#she has a jd from harvard

[scullysflannel]

girl since when!

[batboyblog]

Senate Elections 2024!

At the Start of the year I made a post about the US Senate elections this year. However a lot has changed since then (not just that) So I thought I'd make a new version.

How successful a President Kamala Harris is able to be will come down to who controls congress. A Republican House or Senate could frustrate many of the important agenda items Harris wants to get done. Also the Senate is key to appointing Judges, right now many America's rights are being decided in the courts where Trump and Republican appointed Judges are consistently ruling against trans rights, voting rights, abortion rights etc. Any hope of a smooth pipe line of Harris judges depends on the Senate. Senate Control hangs by a knife's edge, there are 6 soft blue seats we have to hold onto, two swing seats Dems are defending, and two soft red seats we can pick up, you can make all the difference!

If you don't live in one of the states below but want to help, you can Donate to the DSCC or sign up to phone bank with the Democrats

Arizona

Ruben Gallego (Hold)

Winning Arizona will be key to the outcome of the 2024 Presidential election. Congressman Ruben Gallego was a leader in the effort to replace Democrat turned Independent Senator Sinema with a real Democrat. Gallego was raised by a single mother, went to Harvard, and is a Marine combat vet. First elected to the Arizona State House in 2010 he advocated for immigrant rights. He was elected to Congress in 2014. Since coming to Congress Gallego has been a progressive voice, gaining attention for blunt attacks on the Trump administration. Republicans nominated around former TV host and conspiracy theorist Kari Lake. Lake rose to become a Republican star by supporting conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and Covid. Lake ran for Arizona Governor in 2022 and after losing to Democrat Katie Hobbs she refused to concede and still maintains she won and is the rightful Governor of Arizona. Lake has called Democrats "Demonic", totally opposes abortion in all cases, and is the self proclaimed "Trump candidate". If Gallego is elected not only will he be a reliable Democratic vote and Progressive vote in the Senate, he'd be the first Hispanic to represent Arizona in the Senate, ever. If you live in Arizona please make sure you vote, but more if you have any time between now and November, volunteer to help Gallego! and if you don't live there you can still give.

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

Florida

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (Flip)

Florida's current Republican senator, Rick Scott, has spent his first term in Congress being one of the most extreme Republicans. Scott has pushed to defund education, roll back Social Security and Medicare, attacked trans rights, and wants to ban Abortion in all cases. Rick Scott is the wealthiest member of Congress and also was in involved in the largest case of Medicare fraud in US history. Scott challenged Mitch McConnell for the leadership of the Senate GOP getting support from extremists like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and JD Vance, and now is running to replace McConnell. Scott won in 2018 with less than 10,000 votes. The Democrat is former Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. When she was elected to Congress in 2018 she became the first South American born immigrant and first person of Ecuadorian heritage to be elected to Congress. In Congress Mucarsel-Powell was a member of the Progressive caucus, she fought to expand medicare, and secured $200 million for Everglades restoration. After a narrow defeat in 2020 Mucarsel-Powell joined the gun control advocacy group Giffords to fight for gun control a personal issue for her. If you're in Florida please make sure you vote, and volunteer to help remove one of the most extreme Senators. Everyone else give what you can.

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE

Maryland

Angela Alsobrooks (Hold)

Maryland is normally an easy Democratic win but two-term Republican former Governor Larry Hogan announced he was running, turning what should be an easy race for Democrats into a real fight. Hogan is trying to sell himself as a Trump septic moderate, but he's endorsed by Trump, JD Vance, and Mitch McConnell. Hogan spent his final year as Governor frustrating Democratic efforts to protect abortion, legalize marijuana, and take serious action on climate change. In the Senate he'll be a vote in the pocket of Republican leadership. The Democrat is Angela Alsobrooks, the executive of Prince George's County. As County Executive Alsobrooks got high marks for her response to Covid. She's worked to expand pre-K to all students in the county, as well expanding health care access including mental health access. As a candidate for Senate Alsobrooks has been a strong supporter of Abortion rights, pushing for more action on gun violence, and has been a strong supporter of LGBT rights her whole political life. After Vice-President Harris left the Senate there were no black women represented in the upper house. Together with Delaware's Lisa Blunt Rochester Alsobrooks could make history, if both are elected this year it'll be the first time ever that two black women have served at the same time in the US Senate. If you're in Maryland make sure to get out to vote, to volunteer as much as you're able, and everyone give whatever you can to protect abortion rights and support progressive black women!

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

Michigan

Elissa Slotkin (Hold)

Michigan is a critical 2024 swing state. Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin is running to replace retiring Senator Debbie Stabenow. Slotkin worked for the CIA, the State Department, and the Department of Defense rising to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense under President Obama. She is fluent in Arabic and Swahili. First elected to Congress in 2018 Slotkin won and has been re-elected repeatedly to represent a swing district, becoming the first Democrat elected there since 1998. In Congress Slotkin has supported gun control, and ending money in politics. Her national security experience made her an important voice pushing for the first impeachment of Trump in 2019. She gained national attention for holding open town halls on her choice to vote to impeach Trump facing down Republican protesters. In her run for Senate Slotkin has continued to stress her support for gun legislation, ending money in politics and stresses protecting the right to choose. Republicans have consolidated around former Congressman Mike Rogers. Rogers retired to Florida after his time in the House only moving back last year to run for Senate. During his time in Congress Rogers tried twice to ban the abortion pill mifepristone. Rogers is endorsed by Trump and controversial former Detroit Police Chief James Craig. If you're in Michigan vote to protect the right to choose and stop a Trump Republican, and make sure to volunteer as much as you can, and every give what you can to help win this key swing state.

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

Montana

Jon Tester (Re-elect)

Normally deep red Montana represents one of the hardest Senate seats for Democrats to hang onto. Jon Tester is the only Democrat to hold statewide office or represent Montana in Congress. Elected narrowly in 2006 Tester has beaten the odds time and time again and is trying again. In his time in the Senate Tester has been a consistent voice for small farmers and local businesses against big corporations and mega companies. Tester has fought against corruption and for openness, and is one of the most effective members of Congress consistently having the most bills past into law of any member of Congress. Republicans have embraced an ultra wealthy former CEO, Tim Sheehy as their nominee to unseat Tester. Sheehy was caught lying about being shot in Afghanistan as a Navy SEAL, when he in fact accidentally shot himself at Glacier National Park in Montana. Past his embarrassing war wound story, Sheehy is an ultra rich CEO who has spent 2 million of his own money on the race so far. Sheehy has been endorsed by Trump, and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Sheehy wants to ban all abortion, repeal Obamacare, and remove any limits on gun ownership, despite having shot himself. If you can only donate to two races, this and Ohio are the most important, if you can only donate to one? flip a coin. Everyone in Montana make sure you get out to vote and just as important volunteer, there will be no Presidential or Governor or any other campaign to help Tester along its all on him, and everyone give what you can.

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

Nevada

Jacky Rosen (Re-elect)

Nevada is a critical swing state in the 2024 election. Jacky Rosen first came to Congress flipping a Red House seat in 2016 and then unseating a Republican Senator in 2018. Since coming to Congress Rosen has been a champion for turning Nevada into a clean energy leader. She's also has helped pass gun control legislation and is a fierce advocate the right to choose. Republicans have nominated Army veteran and conservative influencer Sam Brown to run against Rosen. Brown unsuccessfully ran in a Republican primary for the Texas State House in 2014, and for the Republican nomination for US Senate in Nevada in 2022. Now with the endorsement of Donald Trump Brown finally managed to win a primary. Sam Brown is the only Republican candidate Trump mentioned in his 92 minute convention speech at the RNC. Brown wants to roll back Nevada's Green energy progress and boost fossil fuels, he also wants to roll back any and all restrictions on guns. If you're in Nevada make sure to get out and vote, and volunteer to keep this key Senate seat out of the hands of a Trump Republican. Everyone else give what you can.

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

Ohio

Sherrod Brown (Re-elect)

Ohio is one of the hardest senate seats for Democrats to defend this year. Senator Sherrod Brown has been the only statewide elected Democrat in Ohio since 2011. First elected to Congress in 1992 and to the Senate in 2006 Brown has defied the odds by being a popular Progressive in an ever more Red state. Brown consistently ranks along side Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren as one of the most left wing Senators. From his first days in Congress Brown refused the Congressional health plan, repeatedly introducing single payer health care bills going back to the 1990s. Brown has been a proud and consistent ally of Unions, particularly the UAW, and tough on banks and big business. Republicans have nominated used car salesman and crypto enthusiast Bernie Moreno. Moreno is a weirdo, he accused LGBT activists of a "radical agenda of indoctrination" and then got caught looking for "men for 1-on-1 sex" on AdultFriendFinder. Moreno supports a federal abortion ban, has been sued by former employees for wage thief and discrimination, and wants to end birth right citizenship. Moreno has been endorsed by Turning Point USA, Donald Trump Jr., Vivek Ramaswamy, Kari Lake, Ted Cruz, JD Vance, and of course Donald Trump. If you're in Ohio make sure you get out to vote, and volunteer to support a great Senator. Everyone outside of Ohio give what you can, if you can only donate to two campaigns this and Montana need it the most, if you can only give to one, flip a coin.

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

Pennsylvania

Bob Casey (Re-elect)

Pennsylvania is a key swing state in the 2024 Presidential election. Bob Casey was first elected to the Senate in 2006 defeating right wing extremist Rick Santorum by the largest margin in state history. Starting his career as a moderate to conservative Democrat Casey has become a strong advocate for gun control since 2012 voting for every gun control measure to reach the Senate. Casey also made strong opposition to the Trump administration a cornerstone of time in office. While personally pro-life, Casey has endorsed the right to choose and voted codify abortion rights. Casey has been a leading critic of corporate greed during the inflation and authored a bill to ban shrinkflation. Republicans have nominated multi-millionaire former CEO and Bush administration official David McCormick. McCormick served in the Treasury under George W. Bush, his wife worked at the NSC under Trump. He lived in Westport, Connecticut as the CEO of an investment management firm, till he decided he wanted to be a US Senator in 2022 and he moved to Pennsylvania. He lost the 2022 GOP primary to Dr. Oz and is giving another go in 2024. McCormick is endorsed by George W. Bush, Mitch McConnell, Rick Santorum, Karl Rove, Doug Mastriano, Jim Jordan, and of course Donald Trump. If you're in Pennsylvania make sure you get out to vote, and to volunteer to keep Pennsylvania blue. Everyone else give what you can.

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

Texas

Colin Allred (Flip)

Texas Senator Ted Cruz might be the most hated man in politics. Since his election in 2012 Cruz has been on a single minded mission to be totally unlikeable. Shutting down the government under President Obama, endorsing Trump after Trump insulted his wife, supporting Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, fleeing his state to go on vacation in Mexico after an ice storm and power outage (and abandoning his dog), blaming the Uvalde school shooting on video games, yes Ted Cruz really has done it all. Cruz is one of the most right wing members of the Senate and a loud Trump supporter. Last election in 2018 Cruz barely hung onto his seat and Democrats are hoping with 6 more years of radicalism Texans are ready for change. Democrats have nominated Congressman Colin Allred. Allred is a former professional footballer, played Linebacker for the Tennessee Titans. After football Allred went to law school, and got a job with the Obama Administration. In 2018 he won an upset victory unseating an 11 term Republican in a district that had been Republican since 1968. In Congress Allred fought for gun reform, to keep down the price of proscription drugs, and invest in American infrastructure. In his run for Senate he's standing up for the right to choose against one of the most radically anti-abortion Republicans in the country. If you're in Texas make sure you vote and volunteer to give Ted Cruz the boot, and everyone give what you can to get Blue Texas.

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

Wisconsin

Tammy Baldwin (Re-elect)

Wisconsin is a critical swing state in the 2024 Presidential election. Senator Tammy Baldwin is a historic trailblazer, when she was first elected to Congress in 1998 she was the first woman to ever represent Wisconsin in Congress, the first open Lesbian elected to Congress, and the first openly gay non-incumbent to be elected to Congress. She co-founded the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus. When she was elected to the US Senate in 2012 she was the first and is still the only openly gay person ever elected to the Senate. Past her advocacy for LGBT rights Baldwin has been a progressive her whole time in Congress endorsing single-payer health care, and being a strong voice for abortion rights. Republicans are supporting a California bank owner and weirdo named Eric Hovde. Strange mustache owner Hovde has attacked trans kids, flip flopped on abortion (totally against, now open to some abortion), and insulted farmers as "not hardworking" and thats why the retirement age should be 72. If you're in Wisconsin make sure to vote and volunteer to protect a progressive trailblazer and stop a California weirdo banker. Everyone else give what you can.

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

Where ever you live in the US there is a critical race happening, so please check out ways to Volunteer and where ever you live there are options to phone bank text bank write letters or postcards to voters (postcards 2) but like I said wherever you are there are local candidates who need your help, and if you live in any of these critical states please give your time and energy.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Lilli Petersen at HuffPost:

When Taylor Swift came out to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris last month, it was the Instagram post heard ’round the world (or at least ’round the TikTok FYP algorithm). “I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them,” Swift wrote immediately following the first, and only, debate between Harris and former President Donald Trump. She signed her message “Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady” — a knock at Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, who has used the term to demean women without children.

With her simultaneous endorsement of the Democrat and swipe at the Republican, Swift, at 34 arguably the most famous millennial woman in U.S. pop culture, also made herself the avatar of an ongoing shift in politics among her demographic of young women: For the past few decades, they have been tilting decidedly left. “It’s popping out in the polling because it’s more dramatic this year than it has been in other years,” said Elaine Kamarck, director of the Center for Effective Public Management at the Brookings Institution. The Harris campaign has been assiduously courting women, and particularly young women. Harris regularly makes abortion rights a talking point in interviews and stump speeches, has embraced the meme-ification of her campaign (including Charli XCX enthusiasm and Swift-themed get-out-the-vote campaigns), and recently went on the popular podcast “Call Her Daddy,” which began life as a relationship and advice podcast and whose audience is now over two-thirds female and over 90% younger than 45. Trump’s campaign, meanwhile, has been... less deft. From Vance doubling down on demeaning childless women and suggesting they should have less voting power, to Trump promising to be women’s “protector,” to, really, just all of the plain ol’ misogyny, it’s not surprising the gender gap isn’t in Trump’s favor.

“You hear important people talking like this, and you say, ‘What the hell?’ You know, ‘People with children should have more votes than people without children.’ What?” laughed Kamarck. “Between Vance and Trump, they are articulating an amazingly old-fashioned notion of women’s role in society,” she added. The shift of young women leftward is not a particularly new trend. Women are regularly more liberal than their male peers, and young people are regularly more liberal than their older counterparts.

[...] She also noted that the research only focuses on women who were ages 18-29 at the time of polling, which means the data reflects the views of multiple generations, rather than the changing attitude of a steady cohort. The overall picture also shows some variance by race: White and Black women under age 50 have especially moved to the left, while Hispanic women have largely stayed the same or even shifted rightward. “But even with the ups and downs, we’ve ended up at a place that’s significantly higher, on a percent level, than it was in 2015,” Saad said. And while young women are shifting left, young men are staying relatively moderate. Sixty-three percent of young women in 2001-2007 had views closer to those of liberals than of conservatives, a figure that jumped to 78% in the 2008-2016 period and then to 87% in the 2017-2024 period. Young men, meanwhile, saw those same figures move from 47% to 57%, and then fall to 50% for the period from 2017 to 2024. The divide is becoming ever clearer as the 2024 election approaches. According to a fall 2024 Harvard Youth Poll, Harris has a 31-point lead over Trump among likely voters under 30 — and when it comes to likely female voters in that age group, Harris leads 70% to 23%. “Brat,” indeed.

[...] Young women, though, are more likely than young men to be involved in liberal-leaning social movements like Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, environmental activism and gun violence prevention. Particularly involved are young women of color, who Kiesa notes have taken on “significant” leadership in activism work.

HuffPost’s Lilli Petersen explores why young women in the USA are shifting leftwards at a historic pace since 2015.

Read the full story at HuffPost.

[lboogie1906]

Jurist Ketanji Onyika Brown Jackson (September 14, 1970) serves as an associate justice of the SCOTUS. She was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Joe Biden and sworn into office on June 30, 2022. She was a US circuit judge of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

She was born in DC. Her father, Johnny Brown, further attended the University of Miami School of Law and became the chief attorney for the Miami-Dade County School Board; her mother, Ellery, served as school principal at New World School of the Arts in Miami.

She studied government at Harvard University. She performed improv comedy took classes in drama and led protests against a student who displayed a Confederate flag from his dorm window. She graduated from Harvard with an AB magna cum laude. Her senior thesis was entitled “The Hand of Oppression: Plea Bargaining Processes and the Coercion of Criminal Defendants”.

She worked as a staff reporter and researcher for Time magazine, then attended Harvard Law School, where she was a supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review. She graduated with a JD cum laude.

She is a member of the Judicial Conference Committee on Defender Services and the Council of the American Law Institute. She serves on the board of Georgetown Day School and the Supreme Court Fellows Commission.

She has served as a judge in several mock trials with the Shakespeare Theatre Company. She presided over a mock trial, hosted by Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law, “to determine if Vice President Aaron Burr was guilty of murdering” Alexander Hamilton.

She has served as a judge for the Historical Society of the District of Columbia’s Mock Court Program. She served on the advisory board of Montrose Christian School, a Baptist school.

She presented at the University of Georgia School of Law’s 35th Edith House Lecture. She gave the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Lecture at the University of Michigan Law School and was honored at the University of Chicago Law School’s third annual Judge James B. Parsons Legacy Dinner, which was hosted by the school’s Black Law Students Association. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #deltasigmatheta

[graham-oswald]

full name — graham theodore pendleton-oswald iv

nicknames — teddy, teddy-graham ( by parents/grandparents )

faceclaim — lucien laviscount

gender & pronouns — cis man ( he/him/his )

age — twenty-seven

birthday — 05 / 07 / 1997.

occupation — mayor’s aid at the townhall

neighborhood — cardinal hill, formerly oak gardens

length of time in blue harbor — local, moved for college

i haven't had access to my main computer with photoshop—all icon credit goes to @carestuff— but i wanted to get the ball rolling ! so, here is graham in a short n' condensed description:

the pendleton-oswalds formerly owned one of the largest fishing companies in blue harbor, and it all started off of one tiny fishing boat. they were big ballin' and had it all.

it was passed down from son to son up to graham "gray" theodore pendleton-oswald iii (graham's dad). parental death tw: tragically, gray and his wife, ella, passed away in a road incident when graham was ten.

since graham was too little to become the official heir, the business itself was passed onto a cousin, and left graham and his retired grandmother to fend for themselves.

they had to leave their home in oak gardens and set up a life in cardinal hill.

he went to harvard for his undergrad, and is currently studying for a jd while also working as a mayor's aid.

LOVES all things "vintage" he's got a hefty vinyl collection, is constantly wearing nice suits and leather shoes, and more frequently watches things movies and shows in black & white than technicolor (very much the influence of living with his grandmother).

he still lives with his grandmother, and helps around the house since she's gotten much older.

generally well intentioned, but even if you take away the wealth he still sometimes has a hubris that was instilled from birth.

not a dog or a cat person (a secret third thing called having no pets); loves to cook (his specialty is his mom's pepperpot); has no knowledge of music past like 2007.

there's a full biography in my pinned post if you're interested in learning more!

[buriedself]

@ HHJKANG JUST POSTED … Taking suggestions for divorce celebrations.

001. STATISTICS …

GENERAL DETAILS.

FULL NAME: harper hyunjung kang. NICKNAME(S): n/a. AGE:   fifty. DATE OF BIRTH:   january 12, 1973. PLACE OF BIRTH: new york, new york. CURRENT LOCATION:  manhattan. GENDER:  cis woman. PRONOUNS:  she/her. ORIENTATION:  bisexual. OCCUPATION: corporate law firm name partner. EDUCATION LEVEL: jd from harvard.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE, ETC.

HEIGHT:  5'5. TATTOOS:   secret... PIERCINGS: one in each ear. CLOTHING STYLE:   jessica pearson vibes. DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS:  signature glare tbh.

HEALTH.

ALLERGIES:   none. SLEEPING HABITS:   average. EATING HABITS: average. SOCIABILITY: 7/10. sociable because she has to be. DRINKING / SMOKING / DRUGS: yes / socially / no.

PERSONALITY.

LABELS / TROPES:  berserk button, the chess master, stern teacher, xanatos speed chess. INSPIRATIONS: jessica pearson (suits), miranda priestly (the devil wears prada), marcia roy (succession), olivia pope (scandal), addison montgomery (grey's anatomy). POSITIVE TRAITS:   organized, ambitious, powerful, confident, loyal. NEGATIVE TRAITS: callous, manipulative, smug. LIKES: winning, family get togethers, looking out of her office. DISLIKES: losing, being lonely, . FEARS: abandonment. HABITS:  raising an eyebrow, tapping fingers, steepling hands. HOBBIES: no time for hobbies.

FAMILY, RELATIONSHIPS, ETC.

MOTHER: deceased. FATHER: deceased. step-father is long retired. SIGNIFICANT OTHER: divorced from her husband. BEST FRIEND:  tba. EXES: ex husband. SIBLING(S): none. CHILDREN: two. PET(S):  none.

002. BIOGRAPHY …

dad died in front of her when she was young -- a heart attack. her mom remarried to a high profile lawyer that was set to take over his dad's law firm

they always had high expectations for her and why shouldn't they? she was always due to become either a surgeon (like her late father) or a lawyer (like her step-father). eventually, it became obvious where her skills lay, so she was steered in the direction of law.

in college, she falls in love. against everything her parents warned about. she has not one, but two children before she graduates from harvard with a law degree. but she did it all while raising two children. isn't that enough?

her husband and her get married after she's graduated and from the outside they're perfect. both high profile, hard working people with two darling children. everyone should be jealous.

she doesn't want anyone to think she got where she was because of her step-dad's connections, so she works with his firm's biggest competitor.

soon enough, she's a fucking star. other lawyers, even those with decades more experience are scared of her. why shouldn't they be? she cuts through them in court like a knife through butter. she's unstoppable.

until it's obvious that everyone in the firm is against her becoming name partner.

harper does what she does best. she creates a case. she finds every speck of dirt on the current name partners and marches into the monthly partners meeting and demands her name go up there. easy as pie.

yes. kang for harper kang. she made it.

her and another name partner, the one she's closest to, perform a coup and over throw the other one, making them obsolete. it's just the two of them now, and they're doing what they could only dream of.

while all of this happens, her marriage falls apart. she suspects her husband of cheating, if not physically, then emotionally at the very least, but can't bring herself to do anything when she's surely been feeling something for the other name partner.

she and her husband separate, though they live under the same roof for the sake of their children and the cameras.

the divorce is messy and awful and ends in arguments more often than not. it takes two years for it to be finalized, start to finish. what's the point of celebrating in a burning house? whatever. she opens a new bottle of scotch anyway.

003. CONNECTIONS …

[on the wc page] her two children ! they have a strained relationship but she's trying to reach out and reconnect.

[on the wc page] the other name partner of kang & x. they had a fling during her and her husband's separation and are incredibly close. they might be trying to overthrow her / remove her from the firm, but she's unaware.

her ex-husband... would have to be similar age

people she / her firm represents

people she / her firm have screwed over

people that work in her firm

someone she's blackmailing for some reason

??? idfk i am writing this half asleep as i watch tv...

[dankusner]

Vance makes pitch on Rogan podcast

Trump’s running mate talks Biden, trans rights

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance sat down with popular podcaster Joe Rogan in Austin this week for a lengthy interview discussing his initial reaction to the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, views on transgender rights and his favorite Netflix guilty pleasure, among a wide range of topics.

Rogan hosts the most listened to podcast on Spotify, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” with roughly 14.5 million followers.

His audience is predominantly composed of young men – a key voting demographic Trump and Vance are trying to turn out to vote in the 2024 election.

Vance’s appearance on the show comes less than a week before the contentious 2024 election and just days after Rogan spoke with Trump about everything from aliens to election interference.

Rogan often signaled agreement with Vance throughout the more than three-hour-long friendly conversation, and on several occasions questioned Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ fitness for office.

Vance frequently discussed his wife and two daughters throughout the show and at one point he described himself as a “pretty boring guy.”

Along with in-depth policy discussions, Vance also gave insight into his personal life and said he believes the show “Emily in Paris” on Netflix is “a masterpiece.”

Anti-trans rhetoric Rogan and Vance spoke at length about transgender rights early in the conversation, specifically about gender- affirming care for minors and whether people should be allowed to play on sports teams that match their gender identity.

“I’m the father of a 2-year-old daughter,” Vance said.

“I don’t want her going into athletic competitions where I’m terrified she’s gonna get bludgeoned to death because we’re allowing a 6-foot-1 male to compete with her in sports,” Vance said.

Vance also suggested that wealthy parents might go so far as to coerce their children to undergo gender surgeries to get into better colleges and universities.

“If you are a middle-class or uppermiddle- class white parent, and the only thing that you care about is whether your child goes into Harvard or Yale, obviously that pathway has become a lot harder for a lot of uppermiddle- class kids,” he said, adding that “the one way that those people can participate in the DEI bureaucracy in this country is to be trans.”

Vance later argued that he wouldn’t be surprised if Trump won “the normal gay guy vote because again, they just wanted to be left the hell alone.”

Biden ‘garbage’ comments

Vance joked during the interview that he believes President Joe Biden is “trying to help” Donald Trump win the election, referring to comments Biden made earlier in the week that suggested Trump supporters were “garbage.”

Biden received blowback from Republicans and some Democrats for the comments, which the White House has said were about one supporter in particular – a comedian at a Trump rally who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”

“After we win, I’m gonna be convinced that Joe Biden was trying to help us the whole time,” Vance said.

He also referenced a moment where Biden jokingly put on a Trump 2024 hat during a visit to Pennsylvania on 9/11.

Vance also told Rogan that he’d bet $20 that Biden was planning to vote for Trump and $100 that his son, Hunter Biden, would also back the Republican nominee over Kamala Harris.

Biden endorsed Harris after he stepped out of the 2024 race in July and has been a vocal supporter of Harris’ campaign ever since.

Climate change

During a prolonged discussion about the environment, Vance asserted that he “didn’t have a strong view about what the carbon footprint ultimately does,” appearing to waffle about whether human-caused climate change exists.

“It’s interesting that the environmental movement in America, the only thing that it talks about is the carbon footprint, and it never talks about … why do we have the highest rates of obesity in the world right now,” Vance said.

Rogan added that it was “disturbing” that “there’s also profit that’s being made off the green movement,” and name-checked Bill Gates who has invested billions of dollars in climate technology solutions.

Trump assassination attempt

Vance told Rogan that he was mini golfing with his family in Ohio when he learned that Trump had been shot in the ear during his Butler, Pennsylvania, rally in June.

“I actually thought they had killed him because when you first see the video he grabs his ear and then he goes down,” Vance recalled after seeing the video of Trump’s July 13 rally. “I’m like, ‘Oh my God, they just killed him.’ ”

Just days before, Vance said Trump had told him he was a front-runner for vice presidential nominee.

Trump had floated announcing the news at the rally but had decided against it.

Vance, who is a Marine veteran, said his immediate reaction to the news of the assassination attempt was to load his guns.

“At first I was so pissed, but then I go into like fight-or-flight mode,” he said.

“I grab my kids up, throw them in the car, go home and load all my guns. And basically stand like a sentry in our front door, and that was my reaction to it.”

Rogan talks Harris

Rogan at several points throughout the podcast expressed skepticism about Harris’ candidacy for president.

“It’s just strange that everyone’s accepting that this person who is the least popular vice president ever is now the solution to the problem,” he told Vance.

“As long as they keep her from having these conversations where she’s allowed to talk, they’re able to pull this off, and the fact that it’s happening without a primary should be really concerning to people,” he said of Harris’ campaign

[darkmaga-returns]

We don’t need to tell you that Kamala Harris is in way over her head. You already know she’s the biggest DEI candidate ever to splash onto the scene. At this point, you’d be hard-pressed to find a policy or promotion that Harris has earned on her own merit. Instead, she’s got a reputation for using her “womanly ways” to further her career, thanks to affairs with powerful figures like Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco. Kamala Harris is the epitome of a DEI candidate—propped up by people far smarter than she is. Her entire campaign and career are nothing but a smoke-and-mirrors charade. Harris and Walz are two of the most “manufactured” candidates we’ve ever seen. The media has worked overtime to create this false impression that these two boring, unpopular, and stale politicians are somehow taking the country by storm. It’s laughable. And speaking of laughable DEI moves, Kamala is now facing yet another scandal, this time involving accusations of plagiarism involving her 2009 criminal justice book. Investigative reporter Christopher Rufo first broke the scandal, and he brought the receipts.

We encourage you to read the entire bombshell report by clicking here.

Meanwhile, here are more details on the DEI scandal.

The National Pulse:

Vice President Kamala Harris is under fire for seemingly plagiarizing multiple sections of her 2009 criminal justice book, Smart on Crime. A new investigation by Dr. Stefan Weber, a renowned Austrian plagiarism expert, reveals at least a dozen instances where Harris copied material without proper attribution, including from unreliable sources such as Wikipedia. According to Dr. Weber’s findings, Harris stole extensively from various reports and articles, presenting others’ work as her own. One striking example includes a passage on high school graduation rates, where she allegedly lifted language directly from an uncited AP/NBC News report. Such blatant copying raises serious questions about her integrity and credibility. Harris’s book also includes paragraphs taken almost word-for-word from a press release by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Instead of providing a proper citation, Harris and her co-author passed off the content as original. This kind of intellectual dishonesty mirrors other high-profile plagiarism cases, such as that of former Harvard president Claudine Gay, whose doctoral thesis was found to contain similar violations. The investigation also uncovered that Harris plagiarized sections from Wikipedia, a source widely criticized for its lack of reliability. In a chapter discussing a New York court program, Harris allegedly copied long sections from the website, trusting its accuracy without further verification. Additionally, when describing a nonprofit group in her book, Harris lifted promotional material from an Urban Institute report without giving credit.

Leave it to the regime-run media to cover for Harris and downplay her mediocrity like it’s nothing to worry about. Take this gem from The New York Times: we’re apparently not supposed to care that Kamala can’t even write her own book and has to copy from Wikipedia. The media is out here normalizing mediocrity, treating it like it’s just par for the course.

[sa7abnews]

Fox News ‘Antisemitism Exposed’ Newsletter: What passing over Shapiro says about Kamala

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/09/fox-news-antisemitism-exposed-newsletter-what-passing-over-shapiro-says-about-kamala/

Fox News ‘Antisemitism Exposed’ Newsletter: What passing over Shapiro says about Kamala

Fox News’ “Antisemitism Exposed” newsletter brings you stories on the rising anti-Jewish prejudice across the U.S. and the world.IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER:- JD Vance says Kamala Harris’s bypassing of Josh Shapiro shows she’s ‘bent the knee’- Federal judge rules Harvard must face antisemitism lawsuit from Jewish students- Israeli Olympic athletes getting threats in Paris to generate ‘psychological terror’TOP STORY: GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance reacted to Vice President Kamala Harris picking Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her 2024 running mate, saying the former high school football coach is “far-left.” Walz was chosen over Jewish Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro in the veepstakes race, a move Vance told “Hannity” shows Harris has “bent the knee to the far-left” of the Democratic Party. VIDEO: Democratic Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri used her concession speech this week to blast the nation’s largest pro-Israel group, warning them to “be afraid.” Bush — who lost her primary election to a pro-Israel Democratic rival financially backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) — warned that the group’s influence on the election has “radicalized” her.‘CANCER’ AT HARVARD: A federal judge denied Harvard University’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by six Jewish students alleging the school did not properly address ongoing campus antisemitism. Jewish students filed the lawsuit in January claiming Harvard violated their Title VI rights by failing to tackle the “antisemitism cancer” growing on campus following the Hamas attack against Israel on Oct. 7.ATHLETES UNDER FIRE: Israeli National Olympic Committee president Yael Arad said the nation’s Olympics athletes had received “centralized” threats meant to generate “psychological terror” at the Paris Olympics. Israeli gold medalist Tom Reuveny, who won gold in windsurfing at the age of 24 on Sunday, spoke out about some of the threats that he and his teammates have received.BACK TO SCHOOL: Hundreds of Jewish and pro-Israel college students gathered in Washington, D.C., this week for a leadership summit to prepare for the coming school year after universities nationwide faced rampant protests against Israel and repeated instances of antisemitism. QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “She is only in this to obey the far-left radicals within her own party. It’s a really shameful moment for Kamala Harris.” – JD Vance on Vice President Kamala Harris’s decision to bypass Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate.UP NEXT:- Looking for more on this topic? Find more antisemitism coverage from Fox News here.- Did someone forward you this email? Subscribe to additional newsletters from Fox News here.

[bllsbailey]

The Honeymoon Is Over: New Harvard/Harris Poll and DNC Leaks May Sink Kamala Harris' Ship

Well, that didn't last long. The coronation of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democrat nominee for president was supposed to sweep her on a wave of support into the Democrat National Convention. The donors and the voters were meant to see her as the inevitable candidate and the only one worthy of the nomination.

Womp Womp.

As my colleague Bonchie and our sister site Hot Air reported, Harris may appear as though she is gaining traction, but when you dig deeper, Harris is still losing the race to former President and Republican nominee for president Donald Trump. Despite the media gaslighting and the campaign's push, Harris is neither inevitable nor unbeatable.

Say, whose honeymoon is this, anyway? Supposedly, Kamala Harris has "totally upended" the race with The Anointment and the media's rush to proclaim the advent of "Kamalot." Also, Donald Trump only has a ceiling in the mid-40s and can't possibly win an outright popular-vote majority, especially with such a Historic Candidate™ as an opponent. Or so analysts thought. According to a new Harvard-Harris CAPS poll, Donald Trump leads Kamala Harris 52/48 with leaners, and 48/45 without. Harris has improved Joe Biden's numbers on the latter, but not the former.

But here's the worse news for the Harris campaign. Independents and undecided voters are breaking in the direction of Donald Trump, not toward Kamala Harris.

Even the unsure voters are breaking toward Trump, at least somewhat. The more worrisome data for Democrats are in the charts below, however. Trump holds Republicans to the ticket better than Harris holds her own party in both formulations. In fact, her 87% without leaners should be a red flag for the DNC, suggesting strongly that the party is not as sold on The Anointing as the media claims, even with the full-court press on Kamalot!  Take a look at the indie numbers, too. Trump leads by six points without leaners -- and six points with leaners. One has to wonder whether the sample tilts a bit toward the Dems based on those results plus the party loyalty numbers above. If so, Trump's still scoring an outright majority over Harris, who's attractiveness as a candidate is at its zenith before she's forced to open her mouth about policy.

And we all know what happens when she opens her mouth. But the Harris campaign continues pumping out the propaganda, particularly from the newly-minted "Harris Wins" X account.

"Plummeting?" That's an interesting perspective. And the hyperbole about the Trump campaign in panic and looking to replace JD Vance is purely fake news. They WISH he would replace JD Vance, as he is doing exactly what he was chosen to do: drive the Left crazy and cause the Republican establishment to scratch their heads. Another sign that the Kamala Harris bloom is not only off the rose, but wilting on the ground, is the fact that the short list of Harris' VP picks has gotten shorter because at least two of the chosen ones have indicated they do not want the job.

Two lawmakers seen as strong contenders in the race to become Kamala Harris’s running mate have announced that they are not in the running. On Monday, Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and the North Carolina governor, Roy Cooper, both said that while they support the vice-president, they will be staying in their posts in their respective states. “This just wasn’t the right time for North Carolina and for me to potentially be on a national ticket,” Cooper said in a statement posted to Twitter/X on Monday. “As I’ve said from the beginning, she has an outstanding list of people from which to choose, and we’ll all work to make sure she wins.” In an interview with CBS, Whitmer said that she has not been vetted by Harris’s office and expects Harris to announce her pick within the week, which would confirm the Democratic ticket at least two weeks before the Democratic national convention begins on 19 August in Chicago. “I have communicated with everyone, including the people of Michigan, that I’m going to stay as governor until the end of my term at the end of 2026,” Whitmer said.

As my colleague Ward Clark reported, Harris will announce her VP in two weeks and is scheduled to do a tour of battleground states with said pick. Those still open to self-immolation: PA Gov. Josh Shapiro, MN Gov. Tim Walz, KY Gov. Andy Beshear, and AZ Sen. Mark Kelly. While these are white men slated to give the "Black" woman gravitas (there's a a ton of tropes here that would take too long to get into!), none of these politicians excite anyone but the wine-sipping "White Women for Kamala" and the testosterone-deficient "Dudes for Kamala Harris." Maybe the VP will give her a boost, and maybe not. But if the top of the ticket hasn't greatly moved the needle, a No. 2 may initially raise some excitement, but will ultimately flame out just as quickly as this coronation.

READ MOREIt's On: Harris and Her Unnamed VP Pick Planning Tour of Battleground States

In another sign that the Harris campaign may be in trouble, O'Keefe Media Group (OMG) just dropped an interview with a Democrat National Committee manager who basically said that Harris has "no accomplishments to speak of," and that they lie to the donors in order to extract the money they need.

This is my shocked face. The World War II military expression comes to mind: "Loose lips, sink ships." Consider this OMG expose one of the many leaks that will contribute to the sinking of the Good Ship Kamala. 

WATCH:

“I don’t think Kamala Harris would win this year,” reveals Joyce DeCerce (@JoyceDecerce) (he/him), Compliance Manager for the Democratic National Committee (@DNC) and Kamala Harris' (@KamalaHarris) Campaign.  DeCerce adds, “She doesn’t have any accomplishments to speak of,” suggesting that Harris’s lack of popularity stems from her underachievement while in office.  Regarding Harris’s approval amongst voters, the DNC Compliance manager states, “She's weirdly unpopular."  DeCerce describes his role within the DNC as “an accounting function,” explaining, “It’s kind of like where accounting and legal meet.”  DeCerce admits that the DNC’s engagement with donors is little more than a façade. He explains, “You just put on a performance for them, a little show, right?” implying that the DNC merely tells donors what they want to hear in order to receive donations. He further claims that the DNC’s approach is to fuel donors’ fantasies with empty promises, emphasizing, “They want their fantasy to be, you know, fed.”  When @OKeefeMedia reached out to Kristin Hetherington, the CFO of the DNC, for comment, she hung up the phone in frustration after questioned if the DNC tells donors "what they want to hear," and if they play to donor's "fantasies."  The undercover journalist who recorded Joyce DeCerce received a threatening postcard at her house featuring racial undertones in an apparent attempt to intimidate her and prevent this story from being aired. 

[jcmarchi]

Four from MIT named 2024 Knight-Hennessy Scholars

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/four-from-mit-named-2024-knight-hennessy-scholars/

Four from MIT named 2024 Knight-Hennessy Scholars

MIT senior Owen Dugan, graduate student Vittorio Colicci ’22, predoctoral research fellow Carine You ’22, and recent alumna Carina Letong Hong ’22 are recipients of this year’s Knight-Hennessy Scholarships. The competitive fellowship, now in its seventh year, funds up to three years of graduate studies in any field at Stanford University. To date, 22 MIT students and alumni have been awarded Knight-Hennessy Scholarships.

“We are excited for these students to continue their education at Stanford with the generous support of the Knight Hennessy Scholarship,” says Kim Benard, associate dean of distinguished fellowships in Career Advising and Professional Development. “They have all demonstrated extraordinary dedication, intellect, and leadership, and this opportunity will allow them to further hone their skills to make real-world change.”

Vittorio Colicci ’22

Vittorio Colicci, from Trumbull, Connecticut, graduated from MIT in May 2022 with a BS in aerospace engineering and physics. He will receive his master’s degree in planetary sciences this spring. At Stanford, Colicci will pursue a PhD in earth and planetary sciences at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. He hopes to investigate how surface processes on Earth and Mars have evolved through time alongside changes in habitability. Colicci has worked largely on spacecraft engineering projects, developing a monodisperse silica ceramic for electrospray thrusters and fabricating high-energy diffraction gratings for space telescopes. As a Presidential Graduate Fellow at MIT, he examined the influence of root geometry on soil cohesion for early terrestrial plants using 3D-printed reconstructions. Outside of research, Colicci served as co-director of TEDxMIT and propulsion lead for the MIT Rocket Team. He is also passionate about STEM engagement and outreach, having taught educational workshops in Zambia and India.

Owen Dugan

Owen Dugan, from Sleepy Hollow, New York, is a senior majoring in physics. As a Knight-Hennessy Scholar, he will pursue a PhD in computer science at the Stanford School of Engineering. Dugan aspires to combine artificial intelligence and physics, developing AI that enables breakthroughs in physics and using physics techniques to design more capable and safe AI systems. He has collaborated with researchers from Harvard University, the University of Chicago, and DeepMind, and has presented his first-author research at venues including the International Conference on Machine Learning, the MIT Mechanistic Interpretability Conference, and the American Physical Society March Meeting. Among other awards, Dugan is a Hertz Finalist, a U.S. Presidential Scholar, an MIT Outstanding Undergraduate Research Awardee, a Research Science Institute Scholar, and a Neo Scholar. He is also a co-founder of VeriLens, a funded startup enabling trust on the internet by cryptographically verifying digital media.

Carina Letong Hong ’22

Carina Letong Hong, from Canton, China, is currently pursuing a JD/PhD in mathematics at Stanford. A first-generation college student, Hong graduated from MIT in May 2022 with a double major in mathematics and physics and was inducted into Sigma Pi Sigma, the physics honor society. She then earned a neuroscience master’s degree with dissertation distinctions from the University of Oxford, where she conducted artificial intelligence and machine learning research at Sainsbury Wellcome Center’s Gatsby Unit. At Stanford Law School, Hong provides legal aid to low-income workers and uses economic analysis to push for law enforcement reform. She has published numerous papers in peer-reviewed journals, served as an expert referee for journals and conferences, and spoken at summits in the United States, Germany, France, the U.K., and China. She was the recipient of the AMS-MAA-SIAM Morgan Prize for Outstanding Research, the highest honor for an undergraduate in mathematics in North America; the AWM Alice T. Schafer Prize for Mathematical Excellence, given annually to an undergraduate woman in the United States; the Maryam Mirzakhani Fellowship; and a Rhodes Scholarship.

Carine You ’22

Carine You, from San Diego, California, graduated from MIT in May 2022 with bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and computer science and in mathematics. Since graduating, You has worked as a predoctoral research assistant with Professor Amy Finkelstein in the MIT Department of Economics, where she has studied the quality of Medicare nursing home care and the targeting of medical screening technologies. This fall, You will embark on a PhD in economic analysis and policy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She wishes to address pressing issues in environmental and health-care markets, with a particular focus on economic efficiency and equity. You previously developed audio signal processing algorithms at Bose, refined mechanistic models to inform respiratory monitoring at the MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics, and analyzed corruption in developmental projects in India at the World Bank. Through Middle East Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow, she taught computer science to Israeli and Palestinian students in Jerusalem and spearheaded an online pilot expansion for the organization. At MIT, she was named a Burchard Scholar.

[hypefreshblogs]

Bridgit Mendler: A Multifaceted Journey from Disney Stardom to Harvard Law and MIT Ph.D.

Former Disney star Bridgit Mendler is not only remembered for her role as Teddy Duncan in "Good Luck Charlie" but is now making waves with her remarkable academic achievements and diverse career path. At 31 years old, Mendler has shattered stereotypes, proving that one can seamlessly transition from the glitz of Hollywood to the intellectual rigor of academia.

In a recent LinkedIn clarification, Mendler addressed discrepancies on her profile, emphasizing that she is two months away from completing her JD (Juris Doctor) and is actively pursuing a Ph.D. at MIT. Her journey towards a Ph.D. began in 2020, but family reasons led her to relocate to California temporarily, putting her academic aspirations on hold. Mendler's openness about her challenges and subsequent rectification on social media showcase her authenticity and commitment to transparency.

Balancing the roles of a mother, CEO, and academic is no small feat, but Mendler manages it with grace. In 2022, she embraced motherhood by fostering and eventually adopting a sweet four-year-old boy. Mendler's journey epitomizes the art of prioritization and discernment, emphasizing the challenges of juggling various roles.

In addition to her academic pursuits, Mendler achieved her JD from Harvard Law School in 2024. The same year, she became the CEO and co-founder of Northwood Space, a satellite data startup aimed at expanding access to space and bridging the gap between terrestrial and cosmic realms. Her work now revolves around technologies supporting inclusive governance and citizen engagement.

[mashi-sims]

Ranking AHW's S5 Episodes

I know that ranting about how bad some of the episodes this season were isn’t going to change the fact that they were, in fact, bad, but I still wanted to do an overview of this season in my opinion, and I love ranking stuff, so here it goes:

Also, I should mention that, yes, this is Cooliver biased, although I did take other plotlines into consideration, but mostly Cooliver. Also, lol, I could only add 10 photos so the #13, #12 and #11 don't get one, also they don't deserve it.

Tier 1: I wish they could be un-written, please.

13. 5x12 How Oliver Got His Groove Back

I’ll start with my least favorite episode, and the one we all wish we could unsee. This is the episode where Oliver is feeling down because the girl WE, THE AUDIENCE, just realized he liked, doesn’t like him back (which is a whole other thing), so Katie gets him a date with this girl that’s never been introduced in the show before. Oliver doesn’t want to see her, but he still does, and then he realizes she’s nice, and just like that, he’s happy again. I feel like this plot would not have been that bad if it hadn’t been so out of character, unexplained, and utterly designed to be filler for the season. Worst episode from my perspective, wouldn’t watch it again, barely watched it the first time, ugh, next-

12. 5x11 The Guardian

Same thing with this one, very uneventful episode that talks nonsense, introduces the idea of Oliver liking Lindsay and thinking they’d been dating, but nobody knew about it! How convenient! And again, doesn’t progress into anything, and it just feels out of character, forced, and like they didn’t even try to hide that it was a filler episode. Wouldn’t watch it again, I don’t even think about it, I’ve erased it from my mind. The only reason why this episode is ahead of 5x12 is because of Kathryn and Anna-Kat, and JD trying to find his egg donor, other than that, still pretty ugh.

Tier 2: Did the writers really look at their script and think; “ah, well done”?!

11. 5x07 Under Pressure

I kinda enjoyed this episode even if it didn’t include any Cooliver. I liked Anna-Kat’s storyline about not feeling her popularity and sticking to Franklin, I really really love these two together! So cute! Also, Taylor helping Oliver relax and not stress out that much was nice, although not amazing. Katie and Greg’s double date that led to a city council rivalry, I don’t care for it. Overall, I don’t know if this was intended to be a filler episode, but it totally felt like one to me; a nice episode but not one I’d watch again.

10. 5x05 Kids These Days

Eh, pretty uneventful. Katie wants Franklin and Anna-Kat to be more edgy and to take more risks, ends up in completely nothing. Oliver wants Boosterin and he accidentally drugs Greg, also ends up doing nothing for the storyline. The only thing I liked about this episode was seeing how Cooper cared about Oliver and how Oliver said “Your boy is doing both”, the Cooliver content was still good; other than that, eh. Also, the strange order in episodes this season really threw me off.

9. 5x04 Homeschool Sweet Homeschool

Nice episode, but not one of the best. Mommy blog, Cooliver moves to the basement, Andre shows up and it’s all weird now, eh. I enjoyed this episode because of the Cooliver’s interactions more than anything, but it’s not the greatest in my opinion.

Tier 3: *Sits down on the couch with popcorn and a blanket*

8. 5x06 Mother’s Little Helper

I also enjoyed Cooliver this episode. Although their drinking arc was pretty pointless and, again, ended up being nothing!!, I liked seeing them together, and that shaking they gave each other was funny. This is the episode where Tami was introduced, and I really liked her from the beginning, although I do wish they would’ve given Katie’s original second breakfast club some sort of closure so I wouldn’t feel so guilty about liking Tami and JD, eventually.

7. 5x02 Psych

This episode always made me feel stupid because I never understood what was going on with Taylor, why she didn’t take her gap year, why she never told Katie and Greg that she had gotten in, or at least make something out of it, why she decided to go to another college or if Greg got her in just so she didn’t have to take a gap year, bUT THEN I realized they didn’t actually talk about it, so I’m not the stupid one, I think.

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this episode. I like Katie’s storyline of getting involved in other people’s lives after she sells her lasagna business (again, did they ever talk about that or am I stupid?)

This is the episode where we can see the change in Cooliver’s dynamic (a good thing), and the iconic line “stop bothering our boyfriends” saved my life. Having Taylor And Trip with Cooper and Oliver hanging out in the same frame is one of my favorite things and adds a few days to my life.

Franklin and Anna-Kat’s relationship also picks up in this season, and I really enjoy them in this episode. Also, Greg was very funny here, and I am grateful lol.

6. 5x08 Encourage, Discourage

I really liked how this was a Cooper-centered episode, really diving deep into his character instead of keeping him as a shallow side-character. By the way, how did Cooper get so much development and Oliver lost most of his? What was that? Anyway, Cooper saved this episode. I would’ve liked for Oliver to be a more supportive friend in this episode, but he was still there, at least.

Also, Cooper doesn’t think he’s too good for Oliver! Bless his heart.

5. 5x10 Getting Frank with The Ottos

I liked this episode very much! Again, Anna-Kat and Franklin melted my heart, but Oliver and Cooper squeezed it with Cooper’s realization of not wanting to go to Harvard, but Oliver eventually understanding and supporting him? Please, get married. Also, Oliver saying “We’re Cooliver”, and Trevor asking them if they were breaking up made my day. Could’ve been better and a bit more eventful, but it was good nonetheless.

4. 5x13 The Election

I really liked the finale, despite not having any Cooliver at all, the ending was pretty awesome, and I believe it really sets the tone for what could potentially be a great S6, that is if that’s actually happening AND if the writers stop it with the bullshit. Franklin and Anna-Kat getting engaged was very sweet, I adore them! Taylor and Trip getting really engaged was a bit cringe, but still adorable, and I love it! I just wish they had paid more attention to Oliver in this episode, but well, I guess his bang is not here yet and not every episode can be a banger. I hope that whatever comes next will be good enough that the wait will be worth it.

Tier 4: *Chef’s kiss, no pun intended*

3. 5x01 Graduation

Although this episode doesn’t really belong to this season, and it doesn’t share the same 〜vibe〜 with the rest of the episodes, since it has more of a S3-S4 energy, it’s still in S5 and I wanted to include it, too.

Not my favorite, but it’s one of the good ones imo. So much stuff happens in this episode that it almost feels cramped and overwhelming to me, with the graduation and the wedding, but I get that it was necessary to set the scene for S5 and close S4 even if it didn’t turn out the way they’d originally planned, and it came out fine considering the situation the producers were in, which can’t be said for every episode this season lol.

Taylor and Trip were adorable in this episode, Cooper was amazing, Oliver moping around was something I didn’t know I needed in my life, and Lonnie’s speech about not wanting his relationship with Greg to end, even if I never cared for his storyline, was really nice.

This episode made me think that S5 was headed toward amazing things, but not everything was good.

2. 5x09 The Heist

I love this episode because of Cooper’s development. Again, why couldn’t Oliver get that too? However, I did like how they made Oliver seem like he might’ve been a bit thirsty for his fellow Cooper over there, telling him multiple times that he’s good looking? Come on, tell us what you really mean.

Anyway, Cooliver really shone this episode, round of applause.

1. 5x03 Coupling

This episode is superior, bite me. I love everything about this episode, not only Cooliver. Katie and Greg trying to be supportive of their kids having sex with their boyfriends? Yes! Parallels between all four couples? Yes, please! Cooper and Oliver having their first married couple fight, Cooper feeling like he’s being replaced, but Oliver is doing it for the both of them and their future together? Yes! Masterpiece of an episode. I have no more to say.

Hands down, my favorite episode this season. Too bad mostly everything went downhill after that. I hope we do get a season 6 and that things pick up. This series deserves redemption, and Cooper and Oliver deserve to be happily in love together. Thank you.

[sprnklersplashes]

driver’s license

post-canon, angst ahoy

She gets her driver’s licence on Saturday.

On Sunday morning, she takes her first drive alone, and it’s to the last place she should go.

The roads are empty, the rest of Sherwood sensibly asleep in their beds. Last night was another sleepless one, bolting up in her bed with her hands clamped over her mouth and her whole body trembling violently, not stopping until she had paced the length and breadth of her bedroom about fifty times. She was wide awake by that point, too shaken by her nightmares to even try to go back to sleep. She sat against the window, head against the wall, watching her breath fogging up the glass, obscuring the perfect picture on the other side.

He was there, of course. He’s always here in the morning, especially when she wakes up like this. She didn’t turn around, didn’t see him, but felt the weight of his gaze on her anyway. Pleading, lonely, begging her to turn around and come back to him. To slip into his arms and get lost in his words again, to let him strip her away with his touch. And the worst part is that she wanted to. She wanted to do it; there’s some magnetic force that still sits in her and it keeps pulling her towards JD even though she knows he’s gone. It becomes a game two of them play and she loses every single time; if she resists, it hurts, and if she gives in… she doesn’t know, she never has, but it can’t end up good.

Her keys were in her hand before she even knew what she was doing, and she was pulling out of the driveway as the sun rises.

She’s not dressed for a drive; a pair of black pyjama bottoms and an old, old blue sweater. It’s one of the things from before she was a Heather and most importantly-something JD had never seen her in. That’s one of the worst things about this, about him. His fingerprints aren’t just over her body, but all over her clothes too. Invisible to everyone except her. Lines run up and down her blazers where he caressed her, the outline of his hand on her skirt where he ripped it off her body. When she first saw him, she thought ‘now there’s a person I’m never going to forget’. Now she’d give anything for that to be wrong.

She doesn’t think she knows where she’s going, not until she turns right at one junction and feels her blood run cold. It’s funny, she thinks. She hasn’t been here in months and yet it still looks exactly the same. She avoided this place like the plague afterwards. She still could. There’s no-one here and no-one checks the traffic cameras here, not in a street like this. She could turn around and head in the other direction, and she should. But the wheels keep turning, slow but still forwards, and her hands stay locked where they are. The steering wheel barely budges.

She must have been on this street before him. She’s lived in this town her whole life and could draw out a map from memory. It’s not that big after all. She has vague recollections of a birthday party happening somewhere around here, and another of a family barbeque on this street. She trick or treated a few times here as well, first with her parents and then with Martha. But all those are irrelevant now. From here on out this will be known as JD’s street and JD’s street only.

She pulls the car into a sloppy park, thankful for the cautious residents keeping their cars in garages, and leans back in her seat. She doesn’t need to turn that much to see the house beside her.

There’s a new family that lives there now. A mom and dad and two elementary school kids. Both girls. One with dark curly hair in pigtails and the other with a black ponytail, secured with a ribbon. She had watched them the first day they moved in, laughing together, the dad tugging on the girls’ pigtails, the mom organising the move in. What must it be like inside now, with boxes unpacked and furniture sitting proudly. A home, not just a house. A place big enough for all of them. It must have been excited, to have so many of its rooms used.

That’s what struck Veronica when she first went over with him. How big it was, for a family of two. She shakes her head. You could hardly call JD and his father a “family”. Not because of their size, but because of them. They were barely even acquaintances. They merely lived under the same roof and shared the same blood; that was the beginning and end of their relationship. Veronica had wondered why Big Bud Dean had chosen this house, how much it must have cost him, and it was only a week or so ago she had realised; he didn’t care. Why would he, when he’d just leave in the next three months anyway? He picked the first available place, and it just so happened to be a family home.

She had watched him leaving. She swears to herself she isn’t a stalker, but she’s finding that harder and harder to believe. What would you call someone who goes through hoops to find out the day and hour a man is moving out of his house and then skips school just to stand on the street and watch him? What must he think of her, that is, if he even noticed her at all. Too busy wrapped up in himself to notice other people, that’s what JD always said about his father. There’s not a lot she agrees with JD on, but she has to give him that.

She pulls her sweater tighter around herself and blinks, her eyes suddenly stinging and blurry. The last time she went over there, really went over there, rather than hovering on the other side of the street, was the day it happened. She had walked up to that door with ash in her hair and blood on her face, and knocked three times before he had answered. He regarded her with this cool, confused glance, as though he was trying to remember when he had seen her before, and she had bitten her tongue and watched as realisation dawned on his face.

“You’re Jason’s girl, aren’t you?” he had asked. That was the first time she had heard him say his son’s name, she realised. Their little game must end whenever JD wasn’t around. He took a long drink of his beer then and shrugged at her. “Whaddya want?”

Her nails had dug into her palms, leaving burning red marks, and she just about manged to say “your son’s dead” through her tight throat, tears plink-plonking down her face.

He blinked at her, a moment passed, and then another, before he let out an unimpressed-sounding “really?”.

She does wonder what would have happened if Heather Duke hadn’t stumbled upon her at that moment and dragged her away from him, kicking and screaming and swearing all the way down. She pulls her sweater tighter around her. Her throat hurts at the memory. The entire street had come out to see the commotion and what little good standing she still had blew away like dust. Good, straight-A, Harvard bound Veronica had screamed “go fuck yourself” at a seemingly innocent man who just lost his son.

She doesn’t regret it though.

The first hues of blue appear around the edges of the sky now, but according to her clock it’s still far too early for her parents to be up. Her body goes limp in the seat, her head falling to the side, and her eyes flicker up to the window on the second-floor window. On the day they moved in, she saw the light go on in that bedroom and the pink paint going up on the walls. One of the young girls is using it as her room now, and she almost laughs. She plays with her dolls, no idea what two stupid kids did in there, oblivious to how he had pinned her against that wall and she had stripped him down, shivering as he whispered “you’re mine” in her ear.

Or about the soft, stolen kisses they shared on his bed at night, the two of them lying on his bed, their eyes on the ceiling, and talking about the future. Their future, he had said. Where she would go to college and where he would go. Where they should move to, because Veronica was adamant she wasn’t staying in Sherwood forever. And when they’d get their driver’s licences.

“I want mine as soon as I can,” she had told him. “I’ve been dreaming about it since forever. I’ve practiced in my dad’s car.”

“I was wondering how that dent got there,” he had said. She elbowed him in the ribs for that comment. “Suppose I don’t need to. I have my bike.”

“You have a licence for that thing, right?” She turned to him then, studying his profile and feeling a lingering sense of doubt in the back of her mind. That feeling always accompanied them wherever they went, like the hangover to the ecstasy his touch brought. “JD?”

“Course I do, Ronnie,” he had told her, and he pulled her against his chest. “You think I’d take my favourite girl on a bike if I didn’t have a licence for it?”

His favourite girl. He didn’t call her that a lot, maybe once or twice in their entire short-lived relationship, but damn did she love it. He was like that. Good at making her feel special. Like she was made of something precious. Diamonds in her eyes, gold in her veins. To him, she was better than every other girl around and she’s so, so ashamed of the fact that she liked that.

But how much did he really value her in the end?    

She slams her hand on the dashboard, hard, and cries out as the dull pain pulses beneath her skin. Tears run down her face, replacing those from earlier this morning. Those haven’t yet dried. She tucks her knees up against her chest, burying her face in them so that the sound of her cries is muffled. She doesn’t know why; not like anyone is awake at this point to be disturbed by a stupid girl like her crying in her car.

He swore he loved her. Over and over again and you’d think that the words would wear themselves out but they never did. They just kept getting bigger and he kept burning hotter and brighter until he scorched her hands when she tried to touch him. He had whispered it reverently into her hair as she slept and murmured it against her lips and even in that house, with the barrel of a gun pointed directly at her, he said it. That was the moment she realised it wasn’t true. Somewhere amongst the pain and the confusion and the splitting headache she looked at him, and she looked at the gun, and asked herself, how could his lips say he loves her while his hand is ready to kill her? Not that he needed a gun to kill her. Maybe he knew that, and so the gun was just to play with her.

He had promised her. That’s the part that hurts more than anything else. The promise he broke, and how he used those jagged edges to cut her open. He promised her he was going to change, swore to her on the love he claimed was God. JD was nothing if not passionate, and for all she knew he meant that at the time. Or maybe he didn’t, and it was all just a game to him. It’s been so long now and it’s still so hard to tell.

She sobs again, a heavy pain tugging on her torn-apart heart. She’s an idiot, and a fool, and a fucking moron and every other damn thing Heather Chandler has called her these past months. Not that she had much of a backbone before but now she can’t even bring herself to be annoyed at her. Because it’s true. Because what kind of person lives through all that, lives through JD and all manipulation and all his lies, and watches as he points a gun at her with nothing but coldness in his eyes, and is still in love with him after that? How does she spring awake from nightmares in the morning and spend the afternoon missing the feeling of his lips against hers? If she loves JD, despite everything he was, then what kind of person does that make her? What gives her the right to lie awake at night and mourn the future she would never have, when three people are cold in their graves because of him?

Her hand finds its way to the glove compartment and suddenly the little plastic card is in her hand, her eyes staring up at her. No-one has commented on it but surely everyone sees it; the look in her eyes that’s hung around ever since that day. She flinches sometimes, when she sees herself in the mirror. What’s become of her; thin, hollow cheeks and shadows beneath her dull, dead eyes, clothes hanging off her shoulders. JD didn’t just end his life when he took that bomb. She might still be breathing, but most days it feels like that’s all she’s doing.

She slams her hand on the dashboard again, and then it happens again, and again and again until she’s banging against it in a fierce, fast rhythm, her mouth open and a burning, broken scream pouring out of it. It tears out of her throt and fills the car, shaking the glass in the windows and ringing in her ears. This isn’t how it was supposed to have happened. She was supposed to run out of the DMV and into his waiting arms, have her feet swept off the ground as he tells her how proud he is of her. She was supposed to drive through the streets with him in the passenger’s seat, sneaking sideways glances at him as the wind tousled his hair. They were supposed to drive up to the hill together and sit over the town, her head on his shoulder and his arm wrapped around her, making more stupid plans for the future. She was meant to tease him about getting her licence first and he was meant to roll his eyes and kiss her to shut up her up. He should have been something else, and she should be waking up with butterflies in her stomach rather than lead in her lungs.

She sits back and shakes her head at herself. Her hand is red and pulsing with pain from where she smacked it. She’s ridiculous. Since when does she have the right to decide what was ‘meant’ to happen? JD thought that. He declared it on the other side of her closet door- “I was meant to be yours, we were meant to be one”. As far as he was concerned, the universe is, was, theirs, and they were the masters over what happened in it. And she’s not that person, she’s dragging herself away from being that person every day, even if it means her nails are caked with blood and dirt. She doesn’t get to choose what happens, not or herself or anyone, and she doesn’t get to sit here and claim what that he should have been something different.

It doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.  

Her mom told her she’d love someone again, a few weeks after the pep rally when she was in a particularly bad state of mind. She had sat on the edge of her bed and run her fingers through her hair and told her that he might have been the first, but he wouldn’t be the last. Her heart won’t be broken forever. She had nodded and murmured something in agreement, and waited until her mom smiled and patted her head before she left. What her mom doesn’t know is that JD didn’t break her heart-he put a bomb in it and blew it up. And whatever she felt for him, there’ll be no feeling it for anyone ever again.

She looks back over at the house. There’s a light on in the kitchen and she slides lower in the seat, despite being safe from view already. Who could it be? The dad maybe, or the mom, getting ready for the day ahead, or maybe one of the kids catching the morning cartoons or treating themselves to cookies for breakfast. It doesn’t really matter, what matters is they’re in that house now and neither Jason nor Big Bud Dean are. For better or worse, there’s no trace of him left in Sherwood, Ohio, not except her memories and one page in the yearbook. One day she’ll make peace with that fact.

She turns the key in the ignition and the car rumbles into life again, annoyed after being neglected for so long. She lets out a long, steady breath, the last of her tears running down her face like rain down her windshield. She turns the wheel, peels away from the kerb, and hopes she’ll never come back to this street for as long as she lives. She doesn’t know if her heart can take it again.

[lboogie1906]

Judge Leondra Reid Kruger (July 28, 1976) a Justice on the California Supreme Court, was born in Glendale, California to Leon Kruger and Audrey Reid Kruger. Both of her parents were physicians. She was reared in South Pasadena. She has two siblings. Editor-in-chief of Polytechnic High School’s newspaper. She enrolled at Harvard University and received a BA. She was a reporter for the Harvard Crimson and was awarded the Phi Beta Kappa key. She earned a JD from Yale Law School. She was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal, the first Black woman to hold that position.

She clerked for Judge David Tatel on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit and she clerked for Justice John Paul Stevens of the SCOTUS.

She was a visiting assistant professor at the University of Chicago Law School. She joined the Department of Justice. She argued 12 cases before the SCOTUS on behalf of the federal government. She served as a deputy assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel.

She was confirmed by a special three-member committee to the California Supreme Court as a judge. Since 2015, she has been a California Supreme Court justice. She authored a noticeable opinion in a 4-3 ruling that upheld the law requiring people arrested for suspected felonies to provide DNA specimens before charges are filed. She authored several more opinions, including one reflecting a unanimous court that allowed a death row inmate, who claimed racial discrimination during jury selection, to review a prosecutor’s notes. She wrote the opinion in a unanimous ruling that upheld a white supremacist’s convictions, she wrote a unanimous decision regarding sexual abuse of minor plaintiffs training for the Olympics in taekwondo by their coach.

She is married to attorney Brian Hauck. The couple have a son and daughter.

In 2022, she was a frontrunner on President Joseph Biden’s shortlist to replace Justice Stephen Breyer as the first Black Female SCOTUS Justice. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #phibetakappa

[jessbakescakes]

19+36 jd

19. summer camp AU

36. text/letter fic

I think this would be in the same universe as my other summer camp prompt. Josh and Donna go on a date, but right before the summer is over. I sort of get vibes that Josh is older than Donna here but not by much. So let’s call Donna a college freshman and Josh a college sophomore for the purposes of this story. Josh is set to go back to Harvard and Donna back to UW-Madison, and they decide they’re going to write back and forth and call when they can. This fic would likely span years - Josh and Donna get to know each other through letters and occasionally phone calls until they end up seeing each other at camp again the next summer.

Their first year apart, the letters are constant. Josh’s mom is quick to notice that something’s up, pestering Josh about who he’s writing to from Wisconsin. He tries to keep it pretty private but Josh’s mom manages to get to the phone before he does one night when they’d planned on a phone call, and all bets are off. Donna’s mom is equally invested, but of course she’s a little skeptical - she doesn’t want to see Donna get hurt, and Donna doesn’t really know this guy after all.

When they see each other again at camp that summer, it’s like they never left. They’re stealing kisses behind big trees, sneaking out at night to take long walks together, holding hands and looking at each other like they’re the only other person in the world. They spend the last day of camp every summer at this little ice cream place nearby, closing it down and talking at the table until they finally have to head back and part ways.

This pattern repeats - together in the summer, letters during the autumn, winter, and spring, until Josh starts to prepare for the LSAT and law school. School gets harder, the phone calls shorter, the letters less frequent. Donna’s last year at camp as a senior is her first year without Josh. Donna’s devastated, thinking Josh has lost interest. Josh, for his part, is just trying to stay afloat and just... doesn’t know how to handle it all. When Sam intervenes and tells Josh how much Donna misses him and how devastated she is that they’re drifting apart, Josh gets an idea.

It’s the last day of camp and Donna is just... sad. She misses Josh, she’s going to miss this job, she doesn’t know what’s next for her. Sam convinces her to take a walk with him, go do something fun, get her mind off of it for a little while. Sam turns the corner toward the ice cream place and Josh is waiting for Donna, dimpled goofy grin and all.

Cheesy? Yup. Fluffy? Ridiculously so. Adorable? Probably to a disgusting degree. But this is what I came up with.

Give me two tropes + a pairing and I’ll tell you how I’d combine them in a fic.