#prosecutor squad

[probablygayattorneys]

You know how a lot of Ace Attorney prosecutors get a kind of pet detective? Like, Edgeworth and Gumshoe, or Blackquill and Fulbright, or Sahdmadhi and Ema?

I hope Sebastian Debeste gets Meekins.

[yeommijeong]

clown squad of pungjin-dong

Episode 10, One Dollar Lawyer (2022)

[butchez]

*two characters look at the camera And to the side* ohhhhhmy god guys tge paralells ???? the fuckign PARALLELS ??? ??

[foreverknightalways]

Back at the 27th precinct, Schanke is arranging a beautiful set of flowers as Nick walks in. Nick asks, New hobby? Schanke answers, They're for Natalie. Nick smells the flowers and says, I thought you were a happily married man. Schanke answers, Her brother just died, Nick. I'm simply paying my respects. Man, I thought you were supposed to be the sensitive one. Nick sits at his desk as Stonetree comes in and announces, Vanessa Delgardo's not coming out. She's not testify. Nick asks, So, what happens next? Stonetree answers, Saul Craven walks, that's what happens. Those damn bumbling bureaucrats down in the crown office. The only one who knew anything down there is now a statistic. Stonetree slams the door of his office as Nick and Schanke give each other a look.

[hero-israel]

During Nuremberg Trial testimony, the prosecutor pressed Einsatzgruppen commander Otto Ohlendorf: “You were going out to shoot down defenseless people. Now, didn’t the question of the morality of that enter your mind?” Ohlendorf referred to the Allied bombings of Germany as a context:

I am not in a position to isolate this occurrence from the occurrences of 1943, 1944, and 1945 where with my own hands I took children and women out of the burning asphalt myself, and with my own hands I took big blocks of stone from the stomachs of pregnant women; and with my own eyes I saw 60,000 people die within 24 hours.

A judge immediately pointed out that his own killing spree preceded those bombings. But this would become known as the “Dresden defense,” to which Ohlendorf resorted still another time, in this exchange:

Ohlendorf: I have seen very many children killed in this war through air attacks, for the security of other nations, and orders were carried out to bomb, no matter whether many children were killed or not. Q: Now, I think we are getting somewhere, Mr. Ohlendorf. You saw German children killed by Allied bombers and that is what you are referring to? Ohlendorf: Yes, I have seen it. Q: Do you attempt to draw a moral comparison between the bomber who drops bombs hoping that it will not kill children and yourself who shot children deliberately? Is that a fair moral comparison ? Ohlendorf: I cannot imagine that those planes which systematically covered a city that was a fortified city, square meter for square meter, with incendiaries and explosive bombs and again with phosphorus bombs, and this done from block to block, and then as I have seen it in Dresden likewise the squares where the civilian population had fled to—that these men could possibly hope not to kill any civilian population, and no children.

Ohlendorf thought this defense so powerful that he invoked it yet another time:

The fact that individual men killed civilians face to face is looked upon as terrible and is pictured as specially gruesome because the order was clearly given to kill these people; but I cannot morally evaluate a deed any better, a deed which makes it possible, by pushing a button, to kill a much larger number of civilians, men, women, and children.

(The chief prosecutor, an American, called this particular iteration “exactly what a fanatical pseudo-intellectual SS-man might well believe.”)

At Nuremberg, this sort of tu quoque defense (“I shouldn’t be punished because they did it too”) wasn’t admissible. Still, in the verdict of the Einsatzgruppen Trial, the judges chose to refute it. “It was submitted,” the judges wrote, “that the defendants must be exonerated from the charge of killing civilian populations since every Allied nation brought about the death of noncombatants through the instrumentality of bombing.” The judges would have none of it:

A city is bombed for tactical purposes… it inevitably happens that nonmilitary persons are killed. This is an incident, a grave incident to be sure, but an unavoidable corollary of battle action. The civilians are not individualized. The bomb falls, it is aimed at the railroad yards, houses along the tracks are hit and many of their occupants killed. But that is entirely different, both in fact and in law, from an armed force marching up to these same railroad tracks, entering those houses abutting thereon, dragging out the men, women and children and shooting them.

The tribunal sentenced Ohlendorf to death. He was hanged in June 1951.

“In the last analysis”

Nuremberg enforced a fundamental distinction. All civilian lives are equal, but not so all ways of taking them. The deliberate and purposeful killing of civilians is a crime; not so the taking of civilian lives that is undesired, unintended, but unavoidable. The errors made by a bomber squadron cannot be deducted from the murders committed by a death squad. It’s a difference compounded many times over when those civilian men, women, and children are subjected to torture, rape, and mutilation before their murder. To borrow Khalidi’s phrase, “in the last analysis,” this distinction is what separates modern civilization from its predecessors.

More disturbing is the thought that it separates the contemporary West from its peers. Otto Ohlendorf and the regime he served did all they could to conceal their deeds from Western eyes. Nazi Germany still operated in a West founded on Enlightenment values. So massive a violation of a shared patrimony needed to be hidden from view.

In contrast, Hamas initially sought to publicize its deeds, assuming they would win applause, admiration, or at least tacit acceptance in the Arab and Muslim worlds. Here they succeeded beyond their expectations. The many millions who don’t share the West’s patrimony, and who know next to nothing about the Holocaust or Nuremberg, do see things as Khalidi says they see them. (So, too, does a sliver of alienated opinion in the West, where such views are cultivated and celebrated.)

Finally, and still more disturbing, is the fact that Ohlendorf’s defense has been revived to frame the massacre of Jews. 

[eretzyisrael]

Benjamin Ferencz was born on March 11, 1920, to a Jewish family in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania. He was only 10 months old when his family moved to the United States and settled in the Lower East Side. In 1943, Ferencz graduated from Harvard Law School and enlisted in the U.S. Army as America was preparing to invade France. He served under General Patton and was awarded 5 battle stars. Towards the end of WWII, Ferencz was appointed as a war crimes investigator in the newly established War Crimes Branch of the U.S. Army. He gathered proof of Nazi brutality to convict individuals of international war crimes. Ferencz was a first-hand witness of the atrocities committed by the Nazis and was among the U.S. forces that liberated several concentration camps.  When asked about what he had witnessed, Ferencz said, “My mind would not accept what my eyes saw. … I had peered into hell.” By the end of 1945, Ferencz returned to New York and was soon recruited by the U.S. Government to join the team for the Nuremberg Trials. At just 27 years old, Ferencz was appointed Chief Prosecutor in the Einsatzgruppen Trial, which is considered the biggest murder trial in history. Ferencz and his team were responsible for the convictions of 22 Nazi death squad commanders, guilty of genocidal war crimes and crimes against humanity and were charged with the murder of over one million people. Here is a photo from this time last year on his 103rd birthday, reminding us to “do something that you love.” 

Ferencz passed away just a few weeks later on April 7, 2023. May his memory be a blessing.

humansofjudaism

[stephsycamore]

I love the timeline of criminal minds is so funny??? Assuming the character and actor ages are approximately the same - morgan is 35 in season 1, is a BAU agent (hard to do), has been a cop in chicago, has a bachelor degree, was on the bomb squad?? And this is one of the more realistic timelines. When did hotch have time to go to law school, become a prosecutor, become an fbi agent, and then become the unit chief??? And he's apparently only 40 in the pilot?? At least make him thomas gibson's real age lmaoo. We're not even getting to reid lmao phds dont work like that

[jiggy-manda]

calex headcanons

of course i had to add my favorite svu ship 😩😩 my two favorite characters and they’re both IN LOVE!!!!!

casey’s favorite pet name to call alex is honey

alex’s favorite pet name to call casey is baby

alex is more likely to alternate between different pet names. she’s much more romantic behind the scenes and out of the courthouse

alex loves to plan their dates!!! she makes the reservations and keeps casey up to date on the details :)

she also always drives. partly because casey is her passenger princess but also partly because she has a need to be absolutely punctual and she becomes a bit of a back seat driver when she’s not in the driver’s seat

casey wouldn’t call herself a passenger princess though. she would just say alex likes driving, which could be true in some senses. probably both.

they make each other coffee in the morning!! casey makes alex’s favorite alex make’s casey’s 🥺

alex always takes casey out for a drink after a case is closed

oftentimes after a long day at work too

alex tries to pick up the tab every time but casey found a new loophole of stealing alex’s card when she isn’t paying attention so casey gets to pay in the end

casey always stays with alex when alex is having trouble beating her insomnia. even if casey is tired, she always prioritizes alex’s sleep health— sometimes to the point where she becomes exhausted beyond her means

if they ever went out to a karaoke bar, casey would be the one getting alex onstage

any time one of them is present while the other is prosecuting, all they can do is stare

alex, of course, will put on a show

casey will too if she’s feeling bold

they both show off to each other in the court room

they always consider themselves lucky that they’re both prosecutors; they’ve thought of way too many dirty scenarios about them duking it out in the courtroom as prosecutor and defender

they both get into heated arguments with the squad sometimes, but it’s easier for them to keep calm towards the others when they’re working on a case together

they argue with each other over cases too. usually they’re just small back-and-forths, but when they do fight during cases, it’s bad. never physical, but sometimes they get so loud that the squad gets nervous

outside of their offices and the courtroom, their arguments are much more respectful/ considerate. it’s hard for them to be completely reasonable when they’re fighting about a case because they’re both equally as passionate.

THEY CUDDLE EVERY NIGHT!!!!!!!!

[uranianrights]

Operation Spanner/The Spanner Case really makes me feel insane because it was so relatively recent and, as far as I understand, the law has not changed nor has anyone received apologies or pardons

Summary taken from here:

In the 1980s, it was discovered that there was an underground culture of sadomasochism amongst gay men in the UK which was seen as unacceptable, and so the Obscene Publications Squad of the Metropolitan Police were assigned to investigate and make arrests. This became known as Operation Spanner, and it ran across 3 years during which 100 men were questioned by police. Out of these men, 43 were named in an official report, and 16 were taken to court on charges of assault and unlawful wounding. [...] In September 1989, 16 men were charged with over 100 offences. During the trial, it was revealed that these occasions of assault related to consensual, private sadomasochistic sex sessions held across 10 years. One of the defendants was a 42-year-old man from Welwyn Garden City, who faced 6 charges of conspiracy to assault and grievous bodily harm and assault occasioning actual bodily harm on himself and others. The House of Lords ruled that consent was not a legal defence for causing actual bodily harm in Britain, but the cases led to a national debate about how consent was defined and how far the government should intervene in sexual encounters between consenting adults." Because of the judgement that consent was not a defence, the men pleaded guilty and they were convicted in November 1990. The prosecutor described the defendants’ behaviour as “brute homosexual activity in sinister circumstances, about as far removed as can be imagined from the concept of human love” and these comments were picked up by the British Press, who described the men as torture gangs and perverted. The men were sentenced to between 12 months and 4 ½ years in prison, but 5 of them appealed the sentences in 1992. Whilst the Lord Chief Justice upheld the convictions, he conceded that the men were not aware that their acts were criminal and so reduced their prison sentences to 6 months or less.

The men since appealed once more in Britain and once to the European Human Rights Court, receiving rejections both times. From what I understand, the law under which these men were convicted has not been changed since 1989, either.

There's a reason there are leathermen at Pride and there's a reason queer people recoiling from the inclusion of kink are shooting themselves in the foot. There's no way to disentangle the legal history of homosexuality or transness (laws against "crossdressing" in particular) from the legal history of kink.

A full history of the case and related documents can be found here.

[cheemers-writing-archive]

Drunken Words Reveal Sober Thoughts (Phoenix Wright x Reader)

YAY my first Phoenix fic. I’ve been in love with him for a while this should’ve happened a lot sooner.

You should’ve drunk more that night.

Some friends of yours from the detective squad decided to go to a bar, and invited you with them. You had work the next day, but decided to go anyway and keep the drinking light. But that was the problem: while you were trying to avoid a hangover tomorrow, everyone else was drinking the night away.

As you try to find someone to talk to, you pass by many of the invitees. Detective Gumshoe was teetering back and forth, telling some tall tale to Maggey, Officer Marshall was making some dubious threats to someone you didn’t recognize, and Prosecutor Edgeworth… was… was he drinking tea? There wasn’t a hint of flush on his face. Although you were initially relieved to finally find someone to talk to, you weren’t drunk enough to forget that doing that was a bad idea.

Just as you were about to look on the other side, someone else catches your eye: Phoenix Wright. The two of you had talked before, mostly exchanging information about a trial you were both working on, but it was hardly enough to even call the two of you work acquaintances. Still, it didn’t stop you from falling head over heels for him, much to your dismay.

Wright was talking to a man you could’ve sworn you’d seen before, but had no clue where. The other man didn’t matter all that much, anyway. You couldn’t help but be drawn in by Wright’s drunken complexion. His hazy eyes seemed to glimmer from the neon lights around the bar, and the blush on his cheeks complimented his face perfectly.

You snapped yourself out of it. You were being creepy, staring at some guy you hardly knew! What if he caught you? How would your work relationship suffer? Plus, he was drunk! People shouldn’t be cuter than usual when they’re drunk!

Sighing, you decide to go outside for some fresh air. You were in no position to be anywhere near Wright at the moment, as you could let your feelings be known without even meaning to. You knew that bottling them up like this was bad in the long run, but it would be worse if every single case you were both working on was awkward.

God, what am I supposed to do?

“Whoa.”

A familiar voice pulled you out of your thoughts. You turned your head to see Wright staring right at you, mouth agape. In his hand was a bottle of beer, but it was quickly dropped and forgotten about.

Was this it? Was Wright about to confess? Would you finally get to be free of the heartache you felt every time you see him? Would you and Phoenix finally enter a relationship?

“You look exactly like this detective I work with! That’s crazy!”

Oh.

“Really?” You ask, feeling too awkward to reveal your true identity to him.

“Well, I say that I work with them, but it’s really more…”

You stopped listening once Wright started explaining your work relationship, losing yourself in your own thoughts again. It seemed that he was the forgetful type when drunk, and painfully unaware. Of course. Why would you think that he was going to tell you that he liked you? Why would he feel that way about you? You barely know each-

“I mean, I’d love to be closer than we are right now, though. After all, I have a huge crush on them.”

What?

WHAT?

Did Wright just say he had a crush on you? Just like that? To a supposed stranger?

“Oh?” you asked, trying so hard to hide your excitement.

“Yeah, huuuuuge crush. Like this big.” Wright stretched his arms out as far as he could, and almost slapped you in the face. “I mean, I’m head over heels for this one.”

And now, Phoenix was describing everything about you as if you were a Greek sculpture. Every single word he spoke had love poured into it as he went into detail about what he liked about you. He wasn’t great with his words as drunk as he was, but you didn’t care.

“You know, sometimes I look at their lips and I wonder what they’d feel like against mine,” Phoenix said. The way his gaze was suddenly fixated in the distance meant he was probably zoned out, thinking about it right now.

You decided to shoot your shot.

“Well, what if you kissed me?” you asked. “I look exactly like this person, right? My lips would probably feel the same as theirs.”

Phoenix shook his head. “No, sorry. I want to save it for them, once I finally tell them.”

Although the irony of that statement wasn’t lost on you, you were more focused on the loyalty of it. Phoenix, a man you weren’t dating yet, was saving his kiss for you. And here you were, pretending to be someone else, trying to steal it prematurely while he was drunk.

Oh, god. Wright was drunk. You were drunk. You just asked if Wright wanted to kiss you. You were both drunk. You had work in the morning. You had a healthy work relationship with Wright. You tried to kiss him.

“I think I should head home,” you suddenly spoke out, almost involuntarily. “It was nice to meet you. Goodbye.”

“See ya,” was all he said as you hailed a taxi to be driven home.

***

You were glad you didn’t drink more that night.

It was a bright, sunny day, and although you had a small headache, some pain medication would fix your issue right away. You were walking down to the precinct to clock in for work, but you decided to make a detour first. Gumshoe said it was right next to that hotel, right?

Eventually, you found the building you were looking for, and then the office inside of there. You took a deep breath, then knocked on the door. As it opened, you were greeted with… a girl. She had straight, black hair, partially tied up in a bun, and a purple robe. This wasn’t who you were expecting.

“Welcome to Wright and Co.,” the girl said. At least you were at the right place. “Sorry, Nick’s a little tied up right now. He said he probably got food poisoning from the restaurant he went to last night, and so he’s been in and out of the bathroom.”

Restaurant. Food poisoning. Right.

If this girl didn’t know why Wright was really in the bathroom, then this is a conversation you needed to have out of her earshot. “That’s okay,” you said. “Is it alright if I wait for him in the other room?”

“Sure!” the girl said. You went into the next room, closing the door behind you.

It wasn’t too long before Wright came to talk, but as soon as he opened the door and saw you, his face went pale. He remembered.

“Look, about what happened last night, I’m-”

As Wright was rambling, you suddenly stood up. You didn’t really mean to, nor did you mean to walk up to him and grab his necktie, pulling him into a kiss. It ended as quickly and abruptly as it began, though, as you quickly pulled away and sat back down.

“I’ve had a crush on you for a while, actually,” you said, quieter than usual. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you who I was last night, but once you started talking about me, I just wanted to keep listening to you talk about me. If I’m honest, that was the most I’ve really felt loved recently.” You finally looked back up at Phoenix, who was giving you a thousand-yard stare, hands hovering over his lips.

The realization kicked in.

“Oh, my god,” you whispered. “I kissed you. I… oh my god. I’m so sorry! I… that… I’m… it wasn’t… that wasn’t professional! I’m so, so sorry! I just got so caught up in my emotions, I didn’t even…”

As you were rambling, you were suddenly cut off by Phoenix’s lips against yours. This kiss, however, lasted a bit longer, and the pull-away was softer than before.

“Don’t worry,” Phoenix told you, his voice softer than before. “I won’t press charges or anything.” He let out a small laugh. The way he laughed at his own jokes made you involuntarily speak again.

“Dinner tonight?”

Phoenix seemed just as stunned as you were that you asked so bluntly. “Uh… yeah, sure! Anywhere specific you wanna go?”

“What if we walked around… holding hands… and we decided then?”

As soon as you said that out loud, you cringed. What were you, a grade-schooler? Phoenix didn’t seem to mind, though, as he said, “Yeah, that sounds like a plan,” through stifled laughter.

“You’re laughing at me!” you cried out, laughing yourself.

“Sorry!” Phoenix released the laugh he was holding. “It was just unexpected!”

As the two of you calmed down, you stood up again. “Should I meet you here after I’m done with work?” you asked.

Phoenix nodded. “I’ll be waiting!”

[mariacallous]

A former F.B.I. informant accused of making false bribery claims about President Biden and his son Hunter — which were widely publicized by Republicans — claimed to have been fed information by Russian intelligence, according to a court filing on Tuesday.

In the memo, prosecutors portrayed the former informant, Alexander Smirnov, 43, as a serial liar incapable of telling the truth about even the most basic details of his own life. But Mr. Smirnov told federal investigators that “officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story” about Hunter Biden.

Those disclosures, including Mr. Smirnov’s unverifiable claim that he met with Russian intelligence officials as recently as three months ago, made him a flight risk and endangered national security, Justice Department officials said. Mr. Smirnov had been held in custody in Las Vegas, where he has lived since 2022, since his arrest last week.

He was released from custody on Tuesday on a personal recognizance bond after a detention hearing, said his lawyers, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld.

Prosecutors did not specify which story Russian intelligence is said to have been fed to Mr. Smirnov, an Israeli citizen. But they suggested they could not believe anything he said. And they had many tales to choose from.

The memo describes Mr. Smirnov as a human hall of mirrors: He fed the F.B.I. bogus information about the Bidens and misled prosecutors about his wealth, estimated at $6 million, while telling them he worked in the security business, even though the government could find no proof that was true.

“The misinformation he is spreading is not confined” to his false claims about the Bidens, wrote prosecutors working for David C. Weiss, the special counsel investigating Hunter Biden on tax and gun charges.

“He is actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November,” they added.

That appeared to refer to Mr. Smirnov’s claim, made in late 2023 to the F.B.I., that he had spoken to the head of a Russian intelligence unit who said he had intercepted phone calls made by guests at a hotel overseas. Those included “several calls placed by prominent U.S. persons the Russian government may use as ‘kompromat’ in the 2024 election,” according to prosecutors.

Mr. Smirnov also told his F.B.I. handler that he was involved in meetings to help resolve the war in Ukraine, and that he had knowledge of assassination squads operating in “a third-party country.”

Last week, Mr. Weiss charged Mr. Smirnov with fabricating claims that President Biden and his son each sought $5 million bribes from a Ukrainian energy giant, Burisma, demanding the money to protect the company from an investigation by the country’s prosecutor general.

Those allegations, which prosecutors now say were brazen fabrications motivated by Mr. Smirnov’s animosity toward the president, were widely promoted by congressional Republicans who cited it as a justification for their now-stalled effort to impeach Mr. Biden.

Mr. Smirnov was taken into custody last week as he walked off an international flight from what prosecutors described as “a monthslong, multicountry foreign trip.” During that trip, he claimed to have had contacts with multiple foreign intelligence agencies and had planned to embark on a similar trip days later, according to the memo.

What makes the Smirnov case so unusual, aside from its political significance, is the willingness of the F.B.I. to publicly burn a confidential informant who had been on the bureau’s payroll as recently as last year. The filing contained excerpts from his source reporting documents, raw notes from interviews between handlers and informants that are considered some of the most sensitive federal law enforcement documents.

Also on Tuesday, Hunter Biden’s legal team filed motions in federal court arguing that the arrest of Mr. Smirnov — while unrelated to the charges Mr. Biden faces — has tainted the public’s perception of their client, making fair trials impossible.

“It now seems clear that the Smirnov allegations infected this case,” said Abbe Lowell, Mr. Biden’s lawyer, who accused Mr. Weiss of following “Mr. Smirnov down his rabbit hole of lies.”

[probablygayattorneys]

[dangermousie]

Poll time!

Watching W reminded me of two things (1) how much I adore Lee Jong Suk dramas and (2) how much freaking suffering man likes to do in them. So, a poll:

OK, now the explanation part.

Secret Garden - he's a hipster composer with unrequited crush on delightful himbo superstar Oska. Honestly, not getting that fine piece of man is indeed a tragedy. Here is Oska hauling off our composer and is all "you are not leaving, kid," not helping that crush one bit:

I Hear Your Voice - serial killer offed his dad and almost offed him when he was little, has ability to hear everyone's thoughts that he cannot turn off, same serial killer is now gunning for him (or just turning him into killer), is a high school kid with hopeless (or is it? :P) crush on decade older prosecutor, accidentally stabs her once, loses his memory etc etc. A great time is NOT had by all. But it is had by me.

Doctor Stranger - stuck in North Korea as a kid, forced to perform human experiments as a doctor for years, has to kill his OTP's dad to save her, believes his OTP died (twice), hunted by NK goon squads etc etc. My pick, tbh.

W Two Worlds - his family killed and he's convicted for their deaths, after he gets out eventually discovers he's a fictional character and fights to keep free will and oh, a killer who literally is inhuman narrative is hunting him and the woman he loves across worlds.

While You Were Sleeping - childhood trauma, present day psycho fixating on him (why ARE his characters psycho catnip?), an almost fatal stabbing now and then...just a routine life of a prosecutor.

Romance Is a Bonus Book - for once he decided to take a break from whumptown. Ummm...a romcom with no blood is a form of suffering for angst lovers? (There is no pic as there is no gut wounds, sorry.)

Big Mouth - framed for something he didn't do, convicted and has to cope in jail full of psychopaths who go after him, stuck in a lunatic asylum and tortured, and after all of that, his wife dies. Go big or go home.

[arcsimper5]

Left Behind

Excuse the angst, I just watched the Daro episode of Bad Batch over lunch and had to get this out lol.

Title: Left Behind Pairing: None Characters: Scorch (RC-1262), Hunter (CF99) Summary: Scorch fails to remember, but Hunter's capture reminds him of something he ought to. Rating: M (mentions of torture, blood, sad times ahead)

It had been years since Scorch had gone down to stun bolts. How much time had passed since the Prosecutor mission?

And why couldn’t he remember his squad?

Maker, he felt nauseous.

It had to have been the stun bolts, he reasoned. Memories of Trandoshans, a cell and orange and white armour swam in his head, hazy, as if viewed through fogged transparisteel.

Shaking his head, he felt another of the commandos nudge him as they jolted around in the shuttle.

“RC-1262, are you okay?”

Why was that voice so familiar?

“Fine.”

The answer was almost automatic, his reply short as he nodded.

He was fine. Of course he was fine. He’d been stunned, sure, but he was following orders. It’s what he was bred to do.

Good soldiers follow orders…

Glancing towards the cockpit, he could see the flashes of green, trees speeding upwards as they descended towards the ground.

“All commandos, be advised, we have a target on the ground at your position. Consider armed and dangerous.”

“Think he survived that fall?” one of the TK’s behind him chuckled lowly, the comm channels opened.

“He’s talking, listen,” another one smirked, the mirth in his voice making Scorch’s stomach churn as a voice came over the comms.

“Hunter! Tell them to come back! Order them to come back!”

“I’m sorry, kid. I can’t do that.”

A shiver ran over Scorch’s entire body as the shuttle landed, hand, the ramp still descending even as the troopers in front of him began spilling out.

Mere feet away, he saw their target, a clone with grey and red armour, a vibroknife in hand.

He watched as the target sheathed his blade with a resigned sigh, hands raised in surrender.

“Shows how loyal the clones really are,” one of the TK’s giggled over comms, “left another one behind.”

“No wonder they need to be replaced. What cowards.”

Scorch ignored the comments as he pressed forward, rifle pointed at this ‘Hunter’.

“Weapons on the floor in front of you,” he rasped, body still recovering from the stun bolts.

Hunter complied, pulling his vibroblade and a blaster from their holsters, movements slow and careful as he put them down onto the ground in front of him.

He winced as he moved, Scorch feeling a trembling in his hands that had nothing to do with the stun bolts.

How could they leave him? They operated like a squad who had been together for years, knew each other’s tells and strategies.

He’d never leave one of his men alone, ever. Just the thought, the idea, the…

“Delta lead, get your men under control! One commando isn’t worth risking an entire operation.”

“One commando? He’s talking about my pod brother!”

His own voice sounded foreign in his mind. So emotional, so insubordinate. 

Then pain. Pain ripped from within, a sharp, stabbing sensation, as if someone was trying to pry his brain out of a tiny hole in his skull.

He didn’t know if he screamed, he didn’t know when his armour was removed, or when his weapons were taken. He didn’t remember how he’d gotten the cuts on his hands, the bruises, the blood…

The white lights above him were blinding, his gasping breaths alerting another being in the room to his consciousness.

“W-Where’s S-Sev?” he managed, voice broken and coarse. “Where’s… my squad?”

His eyes were fluttering, pain still radiating from the side of his head. He wanted it to stop. Maker, he’d do anything to make it stop!

“B-Boss… Fixer… S-Sev…”

How had he forgotten them? Forgotten his brothers? The missions, the camaraderie, the awful little shuttle they’d called home for so long… How had this happened?

“RC-1262 seems to be fighting the effects of the chip enhancement once again,” came a dull, slow voice, Kaminoan, it seemed, though not one he recognised.

“Increase the compliance centre levels once more.”

There was a moment of hesitation before the first voice answered.

“With all due respect, Admiral, another increase may damage his brain beyond any working capacity. I would recommend…”

“I do not care what you recommend.”

The venom in the second voice was almost palpable.

“We are losing too many Commandos to the failure of your chips. With CC-5576 having escaped, he will be able to inform our enemies of the functions of our new army. We will require security, the likes of which only elite Commandos can offer. RC-1262 will be reconditioned once again to serve our new Empire, or he will be disposed of, like the others.”

Others?

“Wh-Where are my brothers?”

Panic began to swell sluggishly in his chest, fists tightening as he pulled against the restraints, the lights around him getting brighter.

He could see shadows now, echoes of figures who may have been there, or once been with him.

“Do not move, RC-1262,” came the cold, calm reply as a hypo pierced the skin of his neck, cold numbness spreading through his veins like ice.

“Sc-Scorch,” he managed as the darkness began to overcome him once more, “my… my name is… Scorch…”

The pain began again.

[hero-israel]

The thing about the accusations of “genocide” against Israel in Gaza is that, aside from incidents like the fire that got started last week, in general the rate of Palestinian casualties has gone down from the beginning of the war as the IDF has switched from firing missiles to boots on the ground and re-learned how to fight in an urban space (and also removed soldiers who’ve been shooting at people indiscriminately from combat). But that doesn’t matter.

Retconning every war of the last 120+ years into also having been "genocide" is bad, actually. Probably not as bad as retconning rape into being "political liberation" but these people are not thinking through the consequences of their redefinitions.

The Nuremberg Trials were quite clear on this. Sending a death squad door-to-door to burn and shoot 10,000 members of a hated minority group is genocide. Sending an Air Force over that death squad's country and bombing enough military targets that you inadvertently kill 20,000 people is not.

[r1ghtt1mewr0ngplace]

the franziska von karma brainrot consumed me, so. here you go

your prosecutor looks gnc as fuck

bugs when you lift up a rock (the Best squad when you did a crime)

also.

consider drag king franziska