is aimed at Dean. He looks up and sees the camera. “Do I look like Paris Hilton?” Dean asks, turning a little and looking over his shoulder. She snorts and walks away slowly with the camera. She opens Jill’s closet door and begins filming around the mirror.

“So I don't get it. I mean… the first victim didn't summon Mary, and the second victim did. How's she choosing them?” Sam turns to Dean and Charlie.

“Beats me.” Dean answers when y/n closes the closet door. “I want to know why Jill said it in the first place.” He turns to Charlie.

“It's just a joke.” Charlie looks up at him.

“Yeah well somebody's gonna say it again, it's just a matter of time.” He says again and looks over at y/n who is in the bathroom filming around the mirror when she stops and sees trickles of something running out from behind the mirror.

“Hey.” She says and Sam and Charlie also turn to look at her “There's a black light in the trunk, right?”

She takes the mirror off the wall and carries it out to Jill's bed and lays it on the bed upside down. Dean comes over with a black light. Y/n peels off the brown paper that is on the back of the mirror. And Dean shines the black light over the back of the mirror and they see a handprint, and the words ‘Gary Bryman’.

“Gary Bryman?” Charlie asks the trio, making all heads snap at her.

“You know who that is?” Sam asks

“No.” She shakes her head.

“Okay. Let’s get out of here.” Y/n says taking the mirror again and putting it back in its place. Sam turned the light back on and Dean puts the camera and the light away on the duffel. They head to the window and get out again. Charlie closes it behind them and goes to the door. They walk slowly to the tree. Sam goes back first. Dean gives him the duffel and climbs down and then turns to help y/n down. “Oh. Thank you” she says smiling when she notices what he’s trying to do.

They go back to the bench. Dean and Charlie are sitting on it, y/n is standing up in front of them and Sam comes up behind her.

“So, Gary Bryman was an 8-year-old boy.” Y/n turns around startled with a hand on her chest “Sorry.” He smiles “Two years ago he was killed in a hit and run. The car was described as a black Toyota Camry. But nobody got the plates or saw the driver.”

“Oh my God.” Charlie half whispers.

“What?” Sam asked at the same time y/n did:

“Did Jill drive one of those?”

“Yeah.” She looks to the woman.

“We need to get back to your friend Donna’s house.” Dean looks at Charlie.

⬛️◼️◾️▪️◾️◼️⬛️

“Linda Shoemaker.” Sam says as he turns the light off and stands up, putting the mirror back on the wall. 

“Let’s go talk to Donna.” Dean states and leaves the bathroom.

They all follow him downstairs where they found Donna in the kitchen.

“Hey, we need to ask you a couple of questions. Is that alright?” Y/n asks from behind Dean.

“I guess, sure.” She shrugs.

“Is Linda Shoemaker your mother?” The woman questions Donna

“Uhm, yeah. Why” she answers frowning.

“She died right? How was her relationship with your father?” Did they get in fights a lot?” Dean looks at her. 

“Why are you asking me this?” She inquiries.

“Look, we're sorry, but it's important.” Sam tells her

“Yeah. Linda's my mom okay? She overdosed on sleeping pills, it was an accident, and that's it. I think you should leave.” She looks distressed.

“Now Donna, just listen.” Dean starts, trying to talk to her.

“Get out of my house!” She runs upstairs.

“Oh my God. Do you really think her dad could've killed her mom?” Charlie asks the three hunters with a concerned expression.

“Maybe.” Sam replies.

“I think I should stick around.” She tells them

“All right. Whatever you do, don't…” but Charlie cuts Dean off before he can finish.

“Believe me, I won't say it.” She gives them a tight half smile and turns around to go after Donna. The three hunters leave the house. 

⬛️◼️◾️▪️◾️◼️⬛️

Dean’s sitting in front of a computer with Sam and y/n behind him. “Wait, wait, wait, you're doing a nationwide search?” Sam asks him when he sees what Dean is typing.

“Yep. The NCIC, the FBI database… at this point any Mary who died in front of a mirror is good enough for me.” Dean answers as he scrolls.

“But if she's haunting the town, she should have died in the town.” He arguments looking between the back of Dean’s head and the screen.

“I'm telling you there's nothing local, we’ve checked. So unless you got a better idea…” he replies to his brother looking STV the screen.

“The way Mary's choosing her victims, it seems like there's a pattern.” Y/n tells them, standing behind Dean with her hands on his chair.

“I know, I was thinking the same thing.” Dean glances over his shoulder quickly.

“With mister Shoemaker and Jill's hit and run.” Sam thinks it over.

Y/n looks at Sam “Both had secrets where people died.”

“Right. I mean there's a lot of folklore about mirrors… that they reveal all your lies, all your secrets, that they're a true reflection of your soul, which is why it's bad luck to break them.” Sam keeps going.

“Right, right. So maybe if you've got a secret, I mean like a really nasty one where someone died, then Mary sees it, and punishes you for it.” Y/n tilts her head raising her eyebrows.

“Whether you're the one that summoned her or not.” Sam finishes.

Dean calls their attention to the screen “Take a look at this.”  He points to a picture of a woman lying by a mirror in a puddle of blood. He prints out another picture and hands it to y/n over his shoulder it is of a handprint and the letters ‘Tre’.

“Looks like the same handprint.” Y/n says looking at the picture.

“Her name was Mary Worthington… an unsolved murder in Fort Wayne, Indiana.” Dean skimmed through the article.

The trio of hunters decided to go to Fort Wayne and try to talk to the detective that worked on Mary’s case. After an hour and 30 minutes with Dean on the wheel, they arrived at the city. 

 After some research they went to the detective’s house to talk to him.

“I was on the job for 35 years… detective for most of that. Now everybody packs it in with a few loose ends, but the Mary Worthington murder…” he pauses and looks at Dean, who’s in front of him “that one still gets me.”

“What exactly happened?” The oldest hunter asks.

“You kids said you were reporters?” He asks, looking up and down at the three, one at a time.

“We know Mary was 19, lived by herself. We know she won a few local beauty contests, dreamt of getting out of Indiana, being an actress.” Y/n starts by leaving the bookcase behind and joining Dean.

“And we know the night of March 29th someone broke into her apartment and murdered her, cut out her eyes with a knife.” Sam continued.

“That's right.” the detective answered.

“See sir, when we asked you what happened, we wanted to know what you think happened.” Y/n explained to him and the older man went to a file cabinet and pulled some files from it.

“Technically I'm not supposed to have a copy of this.” He opens a file to the picture Sam and Dean found on the computer. “Now see that there? T-R-E?”

“Yeah.” Dean agrees.

“I think Mary was trying to spell out the name of her killer.” He tells them.

“You know who it was?” Sam asks him getting closer.

“Not for sure. But there was a local man, a surgeon… Trevor Sampson.” He pulls out a picture of a man and hands it to the hunters. “And I think he cut her up good.”

“Now why would he do something like that?” Sam questions.

“Her diary mentioned a man that she was seeing. She called him by his initial, ‘T’. Well, her last entry, she was gonna tell ‘T’’s wife about their affair.” He tells them looking up form the papers on the table.

“Yeah but how do you know it was Sampson who killed her?” Dean looks from the mirror picture to the detective.

“It's hard to say, but the way her eyes were cut out… it was almost professional.”

“But you could never prove it?” Y/n half guesses.

“No. No prints, no witnesses. He was meticulous.” The man explains and drops his eyes.

“Is he still alive?” Dean drops the picture on the table.

“Nope.” He sits down and sighs “If you ask me, Mary spent her last living moments trying to expose this guy's secret. But she never could.” He looks up at the hunters who are side by side.

“Where's she buried?” Sam asks.

“She wasn't. She was cremated.” He frowns a little.

“What about that mirror” y/n nods at the one in the picture “It's not in some evidence lockup somewhere is it?” 

“Ah, no. It was returned to Mary's family a long time ago.” 

“You have the names of her family by any chance?” Dean wonders. The detective pauses for a while and then started looking through the papers on the file handing them one.

They are heading back, after a while with the detective, and y/n is on her cell while Dean is driving and Sam is on the backseat, close to her phone “Oh really? Ah that's too bad Mr. Worthington. I would have paid a lot for that mirror. Okay, well maybe next time. All right, thanks.” She finishes and hangs up.

“So?” Dean asks glancing at her.

“So that was Mary's brother. The mirror was in the family for years, until he sold it one week ago to a store called Estate Antiques. A store in Toledo.” She looks at him

“So wherever the mirror goes, that's where Mary goes?” He question again.

“Her spirit's definitely tied up with it somehow.” Sam leans back.

“Isn't there an old superstition that says mirrors can capture spirits?” She looks over her shoulder.

“Yeah there is. Yeah, when someone would die in a house people would cover up the mirrors so the ghost wouldn't get trapped.” He answers her.

“So Mary dies in front of a mirror, and it draws in her spirit.” Dean complements.

“Yeah but how could she move through like a hundred different mirrors?” Sam wonders looking at his brother through the rear view mirror.

“I don't know, but if the mirror is the source, I say we find it and smash it.” He replies

“Yeah, I don't know, maybe.” Y/n looks over to the front.

Sam’s cell starts to rings. “Hello.” The look of concern comes across his face “Charlie?” He pauses “Okay don’t look at anything that has a reflection and go to 5335 Heatherdowns Blvd and wait for us. We’ll be right there.” He hangs up and looks at Dean “It was Charlie, apparently Donna called bloody Mary on the school restroom and now Charlie is seeing her.”

“Why are adolescents so stupid?” Dea rolls his eyes and starts going faster.

Arriving at  the hotel they find Charlie sitting in front of their door with her hands around her knees and face deep on them. The get to her and Sam helps her get up guiding her to his bed,where she sits and Dean and y/n start covering every window and mirror on the room. After  covering, what they think is everything they look at each other and around, both spotting their reflections on the TV at the same time. Dean gabs anoter sheet and hands the woman one ennd and they cover the TV.

Sam, then, sitsnext to Charlie and says “Hey, hey it's ok. Hey, you can open up your eyes Charlie. It's okay, all right?” the girl lifts her head from her knees slowly “Now listen. You're gonna stay right here on this bed, and you're not gonna look at glass, or anything else that has a reflection, okay? And as long as you do that, she cannot get you.”

“But I can't keep that up forever. I'm gonna die, aren't I?” shhe looks at Sam, her eyes filled with tears.

“No. No. Not anytime soon.” y/n tells her while putting a hand on her shouder while sitting on the end of the bed by thhe one Charlie is.

Dean sits next to y/n and looks at Charlie “All right Charlie. We need to know what happened.” 

“We were in the bathroom. Donna said it.” The girl starts but y/n cuts her off.

“That's not what we're talking about. Something happened, didn't it? In your life… a secret… where someone got hurt. Can you tell us about it?” she asks drpping her hand back to her own lap.

“I had this boyfriend. I loved him. But he kind of scared me too, you know? And one night, at his house, we got in this fight. Then I broke up with him, and he got upset, and he said he needed me and he loved me, and he said ‘Charlie, if you walk out that door right now, I'm gonna kill myself.’ And you know what I said? I said ‘Go ahead.’ And I left. How could I say that? How could I leave him like that? I just… I didn't believe him, you know? I should have.” She puts her face back on her knees and starts crying again.

The three  hunters look at each other and then back to the girl.

⬛️◼️◾️▪️◾️◼️⬛️

Dean is driving the Impala, with Sam in shotgun and y/n on the backseat. “You know her boyfriend killing himself, that's not really Charlie's fault.” he says looking at the road.

“You know as well as I do spirits don't exactly see shades of gray, Dean. Charlie had a secret, someone died, that's good enough for Mary.” Sam looks at his brother.

“I guess.”

“You know, I've been thinking. It might not be enough to just smash that mirror.” Sam continues.

“Why, what do you mean?” he asks quickly at the youngest.

“Well Mary's hard to pin down, right? I mean she moves around from mirror to mirror so who's to say that she's not just gonna keep hiding in them forever? So maybe we should try to pin her down, you know, summon her to her mirror and then smash it.” he tells them.

“Well how do you know that's going to work?” y/n questions.

“I don't, not for sure.” 

“Well who's gonna summon her?” Dean wonders as soon asSam finishes.

“I will. She'll come after me.” Sam looks bac to the road.

“You know what, that's it.” Dean says and pulls the car over. “This is about Jessica, isn't it? You think that's your dirty little secret that you killed her somehow?” he turns his body to half face his brother.

“Sam, this has got to stop.” y/n looks at him concernedd coming closer. “I mean, the nightmares and calling her name out in the middle of the night.. it's gonna kill you. Now listen to me… It wasn't your fault.” she puts a hand on his shoulder to make her look at him but he doesn't.

“Exactly. If you wanna blame something, then blame the thing that killed her. Or hell, why don't you take a swing at me? I mean I'm the one that dragged you away from her in the first place.” Dean tells looking up and shaking his head.

“I don't blame you.” he then looks at his brother.

“Well you shouldn't blame yourself, because there's nothing you could've done.” y/n tells him.

“I could've warned her.” he looks back at her.

“About what? You didn't know what was gonna happen! And besides, all of this isn't a secret, I mean I know all about it. It's not gonna work with Mary anyway.” Dean says, but as he starts to turn back to the wheel Sam speaks.

“No you don't.” 

“I don't what?” Dean and y/n frown.

“You don't know all about it. I haven't told you everything.” Sam looks at his hands.

“What are you talking about?” the woman with an anxious voice.

“Well it wouldn't really be a secret if I told you, would it?” Sam half smiles looking at them without turning his face.

The two expressions shift to surprise. “No. I don't like it. It's not gonna happen, forget it.” Dean tells and finally turns back to the steering wheel.

“Dean, that girl back there is going to die unless we do something about it. And you know what? Who knows how many more people are gonna die after that? Now we're doing this. You've got to let me do this.” he looks  at his brother, determined and shoots a glance to y/n on the backseat to make sure she doesn't try to argue too.

Dean huffs and starts driving again, mumbling complaints every now and then. Y/n spends the rest of the way looking at Sam with her eyebrows together, trying to come up with a plan where his life won't be at risk. The youngest hunter ignores them. When they arrive at the shop no one has  a better idea, so the plan remains the same. They get out of the car and grab a couple of crowbars, going to the entrance, where Sam gets down to pick the lock. 

Once Sam succeeds they enter and start looking around. At the back of the store they see many mirrors. “Well...that's just great.” Dean moans  as he pulls out the picture of Mary's dead body to look at the mirror “All right let's start looking.” he shows the other two the picture, holding a lantern over it so they can see it better. They split up and walk around the store “Maybe they've already sold it.” as Dean is finishing his sentence y/n's flashlight tops on the mirror.

“I don't think so.” she says and calls them over. Deann walks over to her and pulls out the picture again to compare. 

“That's it.” he sighs and looks at Sam “You sure about this?” Sam hands Dean his flashlight.

He sighs “Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary.” he looks at the other two who give him an unsure look back. Sam picks up the crowbar and holds it over his shoulder “Bloody Mary.”

Dean turns to see a light coming through the store windows and nudges y/n. “We'll go check that out. Stay here, be careful.” she instructs Sam who rearranges his shoulders and readies the crowbar again.

“Smash anything that moves.”  Dean and y/n go silently towards the front door. They see a headlight “Crap.” He puts the crowbar down and they begin to walk to the door.

The two leave the store together to talk to the police. “Hold it.” one officer says and they stop.

“Whoa guys, false alarm, I tripped the system.” Dean chuckles lightly but the police men remain unimpressed.

“Who are you?” another officer asks.

“I'm the boss's kid.” he smiles politely.

“You're Mister Yamashiro's kid?” the first cop questions. 

“I was  adopted.”Dean answers without hesitation, as he has been saying this his entire life. 

“And who are you?” one of them looks at y/n and shifts the gun a little.

“I'm his fiancé.” She smiles lovingly and holds Dean's hand.

“What do you guys need here?” the cop questions.

“My father asked me to grab some stuff for him.” Dean tells him.

“Can I see some ID?” the officer said and Dean grabs his wallet on the back pocket, handing the man his id.

“You're not Yamashiro.” the man raises an eyebrow.

“Like I said, I was adopted.” He lifts his hand asking for the id back.

“Yeah.” one officer says as another walks around to be on the two hunter’s back.

“You know, we just… I really don't have time for this right now.” Dean punches the cop in front of them and y/n turns and kicks the other on the stomach. They are now on the ground.

The two hunters  run back inside and as they getting closer they seeSam on the floor looking at the mirror. Dean grabbed the crowbar on the way in and goes through the mirror  as y/n goes to Sam.”Sam, Sammy!”

“It's Sam.” Sam tells her as Dean squats down by her side to look at him.

“God, are you okay?” “God, are you okay?” Dean asks and puts one arm on y/n back to steady himself as he cleans one side of the blood that came out of his eyes.

“Uh, yeah.” he answers, starting to get up.

“Come on, come on.” Dean and y/n pull Sam up. They begin to walk out, supporting Sam, until they hear some glass noise. They turn around to see Mary coming ou of the frame and crawling over the broken glass. Mary walks towards them and they fall to the ground. They all start bleeding from the face, but Dean reaches up and pulls over a mirror so that Mary is forced to see her own reflection. Mary starts choking to death and melts into a pile of blood. Dean throws down the mirror he held and it shatters.

“Hey Sam?” y/n calls him relaxing on the floor.

“Yeah?” he turns his head to look at her.

“This has got to be like… what? 600 years of bad luck?” she asks, looking at the ceiling and Sam chuckles weakly.

They went back to the motel and explained to Charlie she is safe, and Mary's gone. They grabbed all their stuff and Dean and Sam drove Charlie back to her house, with y/n following the car with her Harley. Arriving there Charlie gets out of the car and y/n opens  her helmet visor. “Charlie?” the girl turns around looking at thee hunter “Your boyfriend's death… it really wasn’t your fault. You should try to forgive yourself. No matter what you did, you probably couldn't have stopped it.” Charlie smiles faintly, then turns around to go into the house.

The bike pulls up to the driver's window, that is rolled down. Dean looks at her “That's good advice.”she smiles at him and he turns and lightly hits Sam “Hey SAM?”

“Yeah?”

“Now that this is all over, I want you to tell me what that secret is.” as Dean says it the woman on the bike lowers her head a little to look at the man too.

“Look… you're my brother and my best friend and I'd die for you, but there are some things I need to keep to myself.” Sam looks out the window and the other two look at each other, with concern in their eyes, and then back at the road. Dean drives off and y/n follows.

Taglist: let me knowif you want to be added or removed.

@stillhere197

@lmhf1

@un-expectedly

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s3 episode 17 thoughts

this episode took a few days to work... and it built up the suspense! i tried to watch it on thursday- i was ready for my scullynmulder time- but it wouldn't play. and then i finally had time to try again yesterday, and it STILL wouldn't work.

(i had to go on reddit and learned that i needed to change a single number in a random string of code, because apparently a new firefox update just killed any ability to use hulu? the hoops i jump through for these two...)

but, i really enjoyed this episode! it had cute lil moments and then also some soul-crushing angst, which is the way i like it. so allow me to begin, and all of my note taking shall begin below!

YAYYYYY it’s scullynmulder time… my heart is so happy

so we open in a grocery store in virginia. it’s a nice looking grocery store. would browse there.

a guy is buying like a billion cans of stuff that has a muscle on it. and then a magazine with the freaky worm baby from s2 on it! haha a nice callback! again. shoutout to the props team <3

but then, the scene of tranquil grocery shopping was interrupted, as the guy with all the cans grabs the jacket of the guy in front of him- and it turns out the whole thing was a sting operation!!! guy who wanted his cans is referred to as “pusher”. the FBI has a TON of guys dealing with him. 5 cars full. wow! he must be very scary.

he’s in the back of the last car. and going on about this officer’s uniform color. 

he keeps saying cerulean over and over until somehow the guy driving the car stops seeing the big tractor trailer coming his way. and so when he drives straight ahead, he is immediately hit!!! is this some sort of hypnosis?

the intro was different again!! who do they think they are fooling by changing this?? not me!

mulder's office time. side note: it really is THEIR office as a collective. because we never see her at her desk. but anyway.

the police car’s driver died after hitting the tractor trailer that was magically invisible to him, but not before he unlocked the prisoner, pusher. pusher had confessed to contracted killings over two years that had been staged to look not like murders, if you catch my drift.

why would this otherwise great agent unlock this prisoner and also drive straight into a tractor trailer? a great question! one we can hopefully answer.

pusher had kept mumbling about cerulean until the driver ran into a truck for a business called cerulean. then he had written a clue at the scene of the crime! it says “nin or” which mulder flips backwards to read… ronin. ronin! i know that word!

mulder points out that this means a samurai without a master (nerd), and that this is the name of a… self defense magazine? so off to go read some magazines!

a young woman who we later learned is named holly brings them a big stack of the aforementioned magazines- maybe she's an archivist! maybe that should be my job!

she has a giant bruise on her face from getting mugged. mulder asks if they got whoever did this to her, and she says “do they ever? ….no offense” awww, holly, you're gonna make him sad. but seriously, poor girl, that is awful :(

she heads out, and scully is like, how did pusher do all of these killings? mulder says that he was probably utilizing the power of suggestion 

so they find an advertisement for someone “who solves problems” in all of the ronin magazines since 1994- which was when the murders started! a clue! with a phone number to go with it!

and in the ad were the letters OSU, which they thought meant ohio state but no! it’s a japanese word that means “to push”! gasp! it's definitely their guy!

(there was very conveniently a japanese to english dictionary on the shelf of the room where they were reading the magazines. i guess it's important to keep your language learning tools around in the FBI, but it was funny because all the other books looked like boring legal stuff)

they call the number, and it goes to a phone in virginia. mulder is in a car nearby and scully is there too, but she is sleeping. ON HIS SHOULDER!!!!

he lightly taps her face to wake her up and says “i think you drooled on me” and she quickly apologizes... NOOO DON’T BE MEAN TO HER!!! SHE’S SLEEPY 😭😭😭 awwwwww oh my HEART <3

(i need to scream real quick, because that was so precious. AHHHHHHHHHhhhhhHHHH)

((nah i'm never gonna move on from this actually. never never. the way he tapped her face.......... how she seemed so embarrassed.... the intimacy of falling asleep on someone's shoulder, how long he must have sat there trying not to make any sudden movements while still keeping his attention on the case........... i need to collect myself))

but then the phone rings back!!! they sprint sprint sprint and they pick it up… to someone asking if they are just going to sit there all night!!!! the pusher!!!

oh he’s creepy… he comments on how mulder “and his pretty partner seem awfully close”. now, is he invested in whatever the hell it is they have going on like i am (which is valid), or is he just a creep (less valid)? 

pusher seems to be a freak at least in some regards, saying that "they have to follow his breadcrumbs", and that the next one is right in front of mulder, who he keeps calling “g man”. he also says to let his fingers do the walking, which makes slim to no sense to me. 

but they figure that it means to call the last number on the pay phone, and it reaches a golf course! they hold the phone up so they both can hear the message and it’s so CUTE AWWW

mulder calls her “g-woman” as they leave <- STOP I’M GONNA SCREAM!!!

off to the golf course. where pusher is golfing with a very beat up face from the accident. he spots snipers hiding in the grass, mumbles that it is “about time”, and tries to get out. 

they have him cornered!!! but when he tells the dude with the gun on him to relax, he really does. and when pusher tells him to show him his face, he does. he knows the guy by name?!?

pusher tells this collins fellow to pour a ton of gasoline, which he does while crying. collins screams at the agents to stop him as he flicks on a lighter, but scully is fast and grabs a fire extinguisher, and mulder uses his jacket to induce a sort of stop drop and roll maneuver. huh, they really do work so well together!

a car horn is blaring, so mulder goes to see what is going on and it’s… a dude with his head on the horn. he says “bet you five bucks i get off”… it’s pusher! he was mumbling as if he was remotely controlling the dude who lit the flame... okay, weird.

mulder at da court. he is fidgeting as they question him about this pusher fellow and his 14 murders. mulder explains that he thinks pusher can talk his way into his victims hurting themselves, which is by far not the most outlandish thing we’ve heard on this television program, but the people in the court act like this is akin to spotting a unicorn, and scoff at mulder for proposing such a bizarre idea.

(usually i agree that mulder's ideas are bizarre, but this one seems entirely possible to me, with or without mind control. people can be talked into doing all sorts of things. mulder i am on your side and would not laugh at you like these fakes)

AND pusher had called and confessed to 14 murders, but his defense tries to write it off as a drunk prank call. while this is the most absurd thing we (both the viewer and the characters in court) have ever heard, and surely no one would ever believe it, pusher uses his mind power skills to get into the judge’s brain and make him be declared innocent.

pusher walks up to mulder and says he owes him five dollars. this dude majorly sucks.

cutscene to mulder practicing his aim. it’s pretty good!! he must be really unsettled by this whole situation to work on his marksmanship.

scully comes in (with the ear protection things on so mulder's firing doesn't blast her ears <3 queen of precautions) with more information on this pusher fellow. mulder starts reciting all the things he can guess about the pusher’s life, from his college to his military service to which branch and i'm thinking man, did he study up on this? is he that unsettled by this case? but ohhh yeah, mulder does profiling, seemingly very successfully.

but he didn’t know that the pusher applied to the FBI!!! and had flopped at the psych evaluation, where he had been ego-centric and lied and claimed to be trained by ninjas. mulder seems to think this could be true, but i don’t know if he knows the ninja lore and that they were not as historically common as media would make you think 💔

luckily, scully doesn't break this terrible news to him. man, this reminds me i need to get a good translation of the kojiki and the nihon shoki

(at this point i did a bit of a wikipedia rabbit hole into japanese medieval literature before remembering the plot at hand. focus!)

mulder says that they should have had enough evidence to at least get him in custody, and that the pusher “put the whammy” on the judge. to which scully deadpans “please explain to me the scientific nature of the whammy” <- HDHEJSNWJSKDMND i love her sooooo terribly. 

mulder is still thinking this guy was a ninja, but scully points out that if he could control people’s minds, why wouldn’t he be an FBI agent like he wanted? a very good point! well, maybe it’s a new skill, mulder posits.

he seems very frustrated that scully isn’t buying his mind control theory, but she makes it very clear she believes he is guilty of murder!!! they just need to figure out what went down. queen of communicating her logic. she won’t communicate her feelings though, but that's okay we can work on that in the future.

pusher at da FBI. writes himself a note that says “pass” and sticks it in his lapel, goes in and asks for computer records. the guard immediately gives it to him. and he waltzes in! 

no!! the poor girl with the bruised face from before, holly!!! he starts talking to her, and she gives him the keyboard to her super secret FBI computer. he asks for printouts and says he wants to hurt whoever did that to her face. hmm. well, maybe a little revenge on her behalf wouldn’t hurt...

but skinner is here! he heard an unfamiliar voice and walks in, asking if he can help this strange fellow. skinner realizes that he is up to no good, and grabs him, but the pusher convinces holly that skinner is the guy who mugged her!!! so she busts out her mace the minute that skinner manages to call for security and starts KICKING HIM??

things escalated very quickly there.

holly is in his office, apologizing profusely to skinner and whole bunch of other people for kicking the hell out of his face. scully is there too. okayyyyy, she’s moving up in the world, helping out when skinner gets attacked!!!! she is very calm about the whole thing though, which makes her a great choice, so she deserves it.

holly says that it was like the pusher was in her head, and she was watching herself do the things she did. creepy...

she’s crying, and skinner doesn’t honestly seem too mad about the whole thing. i would be very mad if one of my employees let a random guy have access to secret files and then pepper sprayed and kicked me, but clearly he understands something was afoot.

OH! scully agrees that it is the pusher’s persuasive powers that made holly attack him, even if she can’t explain why it is he can do that! wow! the evidence is undeniable, even if it is inexplicable!

the pusher left with mulder’s file… so now he knows where he lives. so they should have a sleepover at her place!!! and watch movies!!! <3 before they catch him ofc, because now that he was trespassing, they have him on hook for a crime

(sadly, i must report that no sleepover took place. but it would be nice to imagine that it did)

they go to the pusher's apartment to try and find him, and scully announces before she turns the lights on. okayyyy! giving everyone a warning.

something about her with a trench coat and a gun in investigation mode makes my stomach do flips. we don't have to unpack that right now. i just was very aware that it happened.

he left a movie on the tv, that scully immediately identified as svengali. hold on let me google something. okay, that is a book/movie about guy that uses mind control. fitting. a clue, perhaps…

and is she watching horror films on the regular to be able to identify the film after seeing like three frames….? love that for her <3

(wait, she did say before that the exorcist was one of her favorite movies! so this further proves that she is going to be seated for a spooky film <3)

mulder opens his fridge to find a million and a half of those protein cans from before. you think those are giving him psychic powers? hmm…

oh!!! scully found something in his cabinet: epilepsy medication!!! a clue, perhaps? i’m just gonna keep saying that about anything they find. so that means they know more about him, and that he will need medication, which could be a way to try and find him, because he’ll need to get more at some point probably… AND HE STARTED TAKING THE PILLS AT THE SAME TIME THE MURDERS STARTED!

mulder asks what can cause epilepsy late in life. her answers: head injury, neurological disease, a tumor…

mulder perks up because he thinks a tumor might give you psychic powers. which would be a bright side to an otherwise very dismal situation, i’m sure. 

she says that if he had a brain tumor, he would not be well enough to do all of these shenanigans- a very valid point. mulder responds with: maybe he isn’t well at all!! he was too tired to escape at the driving range, after all, and he had confessed to murders he had gotten away with… maybe he wants to go out in a blaze of glory!

huh. bold theory.

phone rings as this theory is proposed. and the pusher is in fact on the phone. he asks for mulder and scully, who are sitting next to each other on a bed with their heads close, listening in. it’s endearing. 

anyway, the pusher is going on and on with the dude on the phone named frank, saying he looks super unhealthy, and i get that they are trying to trace the call, but they also should know by now to not listen to a damn thing he says because of the mind control. but again, he could be offering a clue, so someone has to listen. agh! such a conundrum.

mulder says to hang up the phone, right as the pusher talks frank into having some sort of medical condition where his blood thickens (gag. gag gag gag bleurghhhh). mulder and scully are trying to get him to hang up the phone but he won’t, he keeps listening so they can get a trace on the call!! and then frank is dead.

scully’s trying to save his life, but mulder picks up the phone. the pusher says that he wants a real adversary, and he’s read up on mulder, who he deems worthy. okay just ignore scully at your own peril i guess...

scully realizes she can’t save frank :( and mulder is mad because he killed this dude for nothing!! but he says no no, all these people die by themselves. 

they trace him to near a hospital, where he must be getting regular treatment for his condition. they find his car outside. and he’s scheduled for an MRI.

mulder says he should go in by himself, so that no one else gets hurt. a bold choice...

he gets all suited up with a camera and some fancy equipment to go in, then he gives scully his gun, so he won’t shoot anyone even if the pusher uses his mind games on him. and then they hold hands for a second. and look into each other’s eyes. and i will sob like a baby. 

mulder is going into the hospital. scully is watching all of this from his fancy camera. the og live stream. 

we hear two shots fired; the pusher made the guard shoot the technician and then himself. scully sees the monitor and asks mulder to get closer. and he does indeed have a tumor…. and is dying, so he has nothing to lose. which makes him even scarier!

scully is begging him to get out of there. but he turns and scully sees from the camera the pusher holding him at gun point!!! she yells “god!” and then runs into action. oh you know it’s serious when the catholic is yelling the name of the lord as an exclamation….

scully putting on a bullet proof vest to go in there and save him😳oh wow… i am learning so much about myself

she goes in, tells the SWAT team to wait for a signal. everything is very very very tense as she makes her way into the hospital. so slowly. she finally comes to the right door, and pushes it open.

mulder is seated with the pusher in the room of a patient, while the two stare at each other. they’re both very sweaty, and pusher has a gun in his hand. the pusher is going on about martial arts and a fight to the death and stuff. he gives mulder the gun and says to pull the trigger, one pull with a one in six chance to kill him.

scully is suspicious because they are, again, in a hospital, which has pure oxygen, and who knows what could happen if he pulls the trigger? but despite her very logical warning, he does pull the trigger, right away, and nothing happens. 

but the pusher talks mulder into putting the gun against his own head. she is begging him not to do it, to listen to her, to get out of there together, and everything will be okay.

and despite scully’s best efforts, he DOES pull the trigger. no bullet this time, but she is FREAKING OUT that he did that. she yells, and that yell will probably haunt me forever, how furious and terrified she sounded to watch him do such a horrific thing.

and then he turns the gun on HER, she’s crying, telling him to fight this. terrified she's about to die at his hands.

(oh my gosh, i really hope he’s faking the mind control working on him, so he can turn the gun on the pusher at the last minute)

the pusher mentions that SHE SHOT HIM, he read it in his files, “PAYBACK TIME, SHOOT THE LITTLE SPY” <- OMFG???? this escalated SOSOSOSOSO fast????

he tells scully to RUN while he still has the gun pointed at her, but then once she gets out and pulls the fire alarm, mulder shoots him!!!!! he keeps clicking the gun over and over at him despite it being empty. and he looks so tired, handing the gun over to scully, holding his head in his hands. 

man, he must have been horrified, to have someone in his mind, making him try to hurt himself and hurt scully, watching her scream at him after he put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger, watching her cry as the gun was pointed at her, fighting for access to his own mind... and after he had left his gun with her, just to make sure he wouldn't hurt anyone, he found himself in this situation...... how he kept firing even after the single bullet had been shot, just to ensure that no one else would be hurt..... woah. there is a lot to unpack here about the lack of agency and losing loved ones and mulder's deepest fears.... i will be gnawing on this in my head for a while...

so, the pusher is on a ventilation system, and mulder is watching. scully enters and says he will never regain consciousness. apparently, he had been refusing treatment, refused to have the tumor removed even though it was possible. mulder says that it’s like she had proposed, he was a little man, and this finally made him feel big.

they linger long enough for me to wonder if they’re actually going to kiss, right in front of this comatose murderer, but she does something just as intimate: grabs his hand and says to not let this dude take up another minute of their time. we end with mulder taking one last look and leaving the room.

oh, this episode was GOOD. REALLY GOOD. the suspense was killer, the mind games were trippy, and these two. these two.

scully falling asleep on his shoulder? the fluff of an indulgent fanfic writer. but it REALLY HAPPENED. them holding their heads close multiple times to listen to the phone... the hand grab at the end. listening and trusting each other's wild theories.

this episode showed how well they work as a team, and it made me so happy. it felt in very sharp contrast to a few episodes before where they were not working together at all. and i get that was cosmic opposite day, but still, this episode and their dynamic felt so right.

and then at the end, the level of angst was unexpected. and honestly, they go through a LOT on this show, but scully seeing him held at gunpoint and then watching him pull the trigger on his own head made me lose my MIND. how she begged him to stop, pleaded and yelled, how she cried as he pointed the gun on her, him using every ounce of energy he had to try and resist mind control to keep her safe. and the minute she is away, he unloads the gun into the pusher, again and again and again despite knowing it was empty, just to be sure no other bullets could hurt anyone else. how exhausted he was when he sat down at the end, his head in his hands; how he watched him in his comatose state until scully told him they should leave.

(insert prolonged muffled screaming as a way to comprehend the feelings i am experiencing)

and a massive shoutout to skinner for showing up for 5 minutes, realizing there was a problem, addressing the problem, and not being too mad when the girl in the computer department beat his ass because he was sympathetic to her mind control quandary. really a solid fellow. skinner, you and i have had our disagreements in the past, but i have come to see you as a friend. now, do i trust him fully? no. but can he come to a birthday party? yeah <3

wow. just wow. a really great episode. definitely making it onto the best episodes list! i'm trying to make a mental list of all the ones that stick out as the most enjoyable, especially the ones that are single episodes rather than the larger two or three part ones, and this is a contender surely.

"please explain to me the scientific nature of the whammy"... how could you not love her?

[lab-gr0wn-lambs]

I've noticed every US state thinks they're unique in things everybody on planet earth does. *English man says 'dude'* "haha whoooa it's so weird to hear a british use east coast slang" who are you? have you ever spoken to anybody outside of your neighborhood? "haha you know you're from Ohio if you have a plastic bag full of plastic bags in your house" what. what.

[beardedmrbean]

Children have been pushed out of schools, and hospitals have been left overcrowded after a surge of migrants into a remote city in Indiana, residents claim.

The population of Logansport has increased by 30 per cent since 2021 following a wave of migrants, Chris Martin, the city’s mayor,  told the Pharos-Tribune.

That would put the number of migrants arriving at more than 5,000, in a county that had a population of just 18,000 people in 2020, according to census data.

At the same time, the number of Haitian immigrant students in the Logansport schools has increased 15-fold, from 14 in 2021 to 207 this year, according to the New York Post.

It is understood that migrants have been drawn to the central Indiana city for jobs at a local meat-packing plant.

However, their rapid arrival has put the city’s health and education system under strain, with parents claiming they have been forced to pull their children from school to stop them from falling behind.

Nancy Baker, 44, a mother of two, said that her 16-year-old daughter, Cheyanne, dropped out of high school because teachers did not have enough time for the English-speaking pupils.

“There were way too many kids and it seemed to her that since they didn’t speak the language, or didn’t understand what was going on, they were getting more attention,” she told the New York Post.

“And so she and the other kids who grew up here who were having issues or struggling in certain things weren’t able to get the attention that they needed — the help they needed from the school.”

Barrie McClian, a retired teacher, said public schools and healthcare centres had been “impacted terribly” by the surge in arrivals.

“They have to figure out how to educate all these folks, without having anybody who knows how to translate for a lot of the languages. So those are big problems,” he told Mail Online.

Safety concerns

The influx of outsiders to the town has also raised concerns over safety, with Ms Baker claiming her daughter is scared to leave the house after being chased by a group of migrants.

“She was walking by herself and she was walking that way and two of them were going this way, she just kinda smiled at them as they walked by. They started yelling for her after they got past her. She turned around and she looked at them and they were like, ‘Come here! Come here!’” Ms Baker told the Post.

She added that her daughter had to run down the street to a coffee shop and was now “scared to go outside”.

Meanwhile, local health officials have raised concerns that the rapid influx of migrants is placing emergency rooms under strain.

“This surge has created a drastic climb in medical visits,” Serenity Alter, Cass County health department administrator, told The Post.

“It has been necessary for the hospital, health department and express clinics to boost translation services in order to ensure that medical needs are understood.”

The city is the latest flashpoint in the debate around immigration that is proving to be one of the most divisive issues in the lead up to the election.

It comes after Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance drew attention to Springfield, Ohio, where the former president claimed without evidence that illegal Haitian migrants were eating cats and dogs.

The Republican candidate has also highlighted problems with immigration in Aurora, Colorado, where he alleged armed members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua have overrun the town.

Logansport residents voiced their concerns about the city’s response to the impact of legal immigration during a meeting of the city council last Monday, with some calling on the Republican mayor to resign.

Attendees also claimed the city’s services were being impacted, with one stating that “rents are high” and that schools and the police department are overwhelmed, Fox 59 reported.

The mayor admitted there had been “some assimilation issues” from the arrival of people with “different culture beliefs” but called on politicians to “stop playing politics” with the town.

“We would rather you do your job and actually do something instead of talking about this,” Mr Martin told The Post.

[misspjsuperior]

Like many contemporary artists I too was inspired to capture my own Roan of Arc interpretation based on Chappell Roan’s recent VMA performance. I was especially enamored with the shiny armor and imagined Chappell singing into a sword like a mic, bearing the banner of her cause, of her people. It makes artistic sense for the rising pop star to reference and embody Joan of Arc as a modern champion of LGBTQ+ expression. How tho? Why is Joan of Arc, martyred by being burned at the stake, so popular in Queer art through the generations?

To understand, we must know what was actually deemed to be her crime. Witchcraft? Sorcery? Heresy? All of these were her charged but NONE of these were her actual convictions.

Jeanne D’Arc also known as Joan of Arc is famous for having been martyred as a heretic after leading her French army to seemingly impossible victories against the English occupation during the Hundred Years’ War and her body at the stake to be burned is a popular theme in art about her life.

But heresy was not successfully convicted against her. Saint Joan was murdered by the state, by England, solely on the grounds of cross dressing.

After prolonged, intensive questioning by Cauchon and the other members of the tribunal, Jeanne d’Arc gave them no answers that could constitute heresy. They accused her of practicing sorcery, but she testified repeatedly that she only followed the word of God and believed in the infallibility of the Church and Pope.

The clerics then proclaimed that her cross-dressing was an abomination to God, to which she answered, “the clothes are a small matter, the least of all things”. However, Cauchon soon realized that through a technicality in canon law, the tribunal could condemn her on this small thing.

The tribunal convinced Jeanne d’Arc to sign a legal document stating her submission to the Church and recanting her claims about hearing the saints’ voices. Attached to that document was a cedula, or royal decree, also avowing that she would no longer wear men’s clothing. Upon her renunciation, the tribunal released Jeanne d’Arc back to prison without indicting her for any crime.

Yet, three days later in prison, Jeanne d’Arc was again wearing men’s clothes. In a later trial, some testified that guards had stolen Jeanne’s female clothes and replaced them with male clothes. Whatever the case, as soon as Cauchon heard the news, he immediately condemned her for lapsed heresy on the grounds of cross-dressing. The same day, the tribunal handed Jeanne d’Arc over to the secular court for her punishment: burning at the stake.

The execution took place May 30, 1431, in the public marketplace of English occupied Rouen, France when Joan was only 19 years old

Now with proposed bills in US states like Texas, Florida, and Ohio that call for children’s genitals to be examined in order to play sports to prove cisgender participation status and which proper jailing parents who do not force their trans children to present as cis, it seems we are have regressed back to 15th century European standards. But yknow the US is still the champion of the colonizing English, look we Americans are still speaking their language right now! No more home of the free than Orleans was before Joan rose up in her power.

Whether or not Joan was actually trans masculine or any other kind of Queer, the fact remains she was murdered on a gender biased technicality. Let’s not let that keep happening over 600 years later.