#DAVI (official page)

[deadpresidents]

Everyone knows about Lincoln and Garfield and McKinley and Kennedy, the quartet of America Presidents who fell victim to assassination. Even the most casual observers of Presidential history can probably name the four Presidents who were murdered while in office, and many even know the names of the four assassins responsible for their deaths: Booth, Guiteau, Czolgosz, and Oswald.

There have also been quite a few (in)famous unsuccessful assassination attempts, where Presidents barely escaped with their lives, that many Americans are familiar with, including (but not limited to):

•Richard Lawrence's miraculously unlucky double misfire on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in 1835 which left Andrew Jackson unharmed but resulted in Lawrence -- who would be found not guilty by reason of insanity -- getting viciously pummeled by the cane-wielding President Jackson until Davy Crockett intervened to save the would-be assassin from the 67-year-old President. •The shooting of former President Theodore Roosevelt in Milwaukee as he sought another term in the White House during the 1912 Presidential election. Despite being shot in the chest, Roosevelt decided to go ahead and deliver his campaign speech before being taken to the hospital where doctors discovered that the bullet lodged inside of TR had first passed through a case for his eyeglasses and the thick pages of his speech in his jacket's pocket, lessening the damage from the gunshot. •The attempted assassination of President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami in February 1933, just seventeen days in before FDR's Inauguration, which wounded four people and killed Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak. •The ill-fated 1950 attempt by Puerto Rican nationalists to storm Blair House (the temporary Presidential residence during the renovation of the White House) and kill President Harry S. Truman as he was napping. Truman was not hurt, but a White House Police Officer and one of the two assassins were killed during the wild shootout. •President Gerald Ford's trouble with two California women who separately tried to kill him in Sacramento and then San Francisco just two weeks apart in September 1975. •The shocking shooting of President Ronald Reagan in broad daylight from just a few yards away as he exited the Washington Hilton following a speech in March 1981, which left four people wounded and very nearly killed the 70-year-old Reagan just two months into his Presidency.

But what is amazing is that, in this age of instant information and the constant regurgitation of media coverage via the 24-hour news cycle, very few Americans know that there is a man sitting in prison in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia for attempting to assassinate President George W. Bush. What even less Americans realize is how close Vladimir Arutyunian actually came to accomplishing his task.

On May 10, 2005, President Bush spoke to a large crowd at an outdoor rally in Tbilisi, Georgia. In one of the photos at the top of this post, Bush is seen speaking from the stage in Tbilisi. The other photo is of Arutyunian holding a plaid handkerchief close to his chest. Wrapped in that handkerchief was a live hand grenade.

As President Bush spoke, nearby sat his wife, Laura, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, and the Dutch-born First Lady of Georgia, Sandra Roelofs. They had no idea that, during the speech, Arutyunian tossed his handkerchief-wrapped grenade towards the stage. The grenade landed just 61 feet away from President Bush, well within range of causing serious injury, if not death.

Of course, the grenade did not explode. At first, it was thought to be a dud, but upon closer inspection it was discovered that the only reason the grenade didn't explode was because Arutyunian's handkerchief -- used to conceal the explosive as he stood in the crowd -- was wrapped too tightly around the grenade, preventing the firing pin from deploying. A Georgian security official noticed the grenade, grabbed it quickly and disposed of it as Arutyunian disappeared into the massive crowd and President Bush continued speaking.

After Bush's speech was over and once it was recognized that the President had only narrowly escaped a legitimate attempted assassination, Georgian police worked closely with the United States Secret Service, the FBI, and the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the assassination attempt and find the would-be assassin who seemingly melted into Tbilisi after his brazen, albeit unsuccessful attempt on Bush's life. Using DNA evidence and tips from informants, the Georgian police ultimately tracked down Arutyunian two months later. When they went to arrest Arutyunian, a gunfight broke out and Arutyunian killed Zurab Kvlividze, a top counterterrorism official with Georgia's Interior Ministry. Arutyunian was wounded before finally being captured with the assistance of Georgian Special Forces.

The Georgians tried Arutyunian on the murder of the police officer, as well as the attempted assassinations of President Bush and President Saakshvili. Arutyunian was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole. A federal grand jury in the United States also indicted Arutyunian on the federal charge of the attempted assassination of the President of the United States, which is a felony. The U.S., however, has not attempted nor has any potential plans to extradite the failed assassin from Georgia, and Arutyunian will almost certainly spend the rest of his life in a Georgian prison.

[sirfowlman]

DIGIMON FACT OF THE DAY:

While not mentioned in the English dub of the anime, Kari's full name is unsurprisingly confirmed to be "Hikari Kamiya" in the official English translations of the Digimon tie-in manhua released by Tokyopop. So just like her brother & some of the other DigiDestined, her English name is simply a nickname.

BUT WAIT!

The same is also suprisingly true for the Zero-Two DigiDestined!

So yeah, better update those wiki pages! Only Daisuke's friends can call him Davis!

So that's that. However, I would be remiss if I didn't show you this cute artwork of Kari & Gatomon from said manhua.

[thislovintime]

Remembering David Jones, and sending thoughts to his family and friends.

(Footage in this edit from the Blu-ray set, Getty Images, Australian TV, Extra, the 1990s documentary; audio 1 from Peter's 1999 interview with GOLD 104.5.)

“Genuine, reliable and huggable, Peter is a natural person — really gets off on talent — loves other musicians and can jam along with the best of ‘em. I saw him holding his own with Hendrix, Stills, Young. He encouraged me no end. Bought me my first guitar and my first drum kit. […] He used to walk with a swagger, shining his arms with a confident air. He calmed hysteria, and lifted depression. ‘Dried banana, anybody? Piece of orange?’ — smiling, waving, running his hands through his hair. He knew all the crew by their first names. Kids crying at his feet he lifted and hugged like a father calming a child. […] He’s the most musically talented of us all by a mile. His songs are real. ‘For Pete’s Sake’ — which replaced the Monkees Theme at the end of some of the shows of the second season — is one of my all-time favorite songs by anybody. I’ve joked a lot about Peter giving everything away. But it was true. He was always giving his spare room to someone who needed it for the night — anyone. And he always seemed far away somewhere — in a different space. But I’m glad I know him. Of all the things he gave me, he gave me lots of laughs — and food for thought.” - Davy Jones, They Made A Monkee Out Of Me (1988) “I enjoyed [Micky] the most, respected Mike the most, and loved Davy the most.” - Peter Tork, Hartford Courant, February 26, 1982 “Davy adored performing, and adored meeting and greeting his fans. He was tireless in making himself available to sing a song, do a dance, shake a hand; whatever was asked. I had heart-to-heart moments with him that were among the best in my life. I was blessed to know and work closely with him. He was one in about 6 billion, give or take. We won’t see his like again. He left much too soon. I share your sadness. Thank you again for this chance to contribute. God bless and keep you all.” - Peter Tork in a note for a Pennsylvania memorial event for Davy, also shared via Peter’s official Facebook page, 2012 Peter Tork: “He was a master of many aspects of this kind of thing [entertaining], and, you know, and we had some very wonderful personal connections, and I’m really sad to see all that gone.” Q: “He just seemed to be a fun guy. I know he loved horses.” PT: “Sure did.” Q: “And obviously loved Peter.” PT: “Sure did. Loved him.” - 94.5 FM (Phoenix), 2013 “[Micky] and Mike and I have a very cordial relationship and share a lot of common topics. We go to lunch together when we’re all in town and have a good time. I love and respect each of these guys in their own way, although the real joys that I shared with Davy were special. At one point we had some good hard connections but as the years rolled on, those things faded away. But I am sorry to see Davy go. He was the one member in the group that I had the strongest human connection with. I still have two guys that I love and respect left from the band, but we share a different dynamic.” - Peter Tork, Review Mag, May 27, 2016

[bringbacktentoo]

“Rose is actually happy in a parallel universe with a half-human Doctor.” - Russell T. Davies

Hello, Whovians — we’re excited to announce the #BringBackTentoo movement!

Sign the petition

In July 2008, millions of viewers tuned in to watch ‘Journey’s End’; where the Doctor and Rose were left hand-in-hand on Bad Wolf Bay.

While fandom has remained active, continuing to generate endless works inspired by this iconic pairing, there's sadly been little official content from the people who launched the ship!

Nonetheless, our devotion remains unwavering. We persist, loving the OTP; ceaselessly spreading love and fan-made content worldwide!

The purpose of this movement is to show there is still an audience that is very interested in revisiting these two. One that would love to see the Doctor and Rose together again, on-screen or off, living their best lives in Pete’s World. 

Regardless of whether it’s a spin-off, comics, audio adventures, or — and this, we believe, is crucial — anything at all, we would just love to have them back in some way. We’ve realized that perhaps there hasn’t been enough collective buzz to bring this into reality, which is why we’re looking to rally up as much support as we can.

Already with us? Sign the petition! Our petition will be emailed directly to the powers that be; including Russell T Davies, Big Finish, the BBC, and more.

Have questions? Doubts? Need a little more convincing? Then read on…

Why now?

Because there’s never been a more perfect time for it. 

Already, Russell’s return has been bringing former fans back in droves. Everyone’s waiting with bated breath for RTD2 and the sixtieth anniversary; plus Ncuti, David, and Catherine. With so many fans dipping back into the Doctor Who world, why not strike while the iron’s hot? 

At the fifteen-year mark, it might never be this “hot” again!

Plus… nostalgia is a massive market.

A return of Tentoo and Rose after all of these years would be the perfect cherry on top of all of it: closure for so many fans, as well as validation for the only happy ending a Doctor-and-companion pairing ever got in Doctor Who.

And don’t forget — fan campaigns work, especially in the social media age!

A spin-off — too much? 

As much as we’d love to see David and Billie back on-screen together as the proper Meta-Crisis Doctor and Rose, we understand that we already have David coming back in a big way, as well as Ncuti Gatwa — our brand new Doctor. It’s a big, BIG ask, trying to get a spin-off out of this. We recognize that.

However, as famished fans who are living off of little more than canonical crumbs and dreams, we will greedily devour anything we can get.

Such as:

More Big Finish audio adventures

Big Finish has done incredible work for Doctor Who, including one of the only official ‘glimpses’ we’ve gotten into Pete’s World: A couple of short audios featuring Tentoo and Jackie.

Big Finish understands and respects these characters, their relationships, and the overall source material. They’ve shown time and time again that they’re more than capable of doing justice to Doctor Who! 

Audio adventures with a focus on the Meta-Crisis Doctor and Rose Tyler would be fantastic. Anything from their adventures with Torchwood and/or UNIT, imaginings of their life with a TARDIS, etc — there are endless possibilities! 

Comic book adventures

In 2021, Titan Comics published ‘Empire of the Wolf’, a lovely comic book that gifted us with the best glimpse we’ve ever had into the lives of the Doctor and Rose in Pete’s World:

It was a beautiful, if brief imagining of these two (and includes their daughter), but even so, the vast majority of the story involves Rose being trapped with the Eighth and Eleventh Doctors. We only get a few pages of Tentoo. 

Comics would be an excellent way to dive into the parallel world again!

Novels

There are loads of Doctor Who novels with amazing stories about Rose and the Tenth Doctor (like 'The Stone Rose' by Jacqueline Rayner). But, here's the thing: there's just one official novel that dives into the whole Metacrisis and Rose relationship... And guess what? Fans are really craving content that stays true to RTD and Julie Gardner's original vision for this couple.

The good news is, there are tons of talented writers out there who would jump at the chance to create legit Meta-Crisis stories, and some would even do it for free!

An animated series

We recognize that this would be a tremendous undertaking, but imagine: You can do incredible things with animation that aren’t possible with film. It would appeal to fans of all ages, and Billie and David have more than proven themselves to be excellent voice actors. There are all sorts of stories that could be created in this medium.

But let’s say we went with the first choice…

A spin-off/miniseries

RTD has been very vocal about his plans for spin-offs. Billie and David are willing, and it hasn’t been so long that the pairing has lost relevance… Although, in Doctor Who, does anything ever really lose relevance? The show is known for bringing back old characters. Enemies, companions… Doctors:

It’s obvious that David seems to have no issue with playing the Doctor. Furthermore, even Billie Piper has recently expressed interest in a spin-off!

In 2019, she told Doctor Who magazine: 

“I would like to see a one-off dark comedy about Rose and the Doctor in the parallel universe”. 

Then, even more recently in December 2022, she told Buzzfeed [on returning to Doctor Who]:

“If it was like four episodes all shot in London, then yeah, I’d be like a rat-up-a-drainpipe for that.”

Four episodes of Tentoo and Rose in London? What could be more perfect than that?

Wouldn’t a spin-off overshadow Ncuti Gatwa?

It doesn’t have to! If a spin-off were to happen, it wouldn’t necessarily have to happen immediately — it can happen after Ncuti has been established as the Doctor, and after RTD has re-established himself as showrunner. We’d just like for it to be part of the conversation, and let those in charge know that people are interested.

So… What about the people who didn’t like the ending?

Yes, there are some naysayers out there. People who refuse to acknowledge Tentoo’s legitimacy as the Doctor; others who refuse to believe that Rose could ever be truly happy with him, and vice versa.

This, sadly, is willful ignorance. Not only has Russell T. Davies, the man who wrote Journey’s End — who created Tentoo and Rose — confirmed that they're happy; the Doctor himself, David Tennant, will be the first person to tell you that those two are blissfully shagging their lives away at all times. And god bless him for it.

We’ve come to find that a lot of people who aren’t on board with the ending just didn’t understand it, which is fine — what better way to understand this pairing than by seeing more of them? 

On that note…

How can I help? 

Sign the petition!

Petitions are old school, but they are proven to be effective at affecting change, even in today’s world. We can preach to the ends of the earth about how much we want to bring these two back, but without numbers to back it up, the prospect is null and void. 

Don’t just like this post — please reblog!

This is a grassroots effort that is counting on the power of fans to help spread the word. Unlike most social media platforms, there is no algorithm on Tumblr. Likes do nothing for visibility, so please reblog to make sure as many people see this as possible! 

Participate in Tentoo x Rose Month

This is a multi-medium fan event for creating content of the OTP throughout all of July! All works will be featured on the @tentoorosemonth2023 page, with certain works even shared on the BringBackTentoo Instagram.

Buy the already-existing content

If you haven’t already, buy the ‘Empire of the Wolf’ comic. Buy the Big Finish audios ‘The Siege of Big Ben’ and ‘Flight Into Hull!’. Show these fantastic creators that we will gladly consume any content about these two that we can get!

Spread the word

Know anyone who likes Doctor Who? Any former fandom friends who might’ve outgrown all of this, but would enjoy more Tentoo/Rose content? Or maybe even just a random IRL friend who supports your obsessions? Link them to the petition!

Join the movement by following this page and our Instagram (which is brand new, give it time to grow ♥️). Keep on creating content, using #BringBackTentoo to tag any of your fanart, well-wishes, or whatever you like across platforms — just please be sure to keep it positive!

Feel free to DM/ask if you have any other questions, concerns, or ideas that weren’t touched upon in this post. 

And please, for goodness' sake, be kind. This is a labor of love inspired by passionate fans and creators who just want to see our OTP again. ♥️

[whencyclopedia]

Edward England

Edward England was an Irish pirate who operated in the Caribbean, the Eastern Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean between 1717 and 1720 during the Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1730). Captain England’s successful but brief pirate career came to an end when he was marooned by his crew on the island of Mauritius in 1720.

Early Career

Captain England has his own chapter in the celebrated pirate’s who’s who, A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates, compiled in the 1720s. The book was credited to a Captain Charles Johnson on its title page, but this is perhaps a pseudonym of Daniel Defoe (although scholars are still debating the issue, and Charles Johnson may have been a real, if entirely unknown pirate expert). As with many other pirates, the General History is an invaluable source on England’s career, even if there are fictional additions to the factual information laboriously garnered from such sources as court records, official documents, and letters of the period.

Edward England’s real name was possibly Jasper Seager (or Seegar). Like many pirates of the period, England was obliged to join a pirate crew after the ship on which he was serving was captured. England had been an officer on a Jamaican sloop when it was taken by Christopher Winter, who was based at the pirate haven of New Providence in the Bahamas. The General History gives the following not unfavourable assessment of England’s character:

England was one of those men, who seemed to have such a share of reason, as should have taught him better things. He had a great deal of good nature, and did not want for courage; he was not avaricious, and always averse to the ill usage prisoners received: he would have been contented with moderate plunder, and less mischievous pranks could his companions have been brought to the same temper, but he was generally over-ruled. (114)

Following the successful attacks on pirates in their haven at New Providence (now Nassau) by Woodes Rogers, Governor of the Bahamas from 1717, England sailed across the Atlantic to continue his piracy elsewhere. Several merchant ships were captured in the Azores, Cape Verde Islands, and off the coast of West Africa.

In 1718, England himself obliged an otherwise honest man to turn pirate when he captured the Welshman Howell Davis who had been chief mate on a slave ship, the Cadogan of Bristol. The captain of the Cadogan was murdered, and Davis was given command of the slaver despite refusing to formally sign England’s ship’s articles and become a part of his pirate crew. Impressed with Davis’ courage, England allowed him to sail off. Davis ended up in Barbados where he was captured. Davis managed to escape prison, and he continued a pirate career on both sides of the Atlantic, a spree that ended with his death on Principe Island in 1719.

England was, for a time, an associate of the most successful of all pirates in the so-called Golden Age, Bartholomew Roberts (aka 'Black Bart' Roberts, c. 1682-1722). In the relatively small world of pirates, Roberts had taken over the crew of Howell Davis after the latter’s death. Roberts and England operated off the coast of Guinea, West Africa. England operated two ships: his own sloop and another prize renamed Victory. Command of the latter was given to John Taylor and together they raided the western coast of India and took more prize ships. When required, provisions were taken on board at the pirate base on Madagascar.

Continue reading...

[justinspoliticalcorner]

S.V. Dáte at HuffPost:

WASHINGTON — Special counsel Jack Smith Tuesday announced that a grand jury had reindicted former President Donald Trump on four charges related to his Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt to honor the direction given by the U.S. Supreme Court in its July ruling holding that Trump was immune from criminal prosecution for “official acts.” “Today, a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned a superseding indictment,” Smith wrote in a separate filing to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is handling the case. “The superseding indictment, which was presented to a new grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in this case, reflects the Government’s efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court’s holdings.”

Trump’s first public reaction to the new indictment was to repost a message on Truth Social by Mike Davis, a former Senate lawyer who supports him, that ends with: “Bottom Line: There’s no chance this case goes to trial before the election. Trump wins. Jack Smith fired. Case closed.” About an hour later, Trump personally responded with a five-post screed on his social media platform in which he called Smith “deranged” and claimed, without any evidence, that the prosecution was being directed by President Joe Biden’s White House. He also repeated his lie that Democrats had cheated to win the 2020 election. He ended with: “PERSECUTION OF A POLITICAL OPPONENT!” The “superseding” indictment, as it is known, charges Trump with the same four counts as in the original indictment that was filed a year ago: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstructing an official proceeding and conspiracy to deprive millions of Americans of their right to have their votes counted. It follows the same narrative structure, laying out how Trump spent months after losing his 2020 reelection bid laying the groundwork for the violent assault on the Capitol by his mob of followers.

“Despite having lost, the defendant ― who was also the incumbent president ― was determined to remain in power,” Smith wrote. “So, for more than two months following election day on November 3, 2020, the defendant spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election [that] he had actually won. These claims were false, and the defendant knew that they were false.” But Smith’s new indictment does not reference Trump’s efforts to enlist federal government employees in the executive branch — who all technically report to him. For instance, the original indictment had mentioned a Department of Justice official whom Trump considered making his attorney general because of his willingness to tell state officials that voter fraud had occurred. The new indictment does not include the official as a co-conspirator, but does still include the other five individuals who were not in government. The Supreme Court ruled in July that Trump had immunity from prosecution for “official” acts, and specifically cited the ability to hire and fire executive branch employees to carry out his wishes. The revised indictment, now at 36 pages compared to the 45-page original, still centers on Trump’s scheme to have allies in key states won by Biden create fake Electoral College slates and send them to the Senate. The plan was for then-Vice President Mike Pence to use the fake Trump slates instead of the legitimate slates for Democrat Joe Biden and declare Trump the winner.

A new grand jury issued a superseding indictment on Donald Trump on the same charges as the original indictment in regards to his coup attempt that led to the January 6th Insurrection in a bid to stay in power: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstructing an official proceeding and conspiracy to deprive millions of Americans of their right to have their votes counted.

The new indictments, with respect to the SCOTUS’s Trump v. United States ruling, omitted official business acts.

See Also:

The Guardian: Special counsel files new indictment against Trump over 2020 election

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

JD AND INKO GET ENGAGED AT A METAL SHOW.

It’s still canon how they do their hand fasting. But like JD has been thinking about their relationship for a while. Specifically Izuku.

JD does not have a legal say in his care. It hasn’t caused issue yet. Even after moving to Japan it’s not a big deal. JD shows up to the school, they know who they are. It’s fine.

But after a fellow ‘not married but committed’ couple (Aizawa and Yamada) have an issue with a hospital it’s on their mind.

A legal marriage will protect them more than their handfasting.

Of course it can’t just be done normally. This is Jordan Davis, Jersey Devil!

No instead they hunt down the band who they took Inko to for her first mosh pit. Izuku is sworn to secrecy and a ring is picked out. They go to the concert, all three. (Izuku refused to wear the leash even when JD pouted though)

Then, during one of the later songs, there’s not to many people running around, JD drops to one knee as the song SCREAMS out and Inko bursts into tears nodding.

Cue a bunch of metal heads screaming their joy and the band noticing.

It’s INSANE. And goes viral. More so when Yamada sees it and reblogs it in a ‘hey you didn’t tell us! Jerks!’

It’s just that they did it on the Present Mic official page not their private.

Oops.

[walker-extended-universe]

Walkerverse Character Tier List

Hello Walker Family! I'm here announcing the beginning of the Walkerverse Character Tier List series!

I've created a list of characters from Walker and Walker: Independence to put in a tier list ranking. I will be releasing a series of polls with all these characters (including pictures and brief reminders of their roles) to determine which Tier List ranking they get. Whichever option from S to F gets the most votes will become the official ranking of that character.

Here is the criteria I used to select the characters I'm putting in the poll series:

They must have a name on the imdb page

They must have a minimum of two appearances

I have to remember them, regardless of their appearance count

Single appearances that were special/memorable will also be included (ex: Uncle Willy, Minnie Jayne)

The rankings will be as follows:

S tier: Best character in the show, love them with all my heart, they can do literally nothing wrong

A tier: Beloved blorbo, one of my favorites, I'd want to be friends with them if they were real

B tier: I like them, but I have my critiques. A good character that I mostly enjoy

C tier: Mid character, not the biggest fan of them but I won't complain when they show up

D tier: I don't like them. I have many criticisms of their actions and personality. I may even dislike whole episodes because of them

F tier: Literally the worst character in the entire show. Hate them. Much dislike. I fastforward over them on rewatches.

I currently have pictures (for the poll and the complete tierlist that I will link when it is public) for 39 of the 120+ characters I put on the list, so that's where I will be starting. I will include the full list of all the characters from both shows below the cut along with the taglist.

The first poll will go up on Monday, September 23rd! Can't wait to see what you guys think!

@theladywyn, @jaredwalkertexasranger, @laf-outloud, @aborddelimpala, @mysterybeau, @sweet-sammy-kisses, @kickingitwithkirk, @rhl74, @peachparakeet, @dumb-fawkin-bitch, @loveforwomenstuff, @low-soduimfreak, @ihavepointysticks, @waywardmaslow, @arte-mishuntress, @the-slythering-raven, @deeranger, @duo-kun, @inafieldofdaisies, @not-your-housekeeper98, @nancymcl, @sammysnaughtygirl

Walker:

Cordell Walker

Liam Walker

Abeline Walker

Bonham Walker

Stella Walker

August Walker

Larry James

Trey Barnett

Geri Broussard

Cassie Perez

Micki Ramirez

Colton Davidson

Ben Perez

Dan Miller

Denise Davidson

Emily Walker

Todd

Gale Davidson

Stan Morrison

Clay Cooper

Clint West

Kelly James

Kevin Golden

Isabel Munoz

Bret

Trevor Strand

Ruby

Detective David Luna

Julia Johnson

Hoyt Rawlins

Twyla Jean

Sadie Yoo

Witt

Connie

Faye

DJ James

Keesha Barnett

Carlos Mendoza

Officer Randall

Dr. Adriana Ramirez

Sean

Serano

Earl

Mercedes Ruiz

Miles Vyas

Coach Bobby

Principal Heaney

Byron Santos

Garrison (GM)

Nate Smith

Tessa Graves

Crystal West

Cali

Rita

Lana Jones

Tommy Adams

Jaxon Davis

Grant McLawson

Neo

Mike

Horace

Alma Munoz

Fenton Cole

Shannon

Lorezno Munoz

Snyder

Oswald

Marv Davidson

Jim

Mr. Golden

Spider

William

Owen Campbell

Minnie Jayne

Maybelline

Mehar

Henry

Becca Furgeson

Joanna Rawlins

Cole Tillman

Rebecca Tillman

Walker: Independence:

Abigail Walker

Hoyt Rawlins

Kate Carver

Tom Davidson

Augustus

Calian

Kai

Lucia Reyes

Shane Davidson

Hagan

Chief Taza

Francis Reyes

Luis Reyes

Ruby

Nascha

Ethan (Pinkerton Detective)

Salty Dog

Molly Sullivan

Anna Maria Reyes

Cordell the Horse

Burlesque Dancers

Teresa Davidson

Matthew

Jacob

Otis Clay

Martha Sullivan

Griffin

Liam Collins

Eli McDowd

Charlotte “Charlie” Collins

Gil Santiago

Randall

Lily

Stella Rawlins

Wordell Calker

Olivia

Topsannah

Amos Acorn

Parker Briggs

Judge Parker

Kirby Smith

Andrew Jones

Judge Carter

[contemplatingoutlander]

FBI resisted opening probe into Trump’s role in Jan. 6 for more than a year

In the DOJ’s investigation of Jan. 6, key Justice officials also quashed an early plan for a task force focused on people in Trump’s orbit

We KNEW the DOJ was avoiding investigating Trump for January 6th. According to this report by Carol D. Leonnig and Aaron C. Davis for The Washington Post, the DOJ dragged its collective feet in starting the Trump investigation--for over a year. It was not until the House Jan. 6th committee and others started to investigate Trump's involvement in the attempted coup, did the DOJ become embarrassed enough to start their own investigation.

In this regard, contrary to what certain Republicans claim, the DOJ was NOT AT ALL "weaponized" against Trump. Rather, they were trying to avoid investigating him.

Below are some excerpts from this report:

A Washington Post investigation found that more than a year would pass before prosecutors and FBI agents jointly embarked on a formal probe of actions directed from the White House to try to steal the election. Even then, the FBI stopped short of identifying the former president as a focus of that investigation. A wariness about appearing partisan, institutional caution, and clashes over how much evidence was sufficient to investigate the actions of Trump and those around him all contributed to the slow pace. Garland and the deputy attorney general, Lisa Monaco, charted a cautious course aimed at restoring public trust in the department while some prosecutors below them chafed, feeling top officials were shying away from looking at evidence of potential crimes by Trump and those close to him, The Post found.

[See more under the cut.]

[...] Whether a decision about Trump’s culpability for Jan. 6 could have come any earlier is unclear. The delays in examining that question began before Garland was even confirmed. Sherwin, senior Justice Department officials and Paul Abbate, the top deputy to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, quashed a plan by prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office to directly investigate Trump associates for any links to the riot, deeming it premature, according to five individuals familiar with the decision. Instead, they insisted on a methodical approach — focusing first on rioters and going up the ladder. The strategy was embraced by Garland, Monaco and Wray. They remained committed to it even as evidence emerged of an organized, weeks-long effort by Trump and his advisers before Jan. 6 to pressure state leaders, Justice officials and Vice President Mike Pence to block the certification of Biden’s victory. In the weeks before Jan. 6, Trump supporters boasted publicly that they had submitted fake electors on his behalf, but the Justice Department declined to investigate the matter in February 2021, The Post found. The department did not actively probe the effort for nearly a year, and the FBI did not open an investigation of the electors scheme until April 2022, about 15 months after the attack. The Justice Department’s painstaking approach to investigating Trump can be traced to Garland’s desire to turn the page from missteps, bruising attacks and allegations of partisanship in the department’s recent investigations of both Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election and Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Inside Justice, however, some have complained that the attorney general’s determination to steer clear of any claims of political motive has chilled efforts to investigate the former president. “You couldn’t use the T word,” said one former Justice official briefed on prosecutors’ discussions. [...] “A decision was made early on to focus DOJ resources on the riot,” said one former Justice Department official familiar with the debates. “The notion of opening up on Trump and high-level political operatives was seen as fraught with peril. When Lisa and Garland came on board, they were fully onboard with that approach.” Some prosecutors even had the impression that Trump had become a taboo topic at Main Justice. Colleagues responsible for preparing briefing materials and updates for Garland and Monaco were warned to focus on foot soldiers and to avoid mentioning Trump or his close allies. [...] That fall and winter, a House committee pursuing its own investigation into Jan. 6 conducted interviews with top Trump administration officials. Privately, its chief investigator, Timothy Heaphy, a former U.S. attorney, had alerted prosecutors in the D.C. U.S. attorney’s office to a few details his team had uncovered about Trump’s pressure on Justice Department officials and Pence to block the election results, according to a person familiar with the exchanges. But eye-grabbing news accounts about the committee’s discoveries fueled public criticism that the Justice Department appeared to be lagging. [...] [Between January and February 2022 there was renewed interest in looking at the role of Trump and those close to him in the "fake elector" scheme.] One person directly familiar with the department’s new interest in the case said it felt as though the department was reacting to the House committee’s work as well as heightened media coverage and commentary. “Only after they were embarrassed did they start looking,” the person said.

This is a very long article and you will have to read the rest for yourself. But after reading this article, it now seems clear that if the Jan. 6th Committee and others had not begun to investigate Trump's involvement in the attempted coup, the DOJ would have never gotten involved.

[linesonscreens]

Let's Read Peanuts (Only 45 more years to go!) – June 1955

There are lots of great strips I just don't have room to comment on. I strongly encourage everybody to read the full month at the official GoComics page. Today's month starts HERE.

June 1, 1955

OK so for those of you who are younger, Davy Crockett was a folk hero, frontiersman and eventually a US Representative who died at the Alamo. I don’t know much about him and I’m not doing a bunch of research for a single blog post. Sorry (not sorry).

Anyways, he was VERY popular in the mid 50s thanks to a TV miniseries made by Disney and as a result the Davy Crockett coonskin cap was basically the [current toy that kid’s are willing to kill for] of it’s day.

Sam Snead was a golfer.

June 3, 1955

There are a metric ton of Davy Crockett comics this month.

Also, what the hell is up with that toy gun? Is he shooting down fighter jets later?

June 13, 1955

Charlie Brown and Violet seem less antagonistic towards each other this month. Did they make up at some point?

I give it a month.

June 16, 1955

First comic strip showcasing the Van Pelt family’s ability to communicate with the weather.

Not “control”, mind you. They can’t force the weather to do something it doesn’t want to do. But they can make a request and it will take it under consideration.

June 21, 1955

Still milking that card tower I see.

June 22, 1955

LMAO, get wrecked Lucy!

June 29, 1955

Linus is finally walking (again)! He's people now!

[buckybarnesss]

me, in the year of our lord 2023:

i am still angry about the teen wolf timeline because it made zero sense. 

i went through all 208 pages of my teen wolf tag which goes all the way back to the end of season 2 (2012). i spent significant time trying to work it out and failed because it contradicted itself and contained so many holes it legally could’ve been called swiss cheese. 

i am angry about it because it represented the lazy way the creator and writers handled the show. show bible? what show bible? teen wolf’s plot was written on a disintegrating napkin. 

jeff davis and the writers treated the fandom with such contempt despite the sheer level of investment and enthusiasm that the fans brought. they begged us for engagement, for votes, for our artwork to hang in their office, the ability to capitalize on our fanfiction and sneered at us anyway. 

there is a reason so many people are angry about the movie and not all of it has to do with shipping. though people are entitled to also be mad about the shipping aspects because sterek and the use of stiles’s sexuality is the blueprint for queerbait. 

i always see people wonder the reason people shipped sterek despite the age difference? we had no idea how old derek actually was and the show didn’t care to commit to an answer. was derek 19? was derek 23? was derek older in that tropey werewolf way because of the bullshit the occurred in visionary? we will never know because the show didn’t care about it so we didn’t either. 

like, i just looked at the wiki and it has his birthday as nov. 26th 1988. they released “official” birthdays around season 3B that had his birthday on dec. 25th. what is the truth? the answer: we don’t know because the show never cared enough about it. 

teen wolf time line was a scribble of soap scum on jeff davis’s shower wall and it was a futile task in figuring it out. ask me how i know. 

[timeagainreviews]

The Eve-ish of Season One-ish

During the early ‘90s, the comic book industry went through a bit of a boom. Speculators were buying up stacks of comics that might one day put their kids through college. Eager to meet the frothing demand of buyers, the comics industry responded with bagged, foiled, embossed, holographic, and even glow-in-the-dark covers guaranteed to be collector’s items. Many long-running titles were reset to issue one, giving new readers a less intimidating jumping-on point. While the comic book bubble eventually popped, the practice of rebranding runs back to issue one continues to this day. With Doctor Who rebranding this new series as “season one,” it’s safe to say that, once again, the show is taking another page from the Marvel playbook.

If you wanted to be cynical, you could say the re-branding comes more from necessity than accessibility. HBO Max had the streaming rights to Doctor Who (2005). But this is Doctor Who (2023) of which Disney+ has exclusive rights. This goes hand in hand with Russell T Davies’ courting of the House of Mouse, along with the very controversial new release schedule which many have complained seems to favour an American audience. While Americans will be able to watch “tonight’s” premiere in a primetime time slot, British audiences will be forced to either stay up well past midnight or wait until tomorrow. Usually, when I write these articles ahead of premieres, it is the evening before but this new scheduling throws that all out of wack.

Longtime readers will remember me saying at one point that Doctor Who should go to Disney. While I plan to write a follow-up article rectifying and even arguing against some of my own points, the fact is, it still came true. I even suggested a musical episode, which has already come true and possibly again with “The Devil’s Chord.” I even called the plot of the Timeless Children as far back as my review of “The Ghost Monument.” It’s almost like I’ve got a TARDIS of my own, or my finger is so on the pulse of Doctor Who that I can feel the four beats of its rhythm as I type these prophetic words. Or maybe I just pay attention. Either way, you should definitely stick around to read my thoughts ahead of Doctor Who season one as they're bound to come true. (Joking, of course.)

Russell T Davies

What can be said about RTD that hasn’t been said already? The man has left his mark on the history of the show, what more could he possibly do? Well if you’re Chibnall stan, that’s exactly the question on which a lot of their arguments have hinged. Many people seem to think of his reinstatement as showrunner as a step back for the show. Some believe he was appointed as a filler after the contentious Chibnall era. Some say he’s too woke now. Others say he’s problematic. While I do agree that his handling of trans issues was clumsy, I also believe his heart is in the right place. However, I have a couple of concerns with RTD in his present form.

Firstly, I have to ask, was there no one else for the job? After Moffat left, the BBC have had difficulty finding someone willing and able to take over the show. Chris Chibnall always felt like he took the job almost as a favour to the BBC. I find it hard to believe that Russell T Davies was the only showrunner they could find. He feels like a safe bet, and in more ways than Chibnall ever did, a stopgap. It feels like the BBC doesn’t really understand what Doctor Who needs, and therefore has a hard time finding the people capable of delivering those things, outside of proven entities like RTD and Steven Moffat, both of whom are returning this year in some capacity. The BBC is pushing for diversity, but couldn’t think of a single woman or person of colour to showrun Doctor Who? 

Secondly, I wish he would chill the fuck out. I mentioned diversity, and while I do appreciate Doctor Who’s first official trans companion and what is looking like the queerest TARDIS crew yet, I wish the show would get back to basics- good writing. They keep going on about how controversial the new season is going to be, and I’m so damn tired. I’m tired of defending the show to conservative chuds who think a woman Doctor is going to make their dick fall off. I’m tired of watching showrunners pull a muscle from patting themselves on the backs for their progressive stance. I don’t want you to scare away those conservative chuds, I want you to prove them wrong. I want them to see these things can work when they’re written well. We just went through five years of people thinking bad writing was confirmation that a woman can’t be the Doctor. I’m glad you want to represent people like me on screen, now please do something with it.

Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor

It’s hard not to be excited for Ncuti Gatwa. He’s got a magnetism that draws your attention the moment he’s onscreen. It’s still far too early in his run to have a definite impression as to what kind of Doctor he’ll be. So far, his portrayal of the Doctor has a warmth and cheekiness about him. He’s mirthful if not a bit mercurial. Gatwa has even referred to his Doctor as “slutty,” which I definitely see and appreciate. I also love that he sees this as a trait he shares with the Third Doctor, which is both a strange and astute observation. Furthermore, he and Pertwee’s Doctors share a commonality by wearing less of a costume and more of a wardrobe. My only qualm in Gatwa’s case is that his wardrobe could use a little more consistency. However, you could argue that the Doctors only ever need to dress like themselves, as opposed to in a certain style. 

We’re in a good place with Nctui Gatwa moving forward. He’s had a stellar introduction and received quite a positive response from fans. Judging from his performance in Sex Education, we know he’s capable of a wide range of emotions. What little we’ve seen of his Doctor has shown us that he’s capable of being a bizarre yet dashing alien hero. He’s also managed to find a fresh approach to a character played by over a dozen people before him, which is impressive, to say the least. Whether he’ll become my new fave or not is yet to be seen, but that hardly matters. What matters most is that he’s the Doctor here and now. 

Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday

This is a weird one to write about. Had you caught me right after “The Church on Ruby Road,” I’d have told you how excited I was for Ruby’s character. Millie Gibson plays her with an adorable charm and she’s clearly a great partner for Gatwa’s brand of crazy sexy cool. But now we’ve seen rumours that she’ll be replaced by Varada Sethu halfway through season two. The BBC and RTD both responded (a bit late) to rumours that she’s being replaced and that they’ll both be companions at the same time, but it feels as though Ruby Sunday is coming to an end just as we’re getting to know her.

I would also like to circle back to how poorly the BBC handled the rumours surrounding Gibson’s departure. She’s a very young actress who may or may not have been fired from a high-profile role early in her career. Even if this is not true, the rumour mill was running amok and the BBC was mum on the subject for weeks. That kind of stigma could follow an up-and-coming actor’s career for years, labelling them as difficult. It’s like they learned nothing from their experiences with Christopher Eccleston.

While the Andor fan in me is very excited by the prospect of Varada Sethu’s tenure in the TARDIS, I’m still trying to remain enthusiastic for Ruby Sunday. Already they’ve shown her character to be compassionate and a bit adorkable. I’m not incredibly interested in the mystery surrounding her character’s birth mother as it feels very Moffaty. I’ve always felt like Davies’ strongest work with companions was his ability to ground them emotionally, and not in making their past a mystery to be solved by some man. I’m more interested in her relationship with her family than some hooded woman doing her best impression of the Jodie Whittaker reveal trailer. Like I said, a return to basics would be greatly appreciated.

Magic Maestros and Monsters

The introduction of mysticism and mystery has been a welcome addition to Doctor Who. When you watch classic stories such as “The Daemons,”  “Image of the Fendhal,” or “Pyramids of Mars,” it’s hard not to imagine there’s not some sort of mystical force at work. Even the stygian witches of “The Shakespeare Code,” seemed to tap into words with a degree of magic. Magic feels oddly at home for Doctor Who. However, you could also argue that the introduction of mysticism to Doctor Who oddly demystifies some of its greater mysteries. When the Doctor couldn’t explain something with science or alien interference, we were left to speculate. But now- a wizard did it.

As I said in my review of “The Church on Ruby Road,” the introduction of magic and superstition places the Doctor in a unique position where he’s a bit out of his depth. One qualm I’ve had with the Whittaker era was how her Doctor was rarely confused. It’s nice then that we’re entering a new era where the Doctor must learn to adapt. It’s now possible for an evil drag queen to force people into an all-singing, all-dancing, chorus line of death. Awesome. Maybe we’ll also see some monsters from the past revealed to be actual magic beings. Perhaps the Fendahl are more than creepy worms, but something far more mystical. Maybe Sutekh the Destroyer really is a god. The introduction of magic doesn’t just have to affect the future of the show, but the past as well. Just wait until the Daleks start pulling rabbits out of hats.

Dinsey+ Supremacy

I regret ever saying Doctor Who should go to Disney. At the time, I was making an argument that Disney is a good fit for Doctor Who because they would give it the budget and attention that it deserves. But Disney also introduces a troubling element into Doctor Who’s future- ownership rights. Historically, Doctor Who writers have maintained copyright over the characters they create. Because of this, any time someone at the BBC wants to use Sontarans, they have write a cheque to the Holmes estate. People like Lawrence Miles are free to develop the Faction Paradox outside of the Doctor Who novels where it began. And occasionally, we get a movie about Sil or a crappy K9 tv show nobody watched. The point is, Disney doesn’t do this. Should the mouse get his greedy mitts on the show, do you really see writers maintaining ownership over their creations? Say goodbye to fanmade charity books from Obverse Books or Mad Norwegian Press. Say hello to an even higher bar of restriction for new writers and artists to join the ranks of books and audios.

Is this the secret reason why they are pivoting toward a more magical rogues gallery of monsters? Are we being fed a new line of villains while Disney works on snatching up the rights to Sontarans and Daleks? Will they begin phasing out the characters that are holdouts from their original copyright owners? They say the BBC still owns the rights to Doctor Who. They say Disney only has streaming rights in exchange for budget funding. But RTD also said the BBC is in shambles. He also said the future of Doctor Who is in good hands. I fear that those hands are the gloved hands of Mickey Mouse. The show looks and feels better than it has in years, but its future feels dangerously close to becoming content. I want Doctor Who as written by this year’s winner of the Paul Spragg Memorial Contest, not Doctor Who as written by committee. 

[tracichee]

ICYMI: I'm part of another anthology! 🏠 A few weeks ago, Page Street YA revealed the cover of THE HOUSE WHERE DEATH LIVES, edited by Alex Brown, and look how gorgeous it is! I love writing short stories, and I think this is one of the best (and most tragic 💔) I've ever written, so I can't wait for you to read it!

Here's the official description:

🏠THE HOUSE WHERE DEATH LIVES ANTHOLOGY (originally titled: This House is Haunted) edited by Alex Brown:

✨New York Times bestselling and award-winning authors weave interconnected haunted house stories to build a unique collection of chilling tales, with stories from Alex Brown, Nova Ren Suma, Gina Chen, Traci Chee, Linsey Miller, Rosiee Thor, Courtney Gould, Kay Costales, Liz Hull, Shelly Page, Justine Pucella Winans, Sandra Proudman, C.L. McCollum, Nora Elghazzawi, Tori Bovalino, G. Haron Davis✨

🏠A dance to the death. A girl who’s just as monstrous as H.H. Holmes. A hallway that’s constantly changing—and hungry. All of these stories exist in the same place—within the frame of a particular house that isn’t bound by the laws of time and space.

🏠Following in the footsteps of dark/horror-filled YA anthologies like His Hideous Heart and Slasher Girls and Monster Boys, and Netflix’s ground-breaking adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House, this YA speculative fiction anthology explores how the permanence of a home can become a space of transition and change for both the inhabitants and the creatures who haunt them.

🏠Each story in the anthology will focus on a different room in the house and feature unique takes on monsters from a wide array of cultural traditions. Whether it’s a demonic Trickster, a water-loving Rusalka, or a horrifying, baby-imitating Tiyanak, there’s bound to be something sinister lurking in the shadows.

THE HOUSE WHERE DEATH LIVES releases August 6, 2024, but pre-orders are available now via Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon, or check with your favorite local retailer to see about pre-ordering!

Cover credits: Laura Benton & Rachel Jablonski

[badoccultadvice]

Sooo... we might find out that aliens are real. And soon.

An exploration of today's bombshell that a whistleblower from within the US government, and the secretive NRO no less, is claiming that the US does possess materials of unknown origin associated with the UFO/UAP phenomenon.

Links for context:

Intelligence Officials Say U.S. Has Retrieved Craft of Non-Human Origin

Terrestrial Relics from Non-Human Spacecraft

The CLASSIFIED ‘Mosul Orb’ UAP Case: A New Chapter in Government Secrecy Tactics Unfolds

In 2002, former consultant to the Pentagon's UFO program Eric W. Davis interviews former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency Admiral Thomas Wilson about Wilson being denied access to a private defense contractor's extraterrestrial UFO reverse engineering program in the late 90s. Eyebrow-raising page from the memo below.

[ingek73]

After Harry’s phone hacking victory, is it last orders for tabloid top brass?

Some commentators now believe that the duke’s crusade against the popular press will finally bring about a reckoning

Inside the ballroom of the Hilton Bankside on Thursday evening, the mood among journalists was high. Prizes were being handed out, celebratory toasts were made and backs were slapped. Officiating at the annual press awards jamboree was a bow-tie-wearing Dominic Ponsford, the editor-in-chief of the industry journal behind the event, who even took a moment to joke about past clashes with Prince Harry, the fabled “ginger whinger”.

Seated at the tables around him were many of those newspaper editors and columnists who have been publicly warring with the King’s errant second child, including Piers Morgan, the former gossip journalist, talent show judge, ex-editor of the Daily Mirror and television presenter. At one point towards the end of the night the group of singers hired to jolly up the lengthy proceedings, burst into the chorus from the song The Final Countdown. Great fun.

But a day later and some in the room are facing their own ominous countdown, or at least a potential final reckoning. Could the landlord at that famous “last chance saloon”, the watering hole at which Home Office minister David Mellor once warned the “gentlemen” of the popular press they were drinking in, really be shouting out “Time, please” once again, twenty years on?

The ruling from Mr Justice Fancourt in the High Court on Friday, one which found the Duke had been subjected to damaging, illegal press activity between 2003 and 2009, has had some immediate effects. The Mirror Group of newspapers, in the frame during the legal proceedings, “apologised unreservedly” for “historical wrong-doing” later that day. But the impact of Fancourt’s 386-page judgement on the reputations of other British newspaper businesses may take a little longer to show.

“Thank goodness for Prince Harry. The police now need to look at this and promptly,” said Brian Cathcart, the media campaigner and Hacked Off founder. “There are many people involved who are still in prominent, opinion-forming positions on newspapers.”

Dr Evan Harris, a former director of Hacked Off who has spent the last few years carrying out legal analysis for the claimants in the hacking litigation, also believes the torch of justice has just been relit by the duke. “Since the contentious decision by the Crown Prosecution Service in 2015 that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute any Mirror journalist or executive for phone hacking, tens of thousands of documents have been disclosed in this litigation, and as they were deployed in open court, many key documents are available to the police to see.”

There are also dozens of new witnesses and extensive judicial findings, Harris added. “The claimants stand ready to assist the police and CPS with identifying such material relevant to the original criminal conduct and to the new questions of perjury and perverting the course of justice,” he said.

Writing in Prospect magazine, its editor, Alan Rusbridger, who edited the Guardian when it broke the hacking story in 2009, argues that Fancourt’s words have cut through years of deceit. “We know that newspaper managements at two of our biggest media companies have consistently concealed and denied the truth about what went on,” he wrote. “They have issued dishonest statements and have lied to parliament, the stock exchange, to other journalists, to regulators and even the Leveson inquiry, set up to establish the truth. And now some have been caught telling porkies in court.”

Nick Davies, who first broke the hacking scandal while at the Guardian, was quick to express his more limited hopes for change on social media. “If the UK were just and democratic, Murdoch’s Talk TV would now have to consider suspending Piers Morgan and Richard Wallace, and the Met police would have to scope an investigation into Mirror Group crime. If,” he wrote.

More than a billion pounds has already been paid out in costs and damages, Rusbridger emphasised, without any admissions of guilt implicating senior editors or owners. And key emails have been deleted and documents lost. Speaking to the Observer this weekend, he added: “The press managed to sidestep the second part of the Leveson inquiry, which was supposed to deal with past wrongdoing. So it’s now been left to individual litigants to drag the truth out into daylight. It’s not very satisfactory, and probably can’t be fully achieved until everyone involved in past misdeeds has moved on – or been moved on.”

One of the stories produced in evidence during the recent MGN phone hacking trial. Photograph: PA

The focus is now likely to switch to the Daily Mail, against which the Duke of Sussex still has many outstanding allegations. It could even be the beginning of what critics of British “tabloid culture” are heralding as an era of serious redress that, for them, would make up for the dropping of the planned second part of the Leveson inquiry, a decision taken against the judge’s wishes by former Tory culture secretary, Matt Hancock. Murdoch’s newspaper group, owner of the Sun, does look vulnerable. Many of those implicated in the judge’s ruling are working there. Former editor of the rightwing popular titles the Sun and the defunct News of the World, Rebekah Brooks, who once avoided disgrace, is now CEO of News UK. This weekend her rehabilitation looks wobbly.

Morgan, now a presenter on Murdoch’s Talk TV, gave an angry doorstep statement on Friday and still appears to be banking on dodging bullets. His carefully worded defence did not deny knowledge of the practice of phone hacking and so did not contradict the judgement, as the performer and campaigner Steve Coogan, who settled a claim in 2017 for a six-figure sum, wryly noted on Saturday morning. More optimistically, Coogan added that there now seems a chance that the protective “omertà” guarding the guilty editors has begun to weaken.

He told the Observer yesterday: “We now have a high court judge making clear that a judge-led public inquiry was misled by multiple witnesses , namely Sly Bailey, Paul Vickers, Lloyd Embley, Piers Morgan, Tina Weaver, Neil Wallis and Richard Wallace, and of course that public inquiry was cancelled halfway through, against the wishes of Sir Brian Leveson, by Matt Hancock at the behest of the newspapers – including Mirror Group – who were being investigated.”

Prince Harry has described his chief virtue as patience, but Coogan now calls him “brave” for breaking the “Faustian pact” he claims some royals have had with the press, drawn up for reasons of self-preservation.

Prince Harry’s attitude diverged from the family path well before the birth of his sonArchie in 2019, but he became much bolder after that. Later that year his wife, Meghan Markle, announced that she was suing the Mail on Sunday for printing parts of her letter to her estranged father and the duke also revealed he was taking action over alleged phone hacking.

Two years ago, the Prince won an apology from the Mail on Sunday over an article claiming he had turned his back on the military and the high court in London ruled that the same paper had breached Meghan’s privacy by publishing extracts from her letter. A year ago Harry started a libel claim against the Mail on Sunday over an article claiming he had tried to keep official protection for his family and then, in October last year, he joined the singer Elton John and others in suing the publisher of the Daily Mail, alleging phone tapping and other breaches of privacy.

The Duke’s unexpected, even historic, appearance at the high court at the beginning of his lawsuit against the Daily Mail’s publisher took place in March, and then, in early June, he arrived to give evidence at the Mirror Group phone hacking trial, arguing that about 140 articles published from 1996 to 2010 contained information obtained via unlawful methods.

There are accusations of vendettas on both sides, of course. It is a term the duke used on Friday when speaking of the vitriol he had detected, ever since he was first exposed by the tabloids as a teenager for smoking cannabis and then for rowing with his brother about whether or not to meet up with Paul Burrell.

Both of these gobbets of information reached the public through illicit means, according to the Fancourt verdict. Yet a former executive at Reach, the national news group that owns the Mirror, suspects the duke and his fellow campaigners are being disingenuous. He may not have gone as far as Morgan, who called the “California-tanned” Duke “greedy” yesterday, but he does believe the celebrity campaigners are out for revenge. “They are settling scores. We all know that, whatever they say in public about their motivation,” the former editor said.

Other more measured defenders of the press, such as Sir Alan Moses, a former chairman of the Independent Press Standards Association, are concerned about attempts to set up a phoney “licensed press” that would operate only within government restrictions. Speaking on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 this weekend, he said the press should ideally be “unruly”, although subject to the law. There was, Moses argued, an exceptional case to be made for the industry to protect freedom of expression.

For the experienced Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee, the prize of a reformed press can now at least be glimpsed, although a fatal wound inflicted to an ailing newspaper title would not be a good thing: “I am delighted to see press standards called to account and I hope that the people behind this do now get called to account,” she said. “IPSO and press regulation are a disgrace for not investigating this themselves years ago. But it would be a tragedy if we lost the Mirror as a result, an all too rare non-Tory newspaper.”

[vyrid]

Totally random but I think Zevi Prince deserves more love in the Harry Potter fandom 😭 everyone completely characterized Druella Rosier, Arcturus Black, and even Tracy Davis, but poor Zevi Prince doesn't even SHOW UP when you search him on google. It's some random ass facebook page 😭 I really want to read about Snapes-probably-uncle. Give this poor guy some love. I've only seem him in a fanfiction ONCE, and that under a non-romantic Tomarry fanfiction called Fates Favorite. I fell in love with the mere name of him but never saw him anywhere else 😭😭

Edit: Saw this on pinterest by @kwkgon on twitter under some girl called kiwi, and this is officially how Zevi Prince looks like to me.