#those who monitored his trial determined that he's special

[reginrokkr]

◜The adults then asked, "Did you see it, then?" Perhaps it was the fear brought on by the darkness combined with hunger and exhaustion, but Perinheri did indeed see an illusion. The crimson moon, hanging high in the pitch-dark night sky, suddenly turned around, revealing itself to be a titanic, horrified eye. The adults opened the door and embraced the soot-covered Perinheri: "You have traversed the fire of two worlds within the hearth, and here you are reborn."◞

— Perinheri (I).

𝐂𝐂𝐗𝐕𝐈𝐈. With the revelation of what Ronova looks like (or at least, the way she presents herself to others that we've seen), I couldn't help but wonder if these two matters are connected. Considering the striking resemblance that would be between a moon with a gigantic eye and Ronova, in combination to her knowledge of what it was being done to Khaenri'ah and that she's the one responsible for the curse of immortality that pure blood Khaenri'ahns bear, it remains well within the realm of possibilities. Furthermore, the crimson skies may as well be an accurate depiction of what Khaenri'ah was facing during the Crimson Moon dynasty, as it was also seen within the realm Arlecchino dragged Aether and others from the House of Hearth for their fight.

[technowoah]

Stuck In a Room

Its hard to be funny while stuck in your room.

- Tommy innit x platonic reader

- OOC Tommy (out of character)

- the first one in my huge special masterlist.

Now playing...

Look Who's Inside Again.

(Stuck In a Room)

Bo Burnham

0:01 ─●──────── 3:29

⚠︎ swearing, angst, confusing feelings, not proofread. Thats it :)

Part of my Inside Special!

"Trying to be funny and stuck in a room

There isn't much more to say about it"

He sat at his desk just staring at the computer screen infront of him. His room was dark only for his LED lights and his multiple computer screens. Tommy had his phone on his desk with jokes typed on it. He couldn't find the fuel to turn on his stream and joke around. He had made a video today with Wilbur and Tubbo with some scripted jokes that didn't land well, well at least he didn't think so.

He was always in his room. It was hard to find inspiration through the internet. There's no one to laugh, there's no one to react. Tommy was struggling, he felt unproductive in his room he felt stuck in his chair unable to leave it only when his mother calls him for dinner.

"Can one be funny when stuck in a room?

Being in, trying to get something out of it"

He was happy with what he did, it's becoming a safe haven a place away from the outside world. He has friends and a family online, but he also has friends and family in real life. The world is fucked up, but the internet can be also. The internet laughed, well at least he thinks they do, when he makes a joke. He had a couple of friends who thought he was funny in real life. One of them was currently downstairs with his parents. It was his fault for saying he was going to stream 10 minutes ago and never started streaming.

Tommy felt bad letting his close friend talk to his parents when in reality they came for him. Right now he couldn't get anything out of, he couldn't get that joke right, he couldn't find his rhythm in this space in this situation he put himself in and couldn't get out of. Tommy wasnt going to let himself go until he got what he wanted.

"Try making faces

Try telling jokes, making little sounds.

Uggg!"

He still stared at the jokes written on his phone and wondered what else he could do in this atmosphere. Comedians had their stage, or even a director and a film set to work on. And Tommy had three monitors a microphone with no live audience. Was it worth being here and trying so hard to make people laugh? Was it worth blowing off his friend to chicken out of streaming to try and get his work corrected.

This was a thing he loved, he loved making faces, telling jokes, and seeing people's reactions. He tried that so much that it became a routine for him, trying different things to joke around and through trial and error he found out slowly what they liked, but it was hard to tell with the usual people who hated his content and the people who watched every upload.

Sometimes the videos, the jokes, the faces didn't even see the light of day and are either left in a folder or sent to his friend who he trusted with his content.

There were days he didn't want to stream, nor make videos. He just wanted things to himself. It was cliche, but a bunch of jokes were written down in his notebooks and anywhere he could write them down. He then kept those jokes to himself, they had no use for what he was doing with YouTube now, maybe they will see the light one day.

"I was a kid who was stuck in his room

There isn't much more to say about it"

Tommy knew he wanted to do this for the longest. He was stuck in his room watching his inspirations and trying to find his own path. That's why he made his first channel, he was always in this spot. He was determined to be where he was now, and he still sat in the same spot. Hes in the same predicament. There's nothing much to say about it.

"When you're a kid and you're stuck in your room

You'll do any old shit to get out of it

Try making faces

Try telling jokes, making little sounds"

He seemed normal back then, Tommy remembered back to his past and thought he was normal. He went to school, hung out with friends, came home, did his homework, ate, and only worked for a small bit of time on his videos. Later on he started working on YouTube videos later at night and not getting much sleep for school. The weekends were all-nighters, he became more invested in YouTube so all he did was that and school.

Tommy hated staying still, he moved around his room, went outside. Now he never went outside unless needed he to. Unless his friends wanted to.

Tommy joked around with his parents, to try and go places when he couldn't drive. Tried to convince his parents by making faces, jokes, and little sounds to annoy them into finally taking him to where he wanted to go.

Now these things were adored or hated by many of his fans. Tommy always if he kept his jokes to himself and tried a different approach to comedy or entertainment.

"Well, well

Look who's inside again

Went out to look for a reason to hide again"

His fans knew alot, they knew he was hiding from the internet, they knew he went looking for another way only to be found back in this chair with the "Go Live" button taunting him.

Tommy knew he was hiding from the world. He was hiding from his friend downstairs, but he sat here knowing that his fans wanted more, they wanted Tommyinnit. They knew he was inside, they knew he was dormant, they wanted content. Tommy had to get his groove back, his jokes back to get his confidence back to stream.

"Well, well

Buddy, you found it"

For Tommy it was hard to explain, but he felt unproductive, unmotivated, but now he had it. He had jokes, he had motivation and hopefully it wont go away for him and his fans. Tommy finally moved his mouse and clicked on that button satisfying the wishes and making his feelings even more complicated and his guilt subside.

You walked up to Tommy's door to knock softly, but you had gotton no response. You tried again, but the same thing happened.

"Tommy?" You slightly yelled enough for him to hear behind the door, but not loud enough for his parents to complain.

"Tommy!" You yelled and knocked again trying to get your friend to get out of his room.

It's been a while and you havent heard an "I'M LIVE!" or "DONT COME IN IM STREAMING!" from him yet.

You assumed he wasn't streaming or he wasn't even talking during the stream. You slowly pushed open the door, but something stopped you from going inside.

"WELCOME TO THE STREAM BOYS!"

You closed the door and went back down the stairs.

"Is he streaming, honey?" His mom asked.

"Yeah, he is." You said somberly.

"Now, come out with your hands up

We've got you surrounded."

Taglist: @annshit

[tiramisiyu]

【未定事件簿】Tears of Themis: Main Story 5-35 Translation

--

Translated parts: Chapter 5 – Sounds of Falling Snow (Part 1, 2, 3): 5-1 / 5-3 / 5-5 / 5-7 / 5-9 / 5-11 / 5-13 ♦️ ♦️  5-14 / 5-16 / 5-18 / 5-20 / 5-22 / 5-24 / 5-26 / 5-28 ♦️ ♦️ 5-29 / 5-31 / 5-33 / 5-35 / 5-37 / 5-39 / 5-40 / 5-42 / 5-43

Translation Masterlist: here

Video: (28:22) https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV15a4y1j7CW?

CEO’s Office

At 10:00 AM, the Stellis News Website chief editor, Liu Hao, arrived at Pax Financial Group’s headquarters.

Though Pax’s CEO was definitely a prominent figure, Liu Hao had met with people all over the world. He didn’t feel any caution.

Liu Hao: CEO Lu, hello.

Lu Jinghe: Chief Editor Liu has arrived. Please sit.

Lu Jinghe: What does Chief Editor Liu want to drink? Wen Chen, prepare something for our guest.

Liu Hao: No need, no need, CEO Lu is too courteous.

Lu Jinghe: That’s fine then, my time is tight, so I won’t be polite with you. Let’s talk about serious matters.

Lu Jinghe: Pax is currently considering fourth-quarter advertising circulation. We want to work with more stylish media.

Lu Jinghe: Traditional platforms tend to conform too much with social norms. They don’t match Pax’s determination to be enterprising with innovation.

Lu Jinghe: Recently, I saw the Stellis News Website’s interview with Heirson general manager Qin Shan, and felt that your platform is pretty good.

Lu Jinghe: I was wondering if Chief Editor Liu has any intentions to collaborate.

Liu Hao: Your words really are too courteous. It would be our pleasure to collaborate with Pax.

Lu Jinghe: I heard the media department’s people reported that Stellis News Website’s gold-level advertising space has already been booked for Heirson?

Liu Hao: Heirson’s collaboration with us should be ending this month.

Liu Hao: If Pax has the intention to, you can bid against Heirson for the position in the fourth quarter.

Lu Jinghe: I thought Chief Editor Liu was an educated person. Compared to doing business with sales and purchases, you must be more of an expert in creating writing.

Lu Jinghe: I didn’t think that you also have such skill in calculation.

Seeming to have been alerted that Lu Jinghe was unhappy, Liu Hao was slightly agitated, his smiling expression slightly stiff. 

Liu Hao: Bidding is a typical process. Though I am the chief editor of Stellis News Website, some things aren’t up to me.

Lu Jinghe: That is true. When discussing business, one indeed should not seek the chief editor to do so.

Lu Jinghe: In fact, discussing business was just secondary when I specially invited you here today.

Liu Hao: Then you are…?

Lu Jinghe: Pax Financial Group has continuously been rapidly expanding our biopharmaceuticals. In the recent two years, we’ve been looking at Heirson with the intention of buying shares.

Lu Jinghe: I’ve looked up all the business’s information that I need to look up – but I’m the kind of person who looks more at the person themselves when seeking to collaborate with them. 

Lu Jinghe: So I wanted to find you, Chief Editor Liu, to understand this Qin Shan person. 

Lu Jinghe: If Chief Editor Liu can help me with this, then naturally, Pax will not find another platform for our advertisements.

Liu Hao: Qin Shan and I actually do have some private interactions. Otherwise, with his business so busy every day, how could I have made an appointment for an interview?

Liu Hao: CEO Lu, feel free to ask about whatever you want to understand.

Lu Jinghe: Last year, that water pollution matter of Heirson stirred up a fairly large amount of trouble. At that time, I didn’t pay attention, and I heard that it got to the point of a lawsuit.

Lu Jinghe: Apparently it was a reporter from your news site who wrote a falsified news article slandering others. What exactly was the situation with this matter?

Lu Jinghe: If Heirson really has a record of environmental pollution, then Pax will definitely not work with them.

Liu Hao: You’re asking about this matter.

When it involved his own platform’s “scandal”, Liu Hao was somewhat awkward.

Liu Hao: For this matter, Heirson really was innocent. Those two news reports were falsified by one of the reporters on our platform, Kong Moli.

Liu Hao: In that case, it was clearly Rainbow River Village’s paper mill that polluted the water. But if we were to report that, this kind of news wouldn’t attract much attention.

Liu Hao: Kong Moli just wanted to garner views, so she deliberately wrote that the source of the pollution came from the Heirson’s laboratory.

Liu Hao: Ah, it was also that my reviews weren’t strict. From the beginning I really thought that she had dug up major news…

Lu Jinghe: So it was like this all along.

Lu Jinghe: To be able to have Heirson, a large company, litigate a little reporter - looks like this matter created large losses for Heirson at the time.

Lu Jinghe: But I saw on the financial reports that last year, in the third quarter, Heirson’s profits were increasing rapidly. This sure is strange.

Liu Hao: Though looking at it at that time, it was a scandal that negatively impacted the company’s reputation, it still let more people know about Heirson.

Liu Hao: This is also the use of us media. When one report comes out, sometimes it’s very hard to say whether it’s bad luck or a blessing.

Lu Jinghe: I saw that at the beginning of fourth quarter last year, Heirson started to work with you in depth.

Lu Jinghe: Looking at it like this, that Kong Moli was basically generating income for your platform.

Lu Jinghe: Chief Editor Liu, you must remember to give her a promotion.

Liu Hao looked surprised. It was clear that he hadn’t thought that Lu Jinghe would actually arrive at this kind of conclusion.

Liu Hao: Does CEO Lu not know? Kong Moli is already dead.

Lu Jinghe: How could I have known. What happened to her? Sickness, or an accident?

Liu Hao: It was an accident. She got in a car crash.

Lu Jinghe: I heard that being in a media occupation makes it very easy to get people to remember and hate you, to invite retaliation.

Lu Jinghe: If she was all fine and well, how could she have gotten into a car crash? Could it be from Heirson…

Liu Hao: No no, CEO Lu, you’re overthinking. Heirson did sue Kong Moli for causing harm to their commercial reputation, but they just defended their rights as needed.

Liu Hao: Even if there were people who wanted to get revenge, it would be that witness called Qiu Heng who would want revenge. 

Lu Jinghe: Qiu Heng? Who?

Liu Hao: He’s a researcher who does environmental evaluations. Kong Moli paid up to have him make a fake report to frame Heirson.

Liu Hao: This matter was noticed by Heirson’s lawyers. Qiu Heng retracted his testimony in trial, so the court judged that Kong Moli had lost the case.

Lu Jinghe: Then why would this Qiu Heng hurt Kong Moli? It doesn’t make sense.

Liu Hao: I wouldn’t know about this.

Liu Hao: I guessed it was Qiu Heng because the platform’s office building garage monitoring system shot him on camera.

Liu Hao: Before Kong Moli got in the accident, Qiu Heng had appeared in the area around the car. The security guard even specially made a report to upstairs. 

Liu Hao: Although, at that time – maybe it was because he noticed the security cameras – Qiu Heng didn’t do anything before leaving.

Liu Hao: This is what I foolishly pondered after I heard that Kong Moli had died from a car accident.

Lu Jinghe: You knew there was someone who was conspiring illegally against Kong Moli, yet you didn’t warn her?

Lu Jinghe suddenly stopped smiling. His whole body changed demeanor, exuding an imposing manner.

Liu Hao was subsequently confused, but he still unconsciously became agitated.

Liu Hao: Th-this… Because of the fake news, at that time the platform already planned to expel Kong Moli, so…

Lu Jinghe: Expelled because of fake news. Hah.

Lu Jinghe: We won’t talk first about whether the Rainbow River water’s pollution really was related to Heirson. First, you can explain this picture.

Wen Chen, who was holding a file folder and standing on the side, placed a photo in front of Liu Hao after he heard Lu Jinghe’s words.

This photo seemed to be from an automatic road monitor. The time that the picture was taken was last year, August 30.

In the picture, Liu Hao and Qin Shan were standing at the doorway of a high-level meeting, chatting very happily.

Outside of the foreground, a white SUV was parked on the roadside. The license plate number could be clearly seen.

Liu Hao: …

Lu Jinghe: VD3F046. You must recognize this car.

Liu Hao: I don’t recognize it…

Lu Jinghe: This is Kong Moli’s car!

Lu Jinghe: You simultaneously took Qin Shan’s money and waited for Kong Moli’s lawsuit results.

Lu Jinghe: If Kong Moli won the case then Stellis News Website’s reputation would be great. Naturally, you wouldn’t be short on benefits.

Lu Jinghe: If Kong Moli lost, and Qin Shan won…

Lu Jinghe: Then even if it’s for media PR, Heirson will still spend even more money on Stellis News Website, or on you.

Lu Jinghe: Earlier, what I said about Chief Editor Liu having skill in calculation was right.  You really were benefitting from both sides, profiting without loss.

Liu Hao: I, I…

Lu Jinghe: But this kind of matter can be done but not said. If this were spread out for everyone to know, then your name can be considered destroyed.

Lu Jinghe: But so unfortunately, your meeting with Qin Shan was noticed by Kong Moli.

Lu Jinghe: Using the accusation of “making up falsified news” to expel Kong Moli, having Kong Moli lose her believability, was just the first step.

Lu Jinghe: Did you also think about having Kong Moli get into a little accident and completely disappearing from this world?

Lu Jinghe: You didn’t tell Kong Moli that someone had tampered with the car, to have someone else do the dirty work for you and reap the benefits after.

Liu Hao: Lu Jinghe, do not spit blood at others!

Lu Jinghe: Spit blood at others? Are you even suited to use this phrase?

Lu Jinghe: The matters that you yourself have spit blood at others over – are they few?

Lu Jinghe: Exactly whether Kong Moli was making up false news – were you really not sure?

Lu Jinghe: Alright, let’s go back one step – you really did believe that what Kong Moli said was false.

Lu Jinghe: Then, should you not apologize to and pay compensation to Heirson, as a company whose commercial reputation was harmed due to your platform’s news reports?

Lu Jinghe: When you took Qin Shan’s money, did you not feel guilty?

Lu Jinghe: Making use of the effect that media has on the masses, ignoring the truth for your personal gain! What face have you to call yourself a news worker!

Lu Jinghe tossed the file folder from Wen Chen’s hands, letting it fall on the coffee table. The documents inside were shaken out. 

They were Liu Hao’s expenditure records at the luxury goods shop under Pax’s banner. The total amount of expenditures exceeded Liu Hao’s annual income by far.

Lu Jinghe: Liu Hao, have you declared the luxury goods that you bought with this money as taxable?

Lu Jinghe: If I were to continue to investigate, would I be able to find out that the source of this money is Heirson’s or Qin Shan’s personal bank account?

Frozen stiff, Liu Hao sat on the sofa. Cold sweat rolled off his forehead.

He was trembling. He didn’t dare to look at those documents, and he didn’t dare to respond to Lu Jinghe’s questions.

Lu Jinghe: Liu Hao, I can tell you now with certainty that I did not call you here today as Pax’s executive CEO.

Lu Jinghe: I am Kong Moli’s friend. I will investigate into clarity exactly how she died.

Liu Hao: But CEO Lu, I really did not harm her.

Lu Jinghe: Yes, you indeed did not participate in the murder. You are just a bystander of this murder case.

Lu Jinghe: You ignored it, indulged in the event of this murder case. You even enjoyed the resulting benefits.

Liu Hao: I, I…

Lu Jinghe: Indeed, the legal system has no way of convicting you, but this does not mean that you will not pay the price for this.

Lu Jinghe: I will send this evidence to the Stellis News Website’s Board of Directors.  You can experience the things you once did to Kong Moli.

Lu Jinghe: But what will be different is that no one will help you right any wrongs.

--

Stellis City Police Station

After meeting with Qiu Heng, I went straight to see Wang Han.

Having gone through a night of trouble, Wang Han was far from having the dignity from yesterday, when we first met.

After seeing me, none of that exaggerated fake laughter appeared again.

MC: Wang Han, you…

I was about to start asking when Lu Jinghe’s message was sent over.

“Stellis News Website chief editor Liu Hao did receive Heirson’s money, but he didn’t participate in Kong Moli’s murder.”

“I found out about something interesting. You might be able to use it – check out your inbox.”

MC: (We can exclude Liu Hao from the list of suspects’ names…)

If one doesn’t break the law, can we truly say that they are innocent?

This kind of thought flashed in my head, but at this moment, I didn’t have the strength to mull this hard question over… 

I opened the inbox, noticing that what Lu Jinghe had sent over was Heirson’s detailed financial report.

In the contents, Wang Han’s name was written impressively among the dividend details. Plus, this dividend was from before three years ago!

MC: (Though compared to other shareholders, Wang Han’s dividend can be disregarded…)

MC: (But his name being on here is sufficient to indicate problems!)

[Got Heirson’s Dividend Details!]

[the-goddessfighter]

[Werewolf-Vampire AU -SEQUEL V: The Trial of Elders Court- ]

by : Little1993lamb for: Temperans-sama / @the-goddessfighter Words count : 2504 Warning : incorrect potrayal of court trial, douchebag Amai Mask in action (yes, that's warning)  

Disclaimer: Gaman, the Batarou love child, is Original Character created by amazing @the-goddessfighter. Not mine, I just borrowed him temporarily for this story at her permission ;D

 @koeharu @metalbatandzenko @dies-first @beautifulnightmareus @guppys-paw @ruby-ess

- V -

So, in this court room, the trial were attempted by the Judges, the Prosecutors, the Witness, and the Spectators. The Judges consists of Elders Vampires who come from royal family clan, the highest strata in all vampire clans, are neutral so they wont be siding to both parties. The Prosecutors are come from various vampire clans, some of them are still devoted to Amai's family clan thus they helped him to frame Badd into coming to this trial. The Witness is Zenko, Badd's only one remained family member who comes from the same vampire family clan, also who knows the details of Badd's life and could help Badd for winning his trial. The Spectators are consists of so many vampire clans, like some pureblood vampire clans which also included Amai's own family members, some neutral and ordinary vampire clans, and a few of them are from royal family vampire clans who also wanted to watch Badd's trial.

The Judges was entrusted with deciding Badd's fate using one judging criteria, which is Pros vs. Cons, whether something is beneficial or not to vampire race communities. If he convinced of the latter, they'll dispose of Badd without hesitation, right then and there. The trial is for deciding Badd's fate about whether he lives or dies, because he was accused as a traitor to vampire communities. Zenko didn't want Badd to die, but unfortunately there are many amongst vampire clans that fear Badd's power and influences as co-leader of werewolf packs. Badd entered the court room, handcuffed and restrained in the middle of the room, kneeled down in frontvof the Judges, the Prosecutors, and the Spectators. Zenko was here among the Spectators.

The trial begins. The Judges started the conversation with a greeting to Badd firstly. Then they confirmation of Badd identity as one of the remained tame vampire clan member, who's also a Fighter Vampire which is a special inherited trait from tame vampire clan throughout time. The Judges asked if all of it are accurate or not. Badd said yes, those are accurate. The Judges said this was an unprecedented case about the violation on Vampire Codes, which is for committing a relationship with the enemy. The final decision being left entirely to the Judges, as they shall deciding whether Badd will lives but heavily supervised or dies at the public execution.

The Judges asked if Badd had any objections about it, Badd said he doesn't. Hearing Badd's cooperated answer, they glad he's quick on the uptake. As expected, trying to hide Badd from the vampire communities is impossible, especially as a co-leader of infamous werewolf packs and also a Mate of the other pack leader. That facts alone made people feared it will threathen the vampire order because he did treason acts to them: betraying their own kind. The Judges let the Prosecutors to deliver their statement.

The Prosecutors proposed that after observing and monitoring all of Badd's activities as werewolf packs' co-leader, they will dispose of Badd in a prompt manner. It can't be denied that Badd's power as a Fighter Vampire could help or benefits the vampire communities. However, his existence is also a source of discord that can incite rebellion. Therefore, after having him impart all of the information he can provide about his packs' and the werewolf tribes' informations, they'll have him die as a sacrifice to warn people so they wont do the same treachery thing like what he did. After hearing the Prosecutors' statement, the Judges let Zenko, the De Charge Witness, to deliver her statement.

Zenko proposed that they could use his power as Fighter Vampire to help maintain the security of royal family, also they could use his leadership ability as co-leader werewolf packs as a sort of peacemaker between vampire race and werewolf tribes. As people know from their ancestors' history, tame vampire clan were known for always become royal family's strongest guards through the time before extinction, as only them who could inherited their "Fighting Spirit" to their descendants. And because currently Badd is the only one who possess "Fighting Spirit" in him, it'll be their loss if people wanted to execute Badd right there.

About the peacemaker thing, Badd could use his leadership and diplomacy skills to become an ambassador or a conciliator between vampire race and werewolf tribes. Because he knows more about werewolf world and could understand them better than any vampire could do, it'll be the right choice if they assign Badd into these positions.

Hearing Zenko's plead statements, the Judges asked Badd to confirm, can he contribute to vampire communities as he has thus far, and will utilize his abilities to the same end. Badd answered that he absolutely can, and will do his best to carry the mandate. Amused, the Judges continued to speak that they wondering if Badd is being honest or not. Because in the case reports, it said that, "Not only betrayed and violate the Vampire Codes for commiting a forbidden relationship with a sworn enemy, he also birthed a child who was born from that relationship". Zenko knows it must be Amai's doing behind this, that he's thebone who wrote those report to the Elders.The Judges asked Zenko the Witness if it's true or not. Zenko answered yes, Badd has a child from his relationship with his Mate. But she told them that Badd has a normal family life despite the differences between him and his Mate, never ever he indoctrinated his child into hating any person or people, never teached his child as an aggressor but only gives him a lesson to defend himself. Also Badd always keep his family, never attack first unless he was being attacked or he's in self defense. He's already doing the best as he could as a loving and caring Mate, so it should be absolutely no problem if he has a love child from his Mate. Zenko asked the Judges to take these facts into consideration as well.

There's an objection coming from Amai Mask himself, he said that he believes her testimony contains too much bias to be considered. Amai explained that a child who's born from a vampire and a werewolf must be some hybrid-kind that are not considered normal by vampire standart. Moreover, the child would have many characteristics that was inherited from their werewolf parent. He's afraid that someday the hybrid child will following their parents path to be a traitor and destroying the vampire order with his other parent's tribe.

One of the Prosecutor added Amai's statement by confirming that Badd along with his Mate and his whole family showed an aggression towards a spesific vampire clan, which is Amai's family. So they asked, how this group of werewolf+vampire family can be trusted to protect the vampire communities if he's fighting his own race himself. This caused a ruckus among Spectators, wondering if they can trusted Badd's or Zenko's testimony. Finally Amai Mask hit the last nail of coffin for Badd's patience by being an absolute heartless douchebag, saying that Badd's hybrid child must be an illegitimate child and a monster, come from the impure lineage which was werewolf race.

What Amai had said really put Badd in furious state. How dare he talks about Gaman that way?! His dearly baby boy, his pure and innocent child, his own blood and flesh that was created by the love he has with Garou, his little ball of sunshine who becomes a new hope in the family, and never once hurts a thing in his life. And that bastard have a gut to say that Gaman is a monster?! It's unforgivable!!

Badd quicky retaliated back by shouting to all spectators that he might be a monster for being a traitor, a disgrace of family clan by being mated with sworn enemy, but it has nothing to do with his son. He's an innocent! Also, his son is not an illegitimate child because he's officially married with his Mate already. He told Amai to stop the cruel accusation for his son. The Prosecutors joined Amai accused him by saying Badd was trying to cover his child because it's true that he's indeed a monster. Badd denied it immediately, insist to answer that is not true at all!

Furious at maximum force, he nearly activated his Fighting Spirit if only he wasn't being restrained or starved for blood. He said so far, all of them was wrong, only blurting out convenient speculation for his child as they please. To begin with, they never ever seen how his child is in reality before, so why are they so insisted to accuse him for what he's never done? He's just an ordinary normal child who's grown up from a caring and well-educated family also only taught on self-defense skills, so he will never be an aggressor to another people.

Badd couldn't hold his rage anymore at the mention of Gaman being refered as illegitimate child or a monster, or that he'll endangered vampire order. He wanted to spill the truth of his past on this court, something that he knew Amai's family clan covered from Vampire Council and the communities for so long. Already decided his life choice, with a fiery determination he begins to speak. Badd begins his speech about the massacre that happened upon his family clan in vampire hunters' hand. But the real truth is, the event was actually orchestrated by Amai's own pureblood family clan, who's spread false rumour about Badd's family and made sure the rumour was being heard by vampire hunters in their territory.

So in other words, Amai's family clan was responsible for the whole massacre event to exterminate all tame vampire family clan. They also made sure nobody in vampire communities, including Vampire Court, know the real truth and only seen the event as only tragedy, not as genocide by fellow vampire race. What's the reason behind this sickening wrongdoing? It turned out they're very envious of tame vampire clan, because the royal family favors them as their confidant, adviser, and guards more than Amai's family clan. The royal family already entrusted Badd's family clan to have their own special place in the Council.

That's why Amai's family clan tried to eliminate them as quickly as they could. Badd only got this important informations when he was eavesdropping his parents' conversation before the whole massacre took a place, before he saw his parents' death by his own eyes. Not only that, he obtained more secret informations about Amai's family clan's future plan during his time as werewolf packs' co-leader: they planned to overthrow the royal family once they got secure positions in the Council so they could have their own way to rule the vampire communities. This revelation truly shocked people in the court room especially the royal family who also attended the trial, while Amai looked so pissed off because Badd spilled the truth right there.

Badd asked the Spectators and the Judges if they still let loose that family clan in their community who's willingly harmed every fellow vampire kind who gets in their way. Also, really acted as aggressors by orchestrating his family clan's massacre tragedy or attacking his newfound family for so many times, and trying to commits treachery towards the royal family. If Badd only violated only one of Vampire Codes about disgraceful act, then Amai Mask actually violated so many Vampire Codes which including the highest offence: genocide and treason against royal family. So in the end, who's really a traitor with bigger sins, him or Amai Mask?

As a fighter, Badd asked how can they're so afraid to not let those with power fight the evildoers? If they're scared of fighting to survive, then at least lend him their strength and supports. Also, as a peacemaker, Badd told them that werewolf tribes are not so heartless or dangerous as it seems like what they assumed before. The werewolfs are just like the vampire race, not entirely different from themself. They expert at being territory protectors, good at guarding people, have amazing teamworks, very loyal to their leader, actually quite obedient, good listeners, loving their family packs so much, and also caring people in general.

So why not vampire race trying to make peace with the werewolf tribes, to end the hate cycle by trying to understand each other, offering friendship, and helping each other. Badd volunteering to give a proof that he could make peace with werewolf race as a co-leader of his family packs. Not to mention he strengthen the bond by birthed a child from his loving relationship with his werewolf Mate really taught him to become a better person than he was before.

Didn't want to lose his dignity as an important Vampire Council member, Amai Mask commanded his family clan to kill Badd on the spot as he accused Badd on trying to deceive people in the court room and defamation on his family's name. Turned out, there's many people from Amai's family members who prepared to executed Badd in case the Judges decided to free him. Zenko panicked as she tried to prevent that happen but she was held back by Amai Mask himself who suddenly appeared beside her, he said she should only watch her brother's demise from there, not joined him. Zenko struggling to break free from Amai's hold angrily.

Seeing Zenko also in danger, Badd tried to break his restraints but unsuccessful because he hadn't drink any blood since yesterday, so his energy still not enough to really activate his Fighting Spirit. Badd didn't want to die stupidly in here right now, he still want to live his life with all his family packs. Especially Garou, who he wanted to embrace one more time if he had to die now. And Gaman, he still hadn't say goodbye to him or how much he loves him for the last time. Badd had already closed his eyes to anticipate the attack from Amai's lackeys when something else happened.

The court room's door suddenly opened forcefully from outside, revealed Garou and Gaman plus several other family packs alliance members who managed to infiltrate the Vampire Council Fortress, while most of the others remained on the outside fighting the Fortress' Guards. Zenko feel relieved finally their family come to rescue on time. Badd saw them all and immediately calling their name, but Amai Mask re-instructed his lackeys to continue their duty to kill Badd right now. Didn't want that happen to his Mate, Garou gotta acted fast to save Badd before any of that bastard's lackeys even touching him.

But suddenly there's a very loud screaming voice echoed in the court room followed with thunderous roar that would rivaled Garou's own. Badd never heard that roaring sound before, even though it's very similar like Garou's but this voice is so much younger than him. And that's the moment he realized that it was Gaman's voice. He looked back at his son then got surprised. Gaman was transforming!

  -TBC-

  Notes:

 I KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT COURT TRIAL AT ALL PLEASE DON'T SUE ME 😭🙏🙇

YES I HATE WHAT AMAI MASK DID TO THEM WITH PASSION. Douchebag is still being douchebag 😡😡😡

So let's see what will happens to him... *holding a human-sized trash bag while looking at nearby trash can* 👀🔪🔪

 And Gaman full transformation is in the next sequel, so YAAAYYY!! 😚🎉🎉🎊😎✨

 By the way, Badd's court trial scene was totally not inspired from AoT Season 1's court trial scene. Nope. Nope. *realizing the said AoT episode video file still playing in the background*

 Woops!

 Yes, this sequel was actually based on AoT Season 1 episode 14 during Eren's trial as my reference source, so if you compared it side by side you'll see the resemblances lol! 😂😂😂

 -Little1993lamb-

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

[takonei]

Beta AU - Main story: Prologue

Hehhhehhehh since I couldn’t summarize the prologue I wrote it entirely despite my non existent writing skills.

Forgive me guys, I snapped.

Also yeah towards the end I kinda gave up because everyone knows the rules of a class trial by now.

Edit: Forgot to add that while the main story and context remain the same, I added my own twists as to repair plot holes and just for fun.

Day: Unknown.

Place: Unknown, Japan.

A young highschool student makes his way to the address given to him on the sheet of paper he holds on to tightly.

He looks up to the large building before him.

“I still can’t believe any of this is real.”

He doesn’t realise how much time he stared at it until he heard another voice beside him.

“You’ve been staring at this for about two full minutes. You good?”

He snaps out of whatever trance he was in to face the other boy. Another highschooler, with messy light green hair and physical aspects that could be described as feminine.

“No I just…”

He looked back to the building.

“I never thought I would get in in the first place.”

“Me too, and yet here we are.”

He sighed. “It was about damn time.”

…

-----------

...

Day: Unknown.

Place: Unknown.

Shuichi woke up in a confined space. If he were to guess, it was probably a locker. He tried to get an idea of where he was, but his movements were very limited.

He heard footsteps coming towards his locker, and out of panic, Shuichi stayed still hoping the person outside didn’t notice another presence.

“Is someone in there?” another voice questioned. A male voice. But Shuichi didn’t recognize it, and didn’t know if this person was nice or not.

“I’m not here to hurt anyone, I just want to know where am I.”

Perhaps this person wasn’t a bad guy after all. Shuichi pushed the door and got out of what was indeed a locker. Around him was a classroom, with a modern aspect, but looked like it was abandoned years ago due to the long vines on the roof and walls.

It was only then that he faced the only other person in the room.

A male teenager around his age from his looks, perhaps a bit younger. He wore a dark blue, comfortable looking jacket, a white shirt and dark blue pants. But what was the most noticeable thing about him was his light green hair and  intense green gaze, staring at him. It wasn’t in an angry way, but it still intimidated Shuichi.

“You don’t look like you have any idea about where we are.”

Unfortunately he was right.

“No clue, sorry.” he scratched the back of his head.

They looked around to get, perhaps an idea of their current location. The other boy swept away some dust on one of the desks.

“Strange. Even though we were brought here, this place looks like it hadn’t been stepped in in at least years.”

Shuichi frowned. “Brought here? What do you mean?”

The unnamed boy turned around to face the blue eyed student.

“Unless you went here on your o-”

He was brutally interrupted by a high pitched voice.

“Rise and shine, ursine!”

The two teens were startled by the sudden apparition of… A bi-colored teddy bear, red and white, with a scarf and a shuriken.

“A teddy bear??”

“I’m not a teddy bear, I’m Mo-”

“Let’s get to the point. Are you the one who kidnapped us?”, the green haired boy interrupted, clearly, already annoyed.

“How rude to interrupt me! I’m Monotaro, from the Monokubs!”

Shuichi was confused by what was happening. “I’ve never heard of you though…”

The bear looked at the two boys.

“Alright! We’re good to go then! Let’s tackle each issue one at a time! Any questions?”

The green eyed teenager didn’t waste a second.

“Where are we?”

“This place is called the Ultimate academy for Gifted Juveniles, an academy made for you two and the other fourteen ultimates!”

Shuichi was getting more and more confused. “The Ultimate academy for… What?”

The red and white bear looked more than glad to explain things, which was the only plus in the situation.

“There are 16 Ultimates at this school! Students chosen and recruited for the Ultimate initiative for their talents!”

Shuichi seemed to understand the situation, but his ‘partner’ raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Anyway, it’s time for you to greet the other ultimates of the academy! It will be important for you guys’ activity later!”

The duo looked at each other.

Monotaro seemed satisfied.

“Alrighty then! So long, bear well!”

“Wait!” Shuichi reached out to it, but it was too late.

“We were definitely kidnapped.” the other boy said bluntly.

The chestnut haired teen looked at him. But turned his gaze back to the ground. “Unfortunately there isn’t much we can do about it for now.”

“What’s your name by the way?” Shuichi asked.

“The name’s Rantaro Amami. I’ve been called the ultimate medic from time to time.”

“Oh, you work in hospitals? That’s nice!”

He chuckled. “Not exactly, but whatever. What’s your name?”

“Oh, my name is Shuichi Saihara, the ultimate violinist. At least it’s the title I often get from the people I play for.” He didn’t want to brag about his talent, perhaps in fear of being judged.

The two made their way out for their quest for the other ultimates. But as they were walking, Shuichi had a question on his mind, something his ‘new friend’ had said.

As if reading his mind, Rantaro turned to him. “You look like you want to ask me something, but you don’t dare to.”

“Ah!-”

The medic chuckled. “Hey, it’s fine, really. But what’s on your mind though?”

Shuichi looked for words. “Earlier you looked confused when the red bear said we were recruited as Ultimates, and you are absolutely sure this wasn’t on our will. Why is that?”

“You’re observant, I see.” Rantaro affirmed. He looked away from Shuichi. “Because my place is not here. Even if it’s an academy for us ultimates, I don’t belong here.”

“What do you mean?”

“My place is on the battlefield, with my crew, helping soldiers recover from their injuries. Not in an academy studying to work in a hospital.”

Shuichi’s eyes widened. “You’re a war medic?”

“That’s what I’ve always been. And even if someone handed me a letter to say I was accepted here, I would have refused.”

Rantaro didn’t seem mad, or sorrowful in those words. It was barely a statement, but Shuichi couldn’t help but look away.

“Don’t be sad, even if my work conditions aren’t the best, that’s the future I choose for myself. My duty. My role as a war medic.”

At least he didn’t look like he was too much forced into his position, which was a relief.

The two explored the academy, finding one by one the other ultimates.

Tenko Chabashira, the ultimate judoka, a cheerful girl who had a positive attitude despite the situation they were in.

K1-B0, a stoic robot who didn’t remember if he had a special talent besides his nature.

Himiko Yumeno, the ultimate astronomer, a young looking girl who was determined to befriend everyone here.

Kokichi Ouma, the ultimate karma, a very timid boy who preferred to describe his talent as “Ultimate unlucky pest”, already unsettled by Himiko’s cheerful attitude towards him.

Ryoma Hoshi, the ultimate weapons maker, a calm and small yet mature boy, whose soldier nature stood out more than Rantaro.

Maki Harukawa, the ultimate tailor, whose outfit was clearly homemade with a skill living up to the name of ultimate.

Kaede Akamatsu, the ultimate writer, very passionate about her talent and didn’t miss the occasion to talk to the other girl in the room.

Miu Iruma, the ultimate street artist, very flirtatious and confident in her talent as an artist, calling herself “firefly of the city”.

Tsumugi Shirogane, the ultimate prodigy, a calm girl who didn’t have a lot of friends from the look of things.

Angie Yonaga, the ultimate craftswoman, clearly foreign from the way she looks and speaks, but being with Japanese people doesn’t seem to bother her.

Gonta Gokuhara, the ultimate zoologist, who looked reluctant to meet everyone but talked nonetheless.

Korekiyo Shinguji, the ultimate therapist, a bit creepy on the outside, but it was easy to see he was not ill intended in the slightest.

Kaito Momota, the ultimate biker, confident and up to meet the rest of the ultimates, proclaiming himself “the best biker and mechanic you could ask for”.

Kirumi Tojo, the ultimate maid, who looked very serious and mature, and would probably be the mom of the group if it wasn’t for her cold demeanor. 

Despite their friendly interactions with them, the gut feeling that something wrong was going to happen didn’t fade away.

Rantaro and Shuichi were suddenly startled by one of the monitors suddenly lighting up.

“Rise and shine, ursine!” the already annoying jingle ringed through the speakers.

It was only then that the two realized there were not one, but five of those bears speaking to them.

“Hiii! Thanks for bear-ing with us!”

“...”

it didn’t take long for Shuichi to start getting annoyed at the bear puns. After glancing at Kirumi and Rantaro, he realized he wasn’t the only one.

“Kept you bastards waiting, huh!?”

“Everyone, make your way to the gym please.”

“The opening ceremony can finally begin!”

“Phew! We already finished our preparations!”

“... You do realize you just read your lines backwards, don’t you?”

Their catchphrase was already starting to get stuck in their heads.

“So long, bear well!”

The monitors turned off, leaving the trio alone. They looked at each other.

Kirumi broke the silence. “It looks like we don’t have a choice.”

Rantaro frowned. “I still have a bad feeling about this. You go without asking questions?”

The young woman briefly stopped in her tracks. “I am a maid. If I am requested at one place, It is my duty to go.”

Shuichi was not optimistic about the situation either. “I guess all we can do is get there.”

After a short walk, they made their way to the gym, finding the rest of the students here.

Some of them were talking about the new academy. But some were also worried about what everything was about.

Their talk stopped when the ground started shaking, only for five huge robots to come out of nowhere, almost crushing them.

“Yoo-hoo! Rise and shine, ursine!”

Some started screaming, telling everyone to run away, but the robots had already them surrounded.

“What do we do?”

“I don’t know! Those machines look powerful!”

“I’m not experienced in fighting robots!”

A voice came out of one of the exisals. “They’re exisals, not robots! Highly mobile, bipedal weapons platforms! They got lotsa hometown pride, too!”

“I can’t keep track of these backstories.”

Miu got the attention of the rest of them back. “It still doesn’t change the fact that we have to run!”

“Wait.”

The voice came from K1-B0.

“If they wanted to kill us, they would have done it right away, don’t you think?”

The rest of them were septic, but the exisals weren’t doing anything. The robot faced one of the exisals.

“You five asked us to join you here for a ceremony. I assume this isn’t to crush us with these machines?”

Tsumugi faintly, but surely joined in.

“I-If you took those giant robots, that means you guessed we wouldn’t cooperate with whatever you want to do to us…”

The yellow exisal seemed to react the first. “Aren’t you a wise girl?”

The blue one exclaimed “I’ll start us off! Listen up! Here’s what we want you punkasses to do…”

He paused, then laughed.

“My heart’s goin’ 100 miles per hour! I’m gonna say it! You ready!? Hell yeah! It’s a-”

He didn’t even finish the sentence that the green exisal spoke.

“KILLING-GAME.”

A sudden silence fell on the students.

“A… What??”

“If that’s a joke that’s not funny!”

The exisals started to fight between themselves, blaming one another for ‘ruining’ it.

Some of the ultimates looked at each other. This… Didn’t look like a prank. They were thinking about a strategy to run away until an unfamiliar voice was heard.

“Now, now, now…”

Shuichi looked at the origin of the sound, even though nothing was there.

“My cute little cubs… You gotta knock off this awful fighting…”

The monokubs suddenly got out of the exisals to go on stage, leaving the huge mechas on the sides of the gym.

“Father!? Father, is that you!?”

“Papa Kuma! Papa Kumaaaaa!”

“Daddy!? Where are you, Daddy!?”

The others were confused to say the least. The light suddenly shut off, only for a single spotlight to light up, in the middle of the stage, revealing a sixth bear, black and white, landing on the ground with what could be grace, if it wasn’t for the fact they were talking about a teddy bear.

“I am the god of this new world, and the headmaster of the Ultimate Academy! The one, the only… Monokuma! Nice to meetcha!”

The kubs and their so called father started arguing in front of worried and confused students.

“What is this…?”

“It’s aura is certainly not blessed!”

“Why is there a sixth one of those teddy bears??”

As if offended by that word, the black and white bear turned back to the students.

“First of all, I’m no teddy bear. I’m Monokuma. Show some respect! I’m the headmaster of the Ultimate academy for Gifted Juveniles!”

Kirumi, despite declaring herself as the ultimate maid, was having none of the bear’s nonsense. “Don’t try to make me believe you are the headmaster of an academy like this.”

The robot on the students’ side spoke up. “I know robots when I see them. But I have a bad feeling about this.”

Ryoma stared at Monokuma. “Alright. You bots talked about a ‘killing game’. What are you even saying?”

Said bear started to laugh.

“What’s so funny about a killing game?!” Miu butted in, both mad and afraid.

“I want you students with your Ultimate-level talents to participate in a killing game.”

Kaito stepped in. “You want us to kill each other? Who would even try to do so?!”

Tenko raised her hands in a combat position. “If it’s just those six bears, we can take them!”

Monokuma laughed again. “We have the exisals on our side. You can’t defy us. In other words… I have the power of life and death over each and every one of you.”

Himiko, despite her short stature, yelled at the bear. “Why on earth would we kill our friends?”

“You guys aren’t friends, you are enemies! After all, a game where no one dies isn’t fun!”

Shuichi didn’t even know what to say. The situation was so absurd.

Monokuma, with his frozen smile, continued the conversation.

“How about an explanation of the killing game? Let’s get this heart pounding killing school semester started already!”

“You are allowed to kill whoever you want, however you want! Stabbing! Drowning! Poisoning! Chocking! You ultimates have all the potential to create some of the most creative methods of killing! After all, there is no better place for a killing game than the ultimate academy!”

No one really dared to respond.

“Once a murder is done, the remaining students proceed to an investigation, then a class trial! The blackened must deceive the spotless! After the trial, it’s voting time! If a majority guesses correctly, only the blackened killer will receive punishment. Buuut! If you vote for the wrong person, the blackened gets away, and all the spotless students get punished instead!”

Kaede’s voice was shaking. “What kind of game is this…?”

Rantaro frowned. “And what is the punishment you talked about?”

Monokuma looked at Rantaro.

“Well it’s simple! The punishment is an execution. After all, it’s only suited for a killing game that a murderer gets killed for their crimes!”

Shuichi couldn’t believe that was real. It all felt like fiction. Yet they were here.

Kokichi was holding onto his sleeves. “Why would we… Why would I… I don’t want to be a part of this! There’s no way I’m doing this!”

Monokuma smiled widely. “You think you have a choice? The killing game is the only reason you’re here!”

For the first time since all this nonsense, Shuichi spoke.

“There… There is no way we’re gonna kill each other just because you told us so!”

Monokuma laughed once again. “I love that spirit of resistance! That’s what I’m looking for in a killing game!”

“But what’s better is to watch you crumble one by one… And then there were none.”

“It’s my role as a headmaster to ensure this killing game is done according to the rules!”

Monokuma went again through a fit of sadistic laughter.

The students all stood there. All of this felt unreal.

But now was not the time to give up. They were going to survive, no matter the cost.

They were not going to be part of this sick, twisted game.

[serenagaywaterford]

Over a few short weeks, a third of the world has been placed under lockdown. Soldiers maneuver military vehicles through city centers, police cars broadcast calls for citizens to disperse from public spaces, public announcements are made via drones—and all of it has become normal. The soaring death rate and rapid spread of the disease—overwhelming some of the best public health systems in the world—suggest that this dramatic response is the correct approach. While it may succeed in mitigating the spread of the coronavirus, however, the world now faces another danger: that when the virus recedes, many countries will be far less democratic than they were before March 2020. In times of crisis, checks and balances are often ignored in the name of executive power. The danger is that the temporary can become permanent.

Initially, populist and autocratic leaders were ill-prepared for the pandemic. A disdain for science and expertise, combined with nepotism and neglect of state institutions, including health care, made governments such as those of U.S. President Donald Trump, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro more vulnerable.

Before the health crisis became impossible to deny, government propaganda outlets or supportive media in these countries systematically downplayed the dangers posed by the coronavirus. In the United States, for example, Fox News blamed Democrats for playing up the threat. In Serbia and Turkey, pro-regime media gave voice to pundits and so-called experts who claimed that their populations were genetically protected from infection. In the long term, the pandemic might undermine autocratic leaders—as the usual tactic of blaming scapegoats fails and citizens come to appreciate the value of expertise and functioning institutions. But if strongmen are threatened with a loss of legitimacy, they’re likely to double down on their authoritarian practices and take advantage of the state of emergency to consolidate power.

Long before the virus hit, the world was already experiencing a decline of democracy. Since 2006, more countries have seen their democracies degrade than those that have improved. Last year, according to Freedom House, 64 countries became less democratic, and only 37 became more so.

Now, as countries around the world institute extraordinary measures to fight the pandemic, both dictatorships and democracies are curtailing civil liberties on a massive scale.

A number of European leaders, including Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, have praised Beijing’s rapid and highly repressive response to the virus (after the country corrected its initial bungling approach). The decline in new infections in China itself and the delivery of Chinese aid to countries such as Austria, Greece, Italy, and Spain have improved China’s reputation in Europe.

Freedom of assembly, a fundamental right, has been severely restricted almost everywhere. But free movement is far from the only right being infringed on. In a number of countries, elections are beginning to be delayed. Voting for the Democratic primary in the United States has been postponed in at least 12 states and territories. In Serbia and North Macedonia, national elections scheduled for April have been postponed. In Britain, local elections scheduled for May have also been postponed. In the current environment, holding elections is certainly difficult and even dangerous. It appears that the first round of French municipal elections held on March 15 might have accelerated the spread of the coronavirus. At the same time, postponing elections for months might deprive governments of their legitimacy and allow autocrats to use the delay to strengthen their power and hold elections when it suits them. Where elections are still slated to move forward, they pose other dangers to democracy. Though the majority of Poles want presidential elections planned for May to be postponed, the country’s government insists they will go ahead. Such elections would unfairly favor incumbent President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the ruling Law and Justice party; emergencies often help sitting leaders and make it difficult for the opposition to run a campaign. Altogether, postponing elections is the better choice, but such decisions should follow a clear cross-party agreement and timetable.

“We are at war,” French President Emmanuel Macron recently declared, echoing language other leaders have used as well. Such dramatic rhetoric can help rally a strong effort to fight the pandemic and highlight the sacrifices citizens have to make. Such appeals can be dangerous, however. The virus is not an army, and evoking war can transform a health crisis into a security one, justifying repressive measures.

Measures like closing businesses, enforcing social distancing, and keeping people off the street, including curfews and bans on gatherings, are needed to control the rapid spread of the coronavirus. But there is a serious risk that these efforts are leading to a new wave of authoritarianism. In Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev used the Nowruz spring holiday address to describe the opposition as a dangerous fifth column and threatened that “during the existence of the disease, the rules of completely new relationships will apply. … It is possible that a state of emergency may be declared at some point. In this case, the isolation of representatives of the fifth column will become a historical necessity.”

   Self-Isolation Might Stop Coronavirus, but It Will Speed the Spread of Extremism

Millions of people stuck at home will turn to social media, where disinformation is rife. Radical Islamists and far-right groups are exploiting widespread confusion and fear to spread hate.

   Cambodia’s Leaders Line Up a Coronavirus Scapegoat

Hun Sen needs somebody to blame for the impending disaster.

Numerous countries have already passed emergency laws or declared states of emergency—a tactic autocrats can use to consolidate power. In Hungary, the government of Viktor Orban on March 30 passed a law “on protecting against the coronavirus” that allows the government to rule by decree and suspend existing laws. Furthermore, parliamentary oversight is suspended for the duration of the crisis, with only the prime minister permitted to determine when it will be lifted. The new law introduces draconian fines for spreading fake news and breaking quarantine and curfews, with penalties of up to five years’ imprisonment. The law triggered an unusually clear letter by the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, the Continent’s key human rights watchdog, to the Hungarian government, stating that “[a]n indefinite and uncontrolled state of emergency cannot guarantee that the basic principles of democracy will be observed and that the emergency measures restricting fundamental human rights are strictly proportionate to the threat which they are supposed to counter.” In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has used the emergency to postpone his corruption trial, block parliament from sitting, and grant extraordinary domestic surveillance powers to the internal intelligence agency.

The extraordinary powers given through emergency laws and other emergency measures can lead to abuse among democratic leaders as well. Liberal democracies have also taken unprecedented measures to monitor citizens, such as tracking their movement through cell-phone data, including in Italy, Germany, and Austria. In Montenegro, the government even published the names and addresses of citizens who are supposed to be in quarantine to ensure compliance.

Confronting the coronavirus crisis will take extreme measures, but any infringement on civil liberties must be temporary and proportional. Crucially, emergency measures need to have a clearly defined time frame to avoid leading into a permanent state of emergency.

Furthermore, legislative bodies need to remain active. The Austrian parliament, for example, passed a number of laws in an accelerated procedure, and the European Parliament supported special EU funds to help countries affected by the pandemic—with most parliament members participating and voting remotely.

Fake news, meanwhile, is best confronted through government transparency—rather than with penalties. In fact, penalties for spreading false news are particularly popular in countries such as Hungary, Serbia, and Turkey, where pro-government media have been disseminating misleading and false information about the health risk of the disease. Part of the success of countries like Taiwan and Singapore in confronting the coronavirus is due to their clear and open communication about the pandemic.

The dangers are clear. The pandemic may well lead to a serious decline in democracy around the world. It is crucial that liberal democracies show self-restraint and vigilance. Governments such as Canada and South Korea have thus far demonstrated how to respond effectively to the pandemic while ensuring that a critical, vibrant debate remains alive. Others must follow suit.

Florian Bieber is a professor of Southeast European history and politics and Jean Monnet chair for the Europeanization of Southeastern Europe at the University of Graz, Austria. He is the author of Debating Nationalism: The Global Spread of Nations. Twitter: @fbieber

[i-am-here-with-fanfic]

The Illegitimate Son- Ch. 3 2/2

           Aria was in her room, laying outstretched on the bed, tears staining her cheeks. She was stressed but worked up the strength to shout from her room. “Alright, I made some sandwiches to snack on. Feel free to make some dessert, Faian. I think we could use some later…” 

           She got up, trudging to the mirror hanging on the wall and saw how messy she looked. She didn’t even get out of her work uniform and her hair certainly looked like she was in a rush. Taking a deep breath, she began to fix herself up. She started with her hair, then changed into different clothes and nodded to herself.  

           ‘Here goes nothing…’ she thought. Looking next to the mirror, she gazed at the three framed pictures on the wall. Aaron never entered her room out of respect, so he had no idea as to how it was decorated, or that she had those three pictures. 

           The first picture was of a blond boy, with ruffled hair and two long bangs that were nearly blocking his eyes. He had a missing tooth, but he showed off his smile at the Kindergarten picture day.  

           The second was from when she had taken the two camping when they were ten. Aaron had dyed his hair by then, styling it back, and was trying to hug Faian as he wore a goofy grin. Faian, sporting a similar smile, kept him at bay with his tail. 

           The third one was a picture of Aaron in his ice-skating uniform, winning first place in the local juvenile league and qualifying for state. He was definitely proud of himself, showing off his gold medal to his mom as he stood atop the pedestal. It was taken just a couple months before Aaron graduated middle school and Faian received his provisional license. 

           Aria fought the urge to sob as she tore herself from the smiles of her son. With a shaky breath and a few fans at her face, she steeled herself as she stepped out of the bedroom.  

           Walking towards the kitchen, Faian spotted her first as he sat across from Aaron, whose back was turned.  

           “Mum.” 

           “Hey, Mom.” Aaron turned with a light smile.  

           “Hey, sweethearts… how was school?”  

           “It was cool…” Aaron muttered, swirling his glass around dejectedly.  

           Faian knew he was lying, and he easily picked up on Aria’s discomfort. Without skipping a beat, he broke the tension by recounting about his day. He glazed over most of his classes but went into detail about the hero training. They performed what was called a ‘Battle Trial’, pitting pairs of students against each other in hypothetical scenarios. Unfortunately, he did not get to actively participate as the teacher had showed a recording of him performing a similar exercise with some second years when he first began the process of transferring back in September of last year, followed by him having to give a thorough analysis of each pair of students. 

           “That’s amazing! I can’t believe they’re already having you guys train.” Aria responded, relaxing a little. 

           “It is not much different than the college back in the States, but I do hope I get to do more than just act as an aide.” 

           Aaron smiled and shook his head. “Imagine if Eraserhead was there; I saw him one time and, oh my god, I couldn’t stop trembling. He looks so intimidating.” 

           Aria continued chatting with the two, easing herself as Aaron talked more about his day; however, when he checked his phone for the time, Aria spoke up, her demeanor changing. 

           “Oh, I told your Coach you wouldn’t be skating today.”  

           Aaron had a questioning look in his eyes, but it soon went away as his mother continued.  

           “Well, I need the time to tell you about who your father is…and to explain how… how it all happened.”  

           She was hesitant at first, but as she took Aaron’s hands in her own, squeezing them to reassure herself, she continued. “What I did… I am not a perfect being, but what I did was unforgiveable. Before you learn who your father is, I-I want to tell you how it happened.” 

           Aaron didn’t understand what was going on, but he gave a nervous smile and urged her to continue. Faian gave them both a reassuring smile before getting up to make some coffee, tea, and brownies. 

           I had just gotten my hero license part way through school. At the time, I was working with a friend, Jae, who wanted to create a costume of metal that worked with my Quirk. She was heavily inspired by Vikings and medieval knights, so of course it was going to be flashy. Jae knew David Shield, an intelligent scientist who specialized in creating support items and hero costumes so, we all worked together. Between them two, he was the hard-working one, and I offered to buy him lunch as a thank you for helping her. 

           When we decided on a place to go, Jae joined us as I wanted to thank her, too, for coming up with the idea; however, on our way to the restaurant we heard an explosion. Forgetting about lunch, we immediately ran over to the burning building. I couldn’t stop thinking about the people trapped inside and I ran in without thinking. 

           I was carrying two people when I heard cheering from outside. It was odd but I thought a more well-known hero had arrived, so I hurried to get those I was carrying to the paramedics before rushing back inside. Being a newer hero, some of the law enforcement tried to stop me, not knowing I was able to help, but also because the building was beginning to collapse. I couldn’t just stand aside knowing I was capable of helping. 

           After finding a few more people, I began to lead them out, using my battle-axe to shield us from falling debris and cutting through any rubble in our path. Unfortunately, a column had collapsed next to us, and the ceiling began to cave in. Without a moment to lose, I pushed the civilians through the exit. Within seconds, I was buried under tons of rubble. Although I was still conscious thanks to my Quirk, the smoke was suffocating, and the roaring fire lapped at my skin. I could barely hear the shouting outside, and I thought I heard someone mention that I was still inside. Whatever the case, I soon blacked out. 

           I woke up in a hospital bed, half expecting to be dead. I would’ve been fine if I was; I got to save a lot of people, after all. Turns out, your father was the one who saved me, and he came along with David and Jae in the ambulance. I was told they wouldn’t leave my room, except when one went to get food for the others. When I finally woke up, it was just your dad, sitting in a much too small chair to my left. 

           Aria smiled thoughtfully as she recalled the first time she met Aaron’s father. While he was still unsure of where she was going with this, it did calm Aaron to see his mom had positive memories about his dad. 

           As did the scent of his tea, Faian’s absurdly strong coffee, and whatever chocolatey goodness was baking in the oven. 

           He was staring intently at the monitor, and he didn’t notice I had woken up. Until I spoke, of course. He had such a handsome face that I was somewhat intimidated, and I ended up blurting out “Are you an angel?”

           Understandably, that had taken him by surprise. He was really awkward trying to explain himself, fortunately, Jae and David had arrived with some food and helped clear the air. Turns out, he was a transfer student with this captivating idea of becoming a symbol and pillar for the people, and David had made him a suit out of gratitude to help inspire others. 

           Soon after I recovered, Jae finished her project and told me to use the armor set as much as I wanted, and that if it ever broke, I can return it to her to get it fixed. I was glad that I had the costume because I could go out and help people in need with your father. His blinding determination and faith was contagious, I wanted nothing more than to help him in any way I could. But… All things have to come to an end, and even though he had decades ahead of him, I was still terrified of what might happen once he was gone. 

           Aria’s shoulders slumped as she hung her head, resting her cheek in the palm of her hand. Her eyes held a deep regret as she paused to take a breath. Aaron was gradually beginning to connect the dots as Faian’s eyes were wide in disbelief, his vertical pupils easily noticeable. 

           Eventually, he returned to Japan, but I couldn’t shake this uneasy feeling that something might happen. With every news report that covered his heroics, I grew more and more paranoid. 

           What if it was a trap?

           What if he didn’t make it this time? 

           What if…? 

           So many different tragedies ran through my head, and even when he came back to America years later to catch up with David, I still had those crippling thoughts. So, I came up with an idea, and made a secret promise to him that no matter what happened, he would have someone to continue his legacy. 

           Choking back sobs, Aria took a moment to compose herself, terrified of what her son may think of her. Faian gave her a light pat on the shoulder while Aaron had one hand covering his mouth, the other clutching his teacup tightly as tears welled in his eyes. Those brilliant blue eyes that were so very much like his father’s. 

           “I invited him out for drinks, and…” she wiped the tears from her eyes with the hem of her blouse, “and what we did… what I did… It was unforgivable… Fuck. Aaron, please know th-that I did what I-I thought was r-right… I gave him his heir. I had you…” 

           Aaron was silent, uncertain how to react. As his mother stood up to give him a hug, to try and reaffirm that she does actually love him, Aaron flinched. He clutched his stomach in pain, quickly excusing himself by saying ‘I don’t feel so…’ and rushing to the kitchen sink, retching uncontrollably. He held onto the sink for dear life, his knees buckling and needing Faian to support him as he continued to vomit. 

           When Aaron had finished, panting heavily, he turned to face his mom. Wiping off his saliva, he muttered “Who… who is my dad?” 

           Aria looked down at her feet, trying to find her words. Finally meeting his gaze, she answered the question he had longed to know. “Aaron… Your father… His name is Toshinori Yagi, better known as the Symbol of Peace- All Might.” 

           Faian was quick to catch Aaron, helping him to the table for a seat. Aria was kneeling by him, her arms holding him close as she cried into his shoulder. Aaron was still in shock, and Aria was in no condition to continue.  

           “I am not one for speaking when it is not desired, but I cannot, and shall not, lose another family. Mother, you clearly know you have done something awful, that alone is admirable, and you have spent so many years trying to right that wrong. It shows. I do not think Aaron would have wanted to model himself after you if you did not atone for your sin.” 

           Faian’s voice washed over Aria as she looked up at him, a soft inviting smile on his lips and his arms open. She stood, lingering by Aaron’s side before leaning into her adopted son’s embrace. His steady heartbeat calming her, he turned his attention towards Aaron. 

           “Brother. I do not pretend to know what you must be going through. My parents may have been heroes, and my great grandmother instrumental in normalizing Quirks; however, your father is a symbol. That is not to be taken lightly, but please understand that you do not need to follow in his footsteps. I think Mum has made that clear over the years.” 

           Aaron stood from his seat, steadying himself with the table before joining Faian and his mother in the embrace, tears streaming down his face as Aria burst into tears once more.  

           “No matter what stories we may weave, or the tales we may spin, there is no fathomable way to avoid the truth. We must accept it, and while it may render us apart, it is only temporary. We are indomitable, and we will continue to grow and learn and better ourselves in ways we cannot begin to imagine. I have no doubt that we will have our share of disagreements but know this- For so long as my heart beats, it beats for the two of you.”

--- 

           Aaron watched the streetlights pass by, his head leaning against the cool glass of the car door window. Once everyone had composed themselves, it was agreed that Aaron would spend the night at Faian’s, as he and Aria would need some time apart. Currently, Aria was driving to the two-story Victorian, her eyes fixated on the road ahead of her. Faian sat in the passenger seat, holding a parcel of the brownies he had baked during the reveal. 

           When they arrived, Aria was afraid to give Aaron a hug or approach him. She was terrified he saw her as a villain, and when he refused to meet her gaze, her eyes began to sting. With a simple nod, she turned to Faian and hugged him, thanking him for his help and letting him know she’ll pick Aaron up after school. 

           Aria drove off and Faian opened the door for Aaron. As they entered, Aaron spoke for the first time since leaving his mom’s apartment. 

           “I forgot to tell her I love her…” 

           “Aaron…” 

           “Do you think she loved him? I mean, really loved him. She’s a huge fan, but I… I don’t know…” 

           Faian only gave Aaron a reassuring hug before leading him to the guest room upstairs. After suggesting he take a bath before getting some sleep, Faian kissed Aaron on his forehead, wishing him a ‘pleasant night’ and leaving him to his thoughts. 

           Alone in the room, Aaron could only do as Faian suggested, still in shock that he is the son of the single greatest hero known to humanity. It shook him to his core, but he knew he had to figure something out. 

           Does he believe Faian and return to his mother, accepting the truth and begin a new chapter in his life? 

           Or does he reject it, pretending it was all just an elaborate lie and live in denial knowing he could do more? 

           He sat on the bed, his damp hair framing his face as he stared intently at the bedroom door. With a deep, shuddering sigh, Aaron shook his head as he came to his decision. Climbing under the covers, he kept to one side of the bed, his arms outstretched towards the empty half. He wept with a racing mind and heavy heart, unaware that halfway across town, his mother was curled up on his bed, a picture of her holding a newborn baby as she lay in a hospital bed resting on a pillow beside her. 

           Meanwhile, Faian stood in the middle of a room lined with bookshelves burdened by books and mementos, a projector hanging overhead as a magic circle slowly spun beneath him, the room bathed in an ethereal glow of gold and silver. 

           No one got much sleep that night. 

---

Beta Reader, Editor, and Collaborator- @starrylegend

[kainosite]

Convicts and Parole

Les Mis adaptations often give the impression that Valjean’s parole violation is a very big deal, perhaps the worst thing he’s done since he left Toulon in the eyes of the law.  He is sometimes told upon his release that if he breaks his parole he’ll be returned to the bagne.  None of this is true.

Technically what we're calling "parole" isn't even a parole.  Valjean has completed his sentence, but because he committed a felony he's under residency and movement restrictions for the rest of his life, and any subsequent crime he commits will carry a harsher penalty. What he has is "special surveillance of the senior police", and the law considers ducking that surveillance a problem for the police rather than the courts.  At the time of Valjean’s release, it wasn’t even a criminal offense.

A Brief History

Under the Ancien Régime many groups of people were subject to movement and residency restrictions, former convicts among them.  Dating back to the 1600s, there were laws that bound freed galley slaves to a specific place of residence and stated that if they were to reoffend they should be sent back to the galleys on the confirmation of their identity.

After the revolution all these laws and movement restrictions were abolished.  Neither the Penal Code of 1791 nor that of 1795 mention surveillance of freed convicts, although both include escalating penalties for recidivism.  Subsequent governments soon brought back the residency restrictions.  On 19 ventôse, Year XIII a new decree required all convicts to declare upon their release from the bagne the commune and department in which they intended to live, and banned them from living within 30 km of the borders or in cities that were in a state of war.  The next year, the decree of 17 juillet, 1806 extended the ban to Paris, Versailles, Fontainebleau and anywhere else with an imperial palace, as well as the cities where the bagnes were located.  It charged the prefects and the police of the departments in which freed convicts lived with the responsibility of monitoring them, and forbade former convicts from changing their residence without the authorization of the prefect.  It also laid out the system we see in place when Valjean is released from the bagne, in which the freed convict is issued travel papers with an obligatory itinerary.  This measure wasn’t entirely repressive, as the decree required the itinerary to include reimbursement for travel expenses, money the convict could only collect by following the route.

(Incidentally, the musical is right to call it a “ticket of leave” rather than a “passport”.  Hugo elides the difference in the novel, but as the bagnes were under the control of the Navy, the travel papers convicts were granted upon their release took the form of a military leave rather than a civilian passport.)

The Code of Napoleon

Napoleon’s 1810 Code Pénal brought in a new system.  It retained the escalating penalties for recidivism from the earlier penal codes, but under the new legislation police surveillance was fully integrated into the body of the law instead of being tacked on as an afterthought.  There was also a different concept for how it should work.  The previous decrees had imposed police surveillance and movement and residency restrictions on former convicts only, but Article 47 of the new code extended them to everyone with a serious felony conviction, whether they had been sentenced to forced labor or imprisonment.  A number of lesser crimes also resulted in temporary surveillance sentences, especially juvenile offenses.

The original intent of the legislation was that offenders or their families and friends should pay a bond, a sort of surety or security deposit.  If the criminal committed a second offense they would forfeit the money, which would be used to compensate their victims.  The idea was that financial considerations or pressure from the relatives or friends who had put up the bond would encourage the criminal to remain honest so that they could get their money back at the completion of their sentence.  It was only in the exceptional case where the offender could not or would not pay the bond that they would be subject to police surveillance.

For freed convicts and other felons the surveillance sentence was lifelong, but putting up the bond would still free them from the onerous police monitoring and residency restrictions, and it gave them an incentive to work hard and save money in prison or after their release so they could pay the bond as soon as possible.  (That this system meant the wealthy would not have to put up with surveillance or residency restrictions even for a day was probably no accident.)  The legislation was broadly well-intentioned, but it quickly ran into problems.

• The bond was supposed to be determined at sentencing, based on the severity of the original crime.  This meant that it couldn’t take into account good or bad behavior in prison, the criminal’s remorse, or any of the other factors one might want to incorporate into a parole decision.

• The bond was set at the discretion of the public prosecutor and the victims.  An 1812 ruling meant that the criminal couldn’t even ask to be assigned one; the process had to be initiated either by the ministère public or the victims, who needless to say weren’t usually too keen on enabling the criminal who had robbed them or murdered a relative to escape police surveillance.

• If, to take a random example, a convict was sent to the galleys for bread theft in 1796, long before the 1810 Code Pénal was even a glint in Napoleon’s eye, but only released in 1815, he was screwed under the new system.  He had no bond set for him because the system hadn’t been in place at the time of his trial, and he had no way to request that one be assigned.

• Even if a bond was set, the government could simply refuse to accept the payment on the grounds of security concerns.

• While officials were happy to release the bourgeoisie from police surveillance, they quickly noticed that among the lower classes, the felons most likely to be able to put up the bond were those with access to large criminal networks, exactly the people they most wanted to monitor and keep away from Paris or the bagnes.

The upshot of all of this was that at least for freed convicts, the exceptional case very quickly became the rule.  The great majority were placed under police surveillance and subject to movement and residency restrictions, at least for some length of time.

Breaking Parole

What, then, does breaking “parole” consist of?  It’s not the increased penalties for recidivism, which are written into the penal code as an intrinsic property of any felony conviction.  There’s no parole there to violate; that’s just a consequence of the original conviction that will follow the felon for the rest of their life, like the civic degradation that deprives them of the right to vote, hold public office or testify under oath.

What we’re considering here is the offense known as “rupture de ban” or dodging police surveillance: deviating from the obligatory itinerary, being caught in a proscribed location (generally Paris, although a number of other major cities and some minor ones also banned convicts), changing residence without permission, or missing one of the regularly scheduled check-ins with the police.  Article 45 of the penal code states that 

In case of disobedience to [the residency and movement restrictions imposed by the surveillance sentence], the government shall have the right to arrest and detain the convicted person for a period of time which may extend until the expiration of the period of special surveillance.

Two things are worth noting about this passage.  One is that parole-breaking is not defined in the penal code as a felony or even as a misdemeanor.  It’s not even a contravention, one of those minor offenses like traffic violations too trivial to make it into the penal code.  It’s not technically a crime!  Since forced labor is exclusively a felony sentence, no freed convict could be sent back to the bagne for violating their parole.  The worst punishment they could face is detention in the municipal prison.

The other thing is that dealing with parole violations is entirely at the discretion of the government – that is to say, the police.  There’s no mandatory minimum sentence specified by the statute, as there is for almost every crime in the penal code.  And the maximum sentence is equal to the period of police surveillance, which in the case of freed convicts lasts for the rest of their lives.  In theory, the police could imprison them forever.  Five years of forced labor followed by a single parole violation could result in a life sentence.

In practice this seems not to have been a problem.  The standard sentence for rupture de ban was two or three months in the municipal jail.  If a former convict could convince the police he really had just been looking for work, he might be sent home without any punishment at all.  I’ve even seen cases where the police not only let someone go, but went out of their way to find them a job.  Incorrigible parole violators or people who made themselves especially obnoxious when they were caught might get six months or a year.  The longest sentence I’ve seen was two years, for a guy who went on the lam for a decade and led the police on a merry dance across multiple departments and half a dozen false identities.

I have seen a fair number of parole violators detained “until further order”, usually because the police were holding them on suspicion of a crime or checking references.  The French were and are pretty stingy about letting people out on remand – they’ve been rebuked by the ECHR because they have so many people in custody awaiting trial for so long – so these suspects might have been kept in preliminary detention anyway, but their status as freed convicts probably didn’t help their chances of getting released.  The police may have been willing to hold them for longer and on thinner grounds than they would an ordinary citizen.

The other major group of former convicts who tended to end up in detention “until further order” were people applying for special dispensation to live in Paris.  Parisian convicts faced a real problem upon their release from the bagne because they were banned from living in their hometown where their family and support network were located and they had the best hope of finding a job.  Instead of opting for a residence in the countryside while the Ministry of Police assessed their case, a bunch of them seem to have decided to just kick their heels in Bicêtre until they could pay the bond or the police could confirm they had valid job offers or their wives could look sufficiently imploring.  Maybe the urgent need to reduce the overcrowding of the prison increased the odds they would get approval.

Reform

Liberal reformers were acutely aware of the problem that Valjean and Vautrin encountered, where social stigma meant that freed convicts were unable to obtain work or fair wages and found themselves driven back to crime out of desperation.  Even in cases where the police were decent enough not to blab their secret all over town, the surveillance was damning, because convicts were required to report to the police on the 15th and the 30th of every month.  Sometimes they might be required to check in as often as once or twice a week, if the police were particularly suspicious about their movements.  The only other reason someone might show up so regularly at the police station was if they were a police spy, and in the eyes of the public that was no better than being a convict.

The requirement to get approval from the prefect for a change of residence also created problems.  Often the only jobs available to freed convicts were ephemeral manual labor positions that appeared when a big construction project was untaken or the harvest needed to be brought in, which might last only a few days or weeks.  By the time all the necessary officials had signed off on the paperwork, the job had disappeared.  And that was assuming the convict could get approval at all.  Prefects would usually check in with the commune to which the convict wished to move to see if it wanted to take him, and since the answer was invariably “Lol no”, most of these requests were denied.

The discretionary nature of sentencing for parole violations was another obvious flaw in the system.  Without a crime that could be tried in a proper court, there was no way to regularize sentences or to ensure that the accused were given a fair chance to defend themselves.  And there was always the risk that some Javerty asshole might go “One million years dungeon!” and some poor schmuck would find himself locked up for life for a trivial offense, with no formal course for redress.

Finally, the bonds were getting a little embarrassing even for the bourgeoisie.  The legal principle that the severity of the surveillance imposed on released felons should be determined solely by whether or not they could fork over a wad of cash, and not by their conduct in prison, their repentance for their crimes or their efforts to reform, was difficult to defend, especially when the result was to liberate mobsters and condemn bread thieves.  And the system had completely broken down.

So when a major revision to the penal code was passed on 28 avril, 1832, rupture de ban was made into a misdemeanor.  From now on people accused of breaking parole would be brought before a court and given a proper trial, rather than being detained on the whim of the police.  Sentences were limited to the the standard misdemeanor maximum of five years.  Some of the residency restrictions were abolished, and felons who wished to move no longer needed permission, they just had to notify their mayor three days in advance so they could be given travel papers with a mandatory itinerary to get them to their new destination.  The hated check-ins were eliminated, in the hopes that the police could keep track of freed convicts in secret without alerting the whole community to their shameful past.  And the bond system was abolished.  In the future all released felons would be subject to the new, less rigorous surveillance regime, although people who had already paid their bonds before the new law was passed retained their exemption.

(Then Louis-Napoleon showed up and made everything terrible again, because of course he did.)

What All This Means for Jean Valjean

• On the narrow question of the yellow passport, That Dreadful Musical was more accurate than Victor Hugo.

• Valjean will never have to go back to the bagne unless he commits another felony, like stealing money from a kid on a highway or signing official papers under a false name.  Skipping out on his parole isn’t enough to condemn him.

• Javert could, if he wished, react to the discovery that M. Madeleine is in fact the parole-breaking convict Jean Valjean by doing absolutely nothing.  He’s under no obligation to tell anyone about Valjean’s past felony conviction, and Montreuil-sur-Mer isn’t a proscribed town.  Punishment is entirely at his discretion.  They’d have to ask the prefects of Doubs and Pas-de-Calais for permission to transfer Valjean’s residence from Pontarlier, but given his contributions to the regional economy that shouldn’t present an insurmountable barrier.

(Once Madeleine is appointed mayor the situation becomes more complicated, because he can’t legally hold that office and he absolutely cannot sign any documents.)

• If the public prosecutor in Aisne in 1820 is more kindly disposed than the one in 1796, they might even be able to persuade him to set a bond and free Valjean from police surveillance entirely.  Alternatively, the prefect of Pas-de-Calais can lift the surveillance for good behavior even without the bond, although this requires five years of irreproachable conduct and absconding halfway across the country from one’s assigned parole location probably doesn’t cut it.

• Javert could also react to the discovery by throwing Valjean in prison forever without a trial.

Which of these two responses is more likely is a question I will leave to the reader.

References

The 1810 Code Penal:  English  French

La police secrète du premier empire: bulletins quotidiens adressés par Fouché à l'empéreur.  Joseph Fouché, 1804-1810.  Compiled by Ernest d'Hauterive.

“Mesures policières de sûreté et populations particulièrement surveillées. Le registre des détenus administratifs de Bicêtre (1813-1851)‪”. Jean-Claude Farcy and Laurence Guignard.  Revue d'histoire du XIXe siècle, 2015.

Report of M. Treite, Counsel to Her Majesty's Embassy at Paris, on the Supervision of Discharged Convicts in France.  N. Treite, 1863.

[bountyofbeads]

Jeffrey Epstein dead after ‘apparent suicide’ in New York

https://wapo.st/2yPpbwW

Jeffrey Epstein dead after ‘apparent suicide’ in New York

By Matt Zapotosky, Devlin Barrett, Renae Merle and Carol D. Leonnig | Published August 10 at 6:56 PM ET | Washington Post | Posted August 10, 2019 7:13 PM ET |

Jeffrey Epstein, the politically connected financier charged recently with sexually abusing dozens of young girls in the early 2000s, died Saturday after apparently hanging himself in a Manhattan cell, officials said, sparking outrage among victims who hoped to one day confront him in court and triggering multiple investigations into what happened.

The FBI, the Justice Department’s inspector general and the New York City medical examiner all launched inquiries into how the high-profile inmate could have died in federal custody.

Epstein, 66, had previously been placed on suicide watch — though he was removed before Saturday — and was in a purportedly more secure unit of the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York, when he was found unresponsive in his cell about 6:30 a.m. Saturday, officials said.

His death short circuits a trial that his accusers hoped would bring justice they felt Epstein had long evaded, and raises significant questions about U.S. prison officials’ ability to protect the lives of the suspects in their custody.

“Epstein is gone, but justice must still be served,” said Jennifer Araoz, who accused Epstein of raping her when she was 15 years old. “I hope the authorities will pursue and prosecute his accomplices and enablers, and ensure redress for his victims.”

Geoff Berman, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said authorities plan to keep open the investigation into those who might have conspired with Epstein to facilitate his abuse.

“Today’s events are disturbing, and we are deeply aware of their potential to present yet another hurdle to giving Epstein’s many victims their day in Court,” Berman said in a statement. “To those brave young women who have already come forward and to the many others who have yet to do so, let me reiterate that we remain committed to standing for you, and our investigation of the conduct charged in the Indictment — which included a conspiracy count — remains ongoing.”

Epstein’s lawyers, Reid Weingarten, Marty Weinberg and Michael Miller, issued a statement saying: “We are enormously sorry to learn of today’s news. No one should die in jail. We cannot confirm rumors as to his cause of death, and we trust that the United States Attorney’s Office and the United States Marshalls will thoroughly investigate the circumstances of today’s tragedy.”

[Epstein’s accusers will go after his alleged enablers, their lawyers say]

Staff discovered Epstein hanging in his cell, said people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, though it was not immediately clear by what means. The Bureau of Prisons said in a statement Saturday that lifesaving measures “were initiated immediately by responding staff,” who then requested aid from emergency medical services.

Epstein was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the bureau said.

The Bureau of Prisons and Attorney General William P. Barr called the death an “apparent suicide,” though one official cautioned that the investigation was in its early stages and no final determination had been made.

That official, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.

Barr said in a statement that he was “appalled” to learn of Epstein’s death in federal custody, which he said “raises serious questions that must be answered.”

Epstein, a multimillionaire and registered sex offender with ties to celebrities and politicians including President Trump and former president Bill Clinton, was arrested last month on federal sex trafficking charges that could have put in him prison for 45 years. Prosecutors alleged he abused dozens of young girls at his Manhattan and Palm Beach, Fla., homes and enlisted his victims to bring him others.

Trump on Saturday seemed to cast doubt on the Justice Department’s explanation of the incident, retweeting a comedian’s apparent conspiracy theory — for which there is no evidence — rejecting the notion that the incident was a suicide and linking Epstein’s death to the Clinton family. Trump has sought to downplay his relationship with Epstein.

A spokesman for the former president did not immediately respond to questions about Trump’s Twitter activity. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.

Epstein had pleaded not guilty to the charges, and a federal judge had recently denied his request to be released to home confinement. Epstein was appealing that decision.

Last month, Epstein was found in his cell with marks around his neck, and authorities were trying to determine whether he was attacked or attempted suicide. A person familiar with the matter said Epstein was placed on suicide watch — which meant he was subject to near constant monitoring and daily psychiatric evaluations — after that. But he was taken off suicide watch after about a week, this person said. He showed no obvious signs of distress at a July 31 court hearing and, in recent weeks, had been meeting with his lawyers for up to 12 hours a day to discuss his case, the person said.

People close to Epstein, noting that he seemed recently to be in good spirits, were surprised by reports of suicide, according to one person familiar their discussions Saturday, and expressed concern about the possibility of foul play. His attorneys are seeking to learn from authorities how Epstein’s body was found and how such an incident could have happened, this person said.

Epstein was being held in the detention center’s special housing unit, which would mean he was subject to a higher level of security, though it was not immediately clear whether he was in a cell alone. The Bureau of Prisons did not address questions about Epstein’s condition of confinement.

At one point, Epstein did have a cellmate: Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer in custody on murder and narcotics charges, though the two were not cellmates at the time of Epstein’s death. Bruce Barket, a lawyer for Tartaglione, called for “a thorough investigation into how this occurred despite the Bureau of Prisons being on notice that Mr. Epstein had already attempted suicide at least once. That investigation should be broad enough to examine the deplorable conditions inmates are forced to endure at the MCC.”

Two law enforcement officials said there were no early indicators of foul play, but they noted that the FBI investigation was in its infancy.

“We don’t have an indication of that right now,” one law enforcement official said of the notion that someone may have killed Epstein.

On Saturday afternoon, a large black SUV with darkly tinted windows was parked in the driveway of Epstein’s Palm Beach estate. A local TV news crew was in the street, but the neighborhood was quiet otherwise.

Epstein’s case had attracted widespread attention — in part because of his wealth and political connections, and in part because of a lenient plea deal he reached more than a decade ago to resolve similar allegations. That 2008 agreement allowed Epstein to plead guilty to two state charges in Florida, avoiding federal exposure entirely, and spend 13 months in jail, with work-release privileges.

The deal was approved by Alexander Acosta, who was then the U.S. attorney in Miami and would go on to become Trump’s labor secretary — a post he resigned from after Epstein was charged last month and the controversy over the previous case was reignited.

Representatives for those who allege that Epstein abused them and others who have followed the case said his death was not the justice they had sought.

“The fact that Jeffrey Epstein was able to commit the selfish act of taking his own life as his world of abuse, exploitation and corruption unraveled is both unfortunate and predictable,” said Brad Edwards, a lawyer for some of them. “While he and I engaged in contentious legal battles for more than a decade, this is not the ending anyone was looking for. The victims deserved to see Epstein held accountable, and he owed it to everyone he hurt to accept responsibility for all of the pain he caused.”

Epstein’s death comes less than 24 hours after a court unsealed a huge cache of records, laying out disturbing details about Epstein’s alleged activities and the people in his orbit who might have observed them. The material was gathered as part of a defamation suit brought by one of Epstein’s alleged victims against his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, a matter that was settled for an undisclosed sum in 2017. Lawyers for Maxwell did not respond to requests for comment.

Sigrid McCawley, another lawyer for alleged victims, said the timing was “no coincidence,” and she was hopeful the government could continue to investigate “those who participated and facilitated Epstein’s horrifying sex trafficking scheme that damaged so many.”

“The reckoning of accountability begun by the voices of brave and truthful victims should not end with Jeffrey Epstein’s cowardly and shameful suicide,” McCawley said.

Attorney Lisa Bloom, who represents two alleged victims, said on MSNBC that she plans to file a lawsuit against Epstein’s estate in an effort to collect money for her clients. She called on the executors of his estate to freeze Epstein’s assets and not begin to distribute them to his beneficiaries.

The death is sure to draw intense scrutiny of the Bureau of Prisons and the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York. The high-rise federal detention center in downtown Manhattan has a fearsome reputation; one inmate who spent time there and at Guantanamo Bay famously said the U.S. facility in Cuba was “more pleasant” and “more relaxed.”

The facility is no stranger to high-profile inmates. It recently housed notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán while he was on trial in Brooklyn, and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has spent time there around court proceedings in New York — though records show he has since been moved to a different facility in Pennsylvania.

The facility in New York also housed Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, who masterminded the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Bernard Madoff, who ran the biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history.

In a statement, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), who has urged the Justice Department to explore the handling of Epstein’s earlier plea agreement, said “the government has failed these girls yet again.”

“It is inexcusable that this rapist was not under constant suicide watch,” Sasse said. “These victims deserved to face their serial abuser in court.”

Merle reported from New York. Rosalind S. Helderman, Sarah Ellison and Manuel Roig-Franzia in Washington, Seung Min Kim in Bedminster, N.J., and Lori Rosza in Palm Beach, Fla., contributed to this report.

[marshmallow-phd]

The Experiments

Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller, experiment au

Pairing: Fem!Reader x Exo (????)

Summary: You were a med school graduate who just wanted to help research cures for the world. Instead, what you got was a dream job at EXO Applied Sciences. That is, until you discover the secrets of Level Sixty-Six and the nine inhabitants that inhabit there….

Part: 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 I 6 I 7 I 8 I 9 I 10 I 11 I 12 I 13 I 14 I 15 I 16 I 17 I 18 I 19 I 20 I 21 I 22 I 23 I Final

A/N: This is a story that had been bouncing around in my head for a while. I hope you all enjoy it! The pairing is unknown right now because I’m still trying to decide who (y/n) should end up with. BTWs the picture is not mine. Happy reading!! XOXO

**

EXO Applied Sciences and Operations was the dream job. You had to be at the top of your class to entertain the idea of the company as a possibility and even then, there’s no application process. You have to be offered the job personally, no exceptions. Those who wanted to spend their lives doing research and finding cures vied for the right to be accepted there. And that was exactly your goal.

Since high school, you knew you wanted to be a doctor. By the time you got into medical school and had to start boggling down on a specialty, you realized you didn’t want to be in an OR or the ER; you just didn’t have the steady hands for that. But you liked the experiments. You liked analyzing the data and coming to conclusions, finding the answers to problems those before you couldn’t solve.

All the hard work paid off. You graduated third of your class. Not exactly the top spot, but it was enough. The day of your graduation ceremony, after all the cheers, speeches, and annoying traditions that still somehow get carried on, a man in a black suit pulled you off to the side, handing you a large manila envelope. At home when you were alone, with shaking hands and a pounding heart, you opened the package. Sliding out the stack of papers, you read the first sentence and nearly fell off the couch.

It was the invitation you’d been waiting for. All the information you needed to accept the job was right at your fingertips and you didn’t hesitate. But those first six months were brutal.

Though it wasn’t officially “entry level”, it might as well been. On your first day they introduced you to the other new hires in your area and dropped you off in a large laboratory where the walls were lined with filing cabinets and a long table in the middle littered with desktops.

You were on paper pushing duty. As the results of the experiments that other people were conducting came in, it was up to you and the other bottom feeders to organize, sort, and label the findings and put them in the filing cabinet to be easily accessible later on. If someone came in needing those results, you were there to find the file and check it out in the system. There was only one room that was off limits to all of you in the laboratory. A special code encrypted on the company-issued badge was needed to gain access. The others around you were all dying to know what lied beyond the secret door, but you didn’t really care. You just wanted out of that damn filing position.

As the months rolled by, you watched the faces of the people around you change. Some were transferred to other departments while others just flat out quit. You held on, though, just needing to get through the grilling trial of being the newbie. You weren’t going to quit just because the road got a little bumpy. But it was a bit disheartening to watch others be freed while you were left behind.

It was another day of expected boring paperwork when your luck finally change. As soon as you clocked in, you were pulled out of the laboratory and into the office of Dr. Kwon Daesuk. You’d never met him, but you’d heard some of the other doctors whisper his name as they passed through the lab right to the secret door. Worry washed over you. Had you done something wrong? Had important files gone missing?

Dr. Kwon was sitting at his large desk looking over files as you entered. As one of the top researches for EXO, it was no surprise that he was up there in the age department. His hair was more silver than black and his face was littered with crevasses that wrinkled even more when he frowned. Though he wasn’t as big as some of the other doctor’s you’d seen, he did have a little extra weight on him that gave him the aura of a grandfather you could trust.

When he saw you standing in his doorway, he motioned for you to sit down in one of the simple, dark wooden chairs in front of him. The upholstery was a garish green and tan paisley pattern. At least you were sitting on it and not having to stare at it.

“Good morning, Dr. (L/n),” he greeted, closing the files. “I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve called you here today?”

You nodded cautiously, your entire work history running through your mind. As far as you remembered you hadn’t had anything disciplinary worthy happen.

“Well, we’ve been monitoring your work here so far and you seem to be very dedicated. As you certainly are aware, most people don’t make it to the sixth month mark. We wanted to be sure of your determination.”

“Working for EXO Applied Sciences has been my dream for a long time,” you answered honestly. “I wasn’t just going to give it up for some pharmaceutical company that I have no interest in because I wasn’t handed a lead position right of the bat. If that meant another six months of filing before being moved to a team, I’d do it.”

Dr. Kwon grinned. “That’s exactly what I like to hear. Dr. (L/n), you’re no longer stationed in the holdings lab. We’re moving you to level sixty-six.”

You nearly choked on the air in your throat. Level sixty-six was deep underground and the most secretive area in all of EXO. It was where the government sanctioned experiments and top-secret holdings that no one but the select few knew about were located. It was also access to the forbidden room.

“Your thesis on using animal DNA to heal injuries and cure diseases was fascinating and exactly the kind of ideas we need here.” He tossed over a badge to your side of the desk. Your picture that you’d taken on your first day here was smiling up at you and a tiny new symbol that you couldn’t quite make out from this distance was shining in the top right-hand corner. It looked like a hexagon, but you’d have to confirm it later with a closer look. “You’ll need this to gain access to the basement. Come with me. We’ll start the tour.”

You followed him out of the office and back to the laboratory that you would no longer call home. Your former coworkers watched you pass the tables, their eyes growing wider than petri dishes at the realization of where you were headed. Dr. Kwon stopped in front of the door that, until now that it, had never really given you excitement.

“Ladies first.”

With a little worry that your badge wouldn’t work, you held it up to the square black pad off to the side and watched with glee as the small red light switched to green. Dr. Kwon opened the door slowly and allowed you to enter first. Whatever your imagination had conjured up about this room, it was a complete let down that shouldn’t really have surprised you.

Bright florescent lighting stung your eyes as the beams bounced off of the white and chrome surfaces. Twelve individual filing cabinets lined the walls, four drawers high. Each cabinet had its own designated number, large and black on the top drawer. Three of them had a harsh red “X” passing through them.

You turned around to face Dr. Kwon, who was smiling at you expectantly. “What exactly is housed in here? I mean, what do we do on level sixty-six?” 

More importantly, what would you be doing there? And would you constantly be having to ride the elevator up here?

A little chuckle left his thin lips. “Well, my dear, level sixty-six is where we conduct the human trials. Thanks to grants given by our wonderful government, we’re working on the ultimate soldier.”

“Super soldiers?” you scoffed. That was seriously still a thing? “Like Captain America?”

“Not quite,” Dr. Kwon countered, walking over to the filing cabinet labeled “12” and pulled out a file. He handed it over to you. Inside was a standard info sheet, including the subject’s date of birth and their current height, and weight. All that was missing was their picture. “They’re Special Forces, but we’re concentrating on the healing factor, especially for severe injuries, along with unique abilities that could come in handy in covert operations.”

Now your interest was piqued. “What kind of abilities?”

“In time, in time.” Dr. Kwon took the file back and replaced it into the cabinet.

Your eyes settled in the large red “X”’s. “What happened to these three?”

Dr. Kwon frowned. “They were transferred to our Chinese division. They’re doing much better over there.”

There was no explanation for it, but for some reason the way he phrased the transfer set you on edge, like a ghost story around a campfire. But there was nothing unusual about a patient moving to another building for further testing. Maybe your nerves were just getting the best of you today.

“Come now, let’s introduce you to your new coworkers.” Leading the way to the elevator, Dr. Kwon explained to you how your full hours were to be taken in the basement, including lunch breaks, just for precaution’s sake. There was a fully stocked break room and bathroom facility, so the only reason to ever leave was to come to the holding room for any files that you may need.

Once again, your badge was needed to access the basement from the elevator and when the doors dinged open, they revealed a small round lobby that broke off into two hallways at eleven and one o’clock respectively.

“Your main lab is down this way,” Dr. Kwon said, leading you down the hall to the right.

You couldn’t hold in your curiosity. “What’s down the other hall?”

“Oh, that’s where we house the subjects,” he clarified. “For safety precautions.” Safety precautions. You seemed to be hearing that a lot. It shouldn’t be that strange since this was a laboratory, but the way Dr. Kwon was saying those words was sending strange signals off in your head. Maybe you were still just waiting for him to say “just kidding!” and make you go back to filing for another six months. 

That strange, ominous feeling just could be shaken from you as the hall, lined with heavy metal doors on either side, seemed more like a jail than a housing center, but you forced the thoughts away. You still didn’t know exactly how things operated down here and for all you knew on the other side of those doors could be five star hotel rooms.

Dr. Kwon stopped at the second door on the right. “This is our blood work lab and your new home.”

The lab was like any other you had worked in during med school. Everything was either white or chrome. Refrigerators with glass doors so you could see inside lined one side of the room, storing dozens of vials and dishes waiting for testing. Other display cases showcased glass slides, each shelf labeled with a corresponding number with the cabinets upstairs. At the long table in the middle of the room sat a woman around your age in purple scrubs looking into a microscope while an older woman in her mid-forties stood over her, writing on a clipboard.

The older woman noticed you first and bowed a greeting.

“Hello, there. You must be (y/n).” she stepped forward as the younger one looked up. “I’m Dr. Wang.” Your new boss appeared to be a kind woman, her smile wide and genuine. Her hair was pulled back into a precise and sharp bun without a hair out of place. “This is my assistant, Dr. Kher. I’ve been waiting for you to arrive here since you accepted our offer. I’m looking forward to what you can bring to our research team.” She held out her hand and you took it enthusiastically.

“Thank you,” you beamed. It was the greatest compliment you had ever received.

Dr. Kher stood up and walked up to join the group. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m happy I won’t be by myself anymore.” She was beautiful, with caramel skin and dark hair to compliment it. Her friendly grin just seemed to pull the whole package together. You hoped that her personality was just as pretty. So far, it seemed so.

“Well, I will leave her to you then,” Dr. Kwon bowed and left us alone.

Dr. Wang shook her head as she watched him leave. “I can’t believe he made me wait six months to get you down here. I wanted you from day one, especially after getting a hold of your thesis. Your analysis on blood work is right in line with what we’re doing down here. But no, you still had to go through the trial period.”

“I’m surprised they waited six months,” Dr. Kher chimed in. “I was only up there for three before they pulled me down here.”

“Oh, well,” Dr. Wang sighed. “We’ll just have to make up for lost time. Dr. (L/n), I’ve already taken the liberty in pulling the files for subjects’ Zero-One, Sixty-One, and Ten for you. I’ve pulled all their vials and set up your station; it’s just across from Dr. Kher. I’ll be in and out today, we’re running some further tests on subject Zero-Four. For now, I just want you to become familiar with those three subjects and get to know their blood like the back of your hand. Later on, I’ll introduce you to more subjects and what we’re aiming for. At the end of the day, just make sure everything is put back into its proper place, including taking the files back up to the filing room. If you have any questions, Dr. Kher should be familiar with everything by now.” She checked her watch at the end of her speech. “Oh, I’ve got to go. But I’m so glad to have you here.”

Practically running out of the room, Dr. Wang disappeared from view, her white lab coat flapping behind her.

“That’s about the same introduction I got when I transferred here,” Dr. Kher mused. She turned to you with that smile still on her face. “I read your thesis, too, although it seemed a bit comic book to me.”

You blushed with embarrassment. “Well, to be honest, that’s where the inspiration came from. However, all the research is legitimate, Dr. Kher.”

She threw her hands up. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend. Just an observation. I know your research was accurate. Oh, and you can call me Nada when it’s just the two of us.”

“No, it’s okay,” you reassured. “I’m just protective over my work. And you can call me (y/n).”

“Well, (y/n), I think we’re going to get along just fine.”

[grootiez]

The Joys of Raising a Teenaged Groot- Chapter 17: Miracle

Rocket called the Guardians at home to tell them of the miracle. Unfortunately, none of them were home, so he left a message on their answering machine.

“Hey, Quill, this is Rocket.” The raccoon began. “Look, uh, I’m sorry that I’m not back home yet. Something has come up. Uh-.” Rocket’s cell phone battery died and shut off just as he was about to tell Peter and the others the good news about Groot. “Kurtakin’ piece of crap.” He mumbled as he placed the phone in his pocket.

Groot was sent away to get another brain scan done to see how much damage he suffered. Rocket came to the decision that no matter what Groot could or could not do, he would love him no matter what. He didn’t care if Groot would be back to his usual moody self or would need to be placed in a specialized nursing home that cares for severely brain-damaged patients with 24-hour care and a private nurse for Groot. He decided that he would celebrate every single milestone Groot reached, no matter if it was as simple as Groot maintaining eye-contact with Rocket as he talked to him, or if Groot could talk to Rocket again himself.

Rocket didn’t know what to expect as he was escorted to Groot’s room. Sure enough, Groot was still hooked up to all of the life support machines that he was on before he was taken off of them when it was decided to let him die in peace. But this time, Rocket was glad to see Groot hooked up to those machines. It meant that Groot was fighting to stay alive, that he had a fighting chance to live. Rocket secretly hoped that Groot would beat the odds stacked against him and make a full recovery without any lasting injuries or impairments. But he would accept whatever his son could do.

Rocket sat next to his son and gently stroked his face. Groot’s head was shaved as a result of the emergency procedure that he had to have done to prevent even more catastrophic damage to his brain. His head was wrapped up in gauze with a green covering over it.

“It’ll be okay, Groot.” Rocket said to him softly. “You’re a fighter, that’s for sure. And if you won’t give up, I won’t give up.”

There was a blip on the heartrate monitor followed by a beep. The same thing occurring on the machine that monitored Groot’s brain waves. Could Groot detect Rocket’s presence even though he was in a coma? He pondered this as he left Groot’s room to meet the Guardians out by the entrance to the ICU wing.

Just then, Peter and the other Guardians came by to see why Rocket called them. They were perplexed as to why instead of crying, Rocket was smiling.

“Rocket?” Peter was confused as to why the raccoon was smiling as he stood in front of the entrance to the ICU wing where Groot was recovering. “What’s going on?”

“You remember when you told me that when everything seems to be lost, to just keep faith and life will find a way to make everything better?” Rocket responded as Peter looked confused as to what he was saying. “Groot came back. He’s in there fighting for his life still, but he’s alive.” The other Guardians were shocked by this as they walked with Rocket to Groot’s room.

Inside, two nurses were assessing Groot’s vitals after they gave him a sponge bath and changed his diaper. The nurses told Rocket that Groot’s vital signs were vastly improved compared to when they checked them this morning.

“He’s doing really good.” One of the nurses, Talei, informed the Guardians. “So good that in fact, we might be able to wake him up from the coma.”

This filled Rocket with emotion. Just 24 hours ago, Groot had no hope of recovery and was taken off of life support as Rocket held his hand as he watched Groot take his final breath just before he died in front of his father.

Now, Groot was now considered a “Miracle Child”, having come back from death and making such a fast recovery that his caretakers were talking about bringing him out of the coma that he was currently in.

A few minutes later, Kalika entered the room and Talei and the other nurse gave her an update on Groot. She talked to them for a while before calling her supervisor on her work-issued cell phone. She then came to tell Rocket the news.

“Rocket, we will be waking up Groot today.” Kalika confirmed to Rocket and the Guardians as the raccoon was overcome with emotion.

“How- how soon?” Rocket stammered as he looked at his son. “How soon?” He repeated as he held onto Kalika’s arm to hold himself up.

Kalika looked Rocket in the eye. “How does ‘In the next five-to-ten minutes’ sound?” She asked the raccoon.

Rocket couldn’t believe it. In the next few minutes, Groot would be conscious again. He didn’t know what to think. Just a day ago, Groot wasn’t expected to ever come out of his comatose state. This got Rocket thinking, was Groot making a faster recovery than expected?

The raccoon sat by Groot’s bedside as Kalika and the other two nurses lessened the amount of the medicine that was keeping him in the coma while at the same time, injecting the medicine that would enable him to wake up into his main IV line.

Slowly, the medicine started to course through Groot’s body. Over the next ten minutes, Groot started to moan and groan as he stirred in his sleep. Kalika urged Rocket to talk to him to encourage him to open his eyes. Rocket understood and nods.

Rocket leaned in towards his son and started to talk softly to him. “Hey, Groot. It’s me, Daddy.” Rocket said soothingly to Groot as he placed Groot’s Bob Ross doll in his hand and gently stroked it. “I’m here, Star-Munch’s here, Aunt Gammy... we’re all here for you. Can you open your eyes for us so we can see those big beautiful eyes of yours?”

Groot opened those gorgeous brown eyes of his. Granted, one of them was covered with gauze as it continued to heal, but the eye that wasn’t covered with gauze looked at Rocket with fear, uncertainty, confusion, but most of all, faith, confidence, and happiness. Faith for all of the obstacles Groot is guaranteed to face in these next few months, the love and support of Rocket and the others to help him through it. Confidence for Rocket’s constant encouragement through the trials and tribulations that these obstacles are certain to produce. Lastly, Happiness for when Groot has an especially rough day in his recovery, that he can look at his family and their undying love for him.

But fear quickly took ahold of Groot. He tried to scream even though he had a breathing tube down his throat. He has no idea of where he was, how he got here, or what has happened to him. Rocket tries desperately to calm him down to no avail.

”Groot, it’s me.” Rocket shakily said as he looked at his son. “It’s me, Groot. Daddy.” There was no response from the teen as he continued to silently scream. Instant worry flooded Rocket. “Can- can he hear me?”

“I don’t know.” Kalika admitted as she gave Groot some medication to calm him down through his IV line. “Since he’s conscious now, we can take him to the labs to determine the exact amount of brain damage he suffered.”

Groot calmed down moments after the medicine entered his body. Rocket stroked Groot’s face in an effort to comfort him and agreed to the tests for him and signed the consent form. But no matter what Rocket did, Groot was still scared and confused about everything going on around him and wouldn’t stop trying to scream.

Rocket tries to soothe Groot one last time before he is taken to get those tests done. “Alright, Groot. You’ll be alright. I’ll be right here when you get back, okay? I love you, son.” Rocket kisses Groot on his cheek just before Kalika takes him in his bed down to the exam rooms.

After Groot is inside the elevator at the end of the ICU wing and the doors close, Rocket turned back to face the other Guardians. The look in his face says everything. Even though Groot was out of the coma, he faced an uphill battle with his recovery. Rocket doesn’t know what to do.

“Rocket.” Gamora began as she placed her arm around Rocket’s shoulder as she pulled him in close in an embrace. “No matter what Groot can or can’t do, he’s still your son.”

“Yeah, she’s right.” Peter added. “Your love for him never lessens, it only gets stronger.”

“But, didn’t you guys see him?” Rocket asked. “It’s like he’s forgotten everything and all he knows now is the unceasing pain that he’s in.”

Rocket’s body language told the others that the raccoon was about to give up all hope on Groot.

“Rocket, you’re not going to give up on Groot.” Drax interjected. “Groot wouldn’t give up on you if you were in his situation, so don’t do it to him.”

Rocket took out an old photo of him and Groot in happier times. “I guess you guys are right.” He agreed. “I can’t give up on him. I gotta be here for him, no matter what.”

Just then, Kalika returned with Groot, who was still silently screaming in pain while he laid down in his bed. “Look who’s back!” She cheerfully said as she pushed Groot’s bed into its normal spot.

Rocket was anxious to hear the results from the evaluation on Groot. “How’d he do? Is he gonna be his old self again?” He implored Kalika. “Well, minus the typical moody teenager crap, of course.” The raccoon added as the other Guardians looked at him weird.

“Well, the good news is that we took a look at his black eye and it has completely healed up to the point where he doesn’t need to have it covered anymore.Rocket  The swelling in his face has vastly diminished too.” Kalika explained as the Guardians saw Groot started to look more like himself and his black eye was completely gone and the bark around it has returned to a healthy color. “We also tested his eyesight and there’s no problems there either.”

“What about his hearing?” Peter asked.

“His hearing was also tested and I’m happy to report that he suffered no impairments to his hearing.” Kalika stated. “But... I’m afraid that’s where the good news ends.”

A lump suddenly formed in Rocket’s throat. “What’s the bad news?” He asked nervously as he stood up.

Kalika placed her hand on Rocket’s shoulder. Her mood took a more somber tone. “I think you should sit down for this.” She implored as the mood in the room suddenly changed.

[outboard02]

Former pro sailor explains how he restored a classic Fairey Swordsman 40

Former expert sailor and windsurfer Stuart Sawyer took on his biggest venture but by means of restoring a Fairey Swordsman 40 returned to mint circumstance.   outboard motor covers

i'm an “inside the blood” waterman, having grown up racing reflect dinghies at country wide and ecu level earlier than turning into a professional windsurfer in my 20s and transferring to Hawaii in which the waves were larger. nowadays i'm again within the united kingdom sailing a J/122 called Black dog III. My crew and that i are the modern-day RORC IRC country wide Champions. None of this would had been feasible without a supportive own family so it appeared simplest right that I began seeking out a ship that my spouse and two grown-up daughters may want to enjoy as much as I did. We desired something round 40ft lengthy that would sleep 4 easily and six at a push for our Black canine “cruises”, which entail a pub or three in Fowey or the Helford. Off the water, i'm CEO of a materials era organisation called D3O, which specialises in effect safety, which include helmet liners for American football gamers and the defence area, covers for cellular phones and defensive clothing for motorcyclists. I had a price range up to £a hundred and fifty,000-£one hundred sixty,00 to spend on a boat and as always I wanted to spend it wisely. I discounted a new boat due to the depreciation and determined i'd be happier with an older conventional anyway. The row-away factor (while you look back at the boat as you row ashore) became vital to me, as changed into impeccable sea-maintaining. I taken into consideration a Dale Nelson 38 – great seakeeping and construct satisfactory – however my daughters felt it changed into ‘too sluggish and vintage for me’. They wanted something quicker and prettier in which we may want to make short passages to the Scillies, France and the Channel Islands. In July 2019, after the RORC IRC prizegiving, I went for a walk to mirror on what we’d executed and stumbled across a stunning Fairey Swordsman 40. some thing connected with me – the iconic lines, corresponding curves, flared bow and open cockpit; everything about it oozed performance. blended with my schoolboy goals of being James Bond (even if it was a Fairey Huntress rather than a Swordsman that changed into used within the From Russia with Love chase scene) it regarded nearly destined to be.  outboard motor covers I realize many of my choice points have been emotive ones but the Swordsman did have the desired 4 berths and a personal proprietor’s cabin aft with its personal heads: our dozing instances are not usually compatible with those of our scholar daughters! when a Swordsman got here up for sale in Falmouth I took my spouse to peer it. the moment she stepped aboard I ought to see she preferred it: the sociable but secure cockpit, the separate cabins and heads however it was whilst she stood again and well-liked the flared bow that she really commenced to smile – it emanated romantic nostalgia. on the time of our viewing, the mouldy green decks, oil-filled bilges and rotting mast have been thrust to the again of my mind – that was concerned with the survey. The preliminary negotiations did not go well. The boat was advertised at £149,000 but simply had troubles. The most obvious changed into a loss of use; it had spent the last  years ashore without the engines being serviced. i discussed this with my brother Andrew, a yacht transport skipper for PYD, and Nigel Musto, who also owns a Swordsman, and all of us agreed that in addition to an amazing survey, a sea trial with a Caterpillar engineer on board would be vital to be able to verify the engines. The survey, achieved through Paul Kerridge at Mylor Yacht Harbour, read a whole lot as expected. The hull and structure were in correct circumstance and extremely nicely built. apparently it turned into one of the ultimate made and had been commissioned by way of the backyard’s owner however for a few cause much of the indoors had in no way been completely completed. The electrics had additionally suffered water ingress. All in all it became a sound boat that became suffering from loss of use and upkeep, but not anything that turned into insurmountable. An preliminary inspection ashore by way of Finnings, the Caterpillar dealers, located a number of issues with the engines – steeply-priced however nothing that regarded terminal. I were given a few indicative pricing for refurbishing the boat and servicing the engines, and agreed on a sale charge of £110,000 concern to sea trials. when the allocated day came, we set out in a blustery force 6, step by step taking the engines up in 500rpm steps. i used to be surprised at the shortage of slamming and how resultseasily she reduce via the four-6ft swell. massive smile. sadly, the equal couldn't be stated for the engines, which were heating up at an alarming charge. All forms of signals and warnings popped up on the Caterpillar agent’s computer, to the factor in which we needed to close down the port engine, simplest to look the starboard engine additionally begin peaking. After half-hour, on the advice of the engineer, we aborted the ocean trial and limped lower back to Falmouth, alternating the engines to prevent overheating. The deal became off and the broker went back to the proprietor to searching for route. a whole lot to-ing and fro-ing ensued; sale on, sale off, in addition sea trials and more charges as we investigated whether the engines will be fixed or might have to be replaced. i was looking at £36,000 + VAT to refurbish the antique automobiles or £70,000 for 2 new ones. ultimately, six weeks after our preliminary offer and a painful negotiation technique for each me and the preceding proprietor, name transferred to me for £85,000. And a steep and luxurious gaining knowledge of curve started out! The venture Tom Redgrave and Sandy Proctor, whom I sail with and work for Falmouth Harbour commission, had just had the pilot boat re-engined via Mylor Yacht Harbour’s Marine team, so advocated them for the engines. I known as Roger Graffy, Chairman of Mylor Yacht Harbour, to explain my plans, and in a manner best Roger can get away with, he showed that a) i was completely mad as I already had two boats, b) He completely understood as he loves being afloat extra than ashore, c) His wife Dinah has a longstanding love affair with the Swordsman and d) Given the background of Fairey marine, it was precisely the type of challenge Mylor might need to be concerned in.  outboard motor covers Off to Mylor she went and at some point of deeper inspection of the antique engines we did have one great wonder – the gearboxes had been in excellent fettle, having accomplished less than four hundred hours of their 14 years. This intended we could preserve the existing gearboxes and ‘bob-tail’ the new engines. That delivered the price right down to £fifty three,000 + VAT for new engines and refurbished gearboxes in comparison to £36,000 + VAT for overhauling the old engines. once I then acquired a suggestion of £12,000 to shop for the vintage engines, I bit the bullet and decided to head for brand new engines. Nigel Musto turned into a mine of facts on which engines to head for, having all of the overall performance information of each Swordsman ever constructed. They might must provide the greatest stability of weight, gas and performance however specially they needed to have that distinctive Swordsman ‘sound’. We agreed that dual 455hp Caterpillar C7.1s have been the way to move. Engines opting for new engines required a structural change to the beds, because the 7.1s have been 40mm taller. as soon as the antique engines have been removed and the gas tanks shifted to permit get right of entry to, Mylor Marine’s team reduce back the beds and strengthened the bearers with metallic and epoxy to take the new engine mounts. After lifting the engines in, they then had to be aligned with the shafts. Chris Powell, the lead engineer, lived in the engine bay for the first-rate part of six weeks and by the time he’d finished the alignment changed into so best (inside 2,000s-of- an-inch) that he needed to upload jubilee clips to forestall them sliding out. Electrics the main dashboard and cockpit control panel had rusted and lacking buttons had allowed water to seep behind it, so that most of the switches and gauges had been not operating. Mylor controlled to supply the authentic provider and organized for new panels to be cut and powder coated a good way to keep the authentic appearance and sense however additionally accommodate the brand new engines’ liquid crystal display control panels and a current chartplotter. We opted for a Raymarine Axiom 9 as I wanted one with difficult controls I ought to use whilst bouncing around at 25 knots. We included this to the prevailing autopilot and after a lot debate decided to eliminate the antique radar and installation an AIS seven-hundred device alternatively, albeit with wiring for a brand new radar to be brought at a later date. I also made two greater non-budgeted decisions. the first became to install new gas sensors into each tanks which fed into the Axiom for unique monitoring. the second one become that on receipt of the brand new engine’s digital manage panels, I felt they seemed out of maintaining with the Swordsman's classic fashion. Mark Howard, Mylor’s senior electrician, managed to supply a few white and chrome analogue dials that would speak to the Cat engines but could appearance extra in maintaining. I recognise this become basically an aesthetic choice however having now used the boat, i am so satisfied we redid this. The final step changed into adding a stereo system and audio system to the cockpit and saloon. With young daughters and their buddies on board, I felt this will be amusing, albeit alternatively extravagant, greater. We opted for a Fusion RA70N as this will be controlled from the Axiom in addition to through Bluetooth without having to head down beneath. indoors components of the original in shape out had never been fully finished – perhaps as it became used particularly as a day boat. This became obtrusive from the paucity of storage and shortage of wear and tear and tear inner. I contacted Rob Holdroff, a local carpenter, who had just set up on his own having previously worked at Pendennis. We met on the boat and drew up a agenda of works. A key request from my daughters was to make the vee berth convertible to a double with the aid of a timber infill and bed. Given the British climate, I additionally desired to create a wet locker in the the front cabin, which drains into the bilges, where damp clothing should dry with the resource of significant heating. The galley was problematic, as the cupboards opened at once onto the GRP structure and lacked any shelves. My spouse Ruth labored out what we'd need for family cruises, purchased the plates, bowls, cups, mugs and glasses, then we designed and fitted out the cabinets especially to match them. We did the same for all of the lockers within the saloon, making spaces and draws for pilot books, safety device, odds and sods, and of path bottle holders! in the aft cabin, Rob made liners and shelves that might shield our garments from condensation, in all instances matching the cherry wooden finish to the authentic. outdoors  outboard motor covers a great deal of the exterior wanted sorting. The teak decks had been included in algae, cut up in places and the caulking turned into shot. The timber rubbing strake at the bow had split and changed into lacking several portions. The anchor locker hatch had warped and wouldn’t near. The gas bottle had left rust streaks down the topsides and inside the locker. The blue transom had dwindled to such an extent that I questioned if it might ever come lower back to its actual shade. as the Mylor group have been focussed on the engines and electrics, I asked Tim Seaman at Formation Marine to take on this. Tim had repaired Black canine when we hit the committee boat at a start in Dartmouth, so I knew how professional he turned into with both wood and GRP. Tim did a incredible activity of reducing back and restoring the transom giving us an early win that helped to reveal how she could come to be looking. together, we labored out which lockers ought to preserve what; lifestyles raft, inflatable smooth and a couple of.5hp outboard, as I didn’t need davits to spoil the boat’s lines. Tim then set approximately repairing, replacing and in which vital recreating the locker lids and liners in addition to refurbishing the decks and rubbing strake. The cockpit shower set up internal one of the deck lockers became also a write off. Tim changed the cracked pipework with flexible hosing to shield it whilst throwing in warps and fenders. final however no longer least, the mast, which i have usually visible as a key part of the Fairey’s iconic layout, became so badly discoloured that it become bordering on the brink of no return. Tim rose to the venture, eliminated the mast, took it domestic and over the winter spent hours drying, sanding and slicing it returned, followed by infinite coats of varnish to repair it to its former glory. It has likely had more TLC than any other single a part of the boat. Frustratingly the new engines arrived at the very day lockdown turned into imposed, causing a put off of virtually three months. once the assignment turned into underway again, it slipped a in addition 3 weeks, in large part right down to desiring to update the risers, which had corroded and break up, unfavorable the old engines. This, the brand new device panel, the stereo and the mast and decks needing more work than expected pushed us over my authentic budget and the ten percentage contingency I’d built onto it by means of a similarly 10 per cent.  ultimately, once we had the boat stripped and the engines taken out, we determined to update as opposed to provider all however  of the thru-hull fittings for peace of mind and ease of protection. The result notwithstanding this I thoroughly loved the refit process. Going over every inch, inner and out, and agreeing the practical element has made me experience greater connected with the boat. operating with tremendous tradespeople become a key part of this. Nathan Percival, the mission supervisor at Mylor Yacht Harbour, made the procedure less complicated for me, despite the fact that it elderly him! Tim Seaman has to be credited for the way proper Freebird now seems. Rob Holdroff has made it so much more practical and nice to live aboard. Mark Howard and Chris Powell worked tirelessly on the brand new engines and electronics. I suppose i used to be lucky that this wasn’t a ordinary task, having a traditional boat which humans without a doubt wanted to paintings on made a important distinction. each of the groups have been fascinated to look how the others had been getting on and everybody appeared to broaden their personal connection with the boat, which is clear in the craftsmanship and high high-quality paintings on show. whether it has paid off financially is tough to say; Swordsman 40s vary among £one hundred fifty,000 and £225,000 relying on their condition and specification. i might say that Freebird is one of, if no longer the first-class, instance available and could be in all likelihood to sit on the better cease of the price bracket. That stated I don’t assume proudly owning any boat should be about getting cash. I knew I needed to be realistic with the prices and even though I were given swept along with some of the extra aesthetic choices, I wasn’t in a function to simply throw money at it and permit someone else control the task. i was heavily worried in all of the choices for the duration of the system and, sarcastically, now not being capable of tour for business intended I might be onsite  or 3 times every week. Now the plan is to apply Freebird with the circle of relatives, starting up with small cruises to mattress the boat in. we've got already enjoyed short journeys and overnights to the Helford River permitting us to undergo some inevitable snagging, which i'm extremely joyful to mention turned into minor! Fowey and the Isles of Scilly are subsequent at the listing of locations to head for, that are all inside short 1-4 hour passages, while L’Aber Wrac'h and Roscoff are on my daughters’ listing to visit as soon as Covid restrictions carry. If this all goes properly we're brewing a plan for 2021 to take the boat round Britain and eire. This has been on my bucket list for a while and at the same time as I had firstly deliberate to do it by way of sail, Freebird is now rising as the suitable craft for the job. My plan for this circumnavigation is to move west from Falmouth to the Scillies, then over to Kinsale and around the West coast of eire. I’d then make my way up the west coast of Scotland around Cape Wrath, down the east coast and into London, earlier than the very last leg alongside the south coast and domestic to Cornwall. Having placed this plenty time and effort into perfecting Freebird, it appears only right to make the most of what she has to offer. I promise to keep you published… The fee indoors lockers and berth conversion – £2,000 Teak decking, topsides, transom, mast, external lockers, glass maintenance and antifoul – £7,800 New engines – £sixty five,200 (£fifty seven,840 + £19,400 fitting, less £12,000 for vintage engines) Electronics – chartplotter, AIS, gas sensors, dials, panels, stereo, LED nav lighting fixtures, rewiring – £9,800 changing thru-hull fittings, servicing all prevent cocks, pipe works, outdoor bathe – £2,four hundred canopy and cockpit cover, repairing antique tonneau – £4,800 New risers, exhaust manifold, welding, moving electric panel and generator – £4,900 Extinguisher improve, tender, outboard, liferaft and many others. – £6,000  outboard motor covers

[bountyofbeads]

Jeffrey Epstein's death is a perfect storm for conspiracy theories

https://news.yahoo.com/jeffrey-epstein-death-conspiracy-theories-163046929.html

Jeffrey Epstein’s Death Is The Perfect Storm for Conspiracy Theories

By Christopher Wilson | Published August 10, 2019 12:30 PM ET | Yahoo News | Posted August 10, 2019 4:34 PM ET |

The death Saturday morning of financier Jeffrey Epstein, an accused sex trafficker with connections to some of the most powerful people in the world, represents a perfect storm in the world of conspiracy theories.

Epstein was found unconscious in his cell in the Metropolitan Correctional Center — the federal jail in downtown Manhattan — and pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The MCC is one of the most secure jails in the country, and Epstein, following an earlier suicide attempt, was being held in the Special Housing Unit, where inmates are under heightened protection, although NBC News reported he was not on suicide watch. He had been in the MCC since July 6, after FBI agents arrested him when he returned to the U.S. from France on his private jet.

Epstein’s death immediately set off speculation that he had been killed, or that someone who should have been watching him was looking the other way when it happened. With confirmed ties to political figures up to and including presidents of both parties, European royalty and headline names in business, finance and academia, Epstein was a lightning rod for conspiracy theories even before his death. Women who have accused him of forcing them into having sex when they were underage have also said he pimped them out to some of his powerful friends. His trial, more than a year away, could have proved embarrassing — or worse — to people who were part of his large social circle.

Attorney General William Barr put out a statement saying: “I was appalled to learn that Jeffrey Epstein was found dead early this morning from an apparent suicide while in federal custody. Mr. Epstein’s death raises serious questions that must be answered. In addition to the FBI’s investigation, I have consulted with the Inspector General who is opening an investigation into the circumstances of Mr. Epstein’s death.”

“If we were living in a paranoid fantasy universe, I would be very suspicious about the Epstein suicide, even about whether it was really suicide,” wrote New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. “And you know what? The Epstein case itself shows that we *are* kind of living in a paranoid fantasy universe.”

Joe Scarborough tweeted, “A guy who had information that would have destroyed rich and powerful men’s lives ends up dead in his jail cell. How predictably...Russian.”

On the fringes of the political spectrum, Ann Coulter tweeted, “I knew this would happen! I warned you, [Bureau of Prisons].”

Later she managed to wrap in a whole documentary’s worth of conspiracy theorizing in a single tweet: “This ends the only plausible Epstein theory OTHER THAN a foreign country’s pedophile/blackmail operation. (That he was laundering Robert Maxwell’s hidden loot.)”

Epstein was close friends for years with Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell, who drowned under suspicious circumstances in 1991. At least one of Epstein’s alleged victims has said Ghislaine participated in Epstein’s recruitment of young teenage girls for sex; she has denied any involvement.

Other tweets hinted at a conspiracy by the British royal family, and the hashtag #ClintonBodyCount exploded on social media, the subject of 13,300 tweets within the first hour. Lynne Patton, a Trump appointee in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, wrote on Instagram that Epstein was “Hillary’d.”

Epstein’s waterfront mansion in Palm Beach, Fla., where the alleged sex acts occurred, is less than a mile from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club. Records show that Trump flew on Epstein’s private jet on occasion, and they had been photographed together at social events.

“I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” said Trump in a 2002 New York magazine profile of Epstein. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”

Former President Bill Clinton flew on Epstein’s private plane multiple times and visited his island. Prince Andrew of Britain also has ties to the hedge fund magnate but has denied any involvement in sex trafficking.

Documents implicating other powerful figures began to be released yesterday, starting with sealed records related to a defamation lawsuit that Epstein’s self-described “sex slave” Virginia Roberts Giuffre filed against Ghislaine Maxwell. Giuffre alleges that Epstein told her to have sex with hedge fund billionaire Glenn Dubin, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former Democratic Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell.

The men have all denied the allegations.

The New York Times reported last month that Epstein used his ties to Les Wexner, CEO of the L Brands corporation, which owns Victoria’s Secret, for access to both models and money. Wexner accused Epstein this week of misappropriating “vast sums of money.”

Epstein, early in his career, was a protégé of Donald Barr, the father of Attorney General Barr, who hired him to teach at New York’s prestigious Dalton School despite his lack of a college degree.

The amount and source of Epstein’s wealth, apart from his association with Wexner, has been a mystery. His Manhattan mansion has been described as having a “creepy décor,” while his private island has a gold-domed temple-like structure. When Epstein’s home was raided, investigators found a cache of videos in a safe that were described as potentially containing compromising images of third parties. The New York Times reported last month that Epstein had plans to “seed human race with his DNA” at his New Mexico ranch.

The latest round of charges were not the first faced by Epstein. He was charged by federal prosecutors in Florida in 2007 for, as the Miami Herald put it in its award-winning reporting on the case, “assembling a large, cult-like network of underage girls — with the help of young female recruiters — to coerce into having sex acts behind the walls of his opulent waterfront mansion as often as three times a day.” Epstein received what observers consider unusually lenient treatment by the U.S. attorney in Miami at the time, Alex Acosta. Acosta served as Trump’s secretary of labor but stepped down amid a slew of calls for his resignation after Epstein’s arrest earlier this summer. In that case, Epstein was defended by Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz and former special counsel Ken Starr.

Epstein’s trial was not set to begin until June 2020 at the earliest. He had been denied bail due to his access to private jets, private islands and multiple passports. Civil cases against Epstein’s estate will continue despite his death.

According to Courthouse News reporter Adam Klasfeld, a former prosecutor said that after Epstein’s death “no one else will have standing to challenge the search warrant on his house. Everything will be admissible against any other defendant without possibility of a motion to suppress.”

In the wake of Epstein’s death, many were quick to point out that hundreds of people kill themselves in jail every year and experts say most deaths are preventable with proper mental health care and monitoring.

However, the fact that he was able to hang himself less than a month after a previous suicide attempt — particularly one in which a former cop charged with four murders being jailed near Epstein was questioned over his potential involvement — raised questions from those far from the conspiratorial fringes of the internet.

“I am not into conspiracy theories,” said Brooklyn-based public defender Scott Hechinger. “But Epstein had destructive information on an extraordinary number of extraordinarily powerful people. It is not easy to commit suicide in prison. Especially after being placed on suicide watch. Especially after already allegedly trying.”

“The Bureau of Prisons is part of DOJ,” said Michael Bromwich, who previously served as the Justice Department’s inspector general. “This should prompt an immediate and comprehensive DOJ Inspector General investigation to determine who is responsible.”

“We need answers,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., linking to a story about Epstein’s death. “Lots of them.”

Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla., has already called on the House Oversight Committee to investigate Epstein’s death, saying in a statement that it “does not end the need for justice for his victims or the right of the public to know why a prolific child molester got a slap on the wrist instead of a long prison sentence.”

Additional reporting by Melissa Rossi

[deniscollins]

All Eyes Are on Pfizer as Trump Pushes for Vaccine by October

In media appearances and talks with investors, Pfizer’s chief executive Albert Bourla nearly always mentions conclusive evidence on its coronavirus vaccine trials by October, prior to the presidential election. By repeating a date that flies in the face of most scientific predictions, Dr. Bourla is making a high-stakes gamble. If Pfizer puts out a vaccine before it has been thoroughly tested — something the company has pledged it will not do — it could pose a major threat to public safety. The perception matters, too: If Americans see the vaccine as having been rushed in order to placate Mr. Trump, many may refuse to get the shot.

But there is a significant upside, to the tune of billions of dollars, in being first to the U.S. market with a vaccine. And staying in the president’s good graces — particularly when he keeps talking about ways to lower drug prices — might not be a bad thing for a company that brought in nearly $40 billion in 2019 from sales of high-priced, brand-name drugs. If you were Pfizer’s CEO, would you continue to promote the October date: (1) Yes, (2) No? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

In media appearances and talks with investors, Pfizer’s chief executive nearly always mentions a word that is so politically perilous, most of his competitors shy away from it: October.

“Right now, our model — our best case — predicts that we will have an answer by the end of October,” the chief executive, Dr. Albert Bourla, told the “Today” show earlier this month. In other interviews, he has said he expected a “conclusive readout” by then, with an application for emergency authorization that could be filed “immediately.”

Dr. Bourla’s statements have put his company squarely in the sights of President Trump, who has made no secret of his desire for positive vaccine news to boost his chances on Election Day, Nov. 3. “We’re going to have a vaccine very soon. Maybe even before a very special date,” Mr. Trump said recently.

And yet by all other accounts, the idea that it will be ready in October is far-fetched. Even if the vaccine shows promising signs in clinical trials — still a big if — the company will not have collected enough data by then to say with any statistical confidence that it is safe and effective.

By repeating a date that flies in the face of most scientific predictions, Dr. Bourla is making a high-stakes gamble. If Pfizer puts out a vaccine before it has been thoroughly tested — something the company has pledged it will not do — it could pose a major threat to public safety. The perception matters, too: If Americans see the vaccine as having been rushed in order to placate Mr. Trump, many may refuse to get the shot.

But there is a significant upside, to the tune of billions of dollars, in being first to the U.S. market with a vaccine. And staying in the president’s good graces — particularly when he keeps talking about ways to lower drug prices — might not be a bad thing for a company that brought in nearly $40 billion in 2019 from sales of high-priced, brand-name drugs.

“There’s a huge financial advantage to being first out of the gate,” said Dr. Megan Ranney, an associate professor of emergency medicine and public health at Brown University. She was one of 60 public health officials and others in the medical community who signed a letter to Pfizer urging it not to rush its vaccine.

And given the White House’s persistent efforts to interfere in the decisions of federal health agencies, some scientists fear a vaccine approval could come under similar pressure.

“What I worry about is that the politics or the financial gain may drive earlier release than is scientifically appropriate,” Dr. Ranney said.

Pfizer will not be anywhere near completion of its clinical trial by the end of October, according to a company spokeswoman. When Dr. Bourla referred to a “conclusive readout” next month, she said, he meant that it’s possible the outside board of experts monitoring the trial would have by that date found promising signs that the vaccine works.

Pfizer’s trial blueprints allow the panel to look at the data after just 32 volunteers have become ill with Covid-19. Even if most of those cases were in the placebo group, regulators at the Food and Drug Administration would likely need data from more volunteers before making a decision on authorization, according to people familiar with the government’s vaccine approval process.

The F.D.A. has also told vaccine makers that they will need to track at least half of the patients’ safety data for two months before the agency will grant emergency access. That would push the earliest possible date into at least November.

In a statement, Pfizer said that it would continue to collect data on trial volunteers’ health for two years, and that it planned to submit two months of safety data to the agency “to help inform F.D.A.’s ultimate determination of authorization or approval.”

In public interviews, government health officials have refuted the October date. Both Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the chief scientific adviser to Operation Warp Speed, the federal effort that has awarded billions of dollars to vaccine makers, and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease doctor, have said October was unlikely.

Pfizer’s leading competitors in the vaccine race, Moderna and AstraZeneca, have been more vague about timing, saying they expect something before the end of the year. In a recent interview, Moderna’s chief executive, Stéphane Bancel, said: “October is possible, because very few things in life are impossible.” The better word, he said, is “unlikely.”

“They will not get approved before the election,” said Ronny Gal, an analyst with the Wall Street firm Bernstein. “The timing just doesn’t work.”

One key to understanding how Pfizer vaulted to first place in the vaccine race is found in its trial blueprints, known as a protocol.

Even though Moderna and Pfizer began their trials on the same day, Pfizer’s is “built for speed,” as one Wall Street firm, SVB Leerink, described it.

Participants in Pfizer’s trial are given two doses of a vaccine 21 days apart, whereas those in Moderna’s wait 28 days in between. Pfizer begins looking for sick volunteers seven days after the second dose, whereas Moderna does so at 14 days. And Pfizer’s plan allows an outside review panel to look at early data after just 32 volunteers have become ill with Covid-19. Moderna’s plan doesn’t allow for a first peek until 53 cases.

Some experts have speculated that Pfizer’s volunteers happen to be in places where the virus is spreading quickly, making it more likely that they would have been exposed to the virus and put the vaccine to the test. While Moderna’s trial is being conducted only in the United States, Pfizer’s is international, with locations set up or planned in the United States, Brazil, Turkey and Argentina.

In Argentina, which has seen a surge of coronavirus infections since August, 33,000 volunteers quickly signed up for about 4,500 slots, said Dr. Fernando Polack, the head researcher of the Pfizer study that is being carried out at the Hospital Military Central in Buenos Aires.

“We have a lot of years of experience in these kinds of trials, and we’ve never seen these numbers before,” Dr. Polack said in an interview. He declined to comment on whether he was aware of any Covid-19 cases among volunteers.

Across all of its trial sites, Pfizer said, 24,000 volunteers have received the second dose of the vaccine, more than half of the 44,000 that are expected to enroll.

Despite Pfizer’s confident pronouncements, a win is not guaranteed. Around 15 percent of vaccines in late-stage trials do not make it to approval.

Dr. Mark Goldberger, an infectious disease expert at the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership and a former F.D.A. official, noted that the agency has scheduled a meeting of outside experts to discuss experimental coronavirus vaccines on Oct. 22.

“It would take an enormous effort to get the data by then,” he said. “It’s within the realm of possibility, but there are things that could trip them up — a manufacturing issue, a safety issue, the efficacy is not as good as they expect.”

Taking first place in the vaccine race isn’t just about bragging rights, although the public-relations boost from developing a vaccine that could liberate the world from a deadly pandemic cannot be overstated.

Mr. Gal, the Bernstein analyst, said that Pfizer could win a significant commercial edge by taking control of the early market for a coronavirus vaccine. Unlike Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, which have said they will not profit from their products during the pandemic, Pfizer has made no such promises.

It also has not taken federal money to develop its vaccine, instead signing a $1.95 billion deal to sell the first 100 million doses of its vaccine to the U.S. government. Dr. Bourla has said that the company didn’t accept federal investment in its research and development so that the government wouldn’t be able to control the price of the vaccine later on.

“We didn’t take money so that we don’t have any restrictions,” Dr. Bourla said on Sept. 16 at an event organized by the investment bank J.P. Morgan. “Because I can imagine, if you take money, then you have to — a little bit to explain about your pricing.”

While smaller companies like Moderna have already benefited financially by rising share prices, Pfizer has not seen a similar stock bump. Mr. Gal has estimated the initial wave of vaccination as an $18 billion market. “So to the extent that they are able to capture any material amount of it, even for a company like Pfizer, it’s not a small thing,” he said.

Pfizer also has more at stake when it comes to doing business with the federal government. Moderna does not sell any approved products, but Pfizer has a broad portfolio of vaccines and drugs. The federal government is both a major customer — paying for treatments and vaccines through Medicare — and makes weighty decisions about everything from drug approvals to drug-pricing policy.

Even as Mr. Trump has urged the speedy approval of a vaccine, he has employed harsh rhetoric against the industry. Earlier this month, he issued an executive order aimed at lowering the cost of some drugs by tying them to prices in other countries. The measure was strongly opposed — and is likely to be challenged in court — by the drug industry.

Earlier this month, the president singled out Pfizer for special praise, describing it as a “great company,” and saying he had spoken to Dr. Bourla, who was a “great guy.”

Dr. Bourla, who has spent much of the past month giving interviews to media outlets and appearing on industry panels, has insisted the company’s accelerated timeline had nothing to do with politics. “We have politicians or journalists speaking about efficacy or safety about medicines which, of course, is not appropriate,” Dr. Bourla said at the company’s investor day on Sept. 15. “The scientists should be having these discussions.”

Ultimately, Pfizer’s strategy may be about managing the public’s expectations, said Brandon Barford, a partner at Beacon Policy Advisors, a research firm. Pfizer could now explain any delay past October by “saying, ‘We’re being extra cautious.’ And you get kudos for it.”

But if the opposite occurs, and Pfizer is seen to be pushing a vaccine before it is ready, the “potential fallout is enormous,” said Dr. Ranney, of Brown University. “We cannot afford to have a vaccine released for Covid-19 that is either unsafe or ineffective.”

[ignaziosearring]

I have a request that isn't xmas or new year's eve themed (it can be tho) it's about the song El Reloj, it is a beautiful song that I love so much from the boys. It is in Spanish so I don't know if it is possible. I like your imagines very much!! Specially the Ignazio ones🙈

This is not where i explain why i have been so silent over the past few months. This is where i announce that I’VE MISSED YOU GUYS SO MUCH AND I’VE MISSED WRITING SOOO MUCH! Hopefully, I’ll be much more active from now on as i try to balance everything with uni.

I have been writing this story for about 4 months, going on and off, deleting and starting again. It’s *too* long, like 1600ish long, but i think it needed this length. The topic is a *bit* dramatic (trigger warning), bc you know me😇. Also please allow me to dedicate it to my uncle who passed away on Sunday bc of cancer.

I’M BACK PEOPLE PASS IT ON! LIKE/REBLOG/COMMENT!

Xx

~•~

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

The transparent liquid was falling in drops from the IV bag to a small cylinder. The drops were synchronized with the shrill beeping sound coming from the heart monitor. The door opened and let a cold breeze sweep inside the room. It took a worryingly high amount of energy to lift my hands and rub my arms. It took more time too. The bones felt heavy and numb. The side effects of morphine. At least the pain was bearable, even for the ultimate hours.

“Are you cold?”

Gianluca had come inside. The glass window reflected his tired figure. His eyes were red and swollen, a sign he had been crying again. Before reaching this stage I would have thought this as an oxymoron. Gianluca was healthy, young and beautiful. He would live a long and happy life. He wasn’t dependent on anyone or anything. He wasn’t in constant and unstoppable pain. He wasn’t counting down the remaining months, days, hours. He didn’t see the last glimmers of hope wash away in one frown of a doctor. Yet he was the one crying.

“Let me cover you.”

His moves were careful and balanced, as always.

“They’re trying to tackle the heat wave with the air conditioning.”

Smalltalk. He was poorly attempting -and failing- to avoid the issue that had risen a barrier between us the past two weeks. He wouldn’t even look me in the eyes. I observed him carefully in silence. His body was tense as he sat down on the chair beside me.

Then, I turned my head to the window again and were confronted with my miserable reality. A body that was fighting itself. Flesh ashen, paler than a ghost, lanced here and there for various medical exams, hanging on bones. A red scarf was covering the bald head. Soul and mind twisted by a sickness that had come all too quickly to end a life in its blooming days. I couldn’t recognize myself in that reflection. I was long gone. The word “terminal” had been vibrating in my ears and hunting me in my nightmares every night.

“There’s no moon tonight. Only the stars.”

He too had turned his gaze to the window. I glanced at the sky and realized that stars would start falling soon. That special night of every year. The magnificent phenomenon that ten years ago had become the reason we had met.

“Gian.”

Our eyes met momentarily for the first time in a long while.

“Don’t do it.”

“Do what?”

“Wish that the medicine won’t work.”

His initial surprise was replaced by guilt.

“You haven’t made peace with my decision, Gian.”

I wasn’t angry, on the contrary I was smiling understandingly at him.

“Wha- why do you say that?”

He was stuttering and nervously running his fingers through his hair, like a young boy caught doing a mischief.

“You were crying, you can’t stand looking at me for more than two seconds and you’re trying to avoid talking about it by making damn smalltalk. You are angry.”

The outburst that followed was exactly what I was hoping for. I knew him better than anyone, he always bottled up his feelings and let them torment him. I didn’t want to leave him in anger along with everything else.

He jumped up and kicked his chair hard, fresh tears already visible.

“Of course I’m angry! Tonight I have to say goodbye to the love of my life! I’m angry at God, the universe or whatever it is that is out there. How can they be so cruel? Who gave them the right to do this to you? To us? It shouldn’t have been like that. We should have been old, very old, with grandchildren or even great grandchildren. You are too young to die.”

The raised voice and rapid flow of speech, the spitting of words gave their place to a sorrowful whisper.

“It’s too soon to say goodbye.”

He had slid down the door and had folded his body, his face buried in his hands.

“Gian, I know it’s not only that you are angry with. Say it. It will liberate you. It will liberate me.”

He raised his face slowly and gazed at me. His look was filled with regret, wrath, sorrow, pain. His lips were pouted.

“No.”

His answer was firm now.

“I don’t want to fight in our last day.”

“And I don’t want to go without making things right between us.”

A piercing look was enough to convince him to sit again beside me.

“What do you want me to say? That I’m angry at you? Yes, (y/n), I am angry at you, here, you have it. You, you gave up. On yourself, on our relationship, on me.”

“I didn’t. I am not giving up right now. This medicine is not giving up”, I pointed at the IV.

“If I had given up we would have been having this conversation 6 months ago. I didn’t give up when the doctor said terminal, nor when he said that all I had left was eight painful, excruciating, humiliating, inhumane months. I didn’t give up when the first clinical trial you managed to get me on failed. Nor the second, the third, the forth. I didn’t give up even though the only thing I gained from those trials was more pain, all while losing my mind cell by cell. I did it for you. I saw the determination in your expression to prove the doctors wrong, the sleep deprived eyes that had spent innumerable nights going through research by research, the contacts with pioneer oncologists from all around the world to get me on their trials or suggest a different, more promising medical plan.”

Speaking for that long was exhausting and made me burst into coughs. His look softened and became worried as he gave me some water.

“Then why are you doing this now? Even if we couldn’t get you on another clinical trial, we would still have two months, just the two of us. We would go home, spend those two months together. We would have more time!”

His voice came out as an exasperated whisper. One last hopeless beg.

“We wouldn’t.”

I was firm. I looked him in the eyes and finally spoke my truth.

“You need to understand Gian. This is not me. This is not the (y/n) you met, fell in love with and married.”

He tried to stop me but I raised my palm firmly and continued decisively.

“I can’t even bear to look at my reflection on the window. And when I do, when I do I can barely recognize myself in there. Do you think it’s easy for me? Don’t you think I want more time? I wanted to grow old with you and bear your children. I wanted to achieve all the dreams I had ever since I can remember myself. God knows how hard I wish for more time. Even when I signed that paper. Even now. But not like this. This is something I can’t keep going through.”

“(Y/n)…”

He burst iinto tears. The body mechanism to get one’s pain roll down and wipe away. I started crying too. He understood. I knew he understood, otherwise he wouldn’t have let himself pull apart in front of me. He knew I had to do it.

“It’s better this way Gian. I know it’s already painful enough for you to see me wash away all these months. This will save you at least some pain. You’ll see me go down sane enough. A good comander knows when they’ve lost the war, isn’t this what they’re saying?”

He chuckled and took a deep breath to gain his composure.

“Come here lay beside me.”

We laid on our sides and hungrily looked each other in the eyes. Our sobs were quieting down.

“Gian”, i began, “I want you to promise me something.”

His expression darkened again.

“Don’t say it.”

“Listen to me. I know it hurts but you need to. After tonight you’ll be alone. I don’t want grief to blind you. Take your time to cry, to unleash the emotions that are meddling with your mind. But don’t waste this gift you were so graciously given. Don’t let your life perish. Live Gian. Do you remember my favourite movie?”

“Dead poets’ society…”

“Professor Keating fought to teach those children to seize the day, Gian. All the nights I couldn’t sleep because of the pain I’d go back in time and realise that i let so many days go by in vain. Our worst sin is that we think we are immortal. We always think there will be enough time to do everything we want, someday. But there comes a time that you are faced with the fact that you can’t. It’s too late. The clock is running out of battery and will stop ticking soon. All you have accomplished seems too little, all your dreams become missed opportunities, just because you thought you would achieve them later. There is no «later», Gian, only «now».”

I touched his cheek where a tear was rolling down.

“Don’t let my memory hunt you. Remember me with love, treasure our moments, but move on.”

“I… I can’t,” he mumbled, looking away, “you are the one for me.”

“I can’t be, Gian. You are the one for me, but I’m not. Otherwise this wouldn’t be happening. Somewhere out there is a very lucky girl that will capture your heart. And I will be more than happy when you meet her.”

He closed his eyes tightly to fight his tears.

“Don’t die with me tonight, Gian. Just promise me this.”

He didn’t say anything. He just nodded with his eyes still closed.

For me, it was enough.

He hugged me and helped me turn around. Like the past 10 years, we looked at the exploding stars leaving their last mark on the universe. I made one wish. I felt free. And then…

Salvation.