#paster jim

[underground-secret]

The Hunter and The Witch~ Dean Winchester x f!reader

Description: Sam, Dean, and Y/N investigate a haunting in an abandoned asylum rescuing two teenagers who ventured in, they become trapped with the spirits of those who had died in a riot decades ago, one of which was a doctor who causes extreme rage in his victims.

Warnings: Cannon violence, murder and mentions of suicide, arguing, banter, usage and mention of guns, ghosts, panicking/ anxiety, a little bit of angst

A/N: There will be a confusing part where your like who is she talking about and to that I say all in due time. Also i’m sorry it seems like i’m giving up on this (I didn’t realize I posted the last part a month ago) IM NOT i’m just super busy with school, if you’ve taken APUSH you get it—i’m fighting for my life.

Tag list: @jesllianaquilesrolonsworld , @okayiamkassandra , @fablesrose , @ada--44, @bonkydarnes, @star-yawnznn

Word Count: 11,033

Asylum

(Master list, Previous Ch., Next Ch)

I let out a big sigh, slumping in my chair as I do so, my head falling onto my laptop's keyboard, “How is your dad moving from place to place so fast”, I grumble into the keys. “Literally how!” My head shoots up as I complain, looking at Dean who sat across from me with his head propped up on one hand as he stared down at his fathers journal.

His eyes meet mine even as his head faces the book, his stare tells me everything I need to know. He’s also very frustrated, certainly more than me and he too has no answers.

I contemplate slamming my head against my keyboard when Sam walks back into their hotel room. His phone clasped tightly in his hand after he just went outside to call several people. “Caleb hasn't heard from him?” Dean asks his approaching brother even though the answer is written on his disappointed face.

“Nope. And neither has Jefferson or Paster Jim. What about the journal? Any leads in there?” Sam shoots back, referencing people the Winchesters knew. I had heard of them too, most of them really good friends of the boys but I never actually met them.

Now it’s Dean's turn to answer and complain, “No, same as last time I looked. Nothing I can make out.... I love the guy, but I swear, he writes like frickin’ Yoda.”

“You know, maybe we should call the Feds. File a missing person’s.” Sam sighs, sitting on the edge of his bed.

“But isn’t he like, you know…wanted?” I ask, considering being a Hunter comes with breaking a lot of laws, like a lot. “That and Dad'd be pissed if we put the Feds on his tail” Dean adds.

Sam’s face contorts into anger, “I don't care anymore.” Suddenly a cell phone rings from across the room, Dean's phone to be exact who immediately goes over to his bag. Sam huffs something between a sigh and a frustrated grunt, “After all that happened back in Kansas, I mean...he should've been there, Dean. You said so yourself. You tried to call him and...nothing.”

“I know!” Dean yells loudly, snapping, the sound echoing off the ill painted walls. He rummages through his duffel rougher, “Where the hell is my cellphone?”

“You know, he could be dead for all we know.”

“Don't say that!” He snaps again, “He's not dead! He's – he's…”

“He’s not dead, your father is good at what he does. I'm sure he’s just caught up in something.” I tried to reason, turning in my chair so I could face both boys.

“Like that’s a good excuse” Sam spits back.

“Hey, I never said it was! But it certainly is a better and more optimistic view than death!” I lecture, my face scrunching up in offense.

“Huh.” Dean mumbles quietly getting our attention, “I don't believe it.” His words stopped Sam from saying anything further to me. His focus turned back on his brother, “What?” He asks.

“It's, uh....It's a text message. It's coordinates.” Dean answers and it’s clear who the message is from. I want to turn to Sam and say ‘Ha! told you so!’ but I hold back on the childish, but totally correct, notion. Before Sam can say anything snarky about the message Dean cuts him off, “Can I steal that?” He asks me to point to my open laptop. I nod my head quickly, “Go ahead.”

He walks back over to the table turning my laptop until it’s facing him and where he sat. “You think Dad was texting us?” Sam asks as his brother types away.

“He's given us coordinates before.” Dean answers.

“The man can barely work a toaster, Dean.”

“To be fair, a toaster and coordinates are pretty different. All you need is a paper map” I cut in, earning a hard glance from Sam. I could not explain why he suddenly had a problem with me other than the fact I disagreed with him, which in that case makes him just as childish as I wanted to be.

“Sam, it's good news! It means he's okay, or alive at least.” Dean adds, arguing.

“Well, was there a number on the caller ID?” Sam pushes, still somehow convinced it isn’t his Dad which when I think about it is pretty harsh. Would he rather his dad was dead? Probably not.

Dean answers, “Nah, it said 'unknown'.”

“Well, where do the coordinates point?” Sam follows up.

“That's the interesting part. Rockford, Illinois.”

“Ok, a little random, but what’s specifically so interesting about Illinois?” I ask this time.

“I checked the local Rockford paper. Take a look at this.” He turns my laptop around with a news article zoomed in on a black and white photo of a cop, “This cop, Walter Kelly, comes home from his shift, shoots his wife, then puts the gun in his mouth, blows his brains out. And earlier that night, Kelly and his partner responded to a call at the Roosevelt Asylum.”

“Okay, I'm not following. What has this have to do with us?” Sam asks, again I want to say something about him asking a dumb question but I hold back not wanting any more sass from him or anyone.

“Dad earmarked the same asylum in the journal. Let’s see…” He scoots my laptop back, pulling open his Dads stuffed journal that sat on the table. “Here. Seven unconfirmed sightings, two deaths – till last week at least. I think this is where he wants us to go.”

Sam snorts, “This is a job... Dad wants us to work a job.”

Dean shrugs, “Well, maybe we'll meet up with him? Maybe he's there?”

“Maybe he's not? I mean, he could be sending us there, by ourselves, to hunt this thing.” Sam snaps back.

“Does it matter? I mean we know it’s a hunt and we get to help people. I don’t see a loss in going.” I say, half shrugging.

“This doesn't strike either of you as weird? The texting? The coordinates?” Sam argues, his head snapping from his brother to me. It’s a good point to be honest but what else is there to do? Though I do not make that question vocal.

“Sam! Dad's tellin' us to go somewhere, we're goin'.” Dean yells, final word. Sam makes a nasty bitchface and sighs, saying nothing more.

I lean against the cold exterior of the Impala, my arms crossed against my chest to fend off any bit of the cold night even with my layers on. I could go inside the car but standing outside, right at the front of the car, felt more productive while waiting for the boys to finish their whole “skit” for information.

Dean would go in and antagonize the partner of the cop from the article which would inevitably fail. So Sam would be waiting there telling Dean, who he pretends to not know, to (in a lack of a better word) f- off so that Sam could weasel his way into questioning.

A very complicated plan for a bunch of dummies. I sigh again, my eyes closing in the progress, I try to force the tension out of my body, all the arguing infecting my usual good mood.

I open my eyes back up only to round the car and find it locked. My head falls forward, my chin touching my chest, of course Dean would lock his precious car. I glanced around me, barely anyone lingering outside except some people up against the bar smoking or leaving to go elsewhere, no one was looking so I gingerly tapped the handle, a swirl of purple mist leaving my fingertip until it slithered its way into the car and its mechanics. With a satisfying click the little lock pokes up, I grin as I pull open the door leaning in only to rustle through my bag and pull out my book.

Dean would have to forgive me, though my little trick did nothing to harm the car to begin with. I push down the lock, jabbing into my palm as I do so, closing the door behind me I make my way to the front of the car once more leaning against it as I open up my worn book of Little Women for the hundredth time. The pages had long begun to yellow though it only went as far as a light yellow, still the crisp smell of an old book wafted into my nose, serenity finding me.

Suddenly the bar door slams open, startling me for a moment after getting lost in the prospect of an escape. Dean quickly walks over to where I was waiting looking extra grumpy, his eyebrows scrunched together with his arms thrown out, “He pushed me so hard!” He nearly yells, his choice of words were childish at worst and yet it was very amusing. “Why are you reading that again?” He asks, suddenly pointing at my book.

“‘Cause I love it” I smile simply.

“Haven’t you read that a hundred times?” he asks, moving next to me, leaning against the car too.

“Give or take” I laugh lightly, “It’s one of my many comfort books.” I mark my spot before shutting the book. “I’m guessing your silly plan worked?” I ask him as he leans closer to me. He gives me that devilish smirk, “Not silly if it worked, sweetheart.”

Some time later Sam exits the bar, “Shoved me kinda hard in there, buddy boy” Dean spits.

“I had to sell it, didn't I? It's method acting.” Sam bites back, just tension building on more tension. But there’s only so much the atmosphere or people can take before it blows up.

“Huh?”

“It’s like immersing yourself emotionally and psychologically with your character” I whisper before closing my book shut. But instead of clarity crossing over Dean's face he looks just as confused if not a little more. Sam sighs, “Never mind.”

“Okay so what’d he tell you?” I ask.

“So, Walter Kelly was a good cop. Head of his class, even-keeled, he had a bright future ahead of him.” Sam explains. Basically nothing to suggest him suddenly committing a murder suicide.

“What about at home?” Dean shoots back.

“He and his wife had a few fights, like everybody, but he was mostly smooth sailing. They were even talking about having kids.” Sam answers, I frown at the last part there was a whole life they could have lived.

“Alright, so either Kelly had some deep-seated crazy waiting to bust out, or something else did it to him.” Dean acknowledges.

“Well did anything happen as of supper recently that would even hint to a psychotic break?” I ask even though based on what we have it didn’t seem likely.

“No” Sam shakes his head, “Not that he mentioned at least.” I nod my head making a small mental note of that possibility, although unlikely, just in case.

“What'd Gunderson tell you about the asylum?” Dean questions.

“A lot.”

A loud horn blares from a nearby truck as Sam makes his way over the tall fence. With Dean slightly ahead of me I begin to climb the chain linked fence, I get a small jumping start clutching on to the cold fence. I shove my shoes into the little groves as I make my way up swiftly, being able to lift my legs high enough that I could make it to the top in about four moves. I balance myself on top of it before swinging my leg over it, I reposition myself to dangle slightly as my feet find purchase in the fence when about half way down I just decide to jump the rest of the way, landing on my feet in an almost crouched position.

The asylum itself didn’t look like it was falling apart but the overgrown bushes on the plot, the moss covering the building and the boarded up windows were a tell-tale tell sign enough that it was abandoned. The only thing keeping it from being entirely creepy was the early morning sun.

The door had no lock on it most likely from all the trespassing. But just as the door fell open an immediate musty smell hit my nose from all the trash covering the floor from beer bottles and cans to random bits of paper. Every surface of the walls was covered by either graffiti or mold, only small hints of the old green wallpaper left behind. “So apparently the cops chased the kids here....into the south wing.” Sam points to the sign hung over the door. The letters were mostly peeling, just another sign of the aging building.

“South wing, huh?” Dean breathes out, “Wait a second.” He pulls out his Dada journal from the inside pocket of his coat, flipping the pages until he found whatever he was looking for, “1972. Three kids broke into the south wing, only one survived. Way he tells it, one of his friends went nuts and started lighting up the place.”

“So the South Wing seems to be the route of this all” I remark.

“But if the kids are spelunking the asylum, why aren't there a ton more deaths?” Dean points out, looking up from the journal. Sam notes the rusted, broken chains hanging from the handle of the door, “Looks like the doors are usually chained. Could've been chained up for years.”

“Yeah, to keep people out. Or to keep something in.” Dean comments.

I cringe, “Is it really necessary to say such ominous things?”

“What? It’s the truth” Dean shrugs and I roll my eyes.

“Are you guys done?” Sam asks looking at us impatiently

“Yeah yeah open the door” I say before quickly adding a mumble of, “I hope a rat jumps out at you”

Sam looks at me with a mix of being offended and being annoyed, “Why would you say that?”

“Sorry!” I say half meaning it, “It’s an abandoned building and all so you know…rats”

“Just” Dean starts, him being the annoyed one now, “Open the door.” Sam nods, carefully opening the rusted door with a creek revealing a long creepy hallway, but at last no rats scurry out. The long hall was somehow only slightly better than the entrance with the walls peeling of its paint, most of it replaced by mold which only increases as the hallway extends, if we get sick we’ll know why that’s for sure.

“Let me know if you see any dead people, Haley Joel.” Dean jokes, lighting the mood as he pulls out his EMF reader, referencing the movie Six Sense. “Dude, enough.” Sam groans.

“I'm serious. You gotta be careful, all right? Ghosts are attracted to that whole ESP thing you got going on.” Dean says. Without missing a beat, Sam bites back, “I told you, it's not ESP! I just have strange vibes sometimes. Weird dreams.”

“Yeah, whatever. Don't ask, don't tell.”

“Anything going on with your EMF?” I ask, hoping to change the subject. “Nope. Of course, it doesn't mean no one's home.” Dean answers.

“Well, spirits can't appear during certain hours of the day.” Sam adds.

“Yeah, the freaks come out at night.” Dean comments.

The room falls quiet for a moment before Dean speaks up again, “Hey Sam, who do you think is the hotter psychic: Patricia Arquette, Jennifer Love Hewitt, or you?” Sam pushes his brother in response. “Oh definitely Jennifer Love Hewitt, I mean did you see her in Shortcut to Happiness ‘cause…wow” I answer before quickly adding, “No offense Sammy.” But Sam pushes me lightly too, a laugh bubbling up from my chest as I nearly knock into the moldy wall.

We enter a room that smells worse than the main entrance area, the culprit of the rotting flesh smell most likely being whatever pink goop is spilling out of a glass jar with liquid on a table in the far corner. This asylum was truly amazing at one-upping itself in terms of being horrible. The entire room is bad itself, all sorts of equipment they used on patients long ago when they had no clue what a mental illness really was or how to help people who struggled with it.

“God, they did such horrible things to these poor people” I remarked, stepping deeper into the room. The sight of a clearly used surgery table sending a shiver down my spine. Dean lets out a low whistle, “Electro-shock. Lobotomies…”

“Did you know JFK’s sister got a lobotomy done because she suffered from seizures and mood swings. But it only wound up leaving her permanently incapacitated and unable to properly speak, only goes to show how little they knew about all that stuff” I say, recalling a fact I remember reading about somewhere in an article.

“‘That one of your fun facts?” Dean inquires, clearly humoring me. I hum a “mhm” as I bend down slightly to look at a glass container filled with some sort of yellow liquid. I almost expect something equally as gross to be inside but there isn’t.

“So. Whaddaya think? Ghosts possessing people?” Dean asks out loud to no one in particular.

“Maybe. Or maybe it's more like Amityville, or the Smurl hunting.” Sam answers, listing out examples of cases in which people claimed the devil had told them to do something bad and or possessed them. “Or Son of Sam, though that guy was just a basket case who admitted to lying about that demon bit” I add.

“Spirits driving them insane. Kinda like my man Jack in The Shining.” Dean quips in, always with his references. I look up from the vials of I don’t know what to see him grinning, a smile forming on my own face at his charming expression.

“Dean.” Sam calls out, gaining his brother's attention, “When are we going to talk about it?” Uneasiness slips its way into the cracks of the building, finding us. “Talk about what?” Dean asks back, but I have a feeling he knows what he’s talking about, it was clear as day. “About the fact Dad's not here.” Sam answers, already clearly annoyed. I straightened up, moving an inch closer to where they stood in the middle of the room in case I had to break up another fight. It hadn’t been anywhere close to a week from the last time I had to do so back in Kansas. “Oh. I see.” Dean replies, “How ’bout...never.”

Sam rolls his eyes, “I'm being serious, man. He sent us here…” Dean cuts in immediately, “So am I, Sam. Look, he sent us here, he obviously wants us here. We'll pick up the search later.” They moved closer to each other with each word they spat, up until they got close enough that they would be able to throw a punch if they decided to. “It doesn't matter what he wants.” Sam argues.

“See. That attitude? Right there?” Dean points at him, “That is why I always get the extra cookie.”

“Guys come on, you can argue this later let’s just finish this hunt” I sigh, crossing my arms across my chest. Sam glares at me as if to say “stay out of this”, I get why they’re upset but all this arguing gets us nowhere and it’s beginning to get annoying. Sam turns back to his brother, “Dad could be in trouble, we should be looking for him. We deserve some answers, Dean. I mean, this is our family we're talking about.”

“I understand that, Sam, but he's given us an order.” Dean replies rather calmly. I don’t necessarily like John, knowing everything he put my boys through made it hard to. But he was their Dad and Dean wanted my help and so I will help find their Dad, even if I mostly agree with Sam. “So what, we gotta always follow Dad's orders?” Sam spits, and I almost hate the fact that I do agree with him.

I try to ignore their arguing, knowing they wouldn’t let up, it wasn’t the sort of argument where someone won. I open a drawer near me, cobwebs and multiple clippings from old patient files filling it. “Of course we do.” I hear Dean answer.

I carefully take the clippings out, trying to avoid the cobwebs. I look through the handful quickly everything either ripped off or eradicated except bits of the Doctor's name. “If you're done over there it seems the main evil doctor was ‘Sanford Ellicott’. We should probably research him and the south wing, see what we can find” I say plainly, hoping this could all be over with soon so at least they would stop fighting.

I keep my legs up on the soft chair, my knees to my chest as I read my book. Dean is sitting next to me, his arm resting on the back of my chair, his legs spread widely. From my peripheral vision I see him stare up at the ceiling clearly bored as we wait for his brother to be done in therapy, or really done questioning the apparent son of Dr.Ellicott.

He groans, the noise coming from deep in his chest. I put my bookmark back in my book, shutting it and putting it next to me. I put my arms on my propped up knees lying the side of my face down on them, my cheek squishing against my arm as I peer at Dean. The immediate thought of how good he looks with his head thrown back, a very light stubble gracing his face, his eyes looking greener with the light shining from behind us and—

I shove the thought far into the back of my mind, it wasn’t the time for this not at all. Not even a little. “‘You okay?” I ask softly.

He rolls his head to the side, eyeing me “Sammy’s taking too damn long. He’s already pissed me off.”

“He wouldn’t be taking long unless it was necessary” I answer, smiling at his demeanor. He groans again, “Do you wanna go get coffee? I saw a place a block away, Sam can text when he’s done.” I offer, hoping it would distract him from being so pissed off. He leans his head up, squinting at me, “Is this your attempt at curing my boredom?”

“That depends, is it working?” I squint back at him as I lift my head from my arms, laughter threatening to bubble from my lips.

“Yes” He nods, throwing his hand on my knee, “Let’s go” but he keeps his hand there, a giddy nervousness settling itself in my stomach.

“See I told you couples therapy works!” a hushed voice says catching our attention. I look up to see a red headed girl and her tan boyfriend walking past us without trying to hide their stares, “Wer— we aren’t—“ I try to say loud enough for them to hear but my voice doesn't reach them, “Actually” I sigh, my face feeling warm, “it’s probably best if they just go to therapy.”

I turn my head back towards Dean, finding him already looking at me with scrunched eyebrows, studying me as if he was contemplating something. I place my hand over his, only realizing then my hands were cold when compared to his warm ones, “Ready?” I ask softly. He clears his throat abruptly, nodding his head as he removes his hand from my knee and gets up. I make sure to grab my book as I follow suit, but we only reach the door when a familiar tall figure walks right past us.

Dean's body language changes, he turns back to me confused and annoyed before pushing through the door. Tension clearly already has made its home in his back and shoulders. “Dude! You were in there forever, we were about to leave you. What the hell were you talking about?” He calls out towards his brother, easily matching his pace.

“Just the hospital, you know.” Sam answers plainly. I jog to catch up to them and their stupid long legs, “What’d you find?” I ask.

“The south wing? It's where they housed the really hard cases. The psychotics, the criminally insane.” “Sounds cozy.” Dean remarks.

“Yeah. And one night in '64, they rioted. Attacked staff. Attacked each other.” Sam elaborates.

“Any deaths? Dean follows up.

“Some patients, some staff. I guess it was pretty gory. Some of the bodies were never even recovered, including our chief of staff, Ellicott.”

“Did they…stuff him somewhere. I mean I feel like the place is only so big, right?” I hesitantly say.

Sam shrugs, “Cops scoured every inch of the place.”

“That's grim.” Dean murmurs just as we reach the Impala. “Yeah. So, they transferred all the remaining patients and closed the hospital down” Sam says as he rounds the car.

“So, to sum it up, we've got a bunch of violent deaths and a bunch of unrecovered bodies.” Dean lists out.

“And a bunch of angry spirits.” Sam adds

“Cute.” I remark, sarcastically.

“Let's check out the hospital tonight.” Dean finishes, opening the car door.

I shine my flashlight over the asylum, naturally in the darkness of the night it was far creepier than it was only hours before. I follow behind the boys as they enter the dingy entrance, making sure I don’t hit into the duffle bag hanging from Dean's shoulder. “‘You guys getting anything?” I ask since they hold the equipment. Dean holds his EMF reader out in front of him, “Yeah, big time.”

“This place is orbing like crazy.” Sam adds, looking at the screen of the camera he holds. “Eww, why would you say it like that?” I cringe before mimicking the way he said “orbing.” Sam turns around slowly, glaring at me “How mature of you, Y/n” he deadpans. “Hey i’m just calling it as it is” I respond in defense. He glares at me one last time, turning back around and I hear him mimic what I said. I’m about to hit him on the arm when Dean starts speaking, he looks between us, ultimately choosing to ignore our childish behavior, “There’s probably multiple spirits out and about.”

Sam added “And if these uncovered bodies are causing the haunting…”

“We gotta find ’em and burn ’em.” Dean finishes, “Just be careful though. The only thing that makes me more nervous than a pissed off spirit... is the pissed off spirit of a psycho killer.” With that we keep walking until we hit the same room we were in the last time we were here, not having gone any further than that the first time around.

We walk a few feet further separating into three different rooms. I scanned my flashlight over the dark room, it had no windows though even if it did it would have been boarded up meaning no natural light to begin with had it been daytime. It was a relatively small room with more graffiti lining the originally white walls. I take a single step into the room, glass crunching underneath my shoe, I lift my foot immediately, kicking the broken glass bottle to the side.

I move further into the room, an overturned desk and a long gone broken lamp on the floor. Must have been a little office, I think to myself as I walk over to the desk finding a small knocked over filing cabinet. I nudged the metal cabinet with my foot, testing to see if anything wanted to make an appearance…like a rat.

When nothing comes from it I twirl my finger, an invisible force turning the cabinet right side up making it accessible. I pull each draw open, still cautious of any critters crawling out, hoping that there would be some hint as to where to look for the unfound bodies. “Y/n” I hear my name called out from behind me.

“Yeah?” I say turning around but there’s no one there. I shine my flashlight first on the doorway, only shadows dancing on the outskirts of my light. I purse my lips, a small pinch of fear forming itself in my heart. I move my flashlight slowly to shine in the corner, every hair on my body standing up. An old man with deep sunken eyes stands in the corner, his body permanently hunched over with his head tilted to the side. Countless needles stick out from his ghostly body, piercing through his hospital gown.

My mouth goes slack with an almost scream in warning to the boys. Still the man doesn't move, he just stares at me which is arguably worse than if he lunged at me, his mouth moves as if in an attempt to say something but his jaw is broken and the words come out in an extended noise. “b….b…b—“ The loud sound of a shotgun goes off just across from the man, my head snaps in the direction of the doorway, a breathless Dean standing there his gun still pointed at the man. “We thought something happened!” Sam half yells, standing right behind his brother.

“I literally haven’t moved from here” I respond, looking back at the corner where he stood. “You okay sweetheart?” Dean asks. I nod, “Yeah, I mean he didn’t do anything he was just—“

“Standing there” Sam finishes my sentence, “See I told you!”—he nudges his brother—“There’s something weird with the spirits here, they aren’t being aggressive-“ I cut him off this time, concern and confusion making my eyebrows scrunch together, “Wait you encountered a spirit?”

“You didn’t hear Sammy scream for us? Or the gun?” Dean asks. I look between them only being more confused, “No, what are you talking about?!” Except they don’t answer, only looking at each other and then back at me, eyes wide, “Alright something really is going on” Dean admits.

They begin to shuffle out of the room, and I follow, we walk aimlessly down the hall in thought when suddenly a noise like metal scraping against the floor comes from a room just steps away. Dean immediately raises his shotgun, carefully entering the room with Sam and I acting as the lightning. The room had a singular upturned bed facing the only window in the small room, a ragged sheet covering the bed barely concealing the top of a blonde head. We all share a look, bracing ourselves, Sam reaches out tipping over the bed causing it to come down with a loud crash. A young girl sits crouched on the floor, panting and grasping her chest.

“It's alright, we're not going to hurt you. It's okay. What's your name?” Dean asks the poor girl, moving his gun down and away from the girl. “Katherine. Kat.” She answers, peering up at us with her big brown eyes.

“What are you doing here!?” Sam half yells at her. I hit his arm, “You suck at comforting people” I mumbled loud enough for him to hear, nearly missing the glare I received in return. I move past Dean leaning down towards the girl, offering my hand to help her up. You can comfort someone without making them seem incapable. She eyes me carefully for a beat before shakily reaching up and taking my hand, “Um. My boyfriend, Gavin” she answers as I lift her up. “Is he here?” Dean asks.

She lets go of my hand reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ears, “Somewhere. He thought it would be fun, try and see some ghosts” she explains, "I thought it was all just...you know. Pretend. I've seen things. I heard Gavin scream and... “

“Alright.” Dean responds, pausing for a beat as if to go over the plan he most definitely already made, “Kat? Come on. Sam's gonna get you out of here and then we're gonna find your boyfriend.”

“No! No. I'm not going to leave without Gavin. I'm coming with you.” Kat declares, looking frantically between us all.

“It's no joke around here, okay. It's dangerous.” Dean lectures, his voice getting increasingly louder. “That's why I gotta find him” she answers, her voice stern and straight regardless of being clearly shaken up. Dean meets Sam and then my eyes, “Alright, I guess we gunna split up then. Y/N with Sam, Kat with me. Let’s go.”

I lead the way out this time, Sam right next to me as we go down hallway after hallway. Each one seemingly more intricate than the last, if that was even possible. I hope Sam is keeping track of where we are because I’m already lost.

“Gavin?” I call out, peeking around each hallway corner. Is it possible he left? No he wouldn’t leave his girlfriend, right? Though the asylum is huge and he could be anywhere—“Y/N! Over here!” Sam calls out from down the hallway to my left. I swirl around heading towards him, crouched down near a rouge hospital bed, I hear him speak as I approach “Hey, Gavin. It's okay, I’m here to help.”

“Who are you?” He responds, fixing his brown hair as he pushes himself away from Sam knocking into the wall behind him in the process. “My name is Sam, that’s Y/N” he gestures towards me, “Uh, we found your girlfriend.”

“Kat?” He asks his brown eyes widening, he gets up revealing his height. He isn't as tall as Sam, probably closer to Dean's height then anything but he was certainly taller then me and his girlfriend. “Is she alright?”

“Yeah. She's worried about you. Are you okay?” Sam responds.

“I was running. I think I fell.” He lifts his hand to the side of his head, his corduroy jacket moving with him. “What were you running from?” I ask.

“There was...there was this girl. Her face. It was all messed up.”

“Okay listen, did this girl... did she try and hurt you?” Sam follows up, asking carefully. “What? No, she...uh…”

“She what?” Sam asks, impatience on the tip of his tongue.

“She...kissed me.”

…The hall falls silent, neither of us expecting that to be his answer. I’ve never heard of a case in which someone was kissed by a ghost. I mean that’s just disgusting and horrifying, no amount of mouthwash can fix that…or therapy. “Uh...um...but...but she didn't hurt you, physically?” Sam finally says.

“Dude! She kissed me. I'm scarred for life!” Gavin yells, his eyes widening again. “Well, trust me, it could have been worse.” Sam replies, again not much on the comforting side. Plus I feel like I’d rather be thrown ten feet then kissed by a ghost. “I’m sorry we have to pressure you like this now after you just experienced that but is there anything else you remember?” I ask softly.

“She uh...actually, she tried to whisper something in my ear.” He answers shyly, almost embarrassed by all this. “What?” Sam shoots back.

“I don't know. I ran like hell.” He answers truthfully.

“That’s the third encounter without an attack” Sam thinks out loud. Gavin glares at him sharply, “Oh…Um…besides the…Uh…kissing” Sam adds.

“Can we really trust that the South Wing really did have violent patients? I mean the workers here aren’t exactly the most reliable considering everything they’ve done to these poor people” I mention.

“She’s got a point” Gavin intervenes. We both look at him, “Um yeah. But what if they were trying to tell us something?” Sam says.

“You mean like some hint as to where uh…” I look over at Gavin knowing I can’t exactly say a rotting body somewhere, “you know is” I mumble looking back at Sam. “Yeah” he answers just as a loud scream rings out from afar. We all share a look of confusion and worry, “That sounds like Kat!” Gavin says. Not waiting a second later we go off running in the direction of the screaming, just about everything you're not supposed to do.

Just down the hall Dean is banging on a huge metal door with a pipe. “What’s going on?” Sam asks just as we approach.

“She's inside with one of them.” He answers his breath a little labored. Kay screams again, “Help me!!”

“Kat!” Gavin yells back banging on the door.

“Get me outta here!” She shouts.

I hide my hand behind my hip making sure to look down, to avoid having to explain anything to Gavin later. With my concealed hand I reached it over to the metal door, my fingertips barely brushing the cold exterior before a hand wrapped around my wrist pulling it forth. “Wait” Sam said sternly, dropping my wrist. I turn my head to look at Dean with questioning eyes as if he would have a reason why his brother stopped me. But when I look at him he’s looking between my wrist and his brother, his eyes scrunched in offense and what may look like anger, upset he stopped me, because doing so might be risking an innocent girl's life.

“Kat, it's not going to hurt you. Listen to me. You've got to face it. You've got to calm down.” Sam commands, talking to Kat through the door. He must be thinking back to what we said before. “She's gotta what?!” Dean yells, astonished.

“I have to what?!” Kat shouts back.

“These spirits, they're not trying to hurt us, they're trying to communicate.” Sam explains, indeed referencing what we were discussing before I just hope he’s right, “You gotta face it. You gotta listen to it.”

“You face it!” Kat snaps back. A smile threatening to show on my lips. “No! It's the only way to get out of there” Sam insists.

“No!” Kat screams.

“Sam, come on let me get her out” I say quietly hoping only those who know about my abilities can hear me. “No” He says towards me before directing his voice towards the door, “Look at it, come on. You can do it.”

She seems to listen to him, no more screams against his plan. We all wait impatiently, the air thick with anxiety, if this doesn’t work then we caused a very avoidable death. “Kat?” Gavin calls out.

“Man, I hope you're right about this.” Dean grumbles.

“Yeah, me too” Sam nods.

“No offense Sammy, but you should have voiced your concern before” I bite, crossing my arms across my chest.

Suddenly the door creaks open slowly, Kat peeking out. Her eyes are wide and blank, clearly startled and traumatized. “Oh, Kat” Gavin murmurs, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend.

Sam maneuvers himself around them, opening the large door further to get past them into the room. He comes back out not even a minute later shaking his head, whatever spirit was in there isn’t anymore.

“One thirty-seven.” Kay says suddenly, wiping away her teary eyes.

“Sorry?” Dean looks at her, puzzled.

“It whispered in my ear. 137.” She clarified.

“Room number.” The boys and I said in sync, our eyes wide in clarity.

“Jinx” I say quickly pointing towards the boys. Dean groans, “You always win.”

I beam, looking up at him, “You just always forget.”

“Yeah cause he’s actually focused on the hunt” Sam quipped, annoyed. “Hey I am foc-“ I try to defend only getting cut off by Sam nudging Dean and I down the hall out of hearing reach throwing a “Excuse us” to the two teens.

“Alright. So if these spirits aren't trying to hurt anyone…” Sam starts getting his sentence finished by his brother, “Then what are they trying to do?”

“Maybe they're helping us out” I shrug, “Giving us hints?”

“I guess we'll find out.” Dean huffs.

“Alright.” Sam confirms, nothing more to be said.

Dean separates from our little huddle calling out to the kids waiting on us, “So, now, are you guys ready to leave this place?”

“That's an understatement.” Kat remarks.

“Okay.” He turns back to us, “Sam you get them outta here. Y/N were going to go find room 137.”

“Isn’t it best that I go with Sam?, make sure they can get out” I ask, not to say that I don’t want to go with Dean but still trying to be reasonable.

“If the spirits suddenly decide to get rowdy and gang up on me like they did Doc, I’d want you on my side” Dean answers, making a motion with his hands weirdly that I suppose is meant to represent my abilities. “Ok fair enough” I shrug, not needing any more convincing. Sam moves away towards Kat and Gavin. Dean and I waited until they were out of sight, getting led by Sam, before moving to find room 137.

We only move a few feet when I notice the lack of something in Dean's hand, “What happened to your flashlight?” I ask. He pulls back the side of his grayish-blue button down jacket exposing the thick flashlight tucked into his jeans, “Died jus’ before Kat got dragged into that room” he explains. I reluctantly drag my eyes back up to his face, a flashlight held in his jeans shouldn't have been hot, I give him a single awkward nod before forcing my eyes back in front of me.

“I think it’s down this way” He nudges my arm just as we get to the end of the long hallway, pointing left. I point my flashlight in that direction, the light illuminating the continuous mess of the asylum, “How do you know?” I ask. He shrugs, “Intuition.” I followed him down the hall even under the weak assumption, there were hardly any sign indicators and if there were they were unreadable due to destruction or graffiti.

I give him a look as we walk the hall, not finding the room. “I meant the next one over” he says with a stupid smile on his face. “Oh yeah of course” I nod, playing into whatever you want to call this.

He mumbles the room number underneath his breath, an excited-nervous energy surrounding him as we approach the supposed right hallway. It was adorable.

“Look who was right.” He says, his voice coming from behind me. I turn towards him an even bigger smile on his face, I lift my flashlight to shine where the number would be. “Let’s just hope the ghost wasn’t tricking us” I huff.

He goes to push the door open only to find it stuck on something, he grunts putting more of his body weight on the door until it’s open enough to let us through. The room is a mess (but what else is new for this place), filing cabinets pushed over, papers everywhere, the walls stained with something that I think I’d rather not know. I shine the flashlight around going over to one of the filing cabinets opening it to find manila folders, I flick through them. More patient files but nothing of use as of now.

I whirl around to find Dean crouched down in the back of the room, prying off a wooden panel. He finally gets it off with a loud cracking noise, “This is why I get paid the big bucks.” he murmurs, the only indication that he found something. “You don’t get paid any bucks” I responded.

He turns his head slowly to me in offense holding up a deteriorating satchel in one hand and a mess of papers in the other. He gets up handing me the stack of papers and with his foot drags up a nearby chair scooting it close for me before dragging up one for himself. I go through my stack, a bunch of drawn images of medical instruments like lobotomy pick, straight jackets and cuffs, and other drawings with no labels but incredibly detailed writing and drawings that were nothing more than torture. “This feels like a messed up book club” I comment.

“Yeah check this out. Dr. here believed that provoking extreme anger would be therapeutic.” He explains, “Seems like all he ever did was work on this theory.”

“I think I read a research paper from 2002 on a similar idea called catharsis” I explain, “It basically means venting out negative emotions, especially anger. However researchers found it did the opposite and more likely increased aggression. But I guess in this case he was forcing it rather than the patients venting out anger they had from past traumas or anything of the sort.”

I know he is listening to my rant, his eyes moving up from the book to look at me before going back to the journal, his eyes scrunched in concern at what he read, “All work and no play makes Dr. Ellicott a very dull boy.”

I nearly laugh when a sudden creak comes from the hall, I look to Dean to find him with just as a confused face as mine. He had heard it too. He makes a “give me” motion so I hand over the papers, he puts them and the journal he read from back in the satchel. Without saying anything I knew he was moving us to check up on Sammy.

We manage our way back to the room Kat got locked into, but from there it winds up being a maze as to where Sammy could be. Lefts and rights and accidentally going in large circles. “Alright one more hallway and then we’re calling him” I plead, getting frustrated at this stupid musty asylum. “Deal” Dean nods.

The floor was particularly bad in this hall, each step followed by a creak each one louder then the next. Just as we reach the end of the hallway and turn right, for a split second, Kat stands there shotgun raised at us, her finger on the trigger. She shoots. Dean throws himself backwards, his arm going out right in front of me pushing me back against the corner wall out of the way from danger. Both of us were up against the wall next to each other, his arm just beneath my breasts holding me in place. A large puff of white smoke looking substance flies out from the wall, bits of the wall crumbling to the floor just by Dean's shoulder opposite to the one near me. Acting as the only signs of where the bullet had gone.

Our labored breaths nearly matched each other's, chests heaving. His arm remains where it is even when no more shots ring out, he yells, “Damn it, damn it, don’t shoot! It's us!!”

“Sorry! Sorry.” Kat meekly cries out.

“Jesus Chri-“ I peered around Dean's body at the shot, she would have killed us. Impressive. I bring a shaky hand up to the arm that still held me, he drops his arm allowing me to move past him and round the corner to the people who nearly ended us.

“What are you still doing here?! You're supposed to be gone! Also, why are you good with a gun?!” I exclaim. Dean immediately adding, “Where’s Sam?” Our rushed voices combining for a melody of pressured questions.

“He went to the basement. You called him.” Gavin answers, pointing to Dean. “I didn't call anybody.” Dean replies, looking at me confused I shrug not having any idea myself.

“His cell phone rang. He said it was you.” Kat elaborates.

“Basement, huh?” Dean hums before turning to me, “I’m gonna go to Sam, get them out of here.”

“Wait no I should come with you” I say.

“I’ll be fine, sweetheart, just get them out of here” He orders, but his voice is soft where it should be commanding. He takes the gun from Kat and before I can say anything more he’s running off.

I turn towards the door, trying to think of the least suspicious way possible to open the door. A chain with a lock lies on the floor just in front of my feet. It must not just be a locked door, perhaps it is the spirits here keeping it closed. I pull on the door handle letting my powers seep into the large door willing it open. It opens with another pull, having to use a lot of strength to open the old door. “Alright let’s go” I say, turning to the two behind me. They look at me with a mix of shock and confusion, “How di-“ Gavin asks before I cut him off, “It was just jammed” I lie.

I follow them down the steps and watch them climb over the fence. I wait until I see them physically get into the car, both kids looking back almost hesitant to leave us behind. But I have no time to help with their guilty conscience, I turn back toward the building immediately running up the steps and back into the asylum. I curse not knowing which way Dean exactly went or where the hell the basement was let alone where a staircase was.

In the dim, haunting corridors of the abandoned asylum, panic pulses through me like a heartbeat. The suffocating air clings to my skin as I navigate the labyrinth that is this building. Every step feels like a hesitant dance with the unknown. I try to suppress the fear clawing at my throat, envisioning worst-case scenarios involving Sam and Dean. Could they be hurt, trapped, dead? My thoughts are a chaotic whirlwind, one that feels too overwhelming to control as pathetic as it sounds and feels.

Desperation fuels my movements as I sprint down seemingly endless hallways, each one a haunting replica of the last. It's a macabre maze, and my heart races with the urgency of finding the elusive staircase leading to the basement.

As I turn another corner, the harsh silence amplifies the echoes of my footsteps. "Sam! Dean!" I call out, my voice swallowed by the oppressive stillness. The only response is the distant moan of the decaying building. With determination fueling my every step, I press forward, driven by the desperate need to uncover the secrets hidden below. The dim light casts distorted shadows on peeling wallpaper, playing tricks on my eyes. Yet, I press on, the image of the elusive staircase driving me forward, my breath a rhythm of fear and determination.

As if the old building heard my pleas I spot a door just at the end of the hall, a medal bar for the handle and if it isn’t my eyes playing tricks on me then a small sign signifying a person walking up stairs lies on the small window on the door. I all but ran over, the thing I needed most lying right there. As I push open the door, anticipation and anxiety rests behind my rib cage, a reminder that finding the door wasn’t enough. I still needed to find them.

However, as the door creaks open, my heart sinks. Before me lies a staircase, but it ascends rather than descending. Everything that I do not need. I was being mocked. The staircase leading upward into the unknown when my every instinct demands a descent into the depths below.

I stand at the threshold, contemplating my next move. Panic threatens to resurface, but I force a deep breath, I know what I must do even when it is foreign to me. I had not trained in it, hadn’t studied it enough, so much of me was like that. So many abilities I could have and use but always dared to leave untouched, this being one of them. I knew only how to use it in such short distances, and only in spaces that I could see. Not like this.

But I’m afraid and desperate enough. I know the boys are very capable of taking care of themselves, yet an unmistakable fear lives behind my rib cage for those I love, a fear of losing them. I close my eyes. This staircase had to be close enough. My fear had to be enough. I force another deep breath, bracing my feet beneath me. I could picture the room around me even with my eyes sealed, focusing on how the walls stretched above me in my mind's eye.

I had not seen the basement, hadn’t a single idea what it even began to look like. Yet still I force my perception down, below the concrete laying underneath my shoes. But more than that I needed to find them, I try my best to picture them specifically even in an unknown location. The air seems to ripple around me, reality folding over itself.

I open my eyes, no longer in the stairwell but presumably in the basement. The only indication I’ve gone to the right place is the boy's only feet in front of me. What should be a triumphant moment is crushed under the scene in front of me.

Dean is on his back splayed across the floor, broken wall beneath him the concrete powder sticking to his clothes. Sam is standing over him, shotgun pointed down at his brother, I can not see his full face from here but I can see it is etched in anger. “Sam!” I yell, catching his attention. He turns to me, his face scrunched in disgust, he does not lower the gun.

“What the hell is hap-“ I try to ask but the gun goes off with a loud bang. Suddenly I’m in front of him, the bullets hitting the hall that laid behind me when I stood in the doorway. I teleported out of danger without a second's thought, I make a mental note for later as I punch Sammy square in the face, my knuckles hitting against his sharp jaw.

He stumbles back a few feet, my knuckles burn, he will have to forgive me later. I do not want to hurt him but I do need to stop him. I mumble a sorry, hooking my leg behind his, hitting into the back of his knee with my foot forcing his legs to collapse beneath him knocking him to his knees. I use his shock as leverage, easily pulling the gun from his hands, I point the gun at him even though I do not want to.

Dean groans still on the ground, only having leaned up from his position. Sam holds his hands up, “Shoot me” he spits. He was taunting me, testing me. “I have no need to” I answer calmly. He was possessed or influenced by the doctor here, this wasn’t really him, I knew that.

I hear Dean get up, panting and making small noises of pain. I look over at him from the corner of my eye, watching him hold just below his chest in pain, “You okay there?” I ask, earning a grumbled “yeah”. Dean drags himself to the front of the room where he must have dropped the duffle bag he was carrying.

In the corner of my eye I see Sam try to lunge towards me, I snap my attention back to him “Hey”,I warn, “Stop.” He looked even more pissed, his mouth twitching with words he wanted to say, “You think protecting him is gonna make him fall in love with you?” He says quietly. I check behind me but Dean makes no indication that he heard, I know it’s not really him speaking but the words still sting. “I’m not that diluted” I answered, turning back to him.

“You follow him around like a lost puppy, it’s pathetic” He laughs, “Really, you follow us around. But we don’t need you, we’d be better off without you. All you do is take up space.” The words bite into my skin, my heart suddenly feeling heavy. Losing my firm stance he grasps onto my ankle pulling it towards him sharply, knocking me on my ass hard. He punches me, his fist connecting with my nose, my eyes tearing up on its own accord with a harsh throbbing. He snatches the gun back when I hear movement towards us, without looking I shout back “I can take him, just find the body!”

Sam straddles my lap, his knees pinning my hands to the floor with an incredible amount of pain, and I can not pull my hands free. He grabs my chin roughly forcing my gaze on him, my neck leaning up at a weird angle, “You feel the need to be with us, it’s the only thing that fills the gap of being left behind your whole life.”

Hurt and anger burn my eyes. I move my face out of his hold and he lets me, I lean my head back before slamming it into his. The resounding clash of our heads echoed through the air, an abrupt collision that sent shockwaves of discomfort rippling through my skull. He loses slight balance, his knees leave my hands the feeling rushing back into them but I do not leave time for feelings of victory. I shove him back, using more force than I probably should have.

I stand up swiftly, stumbling over myself slightly, my head throbbing severely. “You” I point, breathing heavily, “Have a hard head.” He tries to reach for the gun but I kick it out of reach before he’s able to.

I knew Dean was close by even with the room being so large and divided, but I didn’t know how close he was to finishing up. There was a strong sense of dread in my stomach, I don’t want to fight anymore, maybe curl up into a ball and contemplate life but not fight. “Please, stay down” I beg, my eyes still teary from a mix of a reaction to the pain and just being upset.

He leans up, that horrible anger still etched on his face. I hold my hand up at him, extending my force outwards pinning him down with an invisible force. He struggles against it, his arms shaking. I grit my teeth, disgust tangling itself in my gut. Yes this was out of self defense and necessity but this wasn’t me. He was my friend, to restrain him in such a way…with my abilities…when I’m meant to help people.

I force my face away, a lump tight in my throat when I catch my reflection on a piece of broken glass in the far edge of the room. It was if I was being teased by the devil himself, staring at a reflection I wasn’t sure I even recognized. My eyes were fierce yet brimmed with tears, my pupils glowing purple. Where did this lie in morality? It felt wrong. So disgustingly wrong even if it was meant to be helpful.

Only a little longer, only until the remains were burnt and Sam was fine. “Y/N”

“Y/N!” He begs.

I turned my head back to him, the anger previously on his face melted away. I immediately release my hold on him, dropping my hand down swiftly. For a moment there it seemed fear had crossed his eyes, I took a step back lifting my hand to my forehead, a thin line of sweat wetting my face. My chest heaves, complete overwhelm filling my senses. I feel it in my bones this need to move, to get out. It had not taken anything out of me to hold him down, and that is what scared me the most.

Dean shuffles back into view, coming over and helping this brother up. When had he walked over here? I take another step back, their voices meshing together in a blob of incoherent sounds. A strong familiar hand grasps my upper arm, I look up at Dean, his eyes scrunched together in concern. “You okay, sweetheart?” He asks, but his voice seems so far away. I look over at Sam, a bruise already forming on his jaw a reminder of what I had done. I find no fear in his eyes any longer, not even as he rubs at the forming mark. I nod absent-mindedly at Dean's question, though it wasn’t true and he had known that too.

He gives my arm a firm squeeze before sliding it down slowly to my hand, intertwining our fingers together. I look up at him again, but his face is turned away already walking towards the duffel bag bringing me along with him. He doesn't say anything about holding my hand, not even as he leans down to the bag swinging it over the shoulder that is opposite to where I stand.

He leads the way out of the basement, Sam following behind us silently. I let him lead me, just staring down at our intertwined hands. His sleeve was rolled up to his elbow, ‘must have done that when he left us before. Holding hands wasn’t totally uncommon for us and we both happened to be touchy people, even so butterflies danced in my stomach.

When we finally reached the exit, the early morning sun had begun to shine through the clouds. Every one of our movements was done in silence, he let go of my hand only until we climbed back over the fence. The second both our feet had hit the ground he claimed it once more.

Just a short distance away Kat and Gavin lean against their car, my eyes scrunch in confusion. I thought they left. “What are you guys still doing here?” I call out from a few feet away. They analyze us, probably noticing the clear sign of a fight and who I’m holding hands with but I do not let go of his hand, and he makes no move to do so either. “We wanted to make sure you got out” Kat answers, crossing her arms across her chest, “And to say thank you.”

“Yeah. Thanks.” Gavin adds in.

“No more haunted asylums, okay?” Dean replies. They nod and get in the car, this time starting it up.

“Hey, guys?” Sam says quietly as we begin to walk towards the Impala. He gets in front of us, walking backwards so we couldn’t ignore him, “I'm sorry. I said some awful things back there.”

I frown, not wanting to be reminded of something that happened only minutes ago. “You remember all that?” Dean scuffs.

“Yeah. It's like I couldn't control it. But I didn't mean it, any of it.” He says making sure he directs it at both of us.

“You must believe it on some subconscious level…right?” I say. I do not mean to come off harsh or make him feel worse about himself, but he had to feel that way on some level. He doesn't say anything for a minute, and I suddenly feel bad for what I said, “No, of course not! Do we need to talk about this?” He insists.

Reaching the Impala Dean unlocks the car, opening my door with his free hand but I make no moves of getting in just yet. He lets go of my hand, moving to the back of the car to throw in the duffel before rounding the rest of the car to the driver seat. Just before he gets in he answers his brother, venom clear on his tongue, “No. I'm not really in the sharing and caring kinda mood. I just wanna get some sleep.” He slams the car door behind him.

I look over at Sam, total defeat written all over his face. I move past the car door moving right in front of Sam, he looked down at me expectantly. I wrap my arms around his middle and hug him. We will go to a motel and sleep the night off, and I don’t want to go to bed upset. His initial surprise wears off and he hugs me back, I pull away slightly. “You said mean things and I know you're sorry, but they still hurt… I’m not mad at you for thinking like that, I know you wouldn’t intentionally hurt us.” I say softly, I don’t like being angry at someone or holding grudges.

His eyes are filled with desperate sorrow as he says, “I’m sorry.” He hugs me tightly adding a quiet, “thank you.” And I knew he had meant for just talking to him about it even if it was only a little and for not hating him. We pull away from each other, and he ruffles my hair like an annoying brother before getting in the Impala. I move past the open door again, this time getting in.

Even after a nice hot shower and being all cozied up in the motel bed, sleep still could not find me. I groan frustrated, switching positions for the upteenth time, glad that I had my own room so as to not wake anyone.

I shift again, moving onto my back, the memories of what happened earlier playing through my head on repeat. Whether Sam meant it or not he was right. They didn’t need me, they were more than capable by themselves. Maybe I should go back home.

I could call Adeline, ask her if she could pick me up from the airport and take me home. The plane ride wouldn’t be so bad, I just have to figure out how to get to the airport with no car of my own. But that thought upset me more. I’d go home and worry over the boys excessively, where they were, how they were doing, if they were safe or even alive, if they found their dad. Maybe I was a burden to them.

God. And what I did to Sam? To use my powers like that?! Though I guess before the whole fight the teleporting was quite impressive especially because I am not skilled in that.

I want to be the best, but I'm afraid of what that would mean. What I would become.

I shift again, my feet tangling under the heavy covers. I sit up letting the blankets fall to my waist, and without thinking I pick up my phone dialing in her number. I had no idea what time it was in New York City but I knew she didn’t care about that sort of thing, she would pick up regardless of time or what she was doing. The phone barely gets to ring for a third time when she answers, “Hey Addie…”

[readinginthereadyroom]

it’s jump the shark (spn 4x19) and adam milligan is the long lost winchester.

because in early 1990 john winchester sweeps thru a small minnesota town, hunting ghouls. he meets kate, a local nurse, while being patched up in the er for a “hunting accident.” nine months later. adam.

tho it’s actually more like 12 years later. when kate finally calls john and tells him he has a son. and john was so overjoyed he dropped everything. drove all night to meet him.

this would be 2002. pre-series. but now that john knows about adam he makes a point to swing by every year or so. to teach him poker and pool and give him his first beer. driving lessons in the impala. a baseball game for his 14th birthday. a fishing trip.

it’s not a not a nuclear family—not by any stretch. but john’s pictures are still all over the house. kate and adam were his family. even when he wasn’t around.

exept john had another family. sam and dean. who were 6 and 10 respectively, when john left for minnesota. when he met kate.

the code word in john’s journal on adam’s birthday in 2004. “minnesota.” because john showed up for a couple of adam’s birthdays. and yeah, sam and dean are adults by now. sam’s at stanford and he can leave dean to hunt alone every once and a while.

but adam’s oh-so inoculous question. “what’d dad do with you on your birthday?” is like salt in an unhealed wound. dean’s birthday is jan 24th. and we know for a fact that john was in town on jan 9th—that’s the date on the newspaper for when the ghoul-ravaged bodies were recovered. john was also “pretty torn up.” he probably stayed longer to recuperate.

but also this is tv logic. john was in minnesota “roughly, oh, about nine months before the kid was born.” more like 9 months exactly. there are only 5 days between the 24th and 29th.

you have to read between the lines. do some math on the two torn out pages of john’s journal torn out. his selective editing prior to leaving it with dean at the start of the series.

and it all adds up to john missing dean’s 11th birthday to stay in minnesota with kate. a deadbeat dad decision that results in adam.

and dean is pissed. pissed that john would leave sam and dean at bobby’s. at paster jim’s. would abandon them at skeevy motels after dragging them across the country in the cramped impala. pissed that he would miss holidays and birthdays with them. only to make the time for adam years later.

john found out about adam in 2002. sam would’ve been 19 and already at stanford. dean 23 and hunting with john.

which means when john got that first phone call and dropped everything to go meet adam. well that everything was dean. whatever case they were working. whatever monster they were hunting. whatever danger it might mean to hunt alone—john didn’t care. and he left dean deal with it.

so yeah, dean is jealous. righteously so. john meets a woman who looks like mary and tries to make some sorta life with her—a normal life—when he chose not to do that with sam and dean. he chose to haul them into his vengenance crusade. dean is lying to himself. to sam. when he says john had no choice with them. they had to be part of this life.

the winchester curse.

dean lies because the truth with a capital T hurts too much.

that they could’ve had a father not a drill sergeant. that they could’ve had baseball games and fishing trips. a white picket fence and a dog. an absent father who would roll into town once or twice a year to go on family excirsions and make treasured memoires would’ve been than the year round drunk who dragged them thru the blood and gore of the monster world. leaving them nothing but nightmares and bruises.

or maybe it could’ve just been bobby and his rundown house. a chain link fence and rusted out cars. a version of john who dropped sam and dean off at bobby’s. who left the impala behind. who never ever ever came back. that would’ve been even better than the life adam got to have.

but despite all his anger and all his abandonment issues. dean won’t put adam in harm’s way. and it’s not respecting john’s wishes. it’s about dean looking at adam and seeing all the wasted potential of his and sam’s life. adam can go to school. be a doctor. he’s family—but also not. a milligan not a winchester.

because adam has a chance to escape in a way sam and dean never could. in the way sam tried. because the winchester family business isn’t about saving people or hunting things.

it’s about sacrificing yourself, about murdering people—monstrous humans and human monsters alike. it is bloody and it is painful and you’ll end up dead. over and over and over again.

and dean wouldn’t wish that fate on anyone. not on a half brother he doesn’t know. not on john’s favored son. no matter how jealous he is. no matter how much he secretly hates him.

because none of it is adam’s fault. all the blame and the baggage lies at john’s feet.

and besides. turns out adam was dead all along. the long lost winchester indeed.

[elizabethemerald]

Personal, fandom rant.

There’s something that I, as an older trans person in fandom, have always found just a little exhausting. And its when folks in the fandom take a character whose parents are fundamentally awful and say this character is trans. Like this person’s parent is one of the worst people in the world or in some case a literal fascist, they are solely focused on global conquest or whatever but are still supportive of their child’s transition. Especially when there are so many characters from home situations where they might actually have been able to transition. And I get that not everyone has good supportive parents, and I just wish people would make that the story!

I can think of so many examples from all of the different fandoms I’m in. In ATLA it’s Zuko or Azula. Firelord Ozai is perfectly willing to murder his own children from the throne, maims one of them and is willing to attempt genocide against an entire continent. But Zuko is a trans man, or Azula is a transwoman. what? An megolomanic, murderer who banned homosexuality is going to be supportive enough of his children’s gender identity to support Zuko transitioning? When that same guy maimed and banished Zuko for...*looks at notes* speaking out of turn?

Why not make basically any of the other characters trans? Aang, grew up among the air nomads, maybe their culture is ultra loose with gender roles. Have Sokka or Katara be trans, water is the element of Change, I’m sure their tribe would have been supportive of that. Have Jet and the Freedom Fighters all be trans. Jet said I’m not a girl, I’m a boy, and I’m a boy who is going to kill some fire benders. 

Or if you want them to be trans, if you look up to those characters and want them to be like you, why not make the transition happen later? Not everyone is able to transition prior to puperty, and then passes perfectly after. Have Toph decide she doesn’t give a shit about gender after leaving her restrictive parents and identify as agender. Have part of Zuko’s internal struggle prior to confronting his father be about his gender identity. And when he joins the Gaang and becomes friends with Katara he asks her about dresses or something like that, and then part of his journey as firelord is transitioning the Fire Nation to post war, post fascist nation and transition himself socially and/or medically. 

In the TOA fandom: Trans!Steve, ok, Steve’s verbally and emotionally (and proberly physically) abusive dad who taught him nothing but toxic masculinity is ok with his child being a trans man? what? Especially when you have Jim, whose mom is supportive and tries to do her best for him, who could be a trans man. Or you could have Steve transitioning to Stephany after the events of TOA, or Toby exploring his gender identity with all of the trans people around him. 

In the TOH fandom: Amity, Emera, and Edric Blight. I love those kids. But their ultra controlling parents who say they aren’t allowed to play with witches who are not powerful casters are going to be super supportive of their kids transition? what? And on the other side, you have Luz, her mom loves and supports her, even if she doesn’t understand her. Maybe her mom is afraid that her transition is one more thing that is going to make her not fit in. Or you have Willow, who canonically has two queer dads, and that would be one more reason why the blights didn’t want Amity to associate with her. 

I want to emphasize I don’t hate these headcanons. I don’t hate the people who come up with them. I’ve written a few myself. Its just exhausting. I know every trans person wants the narrative that no matter how bad a person is, they will still let you transition, but that just not how the world works. 

Now this bit is a little personal, but this is why I’m so exhausted by this. I grew up in a religious family. My dad was a children’s paster at my church. He would use my siblings and I as lesson points during his sermons all the time, which never failed to be humilating. I was in the Boy Scouts in highschool and I’m an Eagle Scout now. I had a lot of friends through both organizations. 

 I didn’t even know being transgender was an option until I was 23. I spent years being tricked into thinking I was a pervert or there was something wrong with me because of how I felt. When I came out, my dad explicitly forbade me from interacting with the Boy Scout troop I had grown up with. All my friends from church disappeared in a matter of weeks. I haven’t talked to anyone from my troop in literally years. 

Because I was so late to my transition, I’m well over six feet tall, I have broad shoulders and a deep voice. I struggle to find clothes that fit, shoes my size don’t exist in the women’s section, and I will never be able to fully pass. 

But I’m still trans. I am finding new ways to love my body every day. I have changed my name, and now most of my current friends don’t even know my dead name. I rarely talk to my father. 

I wish people would tell stories like this. Tell stories like mine. Create headcanons that match my story. Because can you imagine how pretty Zuko, or Steve would be when they transition in twenties? They would make the most beautiful young women. 

[kidneystories2013]

On the Broadcast This Friday! https://www.kcci.com/article/oskaloosa-iowa-man-shane-blanchard-holds-out-hope-to-find-kidney-donation/36997290 Tune in Friday, August 6th at 8:00 PM EDT/7:00 PM CST for a live broadcast of Kidney Stories 2 with James "Uncle Jim" Myers. This week on Kidney Stories 2 our guests are Shane Blanchard and Paster Brad Hendrickson. Join us for an inspiring show and hang out with Uncle Jim. Only on the Urban Health Outreach Media Network Facebook Page and YouTube Channel. (at Hammond, Indiana) https://www.instagram.com/p/CSKb7VErBZu/?utm_medium=tumblr

[invincible-selfxmade-punk]

Washed

They led me to this little room behind the stage and pulpit the steps to the water were wooden and had no handle or railings The dressing room was the size of a broom closet with a bench filled with gift bags for someone or something I did not look inside Just before, I sat in the pew thinking of my home church and a life I had once upon a time and thinking how they used to anoint people with oil and it always seemed such a special, holy thing And seconWashds later they called me to the front and anointed me to I was happy They gave me a burgundy robe to change into It was stiff and rough and like a cross between a jumper and a circus tent. Then they instructed me to get into the baptistery and sit down I was so relieved. Every baptism I have ever witnessed (mostly in movies) involved the dunkee being grabbed and shoved back into the water while in a standing position This is what had terrified me so much Not just being dunked but being  knocked over backward and jerked back up But it was nothing like that. I sat down in the water, it was warm and I was grateful because I have a cold anyway. I repeated after the paster and as I went under and was submerged I thought of  my dead mother my dead father my dead sisters my dead niece/twin/best friend my dead friends from college and Zeki and Shannon and JIm And I told them I will see you again I am coming home

[jazzworldquest-blog]

USA:CD Release Show for Ellynne Rey The Birdsongs Project Thursday, July 11th 8PM @ Bonafide

CD Release Show for Ellynne Rey The Birdsongs Project Thursday, July 11 Performance Time: 8:00 pm Cover: $20.00 | Doors: 7:30 pm 212 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10022 Tickets & Info Ellynne Rey (vocals) Bennett Paster (piano) Marcus McLaurine (bass) Alex Norris (trumpet) Joe Strasser (drums) Jazz singer-composer Ellynne Rey follows up on her previous A Little Bit Of Moonlight CD with a set of tunes dedicated to birds, The Birdsongs Project. Joined by an impressive sextet, Rey performs bird songs by such writers as Blossom Dearie, Joni Mitchell, Hoagy Carmichael, Abbey Lincoln, Franz Schubert, and the Beatles, as well as her own compositions. A devoted birdwatcher and photographer, the creative jazz singer and songwriter pays musical tribute to birds on Ellynne Rey The Birdsongs Project. For this wide-ranging set, she is joined by her longtime associate, pianist-organist Bennett Paster, guitarist Freddie Bryant, bassist Marcus McLaurine, both Anthony Pinciotti and Joe Strasser alternately on drums, trumpeter Alex Norris, and tenor-saxophonist Joel Frahm, plus guest percussionist Jacquelene Acevedo. Whether the song is an original, a well-known standard or an obscurity, the singer comes up with fresh interpretations that will delight both bird lovers and jazz fans alike. The album begins with Ms. Rey's "Conversation With A Snowy Owl," a jazz waltz that includes insightful lyrics and some fine scat-singing. She also wrote English lyrics to "The Crow" (die Krahe) which is an inspired transformation of a classic melody by Schubert, and some clever vocalese ("Bluejay & Cat") over the changes to “How High The Moon.” The latter follows Parker's “Ornitholog” and also has the singer holding her own trading fours with tenor saxophonist Frahm. Other highlights of the colorful set include Blossom Dearie's "I Thought I Heard A Hummingbird" (which is given a samba groove), "Skylark," Joni Mitchell's "Song To A Seagull," Hoagy Carmichael's "Baltimore Oriole," Abbey Lincoln's "Bird Alone," "Flamingo" (which also features some fine tenor playing from Frahm), and "Blackbird." A particular high point is experiencing the top-notch ballad singing on "The Peacocks," which includes effortless interval jumps and some glorious high notes from Ellynne Rey. Born and raised in Connecticut, Ellynne Rey has performed throughout New England and New York City. Whether as a singer or a lyricist, she is a skilled storyteller, equally adept at interpreting ballads as she is scatting through complex chord changes. A Little Bit Of Moonlight, Rey's last release (featuring guitar great Gene Bertoncini), is also a highly enjoyable listening experience. With the release of The Birdsongs Project, Ellynne Rey is heard in top form and clearly on the verge of gaining greater recognition for her inventive talents Available From •Amazon •CDBaby •iTunes Ellynne Rey The Birdsongs Project (Self Produced- 02) Street Date: May 1, 2019 Ellynne Rey-vocals, Bennett Paster-piano; organ, Freddie Bryant-guitars Joel Frahm-tenor sax; ocarina, Alex Norris-trumpet; flugelhorn, Anthony Pinciotti-drums, Joe Strasser-drums, Jacquelene Acevedo-cajon & ass. percussion UPC Code:8 88295 87671 ellynnesings.com Media Contact Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services 272 State Route 94 South #1 Warwick, NY 10990 Ph: 845-986-1677 jim@jazzpromoservices.com http://bit.ly/1dvRi4z "Specializing in Media Campaigns for the music community, artists, labels, venues and events.” Radio Promoter Lisa Reedy Promotion www.jazzpromotion.com E-Mail: lisa8089@sbcglobal.net Welcome! Please subscribe to our blogs and stay informed about the best things to do in New York City. If you love the Big Apple, be sure to subscribe for the latest happenings in NYC! Author: Will Friedwald Will Friedwald writes about music and popular culture for THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, VANITY FAIR and PLAYBOY magazine and reviews current shows for THE CITIVIEW NEW YORK. He also is the author of nine books, including the award-winning A BIOGRAPHICAL GUIDE TO THE GREAT JAZZ AND POP SINGERS, SINATRA: THE SONG IS YOU, STARDUST MELODIES, TONY BENNETT: THE GOOD LIFE, LOONEY TUNES & MERRIE MELODIES, and JAZZ SINGING. He has written over 600 liner notes for compact discs, received ten Grammy nominations, and appears frequently on television and other documentaries. He is also a consultant and curator for Apple Music. New Books: THE GREAT JAZZ AND POP VOCAL ALBUMS (Pantheon Books / Random House, November 2017) SINATRA: THE SONG IS YOU - NEW REVISED EDITION (Chicago Review Press, May 2018) via Blogger http://bit.ly/2IxFGn8

[caseycolecorbin]

Endorsement for course on Christian Finance

I hesitantly started listening to this free 5 part class on Christian finance. Hesitantly because the speaker's name is Jim Baker. (But like he joked he only has one K and no Tammy Faye! Ha! :) ) He is a paster so I was also concerned about 'name-it-and-claim-it' prosperity theology. (Yuck!)

Jim goes beyond personal finance (like Dave Ramsey stuff) and gets into investment and business finance. So being business-minded I liked that.

I was very pleasantly surprised! It was well balanced and not greedy or selfish but really God-centered of how we can give finances into doing good ministry in the Kingdom!

The free series can be viewed here for: https://www.wealthwithgod.com/a/27119/jprzNgdM

If you want to buy his program please use my affiliate link so I get credit!: https://bit.ly/2Lw87lX

[stormdoors78476]

Critics See Green Shoots Of Sanity Inside Trump's White House

WASHINGTON – After nearly three months in office, President Donald Trump may have finally hit upon an accomplishment that both Republicans and Democrats are applauding: Ridding his West Wing of the influence of chief strategist Stephen Bannon.

Bannon, the former head of a white nationalist-friendly website, was removed from the National Security Council and its influential Principals Committee last week. Since then, he has reportedly seen his stock fall within the West Wing amid clashes with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and top economic adviser Gary Cohn. There have also been published reports that Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland is leaving the NSC to take the ambassadorship to Singapore, and Trump foreign policy aide Sebastian Gorka possibly becoming Trump’s special envoy to Libya.

McFarland came to the Trump administration from Fox News, where she was touted as a national security expert, and she has come under fire as unqualified and unsuited for the NSC’s No. 2 position. At a recent meeting, she reportedly boasted that she was wearing shoes from presidential daughter Ivanka Trump’s clothing line. Bannon ally Gorka, meanwhile, has drawn unwanted attention of late because of his ties to a Hungarian group of Nazi sympathizers.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday declined to discuss personnel moves that have not happened yet. But he took the unusual step of acknowledging disagreements among top aides, and argued they were a good thing.

“The reason the president’s brought this team together is offer a diverse set of opinions,” Spicer said. “He doesn’t want a monolithical kind of thought process going through the White House.”

Spicer also tacitly acknowledged that the changes to the NSC personnel are because the new national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, wanted them. McMaster, an active Army general, replaced Michael Flynn, who left after his contacts with Russian officials prior to Trump’s inauguration became public. 

For critics of Trump’s original National Security Council, that the changes are happening is a positive development, regardless of why.

“Those are all good things,” said Eliot Cohen, a vocal Trump skeptic who was a senior State Department official under President George W. Bush and a participant of his National Security Council. “H.R. will run a normal process with normal kinds of people in it.”

And on a broader level, they changes have given denizens of Washington ― Democrats included ― the stirrings of hope that the Trump administration won’t be the dangerous calamity that many feared through its first months.  

“I actually think the swamp is drowning the inhabitants that came with Trump Inc., which i frankly think is a good thing,” said Steve McMahon, a longtime Democratic strategist. “I’m a Democrat, so I naturally oppose Republicans on policy grounds. But I do think there is a certain kind of Republican that is not dangerous to the country and that to me is an establishment Republican.

“Every president comes to Washington thinking they will bend Washington to their way,” he added. “One hundred days is pretty fast. But Washington is winning and Trump seems to be figuring that out.”

The history of the presidency is littered with over-ambitious first years, followed by sobering recalibrations. The most infamous of these, at least in modern times, was Bill Clinton, whose early days were a beehive of political activity, notable wins and higher-profile defeats, sprinkled with a fair amount of dysfunction. Clinton adjusted over time, bringing in outsiders to layer over his more unseasoned staffers, and moving fundamentally away from his liberal objectives (gays in the military and health care) to a centrist platform.

Few expect Trump to make such a deft evolution, or to score the policy victories that he had promised in his early time in office. And veterans of the Clinton years argue that the two administrations’ levels of political talent, intent and competence make them fundamentally incomparable.

“While Clinton, of course, brought in some us from his inner campaign circle, he also knew he was new to D.C., and therefore had to put in people with first-rate experience in passing legislation like Howard Paster, Lloyd Bentsen at Treasury and Leon Panetta at OMB,” said Gene Sperling, a longtime Clinton adviser and confidant. “In the Trump White House, even the few senior people with some legislative experience have so far focused more on putting out extremely conservative and often divisive policy stances than on actually devising strategies for legislative success.”

But the new path Trump appears to be taking has some parallels to administrations past, albeit with a more chaotic starting point. While Cohn and Kushner lack anything close to the type of government experience of those Clinton’s aides, neither do they share Bannon’s seemingly nihilistic take on governance. The elevation of McMaster and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in the national security apparatus, meanwhile, has “reinvigorated” the GOP foreign policy community, according to one Republican official who interviewed with the Trump administration, but declined to take a job.

“The kind, generous explanation is that Trump realized he needed professionals in this space,” said Rick Wilson, a longtime Republican Trump critic and former Pentagon staffer. “The less generous explanation is that Trump’s attention span is so short that McMaster waited him out and did what he wanted to do.”

Cohen, who now teaches at Johns Hopkins University, said that McMaster taking control of the National Security Council doesn’t solve the fundamental problem, which is Trump’s lack of fitness for the job.

“He has a limited attention span, he has no background knowledge, he listens to the last person he’s talked to,” Cohen said, adding that McMaster cannot possibly make Trump more qualified. “It’s a conceit of the bureaucratic age that having that kind of person around can change everything. It can’t.”

Still, Cohen said, it’s better that the White House changes happened. “This is all good news. Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “The big moment will be when he (Bannon) either quits or is fired. Which I think will happen eventually.”

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2oU0Cfu

[grgedoors02142]

Critics See Green Shoots Of Sanity Inside Trump's White House

WASHINGTON – After nearly three months in office, President Donald Trump may have finally hit upon an accomplishment that both Republicans and Democrats are applauding: Ridding his West Wing of the influence of chief strategist Stephen Bannon.

Bannon, the former head of a white nationalist-friendly website, was removed from the National Security Council and its influential Principals Committee last week. Since then, he has reportedly seen his stock fall within the West Wing amid clashes with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and top economic adviser Gary Cohn. There have also been published reports that Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland is leaving the NSC to take the ambassadorship to Singapore, and Trump foreign policy aide Sebastian Gorka possibly becoming Trump’s special envoy to Libya.

McFarland came to the Trump administration from Fox News, where she was touted as a national security expert, and she has come under fire as unqualified and unsuited for the NSC’s No. 2 position. At a recent meeting, she reportedly boasted that she was wearing shoes from presidential daughter Ivanka Trump’s clothing line. Bannon ally Gorka, meanwhile, has drawn unwanted attention of late because of his ties to a Hungarian group of Nazi sympathizers.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday declined to discuss personnel moves that have not happened yet. But he took the unusual step of acknowledging disagreements among top aides, and argued they were a good thing.

“The reason the president’s brought this team together is offer a diverse set of opinions,” Spicer said. “He doesn’t want a monolithical kind of thought process going through the White House.”

Spicer also tacitly acknowledged that the changes to the NSC personnel are because the new national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, wanted them. McMaster, an active Army general, replaced Michael Flynn, who left after his contacts with Russian officials prior to Trump’s inauguration became public. 

For critics of Trump’s original National Security Council, that the changes are happening is a positive development, regardless of why.

“Those are all good things,” said Eliot Cohen, a vocal Trump skeptic who was a senior State Department official under President George W. Bush and a participant of his National Security Council. “H.R. will run a normal process with normal kinds of people in it.”

And on a broader level, they changes have given denizens of Washington ― Democrats included ― the stirrings of hope that the Trump administration won’t be the dangerous calamity that many feared through its first months.  

“I actually think the swamp is drowning the inhabitants that came with Trump Inc., which i frankly think is a good thing,” said Steve McMahon, a longtime Democratic strategist. “I’m a Democrat, so I naturally oppose Republicans on policy grounds. But I do think there is a certain kind of Republican that is not dangerous to the country and that to me is an establishment Republican.

“Every president comes to Washington thinking they will bend Washington to their way,” he added. “One hundred days is pretty fast. But Washington is winning and Trump seems to be figuring that out.”

The history of the presidency is littered with over-ambitious first years, followed by sobering recalibrations. The most infamous of these, at least in modern times, was Bill Clinton, whose early days were a beehive of political activity, notable wins and higher-profile defeats, sprinkled with a fair amount of dysfunction. Clinton adjusted over time, bringing in outsiders to layer over his more unseasoned staffers, and moving fundamentally away from his liberal objectives (gays in the military and health care) to a centrist platform.

Few expect Trump to make such a deft evolution, or to score the policy victories that he had promised in his early time in office. And veterans of the Clinton years argue that the two administrations’ levels of political talent, intent and competence make them fundamentally incomparable.

“While Clinton, of course, brought in some us from his inner campaign circle, he also knew he was new to D.C., and therefore had to put in people with first-rate experience in passing legislation like Howard Paster, Lloyd Bentsen at Treasury and Leon Panetta at OMB,” said Gene Sperling, a longtime Clinton adviser and confidant. “In the Trump White House, even the few senior people with some legislative experience have so far focused more on putting out extremely conservative and often divisive policy stances than on actually devising strategies for legislative success.”

But the new path Trump appears to be taking has some parallels to administrations past, albeit with a more chaotic starting point. While Cohn and Kushner lack anything close to the type of government experience of those Clinton’s aides, neither do they share Bannon’s seemingly nihilistic take on governance. The elevation of McMaster and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in the national security apparatus, meanwhile, has “reinvigorated” the GOP foreign policy community, according to one Republican official who interviewed with the Trump administration, but declined to take a job.

“The kind, generous explanation is that Trump realized he needed professionals in this space,” said Rick Wilson, a longtime Republican Trump critic and former Pentagon staffer. “The less generous explanation is that Trump’s attention span is so short that McMaster waited him out and did what he wanted to do.”

Cohen, who now teaches at Johns Hopkins University, said that McMaster taking control of the National Security Council doesn’t solve the fundamental problem, which is Trump’s lack of fitness for the job.

“He has a limited attention span, he has no background knowledge, he listens to the last person he’s talked to,” Cohen said, adding that McMaster cannot possibly make Trump more qualified. “It’s a conceit of the bureaucratic age that having that kind of person around can change everything. It can’t.”

Still, Cohen said, it’s better that the White House changes happened. “This is all good news. Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “The big moment will be when he (Bannon) either quits or is fired. Which I think will happen eventually.”

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2oU0Cfu

[exfrenchdorsl4p0a1]

Critics See Green Shoots Of Sanity Inside Trump's White House

WASHINGTON – After nearly three months in office, President Donald Trump may have finally hit upon an accomplishment that both Republicans and Democrats are applauding: Ridding his West Wing of the influence of chief strategist Stephen Bannon.

Bannon, the former head of a white nationalist-friendly website, was removed from the National Security Council and its influential Principals Committee last week. Since then, he has reportedly seen his stock fall within the West Wing amid clashes with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and top economic adviser Gary Cohn. There have also been published reports that Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland is leaving the NSC to take the ambassadorship to Singapore, and Trump foreign policy aide Sebastian Gorka possibly becoming Trump’s special envoy to Libya.

McFarland came to the Trump administration from Fox News, where she was touted as a national security expert, and she has come under fire as unqualified and unsuited for the NSC’s No. 2 position. At a recent meeting, she reportedly boasted that she was wearing shoes from presidential daughter Ivanka Trump’s clothing line. Bannon ally Gorka, meanwhile, has drawn unwanted attention of late because of his ties to a Hungarian group of Nazi sympathizers.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday declined to discuss personnel moves that have not happened yet. But he took the unusual step of acknowledging disagreements among top aides, and argued they were a good thing.

“The reason the president’s brought this team together is offer a diverse set of opinions,” Spicer said. “He doesn’t want a monolithical kind of thought process going through the White House.”

Spicer also tacitly acknowledged that the changes to the NSC personnel are because the new national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, wanted them. McMaster, an active Army general, replaced Michael Flynn, who left after his contacts with Russian officials prior to Trump’s inauguration became public. 

For critics of Trump’s original National Security Council, that the changes are happening is a positive development, regardless of why.

“Those are all good things,” said Eliot Cohen, a vocal Trump skeptic who was a senior State Department official under President George W. Bush and a participant of his National Security Council. “H.R. will run a normal process with normal kinds of people in it.”

And on a broader level, they changes have given denizens of Washington ― Democrats included ― the stirrings of hope that the Trump administration won’t be the dangerous calamity that many feared through its first months.  

“I actually think the swamp is drowning the inhabitants that came with Trump Inc., which i frankly think is a good thing,” said Steve McMahon, a longtime Democratic strategist. “I’m a Democrat, so I naturally oppose Republicans on policy grounds. But I do think there is a certain kind of Republican that is not dangerous to the country and that to me is an establishment Republican.

“Every president comes to Washington thinking they will bend Washington to their way,” he added. “One hundred days is pretty fast. But Washington is winning and Trump seems to be figuring that out.”

The history of the presidency is littered with over-ambitious first years, followed by sobering recalibrations. The most infamous of these, at least in modern times, was Bill Clinton, whose early days were a beehive of political activity, notable wins and higher-profile defeats, sprinkled with a fair amount of dysfunction. Clinton adjusted over time, bringing in outsiders to layer over his more unseasoned staffers, and moving fundamentally away from his liberal objectives (gays in the military and health care) to a centrist platform.

Few expect Trump to make such a deft evolution, or to score the policy victories that he had promised in his early time in office. And veterans of the Clinton years argue that the two administrations’ levels of political talent, intent and competence make them fundamentally incomparable.

“While Clinton, of course, brought in some us from his inner campaign circle, he also knew he was new to D.C., and therefore had to put in people with first-rate experience in passing legislation like Howard Paster, Lloyd Bentsen at Treasury and Leon Panetta at OMB,” said Gene Sperling, a longtime Clinton adviser and confidant. “In the Trump White House, even the few senior people with some legislative experience have so far focused more on putting out extremely conservative and often divisive policy stances than on actually devising strategies for legislative success.”

But the new path Trump appears to be taking has some parallels to administrations past, albeit with a more chaotic starting point. While Cohn and Kushner lack anything close to the type of government experience of those Clinton’s aides, neither do they share Bannon’s seemingly nihilistic take on governance. The elevation of McMaster and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in the national security apparatus, meanwhile, has “reinvigorated” the GOP foreign policy community, according to one Republican official who interviewed with the Trump administration, but declined to take a job.

“The kind, generous explanation is that Trump realized he needed professionals in this space,” said Rick Wilson, a longtime Republican Trump critic and former Pentagon staffer. “The less generous explanation is that Trump’s attention span is so short that McMaster waited him out and did what he wanted to do.”

Cohen, who now teaches at Johns Hopkins University, said that McMaster taking control of the National Security Council doesn’t solve the fundamental problem, which is Trump’s lack of fitness for the job.

“He has a limited attention span, he has no background knowledge, he listens to the last person he’s talked to,” Cohen said, adding that McMaster cannot possibly make Trump more qualified. “It’s a conceit of the bureaucratic age that having that kind of person around can change everything. It can’t.”

Still, Cohen said, it’s better that the White House changes happened. “This is all good news. Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “The big moment will be when he (Bannon) either quits or is fired. Which I think will happen eventually.”

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2oU0Cfu

[repwincoml4a0a5]

Critics See Green Shoots Of Sanity Inside Trump's White House

WASHINGTON – After nearly three months in office, President Donald Trump may have finally hit upon an accomplishment that both Republicans and Democrats are applauding: Ridding his West Wing of the influence of chief strategist Stephen Bannon.

Bannon, the former head of a white nationalist-friendly website, was removed from the National Security Council and its influential Principals Committee last week. Since then, he has reportedly seen his stock fall within the West Wing amid clashes with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and top economic adviser Gary Cohn. There have also been published reports that Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland is leaving the NSC to take the ambassadorship to Singapore, and Trump foreign policy aide Sebastian Gorka possibly becoming Trump’s special envoy to Libya.

McFarland came to the Trump administration from Fox News, where she was touted as a national security expert, and she has come under fire as unqualified and unsuited for the NSC’s No. 2 position. At a recent meeting, she reportedly boasted that she was wearing shoes from presidential daughter Ivanka Trump’s clothing line. Bannon ally Gorka, meanwhile, has drawn unwanted attention of late because of his ties to a Hungarian group of Nazi sympathizers.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday declined to discuss personnel moves that have not happened yet. But he took the unusual step of acknowledging disagreements among top aides, and argued they were a good thing.

“The reason the president’s brought this team together is offer a diverse set of opinions,” Spicer said. “He doesn’t want a monolithical kind of thought process going through the White House.”

Spicer also tacitly acknowledged that the changes to the NSC personnel are because the new national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, wanted them. McMaster, an active Army general, replaced Michael Flynn, who left after his contacts with Russian officials prior to Trump’s inauguration became public. 

For critics of Trump’s original National Security Council, that the changes are happening is a positive development, regardless of why.

“Those are all good things,” said Eliot Cohen, a vocal Trump skeptic who was a senior State Department official under President George W. Bush and a participant of his National Security Council. “H.R. will run a normal process with normal kinds of people in it.”

And on a broader level, they changes have given denizens of Washington ― Democrats included ― the stirrings of hope that the Trump administration won’t be the dangerous calamity that many feared through its first months.  

“I actually think the swamp is drowning the inhabitants that came with Trump Inc., which i frankly think is a good thing,” said Steve McMahon, a longtime Democratic strategist. “I’m a Democrat, so I naturally oppose Republicans on policy grounds. But I do think there is a certain kind of Republican that is not dangerous to the country and that to me is an establishment Republican.

“Every president comes to Washington thinking they will bend Washington to their way,” he added. “One hundred days is pretty fast. But Washington is winning and Trump seems to be figuring that out.”

The history of the presidency is littered with over-ambitious first years, followed by sobering recalibrations. The most infamous of these, at least in modern times, was Bill Clinton, whose early days were a beehive of political activity, notable wins and higher-profile defeats, sprinkled with a fair amount of dysfunction. Clinton adjusted over time, bringing in outsiders to layer over his more unseasoned staffers, and moving fundamentally away from his liberal objectives (gays in the military and health care) to a centrist platform.

Few expect Trump to make such a deft evolution, or to score the policy victories that he had promised in his early time in office. And veterans of the Clinton years argue that the two administrations’ levels of political talent, intent and competence make them fundamentally incomparable.

“While Clinton, of course, brought in some us from his inner campaign circle, he also knew he was new to D.C., and therefore had to put in people with first-rate experience in passing legislation like Howard Paster, Lloyd Bentsen at Treasury and Leon Panetta at OMB,” said Gene Sperling, a longtime Clinton adviser and confidant. “In the Trump White House, even the few senior people with some legislative experience have so far focused more on putting out extremely conservative and often divisive policy stances than on actually devising strategies for legislative success.”

But the new path Trump appears to be taking has some parallels to administrations past, albeit with a more chaotic starting point. While Cohn and Kushner lack anything close to the type of government experience of those Clinton’s aides, neither do they share Bannon’s seemingly nihilistic take on governance. The elevation of McMaster and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in the national security apparatus, meanwhile, has “reinvigorated” the GOP foreign policy community, according to one Republican official who interviewed with the Trump administration, but declined to take a job.

“The kind, generous explanation is that Trump realized he needed professionals in this space,” said Rick Wilson, a longtime Republican Trump critic and former Pentagon staffer. “The less generous explanation is that Trump’s attention span is so short that McMaster waited him out and did what he wanted to do.”

Cohen, who now teaches at Johns Hopkins University, said that McMaster taking control of the National Security Council doesn’t solve the fundamental problem, which is Trump’s lack of fitness for the job.

“He has a limited attention span, he has no background knowledge, he listens to the last person he’s talked to,” Cohen said, adding that McMaster cannot possibly make Trump more qualified. “It’s a conceit of the bureaucratic age that having that kind of person around can change everything. It can’t.”

Still, Cohen said, it’s better that the White House changes happened. “This is all good news. Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “The big moment will be when he (Bannon) either quits or is fired. Which I think will happen eventually.”

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2oU0Cfu

[repwinpril9y0a1]

Critics See Green Shoots Of Sanity Inside Trump's White House

WASHINGTON – After nearly three months in office, President Donald Trump may have finally hit upon an accomplishment that both Republicans and Democrats are applauding: Ridding his West Wing of the influence of chief strategist Stephen Bannon.

Bannon, the former head of a white nationalist-friendly website, was removed from the National Security Council and its influential Principals Committee last week. Since then, he has reportedly seen his stock fall within the West Wing amid clashes with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and top economic adviser Gary Cohn. There have also been published reports that Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland is leaving the NSC to take the ambassadorship to Singapore, and Trump foreign policy aide Sebastian Gorka possibly becoming Trump’s special envoy to Libya.

McFarland came to the Trump administration from Fox News, where she was touted as a national security expert, and she has come under fire as unqualified and unsuited for the NSC’s No. 2 position. At a recent meeting, she reportedly boasted that she was wearing shoes from presidential daughter Ivanka Trump’s clothing line. Bannon ally Gorka, meanwhile, has drawn unwanted attention of late because of his ties to a Hungarian group of Nazi sympathizers.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday declined to discuss personnel moves that have not happened yet. But he took the unusual step of acknowledging disagreements among top aides, and argued they were a good thing.

“The reason the president’s brought this team together is offer a diverse set of opinions,” Spicer said. “He doesn’t want a monolithical kind of thought process going through the White House.”

Spicer also tacitly acknowledged that the changes to the NSC personnel are because the new national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, wanted them. McMaster, an active Army general, replaced Michael Flynn, who left after his contacts with Russian officials prior to Trump’s inauguration became public. 

For critics of Trump’s original National Security Council, that the changes are happening is a positive development, regardless of why.

“Those are all good things,” said Eliot Cohen, a vocal Trump skeptic who was a senior State Department official under President George W. Bush and a participant of his National Security Council. “H.R. will run a normal process with normal kinds of people in it.”

And on a broader level, they changes have given denizens of Washington ― Democrats included ― the stirrings of hope that the Trump administration won’t be the dangerous calamity that many feared through its first months.  

“I actually think the swamp is drowning the inhabitants that came with Trump Inc., which i frankly think is a good thing,” said Steve McMahon, a longtime Democratic strategist. “I’m a Democrat, so I naturally oppose Republicans on policy grounds. But I do think there is a certain kind of Republican that is not dangerous to the country and that to me is an establishment Republican.

“Every president comes to Washington thinking they will bend Washington to their way,” he added. “One hundred days is pretty fast. But Washington is winning and Trump seems to be figuring that out.”

The history of the presidency is littered with over-ambitious first years, followed by sobering recalibrations. The most infamous of these, at least in modern times, was Bill Clinton, whose early days were a beehive of political activity, notable wins and higher-profile defeats, sprinkled with a fair amount of dysfunction. Clinton adjusted over time, bringing in outsiders to layer over his more unseasoned staffers, and moving fundamentally away from his liberal objectives (gays in the military and health care) to a centrist platform.

Few expect Trump to make such a deft evolution, or to score the policy victories that he had promised in his early time in office. And veterans of the Clinton years argue that the two administrations’ levels of political talent, intent and competence make them fundamentally incomparable.

“While Clinton, of course, brought in some us from his inner campaign circle, he also knew he was new to D.C., and therefore had to put in people with first-rate experience in passing legislation like Howard Paster, Lloyd Bentsen at Treasury and Leon Panetta at OMB,” said Gene Sperling, a longtime Clinton adviser and confidant. “In the Trump White House, even the few senior people with some legislative experience have so far focused more on putting out extremely conservative and often divisive policy stances than on actually devising strategies for legislative success.”

But the new path Trump appears to be taking has some parallels to administrations past, albeit with a more chaotic starting point. While Cohn and Kushner lack anything close to the type of government experience of those Clinton’s aides, neither do they share Bannon’s seemingly nihilistic take on governance. The elevation of McMaster and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in the national security apparatus, meanwhile, has “reinvigorated” the GOP foreign policy community, according to one Republican official who interviewed with the Trump administration, but declined to take a job.

“The kind, generous explanation is that Trump realized he needed professionals in this space,” said Rick Wilson, a longtime Republican Trump critic and former Pentagon staffer. “The less generous explanation is that Trump’s attention span is so short that McMaster waited him out and did what he wanted to do.”

Cohen, who now teaches at Johns Hopkins University, said that McMaster taking control of the National Security Council doesn’t solve the fundamental problem, which is Trump’s lack of fitness for the job.

“He has a limited attention span, he has no background knowledge, he listens to the last person he’s talked to,” Cohen said, adding that McMaster cannot possibly make Trump more qualified. “It’s a conceit of the bureaucratic age that having that kind of person around can change everything. It can’t.”

Still, Cohen said, it’s better that the White House changes happened. “This is all good news. Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “The big moment will be when he (Bannon) either quits or is fired. Which I think will happen eventually.”

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2oU0Cfu

[kidneystories2013]

Tune in Friday, August 6th at 8:00 PM EDT/7:00 PM CST for a live broadcast of Kidney Stories 2 with James "Uncle Jim" Myers. This week on Kidney Stories 2 our guests are Shane Blanchard and Paster Brad Hendrickson. Join us for an inspiring show and hang out with Uncle Jim. Only on the Urban Health Outreach Media Network Facebook Page and YouTube Channel. (at Hammond, Indiana) https://www.instagram.com/p/CSHJ0VPLxWv/?utm_medium=tumblr

[pat78701]

Critics See Green Shoots Of Sanity Inside Trump's White House

WASHINGTON – After nearly three months in office, President Donald Trump may have finally hit upon an accomplishment that both Republicans and Democrats are applauding: Ridding his West Wing of the influence of chief strategist Stephen Bannon.

Bannon, the former head of a white nationalist-friendly website, was removed from the National Security Council and its influential Principals Committee last week. Since then, he has reportedly seen his stock fall within the West Wing amid clashes with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and top economic adviser Gary Cohn. There have also been published reports that Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland is leaving the NSC to take the ambassadorship to Singapore, and Trump foreign policy aide Sebastian Gorka possibly becoming Trump’s special envoy to Libya.

McFarland came to the Trump administration from Fox News, where she was touted as a national security expert, and she has come under fire as unqualified and unsuited for the NSC’s No. 2 position. At a recent meeting, she reportedly boasted that she was wearing shoes from presidential daughter Ivanka Trump’s clothing line. Bannon ally Gorka, meanwhile, has drawn unwanted attention of late because of his ties to a Hungarian group of Nazi sympathizers.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday declined to discuss personnel moves that have not happened yet. But he took the unusual step of acknowledging disagreements among top aides, and argued they were a good thing.

“The reason the president’s brought this team together is offer a diverse set of opinions,” Spicer said. “He doesn’t want a monolithical kind of thought process going through the White House.”

Spicer also tacitly acknowledged that the changes to the NSC personnel are because the new national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, wanted them. McMaster, an active Army general, replaced Michael Flynn, who left after his contacts with Russian officials prior to Trump’s inauguration became public. 

For critics of Trump’s original National Security Council, that the changes are happening is a positive development, regardless of why.

“Those are all good things,” said Eliot Cohen, a vocal Trump skeptic who was a senior State Department official under President George W. Bush and a participant of his National Security Council. “H.R. will run a normal process with normal kinds of people in it.”

And on a broader level, they changes have given denizens of Washington ― Democrats included ― the stirrings of hope that the Trump administration won’t be the dangerous calamity that many feared through its first months.  

“I actually think the swamp is drowning the inhabitants that came with Trump Inc., which i frankly think is a good thing,” said Steve McMahon, a longtime Democratic strategist. “I’m a Democrat, so I naturally oppose Republicans on policy grounds. But I do think there is a certain kind of Republican that is not dangerous to the country and that to me is an establishment Republican.

“Every president comes to Washington thinking they will bend Washington to their way,” he added. “One hundred days is pretty fast. But Washington is winning and Trump seems to be figuring that out.”

The history of the presidency is littered with over-ambitious first years, followed by sobering recalibrations. The most infamous of these, at least in modern times, was Bill Clinton, whose early days were a beehive of political activity, notable wins and higher-profile defeats, sprinkled with a fair amount of dysfunction. Clinton adjusted over time, bringing in outsiders to layer over his more unseasoned staffers, and moving fundamentally away from his liberal objectives (gays in the military and health care) to a centrist platform.

Few expect Trump to make such a deft evolution, or to score the policy victories that he had promised in his early time in office. And veterans of the Clinton years argue that the two administrations’ levels of political talent, intent and competence make them fundamentally incomparable.

“While Clinton, of course, brought in some us from his inner campaign circle, he also knew he was new to D.C., and therefore had to put in people with first-rate experience in passing legislation like Howard Paster, Lloyd Bentsen at Treasury and Leon Panetta at OMB,” said Gene Sperling, a longtime Clinton adviser and confidant. “In the Trump White House, even the few senior people with some legislative experience have so far focused more on putting out extremely conservative and often divisive policy stances than on actually devising strategies for legislative success.”

But the new path Trump appears to be taking has some parallels to administrations past, albeit with a more chaotic starting point. While Cohn and Kushner lack anything close to the type of government experience of those Clinton’s aides, neither do they share Bannon’s seemingly nihilistic take on governance. The elevation of McMaster and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in the national security apparatus, meanwhile, has “reinvigorated” the GOP foreign policy community, according to one Republican official who interviewed with the Trump administration, but declined to take a job.

“The kind, generous explanation is that Trump realized he needed professionals in this space,” said Rick Wilson, a longtime Republican Trump critic and former Pentagon staffer. “The less generous explanation is that Trump’s attention span is so short that McMaster waited him out and did what he wanted to do.”

Cohen, who now teaches at Johns Hopkins University, said that McMaster taking control of the National Security Council doesn’t solve the fundamental problem, which is Trump’s lack of fitness for the job.

“He has a limited attention span, he has no background knowledge, he listens to the last person he’s talked to,” Cohen said, adding that McMaster cannot possibly make Trump more qualified. “It’s a conceit of the bureaucratic age that having that kind of person around can change everything. It can’t.”

Still, Cohen said, it’s better that the White House changes happened. “This is all good news. Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “The big moment will be when he (Bannon) either quits or is fired. Which I think will happen eventually.”

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2oU0Cfu

[jazzworldquest-blog]

USA, NYC: CD Release Show for Ellynne Rey The Birdsongs Project

Thursday, July 11 Performance Time: 8:00 pm Cover: $20.00 | Doors: 7:30 pm212 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10022 Tickets & Info Ellynne Rey (vocals) Bennett Paster (piano) Marcus McLaurine (bass) Alex Norris (trumpet) Joe Strasser (drums)

Jazz singer-composer Ellynne Rey follows up on her previous A Little Bit Of Moonlight CD with a set of tunes dedicated to birds, The Birdsongs Project.   Joined by an impressive sextet, Rey performs bird songs by such writers as Blossom Dearie, Joni Mitchell, Hoagy Carmichael, Abbey Lincoln, Franz Schubert, and the Beatles, as well as her own compositions.   A devoted birdwatcher and photographer, the creative jazz singer and songwriter pays musical tribute to birds on Ellynne Rey The Birdsongs Project. For this wide-ranging set, she is joined by her longtime associate, pianist-organist Bennett Paster, guitarist Freddie Bryant, bassist Marcus McLaurine, both Anthony Pinciotti and Joe Strasser alternately on drums, trumpeter Alex Norris, and tenor-saxophonist Joel Frahm, plus guest percussionist Jacquelene Acevedo.     Whether the song is an original, a well-known standard or an obscurity, the singer comes up with fresh interpretations that will delight both bird lovers and jazz fans alike.   The album begins with Ms. Rey's "Conversation With A Snowy Owl," a jazz waltz that includes insightful lyrics and some fine scat-singing. She also wrote English lyrics to "The Crow" (die Krahe) which is an inspired transformation of a classic melody by Schubert, and some clever vocalese ("Bluejay & Cat") over the changes to “How High The Moon.” The latter follows Parker's “Ornitholog” and also has the singer holding her own trading fours with tenor saxophonist Frahm.   Other highlights of the colorful set include Blossom Dearie's "I Thought I Heard A Hummingbird" (which is given a samba groove), "Skylark," Joni Mitchell's "Song To A Seagull," Hoagy Carmichael's "Baltimore Oriole," Abbey Lincoln's "Bird Alone,"  "Flamingo" (which also features some fine tenor playing from Frahm), and "Blackbird." A particular high point is experiencing the top-notch ballad singing on "The Peacocks," which includes effortless interval jumps and some glorious high notes from Ellynne Rey.     Born and raised in Connecticut, Ellynne Rey has performed throughout New England and New York City. Whether as a singer or a lyricist, she is a skilled storyteller, equally adept at interpreting ballads as she is scatting through complex chord changes. A Little Bit Of Moonlight, Rey's last release (featuring guitar great Gene Bertoncini), is also a highly enjoyable listening experience.   With the release of The Birdsongs Project, Ellynne Rey is heard in top form and clearly on the verge of gaining greater recognition for her inventive talents  

Available From •Amazon •CDBaby •iTunes

  Ellynne Rey The Birdsongs Project (Self Produced- 02) Street Date: May 1, 2019 Ellynne Rey-vocals,  Bennett Paster-piano; organ,  Freddie Bryant-guitars  Joel Frahm-tenor sax; ocarina,  Alex Norris-trumpet; flugelhorn,  Anthony Pinciotti-drums,  Joe Strasser-drums,  Jacquelene Acevedo-cajon & ass. percussion   UPC Code:8 88295 87671

 ellynnesings.com

Media Contact Jim Eigo Jazz Promo Services 272 State Route 94 South #1 Warwick, NY 10990 Ph: 845-986-1677 jim@jazzpromoservices.com www.jazzpromoservices.com "Specializing in Media Campaigns for the music community, artists, labels, venues and events.” Radio Promoter Lisa Reedy Promotion www.jazzpromotion.com E-Mail: lisa8089@sbcglobal.net

  via Blogger https://ift.tt/2S1ba8w

[chpatdoorsl3z0a1]

Critics See Green Shoots Of Sanity Inside Trump's White House

WASHINGTON – After nearly three months in office, President Donald Trump may have finally hit upon an accomplishment that both Republicans and Democrats are applauding: Ridding his West Wing of the influence of chief strategist Stephen Bannon.

Bannon, the former head of a white nationalist-friendly website, was removed from the National Security Council and its influential Principals Committee last week. Since then, he has reportedly seen his stock fall within the West Wing amid clashes with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and top economic adviser Gary Cohn. There have also been published reports that Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland is leaving the NSC to take the ambassadorship to Singapore, and Trump foreign policy aide Sebastian Gorka possibly becoming Trump’s special envoy to Libya.

McFarland came to the Trump administration from Fox News, where she was touted as a national security expert, and she has come under fire as unqualified and unsuited for the NSC’s No. 2 position. At a recent meeting, she reportedly boasted that she was wearing shoes from presidential daughter Ivanka Trump’s clothing line. Bannon ally Gorka, meanwhile, has drawn unwanted attention of late because of his ties to a Hungarian group of Nazi sympathizers.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday declined to discuss personnel moves that have not happened yet. But he took the unusual step of acknowledging disagreements among top aides, and argued they were a good thing.

“The reason the president’s brought this team together is offer a diverse set of opinions,” Spicer said. “He doesn’t want a monolithical kind of thought process going through the White House.”

Spicer also tacitly acknowledged that the changes to the NSC personnel are because the new national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, wanted them. McMaster, an active Army general, replaced Michael Flynn, who left after his contacts with Russian officials prior to Trump’s inauguration became public. 

For critics of Trump’s original National Security Council, that the changes are happening is a positive development, regardless of why.

“Those are all good things,” said Eliot Cohen, a vocal Trump skeptic who was a senior State Department official under President George W. Bush and a participant of his National Security Council. “H.R. will run a normal process with normal kinds of people in it.”

And on a broader level, they changes have given denizens of Washington ― Democrats included ― the stirrings of hope that the Trump administration won’t be the dangerous calamity that many feared through its first months.  

“I actually think the swamp is drowning the inhabitants that came with Trump Inc., which i frankly think is a good thing,” said Steve McMahon, a longtime Democratic strategist. “I’m a Democrat, so I naturally oppose Republicans on policy grounds. But I do think there is a certain kind of Republican that is not dangerous to the country and that to me is an establishment Republican.

“Every president comes to Washington thinking they will bend Washington to their way,” he added. “One hundred days is pretty fast. But Washington is winning and Trump seems to be figuring that out.”

The history of the presidency is littered with over-ambitious first years, followed by sobering recalibrations. The most infamous of these, at least in modern times, was Bill Clinton, whose early days were a beehive of political activity, notable wins and higher-profile defeats, sprinkled with a fair amount of dysfunction. Clinton adjusted over time, bringing in outsiders to layer over his more unseasoned staffers, and moving fundamentally away from his liberal objectives (gays in the military and health care) to a centrist platform.

Few expect Trump to make such a deft evolution, or to score the policy victories that he had promised in his early time in office. And veterans of the Clinton years argue that the two administrations’ levels of political talent, intent and competence make them fundamentally incomparable.

“While Clinton, of course, brought in some us from his inner campaign circle, he also knew he was new to D.C., and therefore had to put in people with first-rate experience in passing legislation like Howard Paster, Lloyd Bentsen at Treasury and Leon Panetta at OMB,” said Gene Sperling, a longtime Clinton adviser and confidant. “In the Trump White House, even the few senior people with some legislative experience have so far focused more on putting out extremely conservative and often divisive policy stances than on actually devising strategies for legislative success.”

But the new path Trump appears to be taking has some parallels to administrations past, albeit with a more chaotic starting point. While Cohn and Kushner lack anything close to the type of government experience of those Clinton’s aides, neither do they share Bannon’s seemingly nihilistic take on governance. The elevation of McMaster and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in the national security apparatus, meanwhile, has “reinvigorated” the GOP foreign policy community, according to one Republican official who interviewed with the Trump administration, but declined to take a job.

“The kind, generous explanation is that Trump realized he needed professionals in this space,” said Rick Wilson, a longtime Republican Trump critic and former Pentagon staffer. “The less generous explanation is that Trump’s attention span is so short that McMaster waited him out and did what he wanted to do.”

Cohen, who now teaches at Johns Hopkins University, said that McMaster taking control of the National Security Council doesn’t solve the fundamental problem, which is Trump’s lack of fitness for the job.

“He has a limited attention span, he has no background knowledge, he listens to the last person he’s talked to,” Cohen said, adding that McMaster cannot possibly make Trump more qualified. “It’s a conceit of the bureaucratic age that having that kind of person around can change everything. It can’t.”

Still, Cohen said, it’s better that the White House changes happened. “This is all good news. Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “The big moment will be when he (Bannon) either quits or is fired. Which I think will happen eventually.”

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2oU0Cfu