#detention 2012

[synmmin]

hey

i saw that there were no clean gifs of that one silly bowling scene, so i made one!

[spaacecadetsblog]

Clapton dont dance!!!! bbygirl of the month

[jellyfishhutcherson]

jhutch gallery #3

[alonsolobotomy]

i love 00s horror movies bcs there's a 70% chance i will watch the end credits not having a single idea of what i just saw

[dearjoons]

🫟 SCENEKID!JUNGKOOK HEADCANNONS

warnings: himbo energy. likely a very innacurate depiction of scene kids. set somewhere between 2007-2012. he’s kind of a loser. in a hot good way.

lulu speaks: I LOVE HIM SO BAD YOU DONT UNDERSTAND.

✶ scenekid!jungkook who walks into class late everyday, blasting asking alexandria loud enough that you can hear it clearly through his headphones.

✶ scenekid!jungkook who hangs out in the back of spencer’s with his friends and points out every inappropriate item like he’s so brave.

✶ scenekid!jungkook who doesn’t flirt. he just zones out and stares at you with his chin propped up in his hand like an actual idiot.

✶ scenekid!jungkook who uses corny typing quirks like mixing capital letters with lowercase letters in a sentence that ABSOLUTELY does not need to be as dramatic as he makes sound.

✶ scenekid!jungkook who buys EXCLUSIVELY fruit flavored vapes. no exceptions. except maybe a cotton candy one if he’s feeling expiremental.

✶ scenekid!jungkook who is probably the biggest gyopo you’ll ever encounter in your life.

✶ scenekid!jungkook who sits at the back of the cafeteria with his friends, eating some red 40-filled bullshit while trying (and failing) to gawk at you without garnering their attention.

✶ scenekid!jungkook who has a gif of zim and gir kissing in the corner of his myspace page.

✶ scenekid!jungkook who posts grainy, horrible quality pictures of himself baring his teeth and captioning it with soemthing corny like, “TEEF >:3”

✶ scenekid!jungkook who wears his green-striped zip up hoodie and tight black skinny jeans to the mall, sipping on a coke while giggling like a 10 year old about the “i ♥︎ boobies” bracelet in zumiez. he then buys it and does a shit job at hiding it from his mom.

✶ scenekid!jungkook who gets detention for blowing a suspicious, sweetly scented white cloud from his mouth behind his textbook, which was propped up to conveniently hide his whole face from his teacher. yes, it was his watermelon pen. he calls it “a free air freshener”. the school calls it a safety hazard.

✶ scenekid!jungkook who has a real lip ring, but says it’s fake around his mom (she still has no clue he got it done).

✶ scenekid!jungkook who poses for pictures by pouting and mimicking a fake tear by dragging his finger down his face.

✶ scenekid!jungkook who has NO type. scene girl? he’s down bad. emo girl? would die for her. goth girl? oh, he’s barking. popular girl? foaming at the mouth. he just loves women. period.

✶ scenekid!jungkook who gives the jocks and preppy guys death stares when he’s walking down the hallway. he’s silent with his hatred, but NOT subtle. not in the slightest.

✶ scenekid!jungkook who always keeps his ipod clipped on his hoodie pocket.

✶ scenekid!jungkook who sharpie tattoos himself all over. any skin that’s not clothed is getting covered in tiny, senseless doodles. his mom tells him he’ll get ink poisoning. he rolls his eyes when he scrubs it off.

✶ scenekid!jungkook who once got called “kinda hot in a weird way” by a popular girl. he got hard.

✶ scenekid!jungkook who would go on a multiple hour-long tangent about monster flavors if you’d let him. and BOY does he want to.

✶ scenekid!jungkook who accidentally walks into walls, doors, and windows because he’s too busy flipping through the songs on his playlist to find one that matches his exact mood.

lulu speaks pt2: SAW THIS BOY AT THE MALL LAST WEEK, GOT THE KIND OF LOOK TO MAKE ME FREAK . THAT LONG ASS HAIR WITH THE TIGHTEST JEANS, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE ON HIS TEE. HE LOOKED SO SICK LIKE HE WAS DYING, IF I SAID HE WASN’T HOT THEN I’D BE LYING. PLEASE, HANDSOME, DONT BE COY, COME ON, FUCK ME, EMO BOY 🗣️🗣️🗣️

cai bot. masterlist. navigation.

[croquis-el]

Naruhodō doesn't find being a lawyer difficult

I've been thinking about writing about this for a long time, but I doubted that I would find confirmation of this in the Japanese version

I had no reason to doubt it, and now I’ll tell you in more detail why I came to this conclusion.

Even at the very beginning of the game, we are told how Chihiro (Mia) characterizes Naruhodō. And although she jokes about the fact that with his experience the defendants will face a guilty verdict, she still throws out one short phrase that shows Naruhodō’s true abilities

…彼は天才よ

… kare wa tensai yo”

...He's a genius"

天才(てんさい) [tensai] - genius; prodigy; natural gift

まさに 《恐怖のツッコミ男》 と いったところかしら

masani “kyōfu no tsukkomi otoko” to itta tokoro kashira

He is able to "strike fear into the hearts of his opponents."

Chihiro literally says: He's talented.

And this is not surprising, because Hodō began studying law and preparing for the exam in 2012-2013. How this is confirmed: Hodo himself says that he made this decision after reading an article about Mitsurugi in the newspaper (he also became a prosecutor at the age of 20 - his first trial was on September 10, 2012). Plus Case 3-1, where it turns out that he meets a lady in the courthouse library in August 2013 (the day the lawyer was poisoned in the cafeteria) and talks about his determination to help his friend.

And already on August 3, 2016 he stands behind the defense counter. Considering that in Japan, judicial practice is mandatory for all lawyers for 1-1.5 years, this skill machine was able to achieve enormous results in just 2-3 years.

どうすれば証明できるの! あの人が、灰根さんだ、って……。

dōsureba shōmei dekiru no! Ano hito ga, Hai ne-sanda, tte…….

How can you prove that that person is Haine-san...

だいじょうぶだよ。カンタンな方法がある。

daijōbuda yo. Kantan'na hōhō ga aru.

Don't worry. There's a simple way to do this.

Repeatedly during court hearings, he says the phrases: “It’s easy to prove,” “The answer lies on the surface,” “I know that I’m right and I’ll prove it.” Hodo has very well developed logical thinking, which he skillfully operates with (which, by the way, Mitsurugi was impressed with - show him the evidence in 1-4 in the detention center after the first day of the trial and see for yourself)

(ファイルを調べるのが メンドウなだけじゃないか････)

(fairu o shiraberu no ga mendōna dake janai ka)

(It's not that difficult - just study the files).

Even a brief comment about working with documents shows us his attitude towards work.

___________________________________________

And then - the cherry on the cake. Dialogue with Odoroki in 4-1.

一晩中、最悪のカードを配られても 勝てる、ただひとつのゲーム････

hitobanjū, saiaku no kādo o kubara rete mo kateru, tada hitotsu no gēmu

The only game you can win even if you're dealt the worst cards all night...

････それがポーカーだ。

sore ga pōkā da.

... that's poker.

ポーカーの本質は、 心理を “読み合う ”ところにある。

pōkā no honshitsu wa, shinri o “yomi au” tokoro ni aru.

The essence of poker is to "read each other's minds."

･･･そうだな。ある種、 法廷戦術に通じるものがあるね。

sōda na. Aru tane, hōtei senjutsu ni tsūjiru mono ga aru ne.

That's right. It's kind of similar to courtroom tactics.

ポーカーが････法廷戦術!

pōkā ga hōtei senjutsu!

Poker like...courtroom tactics!

相手が何を考えているかを、知る。それができれば、勝つ。

aite ga nani o kangaete iru ka o, shiru. Sore ga dekireba, katsu.

Know what your opponent is thinking. If you can do that, you'll win.

そりゃそうですけど。

そんなコト、できるハズが････

sorya-sōdesukedo. Son'na Koto, dekiru hazu ga

That's true. I mean, it's not like I can do that...

できるんだよ。

dekiru nda yo.

You can do that.

人間の思考・感情というものは ････かならず。ningen no shikō kanjō to iu mono wa kanarazu.

Human thoughts and emotions are... always...

身体から“情報”として 発信されている。

karada kara “jōhō” to shite hasshin sa rete iru.

...sent out as "information" from the body.

Naruhodō literally compares court hearings to a game of poker and gives advice to carefully listen to the words of witnesses and opponents and try to predict their next action. And this comparison is very much in the spirit of Hodō: bad cards = bad evidence (which must be used correctly); opponents trying to deceive = witnesses who give false testimony; a dealer who was bribed = a prosecutor who pulls the judge to his side. It may seem like he's only setting up Odoroki to use his ability (to find people's nervous habits), but he puts a share of his three years of experience in court and seven years of experience at the poker table (whatever, he acted the same there) into it. It is impossible to compare something that you have not experienced.

Yes, Naruhodo is nervous, worried, and faces difficulties in court and beyond, but for him this is not something that can disturb his inner harmony. He knows his worth and always does what he is capable of (and sometimes demands the impossible from himself).

[bloodinesslooksgoodonyou]

Ficlet: How would you describe your ideal life in 10 years?

We interviewed Mikhailo “Mickey” Milkovich, who was 16 years old when the first interview took place, consecutively through 2011 to 2021, asking him to describe his ideal life in 10 years. Mickey grew up in the South Side of Chicago.

Here are the transcripts of the interviews.

2011

Mickey: “…shit, I don’t know. 100 bucks, you said? Just for doing this? (Inaudible) [I]f I’m being honest, not bein’ fuckin’ dead. Or a fiend, or whatever. Bein’ able to sell shit and afford shit like food or booze, probably.”

2012

Following his release from the juvenile detention center, we agreed to resume the interview series with Mickey despite the delay.

Mickey: “Not bein’ locked up. That’s for sure. Other than that, I don’t know. Run a business, I guess. Make somethin’ for myself. It’s bullshit anyways. Who the fuck knows what happens in 10 years’ time.”

2013

Mickey got married and was expecting a baby. He had declined the interview before showing up visibly intoxicated and demanded the reward.

2014

Mickey reached out to us, asking if he could still meet us for an interview, because he was trying to “make things right” as “life has taken a somewhat better turn.”

Mickey: “Wanna be able to take care of some shit that’s been happenin’. Be able to fix ‘em for good, I hope. And [take care of] some people, too, like my sister. Thanks for letting me do this, anyway. You didn’t have to.”

2015

Mickey: “Ian bein’ okay. Healthier, more stable, at least. Yev bein’ okay. That’s what I want. Best if we are still together.”

Interviewer: “And Ian is your…?”

Mickey: “Boyfriend. Yev is my son. And I hope they either lock up Terry—he’s my dad—for good or I manage to turn his dumbass head around on this.”

Interviewer: “This?”

Mickey: “The whole, bein’ gay thing.”

2016

Mickey was incarcerated for the entire year. We wrote to him about setting up an interview through phone call but did not hear back.

2017-2018

We were unable to make contact with Mickey.

2019

Mickey reached out again from prison to set up an in-person interview during visiting hours.

Mickey: “Gettin’ outta this shithole. Settlin’ down. Startin’ a family with him (Ian, who was Mickey’s boyfriend from the 2015 interview, and at that time, also his cellmate). And fuck Terry, I hope he’d be fuckin’ dead by then.”

2020

Mickey got released from prison and married to Ian both at the beginning of the year, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. We were able to set up a Zoom interview with him during lockdown.

Mickey: “Not bein’ stuck at home all the fuckin’ time. Get off parole and go back down south once in a while for vacation time.”

2021

Mickey: “This right here’s good enough for me. Maybe buy a house, get a dog or two.”

Interviewer: “What about Ian?”

Mickey: “What about him? [Are] you askin’ if I’d still be married to him? That ain’t never in doubt.”

[girlactionfigure]

Righteous Among the Nations 

 Ireland

Mary Elmes

Mary Elisabeth Elmes was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1909. When the Spanish Civil War broke out she decided to go to Spain, where she was involved in humanitarian aid as part of a Quaker organization, the American Friends Service Committee.

In 1939 she joined the Republican refugees who fled to France, and became responsible for all Quaker activity in Perpignan.

The Fall of France in 1940 resulted in great challenges for the relief workers. With her staff significantly reduced - the British workers on her team were now enemy aliens and had to leave the country - Elmes had to face the growing plight of Jewish refugees who were interned in detention camps in the Pyrenees region.

Elmes joined forces with the Jewish OSE organization and especially with Dr. Joseph Weill and Andrée Salomon, who were active in the rescue of Jews.

Until mid-August 1942 children could be legally released from the camps, but on August 11 deportations of Jews from the camp of Rivesaltes began, first to Drancy near Paris, and from there to Auschwitz.

From that time until the camp closed on 25 November 1942, the authorities no longer released children from the camp. Elmes was fully aware of the meaning of the deportations.

Lois Gunden (an American Mennonite who was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations in 2012 for rescuing children in the same region) wrote in her journal: "Mary informed me about the return of Polish and German Jews to Poland where death and starvation awaits them".

Braving the danger, Elmes and her Jewish colleagues smuggled children out of the camp and brought them to safe places.

Two of the children rescued by Mary Elisabeth Elmes were Ronald Freund (today Friend) and his brother Michael.

Their parents, Drs. Hans and Eva Freund fled from Germany to Italy when Hitler came to power in 1933. They lived in Milan, where their son Michael was born in 1936.

When the anti-Jewish laws were enacted in Italy, the family fled to France and settled in Paris. When Germany invaded France, they fled once again, this time to the South of France.

In 1942 they tried to flee to Switzerland but failed; and on 4 September 1942 they were interned in the camp of Rivesaltes. According to a letter Mary Elmes wrote to the American Friends Service Committee in Marseille, she convinced Dr. Freund to take the two children out of the camp.

"He has signed the necessary discharge, confiding the children to our care". Michael and Ronald were taken to a children's home in Vernet les Bains and then to the St. Louis Hospital in Perpignan.

Hans Freund was deported to Majdanek on 4 March 1943, where he perished. The mother survived the war and was reunited with her sons after liberation.

In February 1943 Mary Elmes was arrested by the authorities because of her resistance to the German occupiers and the Vichy government.

She was first held in Toulouse, and later taken to Fresnes prison on the outskirts of Paris. She was nevertheless released six months after her arrest. She continued her humanitarian work until the end of the war and the liberation of France. She lived in France until she passed away in 2003.

May their memories be a blessing.

Documenting Anti-Semitism

[synmmin]

YOOOO ??

[fatehbaz]

Hmm. Alarming trend in mass incarceration in Central America.

Also: Very disingenuous wordplay here.

Where do we begin?

-- Very disingenuous for multiple outlets to run with "the West”. Though this initial AP article does specify that this refers to the Western Hemisphere, the choice to run headlines with “West” kinda implies that there are no other island prisons in “The West” (as in the European Union, the United States, Australia, etc.).

-- One of the most infamous incarceration schemes on the planet is Australia’s “Pacific Solution,” a “solution” to refugee migration centered on the imprisonment of asylum seekers on island prisons, including the infamous prisons at Nauru and Manus, both opened initially in 2001, and re-fortified after 2012. (Nauru is extremely isolated, in the South Pacific, 3000 kilometers away from the Australian coast; the Manus detention centre is far away off the northeast coast of Papua.) Since 2012, over 3,125 people have been sent to Nauru while over 4,180 people have been sent to Manus. (The “last refugee held on the Pacific island of Nauru under Australia’s offshore detention policy” was “evacuated” to mainland Australia only on 24 June 2023, not even a month prior to this headline.)

-- Obviously the EU incarcerates refugees on Mediterranean islands, notoriously at Moria on Lesbos, whose international reputation as the home of Sappho has been supplanted by its reputation as a de facto prison for asylum seekers. In October 2015, over 10,000 people landed on Lesbos in just one day. In 2017, the island averaged 2,500 arrivals per month. By 2019, humanitarian investigations showed that over 10,000 people were being held in a facility with a maximum capacity of 3,000. In 2020, fires left over 12,000 refugees on the island without shelter. By December 2021, Doctors Without Borders raised alarm that over 2,200 refugees were living in “dire” conditions on the island. As of early 2023, Lesbos (along with Kos, Leros, Chios, and Samos) is hosting over 4,500 people who are stuck in “reception and identification centers.”

-- And in the Western Hemisphere? The US prison at Guantanomo, also on the coast of an island in this same sea.

-- One of the most notorious island prisons was the early twentieth century French penal colony on the periphery of the Caribbean region at Guiana (run by a France, a “Western” power, in the Western Hemisphere), known internationally as “Devil’s Island.”

-- The federal government says the prison will be built “in harmony with nature.”

-- A prison ... in harmony with nature.

-- An island prison in the Caribbean, a region fundamentally and intimately connected to centuries of imprisonment, plantations, Indigenous genocide, antiBlackness, racial castes, and chattel slavery, all achieved and enforced through the bounded, isolated geographic containment structure allowed by islands.

-- And this is extra-worrying, because it seems it’s a regional trend, evidently for Honduras, El Salvador, and Colombia.

-- Merely a few days before this headline about Honduras, international outlets were profiling Honduras’s direct neighbor, El Salvador, with headlines like “Inside El Salvador’s new ‘mega prison’” (Al Jazeera) and, within the past couple months, headlines like “Prisoners are being tortured to death in El Salvador’s prisons” (VICE News).

-- From less than a week before this AP headline, we have BBC: “El Salvador’s secretive mega-jail.”

-- Don’t forget nearby Tapachula’s detention of asylum seekers.

Still discussing implementation of literal island prisons despite our collective familiarity with carceral archipelagoes.

[jellyfishhutcherson]

[bulkyphrase]

2012 Avengers Tower: a fic rec list

I think we all sometimes yearn for the days when we thought Marvel would let the Avengers be friends who all lived together and fought supervillains in between movie nights.

Though these stories weren't all written or set in 2012 post-Avengers 1 era, but they all feature that team hanging out, having fun, and supporting each other through difficulties.

The list is in chronological order, with fic published from 2012 to 2024.

Amateur Theatrics by galaxysoup (@galaxystew-zombie) (Gen | Teen And Up Audiences | 26,586 words | Published April 01, 2012)

Summary: In which Thor’s primary problem-solving method (a mighty blow from Mjolnir) fails to have the desired effect on a magical artifact, and his secondary method (a mightier blow from Mjolnir) proves to be actively disastrous.

Big in Japan by gunboots (@gunboots) (Loki/Thor, Stucky | Teen And Up Audiences | 6,203 words | Published May 01, 2012)

Summary: Steve hesitantly reaches out and takes the object in Tony’s arms to survey it. 'It' being a pillow upon which was an almost frighteningly accurate illustration of Loki, their on-and-off again nemesis. "I don't--how did you even get this? Who would MAKE this?" Clearly Steve doesn't find the attention-to-detail on Loki's costume as hilarious as Tony does, which whatever. Like he said. Killjoy. A.K.A The one time Tony buys Thor the world's worst souvenir and it somehow worked out in the end anyway.

The rest are below the cut!

Soft Skills by Lady_Ganesh (Gen | Teen And Up Audiences | 4,154 words | Published May 31, 2012)

Summary: "So," Bruce said carefully. "You're saying that your tower became a big target for an alien army, so you're going to rebuild it as an even bigger target?" "Well, when you put it like that, it sounds stupid," Tony said. The team tries to bring Steve Rogers into the 21st Century. It mostly works. As my beta CaptainBlue said: Also I love how you did a fic about Avengers team building and still managed to make it 100% about Cap. You have a gift. This is why I love her. Any remaining mistakes are mine.

Without the Usual Cost of Labor by vain_glorious (Gen | Teen And Up Audiences | 6,387 words | Published June 15, 2012)

Summary: "Someone just reported to SHIELD that whatever was stolen produced “viable offspring,” and we’re hoping that doesn’t mean what we think it does,” Bruce says, evidently deciding to take over for Tony after only one masturbation joke. Also available as a podfic read by blackglass

The Great Avengers Body Swap by vain_glorious (Gen | Teen And Up Audiences | 3,712 words | Published July 23, 2012)

Summary: Loki and the Avengers spend a month in SHIELD's detention cells, because Loki cast a bodyswapping spell against them and got himself with it, too. Also available as a podfic read by blackglass

The Ice in Windless Cold by Isagel (@isagelc) (OT6 | Explicit | 11,883 words | Published August 19, 2012)

Summary: "I dream about the ice," Steve says. "About being in the ice." Also available as a podfic read by susan_voight

Private Bookmark? by storiesfortravellers (Gen | Mature | 2,638 words | Published August 24, 2012)

Summary: The Avengers discover that there are fans who write explicit RPF fic about them. Some of them are very confused. Some are proud. Some don't understand why everyone writes the pairings who aren't together but hardly anyone writes the couple who actually is together. Much silliness ensues. Also available as a podfic read by analise010, AshesandGhost, dapatty, fire_juggler, lorcalon (uniquepov), Opalsong, Weebs813

The Goat's Back by arsenicarcher (Arsenic) (Gen | Mature | 10,155 words | Published November 30, 2012)

Summary: An AU where Steve's essentially a failed experiment, corporal punishment is the predominant form of discipline and team leaders take the punishments for those under them.

Dear Clint Barton (circa age 7) by pollyrepeat (@pollyrepeat) (Gen | Teen And Up Audiences | 4,221 words | Published March 31, 2013)

Summary: The most annoying parts of being de-aged (and then re-aged) are your friends. Also available as a podfic read by RsCreighton (@rosecreighton)

What We Pretend To Be by ifitwasribald (Gen, Bruce Banner/Tony Stark | Explicit | 100,697 words | Published July 14, 2013)

Summary: Good becomes great, bad becomes worse. But people are a hell of a lot more complicated than good and bad. When half of the team is dosed with the super soldier serum, they all have to grapple with their own pasts and futures. But for better or for worse, they’re all in it together.

Speak So We Can Hear Your Heart Beat by Jaune_Chat (@jaune-chat) (Gen, Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Jane Foster/Thor | Mature | 15,402 words | Published November 10, 2014)

Summary: The Avengers are rendered mute by Amora the Enchantress. As a search for a cure grows more and more dim every day, the Avengers have to deal with the reality of learning to communicate with each other in a whole different way. Uncertain if they'll be able to fight again, they enlist the help of their friends, and learn some surprising things about each other as they struggle to hold onto their identities as the World's Greatest Heroes.

The Health Benefits of Knitting by Niobium (@niobiumao3) (Gen | General Audiences | 1,179 words | Published January 15, 2015)

Summary: Clint isn't sure what's really relieving Natasha's stress—the knitting, or the part where she foists the horrible results off on other people. Also available as a podfic read by reena_jenkins (@reena-jenkins)

Clint Barton's Guide to Friends and Ceiling Vents by NoliteTimereEos (Gen | Teen And Up Audiences | 6,488 words | Published July 11, 2015)

Summary: In which Clint Barton meets a missing assassin in the vents and somehow becomes friends with him. Things don't go as bad as they could have. Also available as a podfic read by babbling_bedlamite

How to Train Your Superheroes by StuckySituation (Gen | Teen And Up Audiences | 3,150 words | Published March 05, 2019)

Summary: “But of course, no matter how much we practice on schedule, we will need to learn constant vigilance and manage to get our reaction times down to the minimum,” Steve continues and takes the last burger beef from the grill and puts it onto the table next to him. Natasha has a brief millisecond to frown and think “Constant vigilance?”, before Steve kicks the grill so hard that the coals rain on top of the flammable carpet feet away. “What the hell-!?” “STEVE!?” Steve is already sprinting towards the ledge. “First training session started! Wanda, Sam, Tony - someone CATCH ME!” Then he jumps off the Tower. Also available as a podfic read by vassalady (@vassalady)

Do You Remember Being Happy? ('Cause I Sure Don't) by GalaxyThreads (@galaxythreads) (Gen | Teen And Up Audiences | 11,022 words | Published April 25, 2020)

Summary: "Dragr," Thor called them. "Demons" Clint had said. "Thieves" is what Steve labels them as. AKA, the one where Steve is captured by creatures that feed off of happy memories, and the team is left to pick up the pieces. Post-Avengers.

5 Times Steve Dealt with His Team's Sleeping Habits... by The67ImpalaDragonChild (@dragonimpal67) (Gen | Teen And Up Audiences | 29,606 words | Published November 08, 2020)

Summary: ...and one time they dealt with his. Steve didn't think anything of it when he moved into the Avengers tower. He didn't think about how much the people he's living with would affect him. He's thinking about it NOW! Who knew a bunch of super heroes could be so weird about something as basic as the need to sleep?

on the mend by meidui (@meidui) (Gen | General Audiences | 1,438 words | Published February 03, 2024)

Summary: Steve rarely feels this awful after a fight, but then again, he hasn’t been on a solo mission in months.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Samantha Riedel at Them:

One of the private prison employees who helped send gay asylum seeker Andry Hernández Romero to an El Salvador detention facility is a former Milwaukee police officer who was fired for driving into a house while intoxicated, according to a new investigative report this week by USA Today. Hernández, a 31-year-old gay man and makeup artist from Venezuela who sought asylum in the U.S., was detained and flown to El Salvador last month during raids that targeted hundreds of immigrants and at least one U.S. citizen, flouting a federal judge’s order. Romero’s attorney Lindsay Toczylowski said this week that her client “disappeared” one day last month when he was scheduled for an asylum hearing, and that she has “grave concerns” for his safety. Authorities say they targeted Hernández in part due to his two tattoos of crowns (labeled “mom” and “dad” respectively), which they have claimed are icons of the Venezuelan “Tren de Aragua” gang. But as USA Today reported on Thursday, one of the sources of that claim is Charles Cross, Jr., a discredited former Milwaukee police sergeant who was fired in 2012 after a string of offenses related to alcohol abuse. In 2007, Cross was convicted on a misdemeanor charge of criminal damage to property after he “kicked in the door of the apartment he shared with his girlfriend and threatened to kill himself,” paying a $500 fine, as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in 2012. The court also dropped a charge of domestic violence-related disorderly conduct after Cross sought treatment for alcohol abuse, and although Cross was fired for the incident, he was rehired by the city’s civilian Fire and Police Commission, per the Journal Sentinel. But two years later, Cross was suspended again after he slapped a woman while drunk, according to local FOX affiliate WITI. The last straw came in 2012, when Cross — who was already under investigation at the time for inflating his overtime hours — drove his car into the front of a house while intoxicated at more than twice the legal blood alcohol limit, appearing to believe he was on the highway. Cross was placed on the Milwaukee County Brady List, a record of police officers deemed by prosecutors to not be credible. That didn’t stop Cross from becoming an employee of CoreCivic, a large private prison contractor that operates facilities for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). 

Discredited ex-cop Charles Cross Jr. helped get Andry José Hernández Romero wrongly deported.

See Also:

The Advocate: Bad Wisconsin cop’s tattoo claim helped deport gay asylum-seeker to Salvadoran prison hellscape: report

LGBTQ Nation: Unreliable cop’s testimony led to gay makeup artist’s deportation to a torture prison

[veganism]

Letter to Denmark's PM regarding Paul Watson's extradition

To the attention of:   Mrs. Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister of Denmark   Christiansborg Palace   1218 Copenhagen K   Denmark

Dear Prime Minister,

I am writing to you today to express my deep concern and strong opposition to the extradition of Paul Watson, founder of the NGO Sea Shepherd, to Japan. Mr. Watson was arrested on Sunday, July 21, in Greenland while making a refueling stop with his ship. He is now in detention and faces the risk of being extradited to Japan, following a 2012 arrest warrant for "conspiracy to board." This warrant, however, is fundamentally flawed and abusive, as it targets Mr. Watson for his courageous efforts to prevent the illegal whaling activities that contravene international conventions.

It is crucial to recall that Captain Paul Watson and his crew were headed to the North Pacific to prevent the Japanese ship Kangei Maru from illegally killing whales. His intervention, though radical, has always been peaceful and aimed at enforcing the 1986 international moratorium that bans whaling. Thanks to his actions, approximately 5,000 cetaceans have been spared from harpoons. Whaling is an outlawed and illegal practice that only three countries shamefully continue: Japan, Norway, and Iceland.

Paul Watson has devoted his life to protecting endangered marine animals. The Japanese arrest warrant is an abuse of Interpol's "red notice," originally intended to track international criminals, now being used to suppress a political and environmental opponent. Extraditing Paul Watson to Japan would be tantamount to a death sentence. At 73 years old and a father of three, he would face harsh imprisonment conditions.

For the past year, Paul Watson has been residing in France, where he continues his fight alongside Sea Shepherd France, traveling across the country to give lectures and tirelessly advocate for ocean conservation. It is imperative that France, represented by President Emmanuel Macron, formally request that Denmark refuse this extradition.

### Legal Argumentation

It is also essential to highlight the following legal aspects, which render this extradition not only morally reprehensible but potentially illegal and an abuse of law:

1. *Violation of International Moratorium*: Japan continues to practice whaling in blatant violation of the 1986 international moratorium, an interdiction supported by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). By extraditing Paul Watson, Denmark would indirectly support this illegal activity.

2. *Non-Refoulement Principle*: Under international human rights law, notably Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture, Denmark is obliged not to extradite a person to a state where they risk being subjected to torture or inhumane or degrading treatment. Given the harsh detention conditions and potential treatment Paul Watson might face in Japan, his extradition could violate this fundamental principle.

3. *Abuse of Procedure*: The use of an Interpol red notice by Japan in this context constitutes an abuse of procedure. Interpol’s mission is to combat international crime, not to pursue individuals for actions aimed at enforcing international law. The arrest of Paul Watson on this basis is legally questionable and could be considered an abuse of law.

4. *Defense of International Public Order*: The extradition of Paul Watson contradicts the principles of international public order, which include respecting international conventions on the conservation of endangered species. By protecting Paul Watson, Denmark would demonstrate respect for these principles and support the fight against illegal whaling practices.

By choosing not to extradite Paul Watson, you would powerfully affirm your commitment to justice and environmental protection. Your decisive action can make all the difference. Extraditing Paul Watson would not only be unjust but also send a disastrous message to all those fighting to preserve our planet.

Thank you in advance for your attention to this urgent matter. I sincerely hope you will intervene to prevent this unjust and inhumane extradition.

Yours sincerely,

YOUR NAME

[beardedmrbean]

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Before his arrest Wednesday, Paul Steed was a respected sugar market expert for a subsidiary of famed candymaker Mars Inc. He served on a U.S. trade advisory committee for sweeteners as well as on industry group boards, while giving presentations at conferences.

Now Steed, of Stamford, Connecticut, is accused in a federal indictment of stealing more than $28 million from Mars since about 2013 through various schemes, including diverting funds to companies he set up. He is charged with seven counts of wire fraud and two counts of tax evasion.

Steed, 58, a dual U.S. and Argentine citizen, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Bridgeport on Wednesday and was ordered detained pending trial. A U.S. magistrate judge said Steed was a flight risk and noted that while the government has seized $18 million of the allegedly pilfered funds, several million dollars remain unaccounted for and Steed has strong connections to family in Argentina.

Steed’s lawyer, federal public defender Phoebe Bodurtha, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Thursday.

His wife, Martina Steed, told The Associated Press in a brief phone call that she did not know all the facts of the case and declined further comment.

Mars Inc. said in a statement that the case involves “the action of a single individual who sought to exploit the organization for personal gain.”

“We fully cooperated with law enforcement to see this matter quickly brought to justice and always remain committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards and integrity in all our operations,” it added.

Steed worked remotely from his Stamford home as global price risk manager for Mars Wrigley, according to federal prosecutors. The company is a subsidiary of McLean, Virginia-based Mars Inc., the maker of M&M’s, Snickers, Skittles, Altoids mints and Doublemint gum, as well as other food products and pet food.

Steed and his wife appeared to be living beyond their means, according to the judge’s order authorizing his pretrial detention.

Steed’s annual salary was about $200,000 while his wife was making $40,000 to $50,000 a year as a hair stylist, Magistrate Judge S. Dave Vatti said in the order. Yet they paid $2.5 million in cash in 2023 for a property in wealthy Greenwich, Connecticut, and own a mortgage-free home in Stamford worth $1 million, he wrote.

Steed also sent $2 million over the past several years to relatives, other people and entities in Argentina, where he apparently owns a cattle and tea ranch, according to the order.

In July 2012 he set up a company, Ibera LLC, and a year later he began submitting false invoices from it to Mars, according to the federal indictment. The scheme allegedly went on until December 2020, with Steed stealing nearly $580,000 with the bogus invoices.

A bigger scheme beginning in 2016 would result in the diversion of millions of dollars from Mars through another Steed-created company, MCNA LLC, the indictment said. Prosecutors say Steed told certain sugar refineries who were buying “re-export credits” from Mars to send the money to MCNA instead.

Steed also used MCNA in other scams including one involving the theft of more than $11 million from the sale of Mars’s shares in a financial services company, according to the indictment.

Steed was appointed in early 2021 by then-U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to serve on an agricultural trade advisory committee for sweeteners and sweetener products.

In a LinkedIn posting previewing a commodities conference in New York City last year, Steed was listed as serving in several sugar industry groups, including being a former president of the New York Sugar Club. He also was a member of the Intercontinental Exchange's Sugar Contract Committee and a board member of the U.S. Sugar Users Association.

[misfitwashere]

TIMOTHY SNYDER

MAY 6

READ IN APP

As our eyes are turned from moment to moment by the latest outrages, we can overlook sustained and courageous efforts for democracy. Students and others have been protesting in Serbia to great effect for almost half a year now, and I thought it would be good to have a proper report. My colleague Slobodan G. Markovich, professor of political science of the University of Belgrade, has been sending regular reports over email. I asked him to write a summary, which provides not just valuable contemporary history by an eyewitness and analyst, but also useful practical lessons in resistance. The following is his guest essay and his photograph.

In the 1990s Serbia became associated in Western press with its authoritarian ruler Slobodan Milosevic who led the country to international isolation, conflicts with other nations of former Yugoslavia during the Wars of Yugoslav Succession (1991-1999), and, at the end of them, in 1999, to the conflict with the West and the NATO Intervention over his policy in Kosovo. A democratic revolution of October 2000 forced him to accept electoral defeat, but Serbia entered democratic and economic transition with one decade of delay.

A democratic period that followed (2000-2012) was burdened by the legacy of the 1990s. DOS (the Democratic Opposition of Serbia), which came to power in 2000, was a conglomerate of 19 parties and had only one thing in common: their opposition to Slobodan Milosevic. The symbol of democratic Serbia and its pro-Western aspirations, prime minister of Serbia Zoran Djindjic, was assassinated in March 2003. The power struggle between two major components of DOS facilitated the recovery of the political mainstream from the Milosevic era.

The Serbian Radical Party (SRS), ultra-nationalist Milosevic’s ally from the 1990s, became the most popular party in Serbia as early as 2003, but could not make a coalition with any other party due to the fact that its president was Vojislav Seselj who was tried at the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia and was in court’s detention for almost 12 years (2003-2014). SRS’s repeated presidential candidate Tomislav Nikolic realized that he had to rebrand his party and to come out from the shadow of Vojislav Seselj if he ever wanted to be in power. In 2008, he formed the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), and Aleksandar Vucic became his deputy. The party’s main change was gradual abandonment of its EU skepticism and toning down ultra-nationalist rhetoric.

Overall the period 2000-2012 was the period of economic progress in Serbia, but also of jobless growth. Since 2002, the country was considered free in all democratic rankings and was ranked as a semi-consolidated democracy. One thing that the Democratic Party and Boris Tadic, its pro-Western leader and President of Serbia (2004-2012), were not able to solve was the Kosovo issue. The proclamation of Kosovo’s independence in 2008 threatened to bring the Serbian Radical Party to power. Serbian public opinion was clearly against accepting any form of independence and the Democratic Party found it wise to align with the public opinion. This increasingly irritated some Western democracies, particularly Germany.

Democratic Backsliding of Serbia since the mid 2010s

After Serbia’s president Boris Tadic narrowly lost 2012 elections, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) became the cornerstone of the new government. Although Aleksandar Vucic was only Deputy Prime Minister, he was the most influential man of this government (2012-2014). He effectuated new elections and became Prime Minister of Serbia (2014-2017). Nationalistic narratives from the 1990s were gradually renewed. Calling opposition leaders traitors soon became normal and using tabloids against independent and critical voices became a usual practice. This did not worry the governments of Western democracies. Mr. Vucic presented himself as a reformer and modernizer, and an advocate of Serbia’s EU membership, who would improve economic conditions in Serbia. He insisted that only in an economically prosperous Serbia the Kosovo issue could be solved. Leaders of Western democracies, particularly German chancellor Merkel, were prone to accept this argumentation. After the experience with the Democratic Party, they began to believe that only a nationalist and right-wing leader could solve the complex issue of Kosovo deeply connected with national symbolism. In reality the only agreement ever achieved in the Balkans, in the 21st century, that resolved an issue related to nationalism was the Prespa/Prespes agreement of June 2018. It was signed between two leftist governments of Greece and FYR Macedonia. The last became North Macedonia after the agreement.

During the mandate of Mr. Vucic, the economy of Serbia indeed showed some good indicators, but country’s democratic backsliding began as well. Autocratization became even more apparent during his first presidency in 2017-2022. This came simultaneously with the local wave of autocratization that affected most of the Western Balkan countries. In these countries the system of specific hybrid states emerged: the so-called stabilitocracies. The leaders of these states claimed they could provide stability, economic progress, and regular servicing of their international debts. In essence they asked EU officials to not be too critical about other aspects such as the rule of law, freedom of media, and democratization. This led to a bizarre thing that happened during negotiations by chapters of Serbia and Montenegro with the EU in the late 2010s. While both countries progressed in negotiations with the EU their democracy ratings deteriorated.

Although according to the Constitution of Serbia the president of Serbia has mainly symbolic competences, the legitimacy of that office comes from the fact that the president is directly elected by voters in presidential elections. If the president is also the leader of the ruling political party, then he automatically becomes the holder of real political power, and prime minister becomes his puppet.

The political system in Serbia is based on various forms of clientelism. In local terms that means that getting a job may depend on party membership. This is a common problem to all hybrid political systems with elements of traditionalism. The new aspect is the creation of a mega catch-all party. The result is the ruling party in Serbia in the form of a party giant with 700,000 members.

Under the system of clientelism, and with roughly one fourth of all employed persons in Serbia working in the public sector, the state has huge capacities to influence elections. The Covid pandemic led to further democratic backsliding and experts on democratization were increasingly convinced that a path to an open autocracy was very likely for Serbia and that it would follow the same trajectory of autocratization that Turkey had already experienced. The opposition was fragmented, most of the media under the government’s control, and the strong hand of partitocracy was felt everywhere. Unsurprisingly the SNS did not only win the parliamentary elections in 2023 under this system, but also local elections in all but one municipality in Serbia in 2024. The last elections were boycotted by half of the opposition parties which considered that participation under unequal conditions made the whole electoral process pointless.

“Students Will Liberate the World” (Novi Sad, February 2025)

Although Serbia has been an official candidate for EU membership since 2012, its leader found like-minded persons around the globe in the opposite camp in terms of European values. In addition to his best friend Viktor Orbán, he established cordial relations with the leaders of Turkey, Azerbaijan, the UAE, and Egypt. He never quit his “special” relations with Vladimir Putin which both leaders have used more for internal than any other reasons. To placate Western powers that were irritated by this, Mr. Vucic made a scheme, with the help of American diplomacy. The most influential European quality dailies claim that Serbia exported ammunition to neutral users who then re-exported it to Ukraine. At the same time many pro-government media in Serbia took an extremely pro-Russian stance during the Russian Aggression against Ukraine.

At the end of 2024, after the victory of Donald Trump in the USA, it looked like that this sort of policy could actually give results. Russia was ready to use its veto against the recognition of Kosovo’s independence in the UN, and many Western countries were satisfied with Serbia’s practical contribution in combating Russia. The issue of democracy in Serbia, although not totally forgotten, was put aside.

Meanwhile, the appeals and warnings of organizations monitoring democracy and related scores became increasingly alarming. Serbia left the club of free countries in 2018 and has been considered a partly free country by Freedom House since then. With 56 points Serbia is now the second worst ranked country in the Western Balkans with the ruling party that “has steadily eroded political rights and civil liberties, putting legal and extralegal pressure on independent media, the political opposition, and civil society organizations.” Nations in Transit, FH’s major publication for the countries of Eastern Europe and ex-USSR, sees Serbia as a hybrid or transitional state slowly but persistently sinking towards the status of semi-consolidated autocracy. In December 2024, Amnesty International called Serbia “a digital prison” and accused Serbian authorities of deploying “surveillance technology and digital repression tactics as instruments of wider state control and repression directed against civil society.” Finally, the latest report of “Reporters without borders” ranks Serbia’s situation with the media as “difficult” which is the second worst category, to which are assigned only Serbia and Kosovo in Europe.

The biggest student-led protest since 1968 and its transformation into a student and civic protest

The Student Protest emerged in Serbia after a train station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad, on November 1, 2024. Fourteen bystanders were killed at the spot, and two persons died of injuries later. The canopy was recently renovated, and, in March 2022, the train station was opened with great pomp by Serbia’s president accompanied by Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán. The 33-minute line Belgrade-Novi Sad was hailed by the president of Serbia as “the most modern European railway section with the best accompanying equipment and security systems.” In July 2024, the station was opened again, albeit with a less pomp, but again with the confirmation of the regional Prime Minister of Voivodina that passengers would be able to buy tickets in the renovated station “in the most modern, the safest, and the most efficient way.”. Only four months later, the tragedy of Novi Sad took place.

From subsequent revelations it turned out that corruption was to be blamed for the fall of the canopy, and also that the government was interested that the works of construction companies should be done as promptly as possible. After the tragedy the government tried to minimize its own responsibility.

Then the students suddenly began their protest without any sign that it would happen. They organized themselves in plenums (plenary sessions) and took over buildings of faculties around Serbia. By the end of 2024 all 85 state faculties joined the protest, and students of some private faculties also supported the protest. On December 22, the protest reached the first climax with around 102,000 protestors who came to the Belgrade Slavia Square.

By the beginning of 2025, it was clear that the Student Protest was transformed into the Student and Civic Protest. The situation at the beginning of February was that more than 300 towns and cities organized various protests that supported students and that voiced various forms of dissatisfaction with the Serbian authorities. The Student Protest in Serbia, in the late winter of 2025, became probably the biggest student-led movement in Europe since 1968. One of the major characteristics of the Student Protest is their non-violent approach, and avoidance to identify with specific political goals or with any of political parties. Another special aspect is students’ inclusiveness and ability to bridge political, cultural, and ethnic divisions. Spectacles of unity of Christian and Muslim students in Novi Pazar have demonstrated that the Student Protest also has a potential to overcome dark legacies of the 1990s.

A survey conducted in January 2025 by the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade showed that 85% of the students of Serbia’s five state universities supported student blockades and their four demands, but a mere 2.5% of them have participated in any activity of any political party or political organization. This is why students’ demands had to be conceptualized very widely. In their essence, these call for ending state capture and for institutions becoming independent and functional. The Student Protest turned out to be the mutiny of the Zomers since high school students also joined. Some ten generations of the age 15-25 found themselves in a joint protest.

On January 27, 2025, the students blocked, but also symbolically liberated for one day, the Autokomanda Junction in Belgrade. After that they began something that could be called “mapping of freedom”, or “routes of liberation”. Students organized walks through Serbia in which they marched on foot between university centers. On January 31, the students who marched reached Novi Sad, the site of the tragedy, and by their own testimonies and recorded videos were seen as “liberators” by tens of thousands of citizens who greeted them along their routes. In this way, students mobilized very wide strata of society and were able to reach small places that are traditional strongholds of the ruling party. Students’ demands for the rule of law, accountable institutions, and that no individual should be above the law, became a nationwide cry. A very important aspect of the Student Protest is the demand that direct democracy, in the form of local gatherings, should be implemented wherever it is possible.

The spread of the movement led to the spectacular rally of March 15 in Belgrade that gathered unprecedented 300,000 persons, the figure almost twice higher than the number of citizens who had ousted Milosevic in October 2000. The Serbian regime reacted to the Student Protest by organizing its own rallies, but their main rally of April 12 in Belgrade was attended by only around 55,000 people. Many independent journalists were able to show that participants of this rally received various incentives to come or were warned that as state employees they had to come. In spite of all such forms of pressure many participants left the rally while the President was delivering his speech. In turned out to be a fiasco, and it confirmed the difference between party voters and party supporters. While the SNS is clearly capable of using clientelist and state-related networks to mobilize their voters, they seem to be mere dragged spectators at SNS rallies who are increasingly disinterested in political speeches of the Serbian regime.

A byproduct of the Student and Civic Protest is the sense of total delegitimization of authorities in Serbia at all levels. This, however, did not bring significant gains to the political opposition. Years of SNS campaigns against the political opposition in Serbia were successful. The result is that it is very fragmented. Under given circumstances there is a nation-wide debate on what is to be done. Many believe that a student-led, or a student-endorsed list, or a combination of them, is the way out. Political articulation seems to be crystalizing and is focused on one demand: snap elections. The regime’s response so far were President’s repeated claims that he prevented the Color revolution financed by the West, although not a single proof could ever be given about that, and, in spite of the fact, that EU officials have repeatedly warned their Serbian colleagues not to use statements that cannot be verified by any fact.

The regime has put all possible pressure on the universities, high schools, professors and teachers. The rector of the University of Belgrade and some deans were interrogated by the police, salaries of university professors were reduced by the government’s order by 87.5%. All of this came because the deans and the rector refused to call the police to intervene against the students which, by the Serbian university law, only the deans can request. State officials now go so far to threaten that faculties, and even high schools, could be privatized, and that all state faculties could lose their accreditations. Several activists were also interrogated by the police, and the offices of prosecutors tended to charge people for posts in social networks that they considered as incitement to violence. However, many pro-government posts with very similar messages, but directed against students and their supporters, have not been prosecuted so far. Some foreign residents who lived in Serbia for years have been expelled as “security threats” merely for expressing their support for the Student Protest.

In addition, the President of Serbia repeatedly voiced his dissatisfaction with the police that is too mild in his opinion, and with the prosecutors and judges. This produced the first wide protest and petitions of Serbian prosecutors and judges against this kind of pressure by the President of Serbia.

Under such conditions a group of students is at this moment performing a mega-marathon, running to Brussels to inform the EU institutions on what has been happening in Serbia. Previously 80 student cyclists made a 1,470 km tour to Strasbourg and brought their letters to the European institutions there. The EU does not seem to be silent anymore. Three leading parliamentary groups in the EU’s parliament openly sided with Serbian students. The EU Enlargement Commissioner repeated three times that students’ demands in Serbia were actually EU’s demands as well, and Austrian FM, on April 30, greeted student runners in Vienna. Selling the narrative of stabilitocracy to Brussels does not seem to be an option for the Serbian regime anymore. The President of Serbia has found himself torn between his publicly pronounced goal of Serbia’s EU membership and his special relations with Moscow. An increasing number of EU states seems to be more than ever irritated by this kind of policy.

Obviously the first half-time of the match between the SNS regime and the Serbian Students supported by rebelling citizens has ended with delegitimization of the regime, which is, however, still firmly in power. The second half-time is soon to begin and both sides believe that time could be their greatest ally. It could be a greater ally to the Civic Protest, though, since many SNS voters have turned into mere spectators, and surveys suggest that many of them have already opted for students. This erosion of the popularity of SNS is the greatest threat that this party has faced since 2012 when it came to power. The Student Protest in Serbia has made prospects of democratization of Serbia and the region more realistic.