#sutherland springs

[porterdavis]

I am mortified to say there have been so many mass shootings that I barely remember this.

[follow-up-news]

Crews on Monday tore down a Texas church where a gunman killed more than two dozen worshippers in 2017, using heavy machinery to raze the small building even after some families sought to preserve the scene of the deadliest church shooting in U.S. history. A judge cleared the way last month for the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs to tear down the sanctuary where the attack took place, which until now had been kept as a memorial. Church members voted in 2021 to tear it down, but some families in the community of less than 1,000 people filed a lawsuit hoping for a new vote on the building’s fate. Authorities put the number of dead in the Nov. 5, 2017, shooting at 26 people, including a pregnant woman and her unborn baby. After the shooting, the interior of the sanctuary was painted white and chairs with the names of those who were killed were placed there. A new church was completed for the congregation about a year and a half after the shooting.

[newestcool]

Alyssa Sutherland for Jean Paul Gaultier s/s 2004 couture Creative Director Jean Paul Gaultier Photographer Olivier Cliasse Newest Cool

[redgriffinsphotos]

Steam on the Main Line

[vox-anglosphere]

Dunrobin Castle: Behold.. a French chateau in the Scottish Highlands

[chicinsilk]

US Vogue February 15, 1970

Lynn Sutherland wears a shirt dress with fine navy stripes spaced over a white wool knit: flying white fringes. A Cadillac-branded wool dress, with its own chain bracelet. Bernardo sandals. Scarf by Elegant. Hairdresser, François of Kenneth.

Lynn Sutherland porte une robe chemise à fines rayures marines espacées sur une maille de laine blanche : franges blanches volantes. Une robe en laine de marque Cadillac, avec son propre bracelet en chaîne. Sandales Bernardo. Écharpe par Elegant. Coiffure, François of Kenneth.

Photo Norman Parkinson vogue archive

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, author, and book names under the cut

Sundew- Wings of Fire by Tui T Sutherland

Siuan Sanche Sedai- Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan

[dopescissorscashwagon]

Who fancies a wee Coastal Escape in #Scotland this spring? 🙋🌷 📍 Kyle of Durness, Sutherland 📷 @SpiritHighlands

[the-algebra-thing]

I love how wings of fire is written with like. yes, a meaningful and well thought-out plot, but also just with the intention of creating simple laughs. it's just not at all complex and it's wild to witness coming from the world of adult and young adult fiction. it's silly little laughs; it's not trying to be anything clever, just kids being kids in a way that's funny in a way meant for other kids, and this makes up a considerable percentage of each book. it's just remarkable to me how honest and easy a read it is, and how efficiently that simple goofing around or giggling can develop character relationships in books FULL to bursting of main characters. it's so awesome

[fruityforsaari]

Duration of Killing Sprees and Police Responses to Mass Shooting Incidents

(from first 911 call to either when shooter is killed or disarmed)

2019 Dayton Shooting – 32 seconds

2014 Marysville Pilchuck High School Shooting – 2 to 4 minutes

Stockton Schoolyard Shooting – 3 minutes

2023 Allen Texas Mall Shooting – 3 to 4 minutes

2022 Chesapeake Shooting – 4 minutes

Oxford High School Shooting – 5 minutes

Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooting – 5 minutes

Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting – 5 to 6 minutes

Parkland High School Shooting – 6 minutes

2022 Buffalo Shooting – 6 minutes

Red Lake Shootings – 9 minutes

2023 Louisville Bank Shooting – 9 minutes

2014 Isla Vista Killings – 10 minutes

Sutherland Springs Church Shooting – 11 minutes

2023 Jacksonville Shooting – 11 minutes

2017 Aztec High School Shooting – 12 minutes

Luby’s Shooting – 12 to 13 minutes

2023 Nashville School Shooting – 14 minutes

Walk of Death Killings - ~20 minutes

Cleveland Elementary School Shooting - ~20 minutes

Jokela School Shooting – 22 minutes

Columbine High School Massacre – 49 minutes

Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting – 1 hour and 14 minutes

San Ysidro McDonald’s Massacre – 1 hour and 17 minutes

Uvalde School Shooting – 1 hour and 17 minutes

Halle Synagogue Shooting – 1 hour and 32 minutes

University of Texas Tower Shooting – 1 hour and 36 minutes

Kauhajoki School Shooting - ~1 hour and 40 minutes

Virginia Tech Shooting – 2 hours and 36 minutes (main shooting was 9 minutes)

2016 Kalamazoo Shootings – 6 hours and 58 minutes

Sources:

2019 Dayton Shooting: https://www.foxnews.com/us/dayton-gunman-shot-26-people-32-seconds-police

2014 Marysville Pilchuck High School Shooting: https://www.heraldnet.com/news/marysville-pilchuck-high-school-shootings-timeline/

Stockton Schoolyard Shooting: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article252289238.html

2023 Allen Texas Mall Shooting: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2023/06/05/medics-saved-every-recoverable-victim-of-allen-mass-shooting-fire-department-says/

2022 Chesapeake Shooting: https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/crime/timeline-walmart-mass-shooting-in-chesapeake/291-845fb5f4-8baa-403c-ad37-6df930330a3c

Oxford High School Shooting: https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2021/12/05/sunday-read-everything-we-know-about-oxford-high-school-shooting-timeline-charges-evidence-more/

Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooting: https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/california/timeline-gilroy-garlic-festival-shooting/103-8e09e76d-e560-4c28-93b6-c4d94a272308

Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting: https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/timeline-of-sandy-hook-school-shooting/1916530/

Parkland High School Shooting: https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/15/us/florida-school-shooting-timeline/index.html

2022 Buffalo Shooting: https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crime-courts/we-have-bodies-down-here-police-radio-transmissions-reveal-grim-scene-at-saturdays-mass-killing/article_2335d1d0-d3c0-11ec-8bc0-4f348962ee1e.html (paid article, just scroll really fast or use an extension to bypass this)

2014 Isla Vista Killings: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/timeline-of-murder-spree-in-isla-vista/

Red Lake Shootings: https://vault.fbi.gov/red-lake-high-school-shooting

2023 Louisville Bank Shooting: https://www.yahoo.com/gma/louisville-corner-changed-forever-9-152203640.html

Sutherland Springs Church Shooting: https://www.ksat.com/news/2018/02/06/700-rounds-in-11-minutes-sutherland-springs-survivor-says-hes-amazed-hes-alive/

2023 Jacksonville Shooting: https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/27/us/jacksonville-florida-shooting-sunday/index.html

2017 Aztec High School Shooting: https://edition.cnn.com/2017/12/08/us/aztec-high-school-shooting-william-atchison/index.html

Luby’s Shooting: https://www.crimemagazine.com/lubys-cafeteria-massacre-1991

2023 Nashville School Shooting: https://abcnews.go.com/US/timeline-shooting-covenant-school-unfolded/story?id=98158185

Walk of Death Killings: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/story-first-mass-murder-us-history-180956927/

Cleveland Elementary School Shooting: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-diego-shooting-anniversary-20190130-story.html

Jokela School Shooting: https://schoolshooters.info/sites/default/files/Jokela%20School%20Shooting%20Official%20Report.pdf (page 20 and 47)

Columbine High School Massacre: https://columbineonline.weebly.com/timeline.html

Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting: https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/27/us/pittsburgh-attack-timeline/index.html

San Ysidro McDonalds Massacre: https://www.kpbs.org/news/local/2019/07/18/san-ysidro-mcdonalds-massacre-35-years-later

Uvalde School Shooting: https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/27/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-timeline/

Halle Synagogue Shooting: https://www.mdr.de/nachrichten/sachsen-anhalt/halle/halle/pressekonferenz-stahlknecht-zu-anschlag-halle-100.html

University of Texas Tower Shooting: https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/university-of-texas-tower-shooting-1966

Kauhajoki School Shooting: https://schoolshooters.info/sites/default/files/Kauhajoki%20School%20Shooting.pdf (page 26)

Virginia Tech Shooting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Virginia_Tech_shooting

2016 Kalamazoo Shootings: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kalamazoo-shootings-timeline-rampage-suspect-jason-dalton/

[zegalba]

Jean Paul Gaultier Spring/Summer 2004 Couture Model: Alyssa Sutherland

[follow-up-news]

The victims of the 2017 mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, in which 26 were killed, have reached a "tentative agreement" with the Justice Department to settle a case against the federal government for $144.5 million.

If the settlement is finalized, it will likely end a yearslong legal battle over a federal judge's ruling that the U.S. government bears some responsibility for the attack because it failed to submit the shooter's criminal history into a database that would have prevented him from purchasing firearms.

In a statement on Wednesday morning, the Justice Department said that it had reached “an agreement in principle” that “would resolve the pending appeals." The agreement won't be finalized, according to the agency, until the plaintiffs' secure necessary court approvals. The court, the Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in this instance, is required to "approve some aspects of the settlement."

“No words or amount of money can diminish the immense tragedy of the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs,” Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a statement. “Today’s announcement brings the litigation to a close, ending a painful chapter for the victims of this unthinkable crime.”

Jamal Alsaffar, the lead trial attorney for the victims, called the Sutherland Springs families heroes and said "the country owes them a debt of gratitude" for pursuing their lawsuit, even as it forced them to relive the traumatic shooting.

The legal episode is not yet over for the families, however, despite the "pain and loss" they have endured, he said.  

"These families fought for justice, endured and won two trials against the federal government and made this country safer as a result. But the settlement is not final," Alsaffar said. "Attorney General Garland’s office still must approve it, and we urge his Justice Department to act quickly to bring some closure to these families. It’s the least they deserve."

In July 2021, a judge found the government partly liable for the shooting for failing to provide records that could have kept Devin Kelley, a former Air Force service member, from acquiring the weapons he used in the shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs.

The U.S. government was ordered to pay the more than 80 survivors and victims’ relatives $230 million; the Justice Department appealed the ruling. Lawyers for the government argued in court that even if the Air Force — which did not report Kelley's 2012 arrest and court-martial for domestic violence to the FBI — had followed the law, he would have found another way to acquire a gun to commit the same act, according to court transcripts.

Victims of the shooting said this year that the Justice Department's arguments had left them frustrated, confused and angry. Many found that the agency's arguments seemed to undermine the background check system, which was a cornerstone of President Joe Biden's gun policy priorities.  

[siryouarebeingmocked]

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/michael-bloombergs-outrageous-response-to-the-texas-church-shooting-is-an-insult-to-hero-jack-wilson

Well, this shooting would have played out much, much worse in that hypothetical scenario. The killer, of course, doesn’t care what law Bloomberg and his pals pass, so he would have stormed in with a gun regardless. But Wilson wouldn’t have been armed. 

Assuming the police are minutes away, and considering that the gunman shot two people in just a few seconds before being taken down, it’s likely that several dozen people would have been shot before police arrived.

This is the outcome Bloomberg basically just said he would prefer. 

And by saying that only police should have guns, Bloomberg is no longer hiding behind calls for so-called universal background checks or assault weapon bans — he’s openly calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment. If we needed another reminder why we should never elect this wannabe tyrant as our president, well, he just handed us one.

Reminder that both this shooting and Sutherland Springs were stopped by the proverbial “good guy with a gun”. The Sutherland shooter even owned his gun illegally, because the government screwed up his discharge paperwork.

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🌈 Queer Books Coming Out in April 2024 🌈

🌈 Good morning, my bookish bats! Struggling to keep up with all the amazing queer books coming out this month? Here are a FEW of the stunning, diverse queer books you can add to your TBR before the year is over. Remember to #readqueerallyear! Happy reading!

[ Release dates may have changed. ]

❤️ Spring on the Peninsula - Ery Shin 🧡 When I Arrived at the Castle - Emily Carroll 💛 Bloodline - Jenn Alexander 💚 Grey Dog - Elliott Gish 💙 Every Time You Hear That Song - Jenna Voris 💜 I'm in Love with the Villainess v. 2 - Inori and Hanagata ❤️ The Caravaggio Syndrome - Alessandro Giardino 🧡 Leather, Lace, and Locs - Anne Shade 💛 Firebugs - Nico Bulling 💙 I Married My Female Friend v.2 - Shio Usui 💜 The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray - Christine Calella 🌈 A Sweet Sting of Salt - Rose Sutherland ❤️ The Selected Shepherd: Poems - Reginald Shepherd 🧡 Rough Trade - Katrina Carrasco 💛 Aubrey McFadden is Never Getting Married - Georgia Beers 💚 Taming of a Rebel - Eada Friesian 💙 Dayspring - Anthony Oliveira 💜 The Titanic Survivors Book Club - Timothy Schaffert ❤️ Orphia And Eurydicius - Elyse John 🧡 The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers - Samuel Burr 💛 A Good Happy Girl - Marissa Higgins 💙 Winnie Nash Is Not Your Sunshine - Nicole Melleby 💜 Here We Go Again - Alison Cochrun 🌈 Women! In! Peril! - Jessie Ren Marshall

❤️ Blood City Rollers - V. P. Anderson and Tatiana Hill 🧡 The Prospects - KT Hoffman 💛 Crazy Like a Fox: Adventures in Schizophrenia - Christi Furnas 💚 WATCHNIGHT - Cyree Jarelle Johnson 💙 Love From The Sidelines - Tuesday Harper 💜 The Pleasure in Pain - Roxie Voorhees ❤️ Mal - Perla Zul 🧡 The Black Girl Survives in This One - Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell 💛 Darker by Four - June C.L. Tan 💙 Otherworldly - F.T. Lukens 💜 Hearts Still Beating - Brooke Archer 🌈 Tryst Six Venom - Penelope Douglas

❤️ Teenage Dirtbags - James Acker 🧡 The Heart Wants What It Wants - D.M. Batten 💛 Something Kindred by Ciera Burch 💚 Sheine Lende - Dr. Darcie Little Badger & Rovina Cai 💙 Rainbow Overalls - Maggie Fortuna 💜 Flowers for Dead Girls - Abigail Collins ❤️ Canto Contigo - Jonny Garza Villa

❤️ Court of Wanderers - Rin Chupeco 🧡 Molten Death - Leslie Karst 💛 Triad Magic - ‘Nathan Burgoine 💚 You, Me and Bad Movies - Twoony 💙 The Faithful Dark - Cate Baumer 💜 A Case for Discretion - Ashley Moore ❤️ Party of Fools - Cedar McCloud 🧡 The Last Love Song - Kalie Holford 💛 This is Me Trying - Racquel Marie 💙 Dear Wendy - Ann Zhao 💜 Sun Eater - Dre Levant 🌈 The Breakup Lists - Adib Khorram

❤️ Bad Dream - Nicole Maines & Rye Hickman 🧡 If We Were Stars - Eule Grey 💛 The Broken Lines of Us - Shia Woods 💚 Eye of the Ouroboros - Megan Bontrager 💙 Henry Henry - Allen Bratton 💜 Dear Bi Men - JR Yussuf ❤️ Paige Not Found - Jen Wilde 🧡 Mechanic Shop Femme’s Guide to Car Ownership - Chaya Milchtein 💛 Wide Awake Now - David Levithan 💙 Merciless Saviors - H.E. Edgmon 💜 Smile and Be a Villain - Yves Donlon 🌈 Crash Landing - Charmaine Anne Li

❤️ Call Forth a Fox - Markelle Grabo 🧡 Central Avenue Poetry Prize 2024 - Beau Adler 💛 Good Bones - Aurora Rey 💚 Curiosities - Anne Fleming 💙 Someone You Can Build a Nest in - John Wiswell 💜 Revisiting Summer Nights - Ashley Bartlett ❤️ Bright Spring - Emmaline Strange

❤️ Girls Night - I.S. Belle 🧡 Late Bloomer - Mazey Eddings 💛 Withered - A.G.A. Wilmot 💚 A Wolf Steps in Blood - Tamara Jerée 💙 It Always Finds Me - Anthology 💜 Dulhaniyaa - Talia Bhatt ❤️ Moon Dust in My Hairnet - JR Creaden 🧡 Blood Justice - Terry J. Benton-Walker 💛 Relinquishing Control - J.J. Arias

❤️ Selamlik - Khaled Alesmael 🧡 Houseswap 101 - Jaime Clevenger 💛 Earthflown by Frances Wren & Litarnes 💚 Covenant v.1 - LySandra Vuong 💙 Honey - Victor Lodato 💜 The Dragonfly Gambit - A.D. Sui ❤️ Double Dyno - Sharon K Angelici & Taylor Rose

[blade-liger-4ever]

Dragon Prince - Blade's Freestyle

So, in my take, there are only four types of Elves: The Tidebound, the Sunfire, the Moonshadow, and the Skywing (I'm keeping that to give Tui T. Sutherland a piece of my mind.) The Startouch exist as the equivalent of the Greek pantheon, though they maintain an elf-ish look in order to seem both familiar and distant from the rest; therefore, they're nicknamed "the High Ones". The Earthblood are like the Ghillie Dhu of Scottish myth: towering, tree-like beings who go along to get along, and generally nonviolent. The dragons are at the head of this hierarchy, as appointed by the Startouch, and thus the Elves are second to them, with humanity at the lowest tier of this creation order. Additionally, the dragons can shapeshift into virtually any form, and possess the ability to use Celestial Magic, and any of the Four Seasonal Magics.

Regarding the sources of magic, there are only four, all derived from the four seasons and connected to something tied to that season. The Tidebound, for example, are intrinsically tied to the spring and the ocean, with their power being based around water, healing, cold, wind, floods, tsunamis, and VERY specific oaths/tithes. When you make an oath to do something, or agree to a tithe that carries on for generations, you'd better dang well adhere to it or your life is forfeit. That's how severe and serious this business is.

The Sunfire are tied to summer and the sun, giving them talents in blacksmithing, warfare, heat, fire, metal, plasma (a rare and dangerous technique), wind, and truth finding. The Sunfire detest lies and deceit, as it goes against the sun, which brings light to all that goes on in the shadows. Thus, not only are they powerful warriors and capable in war, but excellent lie detectors. Any of their kind who turn to deception are anathema to the Sunfire, which also means they have a rivalry of sorts with the Moonshadow.

Speaking of, the Moonshadow are tied to autumn and the moon, giving them access to bending light, traveling through shadows (allowing them real fast travel), poisons of any kind, life cycle awareness and occasional manipulation of it, wind, darkness, and Spirit Sense/Walk, where they walk in a parallel plane between the world of the living and the dead (also allowing them to see/interact with ghosts throughout the year, though especially on full moons and the peak of autumn). For this they are the perfect assassins, but despite this, the Moonshadow have a strict code of honor, and will only take the life of those who have done serious crime in the eyes of the magical community - hence why 1 they're great bodyguards for the Royal Dragon Clan, and 2 why they're so loyal to the dragons. They know serving the dragons is the right thing, and that if they have to take a life, they're better off doing said tasks from the dragons.

The Skywings are the most unusual - and powerful. They're tied to winter and the magnetic poles, and have abilities tied to ice, cold, wind, snow, temperature, magnetism, light, tornadoes, hurricanes, sound, rain, storms, lightning, and can form the nigh-unheard of life-force bonds. When Skywings want to marry, they perform some kind of magical binding rite that is deeply private, to the point no one outside of a Skywing knows how to perform it. This bond is unbreakable and can reach each person no matter the distance, and will give the lingering presence of the deceased spouse to the one still living, often providing comfort from beyond the grave. When a Skywing intermarries with a dragon, a different elf, or - more rarely - a human, they teach the future spouse this rite. They marry for life, with divorce or "separation" practically unheard of; should they encounter one of another race who is divorced/separated, the Skywing will express disappointment or disgust, depending on the situation.

Now we come to Dark Magic.

It's more of an offshoot of Moonshadow Magic, as it still relates to the darkness. However, it's not corruptive; rather, it's tied to the shadows, dark nights, storm clouds, fog, mists, swamplands, bogs, dead forests, and grants access to "grave visits" - you can see and interact with the dead. You cannot bring them back to life, but you can find them and learn things from them. As the Elves were intrinsically tied to the sources of magic, and the Dragons bound to Celestial Magic, humanity had no tie to any source but death and destruction. So when they discovered Dark Magic, it had the Dragons eyeing them nervously, as it was dangerous if you got too into the grave visits, which have the side effect of driving yourself to death if you went to see dead loved ones too much.

The real taboo is Blood Magic.

Blood magic requires the use of blood from still living creatures, siphoning it while the person lives and using it for vile rituals that raise the bodies of the dead, twist people into horrifying monsters, drain the life out of certain targets at will, turn you into a cannibal who cannot live without feasting on human/elven/dragon flesh or blood, and drive you to insanity as you fall further and further away from humanity. Somehow, a Mage Apprentice discovered this magic, and used it before terrorizing the village he dwelled in. Thus began the Great Exile, when the humans were banished by the Elves and Dragons a thousand years before Callum's time to the Western Lands, where fighting had once more begun to settle land disputes and out rose various human kingdoms. However, some Elves also fell from grace, selling themselves out as mercenaries for hire, assassins, or even allying with humans in war.

This brought upon the Mage Wars, which lasted until three centuries before Callum's birth. With the Orphan Queen of Katolis, Queen Aditi, and Avizandum's collaboration, the Mage Wars ended, though the peace was fragile, and skirmishes broke out frequently over the next few decades. For this, Avizandum guarded the Border, the thin patch of land that kept Xadia and the Western Lands divided, himself. However, ten years ago, King Harrow, Vizier Viren, and General Amaya, snuck past Avizandum and killed him in his sleep, his heart being carved out by an apprehensive Viren. However, the egg of Avizandum's son, the Dragon Prince, was left in pieces, leaving all to surmise that the Dragon Prince had been killed.

For this, the world is teetering on the razor's edge of war, though attempts by Viren and a slowly repenting Harrow have stalled the outbreak of war. Amaya has receded into the background, apparently conducting good relations with the neighboring kingdom of Neolandia, likely to bring the countries together in case war breaks out.

However, on the eve of the anniversary of the tenth year since Avizandum's death, a group of Moonshadow Elves have broken past the borders of Katolis on a secret mission....