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mariacallous · 2 years

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Another mysterious death among Russian top executives last week drew further attention to the ever-increasing number of suspicious demises among the oligarchs and critics of President Vladimir Putin, raising questions on whether they have become all too common to be completely coincidental.

Ivan Pechorin, a top manager at the Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, was found dead in Vladivostok after allegedly falling off his luxury yacht and drowning near Cape Ignatyev in the Sea of Japan two days before, according to the local administration.

"On September 12, 2022, it became known about the tragic death of our colleague, Ivan Pechorin, Managing Director for the Aviation Industry of the Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic," a statement from the company said.

Pechorin is said to have been tasked with modernising Russia's aviation industry and worked directly under Putin.

Earlier this year, the company’s 43-year-old general director Igor Nosov also died from a reported stroke after taking over the reins in May 2021.

Meanwhile, another aviation expert died under strange circumstances: the former head of the Moscow Aviation Institute Anatoly Gerashchenko was pronounced dead after falling down "several sets of stairs" on Wednesday, according to a statement issued by the institute.

Geraschenko led the institute -- which closely collaborates with the Russian Ministry of Defence and has aided the development of the likes of MiG fighter jets -- until 2015, but it is believed to have remained in an advisory role since.

The Russian aviation industry has long been suspected of having direct ties with espionage.

In 2018, former deputy director of the Russian national air carrier Aeroflot Nikolai Glushkov -- who famously claimed that about one-fourth of the company's employees were officers of one of the branches of the country's intelligence -- was found hanged in his home in New Malden, London.

Glushkov was a notable Kremlin critic and a close friend of the late oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who was also found dead with a ligature around his neck in 2013.

Glushkov's death also occurred right after the novichok poisoning of former GRU spy and double agent Alexei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, prompting the investigators to label it as suspicious.

The results of an inquest finalised in April 2021 showed that Glushkov was unlawfully killed, with his death made to look like a suicide by hanging.

'Tripped and fell while smoking'

The news of Pechorin's death came less than two weeks after the chairman of the board of Russia's largest private oil company, Ravil Maganov, died in what Russian news agencies cited as an accidental fall from a hospital window.

Initially, a statement by his company Lukoil said Maganov “passed away after a severe illness” on 1 September but did not give further details.

Russian news reports later stated his body was found on the grounds of Moscow's Central Clinical Hospital, where Russia's political and business elite are often treated.

Maganov appeared to have fallen from a sixth-story window, the reports said. Some sources claimed he tripped and fell while smoking, stating a pack of cigarettes was found by the window. The news site RBK also said police were investigating the possibility of suicide.

Lukoil was one of a few Russian companies to publicly call for an end to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, calling in March for the “immediate cessation of the armed conflict”.

Incidentally, Maganov was not the first Lukoil official to die under suspicious circumstances since Kremlin's full-scale aggression against its western neighbour began in late February.

A former top manager Aleksandr Subbotin was found dead in the basement of a residence in a Moscow suburb in May.

Russian news reports said the house belonged to a self-styled healer, Shaman Magua, who practised purification rites.

Magua testified that Subbotin came to his house under the influence of alcohol and drugs and demanded that the healer, whose real name is Aleksei Pindurin, performs a healing ritual for hangover symptoms.

Investigators said the preliminary cause of Subbotin's death was determined to be heart failure.

Yet, it is Ravil Maganov's demise that caught the attention of the press, having been the most well-publicised in a string of accidental self-defenestrations and other suspicious deaths of those who either profited from good relations with Putin or were a thorn in his side -- or both.

Anti-war oligarchs die under strange circumstances

At least another eight Russian oligarchs have died in strange circumstances almost since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine. All had in common close links to the Kremlin, immense wealth, a connection to Russian gas and an anti-war stance on Ukraine.

This has raised the suspicions of international investigators, who are beginning to believe that these deaths may, in fact, have been staged suicides or assassinations due to their stance on the Kremlin's aggression against Ukraine or their links to corruption in the Russian gas company Gazprom.

It all started in St Petersburg in the run-up to the war.

Only a month before the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, a top executive of the gas company Gazprom was found dead in his cottage near St Petersburg.

Leonid Shulman, 60, was found in the bathroom of the house with slashed wrists, local news reported, citing a source.

According to the police authorities, a suicide note was allegedly found next to his body, in which he recounted his suffering after a leg injury -- which Gazprom claimed caused him to take a leave of absence.

The version has been questioned after the Warsaw Institue think tank stated that Shulman, who was the head of the transport service at Gazprom Invest, was involved in a possible corruption case at the Russian gas giant.

The morning after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, Alexander Tyulyakov, 65, a senior executive of Gazproms's Corporate Security, died at his home in the same village as Shulman. According to the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, his body was found hanged in the garage.

The same newspaper quoted an unnamed law enforcement source as saying that Gazprom's own security unit arrived at the scene of the suicide at the same time as the police and was also investigating the death.

One of two deaths that have taken place abroad is that of Mikhail Watford, who lived with his family in the UK. On 28 February, the Ukrainian-born 66-year-old oil and gas magnate, who also built a property empire in London, was found dead at his home in Surrey.

Watford's cause of death was determined as death by hanging, but his wife and children, who were at home at the time, were unharmed. UK authorities were treating Watford's death as unexplained but not suspicious.

It later emerged that Watford, commonly referred to as Misha, had changed his surname from Tolstosheya after moving to the UK in early 2000.

Murder-suicides escalate suddenly among Putin-friendly oligarchs?

In March, the bodies of Russian billionaire Vasily Melnikov and his family were found in his luxury flat in Nizhny Novgorod, a city in western Russia.

Melnikov had made his fortune working for one of the medical companies affected by Western sanctions.

According to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, Melnikov, along with his 41-year-old wife and two young children, aged 10 and 4 respectively, died of stab wounds. The murder weapon was allegedly found at the scene of the crime.

The newspaper reported that the oligarch had killed his family before committing suicide, although neighbours and other relatives disagreed with the official version.

Other media have claimed that Melnikov's company, which imports medical equipment to Russia, was on the verge of bankruptcy due to Western sanctions imposed in retaliation for the war in Ukraine.

The latest case has taken place in Spain, more specifically in Lloret de Mar, where Russian oligarch Sergei Protosenya, 55, was found dead along with two other family members on 19 April.

The former head of the gas giant Novatek, with a personal worth of €400 million, was found hanged, along with those of his wife and daughter, who were stabbed to death in the family villa.

What was initially classified by the police as a double homicide followed by Protosenya's suicide was later categorically denied by his son.

Several family friends have also come out in public to state that Protosenya is, in fact, the third victim of a "staged suicide" and that the oligarch would have been incapable of murdering his family.

The Catalan police are still actively investigating the case.

Just a day before the death of Protosenya and his family, the body of Russian oligarch Vladislav Avayev was found in his Moscow flat, along with the bodies of his wife and 13-year-old daughter. His daughter Anastasia, 26, was the one who discovered the crime scene.

Russian state-owned news agency TASS quoted a source close to law enforcement as saying that preliminary evidence pointed to Avayev -- former advisor to Putin and former vice-president of Gazprombank -- killing his wife and daughter and then committing suicide.

A pistol was found in the oligarch's hand, and the flat was locked from the inside.

Gazprombank is Russia's third-largest bank and is associated with Gazprom, the world's largest publicly traded natural gas company.

Avayev was not the last Gazprom top-level manager to die under strange circumstances, however.

On 2 May, Andrei Krukovsky, the 37-year-old director of a Sochi ski resort owned by the gas giant, died after allegedly falling off a cliff while hiking near the Achipse fortress, the scenic area's landmark monument.

“The general manager of the Krasnaya Polyana resort, Andrei Alekseevich Krukovsky, tragically passed away. He loved the mountains and found peace there,” TASS news agency reported.

The Krasnaya Polyana is one of the most popular ski venues in Russia and was a part of the Olympic complex during the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

And on 4 July, multi-millionaire businessman Yuri Voronov was found in the swimming pool at his home in the affluent Vyborgsky neighbourhood of St Petersburg with a gunshot wound to his head.

The police retrieved a handgun at the scene, while bullet casings were found at the bottom of the pool, local media reported.

The 61-year-old Voronov, whose death was deemed to have been a suicide, was the CEO of Astra-Shipping transport and logistics company, a subcontractor to Gazprom with lucrative contracts tied to its operations in the Arctic.

Self-defenestrations the most suspicious

Maganov's death on Thursday also follows the pattern of prominent Russians falling out of windows to their deaths.

In October 2021, a Russian diplomat was found dead after he fell from a window of the Russian embassy in Berlin, Der Spiegel reported.

The unidentified man was a second secretary at the embassy, but German intelligence sources told the newspaper they suspected he was an undercover officer with Russia's FSB.

Investigative outlet Bellingcat said it used open-source data to identify the man as Kirill Zhalo, the son of General Alexey Zhalo, deputy director of the FSB's Second Service, responsible for dealing with internal political threats for the Kremlin.

In December of the same year, the founder of nationalist blog Sputnik and Pogrom Yegor Prosvirnin died after falling out of a window of a Moscow apartment building.

Prosvirnin's naked body was found next to a knife and a gas canister after shouts and yelling were heard from his apartment, local media reported.

Prosvirnin, a right-wing activist, originally supported Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 but later became a vocal critic of Putin, predicting a civil war in Russia and the collapse of the Russian Federation.

And on 14 August, Dan Rapoport, Latvian-American investment banker and outspoken Putin critic who had just left Ukraine after the Russian invasion, was found dead in front of a luxury apartment building in Washington DC.

Police say they were not treating Rapoport's death as suspicious, the Washington-based Politico reported, but the case remains under investigation.

Rapoport became rich while in Moscow before falling out of favour with the Kremlin, mostly due to his support for the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, according to reports.

In 2017, Rapoport's then-business partner, Sergei Tkachenko, also fell to his death from his Moscow apartment's window.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, at least four health care workers have fallen out of windows in Russia, with only one surviving despite grave injuries.

At least three incidents of doctors self-defenestrating from hospital windows took place over a two-week period between April and May 2020, with media reports claiming they had protested working conditions during the worst wave of infections in the country prior to the incidents.

In December 2020, a top Russian scientist developing a novel COVID-19 vaccine, Alexander Kagansky, was found dead after falling from his high-rise apartment in St Petersburg.

According to Russian outlets, police claimed Kagansky stabbed himself and then jumped to his death.

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west-tokyo-incidents · 1 year

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I'm rethinking the warrior cats au and it may or may not just outright become a fanclan...

The clans live in a forest outside of a small mining town at the base of a mountain. The sins live closer to the town while the perfections live further downhill and across a river.

The Evil(tm) clan is named Oakclan, named so for the huge oak tree their camp is beneath. The oak tree is called the Heart Oak, and it's a deepset belief of the clan that the tree is the heart of the forest and that they have a right to the entirety of it, including the territory of their opposing clan, Mossclan.

(Some of)The Cats;

(Vice) Shellstar is still the leader, though he's a rare male calico as a result of chimerism. He has a large black spot on his back reminiscent of a turtle shell, thus his name. He's a brooding, vindictive older cat with countless scars. Because he's become far more careful lately, there are rumors he's on his last life, but he will maul anyone who asks.

(Jealousy) Spidergaze is still the deputy and a tuxedo cat. He was a rogue kitten when Shellstar took over the clan and one of the few to survive the tyrant's hellish young reign. He became deputy after the previous was... killed under suspicious circumstances. He's extremely observant and very good at reading emotions off other cats. Scarily so.

(Paresse) Pinestep is still medicine cat, though older. He is named for his lanky physique and ability to walk silently, even when he had a bell on his collar. He's a cruel, dry snark cat who was made medicine cat by the previous leader because he was a kittypet. Main difference is that he openly had his kits and no one dares say anything about it(see the stories below).

(Rage) Thunderjaw is Shellstar's younger brother, an albino cat with a crooked jaw due to an injury as a kit. He was asked to become deputy when the previous was killed, but refused the role due to raising Cicadasong at the time. He and Pinestep are technically still mates, though Pinestep's most recent litter has caused some tension, all things considered.

(Fusataro) Sunshadow was a big part of the prophecy that led to Shellstar's reign, as she is the daughter of the previous leader, making her a great informant for Shellclaw. She was born under an eclipse, which was part of the prophecy. Despite her large role in that, she's very critical of Shellstar and typically just sticks to her role as a warrior... that is until Pinestep got pregnant with her kits.

(Mizho) Owleye is Spidergaze's sister, having lost her eye to one of Shellstar's trials. She's very stoic and standoffish, but she's the best fucking warrior and can and will drop anyone on their ass. She was trained by Silverclaw.

(Michel) Silverclaw was a one eyed russian blue tom who also happens to be the one who convinced Pinestep to join the clan. He was killed during a harsh winter and Pinestep absolutely blames himself. He often visits Pinestep in his walks among Starclan.

(Jupiter) Cicadasong is Pinestep and Thunderjaw's only kit, with his siblings not surviving Shellstar's trials. He's very eccentric and... odd. But he's sharp and fast, especially having had Owleye as his mentor, which he is extremely proud of.

I think mooost of the rest stays exactly the same, minus the background. I,,, might draw them if I get the time. Working full time SUCKS...

Snippets I thought of while writing;

Oakclan is a small clan due to Shellstar's initial power trip and bloodlust when he first took over. Many kits and apprentices were lost due to this, but the clan is beginning its recovery.

Owleye absolutely sneaks across the river to visit Fawnstrike, a she-cat in Mossclan, though she's torn because of a particularly pretty kittypet that Pinestep introduced her to as well.

Pinestep was given a vision of Shellstar's tyranny soon after joining the clan and warned the previous leader, but was ignored and even ridiculed because surely the lazy new former kittypet is lying for attention. His mentor died in the ensuing fight. Though the previous leader technically won the final fight, Pinestep refused to treat his wounds and watched him suffer and lose his last three lives one right after the other over the course of many days with healing herbs just out of reach in the den. Shellstar witnessed this. He don't fuck with Pinestep.

Pinestep's current kits are very sickly, and only one is expected to survive, who he's named Oakkit, hoping that envoking the Heart Oak will help her make it.

Starclan is very much at odds with regards to the clan and the state of things in it, but a recent prophecy has predicted a time of peace and happiness for the clan, which appears to center around a certain kittypet with pretty fish scale-like markings. If only the clan can accept and find closure and balance.

#warriors au #ress talks #karakuridoji ultimo #ress writes

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theechudar · 2 years

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Putin's Ukraine Mobilisation Incharge Roman Malyk Found Dead Under 'Suspicious' Circumstances

Putin’s Ukraine Mobilisation Incharge Roman Malyk Found Dead Under ‘Suspicious’ Circumstances

Last Updated: October 16, 2022, 17:04 IST Putin’s close aide Roman Malyk was found dead at his village home in Russia (Twitter/@NEXTA) Reports of such mysterious deaths of Russian executives are not new. Out of all the businessmen who have died in the last 7 months in Russia, six were reportedly close to Vladimir Putin Lt. Col. Roman Malyk, incharge of Russia’s key efforts to mobilise against…

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meinkampfortzone · 2 years

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Third Reich Biographies: SS-Standartenfuhrer Karl Koch (Part 3)

Caption: Karl and Ilse Koch in front of their lavish mansion in KZ Buchenwald, with Koch’s dog named Afra. On the right (not shown in this version of the photo) is Koch’s son from his first marriage, Manfred.

In September 1941, Karl Koch received a written command from the SS headquarters that stated that he was to be transferred to Poland in early 1942 to take charge of a new camp that was to be built there. This camp was called Maidanek (Majdanek) and it had been commissioned in July 1941 by Heinrich Himmler, after seeing the sheer amount of POWs that had been taken in the wake of Operation Barbarossa. Construction on the camp had already begun in October of that year, by 2500 Russian POWs. Koch’s task was to enlarge the camp to hold from 50000 to 150000 prisoners. This would make it the largest KZ in the world.

However, before he left Buchenwald, Koch had some tracks to cover. In November 1941, he secretly ordered the killing of two prisoners, Walter Kraemer and Karl Peix, both of whom worked in the camp infirmary. Far from the exemplary family man extolled by Himmler and the SS, Koch had many mistresses not only in Weimar but in countries outside of Germany such as Norway, where he often vacationed. He had contracted syphilis in 1940 from one such mistress, and had gone to the prisoner hospital in the camp for treatment instead of the hospital designated for the SS. In the prison hospital, he had been treated by Walter Kraemer, and now, in 1941, he was fearful that Kraemer and Peix, who were close confidantes, may let slip about his having had the disease. However, he couldn’t kill them outright, so Koch had both men arrested, placed in the special detention cells, and then launched an investigation to try and find any evidence of illicit activities being carried out in the prison hospital that would give him a legitimate reason to order the execution of Kraemer and Peix. When nothing of significance was turned up, Koch had them transferred to a labor sub-camp of Buchenwald in Goslar, and gave instructions to the commanding officer there, Hauptscharfuhrer Johann Blank, that both prisoners were to be shot, albeit “in an inconspicuous way.” The order was carried out, and Koch left Buchenwald under the assumption that his indiscretions as commandant of the concentration camp would be kept under wraps forever.

This, however, was not to be. Among Walter Kraemer’s more notable medical clientele was Koch’s superior, Josias Erbprinz zu Waldeck und Pyrmont. Kraemer had previously treated him successfully for an illness, and so his name was familiar to Prinz zu Waldeck, who, as Koch’s superior, frequently reviewed the lists of deceased prisoners that were sent from KZ Buchenwald. Upon noticing Kraemer’s name on the list as well as that of his confidante Karl Peix, Waldeck inquired as to how the two men had died. Upon realizing that they had both been “shot trying to escape” at different points in time on the same day, Waldeck immediately became suspicious, and suspected that their deaths had been an attempt to cover up some shady business on the part of Koch.

As they were from two vastly different social strata--Koch being a commoner and Waldeck being an aristocrat with ties to the Dutch and British royal families--it was no secret that the two men despised each other. “On one visit to the camp, Waldeck took with him back to Kassel 30000 cigarettes that had been reserved for the camp’s SS officers. When Koch learned of this, he exploded and issued a directive forbidding any goods to be given to any non-Buchenwald SS officer.”

The suspiciousness of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Kraemer and Peix were incentive enough to compel Prinz zu Waldeck to order a thorough sweep of the accounting books of KZ Buchenwald. Large irregularities in the entries were uncovered, which suggested that Koch was illegally profiting off of the concentration camp funds. Realizing that this hinted at more than just chronic bad bookkeeping, Waldeck assigned SS judge Georg Konrad Morgen to investigate Koch’s activities at Buchenwald. The first raid on the Koch’s mansion took place in December 1942, the same year the United States entered the war.

TBC in the final part of this miniseries!

Sources:

1- The Beasts of Buchenwald: Karl and Ilse Koch by Flint Whitlock

#third reich history #Buchenwald

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maulthots · 3 years

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Read in September

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner Category: N/A After an attempted assassination and kidnapping, Sophos, heir to the throne of Sounis, disappears. Those who care for him—including the thief Eugenides and the Queen of Eddis—are left to wonder if he is alive and if they will ever see him again. ⭐⭐⭐

Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Category: A book published this year 1970s, Mexico City. Maite is a secretary who lives for one thing: the latest issue of Secret Romance. While student protests and political unrest consume the city, Maite escapes into stories of passion and danger. Her next-door neighbor, Leonora, a beautiful art student, seems to live a life of intrigue and romance that Maite envies. When Leonora disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself searching for the missing woman—and journeying deeper into Leonora’s secret life of student radicals and dissidents. Meanwhile, someone else is also looking for Leonora at the behest of his boss, a shadowy figure who commands goon squads dedicated to squashing political activists. Elvis is an eccentric criminal who longs to escape his own life: He loathes violence and loves old movies and rock ’n’ roll. But as Elvis searches for the missing woman, he comes to observe Maite from a distance—and grows more and more obsessed with this woman who shares his love of music and the unspoken loneliness of his heart. Now as Maite and Elvis come closer to discovering the truth behind Leonora’s disappearance, they can no longer escape the danger that threatens to consume their lives, with hitmen, government agents, and Russian spies all aiming to protect Leonora’s secrets—at gunpoint. ⭐⭐⭐

Cain by José Saramago Category: Published after author died In this, his last novel, José Saramago daringly reimagines the characters and narratives of the Old Testament, recalling his provocative The Gospel According to Jesus Christ. His tale runs from the Garden of Eden, when God realizes he has forgotten to give Adam and Eve the gift of speech, to the moment when Noah’s Ark lands on the dry peak of Ararat. Cain, the despised, the murderer, is Saramago’s protagonist. Condemned to wander forever after he kills his brother Abel, Cain makes his way through the world in the company of a personable donkey. He is a witness to and participant in the stories of Isaac and Abraham, the destruction of the Tower of Babel, Moses and the golden calf, the trials of Job. The rapacious Queen Lilith takes him as her lover. An old man with two sheep on a rope crosses his path. And again and again, Cain encounters a God whose actions seem callous, cruel, and unjust. He confronts Him, he argues with Him. “And one thing we know for certain,” Saramago writes, “is that they continued to argue and are arguing still.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson Category: A book from your own “to-read” list Tomorrow, on the beach, Baru Cormorant will look up from the sand of her home and see red sails on the horizon. The Empire of Masks is coming, armed with coin and ink, doctrine and compass, soap and lies. They'll conquer Baru’s island, rewrite her culture, criminalize her customs, and dispose of one of her fathers. But Baru is patient. She'll swallow her hate, prove her talent, and join the Masquerade. She will learn the secrets of empire. She’ll be exactly what they need. And she'll claw her way high enough up the rungs of power to set her people free. In a final test of her loyalty, the Masquerade will send Baru to bring order to distant Aurdwynn, a snakepit of rebels, informants, and seditious dukes. Aurdwynn kills everyone who tries to rule it. To survive, Baru will need to untangle this land’s intricate web of treachery - and conceal her attraction to the dangerously fascinating Duchess Tain Hu. But Baru is a savant in games of power, as ruthless in her tactics as she is fixated on her goals. In the calculus of her schemes, all ledgers must be balanced, and the price of liberation paid in full. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sin City: The Hard Goodbye by Frank Miller Category: A graphic novel The first volume of the crime-comic megahit that introduced the now-infamous character Marv and spawned a blockbuster film returns in a newly redesigned edition, with a brand-new cover by Frank Miller - some of his first comics art in years! It's a lousy room in a lousy part of a lousy town. But Marv doesn't care. There's an angel in the room. She says her name is Goldie. A few hours later, Goldie's dead without a mark on her perfect body, and the cops are coming before anyone but Marv could know she's been killed. Somebody paid good money for this frame . . . ⭐⭐

#personal #reading list #long post

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joachimnapoleon · 3 years

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Colonel Francis Maceroni [alternately spelled Macirone], former aide-de-camp of Murat during his reign in Naples, leaves behind some interesting (and ultimately unverifiable) tidbits regarding the suspicious death of Marshal Berthier. Berthier was killed after falling from a window on 1 June 1815, while watching Russian troops marching through the streets of Bamberg. Whether the fall was an accident, suicide, or murder, has never been proven.

Maceroni was briefly detained in Paris after taking his leave of Murat for the final time (shortly before Murat's departure from Corsica and ensuing execution in Pizzo). Minister of Police de Cazes, who had replaced Fouché, had his private secretary Menars interview Maceroni; the subject of Berthier's death came up. This excerpt is from Maceroni's publication regarding the events leading to Murat's death, published in 1817. (Italics and all-caps are in the original text.)

M. Menars again privately conversed with the minister, and then proceeded to question me concerning a most extraordinary occurrence, of which I have never been able to learn anything further. He began by asking me whether I was at all acquainted with the circumstances of the death of Berthier Prince of Neufchatel. I answered that I had heard he had not met his death* by accident, as had been reported, but that I was ignorant by whose order he had been put to death, or the cause of the order. On my appearing to be acquainted with the fact of Berthier's having been murdered, M. Menars expected that I should be able to furnish him with the particulars of his death, with which he pretended to be quite unacquainted. With an air of the greatest seriousness he informed me, that about (as I think he said) October or November of the preceding year, a great personage had died at Paris, under circumstances of the greatest mystery, privacy, and suspicion. That his death, &c, had been witnessed, and at that time had been known, only to two individuals. He added that the DEATH OF THIS PERSONAGE AND THE MURDER OF BERTHIER WERE MOST PARTICULARLY CONNECTED, AND THAT ONE WAS THE CONSEQUENCE OF THE OTHER. The minister then called M. Menars to him, who returning to me immediately said, "Can you give me any information concerning this affair? Since you seem to know that Berthier did not meet his death accidentally, you most probably know much more." I assured him it was with that circumstance alone that I was acquainted, and that his account of the mysterious death was perfectly new to me.

*Maceroni includes a number of footnotes in this section, but this one in particular is worth quoting. This mysterious unnamed source he is referring to is none other than Fouché, as the second excerpt, from his later memoir, makes clear.

I had learnt the simple fact of his having been willfully put to death, from a personage of great power and celebrity in France, and who was undoubtedly the most likely person in the world, except those who committed the act, to be acquainted with all the particulars.

In Maceroni's full memoirs, published in two volumes a couple of decades later, he expands on this conversation considerably, and also names Fouché (who died in 1820) outright as the source of his information.

M. Menars again privately conversed for some minutes with De Cazes, and then proceeded to question me about a most "extraordinary" occurrence of which I have never learnt the real truth and merits. "Are you," said he, "at all acquainted with the circumstances of the death of Marshal Berthier (Prince of Neufchatel) who was killed in 1814 [sic], by accidentally falling out of a window, while viewing the passing of some Russian troops through the city of Ratisbonne? "All I know of the matter," said I, "is, that his fall was not accidental, as studiously reported, but I do not know by whose order or contrivance he was thus murdered." "Murdered! do you say?" exclaimed De Cazes himself. "Yes," I replied; "I have heard as much, though I know nothing further." Now that the Minister and his man discovered, that I was aware of the unfair means by which Berthier had been disposed of, they evidently expected me to know all the rest of the tragic history, of which they were, or pretended to be, ignorant. With an air of mysterious earnestness, M. Menars approached his visage to my ear, and said, "In November of the last year, 1814, a great personage died in Paris, under circumstances of extraordinary mystery and suspicion. His death was witnessed, and, for a time, only known to two individuals. The death of this personage, and the murder of Berthier, were most particularly connected, and the one was the consequence of the other."* At this point De Cazes called his Secretary to him, and exchanged some words; the latter speedily returned to me, and said, "Can you, or will you, give us any information concerning this affair? Since you evidently know that Berthier did not meet his death by 'accident,' you must therefore know much more." I assured him that it was the simple fact of his murder with which I was acquainted, and that the account of the other mysterious death was perfectly new to me. M. Menars then earnestly requested me to do my utmost to obtain information on the subject, assuring me that I should be amply rewarded for my services.

Here is Maceroni's footnote from this section:

It was by mere accident that I chanced to know the fact of Berthier having been pushed out of the window. Playing at billiards one evening with Fouché and some other men of note, they happened to speak of this death of Berthier, and I heard Fouché, in the course of his remarks, speak of him as having been killed by order. I ventured to put to him a little short question on the subject, which he answered in a kind of pantomimic affirmative. That was all I knew of the matter. With respect to the other death, I was subsequently furnished with the particulars, from no less an authority than an inspector-general of police, who had been charged with the investigation. But the case is so atrocious, of such serious implication upon persons who may, after all, be innocent, and the particulars are of so Udolpho-like a complexion, that I do not feel myself warranted in giving them further publicity, or in mentioning any names.

Sources:

Macirone, Francis. Interesting Facts Relating to the Fall and Death of Joachim Murat; London, 1817. Pages 144-146.

Memoirs of the Life and Adventures of Colonel Maceroni, Vol II; London, 1838. Pages 409-410.

#Louis-Alexandre Berthier #Joseph Fouché #Francis Maceroni #memoirs #Bourbon Restoration #19th century

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tomorrowusa · 5 months

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Not only is Russia banning websites but it is now trying to block sites which describe how to get around those blocks.

The Russian government has granted the country’s federal censorship agency, Roskomnadzor, permission to restrict access to websites that contain information about circumventing Internet censorship. According to the resolution, which is accessible on the government’s official legal information portal, Rosomnadzor is now allowed to block sites with materials “about ways [and] methods of obtaining access to information resources and/or information-telecommunications networks to which access is restricted within the territory of the Russian Federation.”

Of course there are always VPNs. And people can apparently make YouTube vids where they can describe how to get around Putin's censors.

Speaking of Putin's dictatorship in Russia, yet another high ranking member of the country's military has been found dead under suspicious circumstances.

Former Russian Commander Who Criticized Putin Found Dead in Mysterious Circumstances

A former Russian commander who once critizised President Putin for running a “third-rate” air force, has been found dead alongside his wife at their home in the village of Adzhievsky in Stavropol region. According to reports, Lieutenant General Vladimir Sviridov, 68, and his wife Tatyana, 72, had been dead for around a week before their bodies were found on Nov. 15. The Russian Telegram channel Baza said there were no signs of violence and no toxic substances were found in the blood of either victim, according to preliminary tests. “Gas service workers have already taken measurements and no excess of the permissible concentration of harmful substances has been detected,” Baza wrote. It added: “What caused the death of Vladimir and Tatyana Sviridov is still unknown.”

Putin is running a terrorist mafia-style state. The number of high ranking business executives, officials, and military people who have died under suspicious circumstances has been unusually high since the start of 2022. Being even mildly critical of Putin is a capital offense in Russia.

According to a Wikipedia page on the topic, the late Gen. Sviridov is death number 46 (if I counted correctly) of prominent Russians to die suspiciously since January of 2022.

Yeah, if you like Putin's Russia, you'd love a second term of his stooge Donald Trump in the US.

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amazingphanisnotonfire-imagines · 3 years

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Steve//i can see a better time, when all our dreams come true

hey! last part! i just want to say thank you to everyone who’s read, liked, reblogged and supported this series! you all mean the absolute world to me. i know this is gonna sound cringey or whatever, but this series is more than just that. i was originally supposed to write and post this last christmas. but something that i can’t really remember stopped me and i was so disappointed in myself. then this hell hole of a year happened and i had a major mental health crisis (something i am still recovering from) meaning i couldn’t do anything but watch the same three tv shows and scroll through instagram for about 3 months, as well as a bunch of other awful things. i thought it would be a miracle to just start writing requests again, but then when i was going through a notebook, i found this idea and remembered how much i loved it and how upset i was that i hadn’t done it. so i thought i’d try and do it, and after many, many days and nights of me stressing about the littlest things and driving my girlfriend absolutely insane by only talking about this (sorry, i love you!), i’d done it! and i am so proud of myself! i know its not the biggest achievement of the year, but it’s mine. so again thank you to not only everyone whose read this series, but also thank you to everyone who has read and supported everything i’ve done this year. i really do hope that next year is a better one for all of you! happy new year my loves!

They say that time moves in different ways depending on the situation.

For example, the day you spent hours driving to the beach with Steve and Robin felt like it was over in five minutes. But the time stuck under ground in a really crappy elevator with them felt more like a week.

From the time it takes Steve to take his bandana and goggles off and to walk the three steps to you, it feels like days and seconds all at once. He wraps his arms around you, pulling you tight to him and the two of you let out a breath you feel like you’ve been holding for the past week. Finally you feel like you can breathe again, and finally the weight on Steve’s chest shifts a little.

Your hair is matted, your clothes dirty and torn and there’s a cut on your cheek, blood slowly trickles down your cheek, staining your face and your t-shirt red. But you’re you, and you’re alive and you look like you don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.” You’re the first to speak, your words stumbling over each other. A chuckle mixed with a sob passes your lips as you hug him again, you hold him tighter than he’s ever been hugged before, it feels like his ribs are being crushed but he doesn’t care. He just presses a kiss against your forehead, and runs his fingers through your knotted hair.

Hot tears land on the top of your head but you don’t feel them, you’re too busy crying into his shirt and the two of you stand like that for a few minute, thankful and very overwhelmed that the other one is alive and well.

“I think I do.” He sobs and you let out a short laugh. “I love you so much Y/n. I am so fucking sorry. I’m such an idiot.”

“No, no. It’s fine.” You cup his cheeks. “I was overreacting and I shouldn’t have stormed off. It’s fine.” You say and press a quick kiss to his lips, they’re salty because of the tears but neither of you care. “I love you Steve.” You finish and he breathes deeply, his shoulders sagging and the only thing that keeps him from falling is you.

“I thought you were dead.” He cries.

“Nah. You can’t get rid of me that easy.” You try, nudging his shoulder but he doesn’t smile.

“I thought I’d never see you again. I thought...I thought.”

“I’m fine.” You cut him off before he can finish his sentence. “Look. I’m good.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” He teases and you stare at him offended.

“Rude. You do know that I almost died right?”

“You’re so dramatic.” He rolls his eyes and yours widen.

“Excuse me? I’m sorry who came all the way into an alternate dimension just to save me? Oh right. You.”

“I only did that because I had nothing better to do. You know after boxing day things got a bit boring.” He shrugs and you slap his shoulder.

“Asshole.” You mumble making him laugh. “How did you find me?”

“Do you really think I’d forget the place we first met?” He replies, sending you a look and you squint up at him, the light from his torch blinding you slightly. “Sorry.” He mumbles and quickly turns it off.

“I thought given the circumstances you would have at least tried.” You shrug, staring at the floor.

“Nah. Surprisingly it was the best day of my life.” He confesses and it surprises not only you but himself. That’s something he never thought he’d say.

He thought Halloween 1984 would be a day that always hurt to think about. And yeah, thinking about what Nancy said to him still stung, but then he remembers you.

You, in a costume he didn’t quite get. Your expression full of irritation that only softened when you saw him crying. You who asked what was wrong and stayed with him until he decided he wanted to go home. You who the next day found him to make sure he was okay.

“Will you marry me?” He asks and your eyes widen.

“What?” You splutter and he stares at you hopefully.

“I love you more than I have loved anything ever. You’re my favourite person ever, you make every day brighter. On days where I think I can’t do anything, when I think my dad is right about all the the shit he’s said and that little nagging voice in my head is shouting, you’re always there to tell me I’m wrong. You’ve helped me when I’ve been broken up with, beaten up and drugged. You fought a Russians for me and beaten up creatures from another dimension without even knowing what it was. I’ve never felt safer or happier with you by my side. I know I’m an idiot, but still...will you marry me?”

“Steve.” You gasp, tears roll down your cheeks mixing with the blood and goo. “Yes. Yes I will marry you.” You reply and he lets of a sigh of relief. “Although, you didn’t get on one knee, and I don’t see a ring.” You tease and he rolls his eyes.

His hands cup your cheeks delicately, he ducks his head down and presses a gentle kiss against your chapped and sore lips.

“Steve? Steve? Are you okay?” Robin’s voice crackles through the walkie-talkie and you jump apart, suddenly remembering where you are. A loud crash comes from just outside and you and Steve freeze and stare at each other.

Thunder booms so loud it rings in your ears for a few seconds after and Steve feels the weight come back, only this time its shared with you too.

“I’ve got her.” He says slowly and eyes the bathroom suspiciously. “If you’re not already at the portal, go now. We’re on our way back...over.” He says and you hear a collection of relived sighs.

“Yay! You said it!” Annie cheers and Steve rolls his eyes.

“What she means is we’re glad you’re both okay. Now get your ass back.” Robin adds and you and Steve don’t need to be told twice. Steve grabs the bat he dropped on the floor and reaches for your hand. He starts to pull you but is instantly stopped when he hears your cry in pain.

“What? What’s wrong?” He’s in front of you instantly, looking you up and down for any injuries, and then his eyes land on your leg, and you watch him pale.

“Stupid ugly thing got me.” You mumble and glance down at it, you cringe at the sight of the now brown blood, and inflamed scratches. Yeah, there is no way you’re going to be able to get that stain out.

“Can you walk.” He asks and looks around for anything to help.

“I’ll be fine Steve. I just need to get used to it.” You reply.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” You nod. “Come on. I don’t want to be in Tina’s bathroom anymore than I already have been.”

“Same.” He huffs and wraps his bandana around you.

“What about you?” You ask while he puts the goggles on you.

“I’ll be fine.” He waves you off. “It’s only a bit of dust.” He smirks and you roll your eyes. “Now come on.” He says quicker and wraps an arm around you. The two of you hobble towards the front door, tripping on a few vines and branches.

Steve helps you balance against the wall and the front door creaks as he pulls it open.

“Okay.” He nods and looks back at you. “Nothing is waiting to kill us so I think we’ll be fine.”

Famous last words.” You smirk and he rolls his eyes at you while helping you walk again.

As soon as your outside, the door slams closed making the two of you jump. Wind rushes around the two of you and brown and black works its way into the cracks of the sky. Buildings tumble down around you, almost as if an invisible force is stomping on each of them. You and Steve share a look as the chaos seems to get closer and closer to you.

“Shall we go then?” Steve asks, his eyes wide with fear and you quickly nod.

“Yep.” You reply. “I hate parties anyway.” You say and a small smile twitches on your lips. Steve returns it and the two of you make your way down the steps and onto the street.

Thankfully, Tina doesn’t live that far from you. In the past that was something you hated because it meant you couldn’t get out of parties, this time however, you’re very grateful for the closeness of your homes.

In an ideal world, it means you’ll be able to get back to the right and semi-safe world in less than twenty minutes. However, if the past seven years have taught you and Steve anything, it’s that you don’t live in an ideal world. You live in the opposite in fact.

Like you said, the habitants of The Upside Down, don’t care much for cleaning, and it’s only made worse now that the entire things seems to be collapsing around you. Either it’s doing it on purpose so none of you can escape, or all of you just have some really bad timing.

“So this whole place is dying?” You ask and look around. It certainly looks like it’s dying. It has done since you woke up and its only gotten worse. You also thought it was strange that you hadn’t been eaten by now.

“Yep.” He replies. “Apparently all those times we thought we’d won but hadn’t. Did actually do something. It just took a while for it to feel the affect.”

“And I’m in here because?”

“Annie said that whatever dragged you in, was probably looking for anything to eat.” He replies and you think about it for a few seconds.

“So why didn’t it eat me?”

“How the hell am I suppose to know.” He says. “Do I look like the scientist here?”

“Furthest from actually.”

“Exactly.” He smiles.

“So what’s the plan?”

“We get out as quickly as we can.”

“The more detailed plan?” You roll your eyes.

“Dustin and Lucas got a bunch of explosives and fireworks. We’ve dumped them in here and as soon as we get out, El and Will’s going to explode them!” He says proudly and you look at him impressed.

“Wo-Watch out!”

You and Steve narrowly miss being hit by a falling tree, only to trip over some sort of decaying monster.

“Gross.” You huff and look down at your hands, now covered in blood and guts. “Are you okay Steve?” You ask while trying to stand back up.

“No.” He mumbles and you frown as you turn around to face him. He’s hunched over in the middle of the road, dry heaving and your eyebrows furrow as you watch him.

“What’s wrong?” You ask, however instead of answering you’re just met with a groan. “Steve? We haven’t got all day.”

“It went in my mouth!” He exclaims and turns around, throwing his hands up in the air. “That things guts were in my mouth. I can taste blood. Oh god. I’m gonna die. Or turn into one of those. Y/n, if I turn into anything like that please just kill me. You have my permission to take a baseball bat to my head...just please, bury me somewhere nice.” He rambles making you snort a laugh. “It’s not funny Y/n.”

“It kind of is.” You reply and he glares at you.

“It’s not.” He mutters and slowly walks towards you. However he freezes when he notices your eyes widening. “What?” He asks. “Y/n? What’s wrong?”

“Don’t move.” You whisper and he feels his blood run cold.

“What?” He squeaks and watches you slowly limp and pick up the bat lying on the floor.

“Oh god. It’s happening isn’t. I love you Y/n. Tell Robin it was me that broke her Walkman. I told her it was Dustin, but it was me.” He closes his eyes, expecting the worst.

Something scratches at his legs and he breathes in, this is it. He’s going to die, so are you and everything is going to be for nothing. He wants to reach out for you, to hold you close and then at least you’ll be together, but he can’t he’s frozen.

And then he hears a thud, a small whine and your heavy breathing. Slowly he opens one eye, expecting to see some sort of toothy monster staring back at him. But instead he’s met with the back of your head. He watches you drop the bat, the noise echoing into the darkness and slowly he looks down.

He’s not entirely sure what tried to kill him, it’s unrecognizable now that’s been beaten into the ground, but it looks scary anyway.

“It’s the same fucker that dragged me in here in the first place.” You look over your shoulder and wipe your forehead.

“I love you so much.” He stares at you in awe. “That was hot.”

“Shut up.” You huff but wink at him anyway. “Are you okay?” You ask and glance at his leg.

“Oh, yeah.” He shrugs and looks at the small scratch. “I’ll be fine. What about you?”

“I’ll live.” You shrug.

The two of you stumble around the corner and into the forest and you watch as your friends climb through the glowing doorway to the real world.

“Guys!” Steve shouts making everyone freeze. The kids have already gone through, leaving just Nancy, Jonathan, Robin, Annie and Joyce behind. Tears form in your eyes as you stare at your friends.

“Hurry up!” Jonathan shouts.

“I’m trying! It’s a bit difficult though with my leg hanging off!” You shout back and watch as Jonathan pushes Nancy through the goo before running towards you.

“Jonathan!” Joyce shouts, her voice can barely be heard over the wind. It blows through your ears and makes you shiver. Trees move wildly around you and you watch as the sky starts to fall away.

“Well that can’t be good.” You gulp and walk a bit quicker. Jonathan stands on the other side of you, holding your waist and the three of you stumble towards the portal.

They let go of you and push you through, you land on the forest floor with a loud thud and small groan escapes your lips.

“Y/n!” The group shout and everyone moves to help you stand. You’ve never been so happy to see everyone. Robin and Annie pull Jonathan, Steve and Joyce through. And as soon as Joyce is stood up, El and Will press the detonators. There’s a loud bang that makes you all jump back, and you watch as the portal vanishes, leaving the brown of the tree trunk behind.

“Is everyone here?” Joyce asks and scans the group.

“It’s a bit late if they’re not.” Robin replies. “But yes...I think we did it. We actually did it! Yes!!” She cheers and jumps up and down. Everyone shares a look before looking back at her and even Annie looks a little concerned.

“I can’t believe you all came for me.” You pull the goggles and fabric off of your face, and tears roll down your cheeks.

“Of course we did.” Dustin hugs you.

“You didn’t think we’d leave you in there did you?” Nancy asks also wrapping you up into a tight hug. The res of the group follow and soon you’re in the middle of an eleven people hug...not that you’re complaining though.

“Jesus Christ. How long were we in there?” Steve asks and looks at the now dark sky.

“Who the fuck cares. Let’s go home.”

Fireworks crackle and explode above your head. The sky lights up with red and oranges, leading the way home for the 12 of you.

The residents hope that the bright lights will keep the darkness at bay, but from now on, they won’t have to.

“Happy New Year love.”

“Happy New Year Steve.”

#steve harrington #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x y/n #stranger things #stranger things imagine

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biden-is-a-bloody-war-criminal · 4 years

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Andre Vltchek, a Russian-born American journalist, was found dead in his car in Istanbul on Tuesday. Police are treating the circumstances around his death as “suspicious.”

The 57-year-old journalist was traveling with his wife Rossie Indira and two drivers who took them from the northern province of Samsun where they stayed for nine days before going to Istanbul.

Upon arriving at their hotel in Istanbul's Karaköy district in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Indira tried to tried to wake Vltchek who she presumed to be asleep, but he was unresponsive. An ambulance was called, and paramedics confirmed that Vltchek had died. Police cordoned off the area while an investigation was launched into his death, during which the journalist’s wife and two drivers will be questioned.

Vltchek, an investigative journalist who was born in Russia and became a naturalized U.S. citizen, worked as a reporter in conflict zones from Bosnia to East Timor for a long time. He also penned articles for Der Spiegel and The Guardian. He has been in Turkey for a while and gave an interview to the Aydınlık daily earlier this month.

#wha?#happened?

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tentwars2k21 · 4 years

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Ari the Arsonist

WARNING: SWEARING AND DEATH

I wasn't able to finish the middle section of the fic (work sucks), but here’s a very brief overview of what was supposed to happen:

Eliza sews the entire team some bad ass fireproof outfits, but she warns them that they are not “bullet, gun, or dog proof.”

Joy and Ari have a big fight, and Sophie comforts Ari. In this, Ari and Sophie end up together. Joy and Sophie are strongly implied to be together during this time.

In the third mission to cause the most chaos possible, Sophie is shot by a Russian gangster called Vody. Sophie dies after the bullet is removed from her chest, and Joy and Ari end up back together over the loss of a shared love. It is revealed that Sophie was dating both Joy and Ari, wanting nothing more than to see the two of them make up so they could all be together.

After this, Joy goes on a rampage and Ari kills Nell, who reveals that she was behind the death of Sophie. It is at this point that Joy gets herself together, and her and Ari have a long-winded conversation.

Ollie goes under the radar and kills Vody out of revenge. Ollie then ends up in the hospital under unknown circumstances. The doctors believe that they will live.

It is around this time that Natalie and Jonah figure out where the next arson will occur: The Big Brain’s Warehouse on 9th Street.

The remaining members of Andromeda make a pact: If one of them is caught, they are to die before they reveal anything.

Eliza, Joy, and Ari make one final mission. However, it all goes south and everyone is separated. It is implied that Eliza and Joy make it out.

And here’s where the end actually begins:

October 14, 2002. 2340 Hours.

A piece of plywood fell off of the building, crashing down as flames rose up.

“Shit,” I heard someone exclaim as the floor creaked with the need to collapse. The structure was no longer safe, but my leg was still stuck.

“Fuck,” I shouted, a window shattering in the distance as every creak began to sound like footsteps. Where was my team? They didn’t leave me, did they?

“Who’s there,” A cop came around the corner, her hair singed at the ends and her eyes wild with blindness.

I coughed as I tried to move my leg, wincing as another piece of lumber fell down, “Depends on who you are.”

“I’m Natalie,” She said, inching closer, “I’m with the NYPD. Are you hurt?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I coughed, “Death is too close to both of us for it to matter.”

“We still aren’t in her grasp,” Natalie replied, “What’s your name?”

“If I told you that,” I warned her, “I’d have to kill you before I died.”

She eyes me suspiciously as she lowered herself to my eye level, a hand on the metal pole that was through my leg, “You the arsonist?”

“Depends on the fire,” I said simply, audibly wincing as the metal piece shifted in my leg.

“Hey,” She said soothingly, tucking a section of my hair behind my ear, “I’m going to get you out of here.”

“Fuck off,” I yelled at her as I tried to push away from her grasp, crying out as I opened the wound in my leg even more.

“The more you move,” She told me calmly, “the more it’s gonna hurt.”

“I’d rather die in pain than live in prison,” I spat at her, taking my knife out and pressing it into my stomach.

“No,” She sounded distant now, reaching to grab my hand as I drove the blade in.

“No,” Sophie’s voice echoed to me, “No, please.”

There was fumbling at my chest as I coughed, my arms black with smoke, “Soph. Soph, please.”

“Hey, hey,” The voice didn’t sound right to be Sophie as pressure was applied to my open wound, the knife still in place, “Stay with me. I’m going to get that metal out of your leg.”

“Sophie,” I wheezed out, “Sophie. . .”

“To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep, No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there's the rub: For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause—there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life. For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, Th'oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of dispriz'd love, the law's delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of th'unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscovere'd country, from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pitch and moment With this regard their currents turn awry And lose the name of action.”

-- from the play Hamlet, as spoken by Hamlet himself.

The End.

#fuck yeah #p0lar0idcam #submission

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political-fluffle · 4 years

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Russian Government Bank Deposited $500 Million into Deutsche Bank Subsidiary as it Lent to Trump

A Russian government-controlled bank deposited at least half a billion dollars into the American subsidiary of Deutsche Bank around the time that the bank lent Trump his most scrutinized loans, according to exclusively obtained confidential bank records. As Trump received loans from the subsidiary, DBTCA, totaling over $360 million, Gazprombank sent $511 million in cash to DBTCA to be dispersed however it directed.

Additionally, DBTCA had deep liabilities to the Russian government in 2013, according to the documents acquired by Forensic News. The documents show that financial entities in Russia were owed nearly $3 billion by the subsidiary in October 2013.

A confidential report from Deutsche Bank Trust Company (DBTC), DBTCA’s holding company, shows that in October 2013, DBTCA owed Russian government-controlled Gazprombank over €373 million, or approximately $511 million. It was DBTCA’s biggest single liability to a foreign government-controlled entity. An additional liability of €2.8 million to a Gazprombank subsidiary in Switzerland brought DBTCA’s total liability to Gazprombank to more than $515 million. (…)

The cash management relationship allowed Russian government rubles to be converted to U.S. dollars and deposited in their DBTCA account. Gazprombank then directed DBTCA to distribute the cash to certain entities, individuals or vendors in jurisdictions that use the U.S. dollar as currency.

“A standard part of commercial banking needed by clients that operate internationally is the management of their cash in different currencies. Such cash balances show as liabilities on balance sheet, as that attributes the ownership of that cash to the client. Such liabilities are cash deposits, not loans,” a spokesman for the bank stressed. Deutsche Bank declined to name the entities to which Gazprombank distributed the dollars or for what purposes the Russian government wanted to convert approximately 16 billion rubles to dollars. (…)

The new documents show that while DBTCA incurred liabilities of more than $13 billion to other entities, a lion’s share–approximately 26% of that total–was owed to entities based in Russia specifically. The sizable amount of money owed to Russia raises questions about why the American bank was so deeply intertwined with Russian cash. (…)

DBTCA loaned Donald Trump a significant portion of the $2.5 billion total lent to him by Deutsche Bank. The breach report provided by Broeksmit is a inside look into DBTCA’s complete financials around the time DBTCA issued several of its largest loans to Trump. In 2012, DBTCA approved a $125 million loan to purchase the Trump Doral Resort in Florida. Also in 2012, Trump took out an additional loan on his Chicago property, and in 2015, yet another DBTCA loan, this one worth $170 million, allowed Trump to purchase a 60-year lease to the Old Post Office Building in Washington, D.C.

The subsidiary also had a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the pedophile and sex trafficker who died under suspicious circumstances after his arrest in July, 2019. That relationship began in 2013, the same year Broeksmit was presented with the DBTCA breach report which documented massive liabilities to Russia.

Gazprombank publicly admits that DBTCA is their correspondent bank in America, though the full nature of the relationship between the two banks remains murky. Based on the breach report and the correspondent banking network, it appears that DBTCA was the bank of choice for the Russian government bank for both cash management and correspondent banking. (…)

At the time of his inauguration, Donald Trump, his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner and companies under their control owed Deutsche Bank a combined $659 million-$699 million according to a Forensic News analysis. The vast majority, if not all of this money was owed to DBTCA specifically:

$364 million in loans to Donald Trump companies for properties in Chicago, Florida, and Washington, DC.

$285 million loan to Kushner Companies.

$5-25 million line of credit to Jared Kushner

$5-25 million line of credit to Ivanka Trump.

Trump and Kushner alone appear to comprise about 1.6%-1.7% of DBTCA’s entire portfolio, which has total assets of $40 billion. Kushner’s mother also has a line of credit with Deutsche Bank, worth up to $25 million. (…)

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galtak · 5 years

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You wanted war! chapter 1

Juvia walked down a demolished street, the bombs on the area became more frequent a few days earlier, and now everything was ruined, almost every place in this town was devastated. Most of the citizens who lived there were in unplanned graves under collapsed buildings, but the few who managed to escape fled toward the Russian border. Juvia shook her head, the power of Stalin and the communist regime that destroyed the lives of all the inhabitants of the Soviet Union. Really where the citizens want to live there? But on the other hand they had no other choice, in Europe's territory Hitler looked invincible, and they were wanted dead or captured. Juvia pondered and wondered which of the leaders were worse for Europe and the world and concluded that they were together at the same time, is the worst thing that could happen to the peoples of Europe, the Russians, the Germans, and everyone in this world.

In the late evening, Juvia covered herself in a dirty coat that was a several sizes larger than hers. A few days before now, she had found the jacket on someone who had been killed by the last bombing wave at the time. The coat was in fine condition, the dirtiness she had seen in the past week. With a heavy heart, Juvia closed the man eyes and stripped off his jacket. For a long time, she sat beside him, praying for him to get into heaven like the nuns in a shelter that took her in and raised her, show her. She touched his chest from left to right then up and down. Juvia fastened his hands and moved from the area with wet eyes of the terrible things she had to do to survive the frosty mid-winter weather in a small town in Poland. Juvia put her coat on her body and tremble when another cold gust of wind with the touch of snow had hit her bare face.

After a few days of wandering, Juvia found the place, the safehouse that General Jose had told her about. The heavy iron door was opaque and firmly attached to the rigid wall was the only thing that separated her from the end of the challenging mission. Juvia took a deep breath before taking her hands out of the pockets and rummaging through her bag for something.

She took out a small rectangular package with a couple of wires attached to it. Juvia glowed the box against an armored door handle and looked around suspiciously, but the city of ruins was an abandoned ghost town, and no sane man was anywhere near or even miles away from there because she was inside the bomb zone of Germany.

With trembling hands, Juvia changed the order of the wires and heard the start of the ticking that told her that her bomb started to work. She didn't like to work with explosives, but for ending that mission soon, she toughened her mind and activated the bomb. Juvia ran to the far end of the street and hid behind a stone wall of a church that had once upon a time was magnificence and full of glory, but now there was barely a wall, and the statue of Jesus at the altar left.

When the explosion came, Juvia closed tight her eyes and covered her ears, trying to ignore the loud boom noise from behind her. After the smoke had scattered, Juvia quickly and quietly returned to the door that was now half open and boiling hot from the heat in the lock. She entered a room full of dust, but not ordinary dust; it was not one that had gathered over time. It was stinking dust from incinerators and chemicals from the bombs fired into the area, and Juvia's bomb didn't help at all.

Juvia coughed several times and put the fabric of her black shirt over her mouth and nose so she could breathe relatively clean oxygen. Juvia observed the details in the dark-room, searching for the one thing she needed, for the thing she needed get so she could get the hell out of this shit hole. Between the shelves and the cupboards, she saw many items, jewelry, gloves, coats, used shoes, and other forgotten stuff. Juvia chose to ignore them and concentrate on her goal before she died of lack of oxygen.

She searched for the envelope with the desired documents. The blue-haired women went through half the shelves until she saw an old brown wooden desk with a one and only locked drawer, they could not make it easier for her.

Juvia smiled contentedly and went to straight toward the drawer. Juvia knelt to the kneeled to the same height as she took out a small pin that caught a band of her blue hair. She didn't notice the hair falling over her neck as she concentrated on unfastening the drawer opened and after serving its use juvia put the pin back, fasten back a lock of hair. Inside the drawer were more than five notable brown envelopes of documents bearing the dates and title on the subjects found inside them. She smiled mockingly as she passed through the envelopes. They just made her life easy, those Poles.

When she saw the subject she was looking for, Juvia took the envelope she wanted. "An update on the Nazis' progress" it was the document sent by the spy in the highest echelons of the German army, the one that General Jose had searched for months and maybe in those records his name will be discovered. This envelope had been put in her bag, and Juvia was about to close the drawer, but the next envelope intrigued her curiosity. "The Final Solution to the Jewish Problem, Information Collected." The envelope was still closed as if they hadn't opened it before now, and in a second, she came to a decision. Juvia had put this envelope in her bag and left the toxic room before inhaling other harmful substances into her lungs.

In a fast run, Juvia crossed the deserted town and reached a crossroads, the intersection that had passed several hours before. She turned the other way to where Jose had said she would be picked up from. It was a two-day walk and a one day's wait after she sent a message to their headquarters, The Lord Phantom. They were part of the offices that finds information about the information the occupied countries collected about Germany and the aim to discover all the spies in the German army, pretty much be a spy to Germany favor. Juvia served her home and her country with pride.

Although she didn't think their leader was right most of the time, Juvia did want to return Germany the honor she once had. Because of that Juvia agreed to join the army (who came to recruit her) at the age of 15 because of her talent to enter places that no one else succeeds before her. Juvia walked determinedly and did not stop until she had finished the job.

At the waiting station after an unending two days long walk, Juvia entered a crowded bunker full of supplies that her people had hidden for the worst circumstances at this war time. Juvia found the old radio and directed it to their frequency and started tapping in their secret code that the mission was done and successful. The code tapping was intricate and complicated, but Juvia managed to pass the message. She ate from the disgusting military food that was in everlasting cans and tried to sleep; only Juvia could be awake for over 50 hours and don't fall asleep in her first opportunity. After an hour of hopelessly searching for required sleep without any success, Juvia began to go over her bag tidying and throw away things she didn't need, such as the stolen coat and a-holes full pair of gloves. As soon as she came back to headquarters, Juvia could put on her own warm clothes that were not dirty at all.

Juvia looked at the envelope she was not supposed to have, the one she was not supposed to be holding and biting her lower lip hesitantly. She wanted to know what was happening to the Jews, she knew that most of her country thought they shouldn't live with them, but she didn't feel like this. Juvia could not help but remember her friends from her time in the shelter, some of them were Jews, she remembers the fun they had together before the war began before the German army took her away and trained her to be what she is today. Juvia wanted to know what had happened to them. When the decision was planted in her head, she opened the envelope and took out the documents. Juvia read them carefully, trying not to believe words that describe in detail the horrors her own people do to them, to human beings. An expression of disgust and loathing crept into her face as she reached the last page.

Juvia violently and frustratingly tossed the pages to the sand-filled floor and began to cry as the words echoed in her head. 'Mass murder,' 'gas showers in order to keep the sanity of the Nazi soldiers,' 'no Jew will escape this fate.' ' A total extermination of all European Jews.'

How the people she grew up living with, the people she belongs to can be so cruel, so inhumane?

When the message arrived from the headquarters that in two hours they would pick her up, Juvia picked herself up after waiting in the small bunker and spending the night weeping bitterly.

Only after hours of endless tears, Juvia takes controls on her emotions. She knew, at that moment she can't go on and keep helping those people! Ones who could do such awful things! She cannot be a partner in this mass murder!

Juvia thought hard what she could do, and she comes up with a crazy idea.

Juvia washed her face in the dirty water bucket collected throw a hole in the ceiling. She looked at her reflection in the water and saw that her blue eyes were surrounded by visible redness, but she had two hours before her ride arrives, and by then it would pass, at least she hoped so. Juvia set her things right for the last time and at the end of the two hours she came out of the bunker with her backpack and an expression that showed no emotion, as Army taught her in case she was caught by hostile forces. The enormous truck stopped in front of her, and she climbed into it. Inside the car was driving her very best friend in the whole world.

Gajeel, the long hair that was cut a long time ago and now was neatly tidied, and his face was still frightening with the scars of the holes instead of eyebrows and bloodshot eyes that made even the most dangerous animal in the world run for their lives.

"let's move," He said before she could close the door. Juvia hurried to close the door and fasten the worn belt that was there. Gajeel was known as the quickest driver in the headquarters, and the man who could freeze everyone at one glance, Juvia was mostly afraid of the first thing.

He climbed on the wild field and drove at a crazy high speed without looking at her. Juvia looked out the window and tried to get ready for what she was about to do. This is going to be an act of treason; they're going to haunt her down and kill her, maybe a public execution.

After a little more than an hour they had passed a distance that everyone else would have taken at least half a day to pass, Gajeel stopped the truck abruptly and even with her belt on Juvia flew forward and landed back, hard on the bumpy seat chair. Juvia bellowed out in fright noise and tried to calm her heart, which was dizzying in a fast race.

"What happened sprinkle?" He said in his usual deep voice, and concern was shown in his speech, which was not used to expose any sort of feelings.

It was only then that Juvia noticed that she was behaving suspiciously. Every time Gajeel or any other driver picked her up, she always talked about what happened there in the war zone, about the cities, how hard it was to get what she needed, but this time she was quieter, quieter than a fish.

"Nothing," Juvia said, and even in her ears, she could hear the lie in her voice. She knew Gajeel would notice it too, he knew her so well.

"We don't move until you tell me what happened," Gajeel growled, and Juvia knew he meant every word he pronounced.

"I cannot tell you," Juvia said, and Gajeel raised eyebrows for her first-person talk use. He understood that it was important, he knows that Juvia always used a third person talking apart from a few critical and life-changing moments.

"Got me curious," Gajeel said and looked at her with interest.

"I can't tell you, please Gajeel. You must not know." Juvia looked at him pleadingly. He had to get off the subject. He could not know. She must not entangle him in what she about to do.

"It's not that you're going to desert. You can tell me." Gajeel tried to convince her, but the warning in her eyes told him that he had hit the target.

"Juvia, if they catch you, they'll kill you!" Juvia looked away from him and looked out with her hands crossed and determined written all over her features.

"You cannot do that!" Gajeel grabbed her by the shoulders and made her look at him. She saw the horror in his red eyes. She knew how much it would hurt him to lose her too after losing his father. Juvia almost yielded to her desire to tell him, to make him come with her, but she knew that Gajeel had nothing but the army and her. The Chances are she will not survive the next few hours she cannot take away both her and the army from him; those were all he lived for.

"Why do you have to do that?" Gajeel choked on his words when he saw that nothing made the most open and chatty women in the world speak.

Juvia was silent because of how she could ruin his life? Her very best friend life? The only family's life she ever had?

Moments after finally, she surrendered to wanting to explain to him in fewer words she could why she could not stay in the army and to fight for Germany.

"I can't stay after reading what our people do. I'd rather die before being a part of such horrid things." Juvia took out those words out of her mouth with great difficulty.

"so I'm coming with you," he said slowly, in a quiet, sincere voice after he saw the terror and disgusted her eyes.

"Anything that is enough to make you desert is also a good enough reason for me."

"No, Gajeel, you can not, you will die with me if you come. You must not! I wouldn't let you!" Juvia cried frightfully at her best friend she had in the whole world would die for her, he was her only family, he had to live, for her, that she could die in peace, knowing he was alive.

He looked at her again and smiled maliciously.

"Someone has to protect so you wouldn't die on me," he said shrewdly, and Juvia knew that the discussion was over, stubborn as a mule, someone like him she had never met before, and she loves him for it.

Once Gajeel decides something, he doesn't change his mind, and no one can convince him otherwise, not even her. Juvia looked at him in shock and gratitude. She loved him like a brother and apparently the feeling was mutual. She could not live if he died and that was how he felt, and some say that Gajeel does not have a heart of gold, how wrong they are.

"Make an escape transport for tonight, at exactly nine o'clock." She ordered him and smiled as she heard his unique laugh as he restarted the truck and pressed the gas at full strength.

"Yes sprinkle, jihi."

Gajeel parked the truck in a warehouse that at first looked deserted, but it was a cover their headquarters had set.

The old door scorched marks on the walls, even the smell itself stank and made people repulsive and never thought to enter. The warehouse was an entrance to the underground headquarters that was dug deep into the ground. Juvia jumped out of the high truck in a quick move into the floor concrete into and moved to the iron doorway at the other end of the warehouse. After she came down the cold metal ladder, she reached the corridors of familiar headquarters where she and Gajeel had assigned for the last six months. The base was built from three floors. The first floor and the nearest to the exit was the office of a high-ranking officer like General Jose; the second floor was their operations rooms where all the weapons, bombs, maps and equipment needed for battle and survival were kept on the same level. The last floor was the residence of the soldiers and the dining room. Like the rooms of Juvia and Gajeel. Juvia stood in front of General Jose office's brown door and knocked on it as hard as ever.

"I'm busy, come back later," Jose shouted through the door in his hushed voice.

"Sergeant Lockser is reporting from the mission, sir," Juvia said and knew as always that Jose would get up and open the door for her. After all, her mission was critical, and she was one of the few on the staff he trusted on.

"Aha Juvia, I missed your refreshing presence."

Jose said through his thick beard and Juvia tried not to show the shudder that always came to her when the General looked at her with greedy eyes.

"Sir, the mission was successful," she said to him in a flat voice and an emotionless face as she brought him the envelope with the wrong papers. He took the envelope and turned to close the door but not before winking at her. As soon as the door closed behind him, Juvia let the chills go to her body in full power. Then she hurried to her room for a quick shower and rushed to the organizations for their fabulous escape.

Juvia dressed in tight black clothes under a standard day-to-day uniform and went to the operations rooms to take supplies like maps, weapons, and food.

Juvia found an empty operations room after she greeted some of the soldiers who recognized her. She knew that at most she had an hour until Jose called her back to his office, if not before. She collected a few guns and ammunition, two maps of Europe, one of the most recent Nazi conquests and the other without them. A supply that is enough for two weeks, Canning and three large water canteens, Juvia tossed the stuff disorganized into the backpack. Just as she was leaving the room, one of her soldiers came into the room.

"Sergeant, General Jose wants to see ."

The soldier said with a salute. Apparently what expose Juvia was the surprise in her demeanor, her face showing fear and panic are not used to her, and the soldier knew immediately that something was wrong, looked around and saw her bag. The soldier took out his weapon and pointed at her. Juvia thought, Doesn't he know who she is? She's the Rain woman Juvia like the way storms hits the least predictable times, and she always brings a rain of blood with her.

A second had passed, and Juvia lunged forward and reached his trembling hand. She turned his hands and used his pistol to strike hard behind his head. He fell into her hands unconsciously. With a heavy sigh, Juvia put him in an empty corner, tied him up and put a cloth on his place him against the far away wall and locked the door behind her.

Gajeel met Juvia on her way to the escaping transport, and she gave him the kitbag.

"Warm up the engine?" He asked in a whisper.

Juvia gave him a warm smile before turning to Jose's office. "See you in 15 minutes." She whispered that they were in the same step. Gajeel saluted her and hurried to the exit.

Juvia knocked on the door that she had knocked on less than two hours ago. The door opened quickly, and the general motioned her in. Juvia entered the same familiar and empty office as its owner. A desk was full of paperwork and a small bar full of whiskey, other drinks and an anesthetic that Jose had used on female soldiers to get his way with them.

"Do you know why I called you?" Jose said and folded his hands and rested his head on them as he sat in the back of his desk looking at her voraciously.

"No sir," said Juvia, looking at his disgusting black eyes, even though in her mind she shouted, "Yes, I know!"

Jose shifted and leaned against the chair and looked at Juvia, studying her carefully, as if trying to find out what she was hiding.

"The documents are false, did you know about that?"

"No sir," Juvia replied calmly and confidently.

"If you read the documents?" He asked with a thick hint.

"No sir" Juvia answered again.

Jose examined her and stood in the direction of the bar, pouring himself a glass of the drink he liked most.

"Whiskey?" He offered her a glass.

"I'll be happy sir," said Juvia. It was the first and last time she had agreed to drink anything he had prepared, and Jose smiled excitedly and returned his full concentration to pour alcohol and mix the drug.

"The documents you brought were probably not arranged in the right envelope; you will have to return to that place again," he said.

Jose could not see or hear Juvia when she took out a small pocketknife that she kept in her pants pocket for that for this exact moment. Juvia walked on her tiptoes, quietly just like a snake toward him.

In one second the knife entered the central vein of the general's neck as he choked with surprise and pain. Juvia took the knife out as fast as you ripped out a band-aid and the General fell at her feet. Flattening the floor with the blood that ran happily out of his body.

"Just as you did not blink to rape female soldiers, you did not blink to kill an entire kind people, as the documents say," she whispered venomously into his ear.

"Y-you-trait-tor." He began to spit blood and coughed.

"I am happy to be a traitor to a country that murders innocent people because of their origin." She spat these words on his face while life left his eyes.

Three minutes later, the alarm at the base was operating with grating intensity, and Juvia was already running toward the car, the only one who made an engine noise. Fortunately, the soldiers didn't think they would escape from the base but managed to get inside. Until the soldiers understand what happened, Gajeel and Juvia will be out of Poland and on the way to the Vilna forests where there were reports of an unorganized army operating against the Nazi forces.

#fanfic #fairy tail #fairy tail fanfiction #ww2 fanfic #ww2 #You wanted war fanfic #juvia loxar #Gray X Juvia #juvia fairy tail #juvia and gray #Juvia x Gray #Gajeel Redfox #fairy tail gajeel

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anastpaul · 5 years

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Second Saint of the Day – 27 December – Blessed Sára Salkaházi S.S.S. (1899–1944) Martyr, Religious Sister of The Sisters of Social Service, Teacher, bookbinder, milliner, journalist – born as Schalkház Sarolta Klotild on 11 May 1899 in Kassa, Hungary (modern Košice, Slovakia) and died by being shot on 27 December 1944. Sára was a Hungarian Catholic religious sister who saved the lives of Jews during World War II. Denounced and summarily executed by the pro-Nazi Arrow Cross Party, Blessed Sara was Beatified on 17 September 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI. Recognition of the Beatification was celebrated at Budapest, Hungary by Cardinal Peter Erdo. Blessed Sára was the first non-aristocrat Hungarian to be beatified.

Teacher, bookbinder, milliner, journalist – this was the resume of Sára Salkaházi when she applied to join the Sisters of Social Service, a Hungarian religious society that today is also active in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Taiwan and the Philippines. The Sisters of that new congregation, founded in 1923 by Margit Slachta and devoted to charitable, social and women’s causes, were reluctant to accept this chain-smoking, successful woman journalist and she was at first turned away from their Motherhouse in Budapest. But 16 years later, she became the Society’s first Martyr, at the hands of the Nazis.

Fun-loving and intelligent, Sára was born into a well-to-do family at Kassa-Kosice, Upper Hungary, now Slovak territory, on 11 May 1899. She studied to become a teacher. In the classroom, she learned through her students about the social problems of the poor, which she publicised via newspaper articles. To widen her horizon and experience first-hand what discrimination meant, Sára became a bookbinder’s apprentice, where she was given the hardest and dirtiest work. She learned that trade, then went to work in a millinery shop, all the while continuing to write articles for newspapers. She became a member of the Christian Socialist Party and then worked as editor of that party’s newspaper, focusing on women’s social problems.

After she had come into contact with the Sisters of Social Service, Sára felt a strong call to join them. Following her initial rebuff, she quit smoking – with great difficulty – and was admitted to the Society at age 30, in 1929. She chose as her motto Isaiah’s “Here I am! Send me!” (Is 6: 8b). Her first assignment was to her native Kassa (which at the end of World War I had been incorporated into Czechoslovakia) to organise the work of Catholic Charities; subsequently, she was sent to Komarom, for the same task . In addition, she wrote, edited and published a Catholic women’s journal, managed a religious bookstore, supervised a shelter for the poor and taught. The Bishops of Slovakia then entrusted her with the organization of the National Girls’ Movement. She thus began giving leadership courses and publishing manuals.

In one year alone, she received 15 different assignments, from cooking to teaching at the Social Training Centre, all of which exhausted her physically and spiritually. When several novices left the Society, Sára also considered leaving, especially since her superiors would not allow her to renew her temporary vows (she was deemed “unworthy”), nor permit her to wear the habit for a year. These decisions hurt her deeply. But Sára accepted these hardships and made up her mind to remain faithful to her calling for the sake of the One who called her. Her faithfulness paid off as she received permission to renew her vows some time later.

She wanted to go to the missions, to China or Brazil but the outbreak of World War II made it impossible to leave the country. She worked instead as a social lecturer and administrator in Upper Hungary and Sub-Carpathia (which had also been part of Hungary until the end of World War l) and took her final vows in 1940.

As national director of the Catholic Working Girls’ Movement, Sister Sára built the first Hungarian college for working women, near Lake Balaton. In Budapest, she opened Homes for working girls and organised training courses. To protest the rising Nazi ideology Sister Sára changed her last name to the more Hungarian-sounding “Salkaházi”. As the Hungarian Nazi Party gained strength and also began to persecute the Jews, the Sisters of Social Service provided safe havens. Sister Sára opened the Working Girls’ Homes to them where, even in the most stressful situations, she managed to cheer up the anxious and discouraged.

As if her days were not busy enough, she managed to write a play on the life of St Margaret of Hungary, canonised on 19 November 1943. The first performance, in March 1944, was also the last, since German troops occupied Hungary that very day and immediately suppressed this religious production.

The life of St Margaret may have provided the inspiration for Sister Sára to offer herself as a victim-soul for the safety and protection of her fellow-Sisters of Social Service. For this, she needed the permission of her superiors, which was eventually granted. At the time, they alone knew about her self-offering.

Meanwhile, she kept hiding additional groups of refugees in the various Girls’ Homes, under increasingly dangerous circumstances. Providing them with food and supplies became more and more complicated every day, given the system of ration cards and the frequent air raids. Nevertheless, Sister Sára herself is credited with the saving of 100 Jewish lives and her Community, with saving 1,000.

The Russian siege of Budapest began on Christmas 1944. On the morning of 27 December, Sister Sára still delivered a meditation to her fellow-Sisters. Her topic? Martyrdom! For her, it would become a reality that very day. Before noon, Sister Sára and another Sister were returning on foot from a visit to another Girls’ Home. They could already see in the distance, armed Nazis standing in front of the house. Sister Sára had time to get away but she decided that, being the director, her place was at this Home. Upon entering the house, she too was accompanied down into the air raid shelter where the Nazis were already checking the papers of the 150 residents. About 10 of them were refugees with false papers. Some were declared suspicious and were to be taken to the ghetto, while those in charge would have to “give statements at Nazi headquarters before being released”. As she was led out, Sister Sára managed to step into the chapel and quickly genuflected before the altar but her captors dragged her away. One of the Nazis suggested, “Why don’t we finish them off here in the yard?”. But another gestured, “No”.

That night, a group of people was driven by agents of the pro-Nazi Arrow Cross regime to the Danube Embankment. Sister Sára was among them. As they were lined up, she knelt and made the Sign of the Cross before a bullet mowed her down. Her stripped corpse and those of her companions were thrown into the river.

The other Sisters anxiously awaited Sister Sára’s return. A youngster from the neighbourhood brought them news of the shooting the following day. It seems that the Lord had accepted Sister Sára’s sacrifice, because none of the other Sisters of her Community was harmed.

Every year, on 27 December, the anniversary of her martyrdom, the Sisters of Social Service hold a candlelight memorial service on the Danube Embankment for Sister Sára Salkaházi. The voluntary offering of their first martyr saved not only many persecuted Jews but also her Religious Community….Vatican.va

Speaking at the Beatification Mass, Rabbi József Schweitzer said of Sister Sára, “I know from personal experience … how dangerous and heroic it was in those times to help Jews and save them from death. Originating in her faith, she kept the commandment of love until death.”

Peter Cardinal Erdo, the Archbishop of Budapest, read a proclamation from Pope Benedict XVI beatifying Sister Sara.

The proclamation said, “She was willing to assume risks for the persecuted…in days of great fear. Her martyrdom is still topical… and presents the foundations for our humanity.”

For the Lord, all things are possible. Trust Him to the end!

“Here I am! Send me!” (Is 6: 8b)

(via Saint of the Day - 27 December - Blessed Sára Salkaházi S.S.S. (1899–1944) Martyr - A Catholic Gem)

#blsarasalkahazi #december27blsarasalkahazi #hungarianblessed #catholic #catholicism

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goldenkamuyhunting · 5 years

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Have you read the newest chapter? do you think Sofia knows about what Kiro did or is it about something else?

[I hope it’s okay if I also post here all the discussions about chap 181 which arose from my past post about it]

Yes!!! ^_________^

Scanlations are coming out really fast out of late I admite the dedication of the scanlating group and I wholeheartedly thanks them! (in my country the official publication is still at the 12 volume although there are rumours vol 13 should be released soon… but well, we’re still very far behind the official publication… ;_;)

As I wrote in my ramblings and crazy theory time about chap 181 I’ve not the slightest idea.

It would have been stupid if Kiro had told her the truth, as he knew Sofia had a weak side for Wilk and he already faced a woman in love with him (*chough* Inkarmat *chough*) but of course he might have thought Sofia’s revolutionary feelings would be stronger in her than her feelings for a man whom she didn’t see for more than 10 years, who got married and fathered a daughter with another woman and who fundamentally betrayed their cause.

So yes, it’s possible he did but I prefer to think he would be more cautious.

We know after all he’s completely capable to lie for his own revolutionary purposes and keep the truth for himself as we saw him doing this from… basically when he showed up till now.

It’s also possible that even if he didn’t tell Sofia, she had figured out as maybe he told her enough and she knew Kiro and what he could do… but again while possible I can’t really tell if this is the case.

And, of course, Tsurumi might have tattled out Kiro to her as well. I mean, he tattled him out to the Russian guards. what would have stopped him from tattling him out to Sofia as well as he knew about her existance and could easily predict Kiro was going to meet her?

But, of course, this would come out as weird and suspicious. If he wants to be believed he can’t write to Sofia as Tsurumi. A Japanese officer writing her wouldn’t gain her trust. He could try as Hasegawa, which would tie in well with how we were just told about his story and how Sofia felt guilty for his wife and child’s death.

Still I’ll say it would come as a bit suspicious.

Ultimately though, I don’t want Tsurumi’s involvement or Sofia’s reaction to be that one because she knows the truth because it would be like seeing Inkarmat all over.

Sofia looks a bit different as she first hit then accuses but, if the keypoint is for her to do what Inkarmat would have done, I think this ends up like damaging her character.

Sofia comes from a place that’s different from Inkarmat.

She’s a revolutionary, she has men under her, she has loyalty to her cause, she needs the Ainu gold and Wilk went in Hokkaido to get it for them.

Inkarmat had nothing to lose by blowing up at Kiro except her life but she was so enraged she likely didn’t think much at it (and she probably also has self worth issues). Sofia has her men and her cause to provide at.

Wilk is dead and it’s painful but her men are still alive and need that gold.

Also Sofia wasn’t a child like Inkarmat when she fell for Wilk and therefore her emotional tie to Wilk is different.

So well, I’ve no idea if Sofia knows or will know but I think she can’t allow herself to act like Inkarmat and tattle everything out to Asirpa.

If she knows, I like to think she’ll swallow her accusation down and content herself with the slap she had just given him.

If she doesn’t, then that sentence will end up meaning something different from Inkarmat.

Of course having Sofia too act like Inkarmat and, possibly, having her met the same end, would remark how wrong Kiro’s actions were.

If a random person unaware of circumstances says something it’s just his opinion and you can easily dismiss it… if more people, among which people you trust and who knows your circumstances, say something, then well it’s the moment you should start listening to them.

Kiro’s actions toward Wilk were wrong. Personally I doubt Kiro had the chance to hear Wilk out on why he did what he did and he might have misunderstood his actions or work with wrong informations on them.

In short Kiro might have accused him of betrayal and murder when Wilk didn’t betray them at all.

It’s also true that Sofia is a good boss and, in a way, she was also Wilk and Kiro’s boss and she might feel so enraged her men started killing each other she won’t just shut up. Or maybe she thinks she wants to come out as honest to Asirpa.

She might be a boss with high moral grounds, who will think the gold isn’t worth lying to a little girl. She surely seemed to have a motherly feeling for her… and in the past she clearly had a weakness for children.

But well… it’s really early to guess all this.

We only saw glimpses of Sofia so it’s a bit too early to guess how she’ll move. Still that would be the worst time for a revelation (they’re in the middle of a jailbreak after all) so I’d like to think if a revelation will come it’ll be when they’re in a better place.

So overall everything is just a huge question mark.

However, narratively speaking, the recurring usage of a broken sentence might be a red herring. Fundamentally we expect it to have the meaning of the previous time in which it was used… but this can be exactly why it’s being used now. To lull us in that belief to surprise us when it’ll turn out it’s about something else. After all, it’s meaningful it’s placed just at the end of the chapter, so we can’t know what’s meant to come afterward. If there will be no differences with Inkarmat… the surprise will just go wasted.

So well, I tend to think that Sofia is trying to say something different from Inkarmat.

Overall I’m also more prone to believe Kiro wouldn’t write to Sofia about his involvement in Wilk’s death just to play safe.

I think if he wants to talk with her about it, he would prefer to do it in person.

Sofia’s ability to guess things up depends on how much she knows. If he told her Abashiri in details he come out extremely suspicious, if he just told her Wilk died while they were trying to take him out of the prison… well, it can happen.

People just died during this jailbreak as well.

Sofia might think it was just a matter of bad luck and blame Kiro merely for poorly protecting Wilk.

So… well, I know you were hoping for a more clear answer but at this point everything is possible and all the bets are open.

In reply to this post @daewonhoffsaid: “I have a hunch that Sugimoto will probably reveal to Asirpa that Ogata killed her dad. (when they’ll meet up).”

That’s definitely Sugimoto’s plan, though I honestly hope Asirpa will find out by herself before he’ll manage to tell her.

Not only it was rather easy to guess (Shiraishi is clearly thinking so and, although he likes Kiro and owns him his life, he also told her how suspicious he was and how likely it is he lied to them) so if she doesn’t figure things out she’ll come out as naive as best or stupid at worst and that’s not the Asirpa we know and love, but I don’t really like for her to have to rely on Sugimoto for this sort of things.

Sugimoto rushed after her, feeling very much as a knight in a shining armour trying to save a damsel in distress, but I’d like for Asirpa to prove she’s no damsel in distress and can very well handle things on her own.

It would also help Sugimoto, as he feels he’s utterly to blame as if he was completely responsible for whatever happens to Asirpa and Asirpa were to have no agenda of her own.

I’m not saying he doesn’t have to help Asirpa, I’m sure his help would be a good thing, just that Asirpa doesn’t have to utterly rely on him and be completely helpless otherwise.

Asirpa remarked more than once how she’s in this because she decided so and, when presented with the chance to escape from Kiro and Ogata, SHE decided to stay.

It’s not she claimed Shiraishi was paranoid, this is the way Asirpa has decided. Invalidating it by having her needing to be spoonfed info she could figure out by heself like Shiraishi did and having her need to be saved by Sugimoto would be a disservice to Asirpa.

I like to think Sugimoto will reach her to discover whatever he was so desperate to do (telling her Ogata and Kiro are dangerous, that her father probably didn’t kill the Ainu and bringing her home) has been already taken care of her because she’s his partner and equal, not a burden that depends on him for information and protection.

But well, that’s just me.

In reply to this post @preservedturd said: “I also want to see Sofia and Koito interact. Two nobles of their respective countries with considerably different lifestyles. (I hit the reply button too soon) Bonus points if those two ever talk smack to each other in French.”

Yes, I think it would be wonderful to see them interact and affect each other perspective. Sofia is the sort of great leader Koito’s father hoped Koito would become so I think it would be a great experience for him… and, in a way, I think it would help Sofia as well.

I think she needs to reconnect with the members of the upper class which are not evil per-se but just ignorant of how they’re privileged and that’s why they’re doing nothing.

A good leader should have a collective vision of the situation, not know just one side and just violence will not lead her far. She needs also politic to collect results as she just doesn’t have the means to reach her goals with just the men under her.

LOL, in a way I’d love for Koito to become Sofia’s… ‘heir’ of some sort.

But maybe it’s just me.

#Ask #In reply #Sofia #Asirpa #Sugimoto Saichi #Kiroranke #Inkarmat #Preservedturd #Other people's posts #Daewonhoff

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