#so i charged it for hours. it was allegedly on '100'

[billysgirllol]

lucy gray really thought she was happy again these days, since she had been holding a grudge towards billy the day she left that hotel once the roads were finally clear after being stuck with him in a snowstorm– all the way until recently. when she found river, a familiar but unfamiliar face. up until he came to distract her mind and heart forever holding on to billy bonney, someone who changed, and quit listening to her. who decided he was right and easily gave up on her, essentially abandoned her again when he made no effort to understand why he makes her feel so bad. being around river especially made her grow fond of him when she realized... he did listen. he made her feel like she was being seen and heard, unlike the entirety of the issue with billy. he didn't make her feel like she was crazy, when moments stirred similar to arguments with billy but instead he turned them around with jokes and laughs and 'come on, north carolina. tell me what's wrong? i'm all ears, all nostrils, all toenails.'

it was impossible to have any room for any flared anger when he said things like that. she lost all anger, laughed and then easily fell into an explanation of why she was upset because he wanted to listen and they'd sit out on the swings in her yard until dark talking about it. admitting their flaws to each other and owning up to them. he was smart about horses, loved hearing her sing, loved the farm as much as she did...all of it made her heart on fire again while subconsciously ignoring the bad parts to him. just like the hard laughter sounding from her now as they're playing by the lake, squeaking and clawing at his big arms enveloped around her. her short legs lifted off the ground, kicking them in the air, "oh, come on, lucy bird. if you think i won't toss your lil butt right in that water, y'got another thing comin'." river playfully threatens, "i ain't DOUBTIN' you. but i still am firm on my word. i'm the better singer." she's playfully teasing, laughing like there was no tomorrow after they got in this big jokingly debate how he's a terrible singer after she started singing teardrops on my guitar by t.aylor s.wift out of boredom on their walk here from joe's birthday party and he chimed in, purposely like a dying cat.

she loved how small things like that could turn into these funny arguments. laughing because it was the first time she felt happy in years as he picked up his cowboy hat that she knocked off his head purposely, he bent down momentarily while still hanging on to her to pick it up then locked his grip on her again before placing his hat on top of her had. laughing because billy bonney was miles and miles away like he always had been, every year, so devastatingly on his little brother's birthday and all the other important days– so it wasn't like there was any reason in mind to restrain her happiness and a need to keep quiet. the first part of her life was with billy, but the next chapter was with river. she finally had came to terms with it as she grinned and proudly kept his hat on while still giggling and trying to get away. "i'm the better singer," she played, "and i'm just as much from tennessee as YOU are. i was just born in north carolina, how many times do i have to tell you that darlin'?" she brings it up because she knows he's always up for the state debate. "oh, no. you're definitely not..." and there he goes, hilariously like she predicted, "you're north carolina for a reason, north carolina. cause you're a traitor and decided to be born there." the blond teased her, always persistent in playfully aggravating her about this since the second he found out she wasn't technically born a tennessean and he knew lucy gray actually loved it every time.

healing from the virginia trip, as he now refers to it, as though it was some sort of tragic, historical event, proves to be a painfully slow and difficult process for billy. he doesn’t want to agree that time heals all wounds because it seems that there will always be a lucy-gray-shaped crater in the place where his heart used to be. however, as the days go by, the snow melts and the grass becomes green again, he stumbles upon the realization that closure won’t come from analyzing the past. all he can do right now is learn how to accept the fact that sometimes even the most meaningful relationships don’t work out. he tells himself that they became buddies because they both needed someone to lean on at the time, remained friends out of convenience and habit even as they began to drift apart in high school, tried to give love a chance but… maybe they were never meant to be. maybe she just needed someone to give her that sense of security that she never had as a little girl. a man who’d take care of her. maybe they were the definition of right person, wrong time? not that any of it matters now…

instead of falling back on alcohol, cigarettes and parties with girls to get him through this life without lucy gray, billy focuses on the only thing that he’s still got left and can control — his acting career. he’s always been an ambitious person and so he throws himself into work, relying on routine and structure to keep himself from losing what little sanity he’s still got left. it pays off in the end. and gradually, he even begins to come out of his shell and open up to his flatmate, charlie, and charlie’s girlfriend, manuela, sharing bits of his heartache and finding comfort in their support, and the virginia trip becomes a distant memory. lucy gray still haunts him from time to time, of course — she’s almost everywhere he turns. but he’s come to accept the fact that the ghost of her will always be a part of his life. what he can do is distance himself from everything that he felt when he was with her, the vulnerability and pure, unbridled love, the instability and unpredictability and excitement of it all. he flips his life upside down and becomes a new man. (or so he tells himself)

by the time it’s been five years since billy last saw lucy gray, he finally feels like he’s got his life all figured out — he graduated from juilliard, landed his first serious role in a TV show, rebel of the west, bought an apartment in manhattan, and gained that stability that he’d never had as a child. the only regret that he has is that he hasn’t really stayed in touch with his younger brother over the years, but there’s no way that he’s missing his 16th birthday. even though he wasn’t there for his 15th or 14th or 13th birthday and didn’t see a problem with that at the time. he wants to reconcile with joe and back to tennessee for the weekend, buys him a splendid gift but… joe doesn’t really wait for him with open arms. he slips out of the barn, in which the party’s raging on, to breathe some fresh air, his heart feeling oddly heavy… and doubts anyone will notice his absence, or care for it. 

[agoddamnedrayofsunshine]

PSA

Hi there. You. Person who either suspects you have ADHD, or otherwise has a diagnosis but is struggling to find a provider.

DO NOT FUCKING TRUST THE COMPANY DONE FIRST.

Done First is a company that claims to help people with ADHD get help via Telehealth. I was even their patient for a short time, because doctors around me didn't want to diagnose me because I'm "too old" and I saw an ad and signed up out of desperation (don't do this, kids!)

I was able to get a diagnosis an a prescription, but it was nothing but trouble.

They fucked up my scheduled appointment time the first time, and tried to charge me a $100 rescheduling fee until I pitched a fit that I was ON TIME for what I was slated for

I got like 5 minutes with my provider when I was finally able to get a goddamned appointment and I didn't feel listened to one bit

Suddenly, out of the blue, my provider left the company, which left me unable to get my prescription refilled

They flat out never answered ANY of the many emails and messages I sent, despite giving a 24-72 hour turnaround time to get an answer.

They have no call-in number, so I was not able to actually get a hold of anyone that way

I attempted on multiple occasions to schedule a callback but they ghosted me every single time.

Based on reviews from other patients over the last few days, you can no longer even TRY to schedule a callback from them, or if you can it's over a week in the future.

I ended up doing a chargeback on my card because they never actually provided me care beyond basically leaving me to go through Adderall withdrawals because they can't be fucked to communicate.

But it gets worse.

SERIOUS legal charges have been filed against the founders of Done First.

TL;DR: Done First basically operated as a pill mill while not actually giving two shits about the patients under their care, exploiting patients and doctors alike.

As of today, their website is still up, and they will still GLADLY take your money for a subscription despite them seeming to have NO appointments available to talk to anyone on their "Care Team" (more like They-Don't-Care-Team, amiright guys?)

They have this message on their site as of right now, and claim they're still here to help but please, PLEASE trust me when I say they will not help you.

Done First will steal your money.

Done First will not help you.

Done First is a greedy, scummy scam of a company and they do not deserve your trust.

Don't be stupid like I was. I didn't do my due diligence because I was desperate for care, and I ignored a lot of red flags that in hindsight should've been too obvious.

based on other reviews on places like Reddit and Trust Pilot, they are also just no longer filling any prescriptions so thousands of users are left without vital medication and facing the prospect of being taken off vital meds cold-turkey.

I was fortunately able to get actual medical care that is able to get me the medication I need to live a better life, and an actual ADHD diagnosis that will, I hope, help me navigate life better.

My heart hurts so badly for all those left in the lurch because this company fucked up so badly. Whether it's people with ADHD who need care, or addicts who have suddenly lost a relatively safe avenue to get their drug of choice, NOBODY DESERVES TO GO THROUGH THE PAIN AND SUFFERING AND WITHDRAWALS THIS COMPANY IS CAUSING.

Anyway, I never usually ask this, but if you read this far please either reblog or share this post link with others. You and your loved ones deserve better than this scam.

[beardedmrbean]

A cross-county chase involving multiple law enforcement agencies ended with a Tampa man under arrest.

The suspect, Walter Medina, was wanted out of Hillsborough County for allegedly inflicting months of torture and abuse on a woman he held captive.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Florida Highway Patrol was advised of an active pursuit of the suspect traveling east on Interstate 4 heading from Polk County into Osceola County.

Investigators said the suspect, driving a gold Town and Country Ford van, attempted to get away from law enforcement by driving at high speed and weaving in and out of traffic recklessly, endangering other motorists.

FHP troopers, deputies with Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and officers with the Lakeland Police Department continued to pursue the suspect who they say began driving on left shoulder at more than 100 miles per hour.

Law enforcement attempted several precision immobilization techniques (PIT) maneuvers but were unable to stop the suspect’s van.

At one point, investigators said the suspect hit another vehicle and drove off the exit ramp at John Young Parkway and then, after running a red light, crashed into a raised median.

After the crash, troopers said the suspect refused to comply with commands, so FHP K-9 Rico was deployed, who apprehended the fleeing suspect.

Medina popped up on law enforcement’s radar on Monday after Hillsborough County deputies responded to a gas station in Seffner after a caller reported an injured female had just escaped from a van and needed help.

According to deputies, the victim, who had been panhandling in the area since 2024, met the suspect, Walter Medina during that time. Investigators said Medina initially provided the victim with food and narcotics before his actions turned violent and “subjected her to months of relentless physical abuse and captivity.”

Deputies said that Medina repeatedly assaulted the victim using a wooden baseball bat and a flathead screwdriver, inflicting severe injuries including broken ribs, deep puncture wounds, and extensive bruising.

Medina allegedly threatened to kill the victim if she fled or sought help.

The victim had the chance to escape when Medina briefly left her unattended at Walgreens, deputies said.

“I can’t imagine the torture this victim endured for months, but I can imagine the relief she felt when our deputies arrived,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister. “I have to commend the bravery of the victim for escaping her captor and seeking help. Our thoughts are with her as she recovers from this traumatic ordeal.”

“This suspect’s reign of violent terror is now over,” Chronister added.

Walter Medina was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center after his arrest. When he is released from the hospital, Medina will be taken to the Orange County Jail to be booked on multiple charges, including attempted murder and kidnapping.

[ausetkmt]

Sean Kingston's Mom Taken Into Custody During Mansion Raid

Sean Kingston's mother was taken into custody this morning after law officials raided the rapper-singer's rented Southwest Ranches mansion in South Florida.

Sean Kingston's Mom Taken Into Custody During Mansion Raid

On Thursday (May 23), Sean Kingston's mom, Janice Turner, was detained on numerous fraud and theft charges after police officers raided her son Sean Kingston's rented Southwest Ranches mansion in Dania Beach, Fla. The Broward County Sheriff's Office has released the following statement to XXL about the incident.

"Following an investigation that began in the city of Dania Beach, this morning, May 23, Broward Sheriff’s Office Dania Beach District detectives along with members of BSO’s Strategic Investigations Unit and Davie Police SWAT, served arrest and search warrants at a residence in Southwest Ranches," the statement reads. "As a result of the investigation, an adult female, Janice Turner, was taken into custody on numerous fraud and theft charges. This investigation is active and ongoing." According to local news outlet NBC 6 South Florida, the raid is linked to a lawsuit filed by Ver Ver Entertainment, which claims that Sean has reportedly failed to pay monthly installments and the installation fee for a 232-inch television they sold him.

In the video above, Dennis Card, an attorney who represents the company, says that the Jamaican-American artist is known to flaunt his riches, calling Sean's acts an "organized systematic fraud."

"He likes having bling, he likes showing off, he's a showman," attorney Dennis Card stated to news reporters. "My client has a $150,000 television sound system that's in there, there's also about $1 million worth of watches that are in there, there's a $80,000 custom bed that was ordered. This is an organized systematic fraud."

Card elaborated by detailing Sean Kingston's alleged fabricated lifestyle.

"He's got basically a script," Dennis Card continued. "He says that he works with Justin Bieber and that he obviously puts on a big show here. This is a rental house. He doesn't own it, and he lures people using his celebrity into having them release things without him paying for it, and then he simply never pays."

Card went on to insist the musician is a scammer. "He's 100 percent a scammer," he added. "He's on felony probation right now for trafficking in stolen property. He's got judgments against him for procuring more than $1 million in watches without paying for them. This is just an ongoing pattern for Sean."

Hip-Hop Jeweler Johnny Dang Speaks About Raid

After DJ Akademiks hopped on Instagram and posted about the news surrounding Sean Kingston's rented home, Johnny Dang, a well-respected jeweler in the hip-hop community, seemed to piggyback off the accusations surrounding Sean Kingston's failure to pay for purchased assets. His comment underneath Ak's IG post, which can be seen below, suggested that the artist owes him a pretty penny as well. "Damnn I need to collect my $ too loll," Johnny Dang wrote.

Sean Kingston Reacts to Raid

Hours after the raid, Sean Kingston hopped on his Instagram Story and spoke more about what happened. The artist wrote that he and his mother were in good spirits and that he was taking legal action.

"People love negative energy!" Sean penned. "I am good and so is my mother!..my lawyers are handling everything as we speak." The image can be seen below.

XXL has reached out to Sean Kingston's team for comment.

Read More: Sean Kingston Allegedly Punches and Pulls Gun on Music Video Director - Report

Sean Kingston Sued for Failing to Pay for Rolex

Sean Kingston has a history of not paying for purchased items. In April of 2017, the "Beautiful Girls" hitmaker faced legal trouble for reportedly paying half the amount for a Rolex that was worth $46,000.

According to TMZ, Sean Kingston paid $10,000 upfront to Norman Silver Diamonds and then sent a check for $36,000 to have the watch shipped to his business associate. Eventually, the jeweler discovered that the musician's check didn't clear. Since their encounter in 2013, the man who sued Sean Kingston received $15,000 for the Rolex. The court documents revealed that Kingston still owed about $21,353 for the purchase.

[whitesinhistory]

On July 7, 1893, a crowd of over 5,000 white people lynched a Black man named Seay J. Miller in Bardwell, Kentucky, for allegedly killing two young white girls, despite ample evidence of his innocence.  Many Black people were lynched across the South under accusation of murder. During this era of racial terror, mere suggestions of Black-on-white violence could provoke mob violence and lynching before the judicial system could or would act. The deep racial hostility permeating Southern society often served to focus suspicion on Black communities after a crime was discovered, whether or not there was evidence to support the suspicion, and accusations lodged against Black people were rarely subject to serious scrutiny. Here, suspicion immediately fell on Mr. Miller and led to his death despite available evidence pointing to a different culprit.   Statements from Mr. Miller’s wife and from law enforcement witnesses indicated that Mr. Miller was not even in Kentucky on the date the girls were killed, and multiple eyewitnesses identified the girls’ killer as a white man. Even the girls’ father was unconvinced of Mr. Miller’s guilt. Only one person implicated Mr. Miller, but he originally told police that the person he saw was a white man—as did other witnesses. The witness who implicated Mr. Miller changed his statement only after the county sheriff threatened to charge him as an accomplice if he did not do so. This same sheriff handed Mr. Miller over to a crowd of thousands of white citizens to be lynched. Though charged with protecting the people in their custody, law enforcement almost never used their authority to resist white crowds intent on killing Black people and were instead often complicit in lynchings. In a system where law enforcement did little to protect Black communities, white crowds acted as judge, jury, and executioner.  The mob was determined to ensure Mr. Miller’s death was brutal. Reasoning that immediate lynching by rope would be “too humane,” the white mob fastened a chain weighing over 100 pounds around Mr. Miller’s neck and forced him to walk through town until he fainted from exhaustion.  “I am standing here an innocent man among excited men who do not propose to let the law take its course. I have committed no crime to be deprived of my liberty or life. I am not guilty,” Mr. Miller reportedly said as he was led to his death. “Burning and torture here last but a little while, but if I die with a lie on my soul, I shall be tortured forever. I am innocent.” These were his last recorded words.

Around 3 pm, the heavily armed mob hanged Mr. Miller from a telephone pole, shot hundreds of bullets into his body, then left his corpse hanging from the pole for hours. Afterward, white people cut off his fingers, toes, and ears as “souvenirs” and then burned Mr. Miller’s body in a public fire.  White people used racial terror lynching as a tool to instill fear in the broader Black community. Lynchings were not merely retaliation for a specific crime. Rather, lynchings were meant to send a larger message to the entire Black community of how quickly and easily they could be killed with no protection from the authorities. Following Mr. Miller’s brutal lynching, armed white residents began organizing to force Black residents to leave the area; law enforcement arrested no one for participating in Mr. Miller’s lynching and made no effort to investigate a white suspect in the girls’ killings, but continued to indiscriminately arrest local Black people on unfounded charges.  Within days, famed journalist and anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells traveled to Kentucky to investigate Mr. Miller’s lynching. Her account later published in the Chicago Inter Ocean newspaper detailed the cruel brutality of the lynching, the heartbreak of Mr. Miller’s widow, and the racism that allowed lynching in America to continue. Thus perished another of the many victims of lynch law, but it is the honest, sober belief of many who witnessed the scene, that an innocent man has been barbarously and shockingly put to death in the glare of the nineteenth century civilization, by those who profess to believe in Christianity, law, and order. These and similar deeds of violence are committed under the protection of the American flag and mostly upon the descendants of the negro race. Had Miller been ever so guilty under the laws, he was entitled to a fair trial. But there is absolutely no proof of his guilt. His widow says he left his home in Springfield July 1 to hunt work. She had a letter from him July 5, mailed at Cairo; when next she heard from him he had been murdered. The poor woman seems to have lost her mind since her trouble, and during her first frenzy destroyed this letter, the only clue by which her husband could be traced. She seems incapable of answering questions intelligently and lives in a state of nervous excitement. How long shall it be said of free America that a man shall not be given time nor opportunity to prove his innocence of crimes charged against him? To learn more about our country’s history of racial terrorism, read EJI’s reports, Lynching in America and Reconstruction in America.  

[thoughtportal]

I should not know who David Zaslav is. I didn’t know who any of the big media CEOs were back when I was a happy little child, and I shouldn’t have to know who any of them are now. I should be able to fire up HBO Max, see that it’s still called HBO Max, treat myself to two horrible, horrible hours of a “Batgirl” movie, and then read a satisfyingly catty review of it in GQ.

Alas, I’m not that lucky. Because Zaslav is the man in charge of frankencorp Warner Bros. Discovery and, in an impressively short period of time, has managed to f—k up nearly everything within its considerable portfolio. Freelance writer Jason Bailey attempted to note all of those f—k-ups for posterity just this week, when he wrote an article for GQ excoriating Zaslav for his pathetic stewardship of WBD. It noted all of Zaslav’s lowlights, which I will repeat here for reasons that will soon become evident. 

Zaslav wrote off that “Batgirl” movie rather than formally release it. He did NOT write off and bury “The Flash,” even though its titular star was an allegedly choke-happy asshole and the movie itself was something that even McG wouldn’t have put his name on (it tanked). He hired a clearly in-over-his-head Chris Licht to oversee CNN, only for Licht to destroy morale within that company even faster than Zaslav could have on his own (Licht has since been fired). And it’s not like CNN was my favorite news source in the universe prior to this. You have to really try to make CNN more inane than it already was. Zaslav did.

FILE: Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav visits “Mornings With Maria” at Fox Business Network studios on April 10, 2019, in New York City. Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

All of these changes were not only unwelcome but also NOTICEABLE. Same as if Dan Snyder owned your favorite NFL team. That’s why Zaslav got booed by students at Boston University while trying to give a commencement speech. It’s why striking Writers Guild of America writers, myself included, have made him the face of studio bosses who want to reduce TV and film writing jobs to gig work. It’s why Zaslav’s crimes against both art and basic consumer preferences need to be put on the record. It’s why Bailey wrote what he wrote, and why he was right to do so: posterity, so that we all know who’s to blame for this f—kery and why they deserve to be remanded to a space prison.

This was a damning blog post but also still just a blog post. All damning stuff but all easily ignored if you’re a captain of industry. Lord knows such men have capably ignored similar attempts to own them online.

FILE: David Zaslav attends the 2022 Time 100 Gala on June 8, 2022, in New York City.Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for TIME

Knowing this, GQ could have, should have, stood by its reporter, especially given that he was a freelancer just trying to earn a living. Maybe if former Editor-in-Chief Jim Nelson was still in charge of the place, it would have. That GQ was both thorough and undaunted. But Variety just reported that current Editor-in-Chief Will Welch is attached as a producer on an upcoming Warner Brothers film that’s based on a GQ story and that he was one of the editors Zaslav’s stooges complained to. So it’s not hard to connect the dots as to why his GQ would abandon its journalistic principles just to please Zaslav. (Multiple sources within GQ told SFGATE they weren't even aware of the controversy until it became public; Bailey politely declined to talk to me for this piece.)

As someone who adored working at GQ, I cannot begin to tell you how much all of this disappoints me. I worked for Nelson. I also worked for the people who annihilated Deadspin and just published their first post written by a bot instead of an actual person. I know the difference between these two leadership styles, and it is stark. You can see it right in the product, and you can see it everywhere in Zaslav’s leadership. Not only is this man a terrible CEO, but he’s also an imperious coward who’s more than willing to swat down anyone who dares question his authority. Our worst kind of rich person.

Maybe Zaslav was able to get Welch to back down from public criticism, but my bosses here at SFGATE won’t be similarly cowed. So, for the permanent record, let me state all of this again flatly: David Zaslav is an eel who sucks at his job. He’s destroying HBO. He’s destroyed what bare credibility the DC Universe had left with moviegoers. He’s forced GQ to willingly debase itself. He’s destroyed TCM. And while he couldn’t get Licht to destroy CNN, he’ll find some other pair of docksiders to finish the job. 

It’s a fact that, in an age of mass consolidation, no one person could possibly run all of a billion-dollar entertainment conglomerate effectively. But David Zaslav has distinguished himself not only by being unable to run ANY part of one but also by being such a brazen coward about that fact. I shouldn’t know who this man is. But here he is, and now he should deal, in full, with what he’s wrought. He’s a parasite: a terrible CEO, an enemy to artists, and a lousy, horrible graduation speaker to boot. I hope he’s strapped to a chair and forced to watch “The Flash” on repeat for the rest of his pathetic little existence. And no, I’m not deleting this.

[gobbluthbutagirl]

they were literally going to promote me LMAO that’s the crazy thing. Allegedly anyway. the thing is the communication problem there is just so sooooo bad. and the slot for FOS team lead(the position i would have gotten) is occupied by a guy they promoted to be a second closing lead because the first guy they promoted to be closing lead was struggling too much. and so i basically would have had to wait until one of those two guys got either promoted or transferred out of the store. And they were like oh we’ll use this time to develop you as a leader. And i was like ok. but here’s the thing. they put a different lead in charge of FOS for the time being on top of her other department which like. Bad idea because she honestly is not a great lead anyway but whatever who cares. And they were like, you’re gonna shadow her for two days and she’s gonna train you. and then they fucked up the schedule because the store director makes the leads’ schedules and hr makes everybody else’s and they moved her to a later time and NOBODY told the guy who made MY schedule. so i had to come in at 8am on 2 hours of sleep because i had closed the night before for NO reason. and then i had to text him on his day off when she wasn’t there because NONE of these other fools gave me their numbers. and then when she did come in she didn’t want me shadowing her at all & she was basically just like Here’s what everybody’s doing wrong and now you have to fix it. go get ‘em champ. and i was like wtf. And i kept asking her & the store director both, wtf is my role here exactly??? And they could not give me a good answer because they did not fucking know either. like they literally created this position specifically for me and yet the best they could tell me about it was “it will vary from day to day.” Like ok.

and then that monday when my favorite lead came back(he was hr) i literally had to get the 3 of them in a room and make them talk to each other like. Guys where was the miscommunication here. Wtf happened. and the store director got onto me for wanting to talk to hr instead of the lead i was supposed to be shadowing and i’m just thinking sir have you considered that maybe i got 99% of my information about this role from him and 1% from you and literally 0% of it from her. and it became pretty obvious pretty quickly that the store director & this other lead were having conversations about my role that they were not involving him in and they were not involving ME in any of it either. and he was so quick to take the blame for the scheduling mishap even though it literally was not his fault at all because nobody fucking told him! and they also got mad that he had given me one of the same days off as the lead i was supposed to be shadowing had off and i was like guys did you tell him at any point that you didn’t want my days off to overlap with hers? and they were like Well no. and i was like come on now. And then i agreed to work six days both of those weeks so my days off wouldn’t overlap with hers and i was getting like 2 hours of sleep a night and i couldn’t even drink caffeine due to the Great Stomach Ulcer Incident of 2022 so the whole time i felt like i was barely even alive.

And THEN i was like. trying so hard to communicate with this woman and voicing any concerns i had to her whenever i saw her. and despite her & the store director telling me 100 billion times i was not supposed to be coverage at the registers i wound up being coverage every. Single. Day. so i would come in and be at the registers every day and she’d get mad at me for like. making sure the team got their breaks on time instead of doing god only knows whatever the hell else that she wanted me to be doing. and then she eventually just pretty much stopped speaking to me completely and i was just like whatever. and then after 2 entire days of not hearing from her at all except for when she asked me to do something that both people in hr had already told me they would be doing that day she called me into the office and she was like. I am going to give you some feedback and this other lead is going to just sit here and watch. and then she’s like You have an attitude problem because you talk to me at the registers instead of pulling me aside. and you don’t check in with me. And you talk about confidential information in front of team members. And i’m like what confidential information did i talk about in front of team members? Because you’ve got to keep in mind that this woman does not tell me shit. and she’s like well you talked about [coworker] being in the hospital in front of [other coworker]. And i’m like well [other coworker] is the guy who told me about [coworker] being in the hospital in the first place. And i was asking you if you knew about that because you guys made him come in anyway yesterday when he tried to call out even though he had a 100+ degree fever. And she was like well you’re not supposed to talk about that because it’s disrespectful. And i was like girl what the hell. did not say that obviously but i pretty much went home and had a mental breakdown because EVERYTHING she said was like that

and then since i wasted my whole day off having a sleep-deprivation-induced mental breakdown i wanted to call off the next day but i didn’t because i realized they would have like zero coverage without me(the bitch that was not even supposed to be coverage!!!). and the next day i came in and had to have the dreaded “i did not want anybody to know either of these things but my bipolar ass is really struggling right now” conversation with my favorite lead & he encouraged me to take some time off & also said some shit that i think actually fixed me. But anyway i took like a week off and then came back to discover that the lead in charge of FOS was out with covid. Ok then. and so she was out for like my entire workweek and then when she came back i kept expecting her to say SOMETHING to me but she never did. and i had made a list of concerns i had wanted to go over with her and i gave them to my favorite lead because he was gonna see her again before i was and i honestly don’t know if he had a chance to talk to her about them or not because the next time i saw him was when he dropped the “my husband got promoted so we’re moving to florida” bombshell on me so i kind of stopped caring if she had her shit together or not. and so my focus for the next week was basically like Am i gonna be able to make this magnet i wanna make for him in time or not(the answer was yes btw & he loved it). but at one point he did ask me, do you want me to kind of nudge her in the direction of talking to you? and i was like no because i’m sad about you leaving so i’m not even thinking about that. But also the thing is she literally should have been able to take that initiative ON HER OWN!!! like he literally should not have had to do anything!!! world literally in shambles!!! hate and hell on planet earth!!!

and then like. on his last day i was like i don’t know what i’m gonna do now because you are literally the only lead that communicates with me. i guess i’m gonna try to talk to her tomorrow. and he was like don’t even talk to her just talk to the store director. And i was like you know what you’re literally right. so i wrote my name down to talk to him for the next available timeslot. and keep in mind i did this on the weekend and that timeslot was for tuesday. And i kept telling myself, MAYBE if she says something to me before then i will reconsider my “i gotta get outta here” plan. that woman was in the target at the same time as i was EVERY day and she did not say SHIT. and it’s like. i’m supposed to be your quote-unquote “team captain” …how are you gonna go a whole MONTH without speaking to me AT ALL? how the fuck am i supposed to run this department if you don’t fucking communicate with me and you tell me that me attempting to communicate with YOU is a “behavior problem” that i need to change? Like. i don’t have ANY access to any of the emails you get from corporate telling you how FOS is supposed to be. i don’t have any access to the guest surveys that tell you what the team might need to work on! girl i am relying on YOU for that shit and you aren’t giving it to me! and you’ve been back for TWO WEEKS at this point and have not taken ANY time to talk to me.

and so i told the store director, it literally feels like you guys gave up on me and just forgot to tell me. and he was like oh of course not we would never! but unfortunately the feeling is very much NOT mutual because i have 100% given up on them like. i have had the “leads have GOT to get better about communication” talk with him 3 times now and leads have NOT gotten better about communication. if anything they’ve gotten WORSE! and they just lost the ONE guy who was actually good at communication like. no chance in hell they will EVER get better about it now! and the thing is. i absolutely cannot take feedback from people who get paid more than me to be more incompetent than i could ever even hope to dream of being. Like. there was literally ONE lead who i could take feedback from and he just left forever. and this one who’s supposed to be my direct lead has given guests just blatantly wrong information more than once and i’ve had to jump in and correct her. which i guess she sees as disrespect but if you’re telling somebody we don’t sell this product and i know for a fact that we do do you really want me to just stand there? they are literally asking to give us their money and you’re telling them no. how does that help the store(i was right in every instance of this btw and we did have the product). and also this convo i had with the store director was nearly a week ago now and this woman still has not spoken a WORD to me!!! Like COME ON!!!

and anyway it’s just like. Honest to god SO ridiculous that they expect me to just be like. Yeah i’m ok with this whole situation. Yeah i’m fine watching you guys miscommunicate about me for 6 months before i MAYBE get promoted. and in the meantime i have to live off $17.25 an hour when everybody’s hours are getting cut and i live in a $1425-a-month shithole with no oven. Like literally NO!!!! this whole situation is bullshit!! and you guys know me very well as somebody who does not put up with bullshit! you are INSANE if you expect me to continue working here under these conditions!!! and i was like, “i feel like [favorite lead] was the only one who put any thought into this whole process at all.” and the store director was like Well we ALL thought about it and he was just the messenger. Ok but how come you didn’t give him half the messages then. how come the ideas about the position that he conveyed to me(good) did not match up with the ideas that you & this other lead apparently had for the position(bad). and see here’s the thing. i ask myself, who gave me 99% of the communication about this? And of course it was him. but then it’s like, even aside from this whole ordeal, who makes me feel valued as a team member? And i would have to say 95% of it was also him. and the other 5% was from other leads that don’t work here anymore. So like. there’s the answer right there. SAD!

[bllsbailey]

'Meth-Prescribed' Long Island Mother Who Killed Child In Wrong-Way Crash Has License Suspended For 57th Time, Denied Bail

During her arraignment on Wednesday afternoon, prosecutors revealed that a mother from Long Island who is accused of killing her young son in a wrong-way crash while “high on methamphetamines” has now had her license revoked for the 57th time.

Following Kerri Bedrick’s arraignment, in which she entered a not guilty plea to murder charges, Suffolk County Judge Richard I. Horowitz ruled that the 32-year-old’s driver’s license would be suspended until the case was resolved and detained her without bond privilege.

When Bedrick drove the wrong way on the Southern State Parkway at 2:15 a.m. on August 22nd, causing a four-car collision that killed her 9-year-old son, investigators stated that her license had already been revoked 56 times, making this the 57th.

When a deputy sheriff first saw Bedrick driving the wrong way, he attempted to pull her over, but she accelerated faster and drove around the deputy’s car, according to the prosecutors.

As she hit 100 miles per hour into oncoming traffic in eastbound lanes, the deputy followed her for more than five miles in a westbound lane from a safe distance, according to the prosecution. Eventually, according to the district attorney’s office, Bedrick’s car hit other vehicles so hard that her engine launched into the woods.

Eli D. Henrys, her 9-year-old son, was discovered unconscious in the 2022 Mitsubishi Eclipse’s backseat. He subsequently passed away from his wounds in the hospital.

Prosecutors claim that after the crash, authorities discovered a prescription bottle inside the defendant’s car with the label ripped off, “seemingly proving” she was under the influence when the defendant went on her driving rampage.

Last month, Suffolk Assistant District Attorney, Laura Newcombe, claimed that the driver allegedly told police that the night before the fatal collision, at around 8 p.m., she had taken methamphetamines. However, her lawyer claims that she was prescribed them. It is unclear if he was referring to the drugs Desoxyn, Adderall, or something else. Drugs of that nature typically treat individuals who suffer from Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or narcolepsy.

She is charged with murder as well as manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, and other connected offenses, such as aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

Prior to the collision, Bedrick’s license had already been suspended 56 times on eight separate days. On Wednesday, she received yet another suspension. State law also permits a driver to receive several suspensions in a single day for a variety of reasons.

The several charges, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney, show “the severe nature” of the crime, which he also described as a “heinous act.”

“The loss of life in this incident, particularly that of a young child, is heartbreaking,” Tierney said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Bedrick’s attorney, Scott Zerner, labeled the incident a “tragic accident.”

“No one on this planet is more upset about it than she is,” he told reporters. “She suffers from ailments and has been prescribed the methamphetamine properly by a doctor, and she was not under [the] influence of any alcohol or any non-prescription drug that she was not prescribed.”

After the crash, while Bedrick’s son was being rushed to the hospital, she and the other two drivers received medical attention for their injuries.

The negligent mother, whose next court appointment is October 22nd, faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison if proven guilty of the top count. She is being held without bail.

The deceased boy’s grandmother, Diane Bedrick, has set up a GoFundMe to pay for his funeral costs.

“We have asked for help with Eli’s funeral expenses here. But also if you prefer Eli and his Mom loved to foster animals from the shelter. Donations can also be made to your local shelter or wildlife refuge,” the grandmother posted.

Kerri Bedrick pleaded not guilty and faces 25 years to life in prison she is accused of driving in the wrong direction high on drugs on Long Island and killing her nine year old son. The story @1010WINS. pic.twitter.com/kDFdvyyRDT— sophia_b_hall (@sophiabhall1) September 4, 2024

Kerri Bedrick, charged in a wrong way crash that killed her 9-year-old son, is taken by state Police into custody on charges of driving while impaired by drugs pic.twitter.com/uH6RGMySRM— John Asbury (@JohnAsbury) August 22, 2024

Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts

[andilovetowrite]

Really in Love? 🔥

Leo Valdez x Reader (Athena Cabin Reader)

Summary: Leo didn’t know what went wrong. One minute, he had a smashing goddess girlfriend and an equally awesome best friend. And the next? One of them in the Apollo cabin, and the other one in the Apollo cabi- well, infirmary.

Warnings: mentions of dying, cheating and some blood. Also some elusions to smut and making out. A lot of angst. That's all I’m gonna say.

Word Count: 1.6k

Masterlist and Prompt List ;)

100 Follower Sleepover

My requests are also open in case you have any more ideas and prompts!

Life for Leo Valdez had been going good. He had just gotten back from helping Apollo, or Lester, and things had been going well. Calypso had just come back from her camping trip, and she and Leo were inseparable.

Which made things a tiny bit hard for you. You were Leo’s best friend, and right now, you and him were tasked with making the new Big House for the camp. Normally, Chiron would call Annabeth, but since she was out of town with Percy for god knows what (you knew what, he was going to propose to her), he had put you in charge of this project. And since you wanted to make the new structure a bit more technologically advanced, you decided to call Leo in.

And the progress had been going well. Until Leo’s entire attention was given to Calypso. Nowadays, you couldn’t even get a minute alone with your best friend without his annoyingly beautiful and mean gf next to you. And off the record, you had been starting to like Leo a bit. When you both were in the quest, and the only two single ones on the ship, you kinda felt like there was something growing between the both of you.

Turns out you were wrong, because in a few months, after your best friend allegedly “died”, he came back on a flying dragon and a goddess in his arms. Too bad you couldn’t find a boyfriend to take your mind off Leo.

So, life was awkward, but fine. Well….until you got shot in the stomach by an arrow. Yeah, it wasn’t your best moment. It was the day after you had had your one-on-one with Calypso, and you had managed to avoid her, but whenever you tried to get Leo on his own, she just happened to be there. So you decided to get him by himself when you both were working on the project. But before that, you had archery. And least to say, you were quite sufficient at it. So were the rest of your classmates, or at least the people at the training room.

So you knew you didn’t get shot by a fluke. The question was that, who would shoot you?

And you knew the answer. Austin Lake. The only guy in the feild who had some sort of resentment towards you. Why? Because he was your ex. Your breakup wasn’t the smoothest one. There was a whole lot of screaming and yelling. Oh, and a couple of threats and slaps. But you would’nt think that he would shoot you. Where you could potentially die.

So for the rest of the day, while you were in the infirmary with Will, you racked your brain thinking of a reason. But it wasn’t until you saw Calypso walk in that you finally understood. She had come in around the time that Leo would be in his Bunker, banging out dents and marks in his newest projects, with everything else out of his mind. It would be the perfect time to sneak away. At least it would be for Calypso.

You had suspected that Calypso had been cheating on Leo for a while. But you had never had a chance to prove it. Until now, where you had a perfect sight of Calypso and Austin holding hands as they made out at the back of one of the beds.

The sight made you sick to the stomach. Surprisingly, it wasn’t because of Calypso kissing your ex. But rather your best friend’s girlfriend kissing Austin Lake. Your mind went to the hurt look on Leo’s face when he would find out, and you could feel the pain radiating off him.

But you couldn’t keep it from him, so you decided to tell him as soon as possible. Gritting your teeth, you tried to stand up for yourself, pushing your hands against the bed. The pain in your stomach intensified by about a 100x, but nevertheless, you tried to ignore it.

Suddenly, you heard a gentle yet cruel laugh. “Oh Y/N, what do you think you’re doing?” You whipped around to see Calypso standing above you, with Austin at her side, and with one pointed look, he took out an injection, filled with green liquid.

“I’m going to tell Leo-”

“No you aren’t. Because you will not get up to ever tell him”, she said maliciously, as you watched in horror. Austin grabbed your arm, and even though you were stronger than him, the pain medication didn’t allow you to push him back. He brought the needle to your arm, and growled at you, his face turned up in a deep frown. With a slight pinch, he pushed it in harshly, the needle cutting through your flesh. Instantly, you began feeling drowsy, as your vision started swimming.

“Y-ou wo-won’t ge...t away with thi….sss”, you tried to say, but all that came out was strangled mutters.

Calypso laughed, swiping her hand on your fingers as her nails dug into your arm. “Oh sweetie, you can’t possibly think a child of Athena would beat a goddess that’s been around for millenia, right? Otherwise, you would be even more stupid then I thought you were…”

And that was the last thing you heard before you drifted off into a inky black darkness.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leo’s POV

Leo walked around the Bunker back and forth, confused on where you were. It was almost 6, and you still hadn’t shown up. Worried, he grabbed his tool belt, tying it around his waist as he left his workspace, going over to the Athena cabin.

“Hey guys”, Leo greeted, trying to spot any sight of you. Malcolm came up to him, his face etched with worry.

“If your looking for Y/N, she was in the infirmary. Apparently, some jackass shot her in the stomach with an arrow. We tried to find who did it, but nothing so far, so we are just waiting for her to wake up.”

As he heard that, he practically started running out the door but he stopped when Malcolm called him back.

“Visiting hours are shut right now. But Austin was the last one to see her, maybe check in his cabin?”

Leo nodded, and although he didn’t like the blond, muscular camper, he still wanted to see how you were doing so he made his way there.

And boy, did he wish he would have gone to see you instead. Because when he walked through the Apollo cabin door, he didn’t expect to see his girlfriend half naked with a shirtless Austin.

“Leo!”, she yelled, covering herself up.

“You-”

She tried to come near Leo, hands reaching for him, but he stepped back, as if her touch was burning hot. “Leo, I didn’t mean to…”, she trailed off, as she began to see the little sparks of fire starting to burst out from his fingers.

She stepped back, and for a second, you could see Leo calm down, wondering if he scared her. But when she reached for Austin’s hand, as she enlaced their fingers together, you could see the fire build up in Leo again.

“How could you-”, he shook his head, not believing it, “I-I was the one who got you off the island” He looked furious, but then his face crumpled as he stared at her. “I lied to my friends. Acted like I was dead for weeks. Just so I could save you, so I could get you off that prison!”

She didn’t say anything, as she just kept looking down at the floor. Half of you hoped that it would just swallow her whole.

“I literally gave my life, and you cheated on me?! You-you knew I had an issue with him-” Realization struck his face as he pieced two and two together. “Th-that’s why you didn’t want me coming with you to the infirmary, did you? Because he would be there. That must be your little get-to-know-you times, huh?”

She tried to shake her head, coming closer to Leo, but he ignited his hands again, this time making them burn bright. “You can’t possibly think that’s why-”

“Oh no, don’t try and make me think of something different. I’m a freaking mechanic Calypso! I wake up if I hear the faintest of sounds, and you wouldn’t think that I would find you sneaking out every night?”

Calypso stared at him, vision swimming with tears, but her face hard. Leo tried to find some bit of her left in there, but gave up, turning around to look for you. “How is-”

“Oh Y/N, I wouldn’t go to see her. Unless you wanna see her bod-”

“What the hell?”, Leo asked, his voice firm, as his mind went into overdrive. “What did you do Calypso?”

“Nothing much..”, she said, but he didn’t hear another word as Will Solace burst into his cabin.

Out of breath, and sweaty, he looked at Leo. “Y/N needs you… she is close to dying”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That was it, the first part! I’m sorry I didn’t get to the second part, but I think the cliffhanger may add to the storyline, so let’s see if that works out. Thanks so much for requesting this, and I hope you enjoy it :)

[theparanormalperiodical]

Top 10 Controversial Horror Films That Are Famous For All The Wrong Reasons *gags* *cries*

At the beating heart of horror is offence.

From that undeniable sense of something not being quite right, to the CGI-blood-spurtin’-adrenaline-fuelled scenes that leave us shaking in our boots, horror pivots on the knife edge of controversy.

It’s used to drive plots. It’s used to drive hype. And at the end of the month, it drives studio executives to the bank.

Horror films can be traumatic enough. But there are some films that bear the cross of controversy more than others. There are some films that have been branded as so damaging to their potential viewers that merely circulating copies of the film is illegal.

And yet their infamy has forged cult viewership. What was once shielded from us has now become ‘must see’.

Today we are going to be counting down horror’s most controversial films and what made them quite so topical.

*I’m going to star the ones that you can actually watch without getting traumatised. Some are controversial not because of their content but because some religious or political groups disagreed with them*

#10 - The Blair Witch Project (1999)*

Let’s ease in with a classic - a classic you can watch without sleeping with the light on.

In this found-footage flick we see a team of film students as they explore a local urban legend. But what they find leads them to unknown and ungodly territory.

The problem with this film is that it was marketed as a true story. No, not based on a true story, a true story. Yep, they claimed what we were seeing was real, found footage of some teens going mad as they forage deeper into mysterious woods.

IMBd went so far as to report that the actors were dead. Then, the movie studio super-charged their efforts to confirm to the public that not only was this film 100% real, the three main actors were still missing. The parents of the actors then started receiving sympathy cards.

There’s even a mocked up website that perpetuates these claims. 

#9 - Night Of The Living Dead (1968)*

Time for another not-too-disturbing film.

This is the original zombie apocalypse film saw a group of Americans attempt to survive an incoming attack of the undead while trapped in a rural farmhouse.

But the Motion Picture Association of America wasn’t too happy about it. The film rating system was yet to be in place, allowing children to also show up for an afternoon screening and be greeted by a 97 minute montage of extreme violence.

“The kids in the audience were stunned. There was almost complete silence. The movie had stopped being delightfully scary about halfway through, and had become unexpectedly terrifying. There was a little girl across the aisle from me, maybe nine years old, who was sitting very still in her seat and crying”

#8 - Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

In this psychological film, we watch a random crime spree take place at the hands of a couple serial killers. Loosely based on real murderers Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole, its controversial reputation was founded on the gore ‘n’ guts screened in the movie.

Whilst it didn’t receive much attention from the public, various classification boards across the world ensured new versions edited with certain scenes - often involving sexual assault and necrophilia - removed for viewers.

In 2003, the BBFC (the UK classification board) finally allowed the uncut version to be released and Australia followed suit in 2005.

#7 - I Spit On Your Grave (1978)

It’s the original rape-revenge flick. And it managed to piss everyone off.

Originally titled Day of the Woman, it tells the story of a fiction writer who exacts revenge on a group of four men who gang rape her.

Despite its pro-women claim-to-fame, the 30 minute rape scene begs to differ. Furious debate surrounds its feminist label as a film that forces the audience to endure rape from a female perspective and long-winded violence against men (something which is often reserved for women in horror). Regardless, the graphic violence earned it a steady ban in Ireland, Norway, Iceland, and West Germany.

#6 - Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)*

You don’t get many controversial Christmas films. They typically stick to a cookie-cutter plot ‘n’ purpose every holiday season. But there are no strong women who need to rediscover the meaning of Christmas here.

Instead, we see a child traumatised by seeing his parents murdered on Christmas Eve go on a seasonal rampage as an adult.

A week after its release in the early 80s, it was pulled from theatres due to backlash. Marketing was focused on a Santa Claus killer with adverts often airing during family-friendly TV programmes and meant numerous children developed a phobia of Father Christmas. Large crowds protested cinemas with one notable protest involving angry families singing carols at the Interboro Quad Theater in The Bronx.

It was only in 2009 - 25 years after its original release - that a DVD of the film was first made available for purchase in the UK.

#5 - Psycho (1960)*

This legendary film follows the disappearance of a young woman after her encounter with a strange man called Norman Bates, one of horror’s most iconic figures. The controversy that would engulf this fim lay not in the violent attack on an innocent woman or even the disturbing content of the film.

Oh, no. It was because of what the leading lady was wearing.

In the opening scene of the film, we see Janet Leigh wearing nothing but a bra.

*gasp*

This racy attire was emblazoned across promotional material, meeting Hitchcock’s high standards of creating controversy around the movie. There was a no late admission policy for movie theaters, and the posters told viewers “Do not reveal the surprises!” to maintain a mysterious aura around the plot twist.

#4 - The Human Centipede (2009) (all of ‘em)

I’ve watched a lot of horror films, in case you couldn’t tell.

I’m used to watching a scary movie, shaking off the anxiety, and moving on with my life. But there are some that stayed with me. I only watched the trailer for the first movie, and it legitimately traumatised me. It gave me quite a severe, sudden bout of a depression for a solid month when I was 13.

Throughout horror’s goriest franchise, we see an evil doctor and amateur mad scientist attempt to sow several people together into a centipede-like chain from mouth to anus.

*retches*

At the heart of promoting the franchise was controversy. Tom Six, the director, forced a narrative that claimed from the first film that this was "100% medically accurate". He even alleged a Dutch doctor helped inspire the film, confirming that with an IV drip, this was entirely possible.

Although it didn’t receive furore that amounted to serious censorship or long-term banning, it was infamous for having its viewers vomiting in the cinema aisles.

The second film, however, was subject to much more severe controversy and could not legally be supplied in the UK until 2011 due to its heavy focus on sexual abuse, more graphic violence than the original film, and it’s pretty vile depiction of a murderer that was intellectually disabled.

Audiences were used to the graphic nature of the franchise by the third and final release. As the least-controversial and least-enjoyable film according to critics, it barely made a dent in the horror community.

Good riddance, I guess?

#3 - Faces Of Death (1978)

I’m not sure I’d recommend this one per se - but I will give it credit for being an interesting project.

This documentary-style film is a montage of footage of people dying in different ways. As a result of its very graphic and very real content, it was banned and censored in many countries. Only in 2003 was it released on DVD in the UK after a scene was cut featuring dogs fighting and a monkey being beaten to death.

Germany, Australia, and New Zealand followed suit, reversing their bans and releasing edited versions.

However, 7 years after its release, the media revamped its interest in the film after a maths teacher showed it to his class at a Californian high school. Two of his students claimed they were so traumatised they received a costly settlement to reimburse their emotional distress. Things took a darker turn a year later, when a 14 year old bludgeoned a classmate to death with a baseball bat; he claimed he wanted to see what it would be like to actually kill someone after watching Faces of Death.

#2 - Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

This Italian film’s title alone hints towards two frightening things: flesh-eating humans and genocide. In this found-footage movie we see an anthropologist lead a rescue team into the Amazon rainforest to find a group of filmmakers that went missing.

The rampant graphic content including sexual assault and animal cruelty showcased in the film (7 animals were killed during filming in some pretty horrific ways) led to it being banned in 50 countries.

Some also alleged that a handful of deaths seen in the film were real, as were the missing film crew. In fact, the actors portraying the documentarians signed contracts that stopped them appearing in motion pictures for an entire year to maintain the illusion of reality.

And only 10 days after its premiere, the director was charged with obscenity and the film confiscated. All copies were to be turned over to the authorities. There are currently a range of versions that have been edited to varying degrees and are allowed for circulation.

#1 - A Serbian Film (2010)

No.

Nope.

Don’t do it. Don’t watch this film.

A Serbian Film follows a retired porn star who agrees to feature in an “art film” for some cash. Little does he know this film will include rape, incest, pedophilia, necrophilia…

Just don’t watch it.

It is still banned in South Korea, New Zealand, Australia. It is supposedly a parody of politically correct films made in Serbia that are funded by foreign groups and allegedly speaks openly about post-war society and the struggle for survival.

*shakes head*

Off to have a 3 hour shower, brb.

If you, uhhh, liked this post please like and reblog.

And if you want to hear more about horror and the supernatural every week hit follow!

[prorevenge]

Ex-girlfriend had me arrested and contributed to stealing $1000's of dollars from my bank account before I got my retribution.

This is really long but ends with a lot of irony and perfect results.

TL;DR Ex lies and has me arrested because I didn't take her on trip with me. She also destroyed some of my property and possessions while stealing others along with cash and bank card. Prosecutor finds out it's all lies files charges to which she wants me to have dropped. That angers me so I turn over evidence of her other crimes. She goes to jail. Good stuff!!!

About 13 years ago I was in an amazingly toxic relationship, and was completely blindly stupidly in love or so I thought at the time. We had been together about 2 years and had been living together since literally the first night we met. I owned my own home which I worked from and made great money and asked her to quit her job after one too many incidents where she had to deal with a handsy boss. Months into our relationship we rented an apartment out on the beach but I kept my house and we'd go sleep there 2-3 times a month. Since she was looking for a job I told her I would pay our bills while she found and settled into her new job. Her job search lasted about 5 minutes and then she took to hanging out around the house while I worked 15-16 hour days. We spent all day everyday together except for when we would go out to bars together and she'd meet her girlfriends and I'd meet my people's. I got burnt out on work and since I owned my own business I decided I could have my subcontractors do the day to way work and I'd take a year to travel while working remotely 2-3 days a week.

It was around this time I noticed a change in her attitude and our relationship. She became suspicious and accusing me of cheating which was completely unfounded and confusing to me since we were together almost always. Had I listened to those around me I would've put that relationship out of its misery and walked away. However, I decided to try and make her see I wasn't what she thought I was. I obviously see now it was projection and her on concern about being caught sleep around.

We took a year and went all over the US on road trips, going to music festivals, and seeing friends all over the country. We also went to Europe a few times so she got to do and see not just our country but 7 others on my dime while cheating on me but making me feel like the bad guy.

Things would be great while traveling until we were about to land, or just after we got home then she'd pick a fight and I'd go to my house for the night. Our last trip together was to Portland for 10 days in the first week of October. We had a great time and things seemed like the worst was behind us. Boy was I wrong! In our town there's an annual halloween street party. We had each gone for 10+ years before we started dating and every year since we began dating. This particular year I had decided I wanted to go to voodoo festival in New Orleans which is the last week of October and our local shindig is the last Saturday of October. This caused a huge fight between us and I told her I needed a break to assess our relationship. This brought out an evil side in her which I'd never seen. I was shocked and wasn't going to tolerate it. I packed my bags and went to the airport and caught my flight to NO. I got there the day before the festival started and went and gambled and did my tourist obligations on Bourbon Street. That evening I was missing her so I booked her a ticket and tried calling her but got no answer. I texted her and let her know that a ticket was at the airport and a car would be waiting to bring her to my hotel but still got no response. Hours after I called her she drunkenly calls me screaming about how she knew I had one of my whores with me on this trip. She went on for 20 min before I told her to forget the ticket and to fuck off at this point I was 100% done. At that point she asked what ticket because she hadn't seen the text (flip phones were the worst for that reason) but it was too late in my book. For her to think I was that type of person and the seriously personal attacks she launched into let me know there was nothing left to salvage. Before hanging up I told her when I returned I would be moving out of the apartment and I would no longer be paying for everything so she had a week to make arrangements.

Because we were living together she had access to the spare key to my house I kept in our apartment. She went to my house and dumped bleach all over my clothing and my sneaker collection. That there would be enough for me to murder her if I wasn't a decent person. She also stole 300+ records and my spare bank card plus the $10,000 I kept for emergencies (bail money) in a safe hidden in my closet. This was an intelligent woman but her thinking during her little crime spree wouldn't indicate that. Instead of using the bank card herself she gave it to a friend of hers and they spent over $3500 on purchases and withdrew $5500 from my savings. I only found it was happening because my bank called and wondering why my card was being used in 2 separate states minutes or hours apart in the same day. I shut the card off and filed fraud claims and put her out of my mind for the rest of the week while having a blast. Festival was great and had a great time hanging out drinking, drugging, gambling, and partying while in New Orleans. The festival ended Sunday and I flew home the following Tuesday. I come off the jetway into the terminal and am met by two detectives. They ask my name and I of course started answering all their questions. Within 5 minutes I'm in handcuffs and being led away for felony domestic violence, terroristic threats, burglary, assault, and criminal mischief.

I had left on my trip on a Friday afternoon. That next day is when I sent her the ticket and we had that blowout where I ended it. She called the police and told them we were fighting and I came to her house and she wouldn't let me in, so I threw a brick through her sliding glass door. Once in then I started to strangle her and one of girlfriends tried to stop me and I punched and beat her up. She told the police I fled to New Orleans. (The level of crazy here is beyond scary she staged a break in by smashing a door in our apartment, had hand marks on her neck to be photographed, and the other girl had a split lip...all faked) The police somehow got my flight info but didn't bother to check that I wasn't even in town when all this allegedly happened. I went to jail and bonded out ($35,000 bond) and had to hire an attorney. Based on charges filed I was looking at 12 years now that's what I would've served but still scary AF. I knew I could prove where I was so wasn't overly concerned. However it cost me $3500 for bond and $10,000 on an attorney. I got my $3,5000 back when my case was dropped. After getting out of jail I went to the airport to get my car and she had slit all 4 tires on my car leaving the pearl handled switch blade I bought her as a gift in the last tire.

My attorney gets all my travel documents to the prosecutor and the charges are dropped. I was going to let the rest of the shit go and be done with her. Honestly if losing that money meant I'd never have to see or deal with her again I would've paid double. The prosecutor was pissed and filed charges on both my ex the other girl who lied to police. At this point he didn't know about the fraud complaint from the money stolen from me. Again I was going to just let it go until my ex called me. She tried apologizing by saying she was sorry she had to do all the stuff because I told her I never wanted to see or speak to her again while in New Orleans. By doing those things she felt it would get my attention is the way she put it. I told her she was a spiteful bitch and karma would run over some day. Her response was I was spiteful for leaving her and going on the trip without her. My last words to her that I would be very spiteful and her oncoming karma rolled into one. Because I had texts asking her about the damage done in my home and the missing $10k/bank card and the money spent in which she admitted all of it I turned those over to the prosecutor. He filed theft, burglary, identity theft, misuse of credit card, and about 4 other charges on her. She had a key but no permission to be in my house so the burglary charge stuck and so did 5 of the other charges. She got 6 years and did 3. Once out I would see her when I was out because she has always bartended or been a waitress. Over a three year period I saw her working at 5 places. At all 5 I notified the manager or owner that she was thief not to trusted and gave them just enough info to see she was a felon. She lost those 5 jobs. After that she moved away. Last I heard she lived in Chicago. Feel sorry for whatever person this parasite is currently attached to.

Crazy Psycho = 0 Me = 1

(source) story by (/u/Burnvictim49percent)

[the-fall-of-armie-hammer]

Hi there! I read the article you posted about CA law and BDSM and I have thoughts (lol if you know me, I have thoughts about everything).

First a little about my background. I am a survivor. That shouldn’t need to be said but it’s a fact. I experienced abuse and remained with my abuser. When we broke up I clung to the belief we would reunite and felt suicidal at the idea that we might not. His abuse worsened after the break up, during the same time I thought I would rather die than not be with him.

I have volunteered and then worked in the field of sexual assault response and prevention since I was in college (20 years). I have worked for well known universities helping to ensure the mandates around consent education put forth by Dept of Ed and Title IX were fulfilled. I have also worked to train undergraduates to educate their peers about consent and rape culture and how to support survivors. I don’t mean to give my CV here but I want to make clear that I have devoted 100s if not 1000s of hours to working in the sexual assault field. Albeit not from a legal standpoint.

I’m also sex positive and BDSM-kink aware. I believe that BDSM is a natural and healthy expression of sexuality and enjoyment (some engage in BDSM without sex) for those who align with those identities.

This article sends the message that impact play in BDSM is against CA law and that consent cannot legally be given to “be assaulted.” I am not aware of any actual legal precedent where this has been the topic of a trial. If this case against AH goes to trial, it may be the first of its kind (I do not know this for a fact).

The article correctly makes the point that confidentiality is breached by medical personnel when they believe the injury they are treating is a result of a crime aka assault (not mental health care providers! that’s an important distinction and I don’t want anyone to not seek MH support because they’re fearful of a breach of confidentiality).

How awful, right? Someone goes for a r*pe exam and then the police are called. The police who are racist, misogynist, and anti sex worker (among other things). However, at the r*pe treatment centers I am familiar with the nurse will say “I need to call the police, they will come and ask for you to share what happened. You may choose to tell them - in which case their decision to press charges is out of your hands, a victim of a crime does not need to consent for charges to be pressed. You may also choose to decline to provide a statement. You can change your mind at a later date. Evidence can and will still be collected in the r*pe exam so if you decide to provide a statement to the police later we have the evidence.”

Okay so let’s go back to BDSM. For the police to be notified about the effects of impact play and for them to press charges, a sub (or person on the receiving end of consensual impact play) would first have to seek medical attention. This could happen! Even with full consent and negotiation, bodies respond in unexpected ways and an injury requiring medical attention could occur. Upon seeking medical attention, the healthcare provider would have to decide that this injury occurred as a result of a crime/assault. There is some clinical judgment and discretion here (and we can see here where sometimes police are called for suspected child abuse). If I tripped over my spouse and broke my wrist, did a crime occur? No. But my spouse did “cause” my injury. In theory the police could be called to rule out that a crime occurred.

Let’s say the police are called. Then the person with the injury would have to cooperate and provide a statement. They’re not the ones who are allegedly breaking the law, there is nothing that says you have to speak to the police if you are the “victim of a crime “ (quotes here because the sub is a victim by the letter of the law). So now the police have a potential crime that’s been committed and a victim who refuses to cooperate. Are they going to waste their time trying to pursue this case? No. They barely spend any time pursuing actual sex crimes, the backlog of r*pe kits in LA alone is disgusting.

We also know that it is notoriously difficult for victim/survivors of r*pe to find justice through the legal system. More so when the r*pe occurred in the context of an ongoing relationship. I’m not sure the DA is going to pursue a case of impact play that resulted in an injury that required medical attention (which I should say is exceedingly rare, Risk Aware Kink seeks to avoid injuries such as those) when they’re busy with other cases with a victim who wants to go to court.

If Ms Allred takes this case to court, it may well be the first time the legality of aspects of BDSM are truly examined. However, I also cannot state clearly enough that everything I have read and seen makes this not a case about BDSM and entirely a case about r*pe. Although, sadly, the victim/survivor’s sexual history and interests will also be on trial, as with every other sexual assault case.

Even though it shouldn’t matter. You can have a million partners of every gender, prance down the street naked, enjoy the kinkiest sex imaginable, have consented to sex with this person previously, consent to sex with this person again in the future, and it is still r*pe if ongoing consent was not obtained.

Sorry this is so long winded! I hope it provides some context from my own perspective and within the limits of my own experience in this field.

@thatajthings you are a treasure. Thank you so much for taking the time to offer this insight. And, above all, thank you for the service you have provided to other survivors over the years. Truly. 💜

There's so much information here, but this really stood out to me the most:

"a victim of a crime does not need to consent for charges to be pressed"

I did not know this and so wonder if this might be why or how Gloria can say that Effie hasn't pressed charges?

cc: @cristinasea @morganwolfe @armiehammerallegations

[96thdayofrage]

People on the Right are always crying that everything is a false flag, that anyone doing anything bad while dressed as a Trump supporter is actually Antifa, that everyone who disagrees with them is a crisis actor, that politicians are sending secret messages to each other through pictures of their dogs on Twitter (I wish that was a joke, it's not a joke) — and really, it is hard not to wonder who on earth would have the time or energy to bother with that nonsense.

Well, apparently someone would, and did, and that person is Ivan Harrison Hunter of Boerne, Texas, pictured above. Except rather than being a nefarious, Soros-check-collecting, anti-fascist, Harrison is a Boogaloo Boi plead guilty this week to shooting up a Minneapolis police station while trying to pass himself off as a BLM protester angry about George Floyd's death.

Hunter has been charged with one count of rioting, the sentencing guidelines for which suggest he will serve between 37 and 46 months in federal prison.

Via Minneapolis Public Radio:

Hunter admitted that he fired 13 rounds from an AK-47-style rifle into the 3rd precinct police station on May 28, 2020, as other rioters looted and set fire to the building after police evacuated. No one was struck by the gunfire.

After shooting at the building, Hunter was recorded on video high-fiving another person and yelling "Justice for Floyd!" Investigators matched the skull mask Hunter was wearing in the video to a photo on his Facebook page.

Prosecutors say Hunter came to Minneapolis in the days following Floyd's murder after corresponding on Facebook with Michael Solomon of New Brighton, Minn., and Benjamin Teeter of Hampstead, N.C. The men had been part of the "Boogaloo Bois," a group that exploits tensions to further violence.

You may recall Solomon and Teeter from the time they tried to join forces with and sell weapons to an FBI agent posing as a member of Hamas. He was also reportedly in touch with Air Force Staff Sgt./Boogaloo Boi/Murderer Steven Carrillo, as we noted when he was first arrested in October of last year.

Then, just a few hours after the precinct was set on fire, Hunter started texting with California Boogaloo Boi Steven Carrillo, who had just killed a Federal Protective Services Officer in Oakland, and who would shoot and kill a sheriff's deputy in Santa Cruz only five days later. He asked Carrillo for money and recommended he consider going after police buildings.

"I did better," Carrillo replied.

Another Boogaloo Boi, Aaron Caleb Swenson, was recently sentenced to 50 years in prison for the attempted murder of a police officer — so Hunter got off pretty light, considering.

The Boogaloo Bois/Boys are an extremist group known for their fondness for Hawaiian print (because "Big Luau" is one of their special secred code words) and their desire to push society towards a second Civil War. Some of them want a full on race war, others just want to overthrow the government because they think it is doing tyranny to them. They have been kicked off of most parts of the internet and, thankfully, have not been heard from much since the January 6 insurrection.

The Booglaoo Bois are not the only far-right group in the news right now. The El Mirage Police Department announced this week that Thomas Christopher Retzlaff, was murdered earlier this month. Retzlaff had allegedly been targeted for "a surveillance and assassination plot" by Jason Van Dyke. a former Proud Boy who previously represented the group as an attorney.

Via Phoenix New Times:

On September 1, 2021, El Mirage Police Department officers discovered 55-year-old Thomas Christopher Retzlaff dead at his home with unspecified "fatal injuries" after responding to a welfare check requested by his wife, according to agency spokesperson Timothy Mason. The Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner later ruled the death a homicide.

In recent years, Retzlaff had been entangled in a vicious and convoluted legal battle with Jason Van Dyke, a Texas-based attorney who is a former Proud Boys member and once served as the group's lawyer.

Van Dyke filed a $100 million libel lawsuit in federal court in 2018 accusing Retzlaff of falsely calling him a Nazi and a pedophile in blog posts. Retzlaff had also filed bar complaints against Van Dyke in an attempt to derail his potential job as a prosecutor in the Victoria County District Attorney's Office, according to a report by The Daily Beast.

After leaving the Proud Boys, Van Dyke allegedly tried and failed to join the Neo-Nazi extremist group The Base last year, although he denies he is the person who sounds just like him and shares many of his personal details in a recording obtained by VICE.

Van Dyke says he has not been associated with the group for more than two years and had nothing to do with Retzlaff's death, although he did celebrate his death with whiskey and steak, according to The Daily Beast.

[beardedmrbean]

The mother of a 16-year-old girl allegedly beaten to death by security forces during protests in Iran has spoken of her continuing heartache.

In an exclusive interview that appears in a BBC documentary, Nasrin Shakarami says she "cannot forget for a second" what happened to her daughter Nika.

Nasrin was speaking to actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi, who fled Iran in 2008.

Nasrin also rejects authorities' claims about the deaths of protestors: "We all know that they are lying."

Nika's was one of the most high-profile deaths during protests in late 2022.

The protests have continued since then, though have become much less intense due to a bloody crackdown by security forces.

The unrest began after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who died after she was detained by morality police in the capital for allegedly violating Iran's strict rules requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab, or headscarf.

Four days after Mahsa died, Nika was filmed at a protest in Tehran setting fire to her headscarf.

Videos posted online show Nika standing on a dumpster as she did so, while others are heard chanting "death to the dictator" - a reference to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In her interview with Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Nasrin says: "Nika was concerned about the injustice and discrimination towards Iranians. She used to think about it a lot.

"She was extremely adventurous and fearless. I was always worried about how bold she was. I was always afraid that something would happen to her."

Nasrin says she called Nika that day and could hear protesters around her.

The interview appears in a documentary, Inside the Iranian Uprising, alongside 350 clips from 100 hours of film, shot and uploaded by young Iranians.

Footage shot on 20 September shows Nika throwing rocks in the direction of the police. Another clip recorded that evening shows Nika still at the protest taking cover behind a car.

She disappeared after telling a friend during a phone conversation just before midnight that she was being chased by police.

One eyewitness told CNN last year that she saw Nika being taken into custody at a protest by "several large-bodied plainclothes security officers" who bundled her into a car.

That night Nika's Instagram and Telegram accounts were deleted. Her family began to search for her and asked the authorities to help, but Nasrin says: "No one was giving us any answers."

The family said they eventually located her body at the Kahrizak mortuary on 30 September and that they were only allowed by officials to see her face for a few seconds in order to identify her.

Nika's maternal aunt, Atash, said in early October that officers from Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards told her that Nika was in their custody for five days and then handed over to prison authorities.

A death certificate issued by a cemetery in Tehran, which was obtained by BBC Persian, states that Nika died after suffering "multiple injuries caused by blows with a hard object".

The authorities denied any wrongdoing and made inconsistent statements about her fate.

The Iranian government did not respond to the BBC's request for comment for the documentary.

State TV broadcast a video purporting to show Nika returning home after the protests. Prosecutors went on to say that she had later jumped or been pushed off a building.

Iran's Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says more than 530 protesters have been killed, including 71 children, and almost 20,000 more have been detained in a violent crackdown by security forces, which have portrayed the protests as foreign-instigated "riots".

Seven protesters have also been executed following what a UN expert has called "arbitrary, summary and sham trials marred by torture allegations". Dozens more have reportedly been sentenced to death or charged with capital offences.

"They are not taking responsibility for killing her nor telling us who did it," Nasrin says. "They are not pursuing the case. To whom should we complain?"

Nasrin has previously said Nika's aunt, who made a video statement while in detention in which she said her niece "was killed falling from a building" had been "forced... to make these confessions".

In the interview with Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Nasrin says: "I am a mother and I loved Nika infinitely. She was the love of my life. Losing a child like Nika is a tragedy.

"I personally have a lot of respect for Nika's bravery and free spirit. I believe that we are living in a specific point in history where such events are needed."

From the moment Nika was born, Nasrin realised that she had an "extraordinary energy", she says.

"I cannot forget for a second what has happened to Nika," Nasrin adds. "Even in my dreams I beg her to come and talk to me.

"I only have one hope… that the blood of our children doesn't get trampled upon."

[dontasktheradiodemon]

❌ Okay, all right, this is my fault, I left the computer unguarded.

❌ I'm only logged into this account on my phone and on the computer. I've got my phone with me. Alastor has allegedly been away from the computer, but okay, I admit I haven't been monitoring it 100% of the time. MAYBE he's been teleporting in and out when I haven't been looking? That's the only logical explanation for how he's posting.

❌ But the point of putting me in charge of the blog was not letting him into it unmonitored. He's been posting by himself for, what, a couple of hours now?? And he's already teaching sinners how to commit temporary suicide via Everclear alcohol poisoning.

❌ SO. I've logged out on the computer. We didn't give him the email and password to this account so he's not gonna log back in by himself. Which means the only way he's getting back on the blog is through my phone, which is with me.

❌ Hey, Alastor, fucking congrats on FINALLY learning how to use a computer and immediately losing the privilege.

[arizonaconservativegal]

Hi, I was wondering if you could explain to a non-American what is happening/has happened with this whole impeachment stuff? I’ve tried looking through new reports, but they’re all heavily left-wing biased.

Ah heck, I really haven't been following it because there is zero chance they are going to remove the president but I'll do my best. Also I apologize if this is over explained but I'm not sure if it's the process you're confused about or the details of this specific case so I'm going to try to explain both.

Alright so Congress is made up of two bodies of elected officials, the House of Representatives and the Senate. The president is entirely separate from Congress, but the two oversee each other. Impeachment is one of Congress's options for handling a president who has violated his oath of office and it functions a little like a criminal trial.

The House of Representatives investigates and determines if there is enough evidence to suggest there might have been a crime (kind of like how a grand jury would decide if a case would move to an actual trial). They hold investigative hearings and call witnesses to help them determine if a crime has been committed and if so, what that crime was. This has been going on for several weeks now and if you hear the term "impeachment inquiry," this is what it refers to.

The House then draws up the Articles of Impeachment, which you can think of as an indictment in a criminal trial. They lay out all of the charges the president is facing and a simple majority (50% plus one) must approve each of them. This vote happened last week.

In this case, Trump is facing charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Allegedly, he abused his power by threatening to withhold aid from Ukraine if they did not investigate a political rival (Joe Biden) and he may have obstructed Congress by instructing his staff not to comply with Congressional subpoenas.

If I can insert my own commentary here, these charges are excuses rather than reasons for impeachment. House Democrats have been looking for anything they can possibly use against Trump since before he was even inaugurated. This whole thing is flimsy at best and a mockery of our constitution with unconsidered consequences at worst.

Once the House votes to approve the Articles of Impeachment, the president is officially considered "impeached" but not yet removed from office. The paperwork is sent over to the Senate where the president will stand trial and it is up to the Senate to determine if the president should be convicted and "sentenced" to removal from office. This requires a two-thirds majority vote of the Senate. I should note that although this functions like a criminal trial, it is not technically a true criminal trial so if the president is convicted, he could still face actual criminal charges and potential jail time later on after he has been removed from office.

The hang up right now is that the House of Representatives is controlled by the Democrats who hate the president, but the Senate is controlled by the Republicans who are generally more fond of the president because he is also a Republican. The House has voted to approve the Articles of Impeachment, but they are currently refusing to deliver the documents to the Senate because the president's allies there are not likely to convict him.

I have to be honest, I have no idea if the House Democrats will be able to avoid delivering those papers to the Senate and I'm not really clear on what happens if the Senate never officially receives them. As far as I know, this has never happened before. I'm actually more interested in how that piece of the fight plays out than anything else so far.

But if the Senate trial does get started, Mitch McConnell (as the head of the majority party in the Senate) gets to decide what happens next. And if there is one thing you should know about Mitch McConnell it is that he is one devious son of a bitch and he knows every single Senate rule backwards and forwards and isn't afraid to exploit them especially if he feels the Democrats have already been playing unfairly. I have to say I respect and fear him immensely for it.

So basically there are two options for McConnell once he receives the paperwork:

#1: he can table it in favor of working on more pressing matters and the entire thing stalls. No hearings are held, no votes are taken, no one is removed from office. Trump is still technically impeached but who cares because nothing ever comes of it (at least until the Democrats take control of the Senate but let's be honest, if they manage that in 2020, Trump's done for anyway)

Or #2: he can proceed to trial. I think he will pick this route. There are very few rules in a Senate impeachment trial. McConnell gets to call any witness he likes, bar anyone from testifying that he wants (which is something the Democrats already did on the House side so you can bet McConnell feels this is a completely fair strategy at this point), ask any questions he wants, and drag the whole thing out as long as he pleases. Sure, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court gets to preside over the whole circus, but that guy is a Republican too so I wouldn't count on him to be much help to the Democrats.

Now the thing to remember here is that Democrats currently have 5 presidential candidates who are members of the Senate, plus Joe Biden who is very much at the center of all the allegations against Trump. So McConnell can tie up every single one of these people in months and months of hearings during election season, meaning they can't be out on the campaign trail. In fact, federal law prohibits them from doing any campaign activities while on the premises. No fundraising calls, no strategy meetings with staff, no checking email even. Nothing. They can grandstand as much as McConnell lets them during the trial, but it's not like C-SPAN is a popular channel these days. Every hour he has these guys in a hearing is an hour that is completely wasted for them during the most critical point in their campaign.

But there is something else here. Joe Biden is looking at least as guilty as Donald Trump in all of this. There is not a single thing to prohibit McConnell from calling ol' Joe and even Hunter Biden to testify. Defying his subpoena would be Obstruction of Congress (the very same thing Trump is charged with). If they do respond to a subpoena and testify, any crime they implicate themselves in would be fair game for a criminal trial. They would have little choice but to plead the fifth (constitutional protection against self-incrimination) and how do you think that would look to American voters? "Uh sorry, I can't answer that because it will make me look really guilty..."

If this thing ever came to a vote in the Senate (and that is a big if), a two-thirds majority would be required to convinct and remove the president from office. Two-thirds of the Senate is 67 Senators out of 100. There is no separate vote to acquit. If the vote to convinct fails to get the necessary 67 votes, the president is automatically considered acquitted and gets to stay in office.

The current Senate is made up of 45 Democrats, 53 Republicans and 2 Independents (although I think one of those two is Bernie Sanders who is running for president as a Democrat). Even if Democrats managed to pull a couple of Republican votes to their side, they wouldn't come close to that magic number of 67.

But just for fun, let's pretend this is Democrat Fantasy World and they do get 67 votes. What happens next? The US Constitution says that the president is then removed from office and the vice president takes his place. Which means Mike Pence would be the president. Mike Pence, the only person Democrats fear more than Trump because he is far more conservative and actually knows how to get things done in government. By the way, it's late enough in Trump's term that Pence could serve out the remaining few months of this term, run for the seat in 2020, and then run for re-election again in 2024 (constitution technically says a president may serve 10 years, this would put him at about 9). Do you hear that sound? That is the sound of me laughing until my sides hurt because if this happens, Democrats will have no one to blame but themselves.

Oh and if they want to impeach Pence too? The entire process starts over. Good luck guys.

TL;DR: Congress got tired of actually doing its job and decided to waste a lot of time and resources on a dog and pony show. Nothing is actually going to come of it.