#direct law admission 2020

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Aaron Sibarium

Published: May 31, 2024

The ‘iDIVERSE’ program bars white and Asian researchers from applying.

The University of California, Los Angeles, medical school was hit last week with whistleblower allegations that its admissions office has for years discriminated on the basis of race, in violation of California law, by holding black and Latino applicants to lower standards than their white and Asian counterparts.

The allegations triggered an email message from the dean of the medical school, Steven Dubinett, who denied the claims and said that students and faculty "are held to the highest standards of academic excellence." He subsequently told an obscure Los Angeles Times opinion columnist that the allegations, published in the Washington Free Beacon, are "fact-free."

Hiring and admissions decisions, he wrote in his message last week, are "based on merit," not race, "in a process consistent with state and federal law."

But Dubinett himself directs a center within the medical school, the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, that houses a race-based fellowship experts say is illegal.

Participants in the "iDIVERSE" program "must be" black, Hispanic, Native American, Pacific Islander, LGBT, or a woman, according to screenshots of a now-deleted webpage obtained by the Free Beacon. Fellows research ways to increase diversity in clinical trials as part of a study funded by Pfizer, the American Heart Association, and Gates Ventures, the personal LLC of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

The website indicates that the deadline to apply to the program, which has existed for two years, was March 1.

"This is obviously illegal," said Adam Mortara, the lead trial lawyer for Students for Fair Admissions in its lawsuit against Harvard, which led to the Supreme Court decision last year that outlawed affirmative action. "Every time we sue a company or institution for doing this, they settle by ending the program."

Dubinett and UCLA medical school did not respond to requests for comment.

The program is an awkward albatross for a school that spent Memorial Day weekend doing damage control after a Free Beacon report showed that record numbers of UCLA medical students are failing basic tests of clinical knowledge—in part, admissions officers said, because standards have been lowered by affirmative action.

On Saturday, a fourth-year student posted data on X, formerly Twitter, that he claimed had been released internally to refute that report. Though the new data showed that students did better on a recent round of tests, known as shelf exams, than some other cohorts, UCLA has not addressed the rise in failure rates over time or the fact that nearly a quarter of students in the class of 2025 failed three or more shelf exams.

Nor has it explained how the percentage of Asian matriculants shrunk by almost 50 percent since 2018, with most of the drop occurring after a new dean of admissions, Jennifer Lucero was hired in 2020. That decline coincided with a sharp increase in the number of students who come from "medically under-served" areas or identify as "disadvantaged"—indicators that admissions officials say are being used as proxies for race.

Matriculants from under-served areas nearly doubled as a percentage of the incoming class after Lucero took the helm in 2020, rising steadily from 34 to 56 percent of first-year students over four years, per data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

The number of first-year students indicating disadvantage likewise rose by nearly 60 percent, from 42 percent in 2020 to 67 percent in 2023. No other elite medical school has come close to these numbers, according to a review of AAMC data for the top 20 schools on U.S News & World Report’s rankings for medical research.

While the trends don’t provide proof of discrimination, they are consistent with the accounts of racial gerrymandering from UCLA admissions officers. Lucero has allegedly told officials that the class should reflect the "diversity" of California, where racial preferences have been illegal since 1996, and has attacked those who raise concerns about minority candidates with low test scores. She even made the entire admissions committee sit through a two-hour presentation on Native American history after a Native American applicant was rejected, three sources said.

Together with the iDIVERSE fellowship, which launched in 2022 and involves partnerships with other institutions, the accounts paint a picture of a medical school suffused with racial preferences and determined to skirt civil rights law by any means necessary. They come as the medical school is reviewing its entire first-year curriculum in the wake of a separate Free Beacon report on a required course, "Structural Racism and Health Equity," in which students learn that weight loss is a "hopeless endeavor."

That course also hosted a guest speaker, Lisa Gray-Garcia, who has referred to the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks as "justice" and led students in chants of "free, free Palestine." Days later, two residents in the medical school’s psychiatry program delivered a talk that glorified self-immolation as a form of "resistance" in the context of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Both incidents were cited in a congressional probe of UCLA’s response to anti-Semitism—another ongoing controversy. At a hearing on Capitol Hill this month, UCLA chancellor Gene Block said the medical school was investigating Gray-Garcia’s talk but offered no further details on the review.

The whistleblower allegations are not the first admissions scandal to hit UCLA. In 2021, a former soccer coach was sentenced to eight months in prison after he helped two applicants pose as athletic recruits so they would be accepted to the university.

[rjalker]

X

@uncleasriel said in response to this post, this is way too long for me to reblog again with even longer comments on it:

I was so annoyed that this was the choice for the series second episode. The Lawless Punk Wasteland of New York was a major subject of media fascination, to be sure. To go from Catherine's violent crime to a broader examination of violent crime overall seems like a natural direction to take the series. So why does this feel so bad?

I think it's the way the episode's inciting crime is portrayed - Young Kids Bullying Elderly Folks Because They Have No Morals - feels weird given 2020's sensibilities. it's hard to imagine young folks acting this badly without some justification or provocation. (This is definitely a relic of the 1980s where Inner City Urban Decay was as palpable as Terrorism or Fentanyl Crisis is today). Still, it feels uncomfortable to then see that the vigilante's solution to the hoodlums is to slit them up with claws seems excessive. I get that retributive violence was a common vibe for media of the 80s, but I feel that kicking the crap out of these kids would be sufficient - no need to murder them, except to start the episode with High Stakes.

Jace is such a disappointing character, because ethically he seems like the kind of character in the post George Floyd world we'd celebrate - a black man with a focus on community building, physical fitness, and a desire to help the people around him be able to deal with the problems in their community without having to turn to cumbersome institutions. But Catherine - a monied young woman who went from corporate lawyering to working for the District Attourney to "make a difference" - embodies more faith in the intitution of law and policing than a 2024 audience is willing to grant.

Especially when said attourney is a wealthy white woman at odds with a working class black man!

But Catherine's role as an investigator District Attorney still makes her entrenched in a system unwilling and unable to address the issues safely and effectively. It's quite disgusting here - the black man is using tough-on-crime rhetoric to argue copaganda points about how 'the laws are too lax' while also arguing that murderous vigilantism is the preferred response. Catherine's 'the system works' rhetoric feels very liberal - trust in the Powers That Be, even though we've seen them clearly fail her in the previous episode.

The nihilism of the 'color of our hats' almost seems palatable by comparison - at least there's an admission that the reality is broken, and those with a vested interest in their "team's" well-being will respond well towards their respective community. It's ugly but honest, which is more than Catherine's mealy-mouthed faith in a system that' obviously not working.

It's a cynicism which is at odds with the show's romantic aspirations, however. Vincent's world underground is free of these kinds of evil, and the already strong hints of a close-knit communitarian society in the tunnels would be at odds with such a cynical take. It seems there is a possibility for healthy communites with good information networks to get the word out about malefactors quickly - alas, they are a fantasy underground never-never land world! Definitely nothing the wicked bad surface world could hope to know abut or understand.

This show had won me over me in the pilot, with it's obvious sympathies towards the victims of violence. The suggestion that the Tunnel world was a place free of these evils due to a loving community was intriguing, and Catherine's brush with it forces her to reconsider her life, and use the healing she found there to propel her into helping others in her world. But already pivoting to such a loaded (and racialized) plot, with such aggressively falsely dichitomous take on the solution to the problem of violent crime... I really wish George r.r Martin chose some other plot for ep2!

____

this comment is from Febrauary and I only just noticed it now by chance, probably because as the tags say it was written at 2AM lol.

Anyways. My laptop wants to overheat so

First of all this part

Young Kids Bullying Elderly Folks Because They Have No Morals - feels weird given 2020's sensibilities. it's hard to imagine young folks acting this badly without some justification or provocation.

There was very clear reasoning behind the assault on Mrs. Dalby: She's a poor Black woman, and the people who attacked her were racist white people and looking to cause problems and knew they could get away with assaulting a poor Black woman because no one would bother protecting her.

I would not in any sense of the word describe them as 'young kids'. Just because they're white, and because Catherine refers to them as such, doesn't mean they're kids.

They're not bullying her for no reason, it's because they're racist and she's defenseless. She's on a run down filthy train by herself at night just trying to get home. They assault her and try to rob her because they know no one is going to protect her. The only other person who was in the train car already left, leaving her completely at their mercy.

the black man is using tough-on-crime rhetoric to argue copaganda points about how 'the laws are too lax'

That is absolutely not what is happening. He is talking about the systemic injustice that allows privileged people, like white men, to get away with violent crimes against minorities without any consequences, and how the law fails to actually protect the people who are the most vulnerable.

This episode is bad because it's hypocritical and racist. It's okay for Vincent to go around mauling people to protect Catherine, a white woman, but when a Black man does it to protect people who don't have the privilege of being absurdly rich with all the best lawyers and doctors money can buy, including Black women who are getting beaten on the ground and white girls who are about to become the victims of rape, and then suddenly it's bad.

Because it's a Black man using violence to protect the most vulnerable people in his community instead of Vincent, the lion man who only ever seem to protect Catherine, the rich white woman whose father is a powerful lawyer, who has no qualms about casually ripping a hundred dollar bill in half. Which she was casually just carrying around with her without apparently intending to buy anything.

It's a bad episode because it sets a blatant double standard that says using violence to defend people is only okay if you're doing it to protect rich white women.

K. Laptop is throwing a fit so bye

[sharso12]

Kirit P Mehta School of LLB Direct Admission

[kspp]

Time to be “Significant”

“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”– Dr. Jane Goodall, Scientist & Activist

Christened the “World Environment Day,” June 5th, this year marks half a century since the inception and foundation of the moral principles to encourage and direct countries and people to preserve and enhance the human environment in Stockholm, also known as the 1972 Stockholm Conference. This indeed was the cornerstone for it heralded the admission of “Environment” as a sprouting and salient issue of global importance. It led to the marriage of science and society that gave birth to environmental laws and established institutions bearing environmental impacts. It set the ball rolling for international environmental diplomacy and, through these years, also prophecised the goliath we are now confronted with – climate change. We have come a long way since then, where stakeholders now convene to tackle the Earth’s triple planetary crisis – climate, nature, and pollution and facilitate the fulfilment of SDGs, the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, and support the adoption of green post-COVID-19 recovery plans at Stockholm+50. What will be interesting to witness is the outcome of the Stockholm+50 meeting for which my fingers are crossed.

At this juncture, it is too bold of me to comment on what other counties are doing or have committed to tackling the planetary crisis and hence will restrict myself to India. The honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi advanced India’s formula of ‘Panchamrits‘ at the COP 26, where India will,

increase its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030

meet 50% of its energy requirements through renewable energy by 2030

reduce its forecasted carbon emission by one billion tonnes by 2030

reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by 45% by 2030

achieve net-zero by 2070

This is a testament to India’s bold vision and dedication to the collective global battle against the aforementioned crisis. It is, in fact, one of the very few nations on course to meet its Paris Agreement targets , and hence, it is fair to state that it is on its path to being successful.

Nevertheless, having said that, I believe it is important for India not to focus on being successful. Yes, you read that correct; I do not want India to be focused on being successful. Don’t get me wrong; every country ought to be successful, and I hope India does too. There is no harm or nothing wrong with being successful. But, success is just about oneself. I instead want India to be “Significant.” because significance is about others. And I want India to be significant both domestically and Internationally.

Domestically, it is paramount that India does not abandon the development needs of the most vulnerable communities. And hence, this planetary crisis must prioritize equity, exchange, and access; and have a human rights-based approach where development, along with mitigation and adaptation measures, fortifies the resilience of such vulnerable constituents.

Internationally, it is paramount that India puts its best foot forward, contributes to the international stage, and extends a helping hand to the most vulnerable nations and communities. To quote Dr. Shashi Tharoor, when countries, especially the developing ones, “Look at India, they say, there is a mess just like us. They have the same sort of problems; they have poverty, they have the divisions. We may have clans; they may have castes. If they can triumph over these problems, we can learn from them.” This is an opportune time for India to strike while the iron is hot, make an impact in the global arena, and also concurrently further its foreign policy through its environmental and climate change diplomacy.

In conclusion, even as we mark one more “World Environment Day,” I hope we all are reminded as individuals and as a nation – “महत्वपूर्ण भारत “( Significant India) that it’s about ‘progression’ and ‘not perfection.’ It is about getting into an ‘active relationship’ with this planetary crisis of climate, nature, and pollution, facing it head-on, one pebble at a time.

Credit Suisse Global Megatrends Conference. “Martin Jacques and Shashi Tharoor discuss China and India.” YouTube. 2016.

MEA. “National Statement by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at COP26 Summit in Glasgow.” Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. Last modified November 2021.

NRDC. “The Road From Paris: India’s Progress Towards Its Climate Pledge.” Natural Resources Defense Council. Last modified October 2021.

Sohn, L. B. “The Stockholm Declaration on the human environment.” UN Environment Document Repository Home. Last modified 1973.

UNEP. “About.” Stockholm+50. Last modified June 2022.

[recentlyheardcom]

ATLANTA (AP) — Attorney and prominent conservative media figure Jenna Ellis pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony charge over efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia, tearfully telling the judge she looks back on that time with “deep remorse.”Ellis, the fourth defendant in the case to enter into a plea deal with prosecutors, was a vocal part of Trump's reelection campaign in the last presidential cycle and was charged alongside the Republican former president and 17 others with violating the state’s anti-racketeering law.Ellis pleaded guilty to one felony count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings. She had been facing charges of violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO, and soliciting the violation of oath by a public officer, both felonies.She rose to speak after pleading guilty, fighting back tears as she said she would not have represented Trump after the 2020 election if she knew then what she knows now, claiming that she relied on lawyers with much more experience than her and failed to verify the things they told her.“What I did not do but should have done, Your Honor, was to make sure that the facts the other lawyers alleged to be true were in fact true,” the 38-year-old Ellis said.The guilty plea from Ellis comes just days after two other defendants, fellow attorneys Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, entered guilty pleas. That means three high-profile people responsible for pushing baseless legal challenges to Democrat Joe Biden's 2020 election victory have agreed to accept responsibility for their roles rather than take their chances before a jury. A lower-profile defendant pleaded guilty last month.Responding to a reporter's shouted question in the hallway of a New York City courthouse, where a civil case accusing him of inflating the value of his assets is being held, Trump said he didn't know anything about Ellis' plea deal but called it “too bad” and said he wasn't worried by it.“Don't know anything, we're totally innocent of everything, that's political persecution is all it is,” he said.Steve Sadow, Trump's lead attorney in the Georgia case, used Ellis' plea to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the racketeering charges Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis brought against all 19 defendants.“For the fourth time, Fani Willis and her prosecution team have dismissed the RICO charge in return for a plea to probation,” he said. “What that shows is this so-called RICO case is nothing more than a bargaining chip for DA Willis.”He also noted that Ellis pleaded guilty to a charge that wasn't in the original indictment and doesn't include Trump.She was sentenced to five years of probation along with $5,000 in restitution, 100 hours of community service, writing an apology letter to the people of Georgia and testifying truthfully in trials related to this case.The early pleas and the favorable punishment — probation rather than prison — could foreshadow similar outcomes for additional defendants who may see an admission of guilt and cooperation as their best hope for leniency. Even so, their value as witnesses against Trump is unclear given that their direct participation in unfounded schemes will no doubt expose them to attacks on their credibility and bruising cross-examinations should they testify.The indictment in the sweeping case details a number of accusations against Ellis, including that she helped author plans on how to disrupt and delay congressional certification of the 2020 election’s results on Jan. 6, 2021, the day a mob of Trump supporters eventually overran the U.S. Capitol.Ellis is also accused of urging state legislators to unlawfully appoint a set of presidential electors loyal to Trump at a hearing in Pennsylvania, and she later appeared with some of those lawmakers and Trump at a meeting on the topic at the White House. The indictment further says she similarly pushed state lawmakers to back false, pro-Trump electors in Georgia as well as Arizona and Michigan.

Prosecutor Daysha Young said in court Tuesday that Ellis attended a December 2020 meeting of Georgia state senators with Trump attorney and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and with Georgia-based attorney Ray Smith. Ellis “intentionally aided and abetted” the other two as they made false statements to the lawmakers, including that more than 2,500 people convicted of felonies, more than 66,000 people who were under 18 and more than 10,000 dead people voted in the 2020 election in Georgia, Young said.Before her plea, Ellis, who lives in Florida, was defiant, posting in August on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, “The Democrats and the Fulton County DA are criminalizing the practice of law. I am resolved to trust the Lord.”But she has been more critical of Trump since then, saying on conservative radio in September that she wouldn't vote for him again, citing his “malignant, narcissistic tendency to simply say that he's never done anything wrong."Along with Giuliani, Ellis was a leading voice in the Trump campaign's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, appearing frequently on television and conservative media to tell lies about widespread fraud that did not occur and spread misinformation and conspiracy theories.She was censured in Colorado in March after admitting she made repeated false statements about the 2020 election.That punishment was due in part to a Nov. 20, 2020, appearance on Newsmax, during which she said, "With all those states (Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia) combined we know that the election was stolen from President Trump, and we can prove that.”Powell pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors and was sentenced to serve six years of probation and was ordered to pay a fine of $6,000. Chesebro pleaded guilty to one felony and was ordered to serve five years of probation, pay $5,000 in restitution and do 100 hours of community service. Bail bondsman Scott Graham Hall pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges and got five years of probation. All of them were ordered to write apology letters to the people of Georgia and to testify truthfully in any other trial in the case.Ellis and the other three pleaded guilty under Georgia’s first offender law. That means that if they complete their probation without violating the terms or committing another crime, their records will be wiped clean.Trump and the other defendants, including his White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, have pleaded not guilty.___Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

[chubbycaucasianchristiancloseted]

If only everyone would have read this article prior to the 2020 election.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/09/22/biden-academic-claims-inaccurate/932eaeed-9071-47a1-aeac-c94a51b668e1/

If only everyone would have read this article prior to the 2020 election. Biden was a liar, is a liar and will continue to tell lies as the walls coming crashing down around him and his family. Why lie about stupid stuff? But to the radical progressive party the ends justify the means; they will circle the wagons and hold no Biden accountable for their actions.

Direct Quotes

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., his Democratic presidential campaign battered by charges of plagiarism in his campaign speeches and in a law school paper, admitted yesterday that some of his boasts about his college academic achievements were untrue

Biden also claimed that he had attended law school at Syracuse University on a full academic scholarship, that he had been named the outstanding student in the political science department as an undergraduate at the University of Delaware, and that he had graduated from Delaware with three undergraduate degrees.

Biden admitted that these claims were "inaccurate."

my recollection on this was inaccurate

Biden held a news conference last week at which he confirmed he had faced disciplinary action on a charge of plagiarizing part of a law school paper as a freshman, and admitted that he had sometimes borrowed quotes from other politicians, including Robert F. Kennedy, Hubert H. Humphrey and British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock.

he graduated 76th out of a law school class of 85

academic records show that he graduated from Delaware 506th in a class of 688 with a "C" average and that he got his undergraduate degree with a dual major in history and political science.

In response to some suggestions that the Delaware bar might not have admitted him to practice in 1968 had it known of the first-year law school disciplinary action, Biden said that when he applied for admission the dean of the Syracuse Law School wrote to Delaware authorities that his "records reflect nothing whatsoever of a derogatory nature" that called into question his integrity or ability.

"Not wanting to leave any questions, however, I have written the chief justice of the Delaware Supreme Court bringing these facts to his attention," Biden said.

He also challenged suggestions he may not have won a moot court competition he said he won.

"I did, with my partner Jared Jossem, win an international moot court competition at Kingston, Ontario, on December 12, 1967," he said.

[digitalsavy15]

Whiskey: Is It Good For You?

Bourbon is a dull grain alcohol drinks made everywhere. It was first evolved in archaic Scotland and Ireland. In Gaelic, its name freely means "water of life."   In sixteenth century Scotland, pharmacists offered bourbon as a tonic to slow maturing, fix blockage, and ease joint torment. During American Preclusion, specialists recommended bourbon to treat pneumonia, hypertension, and tuberculosis.   

 Today, bourbon is accessible by various names in view of its creation — like single malt, scotch, whiskey, and rye. While nowadays it's bound to be recorded on a bar tab than on a solution cushion, current exploration has found proof that might uphold a few conventional cases that bourbon supports wellbeing.   It's legitimate, nonetheless, that high measures of liquor can prompt some serious medical problems. 

Bourbon's potential advantages are related with directing consumption low.   To diminish the gamble of liquor related hurts, the CDC's 2020-2025 Dietary Rules for Americans suggests that grown-ups of lawful drinking age can decide not to drink, or to drink with some restraint by restricting admission to 2 beverages or less in a day for men or 1 beverage or less in a day for ladies, on days when liquor is drunk. 

The Rules additionally don't suggest that people who don't drink liquor begin drinking under any circumstance and that assuming grown-ups of legitimate drinking age decide to drink cocktails, drinking less is preferred for wellbeing over drinking more.   

 Sustenance Data A 30-milliliter serving of 100 proof bourbon contains:   Calories: 123 Protein: 0 grams Fat: 0 grams Starches: 0 grams Fiber: 0 grams Sugar: 0 grams Bourbon is a wellspring of:   Phosphorus Thiamine (Vitamin B1) Zinc Iron Niacin (Vitamin B3) It likewise contains ellagic corrosive, a cancer prevention agent tracked down in berries. While more examination is required, concentrates on show ellagic may kill disease cells and lessen cancer development.   

 Potential Medical advantages of Bourbon Calories from spirits are basically something very similar however bourbon has no starches or sugar. Its ellagic corrosive substance may likewise decrease substantial aggravation and lower the gamble of heftiness.  

 Research recommends that there are other medical advantages to drinking bourbon. Be that as it may, these advantages are undeniably connected with moderate utilization — weighty drinking can prompt serious medical problems.   Related   A glass of bourbon daily might offer medical advantages like:   Heart Wellbeing   Bourbon has elevated degrees of polyphenols, plant-based cancer prevention agents connected with bringing down your gamble of coronary illness. 

The polyphenols in bourbon have been displayed to diminish "terrible" cholesterol (LDL) and increment "great" cholesterol (HDL) levels, and decrease fatty oils, or fat in your blood.   Terrible cholesterol and fatty oils can stop up your courses, while great cholesterol assists with keeping them clear. Keeping up with sound levels can assist with forestalling coronary illness and stroke.   Alleviation of Cold Side effects   Bourbon can briefly broaden your veins. In modest quantities, this can assist with clearing bodily fluid blockage in your sinuses and chest, which allows your body to more readily manage affliction and disease. 

This impact may likewise free different side effects from a cold or influenza, such as hacking or wheezing.   Safe Framework Backin Researchers are uncertain why, yet a few investigations interface moderate liquor utilization to further developed invulnerability of illnesses and further developed reactions to immunizations.

 Concentrates on show lower paces of the normal cool, quicker expulsion of microorganisms, and better immunizer reaction in individuals who have an everyday beverage contrasted with the people who don't. Nonetheless, substantially more exploration is expected to grasp this impact.

[knowledgewap1]

Nit Full Form

Consisting of thirty autonomous institutions, they are located in one of the main states / territories of India. The NITSER board is made up of the presidents, directors of all NITs, as well as government candidates from various sectors, and the chairman of the board is the minister of education. In 2007, in accordance with legislation, the Government of India declared these schools to be Institutes of National Importance on par with the Indian Institutes of Technology.

In 2003, seventeen former Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs) were renamed National Institutes of Technology (NIT) and transformed into fully central government funded institutes and given the status of Prospective Universities.

The NIT Council works directly under his direction and includes the minister responsible for technical education in the central government, the presidents and directors of all NITs, the president of the University Grants Commission (UGC), and the director general of the Scientific and Industrial Research Council. (CSIR), directors of other elected central authoritative institutions, Members of Parliament, Secretary of the Joint Council of the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), Central Government Candidates, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Guest.

Twenty-four NITs were ranked in the top 200 in the engineering category according to the National Institutional Ranking Framework in 2020. Significance of NIT in Information Technology and Technology IT Networking Organization, National Internal Telecommunications. Also look for the NIT value for the IT organization elsewhere. The full form of the acronym NIT is National Internal Telecommunications.

The National Institute of Technology (NIT) is India’s most prestigious autonomous public technical college and is supervised by the Ministry of Education. The meaning of the acronym NIT in IT organizations stands for intra-national telecommunications.

It is a group of public engineering schools in India and has been declared as an institution of national importance by the parliamentary law. India’s first Linux user group Bharat Linux user group was established in NIT Surat (SVNIT) in early 1997.

However, in accordance with the selection criteria set by the NTA, the candidate must achieve a minimum of 75% score on the grade 12 exam or be in the top 20 percentile of 10 + 2 or any equivalent exam for admission to BE / BTech / BArch / BPlanning courses at NIT and others institutions of national importance such as IIT / IIIT and CFTI.

Most NITs in India offer undergraduate and graduate degree programs in various fields of engineering, architecture, management and science.

We have made inquiries of the NIT acronym in the IT organization in the search engines. NIT can have multiple values, so check all NIT values ​​one by one.

NIT has offices in the United States and serves leading financial institutions and hospitals. Head lice have haunted people for centuries, and in order to get rid of all the latest lice (a special form of lice), you must remove them to the last hair. Nits are also used in some cases that are completely unrelated to lice eggs.

NIT has announced a cash dividend per unit of Rs 10 (full year) to holders of NIT Equity Market Opportunity Fund units for the year ending June 30, 2018.

Last year, NIT Trichy was the most in-demand NIT in computer science and engineering among the best. SICs operate autonomously, like IIT, sharing only entrance examinations. The Bad Tournament is the comic incarnation of NIT on the Internet. NIT stands for “Uninteresting Tournament”, designed to mock NIT.

There are 31 NITs in India and admission to BTech programs is done through the JoSAA consultancy process based on a guaranteed AIR degree at JEE Main.

Nit is a term used to describe a small and minor defect in a product. NIT proponents argue that every American without income above the tax threshold should have a basic income guarantee and that NIT is a subsidy tool for those in need at a lower cost than Social Security.

Founded in 2005, Nit Picky offers summer camps and a parenting solution for lice and nits. Advance Online Admission Notification for students assigned at NIT Agartala for undergraduate and dual degree courses according to JoSAA / CSAB-2021 for Academic Session 2021-22.

Feedback Notice for Intermediate Students (Odd Semester 2021-22). Public Notice of Admission to the B.Tech Program for the Academic Session 2021-2022 To receive a negative tax subsidy, those in need, together with other taxpayers, simply need to file a tax return.

This question is not relevant. This question does not follow the stack overflow guidelines.

[annubs-tcs]

Significant Dates-SLAT 2020-Direct Law Admission-Symbiosis,The law courses are offered at 4 law schools of SIU i.e. SLS Pune, Noida, Hyderabad & Nagpur

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Packing the court

The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Mitch McConnell's cynical reversal of his Obama-era prohibition on confirming a new Supreme Court justice in the waning days of an administration has kicked off a lot of interest in the possibility of "packing the court."

The number of Supreme Court justices is not spelled out in the Constitution: rather, it is the subject of federal law, and a new Congress, Senate and President could in theory pass a new law, expanding or contracting the number of judges - we could have a 21-seat bench!

How this could play out is complicated. Henry Farrell's history of FDR's threat to pack the court rebuts the idea that court-packing undermines democratic norms, arguing that the threat itself tamed the court and made it pliable to the New Deal.

https://crookedtimber.org/2020/09/19/the-supreme-court-and-normcore/

The court's power comes from its legitimacy; even the alleged "textualists" (who say their only job is to strictly hew to the text of the Constitution) are secretly consequentialist (ruling on the basis of how their judgments will be perceived by the public).

To rule without regard to consequence is to undermine the court's legitimacy and thus its power.

Farrell: "Norm maintenance requires not just that political actors worry about the chaos that will ensue if the norms stop working. It also relies on the fear of punishment – that if one side deviates from the political bargain implicit in the norm, the other side will retaliate, likely by breaking the norm in future situations in ways that are to their own particular advantage."

More explicitly: "Norms don’t just rely on the willingness of the relevant actors to adhere to them. They also rely on the willingness of actors to violate them under the right circumstances. If one side violates, then the other side has to be prepared to punish. If one side threatens a violation, then the other side has to threaten in turn, to make it clear that deviating from the norm will be costly."

This view is not unique to Farrell. Writing in the LA Times,  Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of UC Berkeley Law, concurs: "The threat of increasing the size of the court to 13 might be enough to discourage Republicans from their dirty tricks. But if they do it anyway, and the November election produces a Democratic win in the White House and a Democratic majority in the Senate, Congress would be totally justified in increasing the size of the court."

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-09-18/op-ed-democrats-have-a-secret-weapon-to-thwart-a-rapid-ginsburg-replacement-they-should-use-it

But FDR isn't the only president who bypassed the Supreme Court. Lincoln faced down a court packed with pro-slavery justices - the bench that denied Dred Scott standing on the basis that Black Americans "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect."

Writing in Jacobin, Matt Karp describes how Lincoln tamed the court by delegitimizing it, with New York papers declaring that the Supreme Court was a "a self-disgraced tribunal."

https://jacobinmag.com/2020/09/abraham-lincoln-supreme-court-slavery

Lincoln-supporting legislators like William Seward introduced legislation to weaken the court's power: "Let the court recede. Whether it recede or not, we shall reorganize the court, and thus reform its political sentiments and practices."

Though the law was doomed, it was part of a normative exercise in delegitimizing the court. Lincoln allies mocked their opponents for "superstitious worship" of the court, made fun of the justices' appearance, and rejected the idea of "judicial review" of constitutionality.

This crept into mainstream discourse. Maine senator (and Lincoln's future VP) Hannibal Hamlin wrote, "We make the laws, they interpret them; but it is not for them to tell us what is a political constitutional right of this body. Of all the despotisms on earth, a judicial despotism is the worst. It is a life estate."

During the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Douglas attacked Lincoln for undermining the court's legitimacy. Far from rebutting this claim, Lincoln made it a campaign promise.

"We do not propose to be bound by [Dred Scott] as a political rule. We propose resisting it as to have it reversed if we can, and a new judicial rule established upon this subject."

Lincoln won the election, and in his inaugural address, he said, "[I]f the policy of the government, upon vital questions, affecting the whole people, is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court. The instant they are made the people will have ceased, to be their own rulers, having, to that extent, practically resigned their government, into the hands of that eminent tribunal."

Lincoln DID pack the court, adding one more justice, but he also just bypassed them, ignoring their precedents and passing new antislavery laws that contravened them. SCOTUS was sidelined for a decade, including during Reconstruction.

Karp: "Drawing direct lessons from the past is a fool’s errand, but this history should remind us that judicial power — however grandly it may be imagined by friends and foes alike — is critically dependent on political currents. The Right’s resort to judicial supremacy is not a sign of strength, but an admission of weakness: a beleaguered regime calls upon the authority of the court only to achieve what it cannot accomplish through electoral politics."

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

July 22, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

The backdrop of everything political these days is the 2022 midterm election.

The most immediate story in the country is that coronavirus infections are rising rapidly. The seven-day average of Covid-19 cases is rising about 37,700 cases per day, and the seven-day average of hospital admissions is about 35,000 per day. The seven-day average of daily deaths has also increased to 237 per day, about 19 percent higher than it was in the previous seven-day period.

The vast majority of these hospitalizations and deaths are among the unvaccinated as the new, highly contagious Delta variant spreads. Today, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, warned that the Delta variant “is one of the most infectious respiratory viruses we know of and that I have seen in my 20-year career.”

Three states with lower vaccination rates, Florida, Texas, and Missouri, had 40 percent of all the nation’s cases. At a White House press conference, Jeff Zients, the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, noted, “For the second week in a row, one in five of all cases [occurred] in Florida alone.”

Republican lawmakers and right-wing pundits have cast doubt on the vaccines and hardened opposition to them as part of the stoking of a culture war, but now, quite suddenly, many of them are urging their supporters and listeners to get vaccinated. They have not offered their reasoning for the about-face, and perhaps they are suddenly concerned about coronavirus deaths.

But as news outlets repeat that hospitalizations and deaths are overwhelmingly among the unvaccinated, Republican lawmakers must also realize that their voters will at some point resent the anti-vaccine advice that is singling them out for death.

Republicans seem to be trying to rewrite their past attacks on the vaccine by now blaming the people who refused the vaccines for their reluctance to get it. Today, for example, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, who has been a strong Trump supporter, blamed the unvaccinated for the spike. “Folks are supposed to have common sense. But it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the vaccinated folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down,” she said.

The Republicans have another problem, too. Candidates vying to win Republican primaries are trying to pick up the Trump base by sticking closely to him and to the lie that he won the 2020 election. But the same stances that will win primary voters will alienate voters in the general election.

Candidates are staking out their pro-Trump ground in part because they are holding out hope that the former president will choose to pour money into their campaigns; however, news broke today that Trump has taken in about $75 million in the first half of 2021 on the promise that he is fighting the results of the 2020 election but has spent none of that money on those challenges.

At the same time that news about House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s picks for the January 6 commission put a spotlight on the possible involvement of Trump Republicans in that insurrection, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is using the Senate Rules Committee, which she chairs, to highlight the voter restrictions that legislatures in Republican-dominated states are imposing on their citizens. The committee is holding field hearings this week in Georgia.

There, Georgia State Senator Sally Harrell (D) told the committee about begging for copies of voting rights bills so she could read them before voting, about bills being switched at the last minute, and of not being able to stop the Republicans from undermining voting rights. Harrell told the committee that state lawmakers need the help of the federal For the People Act to protect voting rights.

Mounting pressure on Republican lawmakers to try to shore up their voters showed in the July 20 Senate vote on the VOCA Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law today. Originally passed in 1984, the measure gathers fines and penalties paid by convicted federal criminals into a fund that spreads money to organizations helping the victims of crimes. But the amount of money in the fund has dropped 92% since 2017, as “non-prosecutorial agreements” and “deferred prosecution agreements” kept money from going into the fund.

This measure is vital for domestic abuse survivors and their children, and the new bill directs money from those agreements into the fund to replenish it. The Senate, which generally opposes social welfare legislation, backed it 100–0 in what looks like an attempt to reach out to the suburban women Republicans need to win in 2022 and 2024.

—-

Notes:

https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/its-time-to-start-blaming-the-unvaccinated-gov-ivey-on-rise-in-covid-19-cases-low-vaccination-rate/

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/22/health/us-coronavirus-thursday/index.html

​​https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/18/us/politics/amy-klobuchar-rules-committee-voting.html

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/georgia-democrat-voting-laws-republicans

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-pac-ballot-reviews/2021/07/22/d451fcaa-e596-11eb-934f-7e6c1927f261_story.html

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/07/22/remarks-by-president-biden-at-signing-of-h-r-1642-the-voca-fix-to-sustain-the-crime-victims-fund-act-of-2021/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/07/22/press-briefing-by-white-house-covid-19-response-team-and-public-health-officials-46/

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[sharso12]

SCMS Noida BBA Direct Management Quota Admission

https://getdirectadmission.com/sls-pune-direct-bba-llb-admission/

[skippyv20]

💜💜💜💜PG INTERPRETATION OF MM ANON💜💜💜💜💜

MM Anon

MM ANON …… £10,000 ……………RBG…………… every eight days……………conservative Supreme Court ……………OBE???? ……………hydrogen choo, choo !! ………rule of sticks and carrot …………Khan lock um down. ………Khan lock um up…………… pro-test…………… wet havana

💜💜💜💜💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻THANK YOU DEAR MM ANON🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜💜💜💜

TUMBLR HAS BEEN  ACTING UP TERRIBLY THE LAST FEW DAYS WHICH IS WHY I HAVE NOT POSTED ALOT, FREEZING MY SCREEN ETC VERY EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING.😖😖😖😖IN REBLOGGING THE RIDDLE, IT TOOK AT LEAST FIVE MINUTES AND FROZE AND FROZE AND FROZE MY SCREEN. EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING AND SEVERELY LIMITING HOW MUCH I CAN DO!! 

RIDDLE #92

SEPTEMBER 20/2020

…… £10,000 ……………

In so many places people are not complying with the directions and laws regarding Covid-19. I don’t know if that’s law and active medical health under the public health emergency directive than it is law yes! This is not just restricted to the UK , this is everywhere. Where I live, cases have been going up for the last 6 or 7 weeks back to the numbers they were in March. I think people have really slacked off on their handwashing, their social distancing and many people are out right refusing to wear a mask. Many stores and businesses now have instituted a mandatory mask policy. They have them at the door if you don’t have one. And if you refuse to wear them,  you are refused access into the store or business.I’m very sad to say that they have to put this into law.  BBC……Covid: £10,000 fines for self-isolation breaches. The new legal duty requires people to self-isolate if they test positive for coronavirus, or are traced as a close contact, from 28 September.New measures also include a one-off £500 support payment for those on lower incomes, and a penalty for employers who punish those told to self-isolate. There’s a lot of good information in this article so I’m going to  put the link in here. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-54221953

RBG…………… 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg! A powerhouse of a woman! She fought through so much of an illness and still showed up at work! She was really good friends with the conservative justice on Antonin Scalia. Despite her leaning left in his leaning right they were great friends. A true picture of what working across the aisle means. They travelled together quite a bit as well. when I say they I mean their families. My sincerest condolences go to her family. We shall not see her like again. RIP RBG🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 🕯

every eight days……………

Surprise surprise surprise not! With the increase in COVID-19 cases obviously that will bring an increase in people who are quite ill and needing hospitalization. This is from Reuters. Though the Reuters article is good but it had had it only in the title. I am going to go for the daily mail instead here it is. 

Matt Hancock reveals Covid hospital admissions are doubling every EIGHT days as top expert warns thousands of infected patients a day could need NHS care in October.The Health Secretary pleaded with the public to ‘come together to tackle this virus’ amid a spike in cases.194 Covid-19 patients were admitted to hospitals across England on Tuesday, up from 84 eight days ago.More than 3,000 people a day were being admitted to NHS hospitals during the peak of the first wave in April.Analysis suggests, at the current trend, it would take around three weeks for daily admissions to top 2,000.

conservative Supreme Court ……………

President Trump, during his first tenure in office, has been able to put two judges on the Supreme Court Judge Neil Gorsuch and Judge Brett Kavanaugh. He had also been able to,put in hundred of judges across the country. Needless to say with the government being Republican, these are conservative leaning judges. There are currently or there are eight judges on the Supreme Court of the United States with the head of the court being Chief Justice Roberts. I wonder how long it is will be before they have to get rid of the word chief because that will be seen as racist against the Indians of days gone by and their current generations. Oh I should not have said that now I gave somebody an idea!His vote can break any tie in votes on the courts, however his vote counts no more than any of the other justices.This is one of the most important reasons why people vote for Democratic or conservative other than policy is to have their judges on the court. This is regarding overturning Roe v. Wade which is the abortion law plus many other laws that are conservatives would like to see changed. So that’s going to be  be really really interesting. In President Obama’s last tenure in office, there was an opening on the court and the Republicans absolutely refused to take it to a vote his nominee, Judge Merrick. This is still the real sore spot for many many many Democrats. So last week when President Trump was talking about his list of judges that he would choose from were there a vacancy in the court and he was pressing Joe Biden to release a similar list. Well here we go there’s an opening on the court and once the grieving and all that is done in a week or so I am certain that they will try and put a judge on on the supreme court before the election, which is critically important! Republican Mitch McConnell said he would  bring any name forward to the floor for a vote! So I don’t know how they are going to try and push this through before November 4 but they absolutely will it’s critical! This is just me and my knowledge and supplemented by what I’ve seen on the news. I should not say just me it’s me and my knowledge base! Which is quite expansive!😁😁

OBE???? ……………

Harvey Weinstein was stripped by her Majesty the Queen of his CBE!!  The word EMPIRE may be struck from OBE CBE, 😩😩😖😖😖😖.  Honours committee is planning to remove 'Empire’ from OBE and MBE after Black Lives Matter movement highlighted links to slavery.

Black Lives Matter movement reignited debate over the OBE and MBE awards.Members of honours committee are considering the removal of word 'Empire’.Recent protests have highlighted Empire’s association with brutality and slavery. I don’t recognize this world anymore! London scoop was more right than we even thought! Actually is sideways down is crooked crooked is straight any other description please insert here. again I say I am so glad my parents are not alive to be witnessing what is happening in this world. Oh this is so upsetting! Here’s the link if you want to read more about it.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8752305/Honours-committee-planning-remove-Empire-OBE-MBE.html

hydrogen choo, choo !! ………

I used my brilliant mind to deduce that choo-choo meant train!😁😁😁😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣  Train 🚞 🚊 🚂 😁😁😁.The world over or let me say in the first world not Third World countries or second world countries first world countries the goal is to end fossil fuel energy and look at only renewable as in solar wind etc. energy resources. People who live near wind Farms have my sympathy.They say that that low grade humming of the fans drives you crazy and people actually have moved because of its housing prices have gone down because of it. Anyhow here’s a little diddly from international railway times I love finding all these new sources of  information.  Scottish hydrogen train developers issue tender to convert class 314 EMU. EMU is electrical multiple unit, ie train or vehicle carrying multiple individuals run on electricity. SCOTLAND’s University of St Andrews issued a tender on September 10 for the conversion of a three-car class 314 EMU to hydrogen. Google R.E.M. you as hydrogen there’s a lot of articles from all over the world.

rule of sticks and carrot …………

Some of you may look at this and wonder if it’s some kind of cockney rhyme! But it’s most definitely not! Although it could be but in this case it’s not. Rules, order,laws,decorum that’s what our world has lived by at least my world. We are seeing that just falling apart I think we’ve been too spoiled here in North America and other first world countries because we are seeing what the rest of the world has been experiencing for centuries in some cases. But I digress.  this is from the Middle East news. Gaza’s  Coronavirus Outbreak Won’t Change Israel’s Carrot-and-stick Method.Instead of strategy accepting Hamas will stay in power, Israel has taken a confused line – accusing group of holding Gazans hostage, while also imposing economic sanctions. But Israel continues to treat Gaza as a testing ground where it employs the carrot-and-stick method, one in which the carrots are shriveled and wilted and the sticks are thick and volatile. Instead of a working plan with a clear timetable – one that relies on the strategic view that says Hamas is here to stay as a ruling force in Gaza, and as long as there is no change in the Palestinian government structure, it’s better for Israel to have a partner (even if it does not recognize that partner and is not recognized by it) that is dependent on Israel for its continued survival – Israel has adopted a confused policy. If you are interested please read the entire article for context  please. https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/.premium-gaza-s-coronavirus-outbreak-won-t-change-israel-s-carrot-and-stick-method-1.9101385

Khan lock um down. ………Khan lock um up…………… 

London mayor, Sadiq Khan has come under so much criticism every step he has taken since he began his tenure in that office. This is from the standard.co.uk.  Trafalgar Square protests end with 32 arrests as hundreds of anti-vaxxers and lockdown critics clash with police. Thirty-two people have been arrested after hundreds of anti-vaccine and lockdown protesters descended on central London.The “Resist And Act For Freedom” rally saw heated clashes between demonstrators and police on Saturday afternoon. Dozens of officers, including some on horseback, were repelled by human blockades as they urged the crowds to disperse.

Protesting or rioting the difference between the two has become blurred and blurred I can’t think of another word just it’s just awful! Every group that is was once I’m struggling for words every group that was once thought it should be on the fringe like the anti-VAX her is an antifa and all these other fringe groups have now been given license to do what they are doing. And we have Black Lives Matter and various a city state province country region government that acquiesces to to them to thank for that. I predict that things will know not predict I have concerns that with the upcoming American election the feelings on both sides run so hot but it’s only one side that are rioting in burning down buildings you don’t see many conservatives doing that or any for that matter. Oh my time will tell what will happen. Either way lots of prayer needed definitely!

pro-test…………… 

Pro-Test: standing up for sciencewww.pro-test.org.uk 

Welcome to the official website of Pro-Test. Until 2011, Pro-test was an Oxford-based group campaigning in favour of continued animal testing and in support of scientific research. We aimed to dispel the irrational myths promoted by anti-vivisectionists and to encourage people to stand up for science and human progress

So instead of using the professional, qualified, experienced but over run NHS, the government is now going for non-professional private firms to be doing their COVID-19 testing. I think that that’s what the pro means in pro-test. This is from the mirror.co.uk.  Coronavirus test chaos as Tories 'snub NHS experts for private firms and miss targets’.EXCLUSIVE: Researchers told testing targets could have been reached with full expertise of hospital pathology units - but instead Health Secretary Matt Hancock has poured millions into companies with no previous expertise. Coronavirus test chaos is due to the Government “sidelining” NHS labs in favour of failing ­private firms, say experts. Researchers were told targets could have been hit had the full expertise of hospital pathology units been used.Instead Health Secretary Matt Hancock put millions into firms without previous expertise and green staff.Demand is four times higher than the number of tests available yet some MPs have condemned the testing scheme, operated by seven Lighthouse laboratories, as “barely functional”. Surely this is unbelievable! With all of the “mistakes” and poor decision making i.e. hiring Dido Harding, I worry for the future of the conservatives in the future in the UK. This is almost like they are handing the Labour Party the next victory! This is worrisome to be sure of labour is very anti monarchy. I just scratch my head and again I have used this expression before, but it’s like the monkeys are running the zoo sometimes it really is or it appears that way.

wet havana

The storm Laura was there about four weeks ago and the damage that that storm caused in many places is still being felt. The first article is not all that rain will causing major sewage problems in Florida. Cuba being a communist government I’m sure they’re saying everything is roses and sunshine the new tea cups because I can find absolutely nothing about flooding and sewage problems in Cuba.

 . https://www.wtxl.com/news/local-news/gadsden-county-experiences-multiple-sewage-leaks-after-sally

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article245191680.html

This article is regarding Covid testing in Cuba. I wonder if that’s what this is referring to. Here it is. 

https://www.plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id=59946&SEO=cuba-with-improved-capacity-to-detect-covid-19-cases

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Thank you PG!  I learn so much.  Great job!  I so appreciate all that you put into these riddles.  Thank you😊💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

[theundercovermarvelfan]

Whumptober 2020 - Day 6

Whumtober Challenge @whumptober2020

“Please…” “Get it out” | No More | “Stop, please”

“No, no, no, shit, stop, please stop, stop, stop, stop.” 

Despite her begging, blood continued to steadily seep between her fingers. Natasha pushed down harder, shifting her entire weight onto the gunshot wound on Clint’s thigh, her hands clasped so tightly that they were almost as pale as Clint. Clint cried out and bucked against the renewed pain that she knew she was causing.  

“Clint, Clint, look at me,” Natasha demanded. Clint's clouded gaze drifted vaguely in her direction as he gasped for breath. “I need you to stay still and I need to keep pressure.” She shifted her attention to the comm. in her ear. “Guys, Clint needs med evac now, what’s taking so long?”

“I’m here, I’m here!” Natasha turned to see Steve running up behind her. “Tony and Bruce are bringing the Quinjet around. How bad is it?”

“It’s bad,” Natasha said bluntly, her voice wavering at the admission. “I think the bullet might have hit an artery.” As she met Steve’s gaze, her eyes said what she couldn’t. He might not make it. “I can’t move my hands. There are bandages in the pouch on my right hip, we need a tourniquet.”  

“Okay,” Steve said, quickly springing into action. 

Natasha shifted her attention back to Clint. He was no longer fighting her, had slumped back down to the ground and his head was lolling listlessly, having no reaction to Steve’s appearance on the scene. His eyes were still open, but they were unfocused and his breaths were fast and shallow. 

“Don’t you dare,” Natasha growled softly. “Clinton Francis Barton, don’t you dare die on me.” She took in an unsteady breath, her voice losing it’s bite as she murmured, “Please…”

“Stark, what’s your position?” Steve asked tersely into his comm. as he tightly wound the bandages around Clint’s upper thigh.

“Two minutes out,” Tony reported. 

“Make it faster,” Natasha snapped. 

“We’re all restricted to the laws of physics, Romanoff,” Tony quipped, but there was an anxious tone just below the surface. 

Steve firmly tied off the makeshift tourniquet. “Let’s elevate his leg,” he said as he shifted. “Keep pressure.” 

Natasha nodded as Steve carefully leveraged Clint’s leg up and folded his own leg underneath it so that it was easier for Natasha to keep steady pressure on the wound. Natasha watched Clint’s features closely, noticing the way that he winced and groaned lightly at the movement. It was a little comforting that Clint still seemed vaguely aware of what was going on, but the fact that he didn’t have a bigger response when his wound was handled scared her. 

Finally, the whirr of the Quinjet screeched over them. Tony landed the jet just a short ways away, and Bruce was hurrying out with a gurney before the ramp even fully lowered. 

“How is he?” Bruce asked, slightly breathless. 

“Not good,” Steve admitted. 

It only took a glance for Bruce to really assess how dire Clint’s situation was, he himself paling at the sight. “We’ve got his blood transfusion set up in the jet. Steve, help me get him up on the gurney. Natasha, don’t let up pressure.” 

Without wasting any time, they rushed Clint to the jet. Everything around Natasha seemed to blur as she focused on Clint’s face as they moved him. It seemed that he finally lost consciousness, and for a moment she panicked, thinking that he had stopped breathing. But when they got him into the jet and Bruce checked his vitals, he reported they were weak but still there. Then he quickly got to work setting up Clint’s blood transfusion. 

“Okay, you can let go now, Natasha.”

Bruce’s words came to her through a thick fog, and though she knew that Bruce could do more than she could, she still couldn’t will herself to take her hands off the wound. 

“It’s okay,” Steve assured her quietly as he reached over and moved Natasha’s hands himself. “Let’s let Bruce work.”

As Bruce began quickly packing the wound, Natasha’s gaze snagged on her hands. Her palms and fingers were completely covered in red and without a job to do, they began to tremble. She felt like she was walking through a dream -- or rather a nightmare -- as Steve led her away from Clint and carefully helped her clean up. He spoke to her in low comforting tones, but she couldn’t grasp the meaning of any of his words. She just kept picturing the blood that had come pouring out of Clint’s body. 

Please, stop. Please, stop. Please, stop!

It was such a close call. The doctors who performed his surgery would tell them that if he had gotten there any later, they very likely would have lost him. Even when he came out of surgery and was stabilized, Natasha still felt like there was a hand around her windpipe. Her hands would randomly start shaking and she would rub them uncomfortably on her legs, as if still trying to wipe off the blood that was no longer there. 

It wasn’t until Clint finally came back around and reached for her hand that she felt like she could breathe easy again. It was such a close call. But every close call that ended with everyone still alive was a win.

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

The Democrats’ best chance at maintaining control of the House in 2022 is to admit Puerto Rico as a state immediately.

When a new state is added, they automatically get two senators, but only one representative until the next redisticting cycle, briefly bringing the total number up from 435 to 436. Well, the redistricting cycle is upon us as we speak; the 2020 census data has been collected and the state legislatures will draw up new maps this year to be used in the 2022 elections. Republicans have an advantage in drawing maps because they control more state legislatures and the Supreme Court recently announced that gerrymandering is totally legal (most blue states have bipartisan committees which draw fair maps, but red states gerrymander to their hearts content, it’s completely at the states’ discretion as to how they decide to run themselves).

If Puerto Rico becomes a state right now, then they get to have full proportional representation in 2022; the population is 3.2 million, so they could probably get 4 seats in the House. Because it’s unlikely Democrats would expand the House beyond 435 seats, this means those 4 will be coming from other states, completely shifting the dynamic of Congress. But if they don’t get admitted RIGHT NOW, then they’d be stuck with only one representative until the next redistricting, which isn’t until after the 2030 census and the 2032 elections.

It’s now or never. The Democrats can give themselves two solid blue senate seats and 4 purplish blue house seats (Puerto Ricans are ideologically split; on the one hand they’re Hispanics, who typically skew Democratic, but on the other hand they’re super Catholic, who skew Republican. Right now, Cubans are the only consistently conservative Hispanics, but Puert Rico is hardly a liberal stronghold). On top of this, Puerto Rico’s parties aren’t direct analogs to the ones on the mainland.

The Popular Democratic Party is centrist and wants to maintain status quo as a territory rather than a state. They have slim majorities in both houses of the Puerto Rican legislature.

The New Progressive Party skews slightly more to the right (though it has member affiliated with both Democrats and Republicans on the mainland), but explicitly fights for statehood. They control the governorship.

Both parties hold 47% of the vote on the island, so depending on how the legislature decides to draw the map it could either split with 2 red and 2 blue seats, or 4 competitive seats that would probably go blue this time around because Biden and the Democrats are the ones fighting for statehood in the first place.

Democrats openly support Puerto Rican statehood, and Republicans nominally don’t oppose it. What does that mean? The Republican platform says it’s open to Puerto Rican self determination; they believe it’s up to the island to decide whether it wants to be a state or not. Well, in 2020 they voted 52-48 to become a state. In 2017 they voted 97-3 to become a state, but with only 22% turnout so the results were invalid. This time, turnout was 55%, which is above average for most states (national turnout last year was a record high of 66%, so 55% is more than legally binding). This means the Republicans should technically support Puerto Rican statehood, or rather they shouldn’t technically oppose it, but we all know they will for partisan reasons. They’ll make up some procedural excuse to vote against it, but no matter what they say the real reason is that they don’t even want to give the Democrats free seats in Congress. They don’t care about Puerto Ricans, it’s despicable.

Back in 1959, President Eisenhower pushed for statehood for Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, but only the first two went through. It’s high time to give the Puerto Ricans representation and admission on equal footing. They’re natural born American citizens, they have to follow American laws and pay American taxes, but the constitution doesn’t totally apply to them because they’re unincorporated. With the results of the referendum, it’s clear that they want to be admitted, so it’s up to Congress now to vote and make it official. It’ll just barely eke by in the House, but it could very well be blocked in the Senate. It would almost certainly require 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, and I don’t think there are 10 Republicans willing to do it (I can see 5 or 6, tops). The only way it could be passed with a simply 51 majority vote would be if it was eligible for reconciliation, but that only applies to budgetary matters. Democrats could nuke the filibuster to ram it through, but Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have both come out against nuking it.

Democrats need to get creative if they really want to hold onto power.

[dirthavarens]

Nature (Dragatha)

Fandom: Dracula (2020)

Characters: Count Dracula, Agatha Van Helsing, Original Character(s) Relationship: Dracula/Agatha Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence Word Count: 7,005 Summary: ‘Because you need to feed,’ she told herself too often. Nearly fifty years as a vampire and she still craved blood at every and any given moment. Vampires were like that. Vampires were like a lot of things. 

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Agatha Van Helsing never lost control .

A lie she told herself over and over. A vampire cannot betray its nature, not entirely, and she was testimony to that. No creature could overcome baser instincts, not when survival was at stake. 

The war had run her ragged, to the point of weeks without rest or proper feeding. She’d steal away for a moment, trying to find blood that wasn’t tainted by the smell of death. The human had to be alive. The dying were always her safest bet, those beyond chance of recovery, those left behind on the battlefield gasping for breath, the life leaving their eyes. 

Agatha discovered rather quickly that feeding from the dying had more negative side effects than it was worth, but she persisted. Her skin paled, her hair thinned, her hunger grew near intolerable. Times like those, she wished she had Dracula in her head, just so she could argue against what would be his very obvious answer of feed. 

She had tried and failed for forty-five long years, and she hardly wanted him awake to know of the chaos that currently ravaged the world. He would have a field day, taking whomever he so pleased. Scientists working to the bone to produce stronger, faster, more effective weapons of mass destruction. Generals and strategists, black operations agents, spies, warriors on both sides, hungry for bloodshed, for justice, for stability. 

Occasionally, she had argued with him, imagining him in her mind as she wandered the camps at night. He’d tell her to just give in, just a taste, just feed on one truly living soul and be done with it. Any vampire with a brain still in their skull would. It was natural for her to be starved, to want every ounce and then imbibe in even more. She was a vampire, after all, and vampires were not as complicated as she had conjectured.

“Something to eat, a bit of company.”

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  She had been on the earth for eighty-seven years, over half of which had been spent in a state of undead, dracul, nosferatu; A vampire. 

And the death around her, seeping into her bones, reminded her constantly. Every day another bone to set, another amputation, another transfusion. Blood was around her constantly, stale and fresh, and she felt her patience dwindle by the second. She would bark at nurses, throw instrument trays, snap saws in half with her hands. All to keep her fangs from showing, her eyes from flooding crimson; anything to abate the beast she so vehemently claimed not to be.

Agatha drew in a breath as the morning sun crept into the tent, bathing her pallid face in its iridescence. She hadn’t fed in over two weeks. Too many deaths too quickly. Too much work to do, not enough sleep in the world, and not a second to herself. 

She turned to the clock that ticked away at the wall. Six-thirty, a whole two hours of sleep and she was awake again, ready to take on yet another blood-soaked day. Agatha sat up, stretched, and grabbed at her head, thumbs massaging at her temples. Had she not gone through this several times in the past, she would have never guessed vampires could even have headaches. 

‘Because you need to feed,’ she told herself too often. Nearly fifty years as a vampire and she still craved blood at every and any given moment. Vampires were like that. Vampires were like a lot of things. 

An unfamiliar face walked into the doctor’s resting tent, an accented ‘knock, knock’ sounding before a man presented himself. 

Agatha turned her head to take the man before her in. He was little taller than she was, though that hadn’t said much as she was a particularly tall woman. He was young, his olive uniform without stains, life in his eyes, brunette hair cut neatly under his beret. A french soldier, clearly. 

“Pardon, madame. I thought this was the tent of the off-duty doctors. I’m afraid I may be a little lost.” The young man’s hurried speech gave Agatha’s headache no relief, and her thin patience no quarter. The assumption, however, she was used to. No man wanted to submit his life to the hands of a woman when healthy. They didn’t care whose hands brought them back to life, pleading for the pain to stop, begging for morphine, for death.

She shook the thought from her head and dropped her hands into her lap. “No, you’re in the right place. I’m Dr. Van Helsing, you may call me Agatha. What can I do for you?” 

“I heard there was a lady-doctor!” He straightened his posture. “I am Corporal-Major Mathieu de la Fontaine. Please, forgive my presumptuous behavior?” 

At least he had manners. 

“I was to report for a physical, madame. My platoon just arrived, my lieutenant directed me to your tent,” explained the Corporal-Major as Agatha stood. She made sure not to step too closely to him so soon after waking. The sound of a relaxed pulse in such a high-stress environment would sing too sweetly to her. “If you wish, I can wait until another doctor comes by, perhaps?”

She looked him over and shook her head. “No, that won’t be necessary. Why did he send you to the off-duty tent?” 

Mathieu frowned, his discomfort plain on his face. “The active tents are..” 

“Being used for more pressing matters. I see,” Agatha finished for him and the pitcher of water on the desk. “Might I offer you something to drink while I fetch the forms? We don’t keep them in here.” 

“Oui, j’ai soif. But I have the necessary papers here,” he said as he reached into the pocket of his vest. She grabbed the papers offered to her and immediately started reading over them. “Name, date of birth, all of the information you could need down to my blood type.”

“O-positive,” she muttered to herself. Good. He could possibly be of great use, maybe even save lives. “Do you know how valuable your blood is, Monsieur de la Fontaine?” 

“I heard that vampires prefer O-negative,” he joked with a laugh, his teeth still white and all in place. If only he understood how funny the situation truly was. “I apologize, I shouldn’t make such jokes during war.”

“One should always cling to humor, even in dark times such as these. It makes managing stress a little easier.” Agatha smiled at him and directed him to take a seat on the cot opposing her own. She could hear his pulse as he walked by her. Slow, unperturbed, untainted. “Besides, I think vampires would be more likely to choose victims based on who they are and not what type of blood they have.”

She poured him a glass of water, handed it to him, and continued reading over admission charts. He had earned his rank quite rapidly early in the war, but clearly had time to rest between then and now. How that was possible with the Nazis having nearly seized all of France was beyond her, but she would not question it. 

He was twenty-seven, approximately 180 centimeters, 80 kilograms, no visual or hearing impairments. No history of breathing trouble, was vaccinated for Polio…

The more Agatha read, the more she wondered why he had even been in need of a physical. Or why he was even in a war at all. He had a law degree from the University of Bordeaux. 

“Alright, Corporal Major,” she began as she strode to a small filing cabinet filled with extra supplies. “I’m going to have to ask you to strip.” 

His physical went without a hitch, though Agatha could hear his pulse like it was beating in her own ears. He carried an interesting scent, most of the French did. History was important to them, culture, and all of those sweet indulgences she had refrained from in life.

“Van Helsing,” he started as he fixed his beret in place. “That is not an English name.”

“No, it isn’t. My family is Dutch. I guess you can say I’ve lived in England most of my life.” Most of her afterlife, at least. 

“How fortunate for us that you are here. My life could be in no better hands, I’m sure of it. I’ve never seen anyone with such a steady posture,” he returned with another smile before leaving the tent, completed forms in-hand. 

Agatha realized then that she had been holding her breath during the examination, careful not to take in too much of the young man. She did not need to know his plans, where he was going to be, when he’d be alone.

Her day passed with agonizing slowness, each action seeming tedious as she cleaned infections and set up infusions. Infusions. She had to make a note of de la Fontaine, to suggest him to another possible donor, but did not want to imply she wished to do the task. 

By the end of her shift, she was covered in a slew of liquids ranging from blood to she wasn’t quite sure, but it smelled worse than death. And a vampire knew the stench of death better than most. The sun was setting in the sky and she knew what awaited her. She had a full night to herself, a full night of rest, a full night of hunger. 

“Dr. Van Helsing!” 

A newly familiar voice caught her attention as she went to hit the nearest body of water. She needed to feel clean, if only for a moment.

“Corporal-Major. How are you settling in?” She did not want to see him right now, but was polite all the same. 

“Very well, all things considered. I saw you working earlier and thought maybe you could use a drink?”

If he only knew.

Agatha shook her head and watched his smile drop a little. How hopeful and full of life the young were. She would be lying if she said that she didn’t wish he would hold to it. “I’m afraid I’m in desperate need of some form of cleaning.” 

“The baths are usually occupied with the men,” Mathieu returned with a frown, his smile gone. 

“And most don’t mind when a woman walks in, I assure you,” she noted, her words sardonic. Even a four-hundred year old vampire had more control of his tongue than they did. “I have somewhere private I like to go.” 

“Perhaps after?” He was a persistent thing and Agatha turned the idea over in her head. 

While she did not drink alcohol, or at least hadn’t tried to, since receiving Communion nearly half a century ago, perhaps there was no harm in the company of a few happy faces. After all, humans were social creatures and his life would most likely be snuffed out on the battlefield. Agatha had been a friend of death at this point and knew she would be able to handle it should he grow on her.

“Perhaps,” she echoed. 

He gave her the information of where he would be and who he would be with if all went according to plan. She nodded, made sure she stressed that there was a possibility of her absence, and continued her trek away from camp. 

There was a waist-deep creek a couple hundred yards from camp, hidden amongst trees too thick to fight through. It was her private place to bathe, to think, to escape the gurgles of the dying. When she came to it, she stripped bare and sank into the cool water, mindful to not step on any possible life underfoot. 

Agatha closed her eyes and let her chest still as she submerged herself in the water, her body sinking to the bottom. Of all the benefits being a vampire had, being able to lie at the bottom of that particular creek was squarely number one on her list at that moment.

She was still for nearly half an hour, her mind playing memories like films in a theatre. Some were her own, others were his, and all of them eased her tense muscles, an unfortunate side effect of not feeding. She could find an animal, surely, but they provided little energy. There were many ways Agatha could feed. The dying, the sick, those too weak to carry on. She could steal donations.

She wouldn’t. The dying still had living blood, but they were exhausted, often emotional and frantic. The ones resigned to death already tasted as such and she would be sick for days after feeding on the ill.

She considered drinking from the Germans, but she would sooner be staked than dine on a Nazi. To hear those thoughts in her head...No, bullets would suffice. Mortars would suffice. She would sooner let the streets run with their blood than dare to feed from one.

The answer was plain, but she refused. She was more than a beast. She knew herself and understood the rules by which she lived. Agatha had taken an oath as a doctor to help any life in need. She could not feed on the living, she mustn’t, and her fists clenched as she rose from the water. 

Agatha breathed in and opened her eyes to see the sun had at last gone to rest. Dark enough to wash, dark enough to relax, dark enough to sneak back to base without anyone noticing; her clean uniform a blessing for which she’d never be grateful enough. 

She caught sight of new faces as she entered the camp. All varying ages, some clearly lying to make themselves older, others very obviously lying about medical conditions, not that the lieutenant-colonel cared. He had lives to waste ever since the Americans joined a few months prior. Those were the truly fresh faces, the ones ready and eager for blood, for glory.

Their enthusiasm wouldn’t survive the week, but hopefully they would.

She spotted the Corporal-Major among some other new individuals and cursed herself when he met her eye and waved her over. Agatha knew she had belabored her answer, but apparently that had meant little to the young man as he reached down and pulled two bottles of wine from a sac.

“I know we’re not supposed to have them, but I couldn’t resist. English wine doesn’t...settle right.” A laugh, the other men joining in. They were French, too. Mathieu looked to Agatha. “Lady’s choice. Red or white?”

“I enjoy both,” she said reflexively, damning herself. They weren’t her words. “Enjoyed, I should say. I don’t drink.”

“Mon amie!  That won’t do. Middle of a war and you don’t drink? How ever do you settle your nerves?” His response earned him an impartial smile. “You’ll return to your husband a hysterical mess.” 

Her husband?

She glanced at her ring and felt something ache inside of her, overriding her hunger for a moment. The weight pressed upon her chest and burrowed into the pit of her throat. He was definitely no husband. She wouldn’t even begin to entertain such an idea. It was entirely laughable. 

“Ah, Dr. Van Helsing, je désolé,” de la Fontaine’s voice broke through her thoughts and she blinked at him, confused. “You must miss him very much.”

She did.

“He’s probably sleeping. It seemed to be his favorite pastime before I left.” She brushed the subject off, burying the memory of him as best she could before smiling at Mathieu. “Red.” 

“I knew you were a woman of taste. Now that we’ve made the important decisions, I would like to introduce you to some members of my platoon.” 

She learned the names of each man, all coming from different backgrounds but all ready to get back into the action. They were confident, placing much on faith, and as the cork popped out of the bottle, they cheered. 

Mathieu handed her the bottle first, a grin on his face. 

It struck her then, that in the months she had been there, no one once invited her to do such a thing. Naturally, she had patients in for consultations, follow-ups before they were flown out of the zone. Occasionally, a man would wander into her tent and she would be forced to break a finger or two, secretly delighting at the snap of their quick but effective punishment. 

They’d say nothing, of course, lest they compromise themselves in the process. 

She reached for the bottle and breathed the scent of the wine in. The spirit smelled nearly unrecognizable to her, bitter, too harsh. An idea struck her then. This was nothing more than another test. 

Can vampires drink alcohol or consume anything that was not blood?

She brought the bottle to her lips and took a slow sip, letting it soak her tongue before swallowing. 

Her stomach churned almost immediately and she swore she could hear his voice calling her foolish. She handed the bottle back, her hand coming to her mouth, before she hurriedly shuffled away. Agatha bent over, grabbing at the nearest object to support herself as her body purged itself of the wine. She looked to her right, to see that it was Mathieu holding her steady and immediately felt embarrassed, searching for an excuse. 

“Are you alright? I know the English don’t have taste, but it couldn’t have been that bad.” He was a poor liar and even worse at hiding his emotions. His concern might as well have had flashing neon lights pointing to it. Agatha heard his quickening pulse drumming wildly. The rapid tempo of the deep pumps of his heart.

“I’ll be fine. I haven’t eaten since yesterday? The day before? I should have known better than to try alcohol as my first meal,” she explained, not entirely lying. She couldn’t remember the last time she fed. She wiped her mouth as she fixed her posture. “I think it would be wise if I retired for the night.” 

Mathieu nodded, let her go, but did not move away from her. “Let me assist you back to your tent. I will not see a sick woman go unattended.” 

“I appreciate the concern, but I am a war physician and have been through much worse than a stomach ache. I will be fine. Please, return to your men and give them my warm wishes.” Agatha would not be alone with someone so healthy now that her stomach demanded proper feeding, snarling furiously at her. 

He gave a moment’s pause, frowning at her, but acquiesced to her wishes. She could feel his eyes on her back as she walked back to her section of camp. 

The sounds of the camp layered in her mind as she tried to find sleep, turning restlessly upon her cot. Everything within her pushed her out of bed and she sat up, her stare empty as she tried to cling to rationality. Logic could not play here, logic would tell her to feed. Rationality considered the great possibility of consequence.

Her nails extended and hardened faster than she had ever felt them. She grit her teeth as she felt them scrape against the metal, screeching unpleasantly. If she let go, and she knew she mustn’t, Agatha would find herself unable to save herself. She needed a minute. 

Just a minute. 

One… Minute… 

Her eyes slipped shut as she drew in a breath and searched for a familiar face. He was the last person she needed to see, the one who would tempt her forward, let go, release the beast. But he was there, nonetheless, staring at her from the sea, the water to his chest in the grey light of morning. 

One…

Her time in Transylvania. Crimson turned black in the moonlight as it poured in from the small window. The pillows stained as a gurgle sounds in a throat, a cry from another. 

Min…

Jonathan Harker before her, telling her the story of Count Dracula as his fiancee sat to her left. She had been such a frightened girl and with great cause. Her basement, her study, her refuge. 

His memory. 

How wonderful she had tasted on his lips. He had torn through a convent, armed and ready with wolves, but for all the entertainment… She was the unexpected main course. And she could feel his teeth sinking into her neck as if they were her own.

...minu…

His blood on her tongue as she suckled at his wrist. 

Breathe.

Agatha shot up, her jaw unclenching as her eyes opened, and looked out into the night. She had been trying to sleep for nearly five hours, but could not stand to be around others any longer. The glorious stench of blood was too close to her and she would not let herself lose control. 

An animal.

She would find something small, something to curb her appetite enough to sleep. The watch was doubled at night and she would have to be careful. Nothing she hadn’t done before, nothing she wouldn’t have to do a thousand times more before this damned war was over, it seemed. 

Agatha found her escape and took it, slipping into the forest and wasted not a second getting as deep as she could. Gunfire sounded in the background, most animals would be hiding, then. She would have to locate them by sound. 

She heard a heartbeat, too close, too strong, too human.

Too soon. 

“Mon amie?” 

Dammit.

“Mathieu, what are you doing out here?” she asked without turning around to look at him. If she looked, he would see, he would know, and she would have to either kill him or drug him. “You should be back at base.”

She heard his weight shift, a sigh leaving his lips as his heart rate settled. So strong, so lively beneath his skin, she could still hear the pump, pump, pumping away in his chest. She raked her claw against the inside of her palm to keep time with it. 

“I could say the same for you,” he replied, voice neither defending nor accusing. “But I could not sleep and decided to inspect our surroundings, see if there were any vantage points for Hitler’s puppets to have.” 

He took a step forward, misplaced his footing, tripped, stumbled, caught himself on a tree. 

Agatha instinctively turned to help but was drawn to his hand. Bark and dirt may have gotten in the way, but the aroma was undeniable. 

She clenched her fists, damning every aspect of her existence, cursing Dracula to stay in his box and rot. They settled on it not having been entirely his fault, but it was easier to blame him when he refused to listen to her, refused to answer her. 

“Nothing to fret over, ju--”

Agatha was inches away from him, his hand in hers as she inspected the wound. It was nothing more than a scrape but the potency of his blood was irresistible. 

“Dr. Van Helsing?” he called, his pulse increasing. She refused to look up, refused to look at him as she stared down at the red in the night. “Your teeth…” 

“Yes, they do that.” She was caught. “I’m a vampire.” 

She turned to him, sparing him nothing as she released his wrist. Her teeth jagged, eyes red, and claws sharp to points… 

“They aren’t real,” Mathieu protested, refusing to believe what was in front of him. Another Adisa. “Dracula is a fictional character, a silly creature from a picture made to scare people.” 

She brought a finger to his lips, silencing him. “I have lain with the Devil and know him plain. And he is far more terrifying than any film will ever be able to portray.” 

He stared blankly at her, unsure of how or where to move. She could smell his indecision in the air and took advantage of it. Agatha threw him to the ground and listened to the way his ribs cracked beneath her force. She grabbed his face in her hand and tilted his neck, holding it to expose as much flesh as possible, her fingers tightening. His jaw snapped under the pressure, the pain causing him to cry out. The sweet note echoing in her ears as she stared at the artery pounding furiously at his throat.

He tried to say something, tried to protest, but she gnashed her teeth into his skin, sinking deep into his artery and drank. She could hear the snap of his neck, as she pushed harder against his smashed jaw. His life flooded into her, his memories, his dreams…

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 Agatha gasped as her eyes opened. The light of the day was fading as she lay tangled up on the couch in her study. Dracula’s naked body curled tighter against her and drew her closer, placing a kiss at her temple. She pressed into him, secretly delighting in the comfort of his hold. 

The study was the darkest room in the house, save the cellar, and he refused to sleep in the box of dirt that she, in fact, brought from Transylvania. Her bedroom had too thin of curtains for him to be comfortable laying in while she slept. 

“Everything alright?” he asked quietly after some time of holding her, his breath creeping over her skin as he spoke. 

“I’m fine, just hungry,” she replied and shrugged out of his grip, immediately missing the warmth and pressure of him against her. 

“Nightmare, I take it?” He sat up after her, following her with his eyes as she stood and took a few steps forward. 

“You weren’t listening?” She turned to face him, genuinely surprised.

“Not this time,” he hummed cheekily, his eyes moving hungrily over her form. “You looked exhausted this morning after our shower. I figured you could use some time to recuperate. I did it for fifty years, I won’t fault you a few hours.”

“So you just what? Stayed on the couch all day?” 

His brows knit together defensively at her question as though trying to think of a smart remark. But his face relaxed as he leaned back against the cushions, sighing in defeat. 

Her dream nearly made her forget that she had finally fished him out of the sea. Seeing him stretching against her couch, faking a yawn, gave her all the reassurance she needed. When he stood and pecked her lips, she was doubly reassured.

“What else was I supposed to do? You are the worst vampire in the history of vampires, one dark room, while the rest of the place is swimming in sunlight,” he shivered, repulsed by the very notion of stepping into the sun. She would break him of it in time. 

Her stomach twisted in a knot and she gave an annoyed breath. Ever since she fed from him the night prior, Agatha hadn’t been able to rid herself of her hunger. Not during their short break, where he begrudgingly accepted the glass she poured him, not before she went to sleep, not now. 

Her reserves were well-stocked once she knew for certain that she was waking him, she would manage.

“You could have gotten up, I would have gone back to sleep. There are plenty of books in here to read and I doubt you would have been bored,” she returned, her voice unintentionally sharp. With a breath, she relaxed. “Come, I’m sure you’re hungry and you need to put clothes on. Neighbors are as nosy as old nuns and I don’t need them asking why there’s a naked man in my home.”

“Get thicker drapes.” He pressed his lips to her forehead and she went tense under him, her stomach flipping angrily again. “I don’t claim to be an expert, but I’m certain you’re supposed to be relaxed after sex, joyful even. Why don’t you tell me about your nightmare?”

“No,” she shot back as she opened the door, ensuring that the sun was down before stepping into the hallway. She took the short walk through the hall and stopped at her bedroom door, knowing full well that it was not going to be an easy sight to see. 

However, Agatha had not anticipated the magnitude of the destruction they caused. It looked like a crime scene.

The sheets were torn, jumbled mess on the floor along with her pillows, both stained with blood. The wood of her headboard had an impressive chunk splintered from it and the mattress was just slightly askew on the frame. She blinked as she stepped inside, immediately gathering the sheets and comforter in her hands. There was no saving them, and she’d need at least a new headboard. Maybe metal. 

Had they really been that rough?

Yes. 

Had she enjoyed herself as much as the heat dripping down to her core at the memory?

More. 

The sheets were discarded, they were dressed, and the room was cleaned. Dracula mainly talked about nothing important, trying to lure her back into the bed. As enticing as the idea was her hunger gnawed at her interminably, closing off her mind to anything else. 

“You really don’t feed from the vein?” he asked as he stood in her kitchen once again, Agatha grabbing the decanter from the liquor cabinet. “Agatha, you know you’re starving yourself.”

“It suffices,” she replied, voice even. The thought of feeding from a living human appealed to her less when he provoked her. “Not everyone is as gluttonous as you.”

“Gluttony or not, you’re still feeling my hunger. You and I both know that you won’t be satisfied until you’ve drunk your fill from the nearest vagrant,” he postulated, his hand covering hers around the thick glass container, the blood within swayed. She released the neck of the decanter, letting him take it and grabbed two glasses from the same cabinet. Two, beautiful, crystal, custom designs etched into them. 

He caught them in his peripheral and felt like marble, a breath. He approved. “But you… you, don’t feed from vagrants, do you? Agatha, have I rubbed off on you?”  

She set the glasses in front of him with little patience, ignoring his poor attempts at getting her to admit to something he already knew. Agatha was a woman of logic, she always had been, but the way he stared at her, a wolf, had her clenching her teeth. Her hunger grew. The tempter, the snake in the garden. 

“No, I don’t. I feed from specifically selected people based on health. Donations.”

“Donations,” he echoed, disappointed as he poured them each a glass. “It’s unlike you to take advantage of people.”

A drop of guilt fell through her and spread through her veins. He spoke the truth, but she had little other choice. Either take the bags or risk taking lives. It was simple but felt wrong, not entirely aligned with the urges gnashing their teeth from within. His urges. 

Damn him.

Agatha looked at the fine crystal, the liquid within causing her to salivate, swallowing as her gaze shifted to the much thicker glass of the decanter. While imprudent and nearly uncivilized, the gifts she had made for them--no, just for him, they were no couple--would remain unharmed. She could feel him watching her, studying her, and wondered what she must look like. Her silence deafening as she stood, motionless, her eyes shifting between the glass and the decanter. Self-control or submission.

“Agatha,” he mouthed, letting his breath form her name as it left his lips. Dracula knew what weighed her down, what bore so relentlessly through her, just as he knew the only proper solution. 

With a breath, Agatha shifted her weight and took the glass he offered. There was a glint of surprise in his expression when she moved her gaze to him. He was only six inches taller than her, but he towered over her, the constant abyss that lured her in.

“Cheers.” He raised his glass to hers, his eyes darkening as he brought it to his lips.She was too busy drinking to make a snide remark about his inability to control his histrionics. 

The liquid streamed down her throat with ease as she finished it quickly. Agatha opened her eyes, having not realized she closed them and saw him still watching her. He hadn’t moved, the rim of the glass resting comfortably at his bottom lip, the blood no closer to his mouth. 

“I said before that I was hungry, it is your doing, after all,” she specified as the grips of her hunger made no attempts to loosen. “Go on, I think you’ll find it to your liking.” 

He sniffed at the contents of his before taking a sip. A chilling grin spread upon his lips, jagged edges of his teeth visible, as he brought the glass down. His claw tapped lightly at the glass as he ruminated on the flavors; his smile grew before he finished it, gluttonous as always. The veneer chipping away.

As if she was one to talk. 

Another glass shared between them both and then another, draining the decanter as Dracula probed her, antagonizing the beast of her hunger. He relented only when the container was empty. 

“Alright, Agatha, have it your way. But I still need to feed properly and I’m sure the people are very much alive, war being over and all that. The victorious afterglow of battle is a beautiful thing, fills your chest with so much...life.” His words sent a chill to the center of her spine, splintering off like lightning through her nerves.

“Surely you don’t think I’m going to let you leave to do as you please?” Agatha watched as he turned on the sink, rinsing his glass out and then hers, setting them carefully into the basin below. 

“No, I don’t. In fact, I expect you to accompany me,” returned the Count with a smirk. “I know you’ll follow me if I decide to leave on my own. But I’d much rather have you at my side while the night is still young.”

“A moonlit stroll?”

“If nothing else. I’ve been in a box for fifty years, I need to stretch my legs, get a taste for what life is like. I need information and your bags aren’t giving me enough,” he said as he stood close to her and took her hands in his. The Count’s thumb traced over the ring on her finger, his face softening almost imperceptibly. 

Against her better judgment, Agatha agreed to his proposal, shoving a flask in her coat before they left, just in case. 

They walked for what seemed like eternity, winding up and down streets, through alleys, all in silence. Agatha thought it wise to keep moving, lest she catch an all too enticing scent on the breeze. She thought for a moment, wondered where they could go, and directed them towards the water. The cliffs were a beautiful sight and mostly peaceful. Since the war, it had been a place for the occasional petty crime. Drug deals, vandalization, indecent exposure twice on the same day, by the same man. 

He seemed preoccupied, lost in thought. His silence disturbed her and she contemplated listening in but tucked her arm under his instead. If they were going to be out this late at night, she might as well take every precaution to not get stopped by anyone. She could feel the flask burning in her pocket; craved what was inside of it, despite knowing she did not need it.

She wanted it. 

His pace slowed when he felt her worm her arm between his side and bicep, hooking into his elbow. No one had done that for centuries, not without prompting, not without his opiate, not without the promise of something more. She would never stop surprising him, even as he could hear the dam of her self-control splinter into ever growing faults. 

She needed to feed.

“Have you finally grown tired of hearing your own voice?” she asked when the silence became too heavy.

“Never.” He wore the grin of an alleycat as they walked farther along the cliff. The water below them churned against the rocks, a sound so familiar she was able to tune it out and focus on his words. “I figured you would want to give me a tour to keep me from draining someone dry. But don’t worry, I’ll be sure to drain your stockpile when we get back.” 

“Of that I have no doubt,” she admitted and pulled her arm from him. He let out a breath of disapproval and pulled her back to him, hand tight around her waist. “Afraid I’ll wand--”

She could smell it. 

Fresh, alive, a numbing song in her head as she struggled for control over the snarling monstrosity within her. How could she have not noticed it earlier? How did she not hear, not know? Dracula had been…

He’d been silent. 

“Count Dracula!” She struggled against him as his other hand came around her and held her back to his chest. “Release me at once.”

“Need I remind you that it was you who led me here? My dear, you’ve been sniffing out something to eat this whole time.” His accusation burned like fire at her ears and she shoved her elbow into his chest. “You can’t fight it forever, you know.” 

“I most certainly can, now release me so I can assess the situation. I’m a doctor and there is clearly someone in need of assistance. Stay here. I don’t want you killing a possible patient.”

He gave an annoyed growl and let her go, Agatha sparing not a second to hunt down the scent. She felt starved, nearly mad with hunger as her feet delivered her to the scene, blood staining the ground black in the moonlight. 

A young woman. Red of hair, short and unconscious on the ground. There was blood pooling from a wound in her abdomen. Agatha knelt beside the girl, no more than twenty-five, and began inspecting her, trying to bring her to consciousness. But her blood sang to the former nun, lilting sweet poetry to the beast within her, mesmerizing, astounding, addictive, alive.

Something in her broke, and her fingers entered the wound. Hot, inviting, untainted. No organs had been harmed, and Agatha curled her fingers, tearing at the flesh of the woman’s abdomen, and brought them to her mouth as she heard an agonized moan from below.

Discordant, pitiful, and a distraction as Agatha lapped every last trace of blood from her fingers. She brought her free hand to hold the girl’s--Anna’s--mouth shut and looked down at the poor thing with blood-tinged eyes. “Please, be still. For both of our sake. I won’t be long.” 

‘ Don’t be slop-- ’ 

She shut him out of her mind as she clamped down on the girl’s carotid. With a snarl, Agatha tore it from her neck and descended upon the human’s neck, drinking deeply, greedily. Her hand dipped into the wound once more, tearing it open, wanting to feel as the body went limp from the inside. 

There was a surge of energy in her veins, a gnawing that told her to drink deeper, every drop, every last whisper. And she obeyed, clutching at the open wound, crawling under the skin to be closer to her heart. So shallow, so nearly empty, but the organ persisted. Agatha pressed down, cracking ribs between her fingers as she dug, face parting from the woman’s neck as the blood began to bitter. 

Only when she could feel the very nearly still heart, did Agatha’s hand steady. With her mind in a frenzied haze, she gripped the organ and tore it from the corpse. The final shreds of life that drizzled into her throat were magnificent, directly from the source, not the vein. Her fangs sank into a valve, ensuring the last drops were not spared, when she heard him behind her, a low, approving rumble sounding in his chest.

He lowered himself beside her with a hand at her back, careful to fix his attire as he crouched. Agatha released the heart and dropped it to the lifeless body below. Her eyes were nearly black as she panted before him, blood hot on her breath and teeth covered in bits of muscle and shards of bone.

“You may understand the rules of the beast, but not even you can turn your back on its nature,” Dracula finalized as he reached for her face, cupping her bloodsoaked cheek. “I couldn’t bear the thought of you waking like that again.” 

She was beyond shame, drenched in the blood of another, as she looked upon him. Stilling in his hold, Agatha was unsure if she should lean into his touch or snap his wrist. Her body made the decision for her as she fell back, away from the corpse, and away from him. She swallowed as her eyes befell the horror of her work.

It reminded her of an infamous killer who had stalked the streets nearly sixty years prior. She had caught wind of the massacres in a letter from her detective friend, asking if it could possibly be the work of a vampire or other supernatural being. It was possible, but the man was never caught and went silent after completing his work.

“Pull yourself together, Agatha. You’ve seen much worse than this,” he started absently as he scooped the body from the ground, tucking the heart in the cavity she created. Dracula peered over the cliff, sizing the distance, and let the corpse plummet into the frothing waters below without sticking around to see if it hit the bottom. “There you go. Back on your feet. Feeling better?”

She stood as he turned around and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. It did little to fix her appearance, but the way Dracula looked at her would convince a blind man otherwise. She shivered at the sight, curling in on herself as she swayed between disgust and satisfaction. He was right. A beast can only deny its nature for so long, but she was more than such a creature.

She had to be.