#JACKSON MCNEAL

[reddancer1]

Heather Cox Richardson

February 25, 2024 (Sunday)

The last several days have seen a Republican stampede to distance the party from the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision of a week ago, when it ruled that embryos frozen for in vitro fertilization (IVF) should be considered children and that their injury can be treated like injury to a child. That decision has led major healthcare providers in Alabama to stop IVF procedures out of fear of prosecution.

IVF is very popular—about 2% of babies born in the U.S. are the product of IVF—and Republicans recognize that endangering the procedure has the potential to be a dealbreaker in the upcoming election.

The fury at the Alabama decision of those who have spent years and tens of thousands of dollars in their quest to be parents was articulated yesterday in a conversation between Abbey Crain and Stephanie McNeal of Glamour, in which Crain recounted her five-year IVF journey and noted that the Alabama justice who wrote the decision, Jay Mitchell, “who,” as she said, “lives five miles down the road from me, goes to a church that people in my circle go to, and has children in schools in my community, has more of a say in whether and when I get to be a mom than me.”

The Alabama decision is a direct result of the June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, decided thanks to the three religious extremists former president Trump nominated to the Supreme Court. That decision referred to fetuses as “unborn human being[s]” when it overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision recognizing the constitutional right to abortion. The Alabama decision cited the Dobbs case 15 times, relying on it to establish that “the unborn” are “living persons with rights and interests.”

Republicans are now denying they intended to halt IVF with their antiabortion stance and their appointment of religious extremists to the courts. But that position doesn’t square with the fact that since the Dobbs decision, they have pressed for so-called personhood laws, laws that give the full rights of a person to an embryo from the time of conception. Since Dobbs, sixteen state legislatures have introduced personhood laws, and four Republican-dominated states—Missouri, Georgia, Alabama, and Arizona, although Arizona’s has been blocked—have passed them.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, Republicans introduced a national personhood bill as soon as they took control in January 2023. The bill, titled “Life at Conception Act,” currently has 124 co-sponsors, including House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). On Friday, Johnson claimed to support IVF, raising the question of what exactly that support for IVF means, considering the process requires discarding certain embryos.

In the U.S. Senate, Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced a “Life at Conception Act” on January 28, 2021. It currently has 18 co-sponsors, including Steve Daines (R-MT), who is the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the official campaign organization to elect Republican senators. On Friday the NRSC distributed a memo to candidates telling them to “align with the public’s overwhelming support for IVF and fertility treatments.”

While it is the IVF story that has garnered the most attention this weekend—likely because it has obvious implications for the 2024 election and Republicans have tried to rush away from it—it is simply a different facet of a larger story: the leaders of the Republican Party are working to overthrow democracy.

On February 15, news broke that Alexander Smirnov, the informant who had provided the “evidence” that then–vice president Joe Biden and his son had each taken a $5 million bribe from the Ukrainian oil and gas company Burisma, had been indicted by a federal grand jury for lying and “creating a false and fictitious record.” On February 20, Trump-appointed Special Counsel David Weiss of the Justice Department filed a document concluding that Smirnov has “extensive and extremely recent” ties with “Russian intelligence agencies.”

The use of Russian disinformation to destabilize democracy in the U.S. looks much like the information warfare Russia has used to establish Ukrainian leaders that worked for the Kremlin. It was the ouster of one of those leaders, Viktor Yanukovych, in the 2014 Maidan Revolution ten years ago that prompted Russian president Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine later that year. Yanukovych won office with the help of American political consultant Paul Manafort, who advised and, briefly, chaired the Trump campaign in 2016, when it weakened the Republican party’s platform plank that supported arming Ukraine against Putin after his 2014 invasion.

Seeding lies about corruption that came from Russian-linked Ukrainians was central to Trump’s 2019 impeachment: his phone call to Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky demanding Zelensky announce an investigation into Burisma and Joe Biden’s son Hunter was part of an attempt to create dirt on the Bidens. That call happened after Trump’s advisor Rudy Giuliani went to Ukraine, where he talked to “an active Russian agent,” according to the FBI. FBI agents warned Giuliani that he was a target of Russian disinformation.

That poison has now spread from Trump’s rogue team in the White House to the Republican Party itself, which has apparently been carrying water for Putin at the very center of our government.

Meanwhile, under pressure from Trump loyalists in the House, Speaker Johnson is refusing to take up a measure to aid Ukraine in its resistance to Russia’s 2022 invasion. Such a measure is popular in the U.S., both among the population in general and among lawmakers. While other countries can provide funds, only the U.S. has enough of the required war matériel Ukraine so desperately needs. Already, Russia has managed to retake the key city of Avdiivka because Ukraine’s troops don’t have enough ammunition, and today Jimmy Rushton, a Kyiv-based foreign policy analyst, quoted a Ukrainian officer’s report that they can’t “medivac our guys from the contact line anymore because we don’t have any artillery ammunition to suppress the Russians. We have to leave them to die.”

The reluctance of House Republicans to support Ukraine has global implications. Putin is trying to tear up the rules-based international order that has protected international boundaries since World War II, while Trump has threatened to destroy the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that holds back Russian aggression. In the Wall Street Journal on Friday, chief foreign affairs correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov noted that European countries are worried that the U.S. will not defend its allies, while Putin has made “a de facto military alliance with the rogue regimes of North Korea and Iran while growing closer and closer to authoritarian China.”

European nations have expanded their own military production and support for Ukraine; Poland and the Baltic states have invested far more in their militaries than NATO’s threshold of 2% of a nation’s gross domestic product. In the Washington Post, Michael Birnbaum reported Friday that some of the nations that border Russia are looking again at land mines, concertina wire, and trenches—the technology of last century’s wars—to protect themselves from a Russian invasion.

Putin and allies like Viktor Orbán of Hungary have been clear they believe democracy is obsolete. Far-right extremists in the United States agree, insisting that democracy’s demand for equal rights before the law undermines society as immigration, LGBTQ+ rights, and women’s rights challenge “traditional” values. That ideological justification has led many white evangelical Christians to flock to Trump’s strongman persona.

How religion and authoritarianism have come together in modern America was on display Thursday, when right-wing activist Jack Posobiec opened this weekend’s conference of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) outside Washington, D.C., with the words: “Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on January 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this right here.” He held up a cross necklace and continued: “After we burn that swamp to the ground, we will establish the new American republic on its ashes, and our first order of business will be righteous retribution for those who betrayed America.”

But Saturday’s South Carolina Republican primary suggested that the drive to lay waste to American democracy is not popular. Trump won the state, as expected, by about 60%—lower than predicted. Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley won 40% of the vote. This means that Trump will have to continue spending money he doesn’t currently have on his campaign.

More important than that, even, is that it shows that even in a strongly Republican state, 40% of primary voters—the party’s most loyal voters—prefer someone else. As Mike Allen of Axios wrote today: “If America were dominated by old, white, election-denying Christians who didn’t go to college, former President Trump would win the general election in…a landslide.” But, Allen added, “It’s not.”

Which may be precisely why Trump loyalists intend to overthrow democracy.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

women's march for equality 1971

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

February 25, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

The last several days have seen a Republican stampede to distance the party from the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision of a week ago, when it ruled that embryos frozen for in vitro fertilization (IVF) should be considered children and that their injury can be treated like injury to a child. That decision has led major healthcare providers in Alabama to stop IVF procedures out of fear of prosecution. 

IVF is very popular—about 2% of babies born in the U.S. are the product of IVF—and Republicans recognize that endangering the procedure has the potential to be a dealbreaker in the upcoming election.

The fury at the Alabama decision of those who have spent years and tens of thousands of dollars in their quest to be parents was articulated yesterday in a conversation between Abbey Crain and Stephanie McNeal of Glamour, in which Crain recounted her five-year IVF journey and noted that the Alabama justice who wrote the decision, Jay Mitchell, “who,” as she said, “lives five miles down the road from me, goes to a church that people in my circle go to, and has children in schools in my community, has more of a say in whether and when I get to be a mom than me.” 

The Alabama decision is a direct result of the June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, decided thanks to the three religious extremists former president Trump nominated to the Supreme Court. That decision referred to fetuses as “unborn human being[s]” when it overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision recognizing the constitutional right to abortion. The Alabama decision cited the Dobbs case 15 times, relying on it to establish that “the unborn” are “living persons with rights and interests.”

Republicans are now denying they intended to halt IVF with their antiabortion stance and their appointment of religious extremists to the courts. But that position doesn’t square with the fact that since the Dobbs decision, they have pressed for so-called personhood laws, laws that give the full rights of a person to an embryo from the time of conception. Since Dobbs, sixteen state legislatures have introduced personhood laws, and four Republican-dominated states—Missouri, Georgia, Alabama, and Arizona, although Arizona’s has been blocked—have passed them. 

In the U.S. House of Representatives, Republicans introduced a national personhood bill as soon as they took control in January 2023. The bill, titled “Life at Conception Act,” currently has 124 co-sponsors, including House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). On Friday, Johnson claimed to support IVF, raising the question of what exactly that support for IVF means, considering the process requires discarding certain embryos.

In the U.S. Senate, Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced a “Life at Conception Act” on January 28, 2021. It currently has 18 co-sponsors, including Steve Daines (R-MT), who is the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the official campaign organization to elect Republican senators. On Friday the NRSC distributed a memo to candidates telling them to “align with the public’s overwhelming support for IVF and fertility treatments.” 

While it is the IVF story that has garnered the most attention this weekend—likely because it has obvious implications for the 2024 election and Republicans have tried to rush away from it—it is simply a different facet of a larger story: the leaders of the Republican Party are working to overthrow democracy.

On February 15, news broke that Alexander Smirnov, the informant who had provided the “evidence” that then–vice president Joe Biden and his son had each taken a $5 million bribe from the Ukrainian oil and gas company Burisma, had been indicted by a federal grand jury for lying and “creating a false and fictitious record.” On February 20, Trump-appointed Special Counsel David Weiss of the Justice Department filed a document concluding that Smirnov has “extensive and extremely recent” ties with “Russian intelligence agencies.” 

The use of Russian disinformation to destabilize democracy in the U.S. looks much like the information warfare Russia has used to establish Ukrainian leaders that worked for the Kremlin. It was the ouster of one of those leaders, Viktor Yanukovych, in the 2014 Maidan Revolution ten years ago that prompted Russian president Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine later that year. Yanukovych won office with the help of American political consultant Paul Manafort, who advised and, briefly, chaired the Trump campaign in 2016, when it weakened the Republican party’s platform plank that supported arming Ukraine against Putin after his 2014 invasion.

Seeding lies about corruption that came from Russian-linked Ukrainians was central to Trump’s 2019 impeachment: his phone call to Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky demanding Zelensky announce an investigation into Burisma and Joe Biden’s son Hunter was part of an attempt to create dirt on the Bidens. That call happened after Trump’s advisor Rudy Giuliani went to Ukraine, where he talked to “an active Russian agent,” according to the FBI. FBI agents warned Giuliani that he was a target of Russian disinformation.  

That poison has now spread from Trump’s rogue team in the White House to the Republican Party itself, which has apparently been carrying water for Putin at the very center of our government. 

Meanwhile, under pressure from Trump loyalists in the House, Speaker Johnson is refusing to take up a measure to aid Ukraine in its resistance to Russia’s 2022 invasion. Such a measure is popular in the U.S., both among the population in general and among lawmakers. While other countries can provide funds, only the U.S. has enough of the required war matériel Ukraine so desperately needs. Already, Russia has managed to retake the key city of Avdiivka because Ukraine’s troops don’t have enough ammunition, and today Jimmy Rushton, a Kyiv-based foreign policy analyst, quoted a Ukrainian officer’s report that they can’t “medivac our guys from the contact line anymore because we don’t have any artillery ammunition to suppress the Russians. We have to leave them to die.”

The reluctance of House Republicans to support Ukraine has global implications. Putin is trying to tear up the rules-based international order that has protected international boundaries since World War II, while Trump has threatened to destroy the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that holds back Russian aggression. In the Wall Street Journal on Friday, chief foreign affairs correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov noted that European countries are worried that the U.S. will not defend its allies, while Putin has made “a de facto military alliance with the rogue regimes of North Korea and Iran while growing closer and closer to authoritarian China.”

European nations have expanded their own military production and support for Ukraine; Poland and the Baltic states have invested far more in their militaries than NATO’s threshold of 2% of a nation’s gross domestic product. In the Washington Post, Michael Birnbaum reported Friday that some of the nations that border Russia are looking again at land mines, concertina wire, and trenches—the technology of last century’s wars—to protect themselves from a Russian invasion. 

Putin and allies like Viktor Orbán of Hungary have been clear they believe democracy is obsolete. Far-right extremists in the United States agree, insisting that democracy’s demand for equal rights before the law undermines society as immigration, LGBTQ+ rights, and women’s rights challenge “traditional” values. That ideological justification has led many white evangelical Christians to flock to Trump’s strongman persona.

How religion and authoritarianism have come together in modern America was on display Thursday, when right-wing activist Jack Posobiec opened this weekend’s conference of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) outside Washington, D.C., with the words: “Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on January 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this right here.” He held up a cross necklace and continued: “After we burn that swamp to the ground, we will establish the new American republic on its ashes, and our first order of business will be righteous retribution for those who betrayed America.”

But Saturday’s South Carolina Republican primary suggested that the drive to lay waste to American democracy is not popular. Trump won the state, as expected, by about 60%—lower  than predicted. Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley won 40% of the vote. This means that Trump will have to continue spending money he doesn’t currently have on his campaign.   

More important than that, even, is that it shows that even in a strongly Republican state, 40% of primary voters—the party’s most loyal voters—prefer someone else. As Mike Allen of Axios wrote today: “If America were dominated by old, white, election-denying Christians who didn’t go to college, former President Trump would win the general election in…a landslide.” But, Allen added, “It’s not.”  

Which may be precisely why Trump loyalists intend to overthrow democracy. 

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Russian disinformation #Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson #history #South Carolina Primary #women's rights #human rights #reproductive rights #IVF #religious fundamentalism

[my-chaos-radio-90s-list]

The 90s List

Update: Every Sunday

Last:       April 14, 2024

-

2 Become 1 - Spice Girls

3 A.M. Eternal (Live At The S.S.L.) - The KLF

3 Is Family - Dana Dawson

7 Seconds - Youssou N'Dour, Neneh Cherry

‘74-‘75 - The Connells

-

A Better Love - Londonbeat

A Dream’s A Dream - Soul II Soul

A Girl Like You - Edwyn Collins

A Moment’s Shifting - Anything Box

A Neverending Dream - X-Perience

A Whiter Shade Of Pale - Annie Lennox

Adiemus - Adiemus

Adiemus - Karl Jenkins

Ain’t No Doubt - Jimmy Nail

Ain’t That Just The Way - Lutricia McNeal

Airwave - Rank 1

Alane - Wes

All That She Wants - Ace Of Base

All I Wanna Do - Sheryl Crow

All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You - Heart

All I Want - The Lightning Seeds

All The Small Things - blink-182

All Together Now - The Farm

Alright - Supergrass

Always - Erasure

Am I The Same Girl? - Swing Out Sister

Another Night - Real McCoy

Another Way - Gigi D'Agostini

As I Lay Me Down - Sophie B. Hawkins

-

Baby, Baby - Amy Grant

Back Here - BBMak

Bailamos - Enrique Iglesias

Bakerman - Laid Back

Baker Street - Undercover

Barbie Girl - Aqua

Be My Lover - La Bouche

Beautiful Morning - Ace Of Base

Being Boring - Pet Shop Boys

Believe - Cher

Bellisima - DJ Quicksilver

Better Off Alone - Alice Deejay

Bitter Sweet Symphony - The Verve

Bla Bla Bla - Gigi D'Agostino

Blaze Of Glory - Jon Bon Jovi

Blood On The Dancefloor - Michael Jackson

Blue (Da Ba Dee) - Eiffel 65

Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!! - Vengaboys

Born To Make You Happy - Britney Spears

Break My Stride - Unique II

Breakfast At Tiffany’s - Deep Blue Something

Buffalo Stance - Neneh Cherry

Burning Down The House - Tom Jones, The Cardigans

Butterfly - Crazy Town

[sporadiceagleheart]

This is Thursday April 11th 2024 is for those victims that was gunned down and also for the Manchester Arena victims that was bombed down as well they aren't just rappers wrestlers kids or dreamers but they are angels sent back to heaven Ava Jordan Wood, Olivia Pratt Korbel, Saffie Rose Roussos, Pop Smoke, Young Dolph, Tupac Shakur and Christopher George Latore Wallace, Natalia Victoria Wallace, Shinzo Abe, Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Rev, Martin Luther King Jr., Secoriea Turner, Royta De'Marco Layfield Giles Jr., Davon McNeal, Dajore Wilson, Mekhi James, Judith and Maria Barsi, Janari A. Ricks, Carolyn Kay “Katy” Davis, Christiana Mae “Chrissy” Duarte, Shirley Virginia Ferrell Drouet, Stacee Ann Etcheber, Brisenia Ylianna Flores, Keri Lynn Galvan, Christian Riley Garcia, Angela Christine “Angie” Gomez, Jaime Taylor Guttenberg, Nicole Marie Hadley, Caitlin Millar Hammaren, Linda Sue Miller Hathorn, Aubrey Wright Hawkins, Demetrius C. “D” Hewlin, Rachael Elizabeth Hill, Emily Jane Hilscher, Dawn Alyson Lafferty Hochsprung, Anah Michelle Hodges, Winter Ashley Hodges, Kenzie Marie Houk, Lisa Rachelle Huff Huff, Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd, Caleb Curtis Jackson, Dwayne Clifford Jackson Jr., Honesty Faith Jackson, Jonah Curtis Jackson, Trinity Hope Jackson, Jessica Jeanette James, Veronica Lynn “Tina” Jefferson, SGT Kent Dean Kincaid, Lawrence Fobes “Larry” King, Kandy Janell Kirtland, Russell Dennis King Jr., Amy Michelle Kitchen, Carly Anne Buchholtz Kreibaum, Matthew Joseph La Porte VVETERAN, Cara Marie Loughran, Trayvon Benjamin Martin, Rhonda M. LeRocque, Rebecka Ann Carnes, Adriana “Adri” Dukić, Cassie Bernall, Ross Abdallah Alameddine, Arielle Anderson, Lucero Alcaraz, PnB Rock, Nipsey Hussle, Takeoff, Dayvon Daquan Bennett, Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, Janette Becraft, Eddie Graham, Shannon Claire Spruill, Dino Bravo, Lena Marie Nunez-Anaya, Sincere Gaston, Rebecka Ann Carnes, Annabelle Renee Pomeroy, Darius “DJ” Dugas II, Jason Leonard Abbott, Hannah Lassette Magiera Ahlers, Tammy Jo Alexander, Alyssa Miriam Alhadeff, Teresa Carol Allen, Cory Adam Andrewski, Thomas Aquinas Ashton, Charlotte Helen “Char” Bacon, Daniel Gerard “Danny” Barden, Carrie Rae Barnette, and more

[fairhopeman]

𝐋𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧

The last several days have seen a Republican stampede to distance the party from the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision of a week ago, when it ruled that embryos frozen for in vitro fertilization (IVF) should be considered children and that their injury can be treated like injury to a child. That decision has led major healthcare providers in Alabama to stop IVF procedures out of fear of prosecution.

IVF is very popular—about 2% of babies born in the U.S. are the product of IVF—and Republicans recognize that endangering the procedure has the potential to be a dealbreaker in the upcoming election.

The fury at the Alabama decision of those who have spent years and tens of thousands of dollars in their quest to be parents was articulated yesterday in a conversation between Abbey Crain and Stephanie McNeal of Glamour, in which Crain recounted her five-year IVF journey and noted that the Alabama justice who wrote the decision, Jay Mitchell, “who,” as she said, “lives five miles down the road from me, goes to a church that people in my circle go to, and has children in schools in my community, has more of a say in whether and when I get to be a mom than me.”

The Alabama decision is a direct result of the June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, decided thanks to the three religious extremists former president Trump nominated to the Supreme Court. That decision referred to fetuses as “unborn human being[s]” when it overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision recognizing the constitutional right to abortion. The Alabama decision cited the Dobbs case 15 times, relying on it to establish that “the unborn” are “living persons with rights and interests.”

Republicans are now denying they intended to halt IVF with their antiabortion stance and their appointment of religious extremists to the courts. But that position doesn’t square with the fact that since the Dobbs decision, they have pressed for so-called personhood laws, laws that give the full rights of a person to an embryo from the time of conception. Since Dobbs, sixteen state legislatures have introduced personhood laws, and four Republican-dominated states—Missouri, Georgia, Alabama, and Arizona, although Arizona’s has been blocked—have passed them.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, Republicans introduced a national personhood bill as soon as they took control in January 2023. The bill, titled “Life at Conception Act,” currently has 124 co-sponsors, including House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). On Friday, Johnson claimed to support IVF, raising the question of what exactly that support for IVF means, considering the process requires discarding certain embryos.

In the U.S. Senate, Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced a “Life at Conception Act” on January 28, 2021. It currently has 18 co-sponsors, including Steve Daines (R-MT), who is the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the official campaign organization to elect Republican senators. On Friday the NRSC distributed a memo to candidates telling them to “align with the public’s overwhelming support for IVF and fertility treatments.”

While it is the IVF story that has garnered the most attention this weekend—likely because it has obvious implications for the 2024 election and Republicans have tried to rush away from it—it is simply a different facet of a larger story: the leaders of the Republican Party are working to overthrow democracy.

On February 15, news broke that Alexander Smirnov, the informant who had provided the “evidence” that then–vice president Joe Biden and his son had each taken a $5 million bribe from the Ukrainian oil and gas company Burisma, had been indicted by a federal grand jury for lying and “creating a false and fictitious record.” On February 20, Trump-appointed Special Counsel David Weiss of the Justice Department filed a document concluding that Smirnov has “extensive and extremely recent” ties with “Russian intelligence agencies.”

The use of Russian disinformation to destabilize democracy in the U.S. looks much like the information warfare Russia has used to establish Ukrainian leaders that worked for the Kremlin. It was the ouster of one of those leaders, Viktor Yanukovych, in the 2014 Maidan Revolution ten years ago that prompted Russian president Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine later that year. Yanukovych won office with the help of American political consultant Paul Manafort, who advised and, briefly, chaired the Trump campaign in 2016, when it weakened the Republican party’s platform plank that supported arming Ukraine against Putin after his 2014 invasion.

Seeding lies about corruption that came from Russian-linked Ukrainians was central to Trump’s 2019 impeachment: his phone call to Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky demanding Zelensky announce an investigation into Burisma and Joe Biden’s son Hunter was part of an attempt to create dirt on the Bidens. That call happened after Trump’s advisor Rudy Giuliani went to Ukraine, where he talked to “an active Russian agent,” according to the FBI. FBI agents warned Giuliani that he was a target of Russian disinformation.

That poison has now spread from Trump’s rogue team in the White House to the Republican Party itself, which has apparently been carrying water for Putin at the very center of our government.

Meanwhile, under pressure from Trump loyalists in the House, Speaker Johnson is refusing to take up a measure to aid Ukraine in its resistance to Russia’s 2022 invasion. Such a measure is popular in the U.S., both among the population in general and among lawmakers. While other countries can provide funds, only the U.S. has enough of the required war matériel Ukraine so desperately needs. Already, Russia has managed to retake the key city of Avdiivka because Ukraine’s troops don’t have enough ammunition, and today Jimmy Rushton, a Kyiv-based foreign policy analyst, quoted a Ukrainian officer’s report that they can’t “medivac our guys from the contact line anymore because we don’t have any artillery ammunition to suppress the Russians. We have to leave them to die.”

The reluctance of House Republicans to support Ukraine has global implications. Putin is trying to tear up the rules-based international order that has protected international boundaries since World War II, while Trump has threatened to destroy the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that holds back Russian aggression. In the Wall Street Journal on Friday, chief foreign affairs correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov noted that European countries are worried that the U.S. will not defend its allies, while Putin has made “a de facto military alliance with the rogue regimes of North Korea and Iran while growing closer and closer to authoritarian China.”

European nations have expanded their own military production and support for Ukraine; Poland and the Baltic states have invested far more in their militaries than NATO’s threshold of 2% of a nation’s gross domestic product. In the Washington Post, Michael Birnbaum reported Friday that some of the nations that border Russia are looking again at land mines, concertina wire, and trenches—the technology of last century’s wars—to protect themselves from a Russian invasion.

Putin and allies like Viktor Orbán of Hungary have been clear they believe democracy is obsolete. Far-right extremists in the United States agree, insisting that democracy’s demand for equal rights before the law undermines society as immigration, LGBTQ+ rights, and women’s rights challenge “traditional” values. That ideological justification has led many white evangelical Christians to flock to Trump’s strongman persona.

How religion and authoritarianism have come together in modern America was on display Thursday, when right-wing activist Jack Posobiec opened this weekend’s conference of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) outside Washington, D.C., with the words: “Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on January 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this right here.” He held up a cross necklace and continued: “After we burn that swamp to the ground, we will establish the new American republic on its ashes, and our first order of business will be righteous retribution for those who betrayed America.”

But Saturday’s South Carolina Republican primary suggested that the drive to lay waste to American democracy is not popular. Trump won the state, as expected, by about 60%—lower than predicted. Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley won 40% of the vote. This means that Trump will have to continue spending money he doesn’t currently have on his campaign.

More important than that, even, is that it shows that even in a strongly Republican state, 40% of primary voters—the party’s most loyal voters—prefer someone else. As Mike Allen of Axios wrote today: “If America were dominated by old, white, election-denying Christians who didn’t go to college, former President Trump would win the general election in…a landslide.” But, Allen added, “It’s not.”

Which may be precisely why Trump loyalists intend to overthrow democracy.

— 𝐅𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟐𝟓, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐎𝐗 𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒𝐎𝐍

[soccerstl]

STLFC Academy U14 Boys

STLFC Academy U14 Boys

Brandon Rolando advances the ball in nn 8-0 win on April 11, 2021 I made it out to WWT Soccer Park on Sunday to take in a pair of STLFC Academy matches. The two youngest age groups were hosting Midwest United (Grand Rapids) that include former Ambush player Stefan St. Louis as the DOC now and Head Coach for the U14’s. Stefan noted that the players had all just returned from a two week Spring…

View On WordPress

#ANDEN ELLIS #BRANDON ROLANDO #CADEN GLOVER #CARSON LOCKER #CHASE MORGAN #CONNOR CHESTER #COOPER LUDWIG #GAVIN WEBER #JACK DIMARIA #JACKSON MCNEAL #JORDAN OIKNINE #LUCAS McPARTLIN #Midwest United FC #MLS Next #NOLAN BURCKE #Stefan St. Louis #STLFC Academy 2007 #STLFC Academy U14 #THOMAS PRATL #TREVOR ARULSAMY #TYSON PEARCE

[uovoc]

2021 media consumption year in review

God tier

On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden - graphic novel/webcomic. Hugely tender story about second chances for the crew of a historical restoration spaceship, and lesbians finding each other across the stars. The negative space in this is so fucking good and every full-page spread punched me in the gut.

Colza - animated short. Farming lizards, aeoroplanes, and gorgeous orchestral score.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead - Tiny heartfelt time travel mystery that unfolds among the neighborhood kids in 1970s New York. Well-deserved Newberry Medal winner.

Infinity Train - cartoon. Specifically seasons 2 and 3, worth getting through season 1 for. it's all about the raw emotion baby!!

Legend of Hei - urban xianxia webtoon about 10-yr-old cat yao's adventures with his human and nonhuman friends. Wholesome friendship and kickass animation.

Cherry Magic: 30 Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard - jdrama. Adachi can read the mind of anyone he touches, including his officemate who has a massive crush on him. Hilarious and tender gay romcom.

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore - for best results read the first 2 Graceling books first.

This American Life - podcast. Interviews and essays from the American public on a variety of topics. Sometimes moving, often fascinating, occasionally humorous, always deeply personal.

99% Invisible - podcast. Design and architecture. "No stories about people. Just stories about stuff." — Roman Mars, host.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - Journal of a man who lives in an infinite labyrinth with an ocean trapped in its walls. Has its weak points, but overall incredible for its surreal atmosphere, gentle subversion of horror tropes, and distinctive narrative voice.

Decent entertainment

Space Sweepers - movie

O Human Star by Blue Delliquanti - webcomic

Leverage - live-action show

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts - cartoon, quit 2/3 of the way through

A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

The Mitchells vs the Machines - movie

Nezha Reborn - movie. Cool worldbuilding, felt more like a videogame though.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vgo - novella

When the Tiger Came down the Mountain by Nghi Vgo - novella

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

Fei Ren Zai - webtoon

All Saints Street (I really agree it should be translated as All Hallows Ave for maximum pun) - webtoon

Tangerine by Edward Bloor

The Eternal Smile by Gene Luen Yang - graphic novel

The Books of the Raksura by Martha Wells - book series

The Owl House - cartoon

Moonlight - movie

To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything - movie

Always Coming Home by Ursula K Le Guin

The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie

A Choir of Lies by Alexandra Rowland

Limetown - podcast

Dark Water by Laura McNeal

Disliked and often DNF

Bitter Root - graphic novel

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

Archive 81 - podcast

Old Gods of Appalachia - podcast

SAYER - podcast

Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego - cartoon

To Say Nothing of the Dog By Connie Willis

The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

Provenance by Ann Leckie

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett

Space Opera by Catherine Valente

The City We Became by NK Jemisin

Too like the Lightning by Ada Palmer

It Devours! by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

The Expanse - TV series

84k by Claire North

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu

Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore

Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Placemakers - podcast

Autonomous by Annalee Newitz

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Ologies - podcast. Got bored after a while.

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis Taylor

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

Assorted nonfiction books

A Slip of the Keyboard by Terry Pratchett - essays.

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer - Essays on the intersection of indigenous spirituality with natural science. Commits the sin of bad science metaphors.

The New Jim Crow By Michelle Alexander - how mass incarceration perpetuates institutional anti-black racism in the United States.

Burn It Down: Women Writing About Anger ed. Lily Dancyger - the essay by Minda Honey was great, the rest of them were nothing new.

Getting Physical: The Rise of Fitness Culture in America by Shelly Mckenzie - concise and very readable history of how Americans have conflated physical health with moral virtue, starting in the 1950s.

Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener - critical memoir of author's career in tech startups. Her crippling insecurity and substitution of personal attacks for critical analysis were… not good.

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Kolk - neurology of trauma. Pretty technical, more targeted towards practicing clinicians than patients.

NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman - history of autism research and perception of autism in America, starting with Kanner.

Vesper Flights by Helen MacDonald - essays on human-animal interactions with GOOD science metaphors.

H is for Hawk by Helen McDonald - full of cool falconry facts in addition to being a memoir about falconry as a quietly feral expression of love and grief.

Loving Mr. Spock by Barbara Jacobs - memoir of author's marriage to an autistic man. Very dated and now reads badly. Quit 2 chapters in.

The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida

Spectrum Women ed. Barb Cook and Michelle Garnett

The Way I See It by Temple Grandin

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman - how the transition from primarily print-based mediums to television has affected Americans' information processing and political engagement.

No Time to Spare by Ursula K Le Guin - essays.

Eating the Ocean by Elspeth Probyn - metaphysical-literary analysis of the relationship between humans and fish. Quit 3 chapters in bc I was expecting more environmental science.

First, Break All the Rules by Gallup - How to be a good manager, boiled down to: don't spend too much time trying to fix people's weaknesses; instead, figure out how to utilize their strengths.

Race after Technology by Ruha Benjamin - how digital automation deepens racial discrimination while appearing benevolent.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain - good insights into workplace advantages, but is suspiciously lacking in any mention of autism.

Change: How to Make Big Things Happen by Damon Centola - how the structure of relationship networks affects adoption of social change. Good stuff, would recommend.

Aliens in America by Sandra Tsing Loh - essays about growing up in a chinese-german family in LA.

The Madwoman and the Roomba by Sandra Tsing Loh - got maybe half a chapter in and DNF.

The Origin of Others by Toni Morrison - meh. At least it was short.

Where Land and Water Meet: A Western Landscape Transformed by Nancy Langston. Historical analysis of how human perception of water and land has directed wetlands management strategy, using the Malheur Basin as a case study.

The Polyamorists Next Door: Inside Multiple-Partner Relationships and Families by Elisabeth Sheff. Ethnographic study of American polyamorous families with children. Pretty good outline of typical relationship models among the sample population.

They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. Meh. I think it's targeted more towards beginning writers.

The Lesbian Polyamory Reader by Marcia Munson and Judith Stelboum. Was published in the 90s and contains more 2nd-wave feminist philosophy than practical knowledge. TBH it feels pretty stale now.

#patter #not pictured: various articles #as well as piles of research papers #year in review #media consumption

[haveamagicalday]

Mystery/Thrillers Recommendations

YA Mystery/Thrillers

1-800-Where-R-U by Meg Cabot

All These Bodies by Kendare Blake

All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

The Best Lies by Sarah Lyu

Broken Things by Laruen Oliver

The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas

Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare

The Creeping by Alexandra Sirowy

The Companion by Katie Alender

The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

The Counselors by Jessica Goodman

The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

First We Were IV by Alexandra Sirowy

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

Hidden Pieces by Paula Stokes 

Horrid by Katrina Leno

I Will Find You Again by Sarah Lyu

The Legacies by Jessica Goodman

Little Monsters by Kara Thomas

Lying in the Deep by Diana Urban

The May Queen Murders by Sarah Jude

The Narrow by Kate Alice Marshall

Nothing more to Tell by Karen M. McManus

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

Royal Blood by Aimee Carter

She’s Too Pretty to Burn by Wendy Heard

The Telling by Alexandra Sirowy

That Weekend by Kara Thomas

These Deadly Games by Diana Urban

They’ll Never Catch Us by Jessica Goodman

They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman

Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus

The Window by Amelia Brunskill

You’ll be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus

Supernatural YA Mystery/Thrillers

And the Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender

The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich

The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy 

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Far Far Away by Tom McNeal

A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Olson

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

Missing, Presumed Dead by Emma Berquist

We’ll Never Tell by Wendy Heard

Small Favors by Erin A. Craig

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson

Adult Mystery/Thrillers

All the Dangerous Things by Stacey Willingham

All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

Every Last Fear by Alex Finley 

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacey Willingham

Final Girls by Riley Sager

The Final Girls Support Group by Grady Hendrix 

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

I Know Who You Are by Alice Feeney 

I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

The Last House on Needless Street by Catorina Ward

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

The Lost Girls by Heather Young

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Mirrorland by Carole Johnston

Misery by Stephen King

Mother May I by Joshilyn Jackson

The Night Shift by Alex Finlay

The Only One Left by Riley Sager

Out of the Ashes by Kara Thomas

Pretty Things by Janelle Brown

Sadie by Courtney Summers

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Shiver by Allie Reynolds

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney

Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young

Survive the Night by Riley Sager

The Swell by Allie Reynolds

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

Who is Maud Dixon by Alexandra Andrews

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

Supernatural Adult Mystery/Thrillers

The 7 and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine

The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon

The Ghost Tree by Christina Henry

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

The Return by Rachel Harrison

The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell 

Tidepool by Nicole Wilson

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

#mystery #thriller #book recommendations #book recomendation #thrillers #mysteries #gone girl #sharp objects #stephen king #young adult #riley sager #alice feeney #gillian flynn

[randomvarious]

Today’s compilation:

Now That's What I Call Music! 39 1998 Pop / Alternative Rock / Eurodance / Britpop / House / Big Beat / Breaks / Pop-Rock / Trance / Downtempo

Highlights:

All Saints - “Never Ever” Janet Jackson - “Together Again” Spice Girls - “Stop” Natalie Imbruglia - “Torn” Billie Myers - “Kiss the Rain” Robbie Williams - “Angels” Hanson - “Weird” LeAnn Rimes - “How Do I Live” Shania Twain - “You’re Still the One” Radiohead - “No Surprises” The Verve - “Lucky Man” Pulp - “This Is Hardcore” Cornershop - “Brimful of Asha (Norman Cook remix)” Run-D.M.C. vs. Jason Nevins - “It’s Like That” Wildchild - “Renegade Master ‘98″ Bamboo - “Bamboogie” Ultra Naté - “Found a Cure” Sash! - “La Primavera” Aqua - “Barbie Girl” Chumbawamba - “Amnesia” Rest Assured - “Treat Infamy” Lutricia McNeal - “Ain’t That Just the Way” The All Seeing I - “Beat Goes On” Goldie - “Believe” Backstreet Boys - “All I Have to Give”

#pop #pop music #alternative rock #alt rock #alternative #alternative music #alt #alt music #britpop #brit pop #rock #rock music #music #90s #90s music #90's #90's music #90s pop #90's pop #90s alternative rock #90's alternative rock #90s alt rock #90's alt rock #90s alternative #90's alternative #90s alt #90's alt #90s britpop #90's britpop #90s brit pop

[kodoku-roxi]

tagged by @theloneloba​  thank u, I'll try~❤ ^^

Nicknames:  Kodoku, Rox, Ghost, Phantom, Fantomas, the artist (don't call me ‘Kodo’! ....please..) (ps: Ghost and Phantom for many reasons. ah, high school days).

Zodiac: ------this is... really.. necessary?... hah ok. Virgo.

Height: no..... just...no........................... 1.62m.. ;-; dude.

Hogwarts House: Slytherin.

Percy Jackson Cabin: ?????? hhhmmm i think... Ares.......no..... Dionysus....no... Nemesis... hhhhhh.... yes.......... all 3..... I don't know if it's ok to choose three..

Song stuck in my head: KAMAUU- Bamboo (for the moment).

Favorite songs: oohohoh a lot of songs! Adam Jensen- The Mystic, Sam Tinnesz- Play With Fire, City Wolf- Face In The Dark, Sam Tinnesz- Far From Home, Eminem- Till I Collapse, Imagine Dragons- Believer, bonus: a lot from AC/DC, Alan Walker and Parkway Drive, and all the songs from Three Days Grace and City Wolf! (that;s not even half of my fav songs...).

Favorite book series: Oh :( I don't have a fav book series, but I can tell u my fav books: The young guard by Alexander Fadeyev, 1001 facts that will scare the shit out of you by Cary McNeal, and ohter books in Romanian (ex: the fourth target... but in romanian...)... and poems... a lot of poems... and ofc crime novels, I like to read about wars or life in the army. And I really really really want to read the Idiot Brain by Dean Burnett.

List of OCs:  That you already know ( i think): Phoenix/ Kodoku, Phantom, Smoke, Viper, Jack, Hero (a cute black viper). And some which i didn't tell you about: Oni, Karma, and others that idk how to call them...

Three fav characters: Mr. E, Loki Laufeyson and Bucky Barnes =w=

Aesthetic: hah idk what to write here.... black-red, caffeine, vintage, music...ghost? ... chemistry... eeem alcoholism? X).. idrk dude sry.....

I'm not good at these things.. as you can see.... But at least, I tried. ^^’

Nnnnext!  @oxoishere  @zfg-orion   @darknessmegatron  @periditegreenwitch  @the-true-pink-ninja    (Filo, Andy, you two are obligated u-u)

#tag game #I haven't slept for 27 hours or more.. and i can't sleep now cuz i have to work.. #i didn't want to ignore it.. it was really fun ^^ #hhmmmh an interesting and fun way to get to know a person

[luxorgossip]

Any desires for costumes particular students will wear for halloween? Cade would be pretty hot as a werewolf

Ooh !! What a fun question, Greyface. Cade as a werewolf is definitely fitting, I agree. Something tells me he’s got a good howl in him somewhere. If you don’t mind, I’m going to put this in list format to make it easier on myself. 

Jackson KingHa, easy. Invisible Man or Where’s Waldo. I would literally pay him to give me this. How much will it take, Jackie ??

Kenzie Horton Wonder Woman, perhaps ?? She’s strong and moraled enough to be her. Someone to look up to.

Balo Driskell Anything cute and fuzzy related, like a mouse or kitty. It’s Balo, you know she’s going to do something animal related, and probably with whiskers.

Maxi StephensA cactus, because he’s so dry.

Logan KellerI’d love to see him embrace The Toad. 

Harley SilvaLittle Red Riding Hood. The red would compliment her nicely and she seems so innocent but good.

Teddy MartinezGenie in the Lamp, possibly. I see him being one of those guys that would want his costume to do the talking.

Isaac King A court Jester, just to knock his ass down a peg or two. Plus, he’d look cute in their hats. 

Maia CroftDottie Hinson from A League of Their Own. She’s got the legs for that cute little baseball skirt and it’s sporty, just like her. 

Isak Valtersen Forky, from Toy Story 4. They’re both ridiculously adorable somehow but I can’t put my finger on why. 

Colin Rook Charlie Brown. I mean, really. He’s as nervous/anxious and mildly depressive as him. 

Thomas Scheffer A scarecrow or Jack Skellington, toss up to which. Both would suit that deathly pale, thin body look.

Ronan Burke An airplane pilot. He seems like he’d really enjoy the irony of a good joke.

Madeline Ward Winnifred Sanderson, the best and most craftiest witch there is. She wouldn’t even have to dye her hair !!

Harry Hart Ghostface from the Scream series because he pops in when you least expect. 

Autumn McNealShe’d make an adorable Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Not a sexy version, either. It should definitely be the original blue outfit or possibly the yellow ballgown if she wants to carry that skirt around.

Janie HallI feel like she’s go as something cute but innocent, like a Bumblebee. 

Alek Addington I’m thinking Poison Ivy. It’d suit for how she’s so bubbly and engaging, but isn’t the best influence on you, either. Perfect combo, no ??

Lucy Beaumont-Peters Oh come on, if she doesn’t go as Cher from Clueless, the world has experienced a great injustice. 

Clarissa Carmichael How about Elvira, Mistress of the Dark ?? Push her as far out of her comfort zone as possible, on that one. Or a pumpkin, because she’s as interesting as one.

Elise St. James The Nun. I get the feeling she’s a real fan of black, so it’d compliment her soul. Or lack of one…

Lia Davenport Sally, the rag doll from Nightmare Before Christmas. Does she not give you those same melancholy vibes ?? And just seems so lost. 

Hazel DavenportA female sexy Beetlejuice. She could definitely pull off those stripes and some green streaks would compliment that hair. 

Mary MclearyA female Chucky version, maybe. That would be funny to see.

Avery WoodsMaleficent !! She has the perfect features and hair for it. 

Ian Kim He definitely needs to be David S. Pumpkins. I will accept nothing less. The people have spoken, Ian.

Asher Prescott A pirate, since he’s such a heart plunderer. Plus, he would look hot and dangerous with an eye patch and fake gun.

Veronica Henderson I know you’re expecting me to say a literal wet blanket but, no. I’m thinking Frank N. Furter ?? Might make her open up more, gain some confidence in herself and what she’s working with because trust me, she’s got goods.

Ches Elswood It, the Clown version but sexy. She’s about the only person I think could actually pull this off and do so very well. I’m dying to see a good clown costume and she’d deliver all the frills.

DP Prescott Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad. Girl must have some sort of screw loose and her attachment to that Maxi kid is about as bad as Harley’s attachment is to The Joker. And, of course, hot.

Blake Sinclair That dude from Baywatch. He would probably love the chance to walk around half-naked and flexing those muscles. Surf’s up, dude !!

Adrian Knox How about a walking penis ?? I bet he’d enjoy being such a smartass and use it as a conversation topic.

Raina Ainsworth She gives me a very Tinkerbell vibe because she’s delicate and yet somehow tough ?? I could see her pulling off that sexy green dress, too. 

Charlie Kingery Wouldn’t she make the cutest Ladybug ?? That would be so adorable. No real reason other than she’s cute, the costume is cute.

Nolan Sugg Hmm. I don’t know much about this youngster yet but I’m going to say Donald Duck. He’s loud and abrasive, but I never said that was a bad thing. 

Lorenzo Russio Kenicke from Grease. Best Greaser there is and all the charm and charisma of one, too. And let’s be frank, him in a leather jacket is bound to be eye candy gold. 

Pietro Carrington Michael Myers. I mean, what else did you expect ??

Savoy MortcombeWe could always use a good Dracula around these parts. He’s tall, dark, and handsome. He’ll pull it off well. Or Frankenstein works too.

Sasha BowmanPrincess Jasmine from Aladdin. She’s got that ‘I’m a strong woman’ attitude and will stand up for her principles. I vote she goes for the cartoon costume version, as that pale blue fabric would look gorgeous against her skin.

#luxoraccepted #everyone #Anonymous

[nsula]

Spring 2019 Honor List

NATCHITOCHES – One thousand forty-three undergraduates were named to Northwestern State University’s Honor List for the Spring 2019 semester. Students on the Honor List must be enrolled full-time and have a grade point average of between 3.0 and 3.49. Students listed by hometown are as follows.

 Abbeville – Annemarie Broussard, MaKayla Lewis, Zabrinia Spates;

 Aimwell – Jonathan Poole;

 Alexandria – Markeyla Anderson, Gavin Arabie, Sharenthia Chew, Angel Christophe, Josyf Das Neves, Joshua Dorsey, Alexis Flowers, Kelvina Ford, Zuleika Fountain, Vanity Givens, Kyle Guillory, Khloe Jasper, Whitney Joffrion, Gustov Johnson, Martavius King, Ashley Koestler, Kasey Lacombe, Taylar Lee, Kelli Leone, Jimmie Magee, Dean Mayeux, Jason McDaniel, Jalyn Mcneal, Ashley Mitchell, John O’Dell, Madison Ogorek, Tiffany Ore, Sadae Polk, Alyssa Rivers, Mart Sampson, Brandy Sayer, Shakera Shorts, Kizzy Slaughter, Kiaijah Thomas, Hailey Urena, Jenna Wade, Alysha Walker, Aalyiah Williams;

 Amelia – Renwick McPherson;

 Anacoco – Rachel Fournier, Angela Guy, Andrea Halladay, Tristan Harvey, Madeleine Hensley, Aaron Norris, Jason Ortiz, Ireland Slocum, Amanda Sorg, Tyler Stephens, Emily Williams, Rhonda Perry,

 Arlington, Texas -- Mariah Denson, Devin Gipson, O’Shea Jackson;

 Arnaudville – Macey Boyd, Bailey Dautreuil, Maddison Janice;

 Athens – Jacob Ellis;

 Atlanta – Ashley Mitchell, Jackson Teal, Jamie Wagley;

 Aurora, Colorado – William Mccullough;

 Avondale – Mikala Clark;

 Bastrop – Alisha Bolton;

 Baton Rouge – Jordan Hall, Melvin Hudson;

 Belcher – Loriann Long;

 Boyce – Lane Robinson

 Baker – Devante George, Cherish Netter;

 Ball – Angel Chavez, Christopher Constance, Bryan Sayes, Vanessa Toney, Alice Wilson;

 Bastrop – Allenicia Arbet;

 Baton Rouge – Mark Alexander, Chloe Castello, Ricky Chatman, Shelby Christian, Briyonna Collins, Madison Harris, Mckane Kinchen, Griffin Lundin, Cydni Millican, Rachel Monsour, Katie Pham, James Steelman, Jharon Whitfield;

 Beacon Falls, Connecticut – Stacey Brown;

 Bedford, Texas – Katina Booker;

 Belle Chasse – Hayley Barbazon, Denim Reeves;

 Belmont – Kelly Bass, Ashley Hill;

 Bentley – Heather Jones,

 Benton – Bryanna Cooper, Steven Gardner, Milla Gonzales, Grayson Isom, Colby Ponder, Blaine Reeder, Hannah Schott, Jackson Mathews, Megan Russell;

 Bermuda – Michael Vienne;

 Bienville – Sarah Macynski;

 Big Spring, Texas – Kristin Wilson;

 Birmingham, Alabama – Emma Wallace;

 Bogalusa – Amanda Crawford, Taylor Johnson;

 Bossier City – Yetunde Adegbovega, Austin Averitt, Abigail Castillo, Kendall Corkern, Cameron Davis, Daniel Dial, Kimberly Eloby, Ri’Kaela England, Khairig Frost, Hannah Gaspard, Margaret Gates, Jacob Guest, Tangy Heilbling, Ashlynn Henderson, Jordan Hunter, Shane Kaiser, Alyssa Kidd, Seth Lowery, Jordan Markle, Rebecca Markle, Jennifer Martinez, Rance Mason, Coby McGee, Alexa Montgomery, Yuridia Olea, Sabri Parks, Shelby Peebles, Brittani Phillips, Rachael Pierce, Cierra Rachal, Litzy Rivera, Gabriela Rodriguez, Madison Rowland, Rheagan Rowland, Dakota Schudalla, Makayla Strother, Trevor Tackett, Kellie Toms, Bobby Trichel, Madalyn Watson, Pamula Whicker, Elizabeth Zanca, Nour Zeidan;

 Boutte – Jose Del Rio;

 Boyce – Savanna Budnik, Timothy Glass, Kaitlyn Miller, Jessie Turner, Julia Watson;

 Brownsboro, Texas – Brice Borgeson;

 Buffalo, New York – LeTerrance Reed;

 Bunkie – Izola Williams;

 Bush – Serena Bonnette;

 Calhoun – Marissa Barentine;

 Campti – Paige Cason, Damarte Fisher, Kourtney Horton, Malachi Lester, Pepper Lloyd, Madison McLaren;

 Canton, Texas – Tiffany Cayson, Jack Dyre;

 Cape Coral, Florida – Karleigh Acosta;

 Carencro – Malik Babin, Chaney Dodge, Harold Williams;

 Cartagena, Colombia – Samantha Arellano Chavz, Edwin Castro Frias, Jalima Dias, Miledys Jiminez Vasquez, Daniel Racero Rocha, Gabriela Forero Salcedo, Sadoc Silva Calderon;

 Cartagena Bolivar, Colombia – Alejandro Dager Carrasquilla;

 Castor – Loxlie Dodd, Hogan Nealy;

 Center, Texas – John Harrington;

 Chalmette – Isaiah Carpenter, Gabriel Ernest, Sara Mendoza;

 Chatham – Jonathan Gill;

 Cincinnati, Ohio – Terry Brewer;

 Clarence – Quintarous Coleman, Kimberly Reliford;

 Clinton – Arianna Parrish;

 Cloutierville – Alexia Gistarb;

 Colfax – Camren Bell, Kensey Knight, Paidin Luneau, Kaitlyn Slalyter, Ontavius Williams;

 Colorado Springs, Colorado – Sarah Wagner;

 Columbia – Jackson McCann;

 Columbus, Mississippi – William Taylor;  

 Converse – Zachary Faircloth, Nicolas Farmer, Victoria Gasper, Wade Hicks, Jared Jagneaux, Skyler Laroux, Ashley Sims, Delia Smith, Triston Waldon;

 Coppell, Texas – Jada Freeman;

 Cottonport – Jacob Harris, Joneshia Jacobs, Christine Lemoine;  

 Coushatta – Journi Brown, Faith Cason, La’Zaria Clark, Jon Hester, Tawanda Johnson, Amey Sepulvado;

 Covington – Madison Blanks, Sarah Shiflett, Jennifer Vo;

 Coyolilla Veracruz, Mexico – Guadalupe de Jesus Mendez Zaragoza;

 Crowley – Mc’Kayleen Milson;

 Cullen – D’Agurelle Epps;

 Cut Off – Zachary Breaux, Kaelyn Musgrave;

 Dallas – Nadia Carney;

 De Berry, Texas – Sarah Britt;

 DeQuincy – Hayden Robertson;

 DeRidder – Carson Brown, Lauren Callis, Maygin Chesson, Sheridan Douglas, Sarah Fulford, Katherine Goodman, Michelle Green, Alexis Holland, Elliott Jones, Ethel Jones, Jordan Mack-McNair, Presley Phelps, Richard-Jayson Puzon, Morgan Smith, Heather Sorton, Madison Tilley, Tyler Wright, Airiuna Satchell;

 Delhi – KeDiejah Cooper;

 Denham Springs – Samantha Burgess, Joni Burlew, Caleb Callender, Zyneshia Jennings;

 Deville – Emily Bonial, Courtney DeVille, Amy Henderson, Ashtyn Knapp, Karlee Littleton, Morgan McCrory, Caleb Rhodes, Marcia Rogers, Garrett Sellers;

 Dodson – Nolan Griffin, Brendan Thomas;

 Donaldsonville – Jermaine Collier, Natalie Landry;

 Doyle – Mackensie Ulrich;

 Doyline – Carmesia Russell;

 Dry Prong – Ethan Lewis, Shian Murrell, Lindsey Weatherford, Ashley Webb;

 Dubach – Oilvia Hancock, Kayla Loyd;

 Dubberly – Audrie Dison;

 Duson – Alexandra Broussard, Desmond Prejean;

 Edmond, Oklahoma – Ravon Nero;

 Elizabeth – Hannah LaCaze;

 Elmer – Victoria Coleman

 Elton – Maia Lacomb;

 Eunice – Tanner Thibodeaux, Emily Deshotel;

 Falfurrias, Texas – Marco Arevalo;

 Farmerville – Adrianna Loyd, Jalissa Loyd;

 Fayetteville, Arkansas – Cody Coleman;

 Ferriday – Dalenesha Wimley;

 Fisher – Hayden Courtney;

 Flatwoods – Lindsey Willis;

 Florien – Katelynn Alford, Danielle Anthony, Gabrielle Bryant, Braelyn Calhoun, Magon Lester, Ashton Remedies, Jordan Weldon;

 Flower Mound, Texas – Randall Ruffner;

 Folsom – Monique Basse, Shaylee Laird;

 Forest Hill – Adrianne Dore;

 Forney, Texas – Kaymi Wheeler;

 Fort Polk – Brittany Chadwick, Mara Eifolla, Jayla Hart, Andrea Marquez, Madison Popp, Amanda. Ridenhour, Shiela May Tabonares, Whitney Tipton, Kiara Turner, TeKweena Wilson, Alexie Sarabia;

 Fort Riley, Kansas – Breanna Bryan;

 Fort Worth, Texas – Charles Gregory Meade;

 Franklin – Zachary McEndree;

 Franklinton – Randy Garza, Brittany Sanders;

 Frierson – Mason Barnes;

 Frisco, Texas – Hallie McCarroll;

 Geisman – Rylee Leglue;

 Guin, Alabama – Taylor Porter;

 Garland, Texas – Joseph Goodson, Kobe Poole, Nia Randall;

 Geismar – Elijah John-Baptiste;

 Georgetown – Kaleb Hudson;

 Glenmora – Reagan Humphries, Abbie Johnson, Kerstyn Johnson;

 Gloster – Caitlyn Burford, Paris Gillum;

 Goldonna – Brianna Calhoun;

 Gonzales – Julie Breaux, Chaquera Caldwell, Ashlyn Chenevert;

 Grand Cane – Sandra Kimble, Ciana Mcintyre, Emily Miller;

 Grand Isle – Abigail Frazier;

 Grand Prairie, Texas – Stephen Garrett;

 Greenwell Springs – Morgan Bellot;

 Greenwood – Leah Evans, Tamera Harris, Trenton Starks;

 Gretna – Braxton Brown, Leroy Holmes, Nadia Johnson, Michael Wilson;

 Gueydan – Hannah Sedatol;

 Hackberry – Lexie Stine;

 Hahnville – Cierra Puryear, Colin Vedros;

 Hammond – Kaylon Wiloughby;

 Harlengen – Frances Knight;

 Harvey – Destiny Johnson;

 Haughton – Deitric Alexander, Shakayla Bell, Katelynn Edwards, Anitra Fayad, Camry Heath, Kylee Jackson, Timothy Newell, Angie Nguyen, Makenezie Rains, Licentra Randolph, Bailee Rattanachai, Kaylee Sanford, Joshua Steele, Megan Tilley, Laura Waldroup, Katherine Weeks, Kacie Wilkinson, Chases Woltz, India Wright;

 Haynesville – Jmarquiez Robinson, Sabrina Sowell, Michael Turner, Allysa Dodds;

 Heflin – Kendall Brunson, Simiuna Cook, Kyle Smith;

 Henderson – Andrew Blackmon;

 Hessmer – Daren Dauzat;

 Hineston – Victoria Carroll;

 Homer – Francene Ferguson, Keyana Mccoy, Mariah West;

 Hornbeck – Lane Alford, Ariel Rodgers;

 Houma -- Courtney Chancellor, Rhiannon Dean, Venessa McKinley;

 Houston – Rafael Bonilla, Jennifer Hitt, Casey Irvin, Natashia Jackson;

 Humble, Texas – Toiquisha Johnson, Furquan Shorts;

 Independence – Maria Thomas-Alfaro, Chloe Whiddon;

 Iowa – Keiona Guy;

 Jasper, Texas – Linsey Guthrie;

 Jeanerette – David Blakesley;  

 Jefferson – Emily Ricalde;

 Jena – Tiara Brown, Braegan Burlew, Candace Decker, Madison Erwin, Jasmine Furlow, Chelsea Redd, Tyler Thomas;  

 Jennings – Destiny Brown, Anayah Joseph;

 Jonesboro – Ashlyn Gaines, JaVonna Lawrence, Alex Toms;

 Kaplan – Chris Hebert;

 Katy, Texas – Brittnay Cecil, Floyd Turner;

 Keatchie – Sarah Plaisance;  

 Keithville – Germany Jones, Shelby Loftin, Cara Lorenen, Maya Porter;  

 Kenner – Emily Bennett, Willie Soniat, Parul Sharma;

 Kentwood – Iris Travis;

 Kernen – Antonia Blattner;

 Kinder – Teralyn Plumber;

 Konarskie, Poland – Elzbieta Iwaniuk;

 Labadieville – Jacellynn LeBlanc, Logan Simoneaux;

 Lacombe – Amy Schneider;

 Lafayette – Taylor Aucoin, Ashanti Alfred, LaToya Bellard, Emma Burlet, Jared Dore, Reagan Guillory, Jacob Hawkins, Qualantre Jackson, Michele Kramer, JaKayle Lee, Paul Martin, Skylar Mccoy, Robert Middleton, Sarah Palmintier, Aishwarya Patel, Tylar Senegal, John Touchet, Ireland Williams, China Young;

 Lafitte – Helen Kassahun;

 Lake Charles – Landon Dore, Camren Green, Joel Moreaux, Jordan Mulsow, Destany Washington;

 LaPlace – Caitlyn Turnbull;

 Las Vegas, Nevada – Caitlin Schweighart;

 Le Mars, Iowa – Shannon Smith;

 League City, Texas – Lacee Savage, Blake Tessitore;

 Leander – Karissa Boswell;

 Lebeau – Sharissa Tanner;

 Lecompte – Logan Cheek;

 Leesville – Dakota Abrams, Cecilia Alfaya, Kimberly Alwell, Jebediah Barrett, Hailey Brantley, Kaylee Buby, Victoria Butler, Anthony Cantrell, Charlotte Cassin, Joseph Cryer, Cameron Davis, Marlee Dowden, Payton Gordy, Caleb Hillman, Hanna Johnson, Zachary Keeton, Lauren Kreyenbuhl, Mahala Lewis, Christina Lluvera, Gerard Lord, Brianna Maricle, Billy McGhee, Amy McKellar, Ashley McKellar, Kaitlyn Pajinag, Chloe Rouleau, Destiny Sanders, Cesar Santos, Dalton Schulte, Erin Schwartz, Megan Trask, Tabitha Vasquez, Marissa Weldon, Lana West, Cheyene Wise, Mikayla Zills;

 Lena – Dillon Guin, Courtnee Hamberlin, Cortland Smith;

 Lettsworth – Landon Benton;

 Little Elm, Texas – Daniel Larin;

 Little Rock, Arkansas – Whitney Jinks;

 Livingston – Jay Gentry-Pace;

 Livonia – Ryann Bizette, Shanyia Haynes;

 Lockport – Malaina Falgout;

 Logansport – Rebecca Tomlin, Shelby Woods, Kendoyle Cox;

 Loranger – Cambree Bailey;

 Lubbock, Texas – Miranda Stroud;

 Mansfield – Tremeon Allen, Latyeauna Goodwin, Nicolette Hogan, Canessia Johnson, Demetric Preston, Madylin Sullivan, Kyah Wilson,

 Madisonville – Zoe Almaraz, Bailey Perrilloux;

 Mandeville -- Mya Holmes, Jalen Willis;

 Many – Jocelyn Cannon, Patrick Colston, Sarah Cross, Timothy Early, Sydni Easley, Kyle Elliott, Tiarra Frazier, Brittney Garcie, Moses Gonzales, Jessie Johnson, Clayton Kelley, Lathan Meyers, Darion Miller, Matthew Peace, Andrew Penfield, Tanner Rains, Madison Rutherford, Aubrey Sepulvado, Mallary Veuleman;

 Maringouin – Laura Scronce;

 Marksville – Regan Balius, Nichole Dauzat, Leah Dupuy, Kayle Gaspard, Olivia Johnson, Victoria Lucas;

 Marrero – Kelsey Brooks, Lius Escobar;

 Marshall, Texas – Alexis Balbuena, Abagale Godrey;

 Marthaville – Dylan Daniels, Veronica James, Thomas Lirette;

 Meraux – Sophie Stechmann;

 Merryville – Kyleah Franks;

 Mesquite, Texas – Eric Renova, Curtis Williams;

 Metairie – Kathryn Bancroft, Madysen Norra;

 Midland, Texas – Channing Burleson;

 Minden – Erin Dotson, Layla Easley, Abby Greene, Karasha Harris, Kiara Jenkins, Donna Law, Asata Sylvas, Jorge Zaldivar;

 Missouri City, Texas – Cayla Jones;

 Monroe – Demonta Brown, Kennedy Butler, Jansen Chisley, Kiara Drumgo, Taylor Edwards, Jaronda Griffin, Prettyunje Hunter, Diamond Knox-Jackson, Ashley Murphy, Keldrick Ward;

 Montegut – Stephanie Cohen;

 Monterey – Rebecca Womack;

 Montgomery – Tabatha Bowlin, Payton Carroll, Gerald Chelette, Hailee Skains, Laryn Graves;

 Monticello, Arkansas – Kamilah Kelley;

 Mora – Gracy Rowell;

 Moreauville – Reginea Alexander, Ashley Dunnam;

 Natchitoches – Jeremy Aaron, Cass Arnold, Aaron Averett, Thomas Balthazar, Adam Barnes, Blake Bechtel, Terrius Bell, Kacy Bonds, Matthew Brown, Charles Bouchie, Santaurus Burr,Ladiamond Burrell,  Dominitra Charles, Kaleb Chesser, Lane Clevenger, Jessica Coleman, Kaia Collins, Christian Cunningham, Sean Day, Moises Florez-Perez, Hannah Forsythe, Eric Fredieu, Abbie Garner, Peyton Graham, Denetria Green, Pamela Gross, Thomas Hadzeriga, Jalen Hall, Jasmine Hall, Samantha Hall, Deshon Hayes, Jett Hayes, Saul Hernandez, David Holmes, Jasmine Howard, Kanika Irchirl, Rachel Jeane, Emily Johnson, Karlee Laurence, Robert Lee, Emily Leone, Christopher Lewis, Helen-Lois Mancil, Wesley Manuel, Savannah Maricle, Brooklyn Martin, Tyler McCain, Lamarr McGaskey, Kristin McQuillin, Joshua Minor, Jair Morelos Castilla, Jakori Morris, Katelyn Murphy, Tori Neitte, Matthew Nelson, Donovan Ohnoutka, Christian Owens, Leilani Padilla, Kenneth Penrod, Eryn Percle, Veronica Pikes, Kenneth Poleman, Katherine Rachal, Michael Raymond, Jeffrey Remo, Devin Reyes, Kayla Rokett, Taylor Rutledge, Shelbi Ryan, Jalon Sangster, Chandler Sarpy, Gabrielle Scarborough, Natalie Sers, Anna Sibley, Athena Smith, Blake Teekell, Joseph Thibodaux, Margaret Thompson, Lantz Vercher, Elizabeth Vienne, Garrett Vienne, Huey Virece, Laurin Waldrip, Jacob Ware, Brianna Watermolen, Anna Waxley, Emma-Leigh Webster, Ellen Wells, Deondra White, Nicholas Wiggins, Leah Wilkins, Shavon Williams,

 Natchez – Victoria Bradford, James Rougeou, Lauren Seawood;  

 Navasota, Texas – Shelton Eppler;

 New Iberia – Mia Bashay, Dainell Ledet, Alex Romero;

 New Llano – Deja Castille, Laura Cowell, Kendra Jones, Earnesta Riggins, Gabriel Vargas, Caden Wheeler;

 New Milford, Connecticut – Lisa Rosenberg;

 New Orleans – Demetrius Boulieu, Nyasha Brown, Damon Carter, Jeron Duplantier, Darlene Fairley, Matthew Gonzales, Omar Hall, RyShaneka Kirsh, Maxwell Martello, Phallon Robinson, Jonae Skinner, Rishard Winford;  

 Newellton – Chasity Glasspoole;

 Noble – Shelby Etheridge, Tiffany McMillion, Krista Rivers, Thomas Rivers;

 North Richland Hills, Texas – Cody Germany;

 North York, Ontario – Alexander Comanita;

 Oak Ridge – Kelly Futch;

 Oakdale – Clayton Ashworth, JaQuanda Evins, Dylan Hamblin, Destani Johnson;

 Olla – Morgan Barbo, Amanda Fenoli, Savannah Kirl;

 Omro, Wisconsin – Jason Kralovetz;

 Opelousas – Keylee Boone, Jordan Brisco, Kenya Gradnigo, Kayla Pitre, Lashante Richard, Kallie Zeringue;

 Paris, Texas – Cody Vorwerk;

 Pelican – Tyler Howard;

 Pensacola, Florida – Mallory McClain;

 Pierre Part – Blaise Crochet;

 Pineville – Savannah Hope Andries, Melissa Barnhill, April Cain, Erika Carter, Korey Cleveland, Luke Conway, Sydney Duhon, Selena Ferguson, Ameera Ghannam, Ollie Gossett, Leia Graham, Megan Jacks, Trey Joseph, Ethan Lachney, Brooke Leger, Rodney Lonix, Sierra Matney, Sonya McClellan, Autumn McSwain, Abby Nichols, James Perry, Hannah Pusateri, Christina Rachal, Amaria Sapp, Elizabeth Shuler, Laikyn Slusher, Robert Tabor, Emily Wiley, Sarah-Elizabeth Wilkes;

 Pitkin – Braydon Doyle, Jayce Doyle, Jessica Jones;

 Plain Dealing – Nicholas Cason;

 Plano, Texas – Asher Van Meter;

 Plaucheville – Alexis Casarez;

 Pleasant Hill – Makenzi Patrik;  

 Pollock – Krystal Bennett, Sarah Hunt, Dalton Kopp, Allyssa Zemp;

 Ponchatoula – Keyadda Brim, Kaitlyn Hawkins;

 Pontotoc, Mississippi – Elizabeth Murrah;

 Port Allen – Evan Daigle, Kaleb Gauthier;

 Port Barre – Danielle Schexnayder, Kristen Sonnier;

 Prairieville – Hannah Beason, Donesha Blount, Lauren Breaux, Claire Credeur, Kristen Prettelt, Lysia Varisco, Elllise Vice, Brady Wilson, Faith Wilson;

 Pride – Ashlyn Johnson;

 Princeton – Katelyn Nattin, Ariell Shield;

 Provencal – Taylor Craft;

 Puyallup, Washington – Aine Oh;

 Quitman – Cindy Crawford;

 Raceland – Emily Adams;

 Ragley – Katherine Greenmun;

 Rayne – Bishop Breaux;

 Reno, Nevada – Sydney Oren;

 Richardson, Texas – Riley Cantrell;

 Richfield, Minnesota – Leah Barnes;

 Richmond, Texas – Ebonie Francis;

 Ridgecrest – Melissa Kelly;

 Ringgold – McKenzie Davidson, Autumn McCoy, Olivia Prado;

 River Ridge – Rachel Chimeno;

 Robeline – Chad Berly, Patricia Goodwin, Hannah Hennigan, Kristal Lachney, Kacy Morae, Ember O’Bannon, Laura Olguin, Morgan Rachal, Hannah Schoth;

 Rosepine -- Emilee Johnson;

 Ruston – Paul Bryant, Tekiren Evans, Jalen Garrison, Seth Hartsfield, Christopher Letendre, Aujani Richburg;

 St. Amant – Larson Fontenot;  

 St. Bernard – Ashlie Kieff, Emily Snyder;

 St. Francisville – Emeria Jones;

 St. Martinville – Belinda Alexander, Jacoby Fontenette, Destiny Simon, Maleik White, Cassandra Zenon;

 St. Rose – Crystal Jones;

 Saline – Makayla Jackson, Isabella Jones, Malayna Poche, Aaron Savell;

 San Antonio, Texas – Matthew Aguilera, Anthony Renteria;

 Sarepta – Katie Ingle;

­

Scott – Hannah Durgin, Tayla Soileau;

 Shreveport – Aubrey Allen, Katelynn Benge, Frances Boggs, Leta Broome, Makayla Bryant, Shatericka Christor, Kesherion Collins, Naterria Davis, Reonia Davis, Hailey Deaton, Miya Douglas, Daja Easter, Deadrian Egans, Meghan Fry, Cassidy Giddens, Savon Gipson, Ellen Grappe, MIzzani Grigsby, Lindsey Hagan, Adrianne Hampton, Katelyn Householder, Shelby Hunter, Jazzmine Jackson, John Jefferson, Drake Johnson, Korynthia Johnson, Zachary Johnson, Nathan Jones, Summer Jones, Alicia King, Lauren Lee, Samantha Lyons, Tiffany Mack, Caitlyn Malloy, Christopher Markham, Andria Mason, Ashley Mason, Tifphany McClinton, Rici McDonald, Claire McMillan, Samantha Metoyer, Najah Mitchell, Brittney Nicleso-Rayfus, Megan Osborn, Tara Pair, Tierry Perry, Christina Peterson, Kalyn Phillips, Hayden Pilcher, Sierra Prelow, Shelby Reddy, Grayson Roberts, Jalisa Roberts, Savonya Robinson, Madelyn Ruiz, Amanda Rushing, Breanna Samuel, Angelica Satcher, Shermaine Shorter, Jackiesha Simmons, Ciara Sipes, Richard Sloan, Kendria Smith, Jessica Sowers, Jamie Stewart, Somer Stratton, Lindsey Stroud, Khalil Sumlin, Destini Sweet, Hailey Thomas, Anne Tibbit, Katerina Vargas, Khamaria Vaughn, De’Andra Washington, Lakayla Whitaker, Gaylin White, Jamisa Williams, Lajayda Williams, Tre’Darius Williams, Kristy Wilson, India Wright;  

 Sibley – Madison Mouser;

 Sieper – Emily George;

 Simmesport – Lexi Gremillion, Elise Normand;

 Simpson – Katelynn Martin;

 Slidell – Terran Cole, Noah Glass, Tristan Johnson, Rachel Reed, Maci Walgamotte, Thomas Garner;

 Sondheimer – Anna Marsh;

 Springfield – Tyler Pigott;

 Sterlington – Catherine Trichell;

 Stonewall – Bessie Cable, Dawson Cranford, Emma Delafield, Emmy Hinds, Robert McAllen, Mackenzie Panther, Maguire Parker, Heather Schiller, Tehya McDonald, Chassidy Sutton;

 Sugar Land, Texas – Jake Gore;

 Sulphur – Andrew Stephens;

 Sunset – Zachary Linville, Lauren Pope;

 Tallahassee, Florida – Edward Clarke;

 Tallulah – Anna Boney;

 Taylor, Texas – Jake English;  

 Texarkana, Texas – Daphne Hammett, Kristin McDuffie, Jasmine Neal;

 Thibodaux – Beth Olin, Cierra Winch

 Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania – Brianna Morosco;

 Tomball, Texas – Natalee Henry;

 Toms River, New Jersey – Jacqueline Manza;

 Toronto, Ontario – Rhea Verma;

 Trout – Makayla King, Haley Lisenby, Kalee Mcguffee, Andrea Walters;

 Troy, New York – Kasey Whitmore;

 Tupelo, Mississippi – Bailey Griffin;

 Ville Platte – Gabrielle Chapman, Nicholas Blood, Andrea Bradley;

 Vinton – Shae Cramer, Toby Stanley, Alayna Zaunbrecher;

 Violet – Callie Maschmeyer;

 Vivian – Kaylee Scott, Chase Lewis;

 Vossburg, Mississippi – Chequira Bonner;

 Walker – Madison Arnold;

 Walworth, New York – Devonne Seelig;

 Washington – Kyeishia Evans, Catherine Stevens;

 Waskom, Texas – Blakely Canfield, Zink Kiper, Laken Thompson;

 Welsh – Autumn Hanks;

 West Helena, Arkansas – Brittani Arana;

 West Monroe – Abigail Beck, Austin Dodson, Brianna Fife, Kennedy Ford, Allison Freeman, Aubrey Gamble, Jasmyn Johnson, Eva Sanford, Madison Shidiskis, Melissa Taylor, Christopher Wynn;  

 Westwego – Tja’h Edwards;

 Wilmington, Delaware – Amy Bourett;

 Winnfield – Annalise Austin, Harli Austin, Rhonda Duff, Kara Grantadams, Rakeen Williams, Caroline Womack;

 Winnsboro – A’Lexus Johnson;

 Woodworth – Lexus Weston;

 Youngsville – Devin Forestier, Devyn Shores, Sophia Toranto;

 Zachary – Laney Davis;

 Zwolle – Kierstyn Cartinez, Dayton Craig, Trenton Malmay, Ariana Martinez, Treveon Perry, Autumn Wyatt.

[bestchoomever]

My Ideal Bionicle Game

This might be a long post... Strap in!

/////////

Since November 14 of 2006, I have always loved Bionicle games. I went back and played Bionicle Heroes again and thought to myself: "What if I were to redesign the game for modern day, as if Bionicle never ended?"

Well, that's the reason I'm making this post. I want to come up with a concept for a Bionicle game that should've happened if Bionicle never ended and still ran on.

So let's state the obvious, I don't own the Lego Corp or have a license to create such game. I do not own Eidos or the other companies responsible for the release of many of the Bionicle and Lego videogames.

//////////

The Story and Plot

So, when I thought about the previous games in Bionicle history, and the more recent Phone app: Mask of Creation, I never seemed to think about what the story might be. But I settled on a list and chose from the top listed, biases aside.

I chose:

. The Voya Nui saga

. The Mahri Nui saga

. The Phantoka/Mistika saga

I chose these because it is the most consistent piece of stoeytelling Bionicle ever did. The Ignition trilogy would make an absolutely great and lengthy game, plus the characters would flourish and lots of old story plots would be tied together, like the Dark Hunters and the Piraka or The story of Karzahni.

I also planned on making this game follow the canon story instead of the goofy storyline in Bionicle Heroes. This would be canon in the sense that it would start at the arc where the Toa, Turaga and Matoran have all migrated BACK to Metru Nui, and there on into the Voya Nui story and so on, following exactly how it was supposed to go. This would also have to be said that some items in the game would obviously be either non canon or simply created to add story and character. It's the case with a lot of games.

The Type of Gameplay

I want the gameplay to not just be action, but semi-open world, where Rahi thrive and the island of Voya Nui is completely explorable, almost like Skyrim but on a MUCH smaller scale. In terms of how the actual combat would play out, it would be a mix of third person shooter and Hack and Slash, using the weapons given to the various Toa as either a gun/launcher (whatever you wanna call it) and a sword or other tool, with some differences now and then because exceptions such as Toa Mask powers, Mental attacks, eye beams from Thok/the other piraka etc.

I feel like this style of gameplay fits the game better as we never really played around the Island or explored to a big extent in Bionicle Heroes or the Original Bionicle the Game. I feel giving the world a more fleshed out and large scale would be better for exploration, which obviously would be heavily relied on.

If you can't the already, I'm kinda using different examples of games to form my thesis here, for example: the open world concept was taken from Far Cry, the gun kata from Devil May Cry, and obviously enough the story from Bionicle.

I also would make no random boss battles by high level enemies, nothing early on like Brutaka or Vezon. If a mini boss comes around, such as maybe Umbra or Irnakk or some kinda big rahi, then it would make more sense to fight it.

There would be a level system for each character, where as you proceed in the levels, you unlock better upgrades and adjustments such as Sharpness for blades or more control for your Kanohi. Your character would also have a bar for health, stamina and Energy, which is crucial in some characters.

Your character would also write in a journal, visible through an in-game tab or notification. These would just be simple ramblings or story pieces or cool references. They would also write down the creatures they have fought or defeated, their stats and the like. This is also where you can change the currently selected Armour, weapons and Attack setup.

Your setup looks like this

Basic attack: Sword swings, jabs, punches, etc.

Power attack: Sword blasts, laser fire, eye beams etc

Advanced attack: Mask Powers and or weapon powers not present.

Elemental Attack: an Attack relating to your element. For water, it's a torrent of water that runs with your energy bar, the longer you use it the more Energy it takes up.

However, each Toa can only have their current Kanohi in that part of the story, for example: you can't give Kongu Mahri Nuparus Inika mask (despite the fact he deserves it). But, each can be upgraded with different abilities, such as sonar pulses or extra attack power.

The Voice Actors

I'm not asking for a lot of high value actors, but have selected a few notable ones.

The Toa Nuva

. Tahu - his Mask of Light actor

. Gali - Emily Rose (Uncharted 4)

. Pohatu - Chris Hemsworth (Thor)

. Onua - Idris Elba

. Lewa - Kevin Miller (Sly Cooper)

. Kopaka - Nolan North (Uncharted 4)

The Inika/Mahri Toa

. Jaller - Andrew Francis, his original voice actor

. Hahli - Kate Higgins (Sakura in Naruto)

. Hewkii - Matt Mercer (MCree from Overwatch)

. Kongu - Ryan Reynolds

. Nuparu - Warren Kole (also Uncharted 4)

. Matoro - Alessandro Juliani (Vakama in the original LOMN movie)

The Piraka

Zaktan - Darin Da Paul (Reinhardt in Overwatch)

Reidak - Christopher L. Parson (Junkrat in Overwatch)

Thok - Courtney Leacock (From the Island of Doom fan movie and yes, is perfect for the role)

Hakann - Noah Productions (The creator of that Movie, and who I think fits the character)

Avak - Jackson Trent (Again from that movie bc he fit the character so well)

Vezok - Fred Tatasciore (Soldier 76, Nikolai from Call of Duty)

Not including Vezon bc he is a boss character.

The Barraki

Kalmah - Jeremy Davies (Baldur from God of War 2018)

Takadox - Michael Dobson (Pythor from Ninjago)

Karapar - Josh Petersdorf (Roadhog from Overwatch)

Mantax - Kevin Silverstein (Torbjorn from Overwatch)

Ehlek - Paul Dobson (Nhidiki from LOMN)

Pridak - Noah Productions (again)

The Makuta

. Chirox - Paul Dobson

. Vamprah - Steve Blum (Star scream)

. Antroz - Warren Blackie (From the same movie as Noah Productions)

Not including Teridax bc he's a boss character

The Titans/Boss Battle Characters

Axonn - Christopher Judge (Kratos in God of War 2018)

Brutaka - Mark Oliver (Garmadon from Ninjago)

Umbra - Warren Kole

Irnakk - Scott McNeal (The Overlord from Ninjago)

Karzahni - Jeremy Davies

Vezon - Steve Blum

Teridax - Christopher Judge

The Matoran

Garan - The voice of Matoran Onewa (From LOMN)

Balta - Nolan North

Piruk - Yoshihisa Kawahara (Genji from Overwatch)

Kazi - Jackson Trent

Velika - Yoshihisa Kawahara

Dalu - Cherami Leigh Kuehn (Lucy from Fairy Tail)

//////

and that's it! Obviously not the best idea ever, but I wanted to jot it down bc it's a pretty cool idea to have an actual canon Bionicle game, and I like to think of the future.

Thanks for reading!

[wineanddinosaur]

Other Half Brewer Breeze Galindo Is Changing the Conversation Around Women in Beer

This article is a part of our inaugural Next Wave Awards. For the full list of 2021 winners, check out the whole series here.

Breeze Galindo left her job as assistant brewer at Indie Brewing Co. in Los Angeles on July 27, 2019 and began training at Other Half Brewing on July 29. “I waste no time,” Galindo says of the 48-hour life change. A few months later, the pandemic hit New York City hard, leaving her with no roommates, no friends, no family, “and a majority of coworkers married or living with their girlfriends,” she says. “Loneliness was a very big thing. It was a very scary time.”

The daily grind of 10-hour shifts and “going to work and going home and literally nothing else” wore on and kept her busy, but as summer came to a close and a long Covid winter loomed ahead, Galindo knew she had to do something. She had a hunch: “It’s so cliché to say you’re not alone, but I know there are women out there who can relate,” she says. She found herself asking, “How many other women brewers, or cellar women, or bartenders are going through this right now?”

In September 2020, Galindo began formulating plans for an event “where women can come together and talk openly and with confidence” about their experiences as brewers or other beer industry members. Her experiences at Indie Brewing Company and the Pink Boots Society Los Angeles chapter, along with support from Other Half COO and co-owner Andrew Berman, helped her prepare for the months ahead. Once everything from the event’s name to its goals and graphic designer were decided on, Galindo launched the Other Half Women’s Forum in May 2021.

It wasn’t exactly expected of the infamous IPA brewery. “Other Half has a very dude-ish vibe,” Galindo admits. “The women’s forum is like a bat signal. It catches your attention.”

The OHWF has hosted monthly events at Other Half Domino Park on the Williamsburg waterfront, featuring speakers from L.A.’s Three Weavers; NYC’s KCBC and Grimm; and North Carolina’s Burial Beer Co. Discussions led by Galindo have focused on sexism and racism in the workplace, front-of-house challenges during the pandemic, and the upcoming session on the Brave Noise collaboration. (The next OHWF event will feature Other Half HR director Leah Riegel and Other Half Finger Lakes brewer Katie McNeal.)

By day, Galindo is still working 10-hour shifts and spends a majority of her time “being very dedicated to my skill, my career, which is brewing,” she says. She’s also a board member of the Michael James Jackson Foundation and is working on a mentorship project there. But she takes her role as Other Half Women’s Forum creator just as seriously.

“It’s a big responsibility on my end,” Galindo says, and she meets with potential speakers “two, three, or even four times” before each event, talking through personal stories they might be willing to share in a safe space. Once the theme is agreed on, she tells speakers “it’s up to you to decide what you’re comfortable talking about,” she says. “There’s a mic in your hand. What’s the message you’d like to share?”

The article Other Half Brewer Breeze Galindo Is Changing the Conversation Around Women in Beer appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/next-wave-breeze-galindo/

[laurengadell-blog]

DAY 23

Today has been another good day. I’m really just happy and content with how things have been going this week! I woke up and made myself breakfast and coffee at home (again). I left a little bit early for class today because I thought I had a project due for my class today and was going to go in early to print for it. I also lost my UCard yesterday (eyeroll) and I NEVER lose anything!!!! I was so frustrated but I woke up to a relieving email saying someone found it and would leave it at the front desk at a room in McNeal for me to pick up. I was so happy someone found it because I was really pissed about having to pay nearly $30 for a new one. Walking into my first class today, I also got an email that said my second class (the one in which my project was due) was cancelled for the day due to a doctors appointment. This was pretty relieving too. I was finished with my project and actually really pleased with it but another could days definitely wouldn’t hurt. After consuming A LOT of information in web design today, I went back to east bank to work on homework. I went to Purple Onion in Dinkytown for lunch and to get some homework done. I got a lot of it done and was there for a pretty long time. I left and went to my room after and hung out with my roommate for a while. We later went shopping at the mall for things since I’m going out of town this weekend and needed a couple things. I went to my sorority for dinner where I ate my favorite food: sushi! I got to talk with my friends who I don’t see everyday too which was so fun. I finally got back later and did some homework, did my laundry, and packed for my weekend trip. I finished up my day with some homework and then my favorite movie: Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief. 

All the money I spent today wasn’t totally necessary. I first spend money on my lunch at ponion because I wanted to study there and get coffee. Since I was getting coffee and staying through lunch time I just thought why not get some food too. It wasn’t expensive but like I keep saying, it all adds up. After that I went to my room where my roommate and I were procrastinating our homework and decided to go to the mall. I got 2 things from Ulta and Bath and Body Works. I get drawn into Bath and Body Works every time and buy candles that I don’t need but just love the smell of. I bought a more fall scented candle since the one I have is summery and almost gone. I lastly went to Target and got some small groceries like allergy meds, coffee, and coffee creamer. That’s all the money I spent today but didn’t REALLY need to. I guess I should have saved it since I will be gone this weekend and will probably spend more money but whatever it’s too late now.

Today I added some receipts to my collection. I got a receipt from all the stores I went to today besides POnion so I added a total of 3 to my collection. My collection of receipts is actually really getting big and I’m pleasantly surprised yet I know I won’t be when I look at how much was actually spent. I got one compliment on my outfit today from a good friend. We have the same taste in clothes so I knew she would like it. Lastly, something new I did today was went to my sorority for dinner without living in the house or going because I had to. It was really enjoyable and saved me some money too. We recently got a new chef and therefore got a new menu for dinners and lunches and so far they have been really great. I loved sitting down and talking with my friends like I did all the time last year and it made me really want to do it more often. 

[haveamagicalday]

Supernatural/Mythical creature book recommendations

 Ratings-- MG: Middle Grade, YA: Young Adult, A: Adult

Ghosts

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake (YA)

The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender (YA)

The Diviners by Libba Bray (YA)

The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon (A)

Far Far Away by Tom McNeal (YA)

The Ghost Tree by Christina Henry (A)

The Ghosts of Rose Hill by R.M. Romero (YA)

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (A)

House of Salt and Sorrow by Erin A. Craig (YA)

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon (A)

The Mediator by Meg Cabot (YA)

Missing, Presumed Dead by Emma Berquist (YA)

The Narrow by Kate Alice Marshall (YA)

Possessions by Nancy Holder (YA)

The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell (A)

The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw (YA)

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson (YA)

Mermaids/Sirens/Selkies

Ashes on the Waves by Mary Lindsay (YA)

Aquamarine by Alice Hoffman (MG)

Beneath the Haunting Sea by Joanna Ruth Meyer (YA)

Coral by Sara Ella (YA)

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown (YA)

Lost Voices by Sarah Porter (YA)

Mermaid Moon by Susann Cokal  (YA/A)

The Mermaid’s Mirror by L.K. Madigan (MG/YA)

The Mermaid’s Sister by Carrie Anne Noble (MG)

Sea Witch by Sarah Henning (YA)

Seven Tears into the Sea by Terri Farley (YA)

The Siren by Kiera Cass (YA)

Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli (YA)

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo (YA)

The Vicious Deep by Zoraida Cordova (YA)

Wake by Amanda Hocking (YA)

Vampires

Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz (YA)

The Coldest Girl in Cold Town by Holly Black (YA)

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (A)

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson (A)

House of Night by P.C. Cast (YA)

Insatiable by Meg Cabot (A)

Witches/Wizards

Bras and Broomsticks by Sarah Mlynowski (MG)

Cackle by Rachel Harrison (A)

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Sterling (A)

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins (YA)

How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather (YA)

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones  (All)

Jinx by Meg Cabot (YA)

Juniper and Thorn by Ava Reid (A)

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey (A)

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (A)

The Salem Witch Tryouts by Kelly McClymer (YA)

Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moira Fowley-Doyle (YA)

When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey (YA/A)

Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw (YA)

The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith (YA)

Fairies

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (YA)

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black (YA)

Dreamer’s Pool by Juliet Marillier  (A)

Fairyland Series by Catherynne M. Valente (MG)

The Harp of Kings by Juliet Marillier (YA)

In Darkling Wood by Emma Carroll (MG)

Stolen Heir by Holly Black

These Hollow Vows by Lexi Ryan (YA)

Tithe by Holly Black (YA)

Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier (YA)

Original creatures/Various

For the Wolf by Hannah F. Whitten (A)

Freeks by Amanda Hocking (YA)

Gilded by Marissa Meyer (YA)

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (YA)

Here There Are Monsters by Amelinda Berube (YA)

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland (YA)

Into the Heartless Woods by Joanna Ruth Meyer (YA)

Not Good for Maidens by Tori Bolvalina (YA)

Silver in Blood by Jessica Day George (YA)

Small Favors by Erin A. Craig (YA)

Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison (A)

Tidepool by Nicole Wilson (A)

The Waking Forest by Alyssa Wees (YA)

What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo (A)

#fairies #mermaids #selkies #sirens #ghosts #paranormal #withces #vampires #my post #non disney #book recomendation #book recommendations #vampire books #mermaid books #witch books #fairy books