#time travel jail awaiting execution

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JAIL

[offender42085]

Post 0459

Peter Avsenew, Florida inmate K05966, born 1984, incarceration intake in 2018 at age 33, sentenced to death; sentence subsequently overturned, after retrial convicted a second time on the same matters.  

As of May 2023, he is located in Broward County Jail awaiting sentencing.  Avsenew could get life in prison or he could be returned to death row.

Murder, Robbery

In January 2022, the Florida Supreme Court overturned the conviction and death sentence of a man accused of the execution-style killings of a married couple in 2010.

Peter Avsenew, had been sentenced to death in 2017 after being convicted on two counts of murder for the deaths of Kevin Powell, 52, and Stephen Adams, 47, at their Wilton Manors home. Both men were shot multiple times and sustained blunt force trauma.

Their SUV and wallets were both missing from the home when police found them.

The state's highest court reversed the conviction and sentence on the grounds that the state incorrectly used pre-recorded remote testimony from a witness.

Though investigators found no weapons in Powell and Adams' home, they were able to determine that Peter Avsenew knew both men and moved into their home shortly before the slayings.

Jeanne Avsenew, the defendant's mother, told investigators about "incriminating statements" and actions her son made shortly after the two men were killed.

She said her son came to visit her after the killings and told her "he had done something bad." He also brought a gun to her home, which she told him to get rid of.

"He suggested that what he had done was violent, that it was the worst thing he had ever done, and that if he got caught, he would not be able to get out of trouble," court documents indicate.

Jeanne Avsenew said her son traveled to her home in an SUV he eventually said he stole and went to Walmart and made purchases using money he said a friend loaned him. Prosecutors said the purchases were made using the victims' credit cards.

While her son was still in her home, she learned he was a person of interest in the homicide case and reported him to police.

The Florida Supreme Court took issue with the fact that when (the now deceased) Jeanne Avsenew gave her testimony, she was located in Polk County and was unable to see her son, which violates trial procedure. She recorded her testimony on video, which was played at Peter Avsenew's trial in Broward County.

Though state law allows for witnesses to give testimony remotely if they live outside the jurisdiction of the court, the video format must allow for the witness to see the defendant while testifying.

In June 2022, a Broward jury again convicted Avsenew.

It took the 12 jurors less than five hours over two days to reach a verdict in the five-week trial.

Avsenew was found guilty of several charges including two first-degree murders, robbery with a firearm, credit card fraud, and grand theft auto.

During closing arguments Thursday, Broward assistant state attorney Molly McGuire laid out the evidence and timeline of events linking Avsenew to the crime.

The evidence included his living with the victims, going on a shopping spree with their credit cards, and “ditching” their car at a Walmart in Haines City where his mother lives.

“The only reasonable scenario is that Peter Avsenew killed those men in their home just before Christmas Eve," she said.

Public defender Gabe Ermine said there were at least two other people who could have committed the murders.

“[Prosecutors] want you to convict and kill Peter Avsenew,” he shouted in court. “He is not guilty.”

Avsenew met the two men through personal advertising on Craigslist seeking an older established male partner who could “take care of him.”

2v

[xipiti]

A former eBay security manager has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after helping to orchestrate a batshit insane plot to terrorize a Massachusetts couple who occasionally criticized the company in their newsletter.

Philip Cooke, 56, is the first of seven former high-level eBay employees to be sentenced in connection to the bizarre case—the likes of which involved company executives mailing macabre items and live insects to their victims, stalking them online, and literally stalking them.

Cooke pled guilty to cyberstalking and witness tampering charges late last year. Four other members of the team have pled guilty to similar charges and are await sentencing, while two others face trial.

A former police captain in Santa Clara, Calif., Cooke worked as senior manager of security operations for eBay’s Global Security Team during the whole fiasco and has since admitted to being at several meetings wherein he and his co-conspirators discussed a multi-phase plan of aggressive tactics to intimidate their targets.

Those targets were Ina and David Steiner, the publishers of an e-commerce newsletter that has occasionally written about and criticized eBay’s business practices. The criticism apparently so enraged the company’s leadership that, in 2019, a scheme was cooked up by security executives to frighten the bloggers straight.

eBay agreed to pay out a $3 million fine—the maximum criminal penalty—over a twisted scandal that saw top executives and other employees stalking a couple in Massachusetts who published a newsletter that criticized the company. The harassment campaign included online threats, sending employees to surveil the couple’s home, and mailing them disturbing objects—including live spiders and cockroaches, a bloody pig mask, and a book on recovering from the death of a spouse.

The Justice Department charged eBay with obstruction of justice, witness tampering, stalking through interstate travel, and stalking through online communication. eBay’s former security director James Baugh and former director of global resiliency David Harville are both serving jail time for their roles in the scheme.

[yacchannanamin]

@checkmatingweek2021 Day 2 Tea and Coffee/Royalty AU

Checkmatingweek2021 Day 2 (Character death warning. )

    Her hands shook as she hurried toward the jail. The agony of their situation had been too much for her. She needed her. Needed to talk to her, needed to see her.

    Having thrown all caution to the wind, she slipped away from her guards, Ruby and Jaune. Instead choosing to flee to her beloved, a well kept secret. And one that would be known by all if she wasn’t careful.

~

    Blake didn’t turn when she heard the door open. Weiss stood in the doorway, watching her. Blake was facing away from her, her eyes trained somewhere outside the meager window she could see out of. Her hand curled around the bars on the window. Despite her obvious discomfort, her voice remained steady. “What are you doing here? It’s not safe for you.”

    “I had- needed to see you.” The words came tumbling out of her mouth before she could stop them. Blake had yet to turn and face her, which was making Weiss second-guess herself. All the thoughts in her head whirled, nothing settled, nothing stuck. And a heavy silence fell over them until Blake broke it.

    “I’m going to be executed tomorrow, aren’t I?”

    More silence followed before Weiss answered.

    “Yes.”

    A light tremor traveled through Blake’s body. Weiss’s heart ached for the deposed heir of Menagerie. There was no hope left for her. The last of her supporters had been executed by Weiss’s father. Her loyal knights, all fallen on the battlefield or awaiting execution. No help was coming for princess Belladonna. Or rather queen Belladonna.

    Six months ago, no one would’ve guessed the Belladonna empire would fall. The line lay secure in Blake and the alliances her parents made. It would seem that they were invincible. Her parents death in a tragic accident was a twist of events that no one could’ve predicted.

    Now queen in name only, her life was in the hands of Jacques Schnee, who was proving himself to be a cruel tyrant. The people had no choice but to accept him as their king, but rumors about the fate of the Faunus queen were causing him to worry. As long as Blake was alive, the flames of rebellion could be fanned.

    When Weiss met Blake, it’d been during simpler times. When the two were unaware of each other’s status and in those simpler times, a love bloomed between them. But now they were here, a war torn Menagerie and Blake awaiting execution.

    “I thought as much.” Her quiet whisper pulled Weiss from her thoughts. But she shouldn’t have been so surprised, Blake knew the intricacies of politics. She was a threat to Jacques. Exile or death were her only options.

    “I’m sorry, Blake.”

    “You have nothing to apologize for.”

    “Yes I do. It’s because of my father that you're in this position. I’m to blame, at least somewhat, for your fate.”

    Blake shook her head. “No, you are not to blame,” she corrected gently. Weiss tried to protest, but she was shushed with a soft, quick kiss to her lips.

~

    Weiss’s hands were shaking uncontrollably as she stood next to her father. She clenched them as tightly as she could in an effort to get it under control. Jacques had insisted that his wife and children attend Blake’s execution.

    If she could stop all of this, even at the expense of her own life, she would.

    Drums rolled and Blake gifted her one last smile. Then the axe came down.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Character Bio: Macheath Sharpe

Ok @sideburndanny​, you win, here’s their bio.

 Born in 1786, Macheath grew up never truly feeling satisfied with who they were and what they wanted from life. They constantly got into fights with boys, and were roundly rejected by girls as well. They ended up falling in with an unsavory crowd, and by the time they were nineteen, they were out robbing unsuspecting nobles on the roads at night. They soon found a love for jewelry and dresses, and enjoyed the things their plunders afforded them.

However, eventually the game was up. Mack ended up being ratted out by their own family, who were quick to disown them. Thrown in jail and awaiting execution, the sleazy jailor, who was a vampire, attempted to make use of this situation and spirited Mack away and threw them in his basement, tying them up as they turned to use them for unsavory purposes. Fortunately for Mack, Dracula, Victoria, and their daughter Nadia were travelling through at the time, and were able to rescue them from their fate.

Mack joined Dracula’s school, soon learning their power was changing their appearance. Mack toyed with many looks, but never was entirely satisfied until they morphed into a more feminine form. From there, they felt uncomfortable until switching back to their original voice. Feeling odd but finally at peace with themselves, Mack settled down and became a much more pleasant and easygoing person, often meditating and drinking tea and rarely getting into fights (though they are quite skilled with pistols and rapiers, so it’s not advised to pick fights with them).

Mack is one of the handful of survivors of the massacre of Dracula’s school, and did their best to comfort Victoria after Dracula was killed, following her as she and the remnants of the coven moved about. After finally settling in Rhine City, they decided to seek employment, and when Armstrong opened the Rhyme or Reason Karaoke Bar in the 80s they happily applied. What they did not expect is that, over the years, they would begin to hopelessly pine for their boss while being afraid to make a move. 

Their power is to alter their appearance to certain degrees, though it is not quite as extensive as the shapeshifting powers of other vampires (such as Camilla, for instance). They also can’t turn into animals and, of course, cannot remove their fangs.

Mack identifies as nonbinary and prefers they/them pronouns. They are also bisexual, but lean more towards men.

They are inspired by the songs “Mack the Knife” and “Whiskey in the Bottle.” They are also based on a one-shot Pokemon OC that was a Ditto (hence their power). I also imagine them as sounding like David Bowie, but that’s just a personal thing.

This is pretty close to what they look like:

They also prefer dresses and maid outfits to anything else, especially ones where they can try and be revealing to catch Armstrong’s eye (hasn’t worked yet, as far as they know):

[demifiendrsa]

Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers - Morgana’s Travel Report #3

Sapporo Part

Velvet Room and Skill Cards Part

Introducing Sapporo, the Romantic City Where You Can Feel the History

Sapporo is a romantic city where you can enjoy various historic and beautiful buildings, as well as hot springs.

In Chuo, Sapporo is a skilled politician named Mariko Hyoudou (voiced by Kyoko Terase) who is gathering support from the people. She has an enthusiastic attitude for tackling work and her reputation is through the roof, but there is an unusual atmosphere about that popularity…

The Sapporo Jail awaits the Phantom Thieves. It is a beautiful, but somewhat sad world where ice has frozen over the surface.

In the dungeon of this difficult Jail, familiar Personas appear and various stage mechanics such as walls of ice and snowboarding await the player.

Train and Strengthen Your Personas

Personas can be strengthened through battles and in the Velvet Room. Train your Personas and face off against tough enemies!

Joker, who possesses the “Wild” quality, can switch between several Personas in battle. Utilize this Persona Change ability to battle enemies at an advantage.

Personas can be obtained by picking up “masks” dropped by enemy shadows. These will become Joker’s new Personas, so be sure to actively take down new enemies.

The “Velvet Room” is a special room located between the consciousness and subconsciousness that only the protagonist Joker can visit. Here, you can fuse and strengthen Personas.

Through “Persona Execution,” you can combine multiple Personas to create a new Personas. There is normal fusion with two Personas, as well as advanced fusion with three Personas. By fusing several times over, bonus values can be added to the abilities of the newly-born Persona.

Additionally, by spending the “Persona Points” obtained in battle and through fusion, you can level up your Personas, as well as strengthen parameters such as strength and magic. Strengthen your favorite Personas and put them to use in battle.

“Skill Cards” are items that allow a Persona to learn a specific skill. Strengthen your offense with an attack skill, or learn a recovery skill to bring up a strongest Persona all your own!

[creepingsharia]

Bronx: Muslim Immigrant Sentenced to 22 Years for Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS

Albanian-born Sajmir Alimehmeti also indicated that he was interested in radicalizing other individuals in the Bronx area.

The Department of Justice announced today that Sajmir Alimehmeti, aka “Abdul Qawii,” 26, was sentenced to 22 years in prison based on convictions for attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), and attempting to fraudulently procure a U.S. passport to facilitate an act of international terrorism.  Alimehmeti pleaded guilty on Feb. 21, 2018, before U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer, who imposed today’s sentence.

“Alimehmeti was determined to support ISIS.  He attempted to travel overseas to support the terrorist group, he assisted another person he believed to be a fellow ISIS supporter to prepare to purportedly travel to join ISIS, he lied on his passport application so he could get a clean passport to ease his efforts to travel overseas to join ISIS, and while in pretrial detention, he conspired with another terrorist to spread ISIS propaganda.  With today’s sentence, he is being held accountable for his crimes,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers.  “The National Security Division will continue to work with our partners to identify, disrupt and hold accountable those who seek to provide material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations.  I want to thank the agents, analysts, and prosecutors who are responsible for this case.”

“Bronx resident Sajmir Alimehmeti took the position of an adversary to the United States and its values.  Alimehmeti’s contempt for the U.S. led him to travel overseas to support ISIS’s terror campaign, eventually purchasing military-type weapons and assisting another to get travel documents, equipment, and encryption technology to fight with ISIS in Syria,” said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman for the Southern District of New York.  “Even after his incarceration, Alimemehti continued his supportive conduct for ISIS by working with convicted Chelsea bomber Ahmad Khan Rahimi, to distribute ISIS propaganda in prison.  I sincerely commend our law enforcement partners for their commitment to detecting and apprehending those who support the disruption of American life through brazen acts of terrorism.” 

“Sajmir Alimehmeti was so committed to supporting and furthering the ISIS agenda, that when his multiple attempts to travel overseas raised enough red flags to deny him entry, he turned to assisting someone he thought shared his same objective. Unbeknownst to him, however, that someone was an undercover employee,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. “Today’s sentencing is a welcome end to this case, and another successful outcome for the many agents, detectives, and analysts on FBI’s JTTF in New York. Their work and our extensive partnerships are essential to keeping New York City and the nation safe.”

“Sajmir Alimehmeti betrayed the country he called home by trying to travel overseas to join ISIS, a brutal terrorist group at war with the United States,” said NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot F. Shea. “When that failed, Alimehmeti deliberately assisted another individual he believed was traveling to join ISIS. At the same time, the investigation revealed he was acquiring tactical knives, handcuffs and equipment indicative of efforts to prepare for an attack here in New York City. This case is another example of the relentless efforts of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the NYPD’s Intelligence Bureau to prevent terrorism before it occurs.”

As reflected in the criminal Complaint, Superseding Indictment, court filings, and statements during court proceedings:

In October 2014, Alimehmeti attempted to enter the United Kingdom but was denied entry after U.K. authorities found camouflage clothing and nunchucks in his luggage.  About two months later, in December 2014, Alimehmeti was again denied entry into the United Kingdom, this time after U.K. authorities found that his cellphone contained images of ISIS flags.  Further forensic examination of the contents of the cellphone and Alimehmeti’s laptop computer showed numerous indicia of Alimehmeti’s support for ISIS, including a photograph of Alimehmeti with an ISIS flag in the background, images of ISIS fighters in the Middle East, a photograph of Alimehmeti making a gesture of support for ISIS, various files relating to jihad and martyrdom, and an online messaging exchange in which Alimehmeti attempted to assist another ISIS supporter to travel to Syria to join ISIS, by providing contact information for an ISIS affiliate who could facilitate the travel.

After returning to the United States, Alimehmeti continued to support ISIS.  Among other things, Alimehmeti displayed an ISIS flag in his apartment in the Bronx and, in the course of recorded meetings with undercover law enforcement employees, Alimehmeti played multiple pro-ISIS propaganda videos on his computer and his cellphone, including videos of ISIS fighters decapitating prisoners, and Alimehmeti also indicated that he was interested in radicalizing other individuals in the Bronx area.  Alimehmeti also made repeated purchases of combat knives and other military-type equipment, including masks, handcuffs, a pocket chainsaw, a wire pocket saw, and a rucksack designed for tactical combat.  Alimehmeti stockpiled such equipment at his apartment in the Bronx.

In October 2015, Alimehmeti applied for a U.S. passport, falsely claiming in the application that his previous passport had been lost.  Alimehmeti later told an undercover law enforcement employee that his prior passport had not been lost and, instead, that he was applying for a new passport because he believed the rejection stamps in his existing passport resulting from his attempted entries into the United Kingdom would make it difficult to travel to ISIS territory. 

In May 2016, Alimehmeti attempted to assist an individual who was purportedly traveling from New York to Syria to train and fight with ISIS but who was actually an undercover law enforcement employee (the “UC”).  On May 17, 2016, Alimehmeti met with the UC in Manhattan.  Alimehmeti helped the UC locate stores so the UC could purchase supplies to use while traveling to, and fighting with, ISIS, including a cellphone, boots, a compass, a bag, and a flashlight, among other items.  Alimehmeti then brought the UC to a hotel in Queens so the UC could purportedly meet with an individual who was preparing travel documents that the UC would use to travel to Syria to join ISIS.  Alimehmeti gave the UC a piece of paper with his name and contact information, and asked the UC to provide that information to the purported document facilitator.  Alimeheti explained that he wanted to travel to Syria and join ISIS, stating “I’m ready to . . . go with you man . . . you know I would.  I’m done with this place.”  After leaving the hotel in Queens, Alimeheti brought the UC to JFK Airport, via public transportation, so the UC could begin the purported journey to ISIS.

Following Alimehmeti’s arrest on the charges in this case in May 2016, the FBI executed a search of Alimehmeti’s Bronx apartment pursuant to a judicially authorized search warrant.  The FBI found in the apartment, among other things, an ISIS flag that was displayed on a wall in the apartment.

In 2017, while Alimehmeti was incarcerated and awaiting trial, law enforcement learned that Alimehmeti had worked with Ahmad Khan Rahimi inside the prison to aggregate and distribute terrorist propaganda that was part of the evidence in their respective cases and produced to them during discovery.  Rahimi was sentenced to life in prison, in February 2018, for planting a series of bombs in New York and New Jersey in September 2016.  Law enforcement also intercepted a letter that Alimhemeti sent to Rahimi, after their propaganda-distribution scheme inside the jail was thwarted, in which Alimehmeti referred to himself as the “ISIS balla,” indicated that he had destroyed evidence of their propaganda distribution efforts, and expressed hope that both convicted terrorists would ultimately achieve so-called martyrdom through another act of terrorism.

In addition to the prison term, Alimehmeti was also sentenced to five years supervised release.

[daprojex]

Nigeria Cracks Down on a Critic, and a New Jersey Town Pushes Back

When the Nigerian government went after a prominent detractor in the midst of a broad crackdown on free speech, it didn’t expect to stir resistance 5,000 miles away.

By Ruth Maclean

Dec. 22, 2019, 11:20 a.m. ET

HAWORTH, N.J. — Opeyemi Sowore watched the videos on her phone in bed in her New Jersey home, the children still asleep, the Christmas tree twinkling downstairs.

The videos showed her husband — a former presidential candidate and the publisher of a website known as Africa’s WikiLeaks — being wrestled to the floor in a Nigerian courtroom by a man in a black suit, as lawyers in wigs and gowns crowded around shouting.

The court had ruled that her husband, Omoyele Sowore, should be free on bail while awaiting trial on charges of treason, money laundering and, for criticizing President Muhammadu Buhari on television, cyberstalking. But on Dec. 6, while his wife slept more than 5,000 miles away, Mr. Sowore was taken from the courtroom back into detention, where he has been held for nearly all of the past five months.

Before Mr. Sowore was led away by Nigeria’s equivalent of the Secret Service, he was videotaped saying that these “might be my only words on record before they kill me.” His wife has had no contact with him since.

When Mr. Buhari was elected in 2015 as president of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and largest economy, it was hailed as a triumph for democracy. Since then, however, his government has turned toward harsh authoritarianism, putting the country’s thriving civic organizations and news media to the test.

Protests have been met with deadly force. The country’s chief justice was summarily sacked. Humanitarian organizations that criticize the state were threatened with closure, and newspaper offices were raided. One journalist, Jones Abiri, has been in detention so long that for a time, he was thought to be dead.

One bill now making its way through Nigeria’s Senate proposes the death penalty for some instances of “hate speech.” A second, the Anti-Social Media Bill, modeled on a new Singaporean law, calls for government critics to spend as much as three years in prison.

Nigeria is not alone in clamping down on freedom of expression. ​A punitive new security law ​in traditionally media-friendly Burkina Faso, a proposed hate speech measure in Ethiopia, a harsh crackdown in Tanzania and routine internet and social media shutdowns across Africa point to a wider trend toward censorship.

“The people in power just don’t want to have to tolerate the voices of the people,” said Ayisha Osori, head of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa.

African leaders feel emboldened to strangle the news media because of a perceived global rollback in democracy, she said.

Mr. Sowore founded a website in 2006, Sahara Reporters, that specializes in exposing corruption and government malfeasance. With funding from American foundations and about 50 staff members working in Nigeria and the United States, the site’s publication of leaked, often unfiltered information disrupted Nigeria’s traditional media scene.

By basing his operation in New York, Mr. Sowore for years had a degree of protection from the consequences of publishing often scandalous information about Nigeria’s most powerful people. He shuttled between his family home in New Jersey and Nigeria, where he is a citizen, without much interference.

Then, on Aug. 3, in the middle of the night, he was arrested by Nigeria’s Department of State Services, or D.S.S., in his Lagos hotel room.

At first, Opeyemi Sowore told no one in Haworth, a well-off suburb about 20 miles from midtown Manhattan, about her husband’s arrest. None of them knew much about Nigeria, or what Mr. Sowore, known as Yele, did for a living. As far as they were concerned, he was just a dad and a keen runner.

One day, though, texting with another mother with children at the local school, Ms. Sowore explained why her husband had been away so long.

Word traveled fast in Haworth, a town of 3,500 people.

“One mom told another mom, told another mom, told another mom, and next thing we knew we had assembled what really is functioning as a crisis management team,” said Alanna Zahn Davis, one of the mothers in that chain.

If Mr. Buhari’s government had gotten tough, so would Haworth.

A core group of 10 women raised the alarm at the State Department. Then they reached Amal Clooney, the human rights lawyer, who demanded Mr. Sowore’s release. They worked with Amnesty International, which declared him a prisoner of conscience.

Sometimes they prepared meals for Ms. Sowore, a marketing executive, or looked after the couple’s two children. Inspired by an American tradition of using yellow ribbons to remember hostages, they held “Yele ribbon” ceremonies in Haworth’s tree-lined town center, attended by hundreds of people.

After the courtroom melee, they called members of Congress, engaging New Jersey Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker. Six members of Congress sent a letter on Friday to Nigeria’s attorney general condemning the treatment of Mr. Sowore.

His detention “will only serve to tarnish Nigeria’s international reputation and its standing as a leading African democracy,” they wrote.

Before his arrest, Mr. Sowore was often accused of favoring Mr. Buhari, even helping him get elected. Sahara Reporters’ relentless exposés of graft under the previous government meant Mr. Buhari’s vow to sweep the country clean of corruption resonated with voters. One of Mr. Buhari’s earliest interviews as president was with Sahara TV.

However, Mr. Buhari’s administration turned out to have a corrupt bent, too, along with authoritarian tendencies, said Chidi Odinkalu, the former chairman of Nigeria’s Human Rights Commission.

“The Buhari administration has proved to be at least as bad, if not much worse” than the prior administration that Mr. Buhari had promised not to emulate, said Mr. Odinkalu, who is facing prosecution himself after he criticized one of the president’s close allies.

This was not a great surprise to those who remember how Mr. Buhari, now 77, first came to power in 1983 as a major general in the wake of a military coup. Before being overthrown in another coup, he jailed hundreds of people, made tardy civil servants do frog jumps and had three men executed.

By the time he was democratically elected three decades later, in 2015, it was on promises to tackle corruption and insecurity. Nigeria was battling Boko Haram, oil theft and violent clashes across the country. He often appeared frail, said little in public and spent many months of his first term being treated for a mysterious illness in London.

Sahara Reporters wrote about the absences and allegations of his allies’ corruption, and Mr. Sowore openly condemned the government for failing to meet its promises. He ran unsuccessfully for president against Mr. Buhari in February, and was preparing to lead a protest calling for revolution when he was arrested on August 3.

At the time, La Keisha Landrum Pierre, Sahara Reporters’ chief operating officer back in New York, was heavily pregnant. When she gave birth five days later, she was managing the company’s biggest crisis ever. It keeps getting bigger.

She said that the Nigerian government had frozen the site’s financial account.

“There have been armed D.S.S. men standing outside our offices” in Nigeria, said Ms. Landrum Pierre, in between calls and meetings in Manhattan. She had to cut the staff by 70 percent, and said that most of the remaining employees, feeling intimidated, were staying at home.

On Dec. 6, the court scheduled Mr. Sowore’s trial for February, but he did not remain free on bail as previously ordered. Instead, Mr. Sowore’s lawyers and family maintain, D.S.S. agents attacked Mr. Sowore while still in the courtroom and ultimately took him back into custody.

The D.S.S. said in a statement that it had rearrested Mr. Sowore because of public comments it claims he made the prior night promising to pursue his cause. A D.S.S. spokesman also claimed that Mr. Sowore’s supporters had staged the courtroom attack and were trying to frame its agents.

Ms. Sowore said that watching the videos made her afraid for his life.

“The hardest part about it for me was — how do I tell my kids?” she said.

They have tried to help. For the Haworth school fair in early December, their 12-year-old daughter Ayo made and sold slime and stress balls, planning to put her profits toward her father’s bail. Her mother had to explain that he had already posted bail, but still wasn’t allowed out. Ayo gave her $80 to Amnesty International instead.

Ten-year-old Komi’s desires are clear from his Christmas list. He wants:

1. A remote-controlled racing car that can climb walls.

2. An Apple watch.

3. His father safely home.

4. A turtle.

[satoshi-mochida]

Atlus has released the third “Morgana’s Travel Report” for Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers, which introduces the city of Sapporo and Persona growth.

Get the details below.

Introducing Sapporo, the Romantic City Where You Can Feel the History

Sapporo is a romantic city where you can enjoy various historic and beautiful buildings, as well as hot springs.

In Chuo, Sapporo is a skilled politician named Mariko Hyoudou (voiced by Kyoko Terase) who is gathering support from the people. She has an enthusiastic attitude for tackling work and her reputation is through the roof, but there is an unusual atmosphere about that popularity…

The Sapporo Jail awaits the Phantom Thieves. It is a beautiful, but somewhat sad world where ice has frozen over the surface.

In the dungeon of this difficult Jail, familiar Personas appear and various stage mechanics such as walls of ice and snowboarding await the player.

Train and Strengthen Your Personas

Personas can be strengthened through battles and in the Velvet Room. Train your Personas and face off against tough enemies!

Joker, who possesses the “Wild” quality, can switch between several Personas in battle. Utilize this Persona Change ability to battle enemies at an advantage.

Personas can be obtained by picking up “masks” dropped by enemy shadows. These will become Joker’s new Personas, so be sure to actively take down new enemies.

The “Velvet Room” is a special room located between the consciousness and subconsciousness that only the protagonist Joker can visit. Here, you can fuse and strengthen Personas.

Through “Persona Execution,” you can combine multiple Personas to create a new Personas. There is normal fusion with two Personas, as well as advanced fusion with three Personas. By fusing several times over, bonus values can be added to the abilities of the newly-born Persona.

Additionally, by spending the “Persona Points” obtained in battle and through fusion, you can level up your Personas, as well as strengthen parameters such as strength and magic. Strengthen your favorite Personas and put them to use in battle.

“Skill Cards” are items that allow a Persona to learn a specific skill. Strengthen your offense with an attack skill, or learn a recovery skill to bring up a strongest Persona all your own!

Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers is due out for PlayStation 4 and Switch on February 20, 2020 in Japan. Read more about the game here, here, here, here, and here.

Watch the full report below. View a new set of screenshots at the gallery.

Morgana’s Travel Report #3

Full

Sapporo Part

Velvet Room and Skill Cards Part

[upsilonscorpii]

Sorry if you already realize this, but the handmaids tale (show, idk about book) deals with stuff that precedes islam. It's not just about present day or even the past 1000 years. But yeah the problem with racist viewership in the us remains.

This was the one time I wasn’t even talking about islam (which is patriarchal bullshit along with every other monotheistic cult, christianity etc) but saudi in particular. I was watching the handmaid’s tale baffled that anyone could make such a clear and unmistakeable commentary about women in saudi arabia (and to a point, women in other heavily religious muslim countries) while making the whole thing seem so whyte and *dystopic*. There’s nothing about the handmaid’s tale that is “a warning” or “dystopic”! it’s literally all happening in saudi arabia right now!

Things that happen both in saudi arabia and in the handmaid’s tale:

- Gay people are executed

- Women are subjected to the will of a male guardian, from which they need permission to travel, study, work and even get medical care.

- Women can’t drive (the driving ban was lifted after tht was made, and anyway the govt made it VERY difficult for women to get a license by making it so expensive very few guardians agree to it)

- Women are treated as breeding stock (no handmaids in saudi as far as I know, but second and third wives are a thing and every woman is expected to have children)

- The “government” is really theocracy

- Dressing immodestly will get women in jail

- The religious police is a thing

- The saudi government/kingdom routinely uses women from the royal family to “show” foreigners how saudi women are not oppressed and are in fact absolutely delighted about their situation, by making them study, travel abroad, go out without religious clothing, etc.

- No saudi can leave islam or be an atheist publicly or the death penalty awaits; foreigners are tolerated for mere economic reasons

- Saudi arabia punishes stealing by cutting a hand and “worse” offenses by beheading/hanging/stoning/public lashes/ you name it.

- Adultery is punished with jail

- A male guardian can sue a woman for “disobedience” or “unauthorized absence” (Women need to ask permission to leave the house)

- Finally, Margaret Atwood herself, the woman who WROTE the handmaid’s tale, retweeted an article drawing the uncanny similarities between her book and the situation of women and minorities in saudi.

[dailyaudiobible]

10/22/2019 DAB Transcript

Jeremiah 39:1-41:18, 2 Timothy 1:1-18, Psalms 90:1-91:16, Proverbs 26:1-2

Today is the 22nd day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It's great to be with you today. How are you? How are things going? I trust and hope and pray that all is well. All is pretty well here in the rolling hills of Tennessee. And, so, we’ve come together to take the next step forward as we move our way through this month and through the Scriptures and we’re kind of in the back, the latter portion of the book of Jeremiah. We’ll continue to work our way through it but when we get to the New Testament today, we will be beginning another of Paul's letters, another personal letter and we’ll talk about that when we get there. But first, we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. Jeremiah 39, 40, and 41 today.

Introduction to second Timothy:

Okay, as promised, we’re beginning another of Paul's letters today, another personal letter, another pastoral letter, another letter to the same person that we just read, Timothy. And as we will recall, Timothy was pastoring the church in Ephesus, and Paul certainly had great amount…had a great amount of respect for Timothy. He considered him a true son in the faith. And, so, second Timothy is the final of the three pastoral letters, which is odd because we read the first and now we’re gonna read the final and then we’ll move to Titus, which is the one that's in the middle, but this is thought to be the final writing of the apostle Paul's life. And, so, that should carry some weight with us as…as we move through this. It’s a small letter, but as we move through it we should understand, okay…this…we read in the book of Acts, the beginning of Paul's journey with Jesus but now we’re reading the last thing that Paul wrote down. And, so, Paul had been imprisoned in Rome when he appealed to Caesar, and of course, that incarceration was more like a house arrest. And it appears that he was actually released from custody at some point and had the opportunity to travel again for a period of time. And it's probably during that period of time that Paul wrote first Timothy, the first letter, and also the letter to Titus. Now.  somewhere in the vicinity of 66 A.D. Paul was again placed under arrest under a different Emperor, a very ruthless, merciless Emperor named Nero, who savagely persecuted the Christians. So, Paul's experience would have been radically different, and it's referred to in this letter. So, he wouldn’t have had house arrest and the ability for people to come and take care of his needs. He was thrown into a cold dungeon to await sentencings that…that were probably gonna end his life and he knew it. And so, from…from this place where he's imprisoned in a dungeon just not knowing when, but expecting at any moment the rattle of chains and several soldiers coming down into the dungeon could be heard and they would hold Paul down and cut off his head. So that's kind of like a backdrop from which Paul wrote this letter and it's a hopeful letter, but it's a heartbreaking letter, especially when we understand that it's the last letter. So, there was extreme marginalization going on, there was outbreaks of radical persecution against the Christians. Nearly everyone had deserted Paul when he was thrown into the dungeon. Only Luke the physician, so another figure that it is heavy in the Scriptures, Luke the physician who wrote the gospel of Luke as well as the book of Acts was the only one remaining in Rome. And maybe he was able to do it by saying, “I'm a doctor, like I just, you know, It’s one of my patients or whatever…I just want to kinda keep up with this person's health until whatever happens happens.” And escaping execution would've been miraculous and those kind of miraculous things had happened in Paul's life but just looking at the circumstances, it’s gonna be very very unlikely that Paul would ever get out of jail. People…people who believed in Jesus, otherwise known as Christians had become…they had become like a scapegoat in society. A lot of bigotry flowed out from Rome throughout the Empire against Christians for the strangest of reasons, but they were misunderstood, they were marginalized, they were cast out, and they eventually sort of became the reason for all the problems in the empire. So, they were persecuted. And all this is going on and Paul sitting in a dungeon and his life is uncertain and he's hoping, even though he knows he's probably not gonna make it out alive, hoping to see Timothy, to see his face, his son in the faith, this person who had travelled all over the known world with him, to see him one more time, which…which is the scenario that gives us this backdrop for the tone of this letter. Paul had some final things he wanted to say to his son in the faith. He would've liked to say them in person, but if that wasn't possible and that if the circumstances brought Paul's death and they couldn't see each other in person then he wanted to be sure to at least leave a message. And in his own…in his own way to goodbye. It's…it's in this letter that Paul declares that he had fought the good fight of faith and finished the race. And we know the impact of the apostle Paul on the Christian faith, its profound. Like he's responsible for vast swaths of the New Testament and throughout the faith he's regarded as one of the greatest heroes. In fact, this is the reality. The faith as we know it might exist, but it would be entirely different without the apostle Paul. So, if we consider that and who we was and the context and the backdrop of this final letter then we can be encouraged and we can…we can fight the good fight, like we can fight on and endure to the end and be honorable and be faithful. And, so, with that we begin. Second Timothy chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and although we certainly haven't heard the last from the apostle Paul, knowing that we are hearing the last of the apostle Paul in the Scriptures, we invite Your Holy Spirit to give this book, this letter, second Timothy, a weightiness, a gravity that it would deserve, Holy Spirit we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus we ask, that You would be in and among us in all things, in our thoughts, and our words, and in all of our deeds we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment you can press the little Hotline button in the app, the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello, my name is Roula I’m calling from Sydney Australia and I’m trying out the new app and I just wanted to say hello to everyone. I’ve been a longtime listener, I never call, I maybe called once or twice in the seven years I’ve listened or maybe more listening to the Daily Audio Bible. And I just wanted to introduce myself, say hello to everyone and tell you all that I’m praying with you and I love this community. I love listening to the Daily Audio Bible. I love listening to the Bible every day. It’s my daily bread and I love you all and I just ask for one single prayer today, that is a prayer for the people of Lebanon who are currently fighting fires across the country. It’s just something that caught my attention today in the news. I’m not from Lebanon, my husband is, but I did go to Lebanon recently and it’s such a beautiful country and it breaks my heart to think that there’s nothing I can do all the way here in Australia for the people of Lebanon who are suffering and people around the world who are suffering. I live in a very beautiful country where I think we forget to count our blessings and I feel very blessed to be in Australia and to call Australia my home and I take it for granted so much and when I think about people in Syria and people in Lebenon and people in Nigeria and people around the world that are suffering, that are being persecuted, it breaks my heart and then that’s my prayer today. I’m just praying for those people out there. All right guys. Bye.

Hey Daily Audio Bible family, To Be A Blessing in California. Wanting to share some thoughts that God has put on my heart recently all in the category of deliverance. Whom the son sets free is free indeed. Something as simple as me needing to put on my shoes and socks because I can’t bend my knee and the weather’s turning colder and the struggle to doing that is real, God is giving me deliverance. It’s super funny, super frustrating, and yet at the same time when the shoes and socks go on I’m so excited. It’s victory. The same as those as it relates to God presenting before me the choice between healthy and unhealthy relationships. And knowing that I have chosen unhealthy relationships in the past seems crazy to me now that he has healing me and helping me to see how much better life is in healthy relationships. So, I encourage you to choose life, not death as the word says. Why would we want to choose anything that would take us down a dark path, that would make us feel horrible about ourselves, addictions that we are trying to cover up and not be whole and healed as God is offering? Choose life, choose healing, choose freedom in Jesus. Praying for each of you. Terry the truck driver, you and your wife. Praising about Wade and Rebecca for the jobs God is giving you. Praying for Asia as well as Victoria Soldier, for his little Cherry, praying for Salvation is Mine, Cherry Chase Cherry Pie, Angel from California. Brian and Jill, praying for you. Praying for each one that calls in and has the needs that are here. God is going to help you. Trust Him.

My name is Marissa Hernandez, and I would like to request prayer for my son Miguel Hernandez. He is 22 years old and he is in college and he’s away from home but last night he called me and said he had a terrible stomachache. And, so, he went to the hospital and then he was told he has a tumor 5 cm long. And, so I ask for prayer. I ask…he will be seeing the doctor tomorrow and…and I ask for prayer. I ask that this tumor is, you know, that it’s dissolved by the power of the Lord and by the power of Jesus. And I ask that…that it, you know, that it be benign. And I ask for this prayer. Please pray for my son. He is 22 years old. Please, please, I ask for prayer. Thank you.

Hello Daily Audio Bible this is Lisa calling from Sweden. And a few weeks ago, I sent in a prayer request for me and my boyfriend because we were struggling. And, wow, so many things have happened. And I can really see the fingerprints of God in the situation looking from it behind. Like, oh my gosh, so many things have happened. And I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I feel the presence of God and the peace of God and thank you guys for your prayers. Wow…I…yeah…I’m speechless. It’s amazing. So, therefore I have one more prayer request because I know that God answer prayers. Me and my sister, we’re struggling really really hard in our relationship. I’m missing her right now. She’s not home. That’s why I’m sending in this prayer request really quickly. Yeah, she’s very…she’s really mad like all the time. She has a lot of anger built up inside of her and whatever I’m doing, I’m doing it wrong. And, you know. And I feel like I’m walking on…tip toeing or what do you call it? Like, I don’t know. I’m just hiding from her because she’s so angry all the time. And she’s not a believer. So, I hope that…I stand in faith that she will come back to Christ and maybe that’s the thing that she’s so mad of, that she can see God’s presence in my life? I…I don’t know. I don’t know what the problem is, but please guys. God have answered my prayer before and I know that when we do this together, when we pray together, wow, God knows, and He hears, and He will answer when we’re knocking on the door. So, help me pray for this, to restore this relationship. In the name of Jesus. Bye.

Daily Audio Bible family, I love you guys, this is Grace from Tampa. I’m calling because I wanted to let you all know that it has been such a blessing just hearing everyone praying for everyone else. It is such a blessing. It is really revitalized my prayer life. I’ve got my prayer journal and so many of your names are in here, too many to count. And sometimes even when I can’t catch your name, or I think I might write it down wrong the Lord knows who I’m praying for. And I’m so grateful that as I pray for you all, outside of time God is hearing it. And, so, I thank you also for praying for me when I ask for it. I love you all so much. Please pray that I would be able to discern God’s will for my life in this season, the season that I’m in that is “step out of your comfort zone.” So, pray for me. I love you all. I’m gonna keep praying for you and…goodbye.

Hi this is Max from Madison. I’ve been calling in on and off over the last year. This has been a tough year for my anxiety and depression. I’ve felt like giving up many times and I know that someone said that, “it’s just the enemy trying to make me give up the game”, but the game is so tough, faith. Maintaining faith in this world, maintaining faith where all of my thoughts are negative. When I try to do something good it and all falls flat. I tried to put together a benefit to fight stigma for mental illness in the youth and very few people showed up. Sometimes I feel like it’s difficult to pray. Sometimes it feels like the only prayers that I can pray is “dear God please take my life I don’t want to live anymore.” But I can’t kill myself. I can’t do that to my mom. I can do that to my best friend. I can’t do that for God. I listened today. I think it was Sinner redeemed praying for John the Prodigal and his son. And I know that I’m not alone. I know that many people are going to through the same problem. Because I know 1 Peter 7, “cast all your cares to the Lord because he loves you. Be alert. For your enemy, the devil, prowls like a roaring lion waiting for who he can devour.” And if we don’t cast your cares to God and if we don’t share them with others, we’re easy prey for the devil. And right now, I feel like I’m the easiest pray there is. So, continue to pray for me. God bless you.

[sam-hells-americana]

America’s First Serial Murderess

The Year: 1820

The Place: Charleston, South Carolina. 

The Legend 

While little is known of her life prior to her marriage, Lavinia Fisher was a notably charming and beautiful woman who ran the Six Mile Wayfare House with her husband John Fisher. 

However, in 1820, Lavinia Fisher’s name would live in infamy as America’s first female serial killer when she was hanged in Charleston along with her husband for highway robbery, as they could not officially convict them of murder. However the legend goes that an unknown number of men were killed by Lavinia and her group either by poisoned tea, served by Lavinia to male travelers, or by more violent methods after being drugged and robbed. Two of these near victims, John Peeples and David Ross, were the key in the Fishers’ ultimate conviction. David Ross having been attacked by highwaymen and Lavinia, and Peeples who allegedly had avoided drinking Lavinia’s drugged tea and stumbled upon chopped up corpses in the inn’s basement and ran to town.

Lavinia, John, and two other man with whom they operated were arrested and jailed in Charleston awaiting execution. During this time, John and Lavinia concocted a way to escape the jail, however during John’s escape the rope they were using broke and left Lavinia stranded in the cell. Unwilling to go one without his wife, John Fisher returned to the jail and security on the two was tightened. 

When the day of execution came, John Fisher went to the scaffold quietly with a minister. He had the minister read aloud a letter asking for God’s mercy towards to courts and jury that has done him wrong during the trial. He also begged forgiveness from  the crowd, saying that he could not, as a Christian, die with a lie in his heart. Many find these two events contradictory, as it is unknown why Fisher would ask forgiveness from the crowd if he were innocent as he claimed.

Lavinia, however, did not go to her death quietly. 

Dressed in her own white wedding dress, Lavinia refused to walk up to the noose on her own and instead had to be carried as she ranted and cursed at the crowd. Before her execution, Lavinia informed the Judge that as a married woman she could not possibly be executed. In order to remedy this, the presiding judge simply stated that John Fisher would be hanged first. 

 Her last words are reported to have been “If you have a message you want to send to hell, give it to me – I’ll carry it.” Many reports indicate that she did not die quickly, the rope failing to fully snap her neck from the fall. 

As for her victims, it is not know how many, if any, Lavinia Fisher and her husband killed. Many hundred bodies were dug up on the couple’s land, however there was no evidence directly connecting them with the Fishers. Therefore, despite the disappearances of travelers, the only charge against the Fishers remained Highway Robbery, which was still a capital offence 

The Real Story

It is possible that we will never know the full truth of the Fisher case as many theories have circulated since their hangings. Since John and Lavinia both went to their graves claiming their innocents and they could not officially be charged with murder, many critics believe that the Fishers may not have been killers. Instead they may have been innkeepers working with (Either willingly or unwillingly) a violence gang of highwaymen that used the local inns as hotspots for victims and coerced innkeepers into hiding bodies or taking part in crimes. 

[rhiannon-a-christy]

Gunpowder Kiss

 The flickering of fire reflected in the eyes of a young girl. Her jaw set tight as she watched her home go up in flames. The men that had done this were dancing wildly around the house, hooting and hollering about their victory. Tears fell from her eyes, but she refused to turn away.

   Behind her she could hear her younger sisters trying to muffle their cries. Pa was still in the house, lying face down in a puddle of his own blood. She had seen the coward that had shot him in the back, his black eyes had been wild with bloodlust. The only thing in this terrible night that she was thankful for was the fact that her sisters had been spared seeing their Pa die.

   A slender hand clasped tightly to hers, and even over the smell of burning wood she could make out the comforting scent of her older sister. She held a bit tighter to that hand. It had been hard after their Ma died, but they still had Pa and Uncle Clint to care for them. But Pa was dead now, and they hadn’t seen Uncle Clint in months. It would be up to the two of them to protect their family.

   Her sharp young eyes looked over the face of every man that had wronged them. If there was any justice in the world they would all pay for their sins that night, and Darcy Lewis had every intention of making sure that justice would be served.

 ----------------------------

    Darcy pulled her hat lower over her face, ignoring the looks from everyone in the saloon. Vision Valley was a small settlement, and she was sure they had never seen the likes of her. Most of the women in Vision were ladies; dresses, curls, and hats. She would bet all her money that they never missed a day in church, or ever touched a gun. So, it didn’t surprise her that she garnered the stares she did dressed as a man.

   Dresses were all well and fine, but she left those mostly for her sister. Jane was the gentler of the two of them. That was why she left the details of what she did for a living away from Jane. Though she was sure her sister’s husband knew. Thor was a massive man; he had been a US Marshal until he had met Jane. Love and fear of leaving behind a family made him into a farmer. She didn’t blame him, he was a good man. Jane had met him when they were still pretty young, and Thor had taken it upon himself to protect not just her, but also her three sisters.

   Darcy called the man her brother, and for a time she thought that bond would be strengthened. She had been young and stupid, falling for his brother as she had. But neither of them were made for marriage, and had proved toxic to each other. She still saw him, but one night in his bed was enough for her.

   A glint of light sparkled off her ale, catching Darcy’s eye. Without a word, she stood and tossed a few coins onto the table. She kept her eyes straight ahead, though every movement made around her was not lost on her. She had learned long ago that she had to watch her own back.

   Her gait was calm as she walked across the road to the doors of The Red Room. A month ago, she had been tipped off about the brothel and one of its regulars. She had ridden into town with a simple plan in mind; to avenge her Pa.

   It had been years since that night, and in that time, she had rid the world of five of the men that murdered him. After this there would be one left.

   No one looked up when she entered the brothel. The men thought she had come for service, and the whores, well more than just their bodies could be bought for a few coins. The place smelled like smoke, sweat and sex, and it turned her stomach. The sooner she killed the bastard, the sooner she could get the hell out of Vision.

   The stairs creaked as she alighted them, but no one paid her any mind. This wouldn’t be the first blood spilled in the Red Room, and she doubted it would be the last. She stopped just outside the door she had been informed contained her man. Her gun hand flexed, the bones in her fingers cracking. She took a deep breath and slid the door open. The tap of her boot on the doorframe alerted the woman in the bed, and she quickly jumped off and across the room. The man didn’t even get the chance to speak before Darcy pulled her gun and placed a bullet between his bloodshot eyes.

   The body fell back against the bed, making the springs squeak. Darcy took a moment to take in the sight of the man. He was sprawled across the mattress, his body naked and covered in dirt and sweat. She laughed, the bastard still had his fucking boots on.

   Darcy pulled a few coins from the pocket of her vest and tossed it to the woman across the room.

   “You should at least get paid extra for actually being brave enough to touch that animal.” She holstered her gun, turned and left.

   One man left, one and her job would finally be over. And she knew exactly where he was.

 ------------------------------------

   Phil leaned back in his chair, his eyes never leaving the man behind the bars. Grant Ward, known cattle rustler, bank robber, and murderer. The man had come into his life a couple of years ago with an innocent smile and a different name. He had integrated himself into his family; became his friend and stole his daughter’s heart. He probably would have been none the wiser to the man’s true identity if it hadn’t been for that storm.

   Phil’s home was located a ways from the town; a large ranch that he had dreams of running with his wife before reality tore that away. After his wife’s death he had taken the job of sheriff, traveling back and forth between the ranch and jailhouse every day. Normally he would set out, making it home in time to devour the hot meal Daisy prepared. But there had been a storm that night, and he hadn’t even made it to the edge of town when he realized it would be too dangerous to continue. He had hightailed it back to the jailhouse with plans to spend the night in the cell. Only when he opened the door it was too find the man he thought of as a son rifling through his papers. It hadn’t taken long after that for the truth to come out.

   Now, Ward sat in his jail awaiting the circuit judge to make his visit. Phil had no doubt that the trial would end in a hanging, Ward was wanted for the death of some pretty important people back east. Still, it pained him to see the man behind bars.

   Rain once again pelted against the side of the jail, reminding Phil of the night it all went to hell. He sighed, but continued the staring contest between his prisoner.

   When the door opened behind him he had expected to hear Daisy’s soft voice. She would come sometimes to bring him dinner, and to remind herself of the hatred she now had for Ward. No voice was forth coming, no clang of his tin plate. Only steady breathing and the wide eyes of Grant Ward.

   Phil turned in time to see the visitor pull a gun. He didn’t take the time to think, just grabbed his rifle from beside him and took aim.

   “I’m surprised you’re willing to protect this animal. You know he wouldn’t hesitate to kill you or your daughter?”

   Phil’s aim faltered for a moment, he hadn’t been expecting the gentle lilt of a woman’s voice. In a manner of seconds he catalogued every detail he could. Short frame, curves hidden behind the heavy draping of leather, a mess of dark hair shoved haphazardly under her hat, and a set of lips too full to be any man’s shadowed by the wide brim.

   “All men deserve the proper due justice, no matter how evil.” Phil raised the barrel into place again. This woman was no lady playing dress up; she held her gun with practice hands. He would no doubt bet she had more than one kill under her belt.

   “You speak of justice? Is it justice for an innocent man to die just because he refused to sell his land? Is it justice when four young girls are thrust out in the world after watching their home burn?” The woman walked closer, her boots leaving dark, wet prints along the floor. “Is it justice when the men who did this were thanked a year later by the town’s sheriff for restoring the very land they burned?”

   Phil could hear the anger and pain in the woman’s voice, and for a moment he thought about standing down. Just a moment.

   The sound of movement behind him brought his attention to the fact that Ward had stood.

   “I was only a boy back then, Ma’am. I beg you for your mercy.” Ward’s fingers wrapped around the bars of the jail, his head tilted slightly.

   His voice was off, lighter than Phil had ever heard it. He looked around and saw it in the other man’s eyes. A twisted hope, the understanding that he wouldn’t die. Not at this woman’s hands and not by Phil’s either. It sickened him.

   “A boy that gloried in his first kill. I watched you that day, how your eyes sparkled when your shot made its target.” The woman never dropped her gun, never weakened her stance.

   “And how do you feel when you kill? It’s glorious, isn’t it?” Ward pressed his face against the bar, his unnerving smile twisting his features.

   “I take no glory in the death of men… animals on the other hand.”

   Phil had no time to stop her, his attention more on Ward. Before anything more could be said, the woman shot off her gun, the bullet planting itself directly between the eyes. A kill shot, fast and messy.

   She took a few steps closer, set her gun on the table and removed her hat. Her tangled hair fell past her hips, a half-attempted braid could be seen holding it together. Her eyes lifted to his, some unnamed emotion making them shine brightly in the dim room. With a small smile she lifted her hands before her, palms down.  

   “Do with me as you see fit. My job is done.”

   Phil stepped up to her, his hands grasping hers. He knew the best course of action; the proper course was to place her in the cell where Ward’s dead body lay. She had killed, takin the law into her own hands and executed a man.

   He placed her hands on top of one another, gave them a small pat and stood back.

   “There is a wagon out back. Hitch up the horse and pull it around to the side of the jail. There is a ravine halfway to my ranch, no one goes there much.” He turned from the woman, gathering up the keys to the cell. He was insane, this was stupid, but he couldn’t imagine this woman hanging from the end of a rope.

   “Sheriff?”

   “This wouldn’t be the first time that Ward Grant escaped from jail.” He gave her a lopsided smile and a wink. “Now, go get that wagon, girl.”

   She just shook her head and moved towards the door, turning at the last moment.

   “I’m Darcy, by the way.” With that she bolted outside and around the back.

   Phil stood there for a moment just breathing. He could lose his job for this… he could lose his life. But she had been right, there had been no justice.

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

 Author’s Note: Oh look, I’ve actually posted something! Yeah, so life got hectic, work and crap, and I’ve just been too tired to write anything. I actually started this a bit ago and finally finished it. I’ve really been in a western mood again, you will most likely see a lot more western aus from me.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

[orbemnews]

Leon Black to Leave Apollo Immediately: Live Updates Here’s what you need to know: Leon Black in 2018. Mr. Black said he decided to leave Apollo Global Management ahead of schedule for health reasons.Credit…Lucy Nicholson/Reuters Leon Black, the Wall Street billionaire who was the main client of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein for the last decade of his life, is stepping down as chief executive of Apollo Global Management, several months ahead of schedule. Mr. Black also will give up the chairmanship of the private equity firm, which he helped found roughly three decades ago, according to a statement issued by the firm on Monday. Jay Clayton, the former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman who recently joined the firm as an independent director, will take over as chairman. In a statement, Mr. Black, 69, said he had decided to leave now to focus on his family and his and his wife’s health. In January, the firm had said he would step down as chief executive before his 70th birthday in July while retaining the chairman role.. Apollo had previously announced that Marc Rowan, another Apollo co-founder, would succeed Mr. Black as chief executive following the release of a report by an outside law firm that detailed how Mr. Black had paid Mr. Epstein, the registered sex offender who killed himself in August 2019 while facing federal sex trafficking charges, $158 million in fees to Mr. Epstein and lent him nearly $30 million. The review found no wrongdoing by Mr. Black, who planned to remain as chairman. That announcement, along with a number of corporate governance changes, helped soothe many investors who were nervous about Mr. Black’s association with Mr. Epstein. The Apollo board, at Mr. Black’s request, had hired a law firm in October to conduct the review after The New York Times reported that Mr. Black had paid at least $75 million in fees to Mr. Epstein from 2012 to 2017. Over the past several months, shares of Apollo have underperformed the stocks of other big publicly traded private equity firms. Turkish lira banknotes at a currency exchange in Ankara. An unexpected change at the head of Turkey’s central bank caused a steep drop in the lira’s value.Credit…Murad Sezer/Reuters Turkey’s currency tumbled on Monday after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fired the head of the central bank, who had been in the job just four months and had pursued policies aimed at taming inflation. The Turkish lira plunged 10 percent against the U.S. dollar. Wall Street stock futures were higher, and stock market indexes were mixed in Europe in Asia. The removal of Turkey’s central bank chief, Naci Agbal, signals a return to the unorthodox policies that Mr. Erdogan has long favored, such as cutting interest rates to lower inflation, but which most economists regard as counterproductive. Mr. Erdogan has repeatedly meddled in the central bank’s activities and over the years traders have dumped the lira. Since his appointment in November, Mr. Agbal has raised the central bank’s benchmark interest rate from 10.25 percent to 19 percent in an effort to slow the overheating economy, control inflation and lure in foreign investment. He had succeeded in pulling the lira up from its record low. The most recent increase in the benchmark rate was on Thursday and he was fired on Friday. The annual inflation rate was officially 15.6 percent in February but is probably much higher. The new central bank chief, Sahap Kavcioglu, a university professor and former member of Turkey’s National Assembly, said in a statement that he would continue to fight inflation. But on Monday, the lira was trading at about 7.93 to the dollar, compared with 7.22 on Friday. The plunge in value was a sign that currency traders expect him to bow to pressure from Mr. Erdogan to cut rates, worsening the inflation problem and pushing the country of 82 million people closer to economic collapse. “We have abandoned our cautiously optimistic view on the lira,” Piotr Matys, a strategist at Rabobank wrote in a note. Mr. Kavcioglu’s comments suggest he is clearly in favor of lower interest rates to stimulate growth, he added. Elsewhere in markets U.S. stock futures rose on Monday. Nasdaq futures climbed 0.8 percent and the S&P 500 was set to open slightly higher than Friday’s closing price. European and Asian stock indexes were mixed. Shares in IAG, the airline group which owns British Airways, fell the most in the FTSE 100 index, by 4.5 percent, after the British government’s scientific advisers warned against overseas travel this summer. On Sunday, a government minister also indicated that travel restrictions could be extended. Shares in easyJet dropped 5.5 percent and shares in Ryanair fell 3. 4 percent. Deliveroo, the food-delivery company, started taking orders for its initial public offering on Monday. The share sale would value the company up to 8.8 billion pounds ($12.2 billion). The company will be listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is the largest I.P.O. this year. Carlos Ghosn, the former chief executive of Nissan, is a fugitive after fleeing Japan, where he was facing charges of alleged financial misconduct, which he had denied.  Credit…Hussein Malla/Associated Press Tokyo prosecutors on Monday charged two Americans with helping Carlos Ghosn, the former Nissan chief, jump bail in Tokyo, where he was awaiting trial on four counts of financial wrongdoing. Japanese prosecutors said in an indictment that the two men, Michael Taylor, 60, a former Green Beret, and his son Peter Maxwell Taylor, 27, assisted Mr. Ghosn’s efforts to escape the country, helping him flee to Turkey and then on to Lebanon, where he has been beyond the reach of Japanese law. American officials arrested the men last May in Massachusetts. Earlier this month, they were extradited to Japan, where they have been held in a Tokyo detention center while undergoing questioning by prosecutors. A third man believed to have aided Mr. Ghosn’s escape remains at large. The Japanese authorities have accused Michael Taylor of helping Mr. Ghosn travel by train to the western city of Osaka, through security checks at a private jet terminal and then onto a plane bound for Turkey. Once there, Mr. Ghosn transferred to a flight bound for Beirut. Peter Taylor assisted in planning for the escapade, visiting Mr. Ghosn several times before the escape, officials say. Mr. Ghosn and his son, Anthony Ghosn, paid more than $1.3 million to the Taylors and a company they controlled, U.S. prosecutors have said in court filings. Mr. Ghosn’s case raised international concerns about what some critics call Japan’s system of “hostage justice,” which includes lengthy detentions of criminal suspects without charge. While in the United States, the Taylors fought a long legal battle to prevent their extradition, with their lawyers arguing that they could be subjected to harsh conditions in a Japanese jail. Jessie Astbury Allen with her daughters Mae, 7, and Livia, 12. They left China more than a year ago; Ms. Astbury Allen’s husband is still there.Credit…Francesca Jones for The New York Times For the past year, people trying to go to China have run into some of the world’s most formidable barriers to entry. To stop the coronavirus, China bans tourists and short-term business travelers outright, and it sets tough standards for all other foreigners, even those who have lived there for years. The restrictions have hampered the operations of many companies, separated families and upended the lives of thousands of international students, report Sui-Lee Wee and Keith Bradsher for The New York Times. Global companies say their ranks of foreign workers in the country have dwindled sharply. As deadlier and more infectious virus variants appeared in other countries in recent months, China introduced onerous new requirements. At the end of last year, it essentially stopped allowing anyone to bring a spouse or child into the country. Since January, travelers arriving in Beijing from countries with severe outbreaks have had to endure weekly anal swab tests while in quarantine, with fecal material tested for traces of the virus. Last month, the government announced that travelers from more than two dozen countries would have to do two weeks of quarantine overseas before they were even allowed to fly to China. After landing, they were expected to spend two more weeks at a government-managed quarantine facility. Officials regard travel restrictions as crucial to their success in containing the virus. Since the outbreak started, China has reported more than 101,000 Covid cases. Although questions have been raised about the accuracy of the numbers, they are far lower than in the United States, where 29.8 million people have tested positive for the virus. China’s tough restrictions, including its recent ban on dependents, have exacted an emotional toll on some families who have been forced to live apart for months. In February of last year, Jessie Astbury Allen took her two young daughters to England to wait out the outbreak as it swept across China, hoping they would reunite with her husband in Shanghai by Easter. It was a plan she would come to regret. “I knew in my gut we were doing the wrong thing, but it was too late,” she said, weeping, as she described how she felt on landing at London’s Heathrow Airport. Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern announced plans on Sunday to combine in a $29 billion deal that would create the first railroad network connecting the United States, Mexico and Canada. It is an effort to capitalize on the flow of trade that is expected to increase as the three countries rebound from the pandemic. The boards of both companies have unanimously approved the cash-and-stock deal, which is expected to close by the middle of 2022, subject to customary approvals. Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s national oil company, said on Sunday that its net income last year had fallen by 44 percent, to $49 billion, as lower oil prices stemming from the pandemic cut into earnings. The company’s chief executive, Amin H. Nasser, described 2020 in a statement accompanying the earnings data as “one of the most challenging years in recent history.” But Aramco, the world’s largest oil producer, said that it would stick by a pledge to pay a $75 billion dividend. Nearly all of the payment will go to the Saudi government, which owns about 98 percent of the company. Abraham Sanchez, a Sacramento musician, put $1,200 of his stimulus money last week into his Robinhood trading account.Credit…Salgu Wissmath for The New York Times For a decade before the pandemic, small investors accounted for roughly a tenth of trading activity in the stock market. But in the last year, they have become responsible for close to a quarter, according to Goldman Sachs analysts. The speculative appetite of small investors may seem at odds with an economy still reeling from a pandemic that has killed more than half a million Americans, decimated jobs and snuffed out businesses and livelihoods. But one of the biggest tools deployed by the U.S. government to cushion the economic blow — stimulus payments — is also driving a huge surge in investing by small traders, Matt Phillips reports for The New York Times. Analysts at Deutsche Bank recently estimated that as much $170 billion from the latest round of stimulus payments could flow into the stock market. They conducted a survey of retail traders in which respondents said they planned to put roughly 40 percent of any payment they received — or $2 of every $5 — into the stock market. Traders between the ages of 25 and 34 said they expected to put half of their stimulus check into stocks. “That could lead to a bit more mania, speculation in the market,” said Patrick Fruzzetti, managing director and partner at Hightower Advisors, an investment firm. The “stimmies,” he said — using a popular online term for stimulus checks — will go into people’s trading accounts, and “they will trade.” Volkswagen can spread the cost of developing new technologies over millions of vehicles and undercut Tesla on price.Credit…Matthias Rietschel/Reuters In October 2015, a month after Volkswagen confessed to rigging diesel cars to conceal illegally high emissions, shellshocked company executives gathered in the brick-clad high-rise executive office building topped with a giant VW logo that looms over the carmaker’s main factory in Wolfsburg, Germany. The executives authorized development of a collection of mix-and-match components that would serve as the basis for a range of electric models including sedans, S.U.V.s and vans, Jack Ewing reports for The New York Times. The standardized platform, called the Modular Electrification Toolbox, could also be used by other company brands, including Audi. The platform will allow Volkswagen to exploit the big advantage it has over Tesla: size. With 665,000 employees and sales of 9.3 million vehicles last year, Volkswagen is the second-largest carmaker in the world after Toyota. It can spread the cost of developing new technologies over millions of vehicles and undercut Tesla on price. The commitment Volkswagen made then is paying off now as the company rolls out a line of vehicles developed from the ground up to run on batteries, with more interior space and more appeal than adaptations of gasoline vehicles. By 2025, Volkswagen will be able to produce electric vehicles for less than it costs to build a gasoline or diesel car, UBS analysts wrote in this month’s report. They cautioned that Tesla retained a significant lead in battery technology and autonomous driving software. Source link Orbem News #Apollo #Black #immediately #leave #Leon #Live #Updates

[thinkofduty]

; plans

Orella can think of nothing but home.

She's almost dizzy with memories. She thinks it is so strange to remember it so keenly, but then, she left only a year before. It has not truly been so long.

Mayhaps it feels strange because it stopped feeling like home the day the Garleans came.

She takes a wrong turn out of the Grand Steward's office and almost doesn't notice she's on the way to the room she's been so graciously given, so caught up in her thoughts is she. The wide expanse of the Lochs fills her mind so thoroughly that she might well be able to smell the salt of the Seld itself if she concentrates hard enough.

The beams of the Sandsea are almost the same colour as the mountains of Gyr Abania, so even when she corrects her course she still feels disoriented. Lost. It's been a year since she came to Eorzea, and not once has she felt so lost. Not even when all they had to eat were stale crumbs stolen from the Lominsan culinarians, nor even when she had been held in Ul'dahn jail awaiting execution or extradition.

The stairs leading to the mansion's modest training ring lead to cooler colours, and she is drawn to it for that reason alone, though the closer she steps the more she realises she can hear someone's exertion. Training, she thinks, mayhap for the mission ahead, and she files through the faces she knows.

She has yet to meet Ashelia's husband - Ala Mhigan too, as so many of her compatriots seem to be - and thinks from the masculine grunts that perhaps it might be he swinging fists. Better late introducing herself than never, she supposes, and takes the steps down.

Blessedly, she's wrong. It is Ashley who swings his training sword to and fro, balancing the blade perfectly, as a Riskbreaker ought. Her footfalls are never light, so she is under no illusion he has not heard her descent, but he does not let up. Not immediately.

"You hold yourself stiffly," she says, and he lets his concentration break. The sword's point does not droop; even at ease he holds it meaningfully, carefully. "The Grand Steward made mention you would be leaving on the morrow, also."

"You, too?" he asks, not a single hint of surprise betrayed by his moue. "Then she intends to act soon."

"Aye."

They stand looking at one another, neither moving a muscle until Orella gestures at the sword rack. "May I join you?" she asks. "Just for a brief bout."

Rosenheim says nothing, but takes a step back so his blade does not get in the way. She can feel his eyes upon her back as she chooses a hilt and pulls it free - the weapon is lighter than she is used to now, and must needs flourish it once or twice to remember how to swing. Her off-arm feels naked without a shield, but she is not training to take the field.

"I think," she says, turning, and settles comfortably into a simple stance, not too low. Ashley mimicks her, and they take a moment to circle one another, getting a feel for putting one foot in front of the other. "That this could well end in disaster. Not for Ashelia," she adds quickly, still pacing, "for Ingvald and for myself. We are being sent to the Quarter."

"You're to oversee the people."

It isn't a question. She steps lightly to him, lifts her arm as though to strike from above and changes the arc before she can begin the swing. He parries easily. The metal clashes loudly once, and then they go back to circling one another. Orella nods.

"Aye. But we are known by too many to go as we are." A pause as she deflects a similarly lazy swing. "We will not be bringing a linkpearl."

That sees Ashley stop. Orella shoots him a look and keeps circling, forcing him to move with her. "There's reckless and then there's stupid," he says, but Orella is already shaking her head.

"I do not think Ashelia was keen on the idea, but it is the safest. I will not be returning to Gyr Abania as a soldier. I will be returning as a woman."

By the look Ashley is giving her, she is not making any sense. She sighs, swings the blade gently before she realises he's dropped stance. She follows suit. "I mean," she says patiently, "That it will be safer if I pretend to be something I am not. Think about it, Riot," and she says his name sharply. Pointedly. "Orella aan Steelhand, once a Kingsguard, still a soldier with an Imperial yoke. A fighter. Fled to the Wall, and then beyond. Garlemald will be looking for her. Not the wife of a- a farmer. Or a blacksmith. Or anybody."

Ashley stares at her for near enough a full minute. "You're returning to Ala Mhigo without a linkpearl, and without weapons."

It sounds foolish when put like that. "Er," she manages, feeling foolish, "That's... about the sum of it. Bloodhound's magic is coming in strong now we've spent this long here," she adds, trying to ignore the way her cheeks burn. She hasn't come up with a stupid idea like this since Theodoric's time. "I have nothing but confidence in him."

The way Ashley continues to regard her as though she's lost her head isn't inspiring confidence in herself. It goes for so long that she thinks maybe she ought to place the sword back upon the rack and let him to it.

"The Grand Steward bade me return with Tia," he says carefully. She cannot blame him. It must still sit strangely, announcing such names to someone he barely recalls. "To spread the word. Recruit, if we can. The larger our native force, the more chance we have to push Garlemald out of the region for good."

She remembers a conversation by the fire, when they could neither look each other in the eye.

Do you think Ala Mhigo can be freed?

I do.

"I trust you," she says suddenly. She means it. "I do not have faith in my plan, but nor do I have faith in marching in with a 'pearl in my ear and a griffin upon my back. You, however, have the luxury of not being known by most men. I would beg your assistance."

If her words have stirred anything in him, he does not show it. She envies him that skill. "What do you need?"

"A rendezvous point," she says without preamble. She has her thoughts collected. "A time to meet. A code," she adds, thinking furiously. "If you cannot make it to the point, that you will send someone in  your stead. I do not mean to keep Ashelia in the dark."

His daughter's name garners a response. Not much of one, but a response nonetheless, and she files the information away carefully. "The Saltery," he says. She'd thought that at first, too. "It's abandoned, it-"

"No," she says, and for the first time feels pride that she worked for Garlemald. Her knowledge of the area is limited now she's been away for so long, but she'd walked that area just over a year before. Her boots had so often been encrusted with the salt of the Seld. She knows it is not as abandoned as he thinks. "Regular patrols. The monastery, up on the hills. The Sali. Safer. A longer journey to from the Quarter, but I'll risk nothing."

"The Sali," he agrees. "Your code?"

"East End's forests sure have changed," she recites. An older saying that she's not heard for years, but any trueborn Ala Mhigan would have said them once upon a time. Before the rest of the land had been scarred. "And your response is-"

"But the Leshy still abounds," comes the answer, and she nods. "Very well. When? You realise the Grand Steward means to move before the moon's turn?"

She hadn't. "Shit," she says, a soldier through and through. "I'd thought to say once a week, but that won't be enough. Every eve? No. Every other eve, with the moon at its highest. Is that something you are able to do?"

"I can have someone there," he says, and she breathes in deep, relieved. "Aught else?"

"Just one," she says, and looks toward the rack of weapons once more. "A knife. Nothing fancy, but sharp. Enough to pass off as a cooking tool. We're travelling," she adds, and runs both hands through her hair to mess it. The action pulls strands free of where they lie; they tickle as they fall to rest at her temples, at her cheeks. A soldier keeps her hair free of her face. A woman grows it long. "So it would not be so strange. And," she adds, "Two rings. No jewels. Suitable as wedding bands." She fixes Ashley with a hard stare and knows it does not carry the full weight of her feelings, with her face so... hidden. "I will not fuck this up."

Ashley has already turned from her to dig through the smaller racks to the side of the swords to find her requests. "No," he agrees. "You won't. Change your name. Both of you. Steelhand hasn't been forgotten. Neither has her hound."

He holds a knife out to her, and she takes it gingerly. It isn't in the best condition, but it's sharp, and she can work on it on the road.

"Thank you," she says, as he turns his head to say "And, Steelhand?"

Were they anyone else, the sudden silence might have made them laugh. Here, now, under the light of the chandelier and the full weight of Ala Mhigo's future on their shoulders, the tension sits heavy instead. "Yes?" she asks, and slips the knife into her boot.

"Tell him your plan. Trust him." Ashley turns his head, and she could swear blind the barest hint of a smile tugs at the edges of his lips. "And don't forget to tell him about your marriage."

[newstfionline]

Monday, February 22, 2021

Global vaccine inequality and intellectual property rights (Washington Post) As the coronavirus pandemic rages, World Trade Organization representatives have periodically gathered around a virtual table and clashed over how to more equitably increase global access to vaccines. On one side are the United States and other mainly wealthy Western democracies, where the major pharmaceutical companies developing key vaccines and related medical technologies are based. They want to maintain the status quo, in which the trade secrets of their vaccines—i.e. intellectual property—remain in their hands to preserve profits and the incentive for future development. On the other side are South Africa and India, leading the charge on behalf of the vast number of countries without any—or a limited supply of—vaccine doses and other equipment for fighting the virus. They argue that the rest of the world cannot keep waiting for the lifesaving shots, which Western countries have monopolized by buying up existing supplies and pre-purchasing future rounds. Given the gravity of the global public health crisis, the latter camp wants to resort to an emergency waiver mechanism, whereby the intellectual property rights for making vaccines and related medical supplies would be temporarily suspended, which would lead to production and distribution ramping up more equitably in factories worldwide.

The Boredom Economy (NYT) Mark Hawkins is an expert on being bored. When he was getting his counseling degree, he was fascinated by articles on the therapeutic benefits of boredom. He has written a book whose title is “The Power of Boredom.” In his spare time, he likes to sit on his couch and stare out the window. Yet during the pandemic, even Mr. Hawkins, 42, who lives in British Columbia with his wife, has at times gotten bored of being bored. There are many readily available ways to assess how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the economy. The pandemic has decimated the labor market, driving the unemployment rate to 6.3 percent in January, nearly twice what it was a year earlier. Restrictions on activities led Americans to spend less money, pushing the savings rate to extraordinary heights. As people have fled to places with more space and fewer people, home prices have surged. Another way the pandemic has had an impact on the economy is by making people bored. By limiting social engagements, leisure activities and travel, the pandemic has forced many people to live a more muted life, without the normal deviations from daily monotony. The result is a collective sense of ennui—one that is shaping what we do and what we buy, and even how productive we are. “Because we’re spending so much time in the home, we’re investing more in the home,” said Marshal Cohen, the chief retail analyst at the NPD Group, a market research company. “And the things that we’re investing in are things to keep ourselves busy.”

Parts fall from sky in plane scare (AP) David Delucia was settling back into his airplane seat and starting to relax on his way to a long-awaited vacation when a huge explosion and flash of light interrupted an in-flight announcement and put him in survival mode. The Boeing 777-200, headed from Denver to Honolulu on Saturday with 231 passengers and 10 crew aboard, suffered a catastrophic failure in its right engine and flames erupted under the wing as the plane began to lose altitude. As Delucia and his wife prepared for the worst, people in this Denver suburb reacted in horror as huge pieces of the engine casing and chunks of fiberglass rained down on a sports fields and on streets and lawns, just missing one home and crushing a truck. The explosion, visible from the ground, left a trail of black smoke in the sky, and tiny pieces of insulation filled the air like ash. The plane landed safely at Denver International Airport, and no one on board or on the ground was hurt, authorities said. But both those in the air and on the ground were deeply shaken.

Why a predictable cold snap crippled the Texas power grid (Reuters) As Texans cranked up their heaters early Monday to combat plunging temperatures, a record surge of electricity demand set off a disastrous chain reaction in the state’s power grid. Wind turbines in the state’s northern Panhandle locked up. Natural gas plants shut down when frozen pipes and components shut off fuel flow. A South Texas nuclear reactor went dark after a five-foot section of uninsulated pipe seized up. Power outages quickly spread statewide—leaving millions shivering in their homes for days, with deadly consequences. It could have been far worse: Before dawn on Monday, the state’s grid operator was “seconds and minutes” away from an uncontrolled blackout for its 26 million customers, its CEO has said. Such a collapse occurs when operators lose the ability to manage the crisis through rolling blackouts; in such cases, it can take weeks or months to fully restore power to customers. Monday was one of the state’s coldest days in more than a century—but the unprecedented power crisis was hardly unpredictable after Texas had experienced a similar, though less severe, disruption during a 2011 cold snap. Still, Texas power producers failed to adequately winter-proof their systems. And the state’s grid operator underestimated its need for reserve power capacity before the crisis, then moved too slowly to tell utilities to institute rolling blackouts to protect against a grid meltdown, energy analysts, traders and economists said. Texas is the only state in the continental United States with an independent and isolated grid. That allows the state to avoid federal regulation—but also severely limits its ability to draw emergency power from other grids.

Trump Ally Violated Libya Arms Embargo, U.N. Report Says (NYT) Erik Prince, the former head of the security contractor Blackwater Worldwide and a prominent supporter of former President Donald J. Trump, violated a United Nations arms embargo on Libya by sending weapons to a militia commander who was attempting to overthrow the internationally backed government, according to U.N. investigators. A confidential U.N. report obtained by The New York Times and delivered by investigators to the Security Council on Thursday reveals how Mr. Prince deployed a force of foreign mercenaries, armed with attack aircraft, gunboats and cyberwarfare capabilities, to eastern Libya at the height of a major battle in 2019. As part of the operation, which the report said cost $80 million, the mercenaries also planned to form a hit squad that could track down and kill selected Libyan commanders. Mr. Prince, a former Navy SEAL and the brother of Betsy DeVos, Mr. Trump’s education secretary, became a symbol of the excesses of privatized American military force when his Blackwater contractors killed 17 Iraqi civilians in 2007. In the past decade he has relaunched himself as an executive who strikes deals—sometimes for minerals, other times involving military force—in war-addled but resource-rich countries, mostly in Africa.

Violence flares as protests over jailing of Spanish rapper extend into fifth night (AP) Protesters threw bottles at police, set fire to containers and smashed up shops in Barcelona on Saturday in a fifth night of clashes after a rapper was jailed for glorifying terrorism and insulting royalty in his songs. The nine-month sentence of Pablo Hasel, known for his virulently anti-establishment raps, has sparked a debate over freedom of expression in Spain as well as protests which have at times turned violent. Protesters attacked shops on Barcelona’s most prestigious shopping street, Passeig de Gracia, while newspaper El Pais reported that others had smashed windows in the emblematic Palau de la Musica concert hall. Demonstrators hurled projectiles and flares at police, who fired foam bullets to disperse the crowd.

With heavy hearts, Italians mark year of COVID-19 outbreak (AP) With wreath-laying ceremonies, tree plantings and church services, Italians on Sunday marked one year since their country experienced its first known COVID-19 death. Towns in Italy’s north were the first to be hard-hit by the pandemic and put under lockdown, and residents paid tribute to the dead. Italy, with some 95,500 confirmed virus dead, has Europe’s second-highest pandemic toll after Britain. Experts say the virus also killed many others who were never tested. The number of new coronavirus infections has remained stubbornly high despite a raft of restrictions on travel between regions, and in some cases between towns. In addition, gyms, cinemas and theaters have been closed and restaurants and bars must shut early in the evening. Nationwide there’s a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.

Protesting Indian farmers vow to amass more supporters outside capital Delhi (Reuters) More than 100,000 farmers and farm workers gathered in India’s northern Punjab state on Sunday in a show of strength against new farm laws, where union leaders called on supporters to amass outside the capital New Delhi on Feb. 27. Tens of thousands of Indian growers have already been camped outside Delhi for nearly three months, demanding the repeal of the three reform laws that they say will hurt them and benefit large corporations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which introduced the laws last September, has offered to defer the laws but refused to abandon them. Both sides have met for several rounds of negotiations but failed to make any headway, and farmers’ unions have vowed to carry on the protests until the laws are rolled back.

North Korea’s economy is ravaged by sanctions and pandemic isolation (Washington Post) Kim Jong Un is angry, and he’s lashing out. North Korea’s last economic plan failed “tremendously,” he complained. And his inner circle lacked an “innovative viewpoint and clear tactics” in drawing up a new one, Kim told the ruling Workers’ Party last month, yelling and finger-pointing at frightened-looking delegates. His economy minister, appointed in January, has already been fired. It’s not altogether surprising. North Korea is suffering its worst slump in more than two decades, experts say. It’s a combination of international sanctions and especially a self-imposed blockade on international trade in attempts to keep the coronavirus pandemic out. A shortage of spare parts usually supplied from China has caused factories to close, including one of the country’s largest fertilizer plants, and crippled output from the country’s aging power plants, according to news reports. Electricity shortages, long a chronic problem, have become so acute, production has even halted at some coal mines and other mines, Kim himself admitted in mid-February. “Without imported materials, raw materials and components, many enterprises stopped, and people, accordingly, lost their jobs,” Alexander Matsegora, the Russian ambassador to North Korea, told the Interfax news agency.

Myanmar protesters gather, undeterred by worst day of violence (Reuters) Huge crowds marched in Myanmar on Sunday to denounce a Feb. 1 military coup in a show of defiance after the bloodiest episode of the campaign for democracy the previous day, when security forces fired on protesters, killing two. The military has been unable to quell the demonstrations and a civil disobedience campaign of strikes against the coup and the detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others, even with a promise of new elections and stern warnings against dissent. Tens of thousands of people massed peacefully in the second city of Mandalay, where Saturday’s killings took place, witnesses said.

Israel to issue badges as proof of vaccination (AP) Israel unveiled a plan on Saturday to allow people who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus to attend cultural events, fly abroad and go to health clubs and restaurants. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the plan at a news conference on Saturday night, saying those who have been vaccinated will be able to download the “green badge” in the coming days. Netanyahu said the government could not keep unvaccinated residents from places like medical clinics, pharmacies and supermarkets. But he said other services would be allowed only for those who have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.