#victims at georgia school

[pariahdonna]

fast facts for the georgia high shooting:

14 year old Colt Gray is confirmed to have been the shooter, and is in police custody. he is to be charged as an adult for murder.

no connection has been found between Gray and the victims.

4 have been confirmed dead (2 students, 2 teachers), and 9 are currently hospitalized — including apalachee high school's special education mathematics teacher David Phenix, who, according to his daughter, was shot in the hip and foot. he is currently stable and has already been through surgery for his wounds.

the school year at AHS started on august 1, which makes this week just the 5th week of school for the students.

[updatenewswhisper]

Georgia high school shooting suspect ID’d as Colt Gray, 14

The shooter who allegedly killed four people and wounded nine others at a Georgia high school on Wednesday has been identified as 14-year-old 

Read More...

[kirkshouseplant]

Can't wait to hear thoughts and prayers over and over while nothing is done to stop this.

[sportsnewsall]

Georgia high school shooting suspect ID’d as Colt Gray, 14

The shooter who allegedly killed four people and wounded nine others at a Georgia high school on Wednesday has been identified as 14-year-old

See More...

[dailyworldecho]

[batboyblog]

Things the Biden-Harris Administration Did This Week #29

July 26-August 2 2024

President Biden announced his plan to reform the Supreme Court and make sure no President is above the law. The conservative majority on the court ruled that Trump has "absolute immunity" from any prosecution for "official acts" while he was President. In response President Biden is calling for a constitutional amendment to make it clear that Presidents aren't above the law and don't have immunity from prosecution for crimes committed while in office. In response to a wide ranging corruption scandal involving Justice Clarence Thomas, President Biden called on Congress to pass a legally binding code of ethics for the Supreme Court. The code would force Justices to disclose gifts, refrain from public political actions, and force them to recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have conflicts of interest. President Biden also endorsed the idea of term limits for the Justices.

The Biden Administration sent out an email to everyone who has a federal student loan informing them of upcoming debt relief. The debt relief plan will bring the total number of a borrowers who've gotten relief from the Biden-Harris Administration to 30 million. The plan is due to be finalized this fall, and the Department of Education wanted to alert people early to allow them to be ready to quickly take advantage of it when it was in place and get relief as soon as possible.

President Biden announced that the federal government would step in and protect the pension of 600,000 Teamsters. Under the American Rescue Plan, passed by President Biden and the Democrats with no Republican votes, the government was empowered to bail out Union retirement funds which in recent years have faced devastating cut of up to 75% in some cases, leaving retired union workers in desperate situations. The Teamster union is just the latest in a number of such pension protections the President has done in office.

President Biden and Vice-President Harris oversaw the dramatic release of American hostages from Russia. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former Marine Paul Whelan held since 2018, Russian-American reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Alsu Kurmasheva convicted of criticizing the Russian Military, were all released from captivity and returned to the US at around midnight August 2nd. They were greeted on the tarmac by the President and Vice-President and their waiting families. The deal also secured the release of German medical worker Rico Krieger sentenced to death in Belarus, Russian-British opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza, and 11 Russians convicted of opposing the war against Ukraine or being involved in Alexei Navalny's anti-corruption organization. Early drafts of the hostage deal were meant to include Navalny before his death in Russian custody early this year.

A new Biden Administration rule banning discrimination against LGBT students takes effect, but faces major Republican resistance. The new rule declares that Title IX protects Queer students from discrimination in public schools and any college that takes federal funds. The new rule also expands protections for victims of sexual misconduct and pregnant or parenting students. However Republican resistance means the rule can't take effect nation wide. Lawsuits from Republican controlled states, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming, means the new protections won't come into effect those states till the case is ruled on likely in a Supreme Court ruling. The Biden administration crafted these Title IX rules to reflect the Supreme Court's 2020 Bostock case.

The Biden administration awarded $2 billion to black and minority farmers who were the victims of historic discrimination. Historically black farmers have been denied important loans from the USDA, or given smaller amounts than white farmers. This massive investment will grant 23,000 minority farmers between $10,000 and $500,000 each and a further 20,000 people who wanted to start farms by were improperly denied the loans they needed between $3,500-$6,000 to get started. Most payments went to farmers in Mississippi and Alabama.

The Biden Administration took an important step to stop the criminalization of poverty by changing child safety guidelines so that poverty alone isn't grounds for taking a child into foster care. Studies show that children able to stay with parents or other family have much better outcomes then those separated. Many states have already removed poverty from their guidelines when it comes to removing children from the home, and the HHS guidelines push the remaining states to do the same.

Vice-President Harris announced the Biden Administration's agreement to a plan by North Carolina to forgive the state's medical debt. The plan by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper would forgive the medical debt of 2 million people in the state. North Carolina has the 3rd highest rate of medical debt in the nation. Vice-President Harris applauded the plan, pointing out that the Biden Administration has forgiven $650 million dollars worth of medical debt so far with plans to forgive up to $7 billion by 2026. The Vice-President unveiled plans to exclude medical debt from credit scores and issued a call for states and local governments to forgive debt, like North Carolina is, last month.

The Department of Transportation put forward a new rule to bank junk fees for family air travel. The new rule forces airlines to seat parents next to their children, with no extra cost. Currently parents are forced to pay extra to assure they are seated next to their children, no matter what age, if they don't they run the risk of being separated on a long flight. Airlines would be required to seat children age 13 and under with their parent or accompanying adult at no extra charge.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it is giving $3.5 billion to combat homelessness. This represents the single largest one year investment in fighting homelessness in HUD's history. The money will be distributed by grants to local organizations and programs. HUD has a special focus on survivors of domestic violence, youth homeless, and people experiencing the unique challenges of homelessness in rural areas.

The Treasury Department announced that Pennsylvania and New Mexico would be joining the IRS' direct file program for 2025. The program was tested as a pilot in a number of states in 2024, saving 140,000 tax payers $5.6 million in filing charges and getting tax returns of $90 million. The program, paid for by President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, will be available to all 50 states, but Republicans strong object. Pennsylvania and New Mexico join Oregon and New Jersey in being new states to join.

Bonus: President Biden with the families of the released hostages calling their loved ones on the plane out of Russia

[dollielliot]

𐙚ྀིྀ ⠀︵　info on the Apalchee highschool shooting that happened today, 9/4/24˖ ㅤ૮𐔌ྀི ´ ཀ ྀི 𐦯ྀིა⠀

The 14-year-old suspect in the fatal mass shooting at a Winder, Georgia, high school has been identified as Colt Gray, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said at an afternoon news conference. The suspect is a student at Apalachee High School who will be charged with murder and will be handled as an adult as he moves through the criminal justice system, Hosey and Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith added.

Two teachers and two students were killed, Hosey said. Nine other victims were taken to hospitals, according to the officials. The gunfire sent students and faculty desperately scurrying for cover as schools across the county went into lockdown and parents scrambled for information. Wednesday’s shooting is the deadliest of the 45 school shootings so far this calendar year, according to a CNN analysis. It is one of 11 school shootings with four or more deaths since 2008 when CNN first started tracking school shootings. Authorities said the first report of an active shooter came in at 10:20 a.m. ET. A school resource deputy assigned to Apalachee High confronted the shooter, who got on the ground and was taken into custody, Smith told reporters.

The witness sat next to the suspected shooter

Lyela Sayarath, 16, told CNN the alleged shooter sat next to her in an algebra class. She said he left class early, around 9:45 a.m., but didn’t take a bathroom pass. She thought he might be skipping. Toward the end of class, someone told her teacher over the loudspeaker to check their email, she said. Shortly after, Gray was outside the classroom door, which was shut, Lyela said. Another student who went to the door jumped backward when she saw he had a gun. "I guess he saw we weren’t gonna let him in,” Lyela said. “And I guess the classroom next to me, their door was open, so I think he just started shooting in the classroom.” At first, she told CNN she heard a burst of gunfire – maybe 10 to 15 shots – and then they were “kind of just Students dropped to the floor and crawled to the corner, Lyela said.

“It seemed like this wasn’t something he planned too well or that he wasn’t really strong with the gun because he didn’t try and shoot our door. Once he saw he couldn’t get in our room, he just went to the next one.”

Latest developments

The high school had received an earlier phone threat, multiple law enforcement officials told CNN. The phone call Wednesday morning warned there would be shootings at five schools, and that Apalachee would be the first. It is not known who placed the call. It was not immediately known whether the assailant had some connection with his victims, the sheriff said, though officials stressed that will be part of the investigation. Schools in Barrow County will be closed for the rest of the week.

Student texted mom: ‘I’m scared’

Erin Clark was at work Wednesday morning when she got a series of text messages from her son, a senior, who was attending class at Apalachee High School.

“School shooting.”

“I’m scared,” he wrote.

“pls” “I’m not joking,”

“I’m leaving work,” Clark replied. “I love you,” her son, Ethan Haney, 17, wrote back.

“Love you too baby,” his mom texted before racing to the high school.

Clark told CNN her son heard eight or nine gunshots before he closed his classroom door and, with the help of another classmate, moved chairs and tables to block the door.

Clark told CNN she was “absolutely terrified” when she read her son’s messages. “Just kept praying he’d stay safe,” she said.

Schools in the county went into lockdown

As emergency responders came from several counties, video from outside the school showed at least five ambulances and a large law enforcement presence at the campus, and at least one medical helicopter could be seen airlifting a patient from the scene. At the football field, where authorities had students gather, people lowered their heads and formed a prayer circle in the end zone, standing on the letters for “Apalachee” as their classmates milled around the field. All schools in the Barrow County School System, which includes the high school, were placed on lockdown and police were sent out of an abundance of caution to all district high schools, according to the sources, but there are no reports of secondary incidents or scenes. Some of the critically injured were removed by helicopter, and additional helicopters are on standby.

Atlanta Trauma Center and other hospitals take patients

Grady Health System – a Level 1 trauma center in Atlanta, about an hour's drive from Winder – received one gunshot wound victim from the incident who was transported by helicopter, a hospital spokesperson told CNN. Earlier, a source with knowledge of the situation who is not authorized to speak to the media, told CNN Piedmont Athens Regional Hospital in North Georgia received two victims from the shooting. The source said one victim was an adult with a gunshot wound to the stomach and was in surgery, and another was a minor with unspecified injuries. Three gunshot victims were taken to nearby hospitals following the shooting, according to a hospital official, and five other patients reported to the hospital with symptoms related to a panic attack. Two gunshot victims were taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center Barrow with non-life-threatening injuries, Northeast Georgia Health System spokesperson Layne Saliba said. Four other patients came with symptoms related to panic attacks.

Another gunshot victim was taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center Gainesville with non-life-threatening injuries, Saliba said, and an additional patient came to Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton with symptoms related to a panic attack.

Georgia governor sends prayers and says he can send resources

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has directed all available state resources to assist at the scene, he said in a statement on social media. The governor urged “all Georgians to join my family in praying for the safety of those in our classrooms, both in Barrow County and across the state.” President Joe Biden has been briefed on the incident, the White House said, offering federal support to state and local officials.

“His administration will continue coordinating with federal, state, and local officials as we receive more information,” the White House said in a statement. Attorney General Merrick Garland similarly said the US Department of Justice “stands ready” to support the community after the shooting. “We are still gathering information, but the FBI and ATF are on the scene, working with state, local, and federal partners,” Garland said at a meeting of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force.

Winder had a population of about 18,338 as of the 2020 census, according to the US Census Bureau The Barrow County School System is the 24th largest school district in the state, per the district’s website. It serves about 15,340 students, 1,932 of whom are enrolled at Apalachee High School.

[modernsuperhero]

Who are these fun characters and why are they taking over my dash? /pos /please tell me abt your blorbos

i'm assuming you mean these little guys:

These guys are my newest silliest dudes from the webcomic School Bus Graveyard! It's free to read on webtoons here and is currently in talks to get a TV adaptation soon so now is 1000% the time to be getting into it!! It's basically a supernatural mystery about six high school freshmen from Georgia who go on a field trip and end up sucked into a demon dimension every time it hits midnight! It's super cool - the pacing is very good imo, a good balance of the Main Plot (oh no we need to survive the Demon Dimension again, also Why Are We In A Demon Dimension) with character development and backstory stuff!

The characters are badass but in a way I feel is very realistic? Like, not just "oh i'm the protagonist suddenly i know how to judo flip armies the moment i'm in danger" but more like "i'm going to train for months in self defense classes to build up some basic muscles" kinda way. The characters themselves are also pretty well fleshed out - they're not just the typical archetypes. Like, the "weak bullied nerd kid" isn't JUST a weak bullied nerd kid, he has well developed motivations and backstory and simultaneously realistic and satisfying character growth.

There are implied potential/future romances but it is so NOT the core point of the story, so whether or not that's your thing you can either ignore it or get excited about it in equal measure. The characters also aren't just edgy and gritty "we must deal with this alone... augh misery woe is us..." they actively do what they can to use all the resources available to them (including trying to get help from their parents, which is an ick for me in other media when the kid protagonists just refuse to ask for help? or assume they can't without trying? anyway).

I would say to be careful about any warnings at the beginning of specific chapters, because some can get quite violent.

The six main characters, without giving to many spoilers, are as follows under the cut (cuz this got long):

The protagonist Ashlyn, an asocial ballerina with her loving ex-military parents, who has a condition that gives her incredibly sensitive/enhanced hearing (she ends up using this to help detect the monsters after them, since they're otherwise silent to the other protagonists!)

Aiden, a creepily-smiley ex-homeschooled rich kid who has no concept of social convention or personal space. Has forcibly chosen Ashlyn to be his friend during his first year in school against her will and ends up accidentally setting off the chain of events leading to the Plot. (I love him. He definitely has Every Mental Illness <3)

Ben, Aiden's incredibly physically intimidating cousin, who is mute and so, so sweet and gentle and follows Aiden like his shadow, in part to take care of him when Aiden's antics get him injured and in part because Ben's muteness makes it incredibly difficult for people to understand him. Aiden, however, can understand his nonverbal communications with ease

Taylor, a friendly girl's girl who tries (often in vain) to befriend Ashlyn. Is also a talented mechanic who ends up putting googly eyes on her weapon once they end up in the Demon Dimension. She's the most Emotionally Aware Person Here but also she's like, 15, so, the bar is on the floor

Tyler, Taylor's twin brother, a somewhat aggressive and rude baseball jock who mostly Minds His Own Damn Business aside from his clinginess to Taylor. In fact they wear matching outfits in almost every episode of the comic it's so funny and cute. Is often found fighting bullies to defend their victims so i forgive him for all his own asshole crimes he's just a dude. he's one of my little guys

Logan, who is canonically compared to a puppy. Shy, intelligent, and incredibly empathetic! My partner's favorite character who has one of the best character arcs so far imo. Likes photography, astrology, and gardening. I think they should give him more guns, as a treat. He can never have enough

anyways thank you for the ask! overall i highly recommend - it's still ongoing, we're currently in the middle of season two!! the mystery is unfolding, there's funny and sweet moments along with the intense ones, and i am INVESTED. :DDDDDD

[lawrence-eagleburger]

Sorry guys, I need to get some election stuff out. Feel free to scroll by. Or read. Your call, man. This will be 80% despair capped off with why I’m not going to quit on this shit.

I really don’t want to say too much in detail about my previous political experience because it could identify me and I’m honestly slightly embarrassed by it, but I’ll say that I used to be a social media manager/content curator/director for a (at the time) major American political party during the 2016 election. I was way too young to be pulling the levers I was pulling, and I didn’t really know what the hell I was doing.

Suffice to say, I got exposed to how the political sausage was made in an intimate manner before I graduated high school. It is truly absurd and I have no way to prove this, but you’ll have to take my word for it. I only say that to give this all a shred of credibility.

Folks, it’s incredibly hard for me to focus on hockey right now. This is such a disaster on almost every conceivable level. I live in Utah, a deeply red state, and I watched as they called it for the GOP with…zero reported votes. This was always going to be the case and it is the furthest thing from a surprise of all time, but it sunk me a bit.

I stayed up until the bitter end last night. It was like watching a gunshot victim bleed out over the course of 10 hours. It was never really even remotely competitive. I sat on a call with a couple of my dearest friends in silence as North Carolina fell…then Georgia…by that time the race was functionally over, and we were trying to wrap our heads around what that meant for us. And then Pennsylvania flipped.

It’s impossible to overstate how disastrous a loss this was for all things good and decent, and even more impossible to pin down any one reason things went so horribly wrong.

We have to contend with the fact that we lost the electoral college AND the popular vote for the first time in two decades and try to confront this deeply sinister truth that maybe this really is what Americans want after all.

We have to contend with the fact that electorally, progressives are dependent on a political organization in the DNC that spits on them at every turn and is willing to nuke their election chances to lock them out of decision making positions.

We have to face a harsh truth that this should have been one of the most winnable elections in American history and the Democrats genuinely, legitimately fumbled it away and got killed on every single policy except abortion.

We have to face an even harsher truth that we may be entering a new frontier of post-truth politics, in a world where right wing misinformation has corroded the media infrastructure so thoroughly that it’s nearly impossible to tease out what’s even happening.

All that said, I won’t lose to despair. At least, I can’t. I’m going to sleep on it, but I think I’m going to get back in the game. I have felt like a child slamming an ear to the wall trying to listen to their parents argue about whether or not to sell the house for the past two elections. I cannot bear to simply vote and watch next time. There is so much at stake and so much work to do.

I hope you guys are okay. Rest up, take care of yourself, recharge your batteries as best you can. Call your friends. Check on them. Check on yourself.

The fat lady might be getting ready backstage, but she ain’t singing yet.

It’s not over until it’s over.

[therealjoeyquinn]

Apalachee High School, Sept 4th 2024

Regarding the shooting that happened today in Georgia, my heart goes out to all the victims and people effected by this.

According to the news, the 14 year old, Colt Gray, who was responsible for the shooting had been investigated a year prior to today’s incident.

There had been several anonymous reports of his behaviour online. He had been making threats of committing such a thing and posting pictures of his firearms. When the police looked into it, it was traced back to him and he denied everything.

And of course, these idiotic police officers let him go without taking further action. They could have searched his phone and computer, but instead decided not to.

Let’s take a look at Columbine. See a pattern? A prior investigation. Eric had made a hit-list and posted it to an online forum. He was also reported because someone who knew him had found their name on it.

Because you chose to be ignorant, 4 people have died with 9 more injured and a 14 year old has just thrown his entire life away.

You say you care, but you really don’t. You CHOOSE to ignore the warning signs, and where does it get you? To fatalities like this.

There have been at least 45 school shootings in the US alone since 2024 has started.

Do better, America. This is how this shit always starts out.

[avonne-writes]

For your HS AU: does John ever interact w gales parents— does he ever meet his mother or physically intervene w his father?

Great question, thank you!

Yes, he does interact with them sometimes.

In high school, he meets Gale's mom a few times, because she does come to drop Gale off or to pick him up once in a blue moon. When Gale introduces him, it’s awkward for everyone, because Bucky still has that intinctual urge to want to be liked by his boyfriend's parents but he also dislikes her at the same time. She makes awkward small talk with him, and they part as soon as possible.

I think they have another tense conversation when Bucky’s family helps Gale move out. She thanks Bucky for taking care of Gale but also pisses him off with her victim narrative. Bucky can’t tolerate her blaming everything on Gale’s dad because he thinks she should have protected Gale from it all.

Gale does his absolute best to keep Bucky away from his father because he knows it wouldn’t end well. During high school, I think they might see each other a few times when Bucky waits in front of Gale's house for him to come out and the man looks out through the window. They also go to some sports event together with Georgia and both of Gale's parents when Gale's dad has a longer sober period and Gale hopes for a better relationship with him. But this pretty much tapers off by the end of Year 11. I originally headcanoned Bucky and Gale's dad having an altercation when Gale moves out after Broken Things, but I think I'll leave that out. So he never gets into a situation when he has to physically intervene between Gale and his dad, but he definitely would if it happened.

Later in their lives, they visit Gale's mom maybe once a year or so. Bucky doesn’t want her in his house so she's rarely there, but Gale stays in touch with her. Not so much with his dad, who resents him for "abandoning the family", so they more or less disown each other. The only times Bucky interacts with him are when he and Gale help out with getting him into rehab (again) or similar stuff.

Only Gale's mom is invited to their wedding, but her interactions with them still disappoint Gale. He doesn’t regret inviting her, but he does need a quiet moment alone with Bucky to get over the sadness she makes him feel.

These are my current headcanons 😊

[ukrfeminism]

‘What’s the worst that can happen?” That is what Georgia Harrison asked herself one Sunday morning in August 2020 when Stephen Bear, who lived opposite, invited her over for a cup of tea. They knew each other through the reality television and influencer circuits. She had been on The Only Way Is Essex (Towie) and Love Island; he had done Shipwrecked, Ex on the Beach, then won Celebrity Big Brother. They had hooked up before and he hadn’t treated her well.

“We’d been in lockdown and I was definitely quite lonely, feeling quite rubbish about myself,” says Harrison, 28. “I knew that going to Bear’s was a bad idea – there were two voices in my head. In the end, I thought: what’s the worst that could happen? Well, now we know.”

What happened was this: the morning cup of tea stretched into a long lunch washed down by tequila, followed by drunken sex in Bear’s back garden. The sex was different from how it had been in the past – more performative, with Bear carefully positioning Harrison in various locations. “It was more dramatic and lasted longer,” says Harrison. “I just thought he was having a good day.” Afterwards, to Harrison’s horror, Bear mentioned casually that it might have been caught on his CCTV system. When he showed her the footage and she began to cry (“I’ll die if anyone sees it,” she said), he promised to delete the video. Instead, three months later, Bear posted the footage on his verified Only Fans account. Within days, it was all over the internet, including the website Pornhub. “Georgia Harrison sex tape” had become a top search on Google.

Harrison found out when a fan in the US sent her a screenshot asking: “Have you seen this?” Her reaction was to gag. But she picked herself up and went to the police. Bear was arrested, charged and convicted. In March 2023, he was sentenced to 21 months in prison for voyeurism and sharing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress. Now, she has written a memoir about it, Taking Back My Power.

It is hard to overstate the impact of this case. Most victims of intimate image abuse never report the crime. They are teenagers too terrified of their parents’ reactions, professionals who fear for their careers, parents who don’t want their children or partner to know, or anyone else who can’t face walking into a police station armed with a link to Pornhub. Of those who do come forward, only about 4% will ever see a charge; a prison sentence is rarer still.

Bear’s case – on the news, in headlines, all over social media – sent a message of hope to victims of this sort of abuse and a warning shot to potential perpetrators. There was a 56% rise in calls to the government’s “revenge porn” helpline in the month he was sentenced. Harrison didn’t stop there, though. She lobbied parliament to demand better laws around “revenge porn” and helped to secure amendments to the online safety bill that make the crime easier to prosecute. She is still campaigning for platforms that carry the footage of her and Bear to be held criminally accountable.

It is certainly not the life or career she had in mind when she left school at 16, the only child of a single mother, already intent on reality TV stardom. “I grew up in Essex and a lot of my friends were on Towie, so that’s what I wanted to reach for,” she says. “It was the idea of literally getting paid for doing photoshoots, partying and having some fun in all these mad countries and bars.” At 19, she did get on Towie; a few years later, she was on Love Island. She built a career as an influencer and was able to buy a flat in Essex at 21. Was it all she had hoped for? “Actually, it was even better,” she says.

Although she and Bear were neighbours, Harrison didn’t get to know him until October 2018, when they were cast in The Challenge, an MTV reality show. By then, the former roofer had built a TV reputation as a bit of a player, a “lovable rogue”. They got together during filming, but when the show finished, Bear went back to womanising. Shortly afterwards, they starred in the sequel and got together again. This time, though, Harrison says, he locked her out of their hotel room to sleep with someone else.

The next time Harrison saw Bear was in August 2020, when he invited her over for that cup of tea and secretly filmed them having sex. Afterwards, she felt certain he had planned it. “We’d been in every angle that his CCTV covered,” she says. “He’d made sure we were never outside the lines.” Even so, she didn’t see what lay ahead. “I was really upset and he seemed to understand. I never for a second thought he’d be stupid enough to send it to people. I hoped he had some form of respect for me, but I also thought he wouldn’t want to ruin his entire career or end up in prison. I just didn’t think he was capable of what he was capable of.”

In the days after, Harrison messaged Bear asking him to promise he wouldn’t do anything with the video. He assured her that he had deleted it. It was December when she received the screenshot from a fan in the US. “That’s when I knew it was global,” she says. “One of my first thoughts was: it’s time to tell my family. My mum knew already, but I needed to have the conversations with my dad, my uncle – the male figures, I guess – so they knew it was coming.” In fact, her uncle knew already; he had been sent the video by someone who didn’t realise Harrison was his niece. “They were all horrified, but supportive,” she says. “I was an adult having sex – they told me I’d done nothing to be ashamed of.”

She knew that, but shame still hit in waves. “It went so horrifically viral; my postman’s probably seen it,” she says. “It’s that feeling that I’d let myself down, let my family down, that I should have seen it coming and how could I have been so stupid?” Her influencer work went into freefall. Any post on any product would be flooded with comments about the video (“Congrats hon, you’re a porn star now!”). “There were so many other influencers – same amount of followers, been on Love Island, same calibre – who didn’t have a sex scandal. Why put me next to their brand?” She rented out her flat – for income and because she was terrified of seeing Bear – and moved in with her mum.

“I don’t think I’ve admitted to myself how bad my anxiety was until now,” she says. “I wouldn’t be able to go to the gym on my own, or I’d get in and feel everyone was looking at me and have to leave. I barely left the house and when I did it was really hard not to panic. It got to the point where I only wanted to be around my closest friends.”

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Harrison reported Bear, who was arrested in January 2021 and charged four months later. There was an 18-month wait for the trial. Harrison’s life was on hold. She knew she had a strong case – she had been filmed without her knowledge and had sent multiple messages to Bear begging him not to share it – but she dreaded a “not guilty” verdict. The Bear she knew, the Bear who had won Celebrity Big Brother, was a charmer. He could win hearts, talk you round.

“If he was found not guilty, I think I would have had to shave my head and move to Bolivia or something,” she says. “The career I love would have been over – that’s definite. But aside from that, my faith in the universe would have been so shattered. It would have drained all the hope and faith and love and life out of me. To see someone act in such an awful, evil, manipulative way and then walk away … I felt it might just ruin me – and it seemed possible. Bear could play things so brilliantly. I don’t know why he decided not to.”

Bear’s behaviour before and during the trial probably sealed his sentence. He uploaded X-rated videos of him and his girlfriend to the internet, captioning one: “At least she knows I’m filming her.” In another video posted just before the trial, the couple cavorted in orange prison jumpsuits. He ran a Twitter poll on what colour of suit he should wear to court – and turned up in a rented Rolls-Royce, dressed in pink and a huge fur coat, carrying a cane topped with a gold snake’s head. In court, he interrupted the judge and waved away the barrister. He pleaded not guilty, but his defence was nonsensical. At times, he claimed that Harrison wasn’t the woman in the video, or that she didn’t mind it being filmed, or that there was no proof that he had uploaded the images – it might have been his assistant, it could have been a hacker.

Had he pleaded guilty and expressed remorse, he would almost certainly have been handed a community sentence. Harrison still can’t understand it. “The Bear I first met was funny and cheeky, but also really charming – he could be kind,” she says. “That person in court seemed possessed. I feel like every show he went on, he was praised for being ‘the villain’ – and the worse he was, the more attention he got. At some point, the lines blurred. That role took over.” A reality TV monster? “That’s how it seemed.”

Giving evidence was excruciating for Harrison. She sat in the witness box as the jury (nine men, three women) looked through pages and pages of video stills, having to confirm that each one featured her. “I could tell the jury was absolutely cringing,” she says. “I was in a private garden in a private moment that I thought was between me and one other person. To know people have seen it is hard. To see people seeing it while they can see you is harder.

“As someone in the public eye, used to public speaking, it was still hard to get my words out. You don’t know where to look, who to talk to. You feel you’ve done something wrong when you haven’t. I dread to think what it’s like for a vulnerable young woman who isn’t used to addressing a room. I think it would be near enough impossible.” She hopes her case might make it a little easier. “Women come up to me all the time, crying, saying they’ve been through this horrible situation and never spoken to anyone about it before. They message me on a daily basis. Intimate-image abuse happens so much more than people think.”

After the trial, Harrison continued campaigning, initially to make cases easier to prosecute. At present, the sharing of intimate images without consent is not illegal – unless done “with intent to cause distress”, however hard that is to prove. In June, the government announced amendments to the online safety bill that will remove this requirement if the law is passed. This will mean that sharing intimate images without consent, whatever the motive, would become a criminal act.

But Harrison wants more.

“If you go to court for this and get a criminal conviction, that content should become illegal and any platforms that still show it and fail to take it down should become criminally accountable,” she says. “It’s crazy. If someone gets caught with drugs, those drugs are seized and disposed of. Why should this footage stay up there? A change like that isn’t hard to make and it would make a huge difference. Far more victims would come forward, because they’d know it will be possible to make all that footage disappear at the end.”

The video of Harrison and Bear is still out there. “I worry that one day I’ll have kids and it will be accessible to them,” she says. “I just hope that by that time, society may have got on top of this and it will be too risky and expensive for platforms to carry it.” She expects that finding a partner she trusts will take time. “As I get to the point where I am trying to have relationships, I’ve realised that I do have trust issues, but that’s not a bad thing. I’ve been burned so badly. I won’t accept anything that might be a red flag or makes me feel vulnerable. If someone really cares about me, they’ll just have to help me get past that.”

Meanwhile, she is busy again. There is a TV show coming up that she can’t talk about yet. The brands are back. Harrison has written Taking Back My Power. She would like to present daytime TV: “You literally get paid to have a natter!” She is also happy to be known for the court case. “I’ll never, ever lose the stigma of being all over those porn platforms,” she says. “But if I’m known as the person who stood up and fought back – I’d be proud of that.”

[pearlsongfromstuff]

I don't make these kind of posts on my blog I usually repost my fandoms and silly little stuff like that, but this is personal. If you are thankful that Hurricane Helene has destroyed towns in the south because they're red states, get the FUCK off my blog this instant and NEVER come back. Westerners and Northern States always preach for treating humans with love and respect UNTIL it's the south, the "red states", the "red necks", the "Trumpies" or whatever you want to call us. I can assure you, we are not all Trumpies. I was born in Florida and have lived in NC for 8 long years, and I am as "Democratic" as they come (for some issues, but this isn't about politics.)

If you keep saying "oh, you didn't evacuate, I feel no sympathy," do you know how hard it is to evacuate?! Id love to see you pack your supplies, your family, your elderly, your pets and whatever else you want to bring with you, into a car and go down a crowded highway to an evacuation spot, which everyone is trying to get to. And don't even THINK of trying to get anything? Most things are closed, the gas pumps are out and everyone is STRESSED. Evacuation is NOT EASY and the southern governments barely HELP. But this is the only solution, otherwise, you're swept away by the water just like our towns.

And speaking of the government, let's talk about them. Specifically state governments. The infrastructure of the south is SHIT. My mother's classroom's ceiling (she's a teacher) is falling apart because barely any funding is coming in. The most funding the school was getting was from a LIQUOR STORE, but they paused funding because they were helping fund our new fire station. And after it was built, they haven't continued funding. My father's school's ceiling (also a teacher) ALSO COLLAPSED the first week they got back from summer break. One of our bridges fell apart and that was BEFORE the hurricane. Luckily, my town wasn't hit, it was southeast, away from the storm, but it floods when there's a full moon, let alone a storm. The funding and infrastructure is SHIT. We were DOOMED before the storm even hit.

To the people of Boone and Asheville and all the other small towns and cities of Western NC, if you could read this, maybe never will, but it you do, thank you and please keep holding on. The Appalachian Mountains were the only thing keeping the storm from hitting where I am, in college, 3 hours away from home. To the every victim of this storm, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and every other state, I'm so sorry you are not being saved faster, I'm sorry the state has abandoned you and I'm so sorry that everyone blames you for your situation. Please keep working through, you'll have to rebuild, you've lost so much, but never lose hope. Remember what you still have in the end of this, your family, your friends, your pets, and your life. Please keep strong, like we southerns always do in these situations. I hope that whatever religion you worship, your deity is watching over you... And to the atheists, keep being strong in yourself!

I remember Dorian knocking out our power for weeks, and me and my family being stuck in the humidity while we were getting no support. I bet everyone said that we "should have evacuated" too, but we physically couldn't, not in our condition. I just hope that people will get their heads out of their asses and help their fellow man, like they preach all the time. It pisses me right the fuck off. Keep your blue and red states bullshit out of natural disasters.

[akiizayoi4869]

I swear this has to be the only country in the world that has a school shooting, kids end up dead, and instead of doing the smart thing, which is, you know, more gun control and a complete ban on assault weapons, we say "our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families"

How many times do we have to go through this? How many times do we have to hear "thoughts and prayers" until you dumb fucks actually do something? School just started (and since this was in Georgia it started last month) and there's already been a school shooting. Four people are dead, two students and two teachers, and several others have been injured. Our kids are dying in a place where they shouldn't have to go through this every year, in a place where they should feel safe and shouldn't have to ask their parents or whoever their guardian is "am I going to die?" the day before they have to go to school. So you know what?

SCREW YOUR FUCKING THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS AND DO SOMETHING.

[justbeingnamaste]

1. When a 14yo goes into a school and starts shooting people— that 14yo is mentally ill. It’s not the gun, it’s the human pulling the trigger. 2. A good guy with a gun will always be what stops a bad guy with a gun. On-site law enforcement confirms a School Resource Officer (SRO) engaged and stopped the shooter / murderer. 3. Stop me if you’ve heard this before but the school shooter today was known to the FBI. The FBI in Atlanta just revealed they've been aware of the 14-year-old Georgia school shooter, since 2023. Why didn't the FBI take any action against him? 4. My heart goes out to the victims, families, and first responders dealing with the school shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia. Rest in Peace: Mason Schermerhorn, 14, student Christian Angulo, 14, student Richard Aspinwall, teacher Christina Irimie, teacher Pray for their families and all those who are dealing with this terrible tragedy.🙏

~ Dave Brown