#age falsification

[truetellsnigeria1]

Deputy Inspector-General Of Police, Johnson Kokumo In Age Falsification Scandal

Deputy Inspector-General Of Police, Johnson Kokumo In Age Falsification Scandal

  The Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), Johnson Babatunde Kokumo, is currently enmeshed in a scandal over alleged falsification of age, SaharaReporters has gathered. Multiple sources told SaharaReporters that the highly-rated police detective graduated 40 years ago from the University of Maiduguri, Borno State. He was said to be…

[goest-and-fuckest-thyself-blog]

Not Without You

Soldier Boy x OC!

Summary: Ben, (Soldier Boy,) is fresh out of cryo in Russia, fresh out of the destruction of the building downtown, and he wants his deserts from Butcher. When he asks for one more condition, Hughie expects another name on the kill list. But when Ben pulls an old photo from his wallet depicting his best friend, the first female Supe, the boys understand that there’s more to this situation than they bargained for. Will they find who Ben is looking for, old and frail? Or will they find a gravestone with her name on it?

Follows the boys plot (mostly) with some interludes for my own subplot.

🔥Warnings!🔥

All my works are 18+ I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR FAKE PAGES AND/OR RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYONE WHO READS MY CONTENT!!! LEGAL USERS BE ADVISED, I SHALL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR FALSIFICATIONS OF AGE ON THIS SIGHT!

CW: Only other thing I can think of is language and slightly asshole-ish themes. (Soldier Boy being mean to Hughie.)

“If you’re looking to play headsman again, bruv, it’s gonna have to wait this time,” Butcher chimed as Hughie gave him an incredulous look. The boy hadn’t much liked Soldier Boy, let alone think it was a good idea to be indulging him so. Now he wanted another person dead? It was too much for poor Hughie too handle.

“S’not like that,” Ben riffled through the box of his old keepsakes and belongings, picking up a wallet. He stood from the table as he unfolded it and picked out an old picture, worn at the edges and yellowed with time.

He handed the picture over to Butcher, who thoughtfully held it before him with a smirk.

“Reminiscent, are we?” the Brit teased as he handed the photo to his young friend. Hughie’s eyes widened before his brow creased.

“I remember her,” the kid mused brightly, “that’s Eris, the first female supe.”

“That’s my best friend, dick-fuck,” Ben snapped at the young man before snatching the photo from his fingers. Ben couldn’t help but stare at the printed image of her face, hoping to see her in person again soon.

“Hate to break it to you mate, but Vought said she died in the same explosion you did. She wasn’t in Russia with ya, and we barely knew where you were. How’re we supposed to know what’s happened to her?” Butcher asked.

Ben’s jaw clenched tightly as anger rose in his chest. He had to remind himself to stay calm, lest his new powers took over and brought down another building. It’s was already enough that Stan had sold him out, but her? Oh, Ben would make Stan and the whole of Vought pay for anything they did to her.

“I don’t give a shit how you do it, just get me the info. Or I’m not helping you with home-fucker,” he demanded.

~*~

With the right people being given the right motivation, meaning threats and a beheading, the team was able to track down info on Ben’s new prize.

The bunker was dark, mildew clinging to the scent of the air like a damp unfinished basement. Ben never cared for the smell, not even as a child when he would escape to the root cellar tunnels and find his way to her house. He didn’t pay much mind to it now, with the electric tingle running up and down his spine distracting him from doing anything but looking around the flashlight illuminated space.

The walls were lined with shelves of boxes, files, even books. Some tables, obviously left hastily abandoned judging by their disheveled state, held open folders and spilled coffee mugs. None of the labels on anything looked remotely interesting or useful to Ben as he made his way deeper into the room. There had to be something here.

“Look at this,” Hughie called from behind Ben’s position in a corridor of shelves. The supe turned to see the young man leafing through an open desk file. Ben’s stomach flipped, stalking back to where the curly headed kid hunched over the table.

“This is it, this is the file,” he told Ben with a smile, “it’s called project Phthalo.”

There was not time to read anything more than the title and her name beneath ‘SUBJECT’ on the page when Butcher called from the back corner of the room.

“I’ll do you one better than files,” He grinned as the two men joined him.

Again, Ben’s stomach twisted in his body, seeing the heavy steel door Butcher had found and now stood in front of. There was a keypad to its right, lit up with a red bulb, just like the ones they’d used in the lab in Russia. He knew as soon as he saw it that whatever was behind the door, would be his answer.

“You sure you wanna open it?” Billy asked, noticing Ben’s face fall as he hesitated to move or blink. This seemed to snap Ben out of his daze and let him nod his approval. With that Butcher wasted no time in shooting out the keypad, allowing the door seal to hiss open.

Stepping aside, Butcher gave Hughie a look, letting the lad know he was expected to hang back a second. He would let Soldier Boy walk into a secret Vought lab headfirst. Hughie in return nodded and stayed next to his friend as they watched the supe shove open the heavy steel door.

All three dropped their lights to the floor as a blue glow emanated from inside the foggy room, cast by a large containment tube. As if bitten by something, Ben stirred into action and ran into the room, dropping his shield as he went. Hughie gave butcher one more confused glance before they were following after Soldier Boy.

Ben couldn’t believe it. He had been thinking the worst, dreading what they would find on this trip, begging and silently pleading with every force of power in the universe that she had somehow survived. He wanted to tell her all the things he was to pussy to tell her for the almost eighty years they’d been friends, he wanted to make sure she knew. She had to know how he felt. It had shattered his heart when Butcher’s little twink told him the story Vought had put out about their deaths. Ben knew they’d probably taken her out because of what she’d do to them in retaliation for the Russia incident. He couldn’t imagine they could control her.

Yet, here he was, dropping to his knees with wide, sad eyes as he stared up at this containment tube. There she was, his best girl; suspended in a thick blue solution of god only knows what as novichok gas flowed from the exhaust pipes around it.

“Holy fucken shit,” Butcher voiced quietly as he stared up at the girl floating in a vat of blue chemicals. He had been expecting to find a body, sure, but not a live one. The man could barely register Hughie nudging his arm next to him, his disbelief and shock overtaking him.

A thought went through Butcher’s head, one that he was sure he would regret having later. He wondered if this would make Soldier Boy easier to control, make him less on edge. Now, as he watched the man crumble to his knees and stare up longing at her, he thought it might.

Ben was shocked out of his foggy mind when he remembered why he was there. “Help me get her outta this,” he demanded, rising to his feet and rounding to the control panels.

“Oh, uh, yeah!” Hugh shook his head and hurried over to try and open the unit.

“You lucked out big time, old man,” Butcher chuckled as he crossed his arms over his chest, earning an eye roll from Ben.

The supe wasted no time in disconnecting every tube not labeled ‘oxygen’, causing the hiss of novichok to cease. ‘Good’ he thought to himself, ‘we can wake her.’ The more he dismantled the machine, the quicker his heart beat. It felt to Ben as if he might explode, reminding himself to breathe and try to relax before he exploded again.

“I got it!” Hughie called enthusiastically, letting Ben’s heart jump in his chest.

It almost happened in slow motion for Ben, reaching forward as the glass door slid to the side as the liquid finally drained from the tube; the way her body slumped forward into his arms, wet and slimy to the touch. His knees hitting the floor as he brought her into his lap, cradling her head in one hand. Everything was surreal until she took in a breath.

Her chest jolted, air entering her in a way she hadn’t felt in decades. Her lungs burned at the feeling, a cough rising in her throat. Her body seized as she coughed up fluid uncontrollably. Ben still trying to calm her with soft touches and quiet words.

“Hey, I’m here, it’s me! Look, it’s me!” Ben’s hand came to cup her head, thumb resting just before her ear. He couldn’t help but smooth the silky white hair that clung to her face away as he stared into her scared and wide blue eyes.

Finally, her frantic gaze landed firmly on his, her breathing finally evening out as she calmed in his arms. Weakly, her left hand reached up to his face, fingers shakily ghosting over the skin just beneath his eyes. She recognised those eyes better than any other pair she’d ever seen. Those were his big green eyes staring down on her with concern. I don’t give permission to reblog or repost my work

“Benny?” She rasped out, throat harsh and dry.

Before she could say another word, she collapsed against Ben’s chest, her obvious fatigue overwhelming her.

“Benny?” Hugh questioned, looking between Soldier Boy and Butcher.

[coochiequeens]

Well she is. 21 babies in just over a year to be exact.

Kristina has authored a book titled Baby's Diary. News18Join our Whatsapp channel

The feeling of motherhood is a special one and many experience it multiple times, choosing to have more than one child. Kristina Ozturk, the wife of a wealthy Turkish individual, stands out in this regard. Despite being only 26 years old, she has already become the mother of 22 children via surrogacy. Originally from Russia, Kristina, along with her millionaire businessman husband, 57-year old Galip, welcomed 21 surrogate babies into their lives between March 2020 and July 2021. Despite this remarkable number, Kristina expresses her desire for even more children.

Kristina’s eldest child, an eight-year-old daughter named Victoria, was born naturally from a previous relationship. Despite facing criticism for what some perceive as “buying babies,” this mother from Georgia remains steadfast in her decision to expand her family. Kristina has openly expressed her ambition to have even more children, aiming to reach a three-digit figure.

Her plans face challenges as her Turkish businessman husband was imprisoned in 2023 on charges of money laundering and document falsification. Fortunately, Kristina is supported by a team of 16 live-in nannies to assist her while her husband serves an eight-year sentence behind bars.

Kristina first met Galip in a club in Moscow, Russia and started a relationship in spite of the 31 year age difference between them. They started living in a lavish three-story mansion in Batumi, Georgia. In February last year, Kristina had paid Rs 1 crore 43 lakh to the surrogates.

Kristina has also authored a book titled Baby’s Diary, in which she shares her journey as a mother of so many children. She reflects that while much has been written about parenting, every day parents seek valuable insights from her to provide the best for their children.

Kristina’s unconventional path in parenting hasn’t been without challenges. She revealed an incident where one of the surrogate mothers expressed a desire to keep a baby after giving birth. As the baby’s genetic makeup consisted of Kristina and her husband’s DNA, the child rightfully belonged to them.

Although Kristina has openly discussed her aspiration for at least 105 children, she now intends to hold off on further steps toward that goal until her existing children are older. While she hasn’t dismissed the possibility of becoming pregnant herself again, she acknowledges the impracticality of doing so with a household full of young children.

[fantastic-nonsense]

As a follow-up to my previous ask, I was wondering if you have any recs for academic nonfiction (whether books or articles) about media studies/fandom history? I just read Textual Poachers by Henry Jenkins, but I’d love something more recent as well! 😁

Fandom history in general? Probably not, though I could go searching through my bookshelves later.

Comic history in general? Yeah, I've got loads of those. Note that all of these are about the American comic industry (and usually about cape comics). I have a few others about non-superhero books or non-American comic history, but most of my knowledge is American comics and thus, most of my recs are about American comics:

Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code, by Amy Kiste Nyberg

The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America, by David Hajdu

American Comics: A History, by Jeremy Dauber

Pulp Empire: The Secret History of Comic Book Imperialism, by Paul Hirsch

Comic Books and the Cold War, 1946-1962: Essays on Graphic Treatment of Communism, the Code and Social Concerns, edited by Chris and Rafiel York

Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book, by Gerard Jones

Slugfest: Inside the Epic, 50-year Battle between Marvel and DC, by Reed Tucker

75 Years Of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking, by Paul Levitz and Benedikt Taschen (editors)

75 Years of Marvel: From the Golden Age to the Silver Screen, Benedikt Taschen (editor)

Marvel: The Untold Story, by Sean Howe

The Secret History of Wonder Woman, by Jill Lepore

Wonder Woman Unbound: The Curious History of the World's Most Famous Heroine, by Tim Hanley

"Seducing the Innocent: Fredric Wertham and the Falsifications That Helped Condemn Comics" by C.L. Tilley

"The Great Comic Book Heroes" by Jules Feiffer (Dial Press, 1965)

The documentary Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics, Kevin Smith's interviews with Neal Adams, and random bits of history like Jack Kirby's interviews are probably the closest we're going to get to a DC equivalent of Marvel: The Untold Story for a long time.

For a little bit of comic fandom history, The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture by Glen Weldon is an interesting read.

I also have several articles that I've read and used for various papers I've written over the years, but I'll have to go dig through them to find ones that might interest you.

[dollypopup]

penelope, intentions, privacy, and the infantalization of innocence

or: a call to see Penelope as the complicated character she actually is

there has been, for some good time now, a sense in the general fandom space that hinges on Penelope being a perfect angel who did everything she did out of altruism, or a feeling of separating or minimizing her actions through Whistledown, divorcing her from her decisions (in the classic 'she had no choice' or 'no one listened to her as Pen' fabrications). and i am here to, once again, beg for a nuanced look at her, and in particular those who cared for her whom she hurt deeply

let's dig in

Lady Whistledown is Penelope's coping mechanism, and it is clear from the first article she wrote. Penelope is posturing, putting on a front. This first article is the root of her intentions, the core of what she hopes for, and the mold for which she wishes to be. Just read some of these lines

I know people better than they know themselves. I can see what is happening behind closed doors better than those behind them.

This is an act, a falsity. Penelope *doesn't* know more about people than they know about themselves. How could she? She is largely ignored by the general populace. She wrote this article before she was even out in society. She had little access to balls or information, her sisters debuted with her, and her mother and father weren't particularly popular members of the community. What Penelope knew of others, she knew from external observations.

This is where the falsification first begins: she can't possibly see what is happening behind closed doors, but she wants to. Penelope is an outsider wanting to look in, wanting to look in so deeply that she understands and knows others in intimate ways without putting in the hard work of gaining their trust. LW being published before Penelope is out in the general society is proof of Penelope's powerlessness in the general scheme of Mayfair: and she has a right to feel that way. She is not particularly cared for in her own family, nor is she listened to by them. She is angry. Her friendship with Eloise is one in which two girls who are both frustrated with their circumstances come to meet.

The fact that such a thing could be printed with, essentially, her allowance, is also proof that she is disregarded as she is. No one notices when she is gone, she is, by and large, invisible. As such, she doubles down on the power fantasy of Lady Whistledown.

Do not try to close your doors tighter to protect your privacy as I may already be inside. And thus I will slowly get inside each and everyone's head.

I don't know about you, but reading that is chilling. Though of course I am taking it with the modern perspective of living in an age where privacy continues to be stripped, there's something particularly cruel about insisting that you are inescapable. It's written in a way that is intended as a threat, followed by

No need to panic, I will be fair, gentle reader

and this is where Penelope's intentions come in. Do I believe she genuinely and truly wanted to be fair? Yes. Do I believe Penelope has a well developed sense of what fairness entails? ABSOLUTELY NOT. And she's not SUPPOSED to. Because Penelope also perpetuates her own invisibility, even in the midst of her pride in writing Whistledown. Penelope punches down repeatedly, but she does not think she is doing so. For Penelope the person, she is 'exposing the truth' in a general sense of hard hitting journalism, but Lady Whistledown, her persona, cultivated a power others don't have. When she wrote of the unnamed Modiste unfavorably, she ran her out of business: because LW has the power and privilege of being heard, the power and privilege to ruin lives and reputations, to sequester people to bad opinions and derision.

And one of the first people she does this to is her mum and her family, including herself. In the very first LW article, she mentions only the Featheringtons and the Bridgertons, along with one other lady, Miss Boltenston, who Penelope writes would be best for a suitor who prefers bedtime conversation as opposed to other activities.

Three misses. Foisted upon the marriage market like sorrowful sows by their tasteless, tactless dear mama-- the luckless souls.

Then, when discussing the Bridgertons, the only people who have been seen as being genuinely nice to her, she writes that they're perfect, full of refinement, "four perfectly handsome sons and four perfectly beautiful daughters. Yes. Perfect, indeed"

but this isn't meant to be a compliment. In particular when we go back and listen to Eloise's hunt for LW and her conversation with Penelope at her door.

"Whistledown is someone free and unencumbered by society, she is a single woman of means, better yet she is a widow who would be invited to all the events but not paid any attention, so while you are at the ball-"

"Eloise I do not care! People have real problems, mature problems, problems that have nothing to do with the secret identity of some silly writer. " "And you are so mature now?" "I am of age, I am out in society, therefor I have more important mature things to worry about." "Like what?" "Like marriage." "You do not care about marriage." "What if I do!? I do not expect you to understand. Not everyone can be a pretty Bridgerton."

There's a resentment that Penelope has for the Bridgertons. She loves them, absolutely, but we can't sit here and deny that Penelope isn't jealous and doesn't discuss it or dig deeper into those feelings to unwrap or unlearn them. There are reasons for it, of course, but this is a facet of her character that often gets overlooked. And it keeps her from opening up. To Colin and to Eloise.

I exhaust of the perfect Miss Penelope Featherington, always the victim of other people's harms, always doing everything she does because she's such a #good person. It leaves the door shut to her growth. Penelope has good INTENTIONS with bad outcomes. She hopes that she will, herself, not be corrupted by the power she so criticizes others for misusing, but she falls into the same pitfalls and that is compelling as hell to explore.

My intention is not to shed any blood but to shed some light on the true events in our society. My words, though might be hurtful, are not meant to be mean. They are meant to be fair . .be prepared to hear the truth about yourself and your kin.

I'm glad she acknowledged that her words would be hurtful, though she hides behind what she intends as opposed to the outcome. Because she absolutely did shed blood, she genuinely could have killed Marina with what she published. And after she does so, she comes back from it still owning that bloodshed, for she writes things such as 'sharpening my knives for you' and hailing her pen as a weapon. There's no indication she wrote to her cousin or offered any support or condolences. She has to ask Colin how Marina is doing, as though she does not know on her own.

Penelope wants to be a good person who does good things. But goodness is not black and white and Penelope falls deeper and deeper into her LW persona internally whilst pretending she is unchanged on the exterior.

There's a line in the book, when she says 'Maybe I grew up' and that's what I need from her in S3. This is, largely, a very long essay more so in response to a fandom version of Penelope than the real Penelope, because the show does show her actions as being wrong. Penelope cries and agonizes over her choices because she knows they aren't good, but she does them anyway because her idea of what should happen matters more than other people's agency in their decisions.

People talk about how Eloise was a bad friend to Penelope, how she didn't listen to her, but in reality, Penelope did not actually talk to her, save to tell her she has different life goals than Eloise does. So many moments in which Penelope could confide in her that she does not take.

In particularly, I think about after Penelope's father passes, and Eloise visits her. This comes at the heels of Penelope exposing Marina's pregnancy to the ton and publicly destroying Colin's engagement to her, as well as Eloise saving her from being caught by the Queen.

"The ones we love have the power to inflict the greatest scars. For what thing is more fragile than the human heart?"

And then Eloise comforting her. Telling her

"I am here, Pen, to help you to find a reason every day to enjoy in the absence of your dear Papa. I know you shall miss him."

to which Penelope replies with

"Share something good. What happened with Whistledown? Did you save Mdm. Delecroix?"

No discussion of how she actually feels, only a deflection, even as Eloise assures her she has a friend. But Penelope already knows what Eloise will tell her with this response, and also knows that she has the wrong idea of who Whistledown is, but she would rather have a conversation she knows the outcome to than spill open to her closest friend. That's lonely as hell. Penelope forces herself to be apart, as well. It's a behavior she needs to unlearn.

Penelope keeps her own secrets but cannot allow others to do so. She spirals in what she perceives to be her own powerlessness whilst her actions have the most impact, good and bad, upon near everyone in her vicinity.

Eloise tells her: "You are my friend, and I do not wish for secrets to set us apart" and though Penelope agrees, she does not confide in her. Even when it comes to Eloise's relationship to Theo and her burgeoning romantic feelings for him, something she confesses to Penelope, asking if she can relate, Penelope does not offer the same vulnerability. Instead, she insists that people already know about her relationship with Theo, and Eloise trusts her, though it's untrue. No one else was talking about Eloise and Theo, and yes, Penelope writing about her as LW was wrong and awful, but a more intimate pain she inflicted was that Penelope was encouraging Eloise away from him and away from her own feelings.

Eloise even tells Theo: "People are already talking about us" when they almost kiss as a reason for them to stop seeing each other. But no one is. This is a lie Penelope tells Eloise.

and this takes me to the final act of it all: People DO listen to Penelope. The people who MATTER listen to her and encourage her. There are constant discussions of how Eloise does not listen or how Colin didn't listen, but looking back at those conversations and interactions: Eloise and Colin listen to Penelope very closely, in fact.

Eloise repeats things Penelope says to her, trusts what she says. Yes, she is often talking to Penelope and 'using her as a sounding board' because that is what friends do. Balance comes when both parties do so. Penelope does not do the same back. She does not discuss, she does not say what she means, what she feels, what she believes.

And she does the same to Colin. Colin who wrote her letters for months. Colin who recognizes her intentions. Colin who talks to her about his hopes and plans, an action she does not reciprocate up until S2 when they talk after the botched wedding. Even when Colin asks how she's been after they meet for the first time that season, she lies and says it's all fine. This comes from an assumption from her that he doesn't care about her because he doesn't love her romantically, but Colin obviously cares a lot for Pen. Even in S1 he cares about her deeply and earnestly. I don't understand the narrative of him not listening to her, because I think he listens to and hears her more than almost anyone else does.

Even in this conversation

"I believe you deserve to know" "Is there something on my face? Has it been there all evening? It has hasn't it? Sorry, go on." "I have wanted to talk to you since the engagement was announced but we have always been in company" "So this is something about Marina?" "Her heart belongs to another." "What?" "His name is Sir George Crane, he is a first son, a soldier, they rent the neighboring properties in the country, I am sorry Colin, but I have seen their love letters. I thought you should know before it is too late." "You really are very good, you know that? Do you think that I would care she had fond feelings for another before we met? It would be rather rich of me considering I've flirted with half the girls in London at one point or another." "No, you misunderstand, this was no mere flirtation, Marina loves this man, she loves him still." "And yet she is marrying me."

This conversation is often cited as proof that Colin doesn't listen to her, but reading it: he is listening very clearly. She told him Marina loved someone else before, he replied that it doesn't matter (can we take a moment to applaud him for this, also? that's a really mature response from him) and then when she tries to clarify, she does so by telling him that she loves someone else. But that's not what she actually wants to say.

What she's saying is to dissolve the engagement and she believes Colin the kind of person who would cut ties with someone who loved someone else before, but he isn't. It's not that he isn't listening to her, it's that he IS and he isn't responding in the way she wants. This scene is ALSO Colin asking Penelope to understand him, to understand his choices, to support him as well. He ends this conversation with a plea: Trust me, Pen, do not fret. Asking for her to take him seriously. Instead of trusting him, trusting him to his decisions, trusting him with the truth, she instead takes matters back into her own hands.

Because what she publishes is

"As if the Featheringtons did not have enough to be dealing with, Miss Marina Thompson is with child. And she has been from the very first day she arrived in our fair city."

That is HEAPS different from what she talked to Colin about, but it solidifies her innocence to him, because at the core of it, she wants PARTS of what Whistledown is, but not all of it. She WANTS Colin to see her as good and she wants to have a soft love story with him, all at the cost of who she actually is. She sanitizes herself for Colin because she does not understand or cannot face that he already has affection for her as she already is, that she can trust him for who HE is. He isn't in love with her (yet) because she hasn't shown him who she is in her entirety, but he DOES love her, regardless.

(Which I think is so beautiful. Here is a person who refuses time and time again to be open and vulnerable (because of her own trauma and complications, no shade, we've all been there) and yet he sees that she's special and keeps opening the door for her to talk to him. Let it never be said that Colin doesn't have a special place for her in his heart, regardless of a SINGULAR comment of his that she heard out of context)

Colin and Eloise are constantly asking how she's doing, constantly leaning in to see what she says, and the brief moments in when she confides in them, they obviously keep it close and recognize those moments as being special. It's Penelope who has to contest with the mortifying ordeal of being known: and that is her character arc. Her character arc is not that she did nothing wrong because no one else would listen, they do, but even when they don't (and Marina doesn't HAVE to listen to her about dissolving the engagement. Marina had to look out for her own wellbeing and the wellbeing of her future family and she had every right to considering everyone proved to her that no one else will) Penelope has Eloise and Penelope has Colin, two people who care deeply for her. Who she has written about and betrayed trust in. Who she needs to apologize to and make amends. And no, an apology is not 'I'm sorry, but I did it because X', Eloise didn't want excuses from Pen, she wanted accountability, and she was right to demand it.

Because the beautiful thing is that we have ALL hurt our friends, we have all been the bad friend, and we have all fucked up immensely, and such things make us human and capable of change, something Penelope is continuously denied as a character in the uwu perfect baby narrative that gets cultivated.

I think this quote sums up her dissonance very well

"Perhaps I will come forward one day, though you must know dear reader, that decision should be left entirely up to me."

at the end of it, this is a conversation about trust and agency. Penelope upholds her own privacy, her own right to secrecy, and denies everyone else the same, including people who adore her. Colin and Eloise and Marina all become villains in this light as opposed to what they actually are: People with their own wants and dreams who also deserve their own right to privacy. And my personal hope is that with who LW is in the show, Penelope recognizes that she doesn't need that persona as a coping mechanism. Not in her friendship with Eloise and not in her romance with Colin. She does not need LW to be heard because she *is* heard. She only needs to say what she really means.

In her very first article, Penelope writes

"Hiding behind this paper is a brave person who can protect herself with a pen."

but when Eloise tells her she is "Sequestered here in this very room, writing your secret little scandal sheet, tarnishing everyone in town, all because you are too scared to stand up for yourself in reality" she takes that to heart and gets defensive and furious because at the core of things, it's TRUE. it hurt her *because* it was true. Penelope does NOT stand nor speak up for herself in the light, only in her writing. and it doesn't have to be that way.

her character arc is growing to the point where she can do so. where she no longer needs LW to speak on her opinions or how she feels, where she doesn't rely on it. her character arc IS to become brave. people ALREADY like her. they already see her insight as valuable. LW is a coping mechanism Penelope used because she thought no one else listened, but they prove her wrong and she has to grapple with that. she is loved and she needs to learn to accept it. she is loved and she did bad things. she can make mistakes and still be loved. she can own what she's done and know she is surrounded by people who care for her to the point of accountability.

and isn't that just so much more satisfying?

[ritornello]

Sleeping Dead 2021 Canna Label Fair Animate Bonus

Theme: Age Falsification

Scan + typesetting by me with some MTL translation

[anotherhumaninthisworld]

Who lies more: Charlotte, Fouché or Barère?

Frankly I know way too little about both Fouché and Barère to be able to say something really concreate about how much they lie (@tierseta @kocokoala anyone? would you mind adding what you know?) All I really have is that what Barère wrote in his memoirs regarding the way Collot d’Herbois returned from Lyon does not seem to line up with what better, more contemporary sources have to say. In Réponse des membres des deux anciens comités de salut public et de sûreté générale… (1795) Barère, Collot and Billaud-Varennes also claim that the law of 22 prairial had been worked out in secret between Couthon and Robespierre, while the rest of the CPS had had nothing to do with and even protested against it. Only on June 10 1794, when the law was introduced to the Convention, Barère is recorded to have called it ”a law completely in favour of the patriots.”

For Charlotte, I know of the following things, which all originate from her memoirs:

Charlotte writes that before the revolution her older brother gave up his functions as a judge after having had to sentence a man to death. But according to Robespierre (2014) by Herve Leuwers, he actually never resigned from this position.

When writing about having dated Fouché, Charlotte claims this happened during the revolution, which can hardly be accurate given the fact Fouché was already married by then.

Charlotte declares a letter written by her to Augustin dated July 6 1794 had had apocryphal parts inserted into it when it got published after their death. In an inserted footnote, Laponneraye writes that”this letter […], I am convinced, was for Charlotte Robespierre an object of constant torment; the idea that someone could have thought she could have written it the way it is, and that it had really been adressed to Maximilien Robespierre, tantalized her. All the times I saw her, she spoke to me about it. One day we read it together, and I asked her to indicate which passages she hadn’t written and where infamous falsifications had been added; I publish this version in the Pièces justificatives section.”However, an encounter with the fac-simile shows that no alterations has been made to the letter, which is entirely in Charlotte’s hand.

When describing her arrest right after thermidor, Charlotte writes that she, after having been insulted and struck by guards at the Conciergerie on 10 thermidor for begging to see her brothers and been led away by some people moved to pity, she completely loses her reason and doesn’t come back to herself until a few days later, finding herself in prison with a woman who, after yet another few days, convinces her to sign a letter she has written, the content of which Charlotte doesn’t look at (and if even real, has never been found). The letter is sent off, and the next day both are set free. A story which doesn’t line up completely with what official documents tell us about Charlotte’s arrest, which according to them took place on 13 thermidor. An interrogation of Charlotte was held the very same day, in which she disowns both her brothers and the Duplays, denounces a man named Didier and claims she had almost been the victim of the Revolutionary Tribunal. For some reason or another she also gave her age as 28 when interrogated, which is obviously false… The circumstances regarding Charlotte’s release from prison are however dubious here as well, as no order for it appears to exist…

Charlotte claims to have been witnessed meetings both Marat and Pétion had with her older brother. But in both cases, the meetings she alludes to appear to have played out before she even came to Paris in late September 1792…

She also writes that her brother went to visit Desmoulins in prison once he ”learned of” his arrest, but that the latter didn’t want to see him, something which I found unlikely given the fact Robespierre had both already signed Desmoulins’ arrest and prepared his indictment, while Desmoulins in a prison letter to his wife reveals that he is writing to Robespierre, meaning he shouldn’t have repulsed him was he to come visit.

Like I have already written here, I also doubt Charlotte actually tells the whole truth regarding the things she was up to during the revolution and what it was that caused a split between her and her brothers, even if the things she does say about them do not have to entirely dismissed.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Barère and Fouché lie about more/more serious things compared to Charlotte. Though I guess the reveal of fabrications/alterations in her memoirs is still more surprising given the fact Fouché and Barère didn’t really have the reputation of being honest men/reliable narrators to begin with… Then there’s of course also a discussion to be had regarding how much of what they’ve written that is blatant lies and what is simply a partial telling/personal conception of the full truth or honest misremembering.

[lightofraye]

It's A Story

Have you ever heard of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy? If you’re familiar with the tale of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, you might be. Outside of that case, it’s a layman’s term for a supposed mental illness where the parent deliberately makes the child ill to obtain attention. Basically, child abuse.

So why am I bringing it up? I was reading this article (link: Gypsy Rose Blanchard Was a Medical Mystery. A Failure of Science Made Her a Murderer) and there was a section about how the term came to be. (The following is either paraphrased or a direct copy-paste from the linked article.)

--

It was used by Roy Meadow in The Lancet in 1977 to describe “parents who, by falsification, caused their children innumerable harmful hospital procedures” as “a sort of Munchausen Syndrome by proxy”. Meadow used the term to label this particular form of child abuse.

Munchausen Syndrome was coined by Richard Asher in 1951. The syndrome itself was identified to describe individuals who either fake medical conditions or go as far as to commit acts of self-harm to induce symptoms of real illnesses.

Asher, in trying to define this issue, wrote:

“Here is described a common syndrome which most doctors have seen, but about which little has been written. Like the famous Baron von Munchausen, the persons affected have always travelled widely; and their stories, like those attributed to him, are both dramatic and untruthful. Accordingly, the syndrome is respectfully dedicated to the Baron, and named after him.”

Evidently Asher chose to name his described syndrome after the ‘famous’ Baron von Munchausen—in particular, the fictional German nobleman character created by writer Rudolf Eric Raspe, not the real Hieronymus Karl Friedrich von Münchhausen that the character was lampooning—by the end of the 20th century, the syndrome was more well-known than the namesake.

For instance, in 1983, on the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, there was an episode actually called ‘Baron von Munchausen’ where a patient faked their illnesses for attention.

--

“But Raye,” you say, “what’s your point?”

Keep reading. I’m getting there.

(Eventually.)

--

The real Baron Munchausen—Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, Freiherr von Münchhausen—was not a malevolent man. He was a veteran of the Russo-Turkish War of 1735–1739, and at the age of 40, he retired to Germany.

There, he became a sort of celebrity amongst the German elite. They relished in listening to his stories, which were in some cases embellished. But Hieronymous didn’t embellish because he wanted glory; he was telling his crowds what they wanted to hear. One person who knew Hieronymous said he told his stories “to ridicule the disposition for the marvellous which he observed in some of his acquaintances.”

In the end, perhaps that’s the one thing we can take away from the term, “Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy.” A reminder of the culpability—not just of the medical professionals or the legal system, but even the fans who consume the true crime content about the mysterious and deeply misunderstood disease, especially the gripping tale of Gypsy Rose Blanchard and her mother.

It’s a reminder that a lie is only effective if people choose to listen to it, to believe it without question. To shrug off doubt, because deep down, we’d rather just be told a story.

--

Figured out my point yet?

No?

That’s okay.

Stories. Be they stories you read in books—paper or digital, I don’t judge—or online, or heard in conventions… sometimes all we want are stories. Embellished to the point of being absolute fabrications or real stories, we all want them. We want to be entertained. It’s why we have plays, movies, television shows. Heck, even music can be used as a form of telling a story.

Actors are a part of telling those stories. It’s why some anti-Tumblr blogs are trying to emphasize that some, if not all, the stories we hear actors tell in conventions may be, completely and utterly fictionalized. Or embellished. That we shouldn’t take everything they say to be complete fact.

Case in point: Jensen’s recent stories. Danneel being “home”—that’s something everyone has called their spouse at one point or another. Would it be that far-fetched that he’d eventually use that story? Jenneel stans and Danneel stans are pushing that as fact, but I question it. Why? Because his other stories read so… generic, without any genuine heart.

For instance, the ice cream story.

I’m a parent myself. My ex and I disagree about what to feed our son. There’ll be arguments about what to feed our child when we go back and forth for visitations. That’s how Jensen’s story came across to me—because if it were a wife telling her husband not to give the kids ice cream, it’d be told in a far different way.

Meanwhile, as a parent with shared visitation experience, that’s how it felt. As well to others who aren’t separated from their spouses, so I’m not projecting here, folks.

Yes, actors tell stories. When they no longer have stories to tell about the shows they were on, or weren’t asked about it, they have to come up with ready stories to tell. Could they go super-personal? Sure. But sometimes embellishments happen. Or they “take” other stories that were used because they literally can’t come up with some of their own.

Such as taking Blake Lively’s very beautiful and real tribute to her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and using it to describe Danneel. Yes, that one is absolutely fabricated. Because all you have to do is go back to other statements Jensen has said about Danneel—stories that aren’t romantic, that were absolutely ignored by the stans because it doesn’t fit the delusion they have. Such as Jensen saying the marriage works better when he isn’t home and are apart. That he couldn’t be himself when she was on the Supernatural set (a very telling statement). Heck, when he was talking about her being on the Supernatural set, he mentioned how she was very aggressive and combative to Jared about acting, and he was all “Phew, someone gets to be the target and not me”. That’s… an alarming thing to say about your spouse. Most heinous of all, she didn't go to him after the Rust shooting, forcing him to make up bullshit about her being afraid of flying. Period.

It's stories, people. But in each story there’s a crumb. A statement. A look. A tone of voice. Jensen never sounds genuine when he talks about Danneel. He doesn’t look genuine either. Then there are the photos of him with her. Again, never real, never genuine, with body language that screams he’s massively unhappy in his marriage.

But of course… mention that and stans jump down our throats. Which I don’t understand because… I’m free to express my opinions and observations. And you’re just as free to block the tags and avoid our blogs.

You won’t convince us and we clearly won’t convince you.

[justforbooks]

A life in quotes: Ismail Kadare

Ismail Kadare, the Albanian writer who explored Balkan history and culture in poetry and fiction, has died aged 88. Here are some of the most memorable quotes from interviews he gave throughout his life

On totalitarianism

The hell of communism, like every other hell, was smothering in the worst sense of the term. But literature transformed that into a life force, a force which helped you survive and hold your head up and win out over dictatorship.

In a country of that kind, the first thing for a writer is the most important one, the most substantial one, it is: do not take the regime seriously. You are a writer, you are going to have a much richer life than they have, you are in some sense or another eternal by comparison with those kinds of people, and in the last analysis you don’t need to bother about them very much.

On Enver Hoxha, Albanian ruler from 1944 until his death in 1985

When Hoxha broke with the Soviet Union in 1962, he was ready to turn to Europe, but he was rejected, so he made an absurd short-lived alliance with China. When that went wrong he built thousands of anti-nuclear pillboxes, which he knew were useless, but he wanted to create a fear-psychosis. Albania suffered longer than any other eastern European country.

Hoxha fancied himself an intellectual and poet who had been to the Sorbonne, and he didn’t want to be seen as an enemy of writers. Of course, he could have killed me in a ‘car crash’, or by ‘suicide’, as he did many others.

On being described as a political writer

I am of the opinion that I am not a political writer, and, moreover, that as far as true literature is concerned, there actually are no political writers. I think that my writing is no more political than ancient Greek theatre. I would have become the writer I am in any political regime.

I have never claimed to be a ‘dissident’ in the proper meaning of the term. Open opposition to Hoxha’s regime, like open opposition to Stalin during Stalin’s reign in Russia, was simply impossible. Dissidence was a position no one could occupy, even for a few days, without facing the firing squad. On the other hand, my books themselves constitute a very obvious form of resistance to the regime.

On international success

On the one hand it secured protection for me in relation to the regime, on the other hand I was constantly under observation. What excited suspicion was ‘why does the western bourgeoisie hold a writer from a Stalinist country in high esteem?’

On the Albanian language

For me as a writer, Albanian is simply an extraordinary means of expression – rich, malleable, adaptable.

On books

I hated the Soviet books, full of sunshine, working in the fields, the joyous spring, the summer full of hope. The first time I heard the words ‘hope’ and ‘hard work’, they made me yawn.

The founding father of Albanian literature is the 19th-century writer Naim Frashëri. Without having the greatness of Dante or Shakespeare, he is nonetheless the founder, the emblematic character. He wrote long epic poems, as well as lyrical poetry, to awaken the national consciousness of Albania. After him came Gjergj Fishta. We can say that these two are the giants of Albanian literature, the ones that children study at school. Later came other poets and writers who produced perhaps better works than those two, but they don’t occupy the same place in the nation’s memory.

On censorship

In the early 60s, life in Albania was pleasant and well organised. A writer would not have known he should not write about the falsification of history.

For a writer, personal freedom is not so important. It is not individual freedom that guarantees the greatness of literature, otherwise writers in democratic countries would be superior to all others. Some of the greatest writers wrote under dictatorship – Shakespeare, Cervantes. The great universal literature has always had a tragic relation with freedom. The Greeks renounced absolute freedom and imposed order on chaotic mythology, like a tyrant. In the west, the problem is not freedom. There are other servitudes – lack of talent, thousands of mediocre books published every year.

I have created a body of literary work during the time of two diametrically opposed political systems: a tyranny that lasted for 35 years (1955-1990), and 20 years of liberty. In both cases, the thing that could destroy literature is the same: self-censorship.

On contemporary literature

They say that contemporary literature is very dynamic because it is influenced by the cinema, the television, the speed of communication. But the opposite is true! If you compare the texts of the Greek antiquity with today’s literature, you’ll notice that the classics operated in a far larger terrain, painted on a much broader canvas, and had an infinitely greater dimension.

All this noise about innovations, new genres, is idle. There is real literature and then there is the rest.

On being a writer

I don’t work for more than two hours a day.

Writing is neither a happy nor an unhappy occupation – it is something in-between. It is almost a second life.

I am so grateful for literature, because it gives me the chance to overcome the impossible.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[lihyot-am-chofshi-beartzeinu]

TRANSCRIPT: How can Anti-Zionism be the new antisemitism? Surely there’s no connection between them. Antisemitism is hatred of Jews as a people, a race, an ethnic group. Anti-Zionism is objection to a country, a nation, a state. What’s the connection between them?

Antisemitism is a virus that mutates, so that new antisemites can deny they are antisemites at all, because their hate is different from the old. In the Middle Ages Jews were hated for their religion. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century they were hated for their race. Today they are hated for their nation state, Israel.

What then is the connection between Jews as a people, Judaism as a religion, and Israel as a state? The connection between the Jewish people and Israel goes back long before the birth of either Christianity or Islam. Jews created a society there in the days of Joshua, a kingdom in the days of Saul, and a nation with Jerusalem as its capital in the days of King David: all this more than 3,000 years ago.

Jews are the only people who ever created a nation state there. At all other times in the past 3,000 years it was merely an administrative district in an empire whose centre was elsewhere: the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Alexandrian, Roman and Byzantine empires, the Crusaders of the Holy Roman Empire, the various Muslim empires such as the Umayyads, Abbasids, Fatimids, Mamluks and Ottomans, and finally the British. Jews are the only people who have maintained a continuous presence in the land. They are its indigenous, original inhabitants.

The November 1947 United Nations vote to bring Israel into existence was a momentous reversal of imperialism. It gave back to the Jewish people the home taken from them by empire after empire. Israel was the only non-artificial creation in the Middle East after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The rest ­– among them Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Yemen – were artificial creations that hadn’t been states before, which is why most of them still exist in a condition of ethnic, religious and tribal strife. Only Israel had previously existed as a nation state.

That’s the unbreakable connection between Israel and the Jewish people. The connection between Israel and Judaism is equally ancient and fundamental. It is more than just as Robert Frost said, “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” Read the Hebrew Bible and you’ll see immediately that it isn’t about the salvation of the soul. It’s about creating in the holy land a society based on the biblical ideas of justice, welfare, the sanctity of life – and caring for the stranger “because you know what it feels like to be a stranger.”

Judaism began with two journeys to the land, one by Abraham and Sarah, the other by the Israelites in the days of Moses. At least half of the 613 commandments of the Bible are only applicable to the land of Israel. And though in the centuries of exile and dispersion Jews lived in almost every land under the sun, Israel has remained a focus of their prayers and the only place where they have been able to do what every other nation takes for granted, construct their own society in the light of their own ideals.

Judaism differs from the other Abrahamic monotheisms, Christianity and Islam, in that it is the only one of the three that never created or sought to create an empire. It was the imperialism of the Roman emperor Hadrian that led him in the 2nd century to change the country’s name to Palestine, one of the first, but certainly not the last, deliberate falsifications of history by those who seek to deny the Jewish people’s right to their land.

There are 56 Islamic nations, and 159 in which Christians form the majority. There is and only ever has been one Jewish state, tiny and vulnerable though it is and always was. That is why Anti-Zionism, denying Jews the right to their one and only collective home by misrepresenting Judaism, is the new antisemitism, every bit as virulent and dangerous as the old.

From the Rabbi Sacks Legacy.

[inthesummerof69]

Welcome to the Beatles' deep dive!! This will be release in 3 stages today! This is part one: early life!!

The Beatles were many things before they were "The Beatles". In fact, they started as The Quarrymen. Or rather, they evolved from The Quarrymen.  The Quarrymen, first formed in 1956, were John Lennon's band  named after a line from the school song in which John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison would all attend. Though they wouldn't know that yet. Paul was first introduced to The Quarrymen through a churchyard performance and, with John sufficently impressed by his guitar playing, joined soon after. George would follow quickly behind with an introduction by Paul. By 1959, John's original members had all abandoned the band, but that was soon to be remided with the arrival of Stuart Sutcliffe. One of many christened the "Fifth Beatle" it was him who suggested they change their name to Beatals as a tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets. This became The Silver Beetles, then The Silver Beatles, and then, finally, The Beatles were born.

At this point, Alan Williams, The Beatles unofficial manager, set them up for what would be a grueling assignment in Hamburg, Germany, with the addition of Pete Best as drummer. The five boys, most of whom were still minors, packed up for Germany where they would play the Indra Club in the most red light of red light districts. An introduction to drugs and sex would begin here in between the backbreaking hours long sets. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, it wasn't to last. Authorities discovered George Harrison's falsification of his age to gain entry to Germany, and he was soon deported. Paul and Pete were soon to follow, and soon after, John too returned to Liverpool, leaving Stu to his newfound fiance. The band would find their way back to Hamburg over the next two years, but the most important part of this tour would be Stu officially deciding to leave, leaving Paul to take his place on bass. (And a star is born). When they returned to Liverpool, they found sucess with the rising Merseybeat movement and began playing at music haunt "The Cavern." It would be at one of these many performances where they would encouter Brian Epstein: The man who would make The Beatles.

[discodeviant]

I'm probably the only one who cares about this but I typed it out in case anyone else is interested lol

S2E3: For He Is a Liar and the Father of Lies

Local Wrestling Promoter Rumored Behind Gambling, Extortion Rackets

Glendon Marsh Charged with Conspiracy and Extortion By G. NAYLOR

MEMPHIS, Tenn. June 20 A Federal grand jury indicted Memphis community figure and wrestling promoter Glendon Marsh with five counts of conspiracy and extortion. Police think Marsh is a key figure in the Memphis underground, but have had only unreliable jailhouse informants as circumstantial evidence. The District Attorney may now have Marsh in a full-nelson and ready to tap out and rat on a wider syndicate that the FBI thinks may be connected to a nation wide money laundering scheme. But the court can only hold him so long with out concrete evidence. Marsh’s bail is set to $40,000. Which he can easily post by next week.

Indicted with Marsh were many of the wrestlers he employs at the American Legion Hall. Police also think Marsh’s young son may be deeply involved with his father’s business, possibly using his young age to hide certain activities from law enforcement and tax officials. Marsh is a known union buster and was quite outspoken about [indecent] sanitation strikes that … shut down Memphis.

Conspiracy Charges

The indictment charges that the defendants conspired to obstruct [or delay] local gambling laws that used numbers betting loop holes to avoid restriction applied to casinos. He’s also known in the pro-wrestling circuit as a cut-throat manager with an eye for talented “heel” characters. His Memphis League run by Glendon Marsh Promotions is known across the region as the best spot to see bad guys in the ring. One former employee, who wants to remain nameless, gave us a [sic] inside scoop on what goes on behind the scenes in the wrestling world.

“He just knows how to pick ‘em and he has a talent for knowing the crowd and how riling them up enough to get them coming back.”

3 Companies Also Named in Gambling Racketeering Case

The indictment charges that the defendants conspired to obstruct members receiving ballots and $ counts under a Federal Indictment accusing him of falsification of union records and fabricating employees and supervisors all together. [A] retired union leader said that he was once kidnapped by Marsh to change one of his votes and subsequently retire. He commented.

“He dropped me off at the court house. I took it as a message and that message said, ‘I dare you.’ I kept my mouth shut for years.”

Marsh was never tried on the charge and the Federal Indictment for kidnapping and falsification was never pushed. There were suggestions that Marsh had been protected by someone at the governor’s office. No one knows.

Many are asking what will happen to the Federal witnesses if Marsh posts bond. The District Attorney as [sic] said that they have their witnesses under lock and key and there’s “No way Marsh can get to them before the grand jury hears testimony.”

Many are asking what will happen to the rising Memphis pro-wrestling scene that Marsh is entirely responsible for overturning and creating. Some may think the sport will rise to the national stage in the near future.

Continued on pg. [##]

[goest-and-fuckest-thyself-blog]

Not Without You NO.2

Soldier Boy x OC!

🔥 Warnings!🔥

All my works are 18+ I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR FAKE PAGES AND/OR RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYONE WHO READS MY CONTENT!!! LEGAL USERS BE ADVISED, I SHALL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR FALSIFICATIONS OF AGE ON THIS SIGHT! PLEASE DO NOT REPOST I DO NOT GIVE MY PERMISSION FOR MY WORK TO BE REPOSTED OR REBLOGGED

CW: Cursing, Sexual innuendo, OOC Ben (he’s still our favourite asshole just a little less so,) general pg13 rating.

Word Count: 2,291

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

Everyone on the team was summoned to the office before we had even made it back to the city. I refused to let go of her the entire car ride back, barely even looking away from her as I stroked my hands through her drying hair.

“What’s her real name?” Hughie turned in his seat to ask me quietly. I met his gaze, hesitant to tell him. She never liked her name, and I never called her by it. But if we were going to be staying with these fuckers, they can’t just call her Eris.

“Elizabeth Holloway,” I told him. “But don’t call her that, she prefers Liz. You, cocksleeve, don’t get to call her anything. Don’t even look at her.”

Hughie gave an offended look before turning back in his seat and humphing out a sigh. Butcher shook his head with a smirk, looking back at me in the rear view mirror.

“And she calls you Benny. Little bit more than just a best friend, I reckon.” He quipped.

I gave a mocking face and rolled my eyes, going back to my own business and taking care of my girl.

Now, I sat perched on the edge of the coffee table, staring down on her peaceful features as she lay on the office couch. Butcher’s entire staff was stationed around the room, either staring at me or the girl I watched.

That one blonde girl that I’d blasted was staring daggers at me like I’d killed her puppy, the little twink that says he’s her boyfriend sat with her. His attempts at comforting her seemed to go awry, seeing as every time he attempted to touch her, she batted his hand away.

The one everybody called ‘Frenchie’ sat in his chair, feet on his desk as he played with what looked to be a tiny trigger mechanism for a bomb. Nice, now I had to worry about a frog blowing us all up. That pretty Japanese girl was more interested in the new person I’d brought around than anything else. She perched on a desk that lay flush against the back of the couch, gazing intently at the woman’s white hair.

Finally, she stirred on the couch. My heart leapt with joy and excitement as her eyes fluttered open to meet mine.

“Hey, Bird. How’s your head doing?” I asked, gently stroking my thumb across her cheek.

She sat up abruptly, causing the girl on the desk behind her to scramble backwards and fall off the desk. “Ben? Oh my god!”

Birdie threw herself into me, wrapping her arms tight around my neck. I pulled her against me as hard as I could without hurting her, hurrying my face in the crook of her shoulder as she clung to me.

“I thought they took you too!” She murmured against my neck, clinging to me like I’d fall away into dust at any second.

~*~

I rolled over in my bed to find my arm now slung over a warm body. Blearily blinking awake, the odd feeling of someone laying beside me became all the less odd. Seeing Birdie’s silvery hair cast across the black pillow case reminded me of liquid silver over the black diamonds in my mother’s old brooch. I’d have to find it and gift it to her.

She had changed so much, yet in most ways, she had barely changed at all. Her face remained unmarked my the ravages of time, unlike mine. Bird’s hair however, used to be a bright golden blonde, like the finest jewellery anyone could craft; strands of thick wavy finery. Her skin had paled slightly along with her hair, making me think whatever tests Vought ran on her made the change. It could also be the lack of sunlight since the eighties, but I didn’t care. I didn’t mind this stark hue, but it made her look less childlike. She hadn’t aged, but she looked sharper, more deadly.

Her cheeks looked sharper, her jaw slightly less rounded than when we were younger. It made me think of the time before we signed up for the program. Birdie was the girl next door, my childhood best friend and the heiress to my father’s business partner. Her family had moved into the mansion next door to ours from Sheffield, England when she was six. I had met her at the house party her mother threw a week after their arrival.

When I saw her for the first time, I knew I wanted to be her friend. She sat in the parlour, playing with another girl from down the street. The thing I remembered the most was the light robin egg blue dress she wore that made her big blue eyes sparkle.

I had always known she was pretty, but the first time I thought she looked beautiful was during her first debutante’s ball. She didn’t want to attend, but her overly posh mother forced her. She complained for days on end about how she hated getting fitted, shopping for new shoes. I’d never heard a girl complain so much about the debut season, and I had an annoying younger sister. As much as she complained, I never cared, I just wanted to tease her about getting dressed up like her mother’s doll.

Though, when Birdie showed up wearing a brand new empire waist evening gown, a lace collar adorning her collar bones and draping her shoulders, my breath hitched in my throat. The deep green fabric didn’t drown her like her everyday dresses did, instead it hugged her in the right places. My mouth dried and my hands clammed up as she descended the stairs on the arm of her father. I almost spilled the champagne in my gloved hand before she walked gracefully to me and snapped me from my daze. I would remember that night forever.

As I stared at her, her chest rose deeply, her body shifting beneath the sheets. Birdie’s bright ocean eyes opened, the flutter of her lashes over her cheeks filling my chest with warmth. A small smile spread on her plush lips as she blinked up at me.

“Why’re you staring at me?” She chuckled, her voice scratchy and high with morning strain.

“I just got you back after forty years, and you’re upset that I’m making sure you’re still here?” I teased back at her, leaning to sit up on my elbow, carefully sliding a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

Birdie’s smile widened and her cheeks tinted an even deeper pink. “Thanks for staying with me last night. I’m not used to…”

The smile adorning her face faded and she hid her gaze from me, instead turning into me to lay on her side. Her hand tangled itself in the fabric of my shirt, just above my heart. I sighed and wrapped my free hand around her back, softly rubbing my palm up and down her spine. “It’s okay. I’m not either,” I didn’t have to finish her sentence. We both knew what we meant; we weren’t used to this world or anything soft anymore. She had woken up once since I’d pulled her from that cryo tube, and it was a mess and a half when she did.

I had to explain to a wailing Birdie that we had been set up in Nicaragua, that I had been sold to the Russians. I had to tell her how Stan had taken her for experimentation when she was deemed as a threat to his plans for me. Bird understood all that. What she had a hard time understanding was how much time had passed, why we were just now pulled out of cryo, and how I got caught up with the CIA. I’ll admit, it was a convoluted plan and predicament, but I only wanted two things. I wanted Birdie safe, and I wanted revenge; for the both of us.

Bird stayed silent for a moment, just playing with the shirt wrapped in her fingers before sighing and looking back up at me.

“The day they took you, they ambushed me first. That gas they used knocked me out, and the next time I woke up, I was in that machine, waiting to drown in whatever they filled it with,” she told me, that haunted look staying in her eyes. “I only have flashes of medical procedures after that. Until I saw you.”

I nodded, waiting for her to continue, but she didn’t. Instead, she nuzzled into my chest and breathed deeply. I let my head fall from my hand, bringing my now free left arm around her in a tight embrace.

“They’ll never separate us again,” I told her earnestly. With a peck to the top of her head as she nodded, I relaxed into her. I meant every word, I would never let anyone take her from me again.

Our peace was shattered as the door to the room slammed open, my body jumping to the defence as it shook the walls. I stood ready to beat the shit out of someone when I saw Butcher in the doorway, grinning between Bird and I like he’d just caught his best friends fucking. I heaved a deep sigh and rolled my eyes, relaxing a bit.

“The fuck dude?” I snapped at him, moving to stand as a shield when I saw him eye Bird.

“Come on, duchess needs to meet the team,” he waved for us to follow as he sauntered away down the hall.

I threw my arms up in defeat and question as I turned to see Birdie quietly giggling at me, her own self now propped on one elbow to face me. She shook her head playfully at me and rolled out of the bed.

“He’s a wanker, that one, isn’t he?” She said teasingly, walking to join me at the dresser. I handed her a T-shirt to throw over her lab provided spandex set, just so that she wasn’t just in a sports bra and shorts. I didn’t like the way Bitch-er and his French weirdo looked at my Bird.

“He’s a cunt, yeah,” I offered in answer as I threw on a pair of sweats. With an outstretched hand, I turned to my girl. “Come on, so we can get this over with and get a burger.”

“For breakfast?” Birdie

“Always, I can’t get the soda fountain in Philly outta my head,” I told her, an honest grin plastered to my face as I said it. I’d loved the 50’s, always dragging her to the local diner down the street from the Vought building on our breaks.

Bird’s cheeky smile let me know she understood the reference I made. I wasn’t sure it would land, but seeing her pearly smile beneath her lips convinced me

otherwis

That was another thing that I had noticed, just at that moment. Her I-teeth looked sharper than they were in any of the pictures I had of us. Her smile was always bright, it still was; but those teeth sent a shiver up my spine. They were almost vampiric. I shook myself from my thoughts, knowing I just wasn’t used to her yet after all these years without her. As we rounded the corner into the office space, all the quiet chatter and conversation died down, the team’s heads all turning to us.

“Right,” Butcher began, “you all know Soldier Boy. This lovely lady, whom I will be referring to as the Duchess, is called-“

He cut himself off, sweeping an arm toward Birdie and I with his signature asshole-ish smirk. My jaw clenched as Bird let my hand loose, stepping forward with a small wave to the group. Butcher never broke eye contact as she introduced herself, an unspoken conversation between us in the seconds before she spoke.

He was teasing me, making me play his little game in return for getting her out of that lab. Butcher somehow knew that I’d play along if it kept Bird happy, if it kept him from telling her all about my recent exploits and misadventures. The prick was basically blackmailing me.

“Elizabeth. Call me Liz,” Birdie offered to the group, still a tad quietly. She never did well around groups of people she didn’t know, and without any camera’s to turn on the charm for, she didn’t act like she had to.

Butcher looked away from me, bringing his hand to rest between Bird’s shoulder blades. A heat rose in my chest and I had to remind myself that if I went nuclear here, I could end up hurting my girl.

“This is me lad, Hughie,” Butcher went in order around the room, leaning down and pointing each person out to Birdie. I wanted to break every finger on the hand that touched her. “Starlight, Kimiko, M.M, and Frenchie.”

“Bonjour, Mademoiselle,” the French kid saluted to Birdie, earning a light chuckle from her.

“Comment alez vous, mon ami?” Birdie asked back. Dammit, I forgot she spoke frog.

The two spoke to each other in French, Bird quickly coming to sit in the circle of the group, leaving me to stalk up to Butcher as the conversation quickly turned back to English. Everyone already had questions for her.

“Next time you want to make a point, leave her out of it,” I spat, arms crossed as we both watched the group converse.

“Nah, more fun that way. Besides, just a little extra motivation to get this job done won’t hurt ya’! Quicker we bag Homelander, quicker you can run off into the sunset, he countered. Butcher made me want to punch holes through him most of the time, but refusing to leave Bird out of it? I wanted to rip him in half.

[itookyoudown]

I always want to ask you - also if you have answered this you don't have to answer it again- what would a college au justified look like?? I always feel strange about college au of this show because anyone clearly over 30 in this show don't work for me in college au

i love anon asks, always feel free to send me wild anon asks about justified i adore it. let me tell you i have been spinning this idea around in my head on the daily since you sent it in!!

i'll be the first to admit school settings just don't butter my biscuit so i'm probably not the best brain to be thinking up ideas on how to spin justified into a college au. but this intrigues me so i'm having fun with this idea. i'm playing loosey-goosey with academic tropes and archetypes like dolls i've borrowed from someone else's toy chest.

so, i think obviously the easiest way to do a justified college AU would be to simply age everyone down or just change everything so the whole cast goes with Raylan to college and hijinks occur.

but i'm not doing that lol.

instead, i'm gonna envision the whole plot of justified taking place in the spiderweb of academia instead of as a lawmen vs outlaws cat and mouse chase.

i think the best way to do a justified college au while maintaining the western spirit of justified would be to make Harlan a community college while Lexington / Frankfurt / Miami and other various cities can be twisted into state universities (symbolizing stability, respectability, etc) or private universities (symbolizing glamor but also corruption, etc).

Raylan stays a college boy, as in canon, but to exacerbate the chip on his shoulder and highlight his roots we give him the background of having gone to Harlan Community College for two years before he transferred to a state college to finish his education...

and become a professor.

yes, i think that to keep the heart and soul of justified's themes we need to have the adult characters as adults and the kid characters as kids. i'm with you in that regard. i know this is a twist on the typical idea of a college AU, but this is my pretzel and i'm twisting!!

what does Professor Raylan teach? honestly, i have no idea, but the man does love to talk and he'd give great lectures but suck at grading papers 😌

i'm not quite sure how to revamp Raylan's shooting of Tommy Bucks into academic drama, i'll leave that to someone else i think, but maybe he loses his tenure over something. Dan arranges for Raylan to start a new job at Lexington University.

and also.

Harlan Community College.

yeah, let's make Raylan an adjunct professor having to navigate between a "proper" university and a "lowly" community college (and yes i hate this perception as well fuck anyone that looks down on community colleges fr) but you know Raylan would have a lot of pride issues over having to return to the place that made him and the home he ran from. there is a lot he'd need to unpack.

Raylan, Tim, and Rachel would also work well as Raylan's fellow adjunct professors, splitting their time between Lexington and Harlan, while we could have figures like Boyd as Harlan's local professors.

and this is also where professor-on-professor drama happens.

now, this next part is where it gets tricky. the exact particulars of academic controversies and inner workings of university careers are far beyond me, i would need to deep dive research into this and i don't have time to fall down that rabbit hole atm, but i think we could adapt Raylan's outlaw family background by saying something about for-profit education systems and moral/ethical violations like plagiarism, cheating, falsification, and also crimes like misconduct, abuse, funding theft, etc.

for instance, i think you could reasonably revamp most of season's 2 plot and all the Bennett family bullshit (affectionate) to be about predatory charter schools.

Arlo and Bo? technical college/trade schools.

Ava, i feel, would work great as a tutor which lets her exist outside the higher education realm but constantly be personally & professionally influenced by it.

Winona works for university administration but not being a teacher herself so she and Raylan's inherent misunderstanding of each other is about how they view/handle students.

think about Loretta as a freshman in community college, in danger of dropping out and failing until she takes one of Raylan's classes!! think of her in the later seasons becoming involved more in the school and deciding she's not going to pursue more college after graduation, but will use her associates degree to do something that improves her community for the better.

places like the neighborhood of Clover Hill could even be twisted into a prestigious private prep school or something. do you see my vision of a community college professor Boyd Crowder lying cheating stealing his way into wanting a job offer somewhere that'll let him enroll future Crowder children on the fast track to an ivy-league education??

anyways. that's what a justified college AU would look like to me :)

[freifraufischer]

A non-exhaustive list of gymnasts whose ages are known to be falsified.

“Dick does she look 14 years old to you? [...]  I tell you we have a story going around the gymnastics community that is pretty traditional that when a young Romanian girl is asked her age she looks to her coach for the answer.”  --Bart Conner, 1985 American Cup

Since Wikipedia can’t be trusted to be right for a lot of details of gymnasts careers...

Olga Bicherova

Born in either 1967 or 1968, during Bicherova’s elite career the age requirement was that you had to turn 15 in the year of competition.  Either birthdate would have made her too young for the 1981 World Championships where she won two gold medals, one in the all around and one with the team.  If you take the 1967 birthdate she could have been age eligible for the 1982 World Cup where she won 5 medals, 3 of them gold except that one of the requirements of the World Cup at that time was previous participation in the World Championships.  [In fairness to Bicherova the above picture is slightly mean of me to use as she never grew very tall.]

Ecaterina Szabo

Born in 1968, during Szabo’s elite career the age requirement was to turn 15 in the year of competition meaning her first year of senior eligibility should have been 1983 and 1983 is when her first major titles occurred.  Except she was competing as a senior in 1982 winning a number of international invitationals (which she may have been eligible for anyway because juniors and seniors often competed together at those).  It’s unclear to me why her birthdate was changed though it might have simply been something that happened when the government changed her name to hide her Hungarian ethnicity.  Szabo’s first language is Hungarian and she was born in Transylvania as Szabó Katalin.  She still goes by Katalin in her private life.  She was of age during the 1984 Olympic Games and the 1983 World Championships

Olga Mostepanova

Born in 1970, during Mostepanova’s elite career the age requirement was to turn 15 in the year of competition (or 14 for the World Championship that qualified for the Olympics).  She has said herself that while she was competing her passport was wrong by “years”.  By the accounts as I understand them her first senior year should have been 1985.  Mostepanova was the top Soviet gymnast in 1984 winning the alternative games held for countries that boycotted the 1984 Olympic Games (and the reality of her age falsification makes playing ‘What if?’ for who should have won the 1984 Olympics awkward).  Aside from her 5 Friendship Games gold medals, she would have also been age ineligible for the 1983 World Championships where she won 4 medals, 2 gold (team and beam) and 2 silver (all around and floor).

Oksana Omelianchik

Born on January 2, 1970, during Omelianchik’s elite career the age requirement was to be turn 15 in the year of competition and her first year of eligability was 1985.  None of Omelianchik’s elite career honors are tainted however she says at one point she was given a passport with her birthdate shifted by a week (which would have made her able to compete in the 1984 Olympic Games).

Daniela Silivaș

Born in 1972, during Silivaș’ elite career the age requirement was that you turn 15 in the year of competition meaning her first year as a senior elite should have been 1987.  In 1985 she won a European bronze medal on beam, a World Championship gold medal on beam and a silver with the team.  She also won 3 medals at the 1986 World Cup.  She was of age for the 1988 Olympic Games

Kim Gwang-suk

Only the universe knows what year Kim Gwang-suk was actually born.  She was listed as 15 years old for three consecutive years by the North Korean government from 1989-1991, and then 17 years old at the 1992 Olympic Games.  She may have been as young as 11 when she competed in the 1989 World Championships.  In 1991 she won the World Championship gold on the uneven bars and at least one of her birth years means she might have been age eligible for that competition (which may be why FIG was reluctant to take away that medal, officially they decided that as she wasn’t personally involved in the fraud she could keep it).  The North Korean team was banned from the 1993 World Championships for the sloppy fraud.

Alexandra Marinescu

Born in 1982, the age requirements changed in the middle of Marinescu’s elite career.  For the 1996 Olympic Gams you had to turn 15 in the year of competition and starting in 1997 you had to turn 16.  The Romanian state issued her a passport giving her birthdate as 1981 and it is worth noting that this was the post revolution Romanian government.  She competed at 1995 Worlds, 1996 Worlds, and the 1996 Olympic Games with a stated birthdate that would make her just old enough to compete in those competitions.  In fact she was younger than both Dominique Moceanu and Vanessa Atler.  At no point during her entire elite career which lasted 3 years was Marinescu of age.  She has 3 World medals (2 gold for the team in 1995 and 1997, 1 silver on beam from 1996), and one Olympic medal (bronze in the team from 1996).  The FIG database still lists her incorrect birth year and the Romanian gymnastics federation claims that she is lying about the age falsification (as well as other abuses she has been outspoken about).

Dong Fangxiao

Born sometime in January of 1986 (the exact day is still disputed), during Dong’s elite career the age requirement was to turn 16 in the year of competition.  Her first year of senior competition should have been 2001 but she competed at the 1999 World Championships under the rule at the time that if you are eligible for the Olympic Games you cold compete at the World Championships the previous year.  She won a bronze medal at both 1999 Worlds and the 2000 Olympics with the team.  In 2008 she applied to be a technical official at the Beijing Olympic Games she listed her true birthdate instead of the 1983 birthday under which she had competed.  An investigation of the case resulted in both medals being stripped.

Hong Su-jong

At different competitions during her career Hong Su-jong was entered with a birth year of 1985, 1986, and 1989.  At some of these competitions she was entered with a different birth year as her twin sister Hong Un-jong (Olympic and World Champion who has never herself been implicated in age falsification).  Hong Su-jong’s most significant medal was the 2007 World silver on vault which she is believed to be of age for but she competed at the 2004 Olympic Games with the 1985 birthdate and for that competition she was too young.  Hong Su-jong was eventually banned permanently from competition and North Korea was banned until October 2012 meaning that her sister was unable to defend her 2008 Olympic vault gold.

You may notice that He Kexin is not on this list...

During (and after) the 2008 Olympic Games questions were raised about two time Olympic Gold medalist He Kexin’s age (as well as that of several of her team mates).  Unlike all of the above cases where either inconsistent age information was entered at official FIG competitions or the gymnast themselves have stated that their birth year was changed, He’s birthdate has always been consistent in FIG documents and she herself has always denied falsification.  Her age was listed as earlier in entries for some domestic meets and that was reported by foreign press as evidence that she was too young.  This ignores the fact that age falsification (in both directions up and down) was common by city and provincial teams in China to enter age bracketed competitions and that is what may have been going on.  Either way these competitions are not governed by the FIG so the inconsistent birth information at them was not their problem.  I am generally agnostic about He’s birth year.  There is strong circumstantial evidence to suggest that her age was changed (that doesn’t have to do with domestic competition forms or her appearance) however I understand why the FIG investigation decided that there was not enough evidence for them to act.

Sooooo the only people punished for age falsification have been Asians.  That’s kind of racist isn’t it?

Two things can be true at the same time.  Yes it is highly suspicious that only North Korea and China have been punished for this while there are documented cases of European federations also doing this.  However I think it’s important to note that these cases are not all the same.  North Korea was punished for providing inconsistent birthdates for the same gymnast at competitions.  The evidence of the offense was right there in FIG’s paperwork.  China was punished when Dong applied to be an official with FIG giving an inconsistent birth year.

All of these other cases involve gymnasts whose paperwork was consistent during their careers.  

The fact that FIG is only accepts that level of proof and unwilling to accept (especially in Marinescu’s case) the gymnasts own statements about their birth year certainly doesn’t make them look like they are particularly interested in punishing this kind of cheating unless absolutely forced to.  I would offer the counter point that FIG is not the police and they do not have the ability to determine if there is something else going on with such public statements and they often came out well after the standard 10 year statute of limitation for stripping medals (except in the case of Marinescu).  Some have suggested that FIG was reluctant to act on Marinescu’s statements because stripping Romania of those medals would promote China who was also age cheating at the time.  I don’t think you have to go to that place when the answer is just as likely that FIG has a very narrow standard of proof for revoking medals on the basis of age falsification and has even erred on the side of allowing the gymnast (Kim Gwang-suk) to keep a medal won while clearly under age.

Are FIG officials racist against Asians?  There is a lot of evidence for that.

Has FIG only punished Asian nations for age falsification?  Yes.  But it’s more a case that North Korea is really bad at this and the Dong case has fairly unique circumstances.

[ahmed-s-f]

Christian ministries gangs in Egypt And sexual harassment Paul’s ministry

This article is about a real-life experience that happened to me

I joined a Christian ministry at an early age. The funny thing is that I did not know that it was a Christian ministry at all. It was a charitable organization that worked in secret for the benefit of a Christian institution.

I accepted the truth easily when I learned of it. The security situation is difficult and dangerous for Christians who work in Christian missionary work in Egypt.

An organization under the name FOF was working for one of the Christian ministries under the name Paul’s Ministry

This, of course, necessitates accepting small legal crimes such as the institution’s falsification of its papers and sources of income, and more importantly, accepting continuous lying to people under the pretext that this is for their benefit and to convey the Christian faith to them.

I did not understand how to combine lying and the Christian faith and how they should work together for the same goal

Then I began to realize the reality of the ministry under which I worked, that its work was similar to that of gangs. It was forbidden for anyone to know the name of its leader. His name was John W. Hanna, and he was hiding behind dozens of employees so that she could not reach him.

The institution’s financial resources were poor, and the money spent on development work was small, despite my knowledge that the ministry had an income in the millions, and property worth about 40 million Egyptian pounds ..

However, the Ministry’s employees monopolized that money for themselves, and that was the reason for the director’s secrecy. It came to the point of stealing my salary for three years and stealing donations that went specifically to specific people who did not get anything from them and did not even know they existed.

The biggest disaster is when I saw in our Christian ministry cases of sexual harassment of working women and those who were targeted, and because the harasser was related to the director, JOHN, he was not punished or even expelled from his position.

John’s ministry was offering money that should be given as non-refundable donations. They were offering it in the form of loans and forcing the beneficiaries to return it, which is an effective way to steal money. One person died due to health deteriorations due to John and Hana’s pressure on him to force him to return money that should have been Provided primarily as a donation

The service was also trading its money on the black market, which is a difficult to trace method they use to steal donation funds.

Threats were a common method. Those who complained about those who converted from Islam to Christianity were threatened to inform their Muslim families.. even though the work of the service is to protect those who converted to Christianity.

What is strange is that all neighboring ministries knew about these crimes, and despite that, no one dared to expose or fight them

In addition to wasting money on fake projects and failed projects, while dozens of new believers were suffering from poverty and the difficulty of life, Paul’s ministry was wasting money on projects that had not worked for a single day.

When I saw with the eyes of one of the new believers suffering after he was expelled from his home and his family pursued him, John refused to give him support to obtain housing even though he receives funding allocated for these cases.

Which made me go directly to the British institution that supports our ministry to file a complaint with it, as it does not know what is happening in Egypt. It was the 3pministries Foundation.

I filed a formal complaint but they ignored it

Once again they ignored her

I had to file a complaint with a British ministry specializing in charitable institutions, which forced them to respond

Their response was very dry. They did not try to find out anything. They only sought to close the complaint. I sent them all the evidence of crimes in Egypt and of the incidents of theft and waste of money, but they did not take any reaction.

Then they just told me that they would stop replying to me or I would not text them again

I discovered that the organization ignored all crimes and did not mind their occurrence just to keep its work in Egypt afloat

And maintaining the flow of Muslims crossing over to Christianity, which means more money flowing to the Egyptian side Paul’s Ministry and the British side 3pministries

The funny thing is that the goal of spreading Christianity itself was not achieved due to the fact that most of the reports written about new believers are fake, they are composed positions written from imagination.

Most of the new believers quickly return to Islam due to lack of proper follow-up, because it simply no longer brings in money.

The spread of corruption in Arab Christian ministries is a disaster that must be looked at seriously