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ravnicaforgoblins · 3 years

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Ravnica for Goblins

Laws of the Guildpact

Laws are a big deal in most worlds. On Ravnica, laws are literally the only thing preventing ten massive armies of Sphinx, Angels, Demons, Lich, Elementals, Giants, Wizards, Ghosts, Nightmares, and Kaiju from tearing each other apart in perpetual war. How is this possible? It’s possible because the Guildpact is not just words on flimsy paper. Guildpact Laws are Unbreakable Magical Effects. When all ten Guilds agreed to the Guildpact, they granted it absolute power.

How and why would many of the more evil and chaotic Guilds agree to something like this? Because Ravnica’s Guildpact is designed not only to account for each and every Guild’s lifestyle, but to empower it. There are laws that protect necromancy, laws that protect human experimentation, laws that protect torture, laws that protect murder, and laws that actually protect breaking the law. In addition to laws protecting peaceful citizens and law enforcement officials.

How can any civilization function like this? Balance. You may not be able to arrest a Dimir Agent for stealing, but you can absolutely break their face in. The goal of Ravnica’s laws is to preserve all ways of life for the Guilds, for better & for worse. Within your Guild’s set legal parameters, you are not just free but empowered to carry out that lifestyle. That lifestyle is written into the laws and protected by them. Which is why the single most important law is that you’re not allowed to punish a Guild member for obeying the Guildpact.

This is the most important law, but also the law that ended up destroying the Guildpact. House Dimir’s duty is literally to oppose the Guildpact, so when their Parun decided to kill the Boros Parun in broad daylight and got arrested by a Boros Wojek, the system kinda broke itself. Punishing a Guild for obeying the Guildpact by disobeying the Guildpact, resulting in: Error.4 *does not compute*

Fast-forward to the days of Jace Beleren as the Living Guildpact, and the laws have changed somewhat. The only laws that are still magically binding are the laws Jace verbally confirms. Once he does that, the person he says it to need only speak the law aloud and it’s an instantly unbreakable magical effect.

Now comes the tricky, difficult, infuriating part. For being so vitally important to Ravnican life, we don’t actually know what most, or really almost any, of the laws are. How are players supposed to utilize the effects of written laws if they don’t actually exist? Why didn’t WotC release an official Guildpact? That’s because a document that can actually encompass everything the Guildpact is theoretically supposed to be able to do would be an absolutely massive undertaking for a Card Game Company that doesn’t really need it for their card game, just for those of us playing D&D in their setting. Furthermore, even if they did put in the work, create a document, and release it; the internet (that’s us!) would tear it apart for flaws & loopholes. The internet would give the Orzhov, the Dimir, and the Rakdos a run for their money. Hence WotC doesn’t want to do this because it’s literally just a recipe for self-defeat, migraines, and disaster.

So instead, they give us little bits here & there. Promotional materials, card flavor texts, character stories, etc. Here is pretty much everything I’ve been able to gather that is either an Official Guildpact Law, references Law Magic, sounds close enough to Law Magic, or even just sounds true enough to the spirit of a Guild’s core beliefs to be potentially acceptable for invoking Guildpact Magic:

General Laws

*Petty theft is a violation of personal property with a charge dependent on judicial ruling. (Family Values)

*In consonance with the New Accord of the Guild of Ravnica, you are granted the right of exposure and are obligated by duty to present your evidence of financial corruption to the Living Guildpact. (Family Values)

*The Living Guildpact rules that coffee is an acceptable substitution for rest, as specified in subsection . . . whatever. (Catching Up)

*The magic of the Guildpact gives aegis to the spirits pressed into its service. Upon entering the afterlife, they find new focus and are charged with defending the Guildpact against those who would see it broken. (Guardian of the Guildpact)

Azorius Senate

*You have the right to remain silent. (Azorius Arrester)

*Your potential to commit a crime warrants further investigation. (Azorius Justiciar)

*To prevent action is to prevent transgression. (Inaction Injunction)

*We have confiscated your spells as evidence. Once we conclude our investigation, you may petition to have them returned. (Render Silent)

*Thanks to the magic in his Writ of Passage, alms beasts lumbered aside, anarchs bowed their heads, and even Rakdos acrobats rolled their spikewheels out of his way. (Azorius Knight-Arbiter)

*....A clause that ties the average length of prison sentences to recidivism rates. Theoretically, we could end up having negative-term sentences should the rate fall low enough.... Referenced an ancient Azorius Law, 394-H. (The Ascension of Reza)

*Azorius Law 3455-J: Failure to submit proper identification will result in detention for an indefinite amount of time. (The Ascension of Reza)

*If it happened in the Thinktank, I'm afraid we have no jurisdiction there. (The Ascension of Reza)

*Azorius Law 2795-V, Non-compliance with arresters.... (The Ascension of Reza)

*Azorius Law 3343-J, Traveling in a stolen vehicle.... (The Ascension of Reza)

*By the prerogative writ of emergency, and by a unanimous vote, I hereby declare Hendrik Azmerak Grand Arbiter pro tem of the Thinktank Enclave. As the leader of your people, do I have your permission to put the following law into effect? (The Ascension of Reza)

*To be Azorius is to serve as an exemplary model of moral conduct. (Azorius Guild Kit Instruction)

*Always keep your uniform pressed and your armor polished, in accordance with Regulation 654.2, Part 87, Section 28. (Azorius Guild Kit Instruction)

*Should you witness a criminal act, signal the Sky Hussars immediately and begin documenting the occurrence and details of the crime scene. (Azorius Guild Kit Instruction)

Boros Legion

*Your brother’s crimes are your crimes. You stood by and lent support, so you too must face judgement. (Wojek Embermage)

*It promises protection to those in need and proclaims a warning to any who would threaten Ravnican law. (Boros Guildgate)

*Stand tall. Even your posture should embody justice! (Boros Guild Kit Instruction)

*Act with honor, in all things. (Boros Guild Kit Instruction)

*Protect the innocent, at any cost. (Boros Guild Kit Instruction)

*You are never truly off-duty. Evil never rests! (Boros Guild Kit Instruction)

*Stay in top physical condition. (Boros Guild Kit Instruction)

*If you see evil, crush it. (Boros Guild Kit Instruction)

House Dimir

*All those who trade in questions must answer to the Dimir. (Citywatch Sphinx)

*Welcome to the Dimir Public Offices. Not responsible for death or loss of property. Basement off-limits. (Dinrova Horror)

*Do not disclose your affiliations with REDACTED (Dimir Guild Kit Instruction)

*Extract knowledge whenever possible. (Dimir Guild Kit Instruction)

*No fact is unimportant. (Dimir Guild Kit Instruction)

*Always REDACTED. Never REDACTED. (Dimir Guild Kit Instruction)

*Be invisible, silent, and ethereal. (Dimir Guild Kit Instruction)

*Know every exit from any building. it could save your life. (Dimir Guild Kit Instruction)

Golgari Swarm

*Waste nothing. Seek value in what they discard. (Golgari Guild Kit Instructions)

*Death is no excuse to abandon your responsibilities. (Golgari Guild Kit Instructions)

*Take pride in the decay that fuels our kingdom. (Golgari Guild Kit Instructions)

*Fear neither Death nor Darkness. They can be your greatest allies. (Golgari Guild Kit Instructions)

*You are now a part of the Swarm. Every action you take should serve the interests of the Guild, so that we may all rise together. (Golgari Guild Kit Instructions)

Gruul Clans

*We are the heart of the wild, the fire in its eyes, and the howl in its throat. Come, join the battle to which you were born. (Gruul War Chant)

*Nature is the ultimate mindless destroyer, capable of power and ferocity no army can match, and the Gruul follow its example. (Savage Twister)

*They are the voice of the wild, crying out with nature’s fury and bringing forth its primeval might. (Wild Cantor)

*Enter and leave the shackles of society behind. (Gruul Guildgate)

*Burn. Smash. Fight. Win. (Gruul Guild Kit Instructions)

Izzet League

*The only action worth taking is one with an unknown outcome. (Nivix Guildmage)

*Erase “impossible” from your vocabulary. (Izzet Guild Kit Instructions)

*Strive to discover something NEW every day! The point of science is not to endlessly confirm what is known- it is to map the barriers of reality to better demolish them. (Izzet Guild Kit Instructions)

Orzhov Syndicate

*Article 12 of the Orzhovniha, a governing person of Orzhov recognition may be granted entrance to the Obzedat's Chamber with proof of identity. (Family Values)

*Entrance is free. Donations are required. (Syndic of Tithes)

*Alms coins are only redeemable at Orzhov businesses. (Alms Beast)

*The fine print of countless contracts has ensured we are never defenseless. (Immortal Servitude)

*The rights of ghosts are strictly protected under Orzhov bylaws, and those who enforce them can count on the ghosts’ assistance. (Imperious Oligarch)

*Pay in gold. Pay in blood. Pay with the servitude of your spirit kin But pay you must. (Pitiless Pontiff)

*We have no need for military might. We wield two of the sharpest swords ever forged: Faith in our left hand, Wealth in our right. (Castigate)

*Remember by whose gift you ascend. (Gift of Orzhova)

Cult of Rakdos

*If the pig’s blood drips on you, you’re next on the chain. (Gore-House Chainwalker)

*Never suffer alone. That’s selfish. Pain is meant to be shared with others! (Rakdos Guild Kit Instructions)

*Revel in your pain, in all pain, for it is freedom! No wound compares to the suffering of a dull, law-abiding life. (Rakdos Guild Kit Instructions)

*Make a grand spectacle of your pain, and play to your audience! If they aren’t screaming, laughing, or both, your performance has failed. (Rakdos Guild Kit Instructions)

*Blood and fire look good on everyone. And make excellent decorations. (Rakdos Guild Kit Instructions)

*Always be creative, especially in your bloodiest ventures. New modes of carnage delight the Lord of Riots, and it is wise to seek his favor. (Rakdos Guild Kit Instructions)

Selesnya Conclave

*So many oppose us, but we are the reed that bends without breaking. (Druid’s Deliverance)

*From the seeds of faith, great forests grow. (Scatter the Seeds)

*Within the song of Mat’Selesnya, one becomes all. (Camaraderie)

*No one in the Conclave acts alone. (Armada Wurm)

*Just as leaves fall and the tree blooms again, one day I will fall and the Conclave will endure. (Conclave Cavalier)

*Whatever hatred destroys, a single act of trust can revive. (Emmara, Soul of the Accord)

*We are the shield that never breaks, the bough that never burns, the song that can never be silenced. (Join Shields)

*When you hold a shield, lend your shield. (Privileged Position)

*There are no soloists in the chorus of Selesnya. (Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice)

*Enter and rejoice! The Conclave stands united, open to one and all. (Selesnya Guildgate)

Simic Combine

*Life has no mistakes, only experiments. (Skitter Eel)

*Within each of us, the potential for great power waits to be unleashed. (Sauroform Hybrid)

*Look beyond, to the vascular awareness that all life is a map to greater knowledge. (Momir Vig, Biomancy, Volume I) (Biomantic Mastery)

*As I contemplate what is, I dive ever deeper into the depths of possibility. Then I set an experiment in motion and watch the truth rise to the surface. (Gyre Engineer)

*Fruits of magic, roots in science. (Vigean Hydropon)

*The unnatural pressures of life in this city are best withstood by lifeforms that adapt with unnatural swiftness. (Novigen, Heart of Progress)

*Mystery is beauty. Within the unknown we plumb revelation. (Simic Guildgate)

*Analyze every living thing you see, from the smallest tadpole to the mightiest dragon. Each one holds unique secrets of life, ready to be unlocked through careful study. (Simic Guild Kit Instructions)

*Modification of another’s body without their express permission will not be tolerated. (Simic Guild Kit Instructions)

*Learn to see the patterns all around you; let them illuminate truths that transcend species. (Simic Guild Kit Instructions)

*When you study a life form, identify its weaknesses, then eliminate them. (Simic Guild Kit Instructions)

#ravnica for goblins #ravnica #goblins #D&D #dungeons & dragons #roleplaying #mtg #campaign #laws #guild #guilds #guildpact #laws of ravnica #plane

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shenanigans-and-imagines · 4 years

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NSFW Alphabet: Crosshair

A/N: Not officially a request, but I thought I’d better cover the whole Bad Batch while I’m at it. And as a reminder, remember to REBLOG AND COMMENT IF YOU LIKE THIS!!! The tumblr tags are fickle at best and it’s the only real way to support creators on this hellsite.

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

He’s always stuck between wanting to keep your body against him, but at the same time not wanting to come across as needy. He’ll probably start kissing your shoulders and neck, before nipping at the skin and telling you to go take a shower. Once you do, he’ll try to play it cool like, “you can stick around if you want, not that I care either way”. But, he does. He does care.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

He likes your waist. Odd, but true. It’s the natural place to put his hands when he pulls you close to him. He likes the way you shiver when he runs his fingers along your skin. Not to mention it’s the perfect place to grip you as his fucks you senseless.

For himself, he likes his legs. Yeah, they’re not as thick or muscular compared to regs, but they’re distinctly his. Plus even if he’s not any taller, it helps with the illusion that he is.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

His favorite place to cum is all over your chest and stomach. Seeing you a sweating, blissed out mess with his cum sticking to your skin is the single hottest image his mind can come up with. Second only to you hazily swiping his cum onto you finger and sucking with a moan.

You better be prepared if you do that because you won’t be able to walk the next day.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

He has an impressive collection of dirty holos you’ve sent to him while away on missions. He’s kept every single one. It’s gotten to the point where he just picks a random holo and that’s the fantasy he indulges in to get himself off until he can see you again.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Like the rest of the batch, he’s had a pretty healthy string of one night stands since leaving Kamino. He actually has the most notches on his bed post which he is not ashamed to bring up whenever Wrecker is getting just a little too cocky. So, he’s pretty experienced all things considered.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Taking you from behind and against a wall. That’s the popular image of him in the fandom and I’m ain’t here to dispute it.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Not funny, but he’s definitely a smug asshole who can’t help but comment on every sound you make.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

He keeps it pretty well groomed down there, almost complete shaven. Also, dark hair down below, if you’re curious.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

It’s very rare for Crosshair to be emotional in bed. He uses sex more as a way to get rid of tension or get a solid hit of dopamine. Actually being open with someone is not something he’s comfortable with.

The most intimate he gets is when he feels he might lose you, either in the field or to another man. Then, he uses it as a way to assure himself you’re with him and his. In that case, it can get pretty intense.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

He jacks off often, before and after meeting you. He’s got a higher sex drive than his brothers and needs someway to work off the tension after a mission. He prefers doing it in the shower when he has the time, but he’ll honestly whip it out anyplace where he can get some privacy for fifteen minutes.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Let it be recorded that Crosshair is not only a Dom, but the only true Dom in entire Grand Army of the Republic. (With the exception of Commander Wolffe.)

Seriously, the man likes nothing more than pinning you down and using your body as his personally fuck toy. His ultimate fantasy is keeping you tied up in various positions, your body spread open and willing for him to use whenever the mood strikes him.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Anywhere with a relatively flat surface. I cannot emphasize how much he does not care where he does it: bedroom, shower, locker room, bar bathroom, sparring room, between a couple of boulders out of view of the rest of the Bad Batch. He does not care.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

His ego...let me explain.

There are two ways to really get him going, but they both come down to how they effect his ego.

Number one, praise. If you compliment him on a shot, confirm that he did, in fact, beat Wrecker at something, or rasp a dirty promise in his ear that he’s the only man who has ever made you cum that hard; that’ll get him going more than anything.

Number two, jealously. If he sees another man actively flirting with you, he’ll all but sling you over his shoulder and carry you to the closest abandoned alley he can find to fuck you senseless. He doesn’t care if you were interested in the guy flirting with you or not, you’re his and he needs to remind himself and you of that.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Humiliation for him is a no go. There’s the more obvious stuff, like the idea of you putting him on a leash or something equally degrading just gets him frustrated, and not in a sexy way. But, more specifically verbal humiliation. He genuinely gets upset if you’re the one to say he’s not good enough for you in some capacity or compare him negatively to somebody else. That’ll kill the mood in seconds.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Much prefers receiving to giving. Seeing you on your knees with his cock in your mouth his heaven. And being able to cum all over your face and chest when he’s done? He’s in heaven.

That being said, he’s not bad at giving, he just ends up mostly using his fingers while he runs his mouth. He can’t help it.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Fast and rough, like all the time. He basically has no other mode. Now, whether it’s more intense with pent up emotions or a fun stress reliever depends on his mood. Either way, if you’re not a sweating, panting mess by the end of it he feels like he’s failed in some way.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Yes. He’s going to say yes to quickies. Where ever and whenever is good for him. But, don’t think it’s really over when it’s over. He only considers it a preview of what he’s going to do to you once you actually get some time and a little more privacy.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

He’s certainly willing to try different positions and kinks, but he’s not big on getting more toys in the mix. He’s more than happy to tie you up and spank you, but he’s not so keen on adding a paddle or something like that, if that makes any kind of sense. It’s about his body and what he can do to you.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Just as good as every other clone, with a fantastic recovery time. A solid average of three rounds per night lasting as long as either of you can stand it.

That all being said, he’s in constant competition with himself on how long he can last and for how many rounds.

Current record for time is two hours before he came once with you cumming a total of five times. Current round total is him cumming five times in one night while you lost count of yours.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Surprisingly not his thing. He’s got some cuffs he uses on occasion with you, but not much else. Like I said, he’s in competition with himself, not him and a toy.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He doesn’t tease often, but when he does, he’s an asshole. He’ll keep you pinned down, lazily rubbing the tip of his cock against your opening, never fully going in until you’re squirming and begging him to just fuck you already. Sometimes he will and sometimes, he’ll leave you hanging there. It all depends on his mood.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Not especially. In the beginning he keeps it almost conversational, as he talks dirty into your ear. But, it all changes when he comes to the end. It’s like whatever control he had over his vocal cords gets shut off. He curses a lot combined with grunts and borederline feral growls as he rams his cock harder and deeper into you.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

Crosshair has a real jealously streak, especially when it comes to regs.

While he’s confident in his abilities, he’s aware more than Wrecker or even Tech that they’re basically a bunch of freaks the Republic likes to keep under wraps. A funny little lab experiment. While regs were made just as much as he was, they actually have a chance at being...well, normal after all is said and done. He’s not sure he’ll ever be normal. So, the fear of you realizing you’re dating an actual freak of nature weighs on him constantly.

He needs to remind himself that you’re with him, that you chose him and you’re not going to walk away. It drives him crazy that you make him feel that way, but it’s the truth.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Just as long as his clone brothers (a solid 8-inches), but not as thick. Not that he need that extra edge. His talent is precision after all.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

I’d say he has the highest of the batch, actually getting agitated if he hasn’t had a good fuck in more than a few days. His hand can only do so much for him before he gets down right hostile.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

I’d say it takes him a solid half-hour to finally fall asleep after sex. He’d never tell you, but he likes the feeling of you asleep in his arms. He’ll savor it for as long as he can.

#crosshair #crosshair x reader #clone force 99 #the bad batch #star wars #the clone wars #lemon

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if-you-fan-a-fire · 3 years

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Michigan Reformatory Riot—May 22, 1981 The Prison and Prisoners “Ionia is about 60 miles northwest of Jackson. This town of about 6,000 inhabitants contains three major state correctional facilities: Michigan Training nit (a minimum-security youth facility), Riverside (a medical facility), and Michigan Reformatory (a maximum security facility for "young" offenders). In 1981, of MR's 1,325 inmates, 64 percent were black, 34 percent were white, and 1 percent were "Mexican-American." Most of MR's inmates lived in two huge cell blocks—I-Block and J-Block. These wings have five floors, each with two tiers, or "rocks," one on each side. Where the two blocks meet at a right angle, there are doors on each floor which, if they were not usually kept locked, would permit passage between the blocks. At the other end of the central yard from J-Block, the prison's control center is housed in a rotunda from which wings branch in six directions. These wings include the administration area, the infirmary, and other residential units, including a dormitory housing about 230 "trusty" inmates. Most MR inmates who made the comparison declared that MR was the worst prison in Michigan. More than the dilapidated condition of the institution, inmates objected to the presence of vermin in the cells and in the meals.

Inmates who had worked in the kitchen complained:

There were rats in the toaster. The food sits for weeks. The pans sit out on the dock, and they get all full of maggots, and they rinse them out with a hose.

One inmate, who had served as a "representative" of his tier to the warden's offices, reported:

I brought up requests as far as store merchandise, headphone equipment, rock changes, what things they might let us have, and to date they haven't approved none of this. I feel this administration wants the institution to stay as tight as possible. This institution has been considered the tightest joint in Michigan, as far as freedom is concerned.

He and others we interviewed, having never done time at Marquette or Jackson, believed that inmates were better off in the latter prisons due to their supposedly better conditions and organization among inmates. Inmates and Guards A lopsided majority of the inmates we interviewed charged the correctional staff with gross abuses of authority, such as verbal abuse, physical brutality, administrative retaliation for pursuing grievance procedures, filing false charges or reports, racism, and demanding food items from inmates for personal consumption. Inmates disagreed as to whether "most" or "a few" guards were guilty of such practices. There was general agreement, though, that the situation was often intensely frustrating. One white inmate stated:

I wouldn't treat a dog like they treat us. The officers come in with a harassing attitude, a young punk attitude, they're disrespectful to everybody. I'd say 10 percent of the guards really care, but they can't help you because their peers, which are the majority, have a dogmatic attitude.

Another white inmate stated:

The staff breaks and bends the rules as fast as any inmate. If a guy goes to the hole, he has his food and other stuff be taken.

Another cause to which inmates attributed the guards' hostility was the difference in background between the guards and the inmates—particularly black inmates, but also white urban inmates. "Most of them are rednecks to the max," said one white inmate. "They've never been out of Ionia in their life except to Lansing or Grand Rapids."

Other inmates boasted of their travels and experience with urban life, and scorned the small-town guards as provincials. Inmates also complained—as inmates in every small-town prison probably complain—that guards' "brothers, fathers, uncles, cousins" all worked for the Department of Corrections, and that this enabled guards to orchestrate informal campaigns of retribution against inmates whom they wanted to punish for behavior they disliked. Shared hostility for all, most, or some of the correctional staff and resentment of their abuses was one of the few forces for unity among inmates:

When an officer comes by and says something smart, and I say,"Look, bitch, I don't want to hear it," and he says he's writing me a ticket, everyone on the rock feels an animosity. This is about the only unity you'll find, staff against inmates.

Otherwise, as in the other Michigan prisons, the general level of mutual solidarity among inmates was low:

If I'm in the control center, and a guy came running in with cuts all over him, it wouldn't mean nothing. Not because I have no feeling for life. But it would be none of my business. That may seem cold and s—tty, but in this environment no one else gives a damn about you but you.

One force for inmate individualism seems to have been inequality of wealth among inmates. Inmates working in the most desirable jobs in the prison's furniture factory could earn hundreds of dollars. However, the furniture produced in the factory was sold to state government departments. The state budget cuts caused the state to purchase less furniture, causing layoffs inside the walls.

Most other jobs paid much less than a dollar a day, and many inmates were without job assignments. These latter had to depend on the generosity of relatives and friends; some, of course, were much more fortunate than others.

Two inmates made these comments:

Inmate: If you have no money to buy things, you're in tough luck. The state issue soap burns up your skin. Toothpaste, they don't issue it. If you're in general population and have no money, you don't get [anything] unless your friends give it to you. There's a guy in J-Block, his people don't look out for him, his mother and father don't visit. I give him toothpaste, let him wear my clothes.

Inmate: About 35, 40 percent don't have nothing. If you got no money at all, they give you nothing but the blues [i.e., official-issue blue overalls]—no T-- shirts, no underwear. They give you grey socks, you have to wear them for one week.

The situation was exacerbated by a system of venture capitalism among inmates. Many inmates made a business of purchasing goods at the store and then selling them to inmates on credit at double the purchase price. Conflicts inevitably arose over the debts (which reportedly compounded at 100 percent interest every two weeks). An inmate described the situation:

A lot get in fights and disturbances—say I get stuff from you on credit. How am I going to get it up with no job, no money. There are some people on my rock who get no visitors. Them are the people that loot. They want to know what it is to have clothes and cosmetics . . . if they only have a bar of soap and the state blues.

With the exception of an Islamic temple in nearby Grand Rapids, which the authorities permitted to organize activities in the prison, no organization held the inmates' allegiance. Inmates generally depicted the population as unorganized—and unorganizable:

These young people don't know how to organize, to sit down in the yard and say, we want to talk to the warden. These young ones are too wild.

While inmates cited the presence of informal gang activity and criminal enterprise at MR to a greater extent than at the two other Michigan prisons studied, no one ascribed to it a very important role. "Gangs" appeared to be relatively informal groups of men from the same city or neighborhood - nothing like the powerful formal organizations active then and now in the Illinois prison system. In summary, although dissatisfaction with prison conditions, particularly with abuses of authority by the staff and with the food, were near universal before the riot, these attitudes had not taken organized form. The absence of organization notwithstanding, one inmate declared to us that a group of inmates actually planned two weeks in advance to riot on May 22, and that their action coincided with the Jackson riot by sheer coincidence:

I was right around the individuals who really sparked it. Really one individual started it, how he did this, he was really extroverted, letting people know how they were being f-—ked around, said "Y'all can't accept all this bulls—t," he had geeked them up, and as he went along it built up like a ball in snow. [These were] guys with a lot of time to do. A couple came from other institutions, and they saw how we were treated here, and they couldn't accept it.

All this may have been true, but the talk may have gone nowhere without the example of the Jackson riot. No other inmate we interviewed claimed to have heard of riot plans or rumors, in contrast with the pre-riot situation at New Mexico.” - Bert Useem and Peter Kimball, States of Siege: U.S. Prison Riots, 1971-1986. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. p. 142-146.

#ionia #michigan reformatory #prison riot #prison riots #prison conditions #prison discipline #michigan department of corrections #michigan history #prison community #inmate hierarchy #causes of prison riots #maximum security #useem and kimball #bert useem #crime and punishment #history of crime and punishment #research quote #academic research

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tsicetonlinetest · 4 years

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TS ICET | Analytical Ability | Blood Relation Problems |

Study the following information and answer the given question:

K and M are the children of G. G is married to R. S is the sister of G. A is the only son of R. P is the son of K.

1) How is S related to R?

a) Daughter

b) Daughter In law

c) Niece

d) Grand Daughter

e) Sister In law

2. If S does not have any sister, then how is G related to P?

a) Father in law

b) Grandmother

c) Grandfather

d) Aunt

e) Uncle

3. How is M related to P?

a) Father

b) Aunt

c) Mother

d) Grand Mother

e) None of these

Study the following information and answer the given question:

M is the mother of T. T is the brother of S is the mother of J. J is the brother of Z. Z is the son of D. D is the son of L. L is the mother of K.

1. How is L related to S?

a) Mother

b) Father-in-law

c) Father

d) Mother-in-law

e) Cannot be determined

2. How is T related to Z?

a) Mother

b) Father

c) Aunt

d) Cousin

e) Uncle

Problem Solving Practice Tests

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acsversace-news · 7 years

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June 1995, Milan. Gianni Versace "casually" informs Donatella that he's "arranged an interview" with The Advocate. When she doesn't react, he mumbles, "For gay readers." "To say what?", she asks challengingly. "That the built-ins on this season of ACS are as envy-making as your stereotypically Versace pink butterfly blazer is hideous," Gianni does not say, although he could,

because these floor-to-ceiling jobs make me want to book a ticket to Italy like now. Mystifyingly, there is no sideways-rolling ladder with which to reach tomes on the higher shelves, but of course this isn't the point of the scene; the point is that Gianni has never said in so many words that he's gay, and that Donatella doesn't think he should do so "to print, to publish." Antonio D'Amico smirks as Donatella picks up her cigarettes and crisply points out that she handles publicity for the company. Gianni shrugs disingenuously that it's not about her, but Donatella isn't going for it: it's about more than him. She's annoyed that he didn't consult her, and now he's annoyed, clanking down his espresso cup and snarking, "What would you advise?" Yes, Antonio echoes, "What would you advise?" Donatella side-eyes him and theorizes aloud that it's Antonio's idea, that he wants to "be famous" as "Versace's lover." For 13 years everyone's mistaken him for Gianni's assistant, he grumbles, and Donatella snorts that apparently his pride is more important than the company. The sniping continues, Antonio saying he's not trying to become a public figure: "I know my place. Unlike you." Donatella cocks her head and asks at four degrees Kelvin, "And what is my place," at which time Gianni bangs a chair and snaps, "Enough!" No more fighting over this: it was his idea.

He asks Donatella to walk with him, and she stalks after him with that weird colicky gait women get who wear too-high heels every day. He wants her support, but she notes that his company supports all the people working around them -- and they have stores opening in countries where homosexuality is illegal. What if he's denied a visa? What if the stores can't open? Gianni is momentarily taken aback, and asks what she really thinks could happen. She says the rock stars, the actors, "the royalty whose endorsements we cherish" might not want to associate with the brand. Gianni shrugs, "Unless we keep Elton," but Donatella doesn't see the humor; he lives "in isolation," and has forgotten what the real world is like. He tries to argue that the women they design for are "fearless," and when Donatella says it's not the same, he asks, "Is the brand Versace braver than the man?" She doesn't have an answer for that, but when he stalks to the other side of the atelier, she follows, asking if he's angry at her, or the world. She goes on to wonder what his "admission" will cost when they take the company public. Gianni says, not terribly forcefully, that she's exaggerating, but she reminds him of Perry Ellis's final show, Ellis dying of AIDS, too weak to walk on his own. "His most important show" in many ways, Gianni murmurs, and certainly it is as far as its value as a reference in this season of ACS -- Ellis, who died in 1986, remained in resolute denial about his illness and that of his longtime lover, whom he had seen into the ground earlier that year; at that point in the life of both the epidemic and the culture, that approach was probably the default, at least for public consumption -- but Donatella's point is that, after that, people stopped buying Ellis's clothes. "Some people," Gianni says. Many people, Donatella retorts. Some, Gianni insists, and walks away from her again.

Why now, she wants to know. "Because I was sick. And I didn't die," Gianni says. It's a miracle. He has a second chance now. Why is he alive -- to be afraid? No. He's here, and he "must use it."

After the title card, we return to 1997 -- four days before Jeffrey Trail's murder. In a crappish motel in San Diego, Andrew Cunanan is seated in grimy underpants on a nubby chair surrounded by trash bags, prepping a needle full of drugs and grandly reassuring an American Express account representative that he just needs enough money to get to Minneapolis.

He's going to visit his "two best friends," one of whom owes him more than ten grand; then he can go back to being the best customer ever. As the Amex rep skeptically repeats that he's asking them to extend his credit so that he can…repair his credit, the camera lingers pointedly on an expensive watch on the floor. Cunanan distractedly taps the needle to rid it of bubbles as the rep verbally eye-rolls that she has to consult her supervisor. Cunanan chirps that he'll hold, and injects himself between his toes. I assume this is included to show both his alleged drug involvement and his much-ballyhooed ability to charm all and sundry, but I ran into some American Express credit trouble in college and was on the line with their reps almost daily, assuring them that my latest low-double-digit payment from my pizza-delivery job was winging its way towards them and please don't make me declare bankruptcy as a 20-year-old. Like, if I convinced them to let me chip down my balance 13 bucks at a time? I'm...not that charming. This is eminently doable by civilians.

Cunanan gets up, surveys his closet, and starts taking down armfuls of suits and shirts, still on their hangers. Do people actually do this? It seems like an only-onscreen thing. In any case, the removal of the last armload of blazers reveals a mini-crazy wall consisting of the very Advocate article the Versaces were arguing about before.

That pic at the top left, that looks like IRL Cunanan, should maybe have been cut, no?

In a warehouse, Jeff Trail is hoisting heavy canisters onto shelves. Later, he's not laughing alone without salad at a picnic table above the work floor when a co-worker joins him. Jeff notices the guy's tattoo as an armed-forces design; the guy notices him noticing and asks if he served. He did, in the navy, and kind of overshares about the USS Gridley and how he's sort of sad she got decommissioned. So he misses it? Every day. Why'd he leave? "I dunno," Jeff grits, and admits he regrets it, but when the guy begins to say he was never going to become an officer, it gets awk in a hurry with Jeff interrupting that he was an officer, and adding that his brother and sister are both in the armed forces. "You married?", the guy asks, probably concluding that it was Jeff's spouse who wanted him to leave the service, then. Jeff parries that, but the guy asks again why he left, especially to work "in a place like this." This place is okay, Jeff glares, but the guy's like, but for an Annapolis grad?

Jeff, icily: "I made the decision." The guy tries to smooth it over by saying his wife always tells him he asks too many questions, but Jeff just repeats over him, "I made the decision -- okay?" The guy apologizes for offending him and offers to "leave it there," but Jeff can't, leaping to his feet and shouting again that he made the decision, loud enough for other co-workers to look up from their lunches.

After lunch, Jeff is loading canisters, zoned out, when he's told "an Andrew called" -- he says he'll see Jeff at the airport.

That's where we see him next, as he greets David Madson with a fond arm-squeeze. David didn't think Jeff would come. Neither did Jeff, Jeff says disgustedly. David doesn't get why Cunanan's coming there, but Jeff's like, he has nothing and no one and everything he's told you is a lie. David gets that, right? David: "Do you even like him?"

Jeff sighs that Cunanan was "there for" him once, and he owes Cunanan, but it's not the same. David feels "kinda sorry" for him. "Don't." He's lonely. "For a reason," Jeff says, adding that after this "for old times' sake" weekend, he's done with Cunanan. David's like, he's here for three nights, ugh, and Jeff says Cunanan can have his apartment, Jeff will stay with his sister, and not to victim-blame here, but if you don't want to deal with Cunanan because he's a grifter, you put him up in a hotel, not at your house when you can't keep an eye on him and/or your belongings. Cut to Cunanan emerging from the crowd with a step almost Michigan J. Frog in its peppiness as Jeff asks David not to tell Cunanan where he is: "He's so crazy, he might just show up."

Asterisking this point is Cunanan's desperately cheerful sing-songing of "The three amigooooos!" and overly handsy hug of David. He hugs Jeff next, choosing to ignore Jeff's stiff reaction, and burbles about how much fun they'll have this weekend: "It'll be just like old times." Jeff's all, nah, and says he can't hang out with them. Cunanan asks why not. "Aside from everything you've done?" David looks down as Cunanan feigns ignorance.

Jeff says he's away 'til Sunday at a sales conference, but he'll be sure to send Cunanan a postcard. Cunanan lamely asks if Jeff's "still annoyed" about the postcard he "accidentally" sent to Jeff's dad signed "Drew, kiss kiss." "I made a mistake!" David rolls not just his eyes but his entire head as Jeff brings out his keys, saying Cunanan can stay there tomorrow night. Cunanan doesn't get why he's not staying with David; David says without much conviction that he's busy "seeing a friend." "Wh-who, what friend?" Cunanan presses, but despite this inability or unwillingness to take a hint re: David wanting to get it in with, y'know, not him -- or, more to the point, David's obvious trepidation at drawing that line brightly, or at all -- Jeff still hands Cunanan his keys, then walks off without another word. Again, I don't mean to cast aspersions on Jeff Trail; nothing he did either doomed him or could have saved him, or any of the others. I've found myself in similar situations, feeling like it's easier to just go along this one last time and then get down to the ghosting once s/he's left town -- especially when s/he's presenting as a dishonest but not noticeably dangerous asshole. I have the benefit of a hindsight of which Jeff was deprived by Cunanan, as well. That's the frustration: that it can't be undone, couldn't have been undone. Or that maybe it could have gone differently -- if Cunanan weren't so easily able to leverage the doors of the closet against his targets.

Sometimes they swing back and hit him, though, as we're about to see when he and David return to David's loft. David snuggles with Prints for a minute, and Cunanan takes the opportunity to fish that expensive watch out of the top of his duffel and make a big show of having "gotten" (read: stolen, we'll no doubt see in a future ep) David something. "Open it!" he says with an antsy body twitch that is almost endearing, except that he's horrid. David seems to know that it contains an emotional bomb as well as whatever's literally inside, and is initially speechless at the sight of the watch. Cunanan has assumed that awkward stiff-armed stance again

as David struggles for words. I'll note here Orth's Vanity Fair piece's assertion that, "though Madson was at least two boyfriends away from Cunanan by the end of April, he continued to accept gifts from" Cunanan. I still haven't read Orth's book, and perhaps she's more nuanced therein, but I'm finding implied judgment in that locution, to the effect that David "shouldn't" have taken gifts from a man he wasn't involved with, because it sent mixed signals -- or meant that David wasn't a quote-unquote perfect victim, the saint the newsmagazines are always looking for. Well, it probably did send mixed signals, and David probably wasn't perfect, because none of us is -- but here again we see Cunanan's victims a) not knowing what we know, because it's not what anyone tends to assume, and/or b) accepting overly generous gestures from Cunanan because it's less uncomfortable than rejecting him or questioning the gifts' provenance. The scene we're watching/cringing at here perfectly illuminates not only why Cunanan's victims might have had over-the-top "presents" from the killer among their possessions, but why Cunanan for the most part continued to skate on outrageous behavior.

Behavior like…refusing to read the room, because when David snaps the watch box closed and pulls a nauseated face, then goes to refill Prints's water bowl, Cunanan bustles over, picks up the box, and goes into cheesy-proposal mode. David's response is a glorious "ehh-whennnnhhhh?!" look from Cody Fern

at which Cunanan has the presence of mind to stammer that he doesn't have to answer right now, he can think about it "for the next few days." David's like, it's against the law, so. Cunanan shrugs: "Who cares about that?" "Everyone," David exasps. "Well, I…don't!" Cunanan says, and Darren Criss throws in a tiny shoulder shimmy here that is so eloquent vis-à-vis Cunanan thinking this damn-the-homophobia-torpedeos declaration will win him his case. David's like, again: no, "it's insane," and Fern's unwittingly Australian inflection of "in-sein" is rather winning. Cunanan is hell-bent on ordering a sweet roll, however, and babbles that they can call it a commitment ceremony, then. David tries to explain that "it's not -- the term" as Cunanan Manson-lampses at him and blares, "Then what is it." "The idea of you and me," David finally is able to say. His expression unchanging, Cunanan pauses, then tells David to keep thinking about it over the weekend, and then "if for whatever reason it's a no," he can keep the watch as a thanks. ..."Whatever reason," indeed. Thanks for what, David asks, exhausted. For turning Cunanan's life around, Cunanan duhs, then shares that he got a new job, a claim David doesn't believe; as Cunanan keeps lying about his new condo in San Francisco, David wearily closes his eyes and nods to himself. "I'm a whole new person!" Cunanan desperates, fastening the watch onto David's wrist. "And all I need -- is someone to be a new person for."

At his sister Laura's gorgeously porched house, Jeff surveys the family pictures (including one of Laura in uniform) in the hall, then takes the linens he'll be sleeping on from his pregnant sister; he doesn't want to be any trouble. "It's no trouble, I love that you're here. Why are you here?" his sister asks, easing herself onto a sofa. Jeff admits he's avoiding Cunanan. She snarks on Cunanan's postcard "mistake" trying to out Jeff to their dad. Jeff says grimly that he's not going to hang out with Cunanan, but Laura has Cunanan's number and Jeff's, telling Jeff he shouldn't let Cunanan have "that kind of control" over him and that Cunanan "was threatening" Jeff with the postcard. Why doesn't Jeff just tell their parents he's gay himself? Jeff knows what they're going to think. "They love you," Laura snorts, which, no doubt, but also: easy for the het sibling who's furnished grandchildren to say, even if she's correct. Jeff changes tacks, saying it's not the right time: they're so happy about the baby. It's her baby, Laura says, so as his superior officer she's ordering him to do it. "I'll think about it," Jeff says. "You've thought about it enough," Laura grumbles. Again: yeah, probably, and she's not a bad guy here, but…you know. Your loved ones' coming out is not about you. Jeff rolls his eyes, then tells Laura's belly, "I'm looking forward to being an uncle, so. Much." He smooches the belly -- aw -- and rests his head on it, listening…

…which makes the overlapping cut to the polka palace in the next scene pretty hilare and cuts the sadness nicely. Too bad we're about to be marinating in uncomf. David and Cunanan climb the stairs into the joint, Cunanan babbling that it's such an original idea, and it feels "special -- memorable." David quashes that line of thinking ASAP, saying it wasn't his choice -- his friend picked it. Said friend is his co-worker Melinda, who appears out of the crowd to greet David, and he introduces Cunanan as his "friend, Andrew." "'Friend,'" Cunanan repeats with a full "this guy, amirite" head-and-shoulders eye-roll, and says he's more than a friend. Everyone's "…k" faces do not deter him from grabbing David's wrist, still with the watch on it, and raising it to eye level to brag that he got it for David "to show how much he means to me." He adds quote casually, "It's worth ten thousand dollars." Melinda says, "Wow," and shoots David a quick, merry "by which I mean 'wow, you're gauche'" look. The silence in which nobody knows how to respond to Cunanan goes on for quite some time…

…and then we mercifully cut to David and Melinda polka-ing amateurishly and laughing a lot. Then it's into slo-mo, and the distorting of the soundtrack, as Cunanan tries to arrange his face into a "isn't this a hoot" shape but ends up Starmanning, as usual.

Later, David orders more beer and speculatively watches Cunanan from the bar as Melinda heroically tries to make conversation: "So what do you do?" Almost daring her to call him on it, Cunanan lies that he makes movie sets; he's working on Titanic down in Mexico. "And you're here for David?" "There's no one I love more," Cunanan confides, which at least is in the same area code as true. David returns with three steins, and Melinda fills him in, giving gorgeous "pfft" tone to "We were just talking about movie sets in Mexico!" "Mexico?" David says, glaring at Cunanan, who thinks for a second before grabbing David's hands: "Let's go dance!" Melinda watches them carefully as David gets free of Cunanan's grasp and says he doesn't need the whole weekend to think about it. "I can't hear you, the music's too loud!" Cunanan says through a desperately fake chuckle. David tries to repeat himself, but Cunanan's sticking with the can't-hear-you bit, bobbing frantically and shouting, "Let's just dance!" They can't get married, David says. "Even if we could -- we can't." The smile drains off Cunanan's face as David says he's really sorry, he doesn't know what else to say. He leaves Cunanan standing on the dance floor, other couples whirling around him. Oof.

At the loft the next morning, Cunanan is sitting, staring into space, still wearing the same clothes from the previous night. David comes out in a tee and boxers and asks if he couldn't sleep. "No." David half-rolls his eyes and goes into the bedroom to fish the watch out of his top drawer; the camera pans up to find Cunanan in the doorway, having Nosferatu'd his way into frame once again. David startles, then murmurs that "there's something great" about Cunanan; he's always thought that. He's generous. But it's not right to keep the watch, he says, handing the box to Cunanan. "I know money is tight." Cunanan badly lies that it isn't. David says it's okay to ask for help instead of telling "all these crazy stories," but Cunanan isn't going to admit to anything, asking through another super-fake chuckle, "What crazy stories?" David girds his loins and runs down the list: he's not making movie sets, he doesn't have a condo in San Fran…he's unhappy. He should let David help him the way Cunanan has helped other people. Cunanan looks genuinely baffled and fearful at this idea as David clarifies that he doesn't mean by marrying Cunanan -- that's not possible, it's not real. It's not what, Cunanan prompts, giving him the Manson lamps. "Another crazy story," David says reluctantly, and holds the box out for Cunanan to take.

Cut to both men heading for the elevator. As the door is closing on Cunanan, David stops it with his arm and guiltily says he can cancel on his "friend" for that night, if Cunanan needs to talk, "about anything." Cunanan tries for cheery, but ends up sounding robotic as he says again that he's starting a new life in San Francisco. "I need someone to share it with." David pulls a "yeah, still a hard pass" face and says he'll see Cunanan Sunday. Now it's Cunanan's turn to stop the door with his arm, and his face has darkened to one of Dawsonian accusation: "Is it Jeff? That friend you're seeing?" David waits a beat too long before denying it. Andrew releases the door silently. David turns away from the elevator all "Fuuuuuu."

It isn't Jeff, but whoever it is, he's cozy with David That Way when they return to David's building -- as Cunanan can see from his creeper stakeout spot across the street. When the other two head inside, he marches robotically across the street for a closer view.

From there, he heads to Jeff's apartment. It takes him a second to get the lights working, but alas, almost no time after that to come across the photo of Jeff and David, Prints nestled between them, tucked into the frame of another photo on Jeff's bureau.

The picture looks merely friendly, to my eye, but Cunanan is already paranoid about the possibility of a…"Tradson," I guess, and starts rifling through Jeff's drawers. It's not totally clear what he's looking for -- proof of a relationship; blackmail fodder a la what he unearthed at David's in the previous episode -- but when he pulls out Jeff's Navy uniform box from the closet, it seems like it's maybe both. Disrespectfully donning Jeff's hat, he digs under the dress whites and finds an unmarked VHS cassette. It's a news broadcast, interviewing active-duty servicemen about gays in the military, and the interviewee onscreen drops a few f-bombs as Cunanan keeps going through Jeff's stuff, eventually finding the gun. He's quite expertly loading a clip into the gun when he hears Jeff's voice coming from the TV; it's Jeff, in an identity-masking shadow, telling an interviewer that any gays in the military must serve in the closet. Cunanan kneels in front of the set and strokes Jeff's darkened face as Jeff says his career is probably over anyway, because he saved a gay fellow sailor from getting beaten to death by his peers, which tipped off said peers that Jeff too is gay. Cunanan sights the gun at the TV. Jeff, near tears, confesses that he's dreamt of taking that "good thing" he did back, letting the other guy die, so that the others wouldn't "suspect" him. (This interview did take place, around the time Jeff met Cunanan; the segment of it I found doesn't contain any mention of this incident.)

After the break, we're in 1995 in San Diego, aboard the Gridley. Jeff heads below decks, and comes upon a fight, or rather one seaman punching another repeatedly in the face. Jeff pulls the puncher off, and the puncher says that "that f***** brushed against" him. Jeff helps the punchee, Williams, to his feet, and as the puncher is threatening Williams if he ever touches the puncher again, Williams knocks him down with a right cross and sneers, "I'm sorry -- did I touch you?" Jeff scatters the combatants and their audience.

That night, a hand puts a bar of soap in a sock (we don't see the item, but per my father, this is how barracks justice was handed down as of the sixties, so let's assume), and Jeff awakens to hear the sounds of a blanket partyalready in progress. It's Williams, no surprise, and the gag they've put on him is no match for his wails of agony. Jeff rushes over to break this up too, telling the participants to scatter or they'll get written up, and helps Williams into the shower to clean up -- and to convince him to go to a doctor, which Williams doesn't want, because he'll have to write a report and make a complaint. "You're hurt, you need a doctor," Jeff says patiently, but Williams hollers, "I need out! …Get me out. Get me reassigned. Please!" He's near tears, and panting from the pain. Jeff cups his cheek. Williams meets his eye, then grabs his arm and pulls Jeff down onto the shower bench with him and cries on Jeff's shoulder. Jeff nurturingly busses Williams's head, and the generous comfort Jeff offers Williams is painful to watch, because you know no good deed goes unpunished, on earth as it is in American Crime Story, so of course Jeff glances up to see a NASCAR-looking dude giving them a disgusted glare from the doorway, then flip-flopping away.

The next day, Jeff goes through the lunch line and into the mess, and the shot follows him as he looks for a spot to sit, then locks eyes with NASCAR mustache guy from the night before. (The actor's name is Ric Maddox, and I'd like to note that he has also played the Joker in a short film called Gay Batman. The sort of dialogue he has here can't be an enjoyable day at the office, and Maddox is good, doesn't sell it out with ham like he might want to.) Finn Wittrock gives us a flicker of "let's get this over with" as he walks over and sits firmly down at the last empty seat at Mustache's table. Mustache can't wait to launch into a story about a guy getting caught at a "hook-up place for f**s," asking if Jeff knows it. Jeff's like, um, no, and Mustache goes on that the MPs went in undercover and busted the spot. Great use of your budget there, y'all. Jeff asks if the guy got discharged; Mustache says no, not if he agrees to name "every f** he's ever blown," but the guy doesn't know names -- so he's going to provide a list of tattoos. Cut to a super-tight close-up on Mustache's beady eyes as he asks with subtle relish, "Got any tattoos, Jeff?" Jeff glances around the table and chuckles all "FOH with that," but…

…the next scene is Jeff in the showers again, this time with an exacto knife, his issued Zippo, bandages, and a Costco bottle of rubbing alcohol. This is painful to watch, but I have to wonder what kind of clandestine blowjobs everyone else is giving that they'd see, much less take note of, a tattoo on the calf. I mean, don't the pants stay pretty far up in that instance? -- unless that's the point, that Jeff's paranoia is that far-reaching (and perhaps justified). Anyway, he takes the blade to the Martian and starts carving, but only gets about a third of the way around before he has to stop.

The next day, we're in a handheld shot of Jeff supervising other seamen, including the puncher from earlier, who glares at him. He's told the captain wants to see him, and as he's heading for the captain's quarters through a warren of hallways, it seems like everyone he passes -- and needs must nearly brush up against in these tight quarters -- along the way is eyeing him suspiciously. He takes a quick breath and reports in to the captain, and maybe this got fixed for the air version, but we probably shouldn't see what looks like a Studio City parking lot out the porthole.

Jeff is told to have a seat, and does, at which time he spots blood seeping through his pantleg from the tattoo wound -- also apparently added in post, as it doesn't move when Jeff's leg does, so I assume they fixed that too. He tries not to freak out, but then the captain hands him a booklet entitled Dignity & Respect: A Training Guide On Homosexual Conduct Policy.

This comic book -- yes, "comic book" -- also existed, which might seem hard to believe if you haven't served or don't have family members in the service but is all too credible if you have/do. Like, the parachutist at the top right…"irony-free up-fuckery," is what my vet uncle would call this. Jeff too-quickly asks if there's some reason the captain's giving it to him. It's being circulated to all officers; does Jeff not think it's important? Jeff's like, of…course, sure. Does Jeff have any questions? "No sir!" Jeff gulps. "You haven't looked at it." Jeff then grimly recites the section of the…Uniform Code? Not sure if that applies here, actually, but it's the regulation that prohibits engaging in or even admitting to "homosexual acts." The captain stares at Jeff, then asks if he knows all the regulations by heart. "Most, sir," Jeff says, which tracks. "Open the book," he's told, so he does, staring dully at a page that overexplains what "Don't Ask" means. The captain asks again if he has questions, and when Jeff answers again that he doesn't, the captain goes on about a code of conduct, without which they're "nothing." "Nothing," Jeff repeats. So they're understood? "Yes, sir."

Nighttime. Jeff's in the shower again, this time poring over the comic. He pauses when he thinks he hears footsteps, then resumes, this time at the Don't Tell portion of the book.

Daytime. He's dressing in his whites, buffing his cap, shining his white shoes. I didn't even write a note about the visual reference to Lt. Col. Markinson in A Few Good Men, because that character's about to shoot himself, but maybe I was onto something, because then we're back in the shower, Jeff standing in his whites on the bench and contemplating the belt he's looped over a ceiling pipe.

Wittrock looks about twelve years old in this shot and it is buh-rutal. Jeff puts his head through and leans on the belt, but he can't go through with this either, although it's a harrowing couple minutes, and the mood isn't lifted by his despair as he sags, crying, onto the shower bench.

He's only slightly happier about the prospect of visiting a gay bar called Flicks, but he does it, albeit with baseball hat pulled fairly far down and a body language suggesting deep conflict. Company B's "Fascination" blares in the bar as he hesitantly orders a beer and looks around at the men smiling, the men smoking, the go-go boy with the American-flag briefs smizing at him. Beside him is Cunanan, who spots him as a rookie immediately. "Was it that obvious?" "There were a few clues," Cunanan smirks, and introduces himself.

Later, they're yukking it up at a table with a few empties as Jeff reveals that he's never gone to any gay bar before. Cunanan's shaggy-dog joke about the bartender setting off fireworks that make the shape of Jeff's name to mark the occasion wigs Jeff out momentarily, but Jeff sincerely thanks him for making the night un-humiliating. Cunanan preens that it's his honor, and he feels like he's part of Jeff's history. He asks if Jeff is military, and murmurs that it must be hard. Jeff agrees that it is. Cunanan switches gears, saying rules require him to buy Jeff drinks for the rest of the night and insisting Jeff put his money away. Jeff smiles to himself. At the bar, Cunanan watches him fondly.

Another time, at the same bar, Cunanan asks how it happens that CBS wants to interview Jeff. They came to the base and canvassed the straight soldiers, Jeff says; his part is sharing "the other side." Cunanan sputters that Jeff is crazy, they'll kick him out, but Jeff says they'll keep him in shadow so he can't be identified. "How humiliating," Cunanan breathes. Jeff doesn't get it, so Cunanan notes that the bigots get to stand in the light, uniforms on, proudly; Jeff gets to stay in the shadows with his voice distorted, "like a criminal." "Yep," Jeff says grimly. Of course this is how Cunanan thinks of it, and that the Navy will witch-hunt Jeff, that nobody cares what he has to say and it's not worth it, but it's something Jeff needs to do. He can't explain it.

He pulls up to a motel in his Jeep and gathers himself, then approaches one of the rooms.

Gianni and Antonio do the same, at a different hotel.

Jeff listens at the hotel-room door.

Gianni breathes, "My heart," and puts Antonio's hand on his chest to feel the hammering. "Mine too," Antonio laughs. Gianni wonders how many interviews he's done. Antonio puts Gianni's hand over his heart and says he can't count. "None like this," Gianni says. They kiss. Gianni knocks.

Jeff shakes hands with his interviewer.

Gianni shakes hands with his interviewer. As he's posing for pictures, Antonio stares into the middle distance; he's snapped out of the reverie by Gianni coming over for help zhuzhing his shirt.

Jeff's reassured that viewers will only see his silhouette, and that the MPs can't make the interviewer reveal his sources.

Gianni's interviewer confirms that Gianni understands he's on the record.

Jeff explains that the military is his life; it's all he ever wanted to do. Asked if anyone serving is out, Jeff says the majority are closeted, "and will always be closeted."

Gianni interrupts his interview to introduce Antonio in so many words as his partner, and to ask if they can do the interview together. The interviewer smiles warmly, knowing what he's witnessing, and says absolutely.

Jeff, meanwhile, isn't so optimistic, saying that he thinks talking to CBS is probably the end of his career. But at the same time, his career probably died a long time ago, he says, choking up. They know. They've never promoted him, even though he's a good sailor. "How do they know?" Jeff tells the story of saving Williams's life. It's slightly different from what we heard before in the phrasing, but we're still seeing these two men, both struggling to do the right thing, and the hopeful version of the right thing. Both killed by a guy who couldn't see any way to get love except to never tell the truth and to trade in shame instead of pride.

The day of Jeff's death. He comes home to find his apartment in bad-guest disarray and Cunanan performatively eating Froot Loops, four of which he probably left in the box, because: dickhead. Jeff sees his uniform hat on the table, stares at Cunanan, and heads into the bedroom without a word as Cunanan scrambles to his feet. Jeff finds his uniform on the bed and stalks back into the living room: "You went through my stuff?" Cunanan non-answers that he was going to tidy up, but Jeff interrupts that he touched Jeff's uniform. Cunanan was going to put it back: "So what?" "'So what'?" Jeff snarls. Cunanan's eyes narrow as he says he doesn't get why Jeff keeps it. Cunanan didn't serve his country; he'll never get it. No, Cunanan doesn't, not after how the Navy treated him. "You've never believed in anything except yourself," Jeff says, but Cunanan protests that he believed in Jeff, "didn't I," when the Navy didn't? "Everything you gave me, the bars, the meals, the men, it means nothing -- I want my life back!" Jeff says. He means his real life, as a soldier. Cunanan croons in an oh-honey tone that they never wanted him -- Cunanan wanted him! Jeff's like, pass, and says he doesn't know who Cunanan is; he doesn't stand for anything. He isn't anything, he's just a liar. "You have no honor," Jeff finishes, heading back into the bedroom.

Now Cunanan's pissed, and tries to take control of the situation/Jeff, sneering that Jeff's not in the Navy anymore, "sweetie" -- he's a washed-up [slur] with a shitty job, in a shitty condo, "bitching about how you could have been someone." This is Cunanan, really, not Jeff, but Jeff says he's right about that. Cunanan attempts to pull rank by announcing grandly that, when Jeff walked into "that bar," he saved Jeff. Jeff: "You destroyed me!" He wishes he'd never gone into that bar; he wishes he'd never met Cunanan. Cunanan switches gears, saying Jeff's confused and can't see it, but Jeff can see it: "I see it, I feel it, I hate it." I think he means that what he sees and feels keep him from what he truly loves, serving in the Navy, but I'd hear arguments. In any case, Cunanan is still trying to work the tractor beam, putting his hands up to Jeff's face and starting to say he loved Jeff so much, but Jeff swats Cunanan's hands away, knocking him back a step: "No one! Wants! Your love!"

Cunanan Starmans out of the room, gathering his bag (with Jeff's gun on top) and leaving without a word.

David is opening the door to let his "friend" out and finds Cunanan just standing there. Cunanan brushes in, in between David and the friend, without being invited in. "Andrew!" Cunanan parks it on the coffee table: "Yes?" David didn't hear the buzzer. Cunanan didn't want to bother (read: alert) David, so he "just slipped in behind someone else." The friend's like, yikes, and David has to whisper that he'll call. He fastens his bathrobe tightly, and is about to get into it when Cunanan fake-haltingly mentions what David said "about needing help." Can they talk tonight? "Sure," David this-fucking-guys, and goes into the bedroom. Cunanan schemes.

Jeff irons his uniform and folds it neatly away.

While David showers, Cunanan calls Jeff to neener that he has Jeff's gun; he borrowed it to protect David from a stalker who's back in town. As Jeff is bitching at him about having a license and how the gun never leaves the apartment, Cunanan smiles smugly at the trap he's going to spring. Jeff says he'll come over and retrieve it, but he's done with Cunanan -- done. Cunanan tries to grade-school that Jeff said that already, but Jeff hangs up on him. Cunanan wanders into the area of David's loft that's under construction and eyes the hammer.

Jeff's downstairs now, banging on the broken buzzer. Cunanan asks if David's going to get the door, but this time, David asks if he's joking, and Cunanan grumps that Jeff is "very hostile at the moment" and he'd rather not get into it with him in the foyer. As David's letting Jeff in, Cunanan is selecting the hammer and taking up his lurking post. We see him hear Jeff say he never wants to see Cunanan again, and again here the dialogue is somewhat shuffled from what we saw last week, but it may air differently -- or be a "what Cunanan 'hears' and what's actually happening aren't the same" thing. It doesn't change the ending, unfortunately, and we cut from the door swinging shut and Cunanan rushing Jeff…

…to Jeff's sister getting wheeled into labor, hollering in pain. Slow pan across Jeff's empty apartment as his parents leave various messages about the labor and delivery; fade out on Jeff's hat, neatly atop the uniform box, as Jeff's parents inform him that he has a niece, and everyone's healthy.

#acs versace #previously tv #epic old school recaps #2.05 #recap #review #article #february 2018

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taejinchronicles · 7 years

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BV2EP3 | Taejin theory masterpost: U ok Tae?

So it was highly requested by you pretty cupcakes (tks for the asks and messages!!!) the continuation of my Bon Voyage 2 Taejin masterposts with analysis, pix and my two cents on the Taejin cause. Let me tell ya, this will be a huge masterpost, so grab yourself some snacks and lets do this!!!

Even upset, VV looks like the most gorgeous creation in the universe:

If you read my Ep2 masterpost, Taehyung was really annoyed about the Namj*n bromance day and decided to go full possessive mode with Jin. We have been left wondering what would happen since our boy was clearly sad and jealous of Jin’s day with RM and about the exchange of gifs between them. The sculpted turtle that RM gave to Jin was something symbolic to V cause he and Jin went on a beach date by themselves on day 1 and saw the turtle. Perhaps this is why the turtle gift was so upsetting to V, he knew that this moment was stolen from him because to the grand public the turtle thing would automatically become a Namj*n thing. I put myself in VV’s shoes, and knowing his history with being overshadowed by Namj*n I understand why Day 3 was mostly about him sulking, avoiding Jin, sulking, possessive about Jin, sulking, annoyed with Namj*n and so on...

1. Matching red hats + close watch on Namj*n: BTS’s first commitment was the hike to the waterfall. V was wearing a red cap to match the red hat he gave to Jin cause ya know how Taejin has a thing for couple’s outfits right. And also V was legit breathing on Namj*n’s neck during the hike.

2. The Namj*n pas de deux: Poor V was jamming violently to Spine Breaker while being exposed to Namj*n’s happy dorky pas de deux.

3. Namj*n pose & jealous V: Taehyung's torture continues as Jin and RM pose really close and cutely on the waterfall group pic. When the pic is taken the camera focus on V who looks straight at Namj*n with THAT FACE...a picture worths more than a thousand words.

4. ETS and V sulking: BTS decides what to eat and VV is sitting far away. V was tired and distant. And also kinda sad. On some moments it almost felt like he was about to doze off or cry.

5. Taejin, together but apart: At the van Taejin was sitting next to each other as they often do, but not engaging any physical or verbal contact. As RM continued talking about the Namj*n friendship day, V blocked Jin and everyone else by wearing headphones. Meanwhile Jin was staring pensively at the landscape.

6. RM’s Bon Voyage reaction: it was Joonie’s turn to do the Bon Voyage thing so everyone’s reaction to RM’s cutesy hat flip was enjoyment but V gave that “not so amused” look, esp after Jin’s spontaneous compliment to RM.

7. Taehyung love sick over Jin: I had to gif this cause, come on, that’s just so freaking cute. The way V looks at Jin! His love sick expression, eyes dancing from Jin’s face to his “south area” than up to his face again. Taehyung’s bedroom eyes, sorry but that’s not bromance, that is not complimenting Jin’s looks, that is not even a boy crush. Grab that info, take into consideration.

8. V’s territory: As BTS walked towards their picnic spot, V obviously placed himself between Namj*n (yeah, that is a trend my people) making everything possible with his body movements to make sure there was plenty of space between Jin and RM.

9. V’s territory part 2: At the picnic table of course V sat in between Jin and RM. With an effective angular body language, V expressed the desire to create a clear barrier separating his territory.

10. Happy meal together: Meal is ready and Eat Jin is celebrated with his expertise on the yummy food. V is happier being closer to Jin and, for the first time on the day, exchanges words with the object of his angst and affection.

11. Taejin’s domestic bliss: At the grocery store RM, Suga, Jimin, V and Jin got their food cash to spend. Soon as they enter Jin goes domestic mode and starts to talk just to Taehyung about the huge american apples. RM and Jimin go their own separate ways leaving Taejin alone.

12. Side by side: it’s no biggie but I find it extremely cute how Taejin always walk side by side or close to each other. When there is no fixed formation predefined by management, you can see that they are naturally drawn to each other like it’s their second nature. The couple matching outfit makes it even cutter!

13. Visual duo doing their visual thing: on that group pic, Jin was holding V’s shoulders so lovingly. And the way their heads lean towards each other, awww so cute how the body speaks. Ahhh, one romantic scenery can mend a jealous heart.

14. Jin is taking care of V: Remember last year on BV1 that iconic moment when V was so moody texting and sulking and Jin was carefully watching him from a distance only to back hug him for centuries? There is this season’s version of it. VV is again sulking, texting and turning his back to Jin, attentive loving gorgeous Jin is watching our angsty boy’s every move, his entire body facing V and even if he is speaking to J-Hope, his eyes don’t leave him. Wasn’t that the perfect moment and scenario for an iconic Taejin back hug?

15. Third wheeling Cupid Jimin: when BTS discuss their goals Jin says he wants to perfect his guitar technique. Our official third wheel angel Jimin said Jin sent him a video of his guitar practice. Although the rest of BTS was totally unaware of the video of Jin’s evolution on guitar, V promptly said (the video or Jin playing guitar) was so cool. Lovely Jinnie was flustered by Vmin’s double love.

16. I give Jinnie my stars: At the observatory V and Jin were together and V showed him the stars and planets. Only to Jin. He was so proud of his astronomy knowledge saying he studied it! My heart was touched by this moment cause we can see how important it is for him to please and surprise Jin, to make Jin proud of him, he was like a kid all excited to tell an adult he learned something at school. And Jin the sweetheart, the true gentleman showing genuine interest and excitement, making V’s planet naming sound as important as Galileu Galilei’s life work. Not to mention that Venus is the planet of LOVE…We see you Taehyung…we see you!

17. Taejin sleeps together funny drama feat. Hobi: at BTS’s lodge, the one filled with lizards, they were playing rock paper scissors (I swear the day BTS don’t play that game, catastrophe will fall upon us) for the beds and bedrooms. Jin was playing opposite J-Hope and won. V was the “MC” of the game and soon as he knew Jin would probably share a bedroom with Hobi or someone who was not him, he grew unease. Smiling but his body language touching the back of his neck, gave away his discomfort about the bedroom situation. When Hobi also wins and Jin celebrates him him, V’s instant reaction is to cover his mouth. In body language that means he cannot speak against awful news and his hands in begging position tries to reach for Jin, meaning he is begging Jin to come back to him. Notice that after Jin’s bedroom is decided the rest of the game with the other members runs smoothly and V doesn’t respond that way to the rest of BTS. The funny thing is that V ended up sleeping with RM! Well better sleep with RM than RM sleeping with Jinnie right Tae?!

That was it! What an episode that was!

V was obviously upset about something. Maybe it was just him being sleepy, tired or moody, but it feels very coincidental that the mood corroborates his behaviour towards Jin on the previous day. As I said on my last masterposts on Jealous V vs Namj*n, I don’t think this is about RM as a treat to his relationship, I don’t think he sees RM as a rival for Jin’s love. It is about his growing desire of Taejin being the stablished Jin love reality. He knows the ARMY ship Namj*n so add it to V’s constant need to express romantic affection for Jin versus Jin’s acceptance of the necessity for fan service ships then we have a recipe to Taehyung’s angst.

I think Taehyung wants to be as public as possible about Jin cause it is in his nature to be truthful, I don’t think he can perpetuate secrets. He’s not reckless and understands he’s an idol who cannot open up about everything, but there is this real sweet boy inside the idol facade that just desires to be proudly recognised by everyone he loves. His loyal friendship with Jimin, his admiration for RM and Suga and Hobi, his big brother protectiveness towards Kookie, his respect for his family, V wants all his emotional allegiances to be out there, so of course he wants his relationship with Jin to be seen and accepted. It’s still that same 4 years ago shy Taehyung who looked at Jin as he could not believe his luck to be living with the most handsome man he has ever seen. The same boy that everybody noticed from day one he had a crush on Jin. The same boy that has been crawling to Jin’s bed for years. The difference is that now he’s got hit by the intensity of conquered affection, he has won a place in Jin’s heart so it is upsetting for V to be contradictory to his heart just cause they are in public. I can imagine the frustration. It explains the mood changes, the introspection, the jealousy and possessiveness, his need to please Jin and praise/defend him to earn his love and respect and the passive aggressiveness when he feels that Jin denies him or promo another ship loudly in front of the cameras.

Because that adoration is so intense and he is so young, I think when it comes to Jin he even forgets BTS is their job and he’s got to separate what’s performance from what’s real. Someone as gentle and emotional as V is, really wants to wear his heart on the sleeve, he wants PDA, he needs to touch, hold, hug and confess to the four corners of the world that Jin makes him happy. So when he sees Jin being affectionate to RM, someone who is legit shipped with Jin by the fandom “stealing” his official role as Jin’s (visual BTS pair?, lover?, boyfriend?, partner?, platonic sleep together for years buddy? true ship?) number one interest, he snaps and shuts Jin out. It’s the same possessive-jealous pattern we saw on ISAC because of KenJin, Jin running around after V like a lost puppy while he ignored Jin like some sort of punishment. And we can notice that behaviour pattern only happens with Jin, he is not possessive with the other boys not even with his bestie Jimin.

Jin on the other hand loves to socialise with all the members (not only RM but also Kookie on this episode) and even talk to total strangers. He is comfortable in being social and he is aware of their roles as entertainers and how to separate business from personal life. Although he is not impulsive and explicit about it, he cares about V’s feelings more than anything even if that means the need to keep a safe distance to protect what they have. I feel like Jin tries constantly to shelter him, to create a safe haven when the innocent beautiful and delicate true Taehyung can be free and happy, even if the price is to have Taejin as a ship ignored by the fandom. It’s in Jin’s nature to protect and love all his boys but with V it’s like he is always walking on thin glass. There is deep affection but also Jin’s necessity for secrecy, not cause he is ashamed of V but cause he is protective of what they have.

Because the nature of their relationship in my perspective romantic, Jin doesn’t know how to behave in front of the cameras with him. Jin refrains himself to be engulfed by affection like on that iconic stage kiss or like when he shares too much information (we shower together, we sleep together and so on) so he prefers not to focus on V while on camera. Both Jin and V can’t quite behave bro-like around each other actually. Since the start there has always been awkwardness and tension between Taejin, it used to be polar opposites they were superglued platonic flirting or just pretending they didn’t exist. Although now things have changed and we don’t see that unrequited love tension anymore, I think both Jin and V go back to that pattern when things go a bit sour. They oscillate between “you are all I see" to "you don’t even exist" all the time, there is no in between “bro-like” Taejin. For a ship that legit doesn’t have promo at all (for instance there is never vlives with just Taejin like there is with jinmin, sope or jinkook) Taejin is the one pairing that despite of the lack of fan service push, do behave like two people who know each other intimately and really spend a lot of time together (notice that semi off-camera like on BV2 with their beach date, matching hats shopping, V picking Jin the shirts he wanted him to wear and off-camera like on their fancafe talks, secret dates, singing the same love songs of each other’s spotify playlists, sleeping together, matching outfits, walking around holding each other’s arms when they think nobody is watching, answering the same things about what they plan for their future...they act like well...like partners).

Jin being the business driven man he is, understands the responsibilities of being and entertainer, he gives his body and soul to BTS, he is professional about it and knows he is protecting V and the boys by keeping their thing (and all the boys personal relationships) private. With V’s emotional nature, RM’s introspection, Suga’s dedication to his craft, Jimin’s loyal heart and Jungkook’s innocence, Jin and J-Hope are the ones who really are conscious about the importance of protect their privacy, Jin being the entertainer one and J-Hope the practical one. This is why of all the members of BTS Jin is the one who really engages dynamic relationships with all the other boys constantly, regardless of the predefined ships and subunits management and the fandom has specified. He doesn’t exclude anybody and in a sense he is the heart of BTS, the loving glue that keeps them strong.

This is a study and analysis, I dunno the boys so situations can have a complete different meaning since no one knows what’s going on on their private lives. This is why rather focus on behaviour and body language, cause that is an unconscious way to express the truth and one’s emotions. So it doesn’t really matter the nature of Jin and V's intimate emotional bond, we can see that Jin doesn’t need his personal relationships to be publicly accepted therefore understands the need for privacy while Taehyung is keen to make his affection known therefore he is often jealous of sharing Jin with others either by insecurity or by fear of non-acceptance. This is a pattern that has been going on for quite sometime and I’m afraid it’s the pattern we will keep seeing in the near future.

Oh boy that was one huge masterpost! This episode was a full angsty trip on jealousy, understanding the dynamics and differences between Jin and V and the dynamics between ships. Regarding the ships, I still have not done the masterposts on some subjects I often got messages about like comparing Taejin to Vmin or Namjin and Jinkook (send me msgs of what ship you want me talk about first) or the rest of BV2 (gonna do those...weekly I hope!!!), tks for the patience dear readers. You can also read the first episodes analysis here:

BV2EP1 | OH TAEJIN LOVE VOYAGE, OOPS, I MEAN BON VOYAGE 2 EP.1

BV2EP2 | TAE VS. NAMJ*N STRIKES AGAIN

Lots of love.

#taejin theory masterpost #taejin chronicles #jealous v #tae vs namjin #taejin #The Taejin masterposts are back!#tks for all of your aks #Taejin Bon Voyage 2

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bmfentertainmentinc · 5 years

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Here’s a playlist for you… The World Is BMF Marathon Promotions Inc by Dj Magicmike-Spud https://open.spotify.com/playlist/48hltzbPYwNi3iTjfSzxlj?si=-LN-GMHXTluoB6X38velmA

R&B music producer Damon Thomas, the ex-husband of the undisputed queen of reality television Kim Kardashian, gambled with his life 10 years ago when he cooperated with the FBI, DEA and IRS in helping the federal government bring down the notorious Black Mafia Family (aka BMF), America’s most prolific drug gang of the New Millennium. Thomas and Kardashian, now wed to hip-hop superstar Kanye West, were married from 2000-2004, at the peak of Thomas’ career as one half of the multi-platinum selling production duo The Underdogs (along with Harvey Mason, Jr.).

Back in the summer of 2005, Thomas testified at a grand jury proceeding against BMF co-founder Terry (Southwest T) Flenory, claiming he had conspired with Flenory to hide ownership of millions of dollars worth of jewelry from the IRS. Flenory and his brother and fellow BMF boss Demetrius (Big Meech) Flenory pled guilty in a wide-reaching narcotics-conspiracy and racketeering case in 2007 and both received 30-year prison sentences. This fall is the 10-year anniversary of their bust.

A protégé of R&B producer icon Kenneth (Babyface) Edmonds,Thomas went out on his own in 2000, joining forces with Mason, Jr. of megawatt late-1990s hip-hop producer Rodney Jerkins’ Darkchild crew, and together they went on to pump out hit records for Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, R. Kelly, Chris Brown, Tyrese, Jordin Sparks and Jennifer Hudson.

The Flenory brothers started the monolithic BMF narcotics organization in the early 1990 in their hometown of Detroit – one fated to grow to be the largest urban crime conglomerate in our country’s history. By the end of the decade, BMF had expanded across the United States, setting up hubs in Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Louisville, Memphis, Dallas and St. Louis while parading in the early 2000s as a fledgling rap-music label. The magnetic and boisterous Big Meech headquartered his activities out of Atlanta, the more subdued and low-profile Southwest T out of L.A, with their childhood friends Benjamin (Blank) Johnson and Eric (Slim) Bivens tasked with looking after gang affairs in the Motor City.

They were all indicted, along with more than two dozen of their subordinates, in October 2005, charged with distributing close to 3,000 kilos of cocaine nationwide per month. The feds wound up seizing almost 300 million dollars from BMF bank accounts and convicting 150 gang members or associates in a slew of superseding and branch-off indictments.

Big Meech & Southwest T

Thomas, 45, met the Flenorys around 2003 when he was hired to produce music for BMF-sponsored rappers. He was unwittingly drawn into their case on July 11, 2005 after Southwest T and Slim Bivens were pulled over driving on an interstate expressway in Illinois en route to a St. Louis for a meet-up with well-known BMF associate and southern rap royalty Young Jeezy and confiscated 22 pieces of expensive designer jewelry totaling five million dollars in estimated value. Taken into custody and questioned by the DEA, Flenory told the agents that the jewelry belonged to Damon Thomas, his music producer who was getting ready for a Young Jeezy video he was directing and planned on using the bling bling as props in the shoot.

Southwest T felt he could successfully pawn off responsibility for the gaudy array of jewelry on Thomas because Thomas was already laundering money for him with other jewelry purchases through the famous New York diamond king Jacob Arabo, known to hip-hop fans everywhere simply as “Jacob the Jeweler,” name-checked in countless rap tunes and eventually embroiled in the BMF case himself, like Thomas, for aiding BMF in hiding their assets. Immediately following their release from custody, Southwest T and Bivens holed up in a luxury hotel in Cleveland and quickly made contact with Thomas and Arabo, corralling their cooperation in validating a cover story and filling them in on the details for how to pull it off.

Arabo told authorities he loaned the jewelry to Thomas and Thomas told them the same thing. Until he didn’t. Facing threats of indictment by the feds if they didn’t flip, Arabo didn’t fold, Thomas, fearing time behind bars, did, testifying in front of the grand jury in the fall of 2005 which led to the whole BMF ship crumbling into pieces a month later.

Jacob the Jeweler

Staying true its word, the government included Arabo in a superseding indictment in 2006 that ensnared another 16 BMF members and co-conspirators. Pleading out in the case before trial, Jacob the Jeweler did two years in prison and was released in 2010. Per FBI informants in January 2007, Thomas was taking safety precautions in anticipation of a possible retaliatory strike from Southwest T and his BMF bandits. Such acts of violence, weren’t necessarily a calling card for the gang, however were far from unprecedented.

In 1997, Big Meech was the No. 1 suspect in the murder of a one-time federal cooperator killed in a drive-by carried out on an Atlanta expressway on the day he was released from prison . In 2003, he was the prime suspect (arrested, charges dropped) in the double homicide of Anthony (Wolf) Jones and Lamont (Riz) Girdy outside the Atlanta nightclub Chaos: Jones was a childhood friend and favored bodyguard of hip-hop mogul Sean (Puffy) Combs, arrested with him in the infamous 1999 Club New York shooting in Manhattan along with actress-singer Jennifer Lopez, whom Combs was dating at the time .

The following summer, BMF’s de-facto consigliere and third-in-command, Fleming (ILL) Daniels killed Rashannibal (Prince) Drummond, execution style, in the parking lot of Atlanta’s Velvet Room after Daniels’ car almost struck Drummond’s Porsche and Drummond smacked the vehicle Daniels was driving with his fist in anger. He got 20 years on a manslaughter beef.

A trio of BMF members, led by reputed “new era” syndicate leader Darnell (Coo Coo) Cooley, beat a club patron to death in a vicious assault that took place in August 2009 at a suburban Detroit jazz club and is suspected of ordering the execution of the only witness to the beating (the victim’s best friend) weeks later on the eve of the witness getting ready to testify in front of a grand jury investigating the jazz club attack and “post-Meech & T” BMF activity in Michigan.

Big Meech, 47, and Southwest T, 45, weren’t on speaking terms at the conclusion of their epic reign atop the U.S. underworld, millionaires several times over and leaders of separate factions of the BMF syndicate, but at the end of the day they both stayed loyal to each other – refusing to turn and point the finger in the other direction in the face of getting slammed with stiff sentences. The Flenorys won’t be eligible for parole until 2032.

Kardashian and Thomas split in 2004 (a good three years before ‘Princess Kimberly’ and the rest of the Kardashian clan hit the air) amid rumors of physical and verbal abuse, crazy hotel sex parties and a reported photo of a threesome between Thomas, Kardashian and Kardashian’s fellow reality tv diva and big sis Kourtney.

CAST OF BMF WIVES KIM KARDASHIAN-EX DAMON THOMAS TEMPTED FATE W/ GJ TESTIMONY IN BMF CASE

Here’s a playlist for you… The World Is BMF Marathon Promotions Inc by Dj Magicmike-Spud

CAST OF BMF WIVES KIM KARDASHIAN-EX DAMON THOMAS TEMPTED FATE W/ GJ TESTIMONY IN BMF CASE

Here’s a playlist for you… The World Is BMF Marathon Promotions Inc by Dj Magicmike-Spud

CAST OF BMF WIVES KIM KARDASHIAN-EX DAMON THOMAS TEMPTED FATE W/ GJ TESTIMONY IN BMF CASE Here’s a playlist for you… The World Is BMF Marathon Promotions Inc by Dj Magicmike-Spud

#Bmf #KARDASHIAN #Meech #Megroc #Music #Philadelphia Musician #Reality #Sosa

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greatvacationvegas · 5 years

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Here’s a playlist for you… The World Is BMF Marathon Promotions Inc by Dj Magicmike-Spud https://open.spotify.com/playlist/48hltzbPYwNi3iTjfSzxlj?si=-LN-GMHXTluoB6X38velmA

Big Meech & Southwest T

Jacob the Jeweler

CAST OF BMF WIVES KIM KARDASHIAN-EX DAMON THOMAS TEMPTED FATE W/ GJ TESTIMONY IN BMF CASE

Here’s a playlist for you… The World Is BMF Marathon Promotions Inc by Dj Magicmike-Spud

CAST OF BMF WIVES KIM KARDASHIAN-EX DAMON THOMAS TEMPTED FATE W/ GJ TESTIMONY IN BMF CASE Here’s a playlist for you… The World Is BMF Marathon Promotions Inc by Dj Magicmike-Spud

#Bmf #KARDASHIAN #Meech #Megroc #Music #Philadelphia Musician #Reality #Sosa

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digmagazineblr · 5 years

Text

Here’s a playlist for you… The World Is BMF Marathon Promotions Inc by Dj Magicmike-Spud https://open.spotify.com/playlist/48hltzbPYwNi3iTjfSzxlj?si=-LN-GMHXTluoB6X38velmA

Big Meech & Southwest T

Jacob the Jeweler

youtube

CAST OF BMF WIVES KIM KARDASHIAN-EX DAMON THOMAS TEMPTED FATE W/ GJ TESTIMONY IN BMF CASE Here’s a playlist for you… The World Is BMF Marathon Promotions Inc by Dj Magicmike-Spud

#Bmf #KARDASHIAN #Meech #Megroc #Music #Philadelphia Musician #Reality #Sosa

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