#(( Quincy: We have procedures for everyone. ))

[quincysmansiondaily]

Are there only children visitors in the mansion?

"Oh certainly not! People from all stages have come here. After all, problems and questions about life aren't mutually exclusive to children. Sometimes adults need help too.

Although the older you get- some people prefer or simply need a more heartfelt conversation with someone that they can trust and be honest with rather than a more stimulating adventure.

It all depends on the individual really. But it's safe to say that most everyone is welcome to my Mansion no matter the age.

Within reason of course. Can't have harmful individuals on the premise if it risks the wellbeing or lives of others."

~ Quincy 🎃

#my art #quincy's mansion #pinky heart #ic #quincy #answered #anon ask #(( Quincy: We have procedures for everyone. )) #Emmie

[el-yon]

Do you think Ryuuken and Kanae really did loving each other romantically? I mean, Kanae was obviouslu devoted to him, but in your opinion how about Ryuuken? Is it possibly a half-hearted relationship that ended up as a marriage, because Ryuuken was kinda lost in such a painful situation?

"Ryuuken was kinda lost in such a painful situation" pretty much describes him throughout Bleach, doesn't it? Girl he was supposed to marry out of arrangement but he had feelings for gets attacked by a hollow, barely makes it out alive thanks to a bizarre spiritual move, marries a shinigami and then dies. Women he loves and becomes the mother of his child falls into a comma and dies. He tries to keep his kid away from the warring-troubles with the worst approach to it, and his estranged son befriends the shinigami-hollow-quincy-human who happens to be the son of the girl he liked and the shinigami she married, and now they have to join forces to defeat the quincy-king who is responsible for both women's deaths. OOF. Anyway, onto the ask:

I should start by saying that I am not exactly a Ryuuken deep-diver... but this ask does seem like a great opportunity to dive a tiny bit more, so thank you for this ✨-- i had a lot of fun writing this, so brace yourself !

Do I think that he loved Kanae? Yes, and I believe it was a whole-hearted relationship; despite of Ryuuken's terrible emotional aloofness and inability to express himself.

This is something to keep in mind: we know that Ryuuken is not good with expressing/receiving affection, as we have seen from how he handled things with his son. His feelings for Masaki were also ill-expressed; they only manifest in an angst-filled situation when her life is in danger and he resents his powerlessness (even though he was young, Kubo's message about his character seems pretty consistant).

And to make matters worse, we don't have any glimpses on how Ryuuken and Katagiri got together; all we know is that Masaki left the Ishida house, which was (according to Isshin) the decisive move for Ryuuken to detach himsel, and a few years later, Ryuuken and Kanae are married and with child. This may have some angst bittersweet taste to it, but this was actually a good thing. The Ryuuken/Masaki possibility got scrapped during EBTR - letting Masaki go was a post-fact liberating act for everyone involved, so I don’t think that Ryuuken got “stuck” in his feelings for Masaki. They grew up, life went on. 

But let’s dig for his and Kanae’s bond.

The nobility quincy nonsense makes it clear that Katagiri is a servant, but we have these indications that Ryuuken saw their rapport in a different light. When he talks about his mother and Masaki, he seems to confide in her - something that his character would not do if she was, in fact, “just a servant”. On the fateful events, one could say that he told her to follow him when he went after Masaki because it was her duty; but Ryuuken knew Masaki was breaking the rules. It would have been wiser to a) just send someone - Katagiri alone, for instance - but Masaki would suffer the consequences for it, or b) go by himself, that way he would guarantee to be the only one to know about it. Yet he takes Katagiri, and he is certain she will “follow his order” because he is trusting her, and this is my impression of it, but he trusts her in a more intimate manner than just duty-bound procedures. I say this because of *this* reaction:

He could have yelled at her, he could have just trapped her with the arm next to her, but he pins her wrist with his hand against the wall (I mean... come on!!... anyhow, I have come to over focus on hands, blame Kubo for his narrative style)  -- and their clashing eye contact after is really more than a master-servant relationship, methinks. Later that night, Ryuuken may try to deflect it and re-center them around formalities, but Kanae refuses to do so and exposes her feelings. Now, even though his “that’s enough” does seem cold, it seems to me that part of him, the part that tells her “let’s come back home” is actually accepting a) Kanae’s feelings, and b) his own (late) confirmation that this person right there is not just another formality, that the trust he built around her so far was not just based on quincy-duties, but on genuine affection. 

Onto speculation now, but there is another issue: Katagiri is considered “inferior”. From what we gathered so far about his family, it feels safe to assume his mother and/or other authorities (?) were not fond of the idea of her marrying into the Ishida family. Ryuuken probably went through some trouble to solidify their relationship, and I don’t think he would have done it if his heart wasn’t fully in it. 

Kanae was probably one of the very few bonds (a heart, if you will) that Ryuuken managed to build, and when she is taken from him, he looses it in a very Ryuuken fashion - which traumatizes his son on the process, not only because of the autopsy, but because of the entire aftermath. Ryuuken was probably confirming that her death did happen due to Ywach (and there is a major TYBW spoiler as to what else he finds in there), due to being a Quincy, and as if this wasn’t enough to crush him, it informs him that their son is bound for trouble in the future if he follows down the Quincy road, so Ryuuken closes himself off.

The anime showed a frame of Kanae holding Uryu (thank you SP for the heartbreak, by the way) when Isshin is telling Ichigo about her death, but the original shot was Ryuuken facing the window and a small frame of solo-Kanae. Because of the contrast of Isshin over-the-top picture of Masaki in the living room and him constantly bringing her up, it can be easy to think that Ryuuken and Kanae’s relationship was not as “loving” as Isshin and Masaki. But I don’t think that is true - these are two very different couples. Isshin and Ryuuken are two very different men, and Masaki and Kanae are two very different women, but both of them understand their respective partners and their deflection strategies - humor and aloofness -, embrace their love as they come, and build their own affection spaces, each on their own way. 

Ryuuken’s mind might have been troubled by resentment, anxiety and fears over the course of his life, but as far as his relationship with Kanae is concerned, I like to think that there was a beautiful heart right there, that he did love her as well as his emotionally troubled self could, and that amidst all his angst, he was actually happy -- even if Kubo won’t let us see that. 

#also anyone who has paid more attention to Ryuuken and wants to pipe in please do!! #Zabiume's Sailing to Byzantium intensifies for trash dad analysis #writing this made me extra happy for Uryu's emotional growth #gotta appreciate a young man breaking the cycle like that #did Katagiri deserve a over-the-top malewife worshipping her outloud for anyone to hear? #yes #but this lady fell for Ryuuken #and while he was not loud about his feelings #something tells me he did found his ways to properly worship her #sorry for the hehehe moment but it was inevitable #ask #wow that was a lot #i apologize #kanae katagiri #ryuuken ishida

[qqueenofhades]

Sorry I need to vent about Dr van helsing. I’m not even that far into today’s Dracula update, but Quincy saying he’s honest?! He hasn’t told anyone anything! I mean I guess he hasn’t been lying but that’s just because he’s not telling people things, and then he’s getting mad that they haven’t figured out what’s going on. He’s probably an awful teacher; he would def teach like middle school level kids as if they’re in a doctorate program. Imagine keeping that many secrets and being called honest.

Another thing about van helsing, is there a reason why he didn’t just remove her head and do whatever else de-vampiring things that needed to be done without an audience? Like him and Seward saw her in the coffin, then he gets all of her suitors together to go back the next day but her body’s gone; why not just do the procedure that first day, either with Seward’s help or go back later without him? It just seems cruel to casually ask her fiancé if he’ll help with beheading her corpse.

Aha, well, you sent me this yesterday, but I will answer it in light of today's update. As I have said about VH before, he is two things: one, the archetype of the Eccentric Genius With Bad People Skills, and two, almost an exact narrative parallel/foil to Dracula. Dracula is the menacing foreigner who comes from abroad to hurt Lucy; Van Helsing is the benevolent foreigner who comes from abroad to help her. Except as I've also discussed, his methods are so similar to Dracula's -- the secrecy, the unnecessary possessiveness over Lucy, the conviction that only he knows what to do, etc -- that he totally fails at it, comprehensively. All his eight million PhDs didn't teach him any social skills (can attest from personal experience, this is accurate to PhD students). So he's already playing a game of catch-up and often doubling down on his mistakes rather than fixing them, since he's still so stuck in the Only I Know What To Do. And he... doesn't.

So in the last two entries, we essentially see VH waaay overcompensating. It has struck him that it might be useful to have everyone given definite proof as to what they're dealing with, i.e. undead Lucy and the vampire who made her that way -- and in his mind, the only way to make them finally and fully believe is to have them see it for themselves. He's obviously not entirely wrong here, since Seward briefly backtracks in believing him even after seeing it, and it is overall a horrible situation. So VH wants to make VERY SURE that everyone knows he didn't actually kill Lucy or otherwise hide the truth from them (even if he did, uh, kind of hide the truth). So his method is just to go full bore, blunt-sledgehammer of truth, make them ALL see Vamp Lucy so they are all on the same page and have had that same experience, and basically get them into the belief stage as fast as possible. This is, again, after he held off on it before, but, well, needs must and all that.

It is obviously an absolutely horrible ordeal for Arthur to have to kill Vamp Lucy, but it does seem to give him some peace, and her as well obviously, so he's ultimately grateful that VH asked him to do it. There is an obvious narrative/sexual symbolism in Arthur, who was supposed to take the "blood" of Lucy's virginity, now taking the blood of her carnal/voluptuous (LEARN ANOTHER WORD, BRAM STOKER) over-sexual vamp self instead. He has already said that he feels married to her due to the blood transfusions, and this is a dark echo/mirror of the wedding night they will never get; Arthur is LITERALLY penetrating her with a phallic object, as he was supposed to do when she was alive. So they're consummated, in a way, and it gives Lucy her "virginal" peace and purity back, saving her from the dark sexual/physical ravages of Dracula by re-establishing her as a respectable married woman, even in death. So that's why I think Stoker did that.

As for VH, he then finally gets on board with the "everyone should know everything" train, and gives them all a long and delightfully pedantic lecture about the origins of vampires, who Dracula really is, etc etc. Except then he straightaway doubles down on yet ANOTHER of his long-running mistakes: he is the one who suggests that Mina should be excluded from the group "for her safety," when it wasn't until Mina taking this all into her own hands that they got anything done. Mina has been by far the most fearless and effective Dracula investigator thus far (along with Jonathan, #HarkerPowerCoupleFTW). This is despite the male characters' casual or benevolent misogyny toward her, especially Van Helsing's. He gushes over her and worships her as a goddess and keeps talking about how she's really like a man because she's so smart and doesn't have Hysterics!!! like those other ladies! But he still doesn't trust her, even now, to have the proper fortitude for the work, and I feel confident in saying without too many spoilers, that yeah, that is gonna backfire BIG TIME. In some ways, VH is the ideal Victorian patriarch, but as we have seen throughout the book, and as I have written about in previous posts, that model of behavior is repeatedly shown NOT WORKING. His effort to "protect" Mina might be well-meant, but it is patronizing, misogynistic, assumes (STILL!) that she can't do this work on the same level the guys can, and yet again, womp womp, VH is gonna be wrong. Stay tuned.

#anonymous #ask #dracula #dracula daily #abraham van helsing #lucy westenra #mina murray

[cirsiu-m]

"No, I do--" He takes the cigarettes between the first two fingers of his prosthetic hand. He tends to do this the other way around, keeping that part of him away from living flesh, so others don't have to touch it. But that does not matter with Akon. "-Tell me all about my experimental body." he puts the cigarette to his lips and takes a deep drag. He can't tell if it reaches his lungs. It burns his esophagus, though. A large plume of smoke billows from between his lips and out his nostrils. He has a feeling he should cough. But maybe because he does not strictly have to breathe that point is moot, and it's just psychological. He hands it back to Akon. "I don't get the appeal.." and then, after a brief pause "looks cool though.."

The look of distaste on Izuru's face is endearing.

"It's not for everyone. Wish I'd hated it, back in the day, when I started..." Maybe he would feel better now. Less like a dry husk and more like a person. But he tends to forget about that, the second the smoke is in his throat. Ah. Yeah. This is why I do this to myself. The oaky sting of it. Surrounding himself with a fog. He grins, hearing that it at least looks cool, even if a quick respiratory exam would reveal something gruesome.

"Well..." He sighs, turning back to his work, balancing what's left of the cigarette between his lips, talking through them half-together. He presses a button on the centrifuge and the little vial of Izuru's blood pops out. "It's the kinda shit Captain Kurotsuchi's been doing to himself for decades, you know. Otherwise he'd be dead a million times over." Akon remembers, years ago, when that Quincy kid blew a hole through him. "Over time he's replaced so much of himself that now there's really no risk to the procedures."

He slips a glass slide out of a sterile container and squeezes out one drop of spun blood onto it, then slides it under the microscope. For this, he rests his cigarette in an ashtray nearby. As he looks into the scope, he keeps talking.

"But you were all organic when...when it happened." When you died. That just doesn't taste right. Even if it's the closest thing to the truth. "There was a good chance your body would reject the prosthetic, as well as the stents we put in your chest."

He turns the knob to bring the blood cells into focus.

"Hey look at that," he says, mostly to himself. "You've still got an immune system." There's that test done. He'll process the rest of the blood later. Right now he's got a cigarette to finish, a conversation to have, and some genetically modified rodents to look at. "Anyway, it was rough trying to keep you going. I..." He felt bad. Keeping him alive when the body so badly wanted to give up. But he had his orders. Mayuri wouldn't let the procedure fail, wouldn't let Izuru die peacefully. But now, despite the guilt he feels for inflicting what was basically torture, he's glad Izuru's here. "Do you remember any of it?" he asks.

#//you got him talking about Science Things and i love that for him #fuckin nerd #lieutenant . slouching towards bethlehem

[swiggity-swexual-i-am-asexual]

I'm beginning to think I might have celiac. Do you have any tips?

Well, first of all, go to your doctor with your concerns. Yes, even if it’s the USA, because celiac is a... kinda complex illness at times?? And will need a doctor’s verification, which you can only get while still on a gluten diet. You’ll get a blood test (and there’s also a panel thing you can do, because false negatives are a thing, but the names of all of them get me confused, so I suggest googling them for the names in case the doctor doesn’t know), and if it’s a positive test, they’ll want you to get an endoscopy (a super simple procedure where they put a tube with a camera down your throat to check your upper intenstine—it literally took me maybe a couple hours from check in to check out).

But like, most importantly??

Don’t freak out. If it’s celiacs, it’s gonna be fine. If it’s not, it’s still gonna be fine.

It may seem that you’re by yourself until you find more people with celiac, but there’s so many of us!! So even if you don’t interact much with the community, maybe follow the tags (if only to see everyone groaning and moaning about labeling... I am one of those people, haha).

But as for quick tips and tricks for the (potential) celiac

-first of all, until diagnosed, you have to stay on a gluten diet. So, I mean. Not to sound like a doomsday preper but if any time is the time to just eat every damn thing you’ve ever loved that has gluten in it, now is the time to eat it. (I personally gained like 5 pounds in two months I waited for the diagnosis tests to be done, I regret nothing. And if weight is a concern... well, first of all that’s about to get weird because celiac is weird, but I also _lost_ that weight quickly after.)

-Always know what gluten is. And don’t be afraid of that word. Just because everyone else doesn’t have to be concerned about a certain protein in wheat, barley, and rye (also watch out for oats, they are not your friend), doesn’t mean they get to be mean about it. This is literally your health—if there’s anytime you can snipe at someone, it’s regarding that.

-start looking at the things you already eat to see if they have gluten free (gf) labels. Gushers, for example-gluten free!!

-start saving for new cookwear. Yes, you’ll probably need new ones. Do NOT cross contaminate them, aka, use your new gf cooking supplies to make something with gluten. ESPECIALLY IF ITS WOODEN.

-people will forget, constantly. Be firm but polite until it’s ridiculous and it’s obvious they aren’t making an effort to learn. Then you may destroy them.

-also get a gf cook book.

-and check all the stores near you for different gf sections. I used to just do my groceries at a Walmart, now I also (and in fact usually/have mostly switched to) Kroger’s and Food Lion. If you have those stores, I suggest either. They’re usually (usually) good with labels.

-food is now even more expensive, but apparently if you track _your_ food costs versus _non gf foods_, you can get a tax break by claiming the extra cost is essentially your medicine. Don’t... quote me on that I know fuck all about taxes.

-most gf frozen pizzas suck. You’re gonna try them anyways but let me just go ahead and tell you. Freschetta is the best, I will fight someone on this, and Kroger brand is actually pretty good (add on garlic, oregano, parsley, and basil along with extra cheese for Even Better Pizza, to every pizza ever). Sadly, say goodbye to rising crust.

-you will have cravings for the most random things. Including foods you DONT LIKE. Because you can’t have them. But gradually your palette will expand for your new... selective diet.

-you will both hate gf fad people and love them. Mostly hate though.

-people ARE looking for a cure, but be patient, it may be a while. But it’s good to be hopeful—just be realistic about how it might not be up to how you want it.

-no, there is no pill you can take. Surprisingly, this will irritate the people around you more than it will you.

-if you can’t cook—yeah maybe learn. If you don’t make, say, mozzarella sticks using gf panko and rice flour, no one will. No, seriously. No one. (Unless you live in a gf haven, in which case—share your location I just waNNA KNOW-)

-you will be fine. In fact, you’ll feel better!!

-rice is your friend. Just go ahead and get a rice cooker.

-if it’s not labeled gf, you’re at your own risk.

-even if it is tbh because labeling laws are Awful.

-did I mention labeling annoyances because—

-people will call it a gluten allergy. It is not a gluten allergy. You will still need to list it under allergies in every paperwork thing you do for the rest of forever. Including the DOCTOR’S OFFICE.

-you may loose weight. You may gain weight. You might do both. So long as it’s not a severe or dramatic drop/gain, do not be too alarmed

-you will find random things about your body that you didn’t know was off due to celiac that will suddenly present itself. For example, my _feet shrunk half a size_ because of water retention.

-your search history will be weird.

-vitamins. If nothing else, vitamin b12 just TRUST ME ON THIS.

-find restaurants near you with gf things. Ask hard questions. Don’t be afraid to err on the side of caution and not eat there.

-some celiacs report having a higher sense of smell. This is... a thing.

-you will, at some point, go through the bread aisle and feel kinda disgusted, maybe nauseous. Surprise, airborne flour.

-love how your body is getting better and healing, even when it’s... really weird about it.

-pack your own food. Constantly.

-gf soy sauce. It is also your new friend.

-no but seriously, rice rice RICE. I didn’t even like rice until a year before diagnosis but liKE.

-everyone will have questions every time you tell someone. You do not have to be their personal search engine on this illness. We have smartphones. We have public libraries with computer internet access. You are not responsible for the education of someone else regarding your body.

-... people will ask what DO you eat. You can be honest, or you can just say you eat nosey people. People forget that that’s not... a normal question, for the most part, and that it’s actually not their business. (That said, people will ask kindly sometimes!! Or they’re trying to make sure they don’t gluten you by accident—and yes, gluten as a verb, this is more of an experience than something explainable. So don’t be mean just to be mean—but you also don’t HAVE to deal with Quincy Question getting up in your business.)

-people will say they could NEVER do it. They would. I did. You mighty have to. _They Would._ it sounds like a compliment at first. It quickly stops being one.

Essentially.... there’s a million and one inconveniences, I’m not gonna lie. But do NOT go back on yourself, no matter what food you miss, it is not worth it.

Most importantly though—breathe. Celiacs sucks but I’m honestly glad to found out. I mean I’d drop it in a heartbeat if there was like, a cure or a medication, but I was very sick—didn’t even know how much until later—it’s much better that I know. And if it is celiac, you’ll begin to feel better soon.

Also im not kidding, go join some gf and celiac tags and communities. It makes all the little annoyances better.

And celebrate the little things!! Gf cake is a THING THAT EXISTS.

#im... not sure if this. helped or not #but i hope it did!!! #best of luck friend #celiac #celiac disease #ask me anything #blessed be ❤️❤️

[recurring-polynya]

I thought about Ishida and Renji too much, and woke up at 5:30 yesterday morning with a fic in my brain. I thought it was gonna be another drabble, but I think it turned into a full story. Inspiration note at the end, to avoid an extremely mild spoiler.

~ The Letter of the Law ~

Uryuu has run afoul of the Soul Society criminal justice system. Fortunately, he has, uh, Renji.

(AO3 link)

Takes place immediately after 684. Presumes that Rukia and Renji got together sometime during the TYBW. Before works, too, if you prefer. (If that sort of thing piques your fancy, I got you covered.)

I will not apologize for any continuity errors, the TYBW was extremely confusing.

Rated T for language, because Renji.

~ ~ ~

Other shinigami would surely be here any minute. The Onmitsukidou, trying to get Aizen back under wraps? Squad 12 maybe?

Renji sighed. There was no way around it.

"Hey, Ishida?"

The kid looked at him, exhaustion permeating his entire being.

"Believe me, I don't like this any more than you do, but, uh," Renji rubbed the back of his neck, "you're under arrest."

Ishida blinked. "Come again?"

Renji sighed again. "Under my authority as a Lieutenant of the Gotei-13, I am detaining you under the custody of the Sixth Division, Kuchiki Byakuya, Captain."

"You can arrest people?" Ichigo asked, incredulously. "Can Rukia arrest people?"

"Kurosaki!" Ishida protested.

"Of course I can arrest people, I was arrestin' Rukia the first time you met me, you moron!"

"Oh, right.” Ichigo remembered to get offended. “C'mon, Renji, it's Uryuu! Don't be an ass about this."

Renji shook his head, a warning. "I'm telling you guys, you absolutely need me to be an--"

"QUINCY SCUM, YOU ARE UNDER ARREST--"

So it was the Onmitsukidou, after all. There were about a thousand of them swarming Aizen, but they hadn't forgotten about Ishida, either.

Renji hefted himself to his feet. Time to get to work. "Too late, boys, I've already arrested him."

Two black-clad ninja looked at each other, and back to Renji. "But we're supposed to arrest him."

Renji gave a big, genial shrug. "That's a pickle, now, isn't it?"

"What do you care, why not just give him to us?" one of the ninja suggested.

"Oh, we do things by the book over at the Sixth. Captain wouldn't like it if I just went around transferring prisoners without the proper paperwork. You can fill out a transfer request form, of course. You'll need your Captain or Vice-Captain to approve it, and then you can file it with the Sixth Division front office. I should warn you, though, we've been short-staffed lately, so we may not get to it right away."

"What. Is. Happening?" Ichigo murmured.

"Due process," Renji replied cheerfully. "Sorry, Uryuu, I'm gonna have to take you in. Don't worry, Ichigo, I won't let him outta my sight. I’m sure you’re gonna be real busy for the near future." Renji clapped Uryuu on the shoulder. "Don't you worry either. If anyone can utterly bog down the Gotei-13 legal process by fucking up paperwork... it's me."

~ ~ ~

"Here's a blanket," Renji said, shoving it between the bars. "And I brought you some books." He passed them through one at a time. "This one's historical fiction…this one's a literary novel that was real popular a few years ago...this one's non-fiction, about the history of zanjutsu...and here's some shitty vampire manga I keep around for when Rukia comes over. I didn't know what you liked, so I tried to bring over a bunch of different things."

"These are... your  books?"

Renji raised one eyebrow. "Whose else would they be?"

Ishida turned one of the books over his hand. They were cheaply printed paperbacks, the paper much rougher than you’d find in the Living World, the spines all utterly bent and creased to hell. "I, uh, didn't know they had popular books in Soul Society."

Renji narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn'ta guessed I read for fun, is what you mean."

Uryuu took a deep breath. "I assumed. I'm sorry." He turned over the historical novel curiously. "Looks like you’ve read this one a few times."

"That's my favorite book." Renji was thoughtful for a moment. “You got ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’ in the Living World, right? It’s a little like that.”

Uryuu raised both eyebrows. "I'll give it a try."

Renji shrugged. "I won't judge you if you read the vampire manga. Anything else I can get for ya? Tea? Playing cards? Get you some ink so you can work on your prison tats?"

"I'll, ah, pass. Um, is there a way to get someone's attention, if I need something?"

"Oh, I'm not leaving you alone down here."

Ishida blinked. “What?”

Renji leaned up against the bars of the cell. “You can trust any and all of the Squad 6 folks on duty down here, I hand-picked 'em. But Squad 2 and 12 are both after you, and they’re lying, tricky bastards, one and all. That’s to say nothing of any of your old Quincy pals we might not’ve caught. Everything outside of this barracks is chaos right now, and I’m not about to get caught on my laurels, so I’m just gonna bring my paperwork down here and hang out with my ol’ buddy Uryuu until the rest of the captains get back.”

“You give all your prisoners this much personal attention?”

Renji shrugged. “Only the ones who don’t make fun of my eyebrows.”

~ ~ ~

Renji leaned back so his chair balanced on the back two legs. The back thunked against the bars of the holding cell. "The problem is," he drawled, "that Squad 3 has  also  requested a prisoner transfer. And they got their paperwork in first."

The Squad 2 flunky clutched his approved Form PTR-0003-36A like a lifeline. "What do I do with this, then?"

"Oh, I'll take it," Renji offered, delicately plucking the crumpled form from the man's sweaty hands. "But since there's more than one request, it will require adjudication, which means I'll have to wait until my captain gets back."

"When will that be?" the Onmitsukidou squeaked.

"Hard to say," Renji shrugged, shaking his head. "As far as I know he's still in the Royal Realm, and I don't have any way to communicate with him directly."

"What if we got Squad 3 to retract their request?"

"Worth a try, I s'pose. I've already started processing it though, so they'll need to file a formal withdrawal, and they'll probably want to document that it was at the request of another squad, so made sure they attach a Schedule E. That’s ‘E’, like earwax, not ‘D’ like dead dodo."

The ninja slunk off, mumbling "E, not D" to himself.

"Or maybe it was Schedule D,” Renji replied airly, scratching his head. “Or maybe even Schedule C.  Who can keep them all straight? Anyhoo, Squad 12 will probably have submitted one of these by the time he gets Kira to back off," he mused, glancing over the form. "Oh, they spelled your name wrong, too, that'll gum things up for sure."

"What does Squad 3 want with me?" Uryuu asked suspiciously, from the other side of the bars.

"Nothin'. I just asked Kira to fill one out. For funsies. You probably owe that guy a drink." Renji thought for a moment. "Actually, I'm not sure he'll be drinking anytime soon. But I bet he's in the market for a real classy lookin' cape, or maybe, like, a caftan? Is that the right word?"

“A flowy garment that a woman of a certain age wears for drinking wine?”

“Yeah, yeah!” Renji nodded. “‘Zactly. Matsumoto has one.”

"Hmmm," Uryuu frowned. “I’ll think about it.” He tried to get back into his book, but after reading the same paragraph three times, he closed it. "There's really no way to communicate with the Royal Realm? I was just wondering when everyone-- I mean, if Inoue and Sado--"

"I absolutely did not say that,” Renji clarified. “I said there's no way t'contact  my Captain directly  , because that old fogey refuses to carry a spirit phone. If I wanna talk to him, I gotta call Rukia and get her to hand him  her  phone. What a pain, am I right? Anyway, I talked to 'em all this morning. They'll be back in about two days, maybe sooner."

~ ~ ~

Renji banged his way into the 6th Division front offices. "What is all the commotion up here?" he hollered.

"Renji!" Orihime cried, her voice cracking with relief.

Renji stopped cold. It seemed very weird to see his human friends here, in his office, in the place where he spent most of his time reviewing mission reports and working out tactical exercises with Captain Kuchiki and mainlining too-strong tea in order to stay awake until quitting time. Much weirder than seeing Ishida down in his holding cell.

"That's Assistant Captain Abarai to you, " Third Seat Ohno snapped peevishly.

Renji rolled his eyes so hard it was practically audible.

“We’re here to see Ishida,” Chad demanded. “He’s our friend.”

"This is not the Coordinated Relief Station! We do not have  visiting hours !" Ohno went on. He turned to Renji. "These ryouka want to see the prisoner, which, of course, is simply out of the question." As irritating as the guy was, Renji really had to hand it to ol’ Third Seat Ohno. He’d done an absolutely masterful job of gleefully kicking out all the secret police and mad scientists and generalized revenge seekers that had been mobbing the offices for days. The guy did not believe in exceptions. Which meant this was going to require some creativity.

"Yeeeeeahhh," Renji frowned. "We can't just let anyone go down there. Ishida's a dangerous criminal, you know, and a member of a widespread secret alliance and we got procedures to follow, and regulations stating the number of unauthorized personnel allowed in restricted areas…" As soon as he noticed Ohno close his eyes and start to nod along smugly, Renji started pointing to himself and miming punching himself in the face.

Chad might be soft-spoken, but he was not slow on the uptake. He pulled back his fist and slugged Renji in the jaw, at roughly 1/10 of his usual strength.

"That's assault of an officer!" Renji declared, trying to shake off the blow. 1/10 of a Chad punch was still an awful lot of punch.  "You're under arrest, I'm throwing you in the brig!"

Orihime was also not slow on the uptake, although she sometimes she got her exits confused and ended up on the wrong uptake. Her fist smashed into Ohno's nose at 100% of her full strength. "You'll never take me alive, coppers!" she yelled.

From the floor, Ohno whimpered.

"I will," Renji corrected her. "I will most definitely take you alive. I will take you down to the brig, where Uryuu is. Because you are also under arrest."

"Oh! Right!" Orihime cheerfully agreed.

"My noooose," wailed Ohno.

An hour later, Orihime and Chad departed Squad 6, released on their own recognizance.

 ~ ~ ~

"LIEUTENANT ABARAI!"

Renji's disheveled head poked out of Holding Cell B, blinking muzzily. His hair was a rat's nest, his jaw was blue with stubble, and his shihakusho looked distinctly  lived in.

Captain Kuchiki swept in on a breeze of cherry blossoms and efficiency. His silks were spotless, his hair perfect. He looked like he had just returned from a relaxing vacation. His sister trailed behind him, a 4’9” echo of his own perfection.

"What have I told you about napping in the holding cells?"

Renji hopped to attention. "Welcome back, sir! And if it's more than three consecutive hours, it's not a nap, it's plain ol' sleepin', sir."

"That's some nonsense, Lieutenant," Lieutenant Kuchiki chided him, making a face that she had clearly appropriated from her elder sibling.

"Welcome back, to you, too,  Lieutenant ," Renji replied, unable, or perhaps unwilling to keep the joy off his face at seeing her again.

"Why are you down here?" Byakuya demanded.

"Got a person of interest here, sir, didn't want to leave him unguarded."

Byakuya regarded him with lidded eyes. "Yes, I have already heard quite a bit of angry complaining about your 'person of interest' from  multiple  other captains."

"It's the paperwork, sir. It's a morass. But I want this done right, I refuse to rush. Crossin' every t, dottin' every i. That's the Squad 6 way, am I right?"

"Of course, Lieutenant. I know what a….stickler you are for these things."

"In fact, sir, I got in a request yesterday that I'd really like some of your expertise in processing. Bit complicated. Political."

Byakuya nodded. "Fine. Meet me upstairs in the office in ten minutes." He glanced sideways at Rukia, who was holding up one finger on her left hand and five on her right and mouthing the word “fifteen” hopefully. A strange, pained look crossed his face, as though he were trying to prevent some glaring new piece of information from actually making its way into his brain. Stubborn obliviousness appeared to win this round. "Make that fifteen minutes." He turned on his heel and glided out.

Rukia scowled at Renji, jerking her thumb toward Uryuu, who did not bother to look up from his book. "You given this idiot what for, yet?"

Renji shrugged. "Not really. I figured he’d get enough grief from everyone else. And he was with us in the end."

"I don't mean that! I mean worrying his friends, the jerk!"

"Rukia," Renji said gently, taking her hand in his. "Is this really how you want to spent the first fifteen minutes you’ve seen me in three days?"

Rukia stiffened, and her voice lowered to a whisper. "Did you tell him that we're…?" she pointed back and forth rapidly between the two of them, and jerked her head to the side twice meaningfully.

"Together?" Renji suggested. "The word is 'together.'"

"He wouldn't shut up about it," Uryuu added. "Congratulations." He turned a page. "Or condolences. One or the other."

Rukia made a face she usually made at Ichigo. "Thanks," she finally sputtered. Then she grabbed a fistful of Renji's kosode, and hauled him into Holding Cell B.

Uryuu turned another page. "Took you long enough."

 ~ ~ ~

"Glad to see everyone here with so much enthusiasm today," Captain-General Kyouraku said, clapping his hands. "The quicker we get started, the quicker we'll be done! Nanao, do you have my list?"

"There's been a request that item 7 be moved to the top of the agenda," Lieutenant Ise informed him as she passed over a sheet of paper.

His eyes skimmed it. "Well, that seems fine. I've received the approval to name Kuchiki Rukia as Acting Captain of the 13th Division. I know my good friend, Juushirou, had the utmost confidence in her, and I think it's a very appropriate appointment. Are there any objections?"

If there were, no one felt like a big enough jerk to voice them while the Captain-General was getting misty about his fallen companion.

"Wonderful! Congratulations, Kuchiki, please reach out to me if you need any assistance."

"Me," Nanao corrected. "Please reach out to me."

"Thank you, sir!" Rukia barked. "I will do my best!"

"Next...oh, dear. I guess we need to discuss the Ishida boy, who, apparently is in the custody of the Sixth Division?"

Captains Kurotsuchi and Soi Fon both started talking at once, and then Captain Otoribashi started in once someone mentioned Squad 3. Captain Hitsugaya and Acting-Captain Kuchiki both had strong opinions on the matter. Then Captain Hirako started talking because he liked to talk while other people were talking.

"All of this is moot.” The room went quiet. Even though he wasn’t particularly loud, people tended to shut up when Captain Kuchiki bothered to say something. “We have received a request for the prisoner's extradition, on the grounds that he has a right to be tried in his realm of origin, by his own people."

"What?!" Kurotsuchi squawked. "We don't have any diplomatic relations with the Quincy."

"The Quincy of the World of the Living, to be exact. My lieutenant will explain," Byakuya could barely keep the boredom out of his voice. Not that he was trying.

"Uh, technically, we do,” Renji explained. “There's a binding legal entity between Division 13 and all officially appointed shinigami substitutes, of which there is currently one, who happens to be of Quincy heritage and domiciles in the World of the Living."

"Oh, no," Soi Fon groaned.

Renji went on, "And furthermore, there's precedent, namely the previous Captain-General releasing the body of Fullbringer Kuujo Ginjou into Kurosaki Ichigo's custody." Renji blew air out of his cheeks. He hated talking in captains’ meetings.

"So Kurosaki Ichigo has already filed his request?" the Captain-General asked, bumping his hat aside to scratch his head.

"It's already been processed, it just needs my signature," Rukia replied. "Now that I am officially Acting-Captain." She gave a dirty look to the captains of 2 and 12.

"Well, that all seems very neat and tidy," Kyourakou congratulated, amid the groans of his captains. "Great job, everyone. Thanks for taking care of that. Uh....this was the Quincy that was on our side, right? The nice boy with the glasses?"

~ ~ ~

“I should thank you,” Uryuu said quietly, as Renji led him through the shattered streets of the Seireitei.

“Eh, you woulda done the same for me.”

Uryuu was very quiet.

Renji looked at the boy out of the corner of his eye. “Look, man. Every time we go anywhere, you say you aren’t gonna help and you hate shinigami and we ain’t your friends, and the rest of us have learned to ignore you, because you always turn up when the shit hits.” He palmed Uryuu’s head and shook it playfully a few times. “You should learn to ignore you, too. I tell ya, you woulda done the same for me.”

Uryuu snorted. “Still. Thanks.” He gave a small smile. “I liked your book, by the way. Is there any way to get books back and forth from the World of the Living? I think I have one you might like.”

“Oh yeah?” Renji asked, raising an eyebrow. “Talk to Yadamarou. I’ll give it a shot.”

Everyone was waiting in a neat line at the Senkaimon, when they crested the hill.

"Ya did it," Ichigo hollered on behalf of everyone. "You got yourself kicked outta Soul Society, just like you always wanted."

“Well,” Renji said, "I guess this is it for us." Then he twisted Uryuu into a headlock, and proceeded to noogie him to within an inch of his life. Everyone else watched, solemnly, while Uryuu squirmed and yelped. Finally, Renji let him free. "I release him into your custody, Acting-Captain Kuchiki."

"Thank you, Lieutenant Abarai." Rukia turned to her young friend, who was gripping his scalp and cowering. "I do not envy you. His knuckles are like friggin' boulders."

"Diamonds," Uryuu whimpered.

Then Rukia grabbed Ishida’s ear and  twisted.

"Owowoeewoow!"

She hauled him a few yards away from the group, and pulled his ear down to the level of his mouth. "Listen up, nerd. I am not planning some Kuchiki-ass, high society wedding without your help, you buttface. You have until that dummy over there decides to propose in order to get back in the good graces of the Gotei-13, you hear me?"

Uryuu tried to escape her iron grip and failed. "That could be the rest of my natural lifetime."

"It could be,” she agreed. “Or it could be  tomorrow . You know how he is. So get on it."

It struck Ishida that he  did know how Abarai was. And Kuchiki, as well. How had this happened? He blamed Kurosaki. He huffed. “Can’t you just go down to City Hall or whatever?”

Rukia looked hurt. “I didn’t say I didn’t  want  a fancy wedding. I just said I wanted you to help me with it. And y’know. Be there.”

“Oh,” Uryuu replied. “Oh. I”ll, uh...I’ll do my best.”

Rukia smiled. “Thanks.” She dragged him back over to the others and shoved him in the general direction of Ichigo. "Here you go, Substitute Shinigami and Quincy Cultural Attache, he's your problem now."

"Thank you, Shorty McCaptainface," Ichigo proclaimed formally. "Ishida Uryuu, you have been tried by a jury of your peers (that’s us), and been found guilty of  being a crummy friend. You have been sentenced to the following: You will come to the next three movie nights, even if it's Keigo's turn to pick the movie, and you will bring those weird little pink French cookies you made that one time!"

"They were macarons."

"You will answer your texts within 2 business days, even if it's just a smiley face!"

"You're the one who doesn't answer his texts for weeks on end."

"You will let us wear your cape for five minutes each while we make fun of you!"

Uryuu sighed.

"And you will promise to trust us and let us help you and not join our enemies in order to betray them without telling us first, you got it?!"

Uryuu sighed  louder. "I promise."

"And!" Orihime added, "you will bring it in for a  group hug!"

This had presumably been planned, because the three humans immediately tackled their friend in what looked like a well-practiced maneuver, with Orihime coming in from the back, Ichigo from the front, and Chad coming in last, enclosing everyone with his huge wingspan. Uryuu exhaled one final sigh of long-sufferance, the lament of a man cursed with excellent friends.

"Shinigami are not excused from this!" Chad rumbled, and suddenly, Rukia had wormed her way  into the middle , and Renji piled in opposite Chad.

"I promise I will be better," Uryuu from somewhere in the middle of all this.

"See that you do!" Ichigo shouted. "Also, I think you owe Renji, like, ten million yen in legal fees."

“I accept payment in little pink cookies!”

~ end

End note: While I was writing the group hug, I realized that I was just describing one of my all-time favorite pieces of fanart, by the very talented @chameshida I hope this fic has managed to capture a tiny fraction of that energy.

#bleach fanfiction #uryuu ishida #renji abarai #renji uryuu brotp #the rest of the nakama are here too #my fanfic #jail friends #abarai renji ace attorney

[statetalks]

Who Is Better Republicans Or Democrats

Reality Check 3: The Democrats Legislative Fix Will Never Happenand Doesnt Even Touch The Real Threats

Republicans or Democrats: Who is better for the economy?

Its understandable why Democrats have ascribed a life-or-death quality to S. 1, the For the People bill that would impose a wide range of requirements on state voting procedures. The dozensor hundredsof provisions enacted by Republican state legislatures and governors represent a determination to ensure that the GOP thumb will be on the scale at every step of the voting process. The proposed law would roll that back on a national level by imposing a raft of requirements on statesno excuse absentee voting, more days and hours to votebut would also include public financing of campaigns, independent redistricting commissions and compulsory release of presidential candidates’ tax returns.

There are all sorts of Constitutional questions posed by these ideas. But theres a more fundamental issue here: The Constitutional clause on which the Democrats are relyingArticle I, Section 4, Clause 1gives Congress significant power over Congressional elections, but none over elections for state offices or the choosing of Presidential electors.

Trump Supporters The Exception

Despite political rhetoric that places them at opposite ends of the spectrum, Republican and Democratic voters appear to be similarly compassionate.

Democrats view compassion as a political value while Republicans will integrate compassion into their politics when their leaders make it part of an explicit message.

There is a caveat to this: I asked these survey questions about personal feelings of compassion in a 2016 online survey that also asked about choice of president.

The survey was conducted a few days after Republican presidential primary candidates Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio had dropped out of the race, making Donald Trump the only viable Republican candidate for the nomination.

In their responses to the survey, a large percentage of Republican voters said they would rather vote for someone other than Trump, even though he was the unofficial nominee at that point.

The Republican voters who didnt support Trump were similar to Democrats on the survey with respect to their answers about compassion. Their average scores on the compassion items were the same. This is in line with the other survey data showing that liberals and conservatives, and Republicans and Democrats, are largely similar in these personality measures of compassion.

But Trump supporters answers were not in line with these findings.

The research indicates that appeals to compassion if made by trusted leaders should work for voters of both parties.

What Was John Quincy Adamss Childhood Like

John Quincy Adams was the eldest son of John and Abigail Adams. Growing up during the;American Revolution, he watched the;Battle of Bunker Hill;from Penns Hill and heard the;cannons;roar across the Back Bay in;Boston. He accompanied his father on diplomatic missions to;Europe and studied in;Paris and;Leiden, Netherlands.

Read Also: What Name Did The Democrats Give Southerners Who Became Republicans

Infection And Fatality Growth Rates

Growth rate in infections was calculated as /It 1×100. Exponential growth rate was calculated as the growth rate tailored to an exponential model of disease spread ). Fatality growth rate simply substitutes fatalities for infections. Calculated as such, growth rate is identical to growth rate in cases per capita because counties populations did not vary during the sample period .

Republicans Have Realistic Goals

First off the democratic wants everyone to have free health care. And how will this be solved? Aw yes, Taxes. With prices going up along with tax how will people make a living? Heres the answer, You won’t. To the democrats global warming must be real because their is evidence! Umm there is also evidence global warming isn’t a threat or even real as well but we are only shown the democrat view. How can we make opinions when teachers usually show us the democrat side? And ummmm democrats believe rich people should pay even more taces and give to the poor. Well then heres what will happen, Poor people will sit on their lazy bottoms because they don’t have to work. The rich people will pay for them. And ummmm democrats believe we are so harsh to illegal immigrants. Do you even understand how many rape and kill people! ? That wouldnt even happens if they were here! And then we pay more taxes for their healthcare which is free to them when we actually have legal rights to live here!

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Democrat Vs Republican: Who Is Better For The Us Economy

7 7. Abortion

The Democrats and Republicans have been at loggerheads over several issues for decades, with each passing year being more polarizing than the one before. Like the American public, both parties continue to grow further apart on top priorities like what is better for the US economy and and let partisan acrimony dictate policy.

Their differences pervade all aspects of life includingideological, social, economical, and even national security. The two just cantseem to get along.

In this article, weve rounded up the seven key areas ofdissent that should give you a crash course on US politics.

Crime And Capital Punishment

Republicans generally believe in harsher penalties when someone has committed a crime, including for selling illegal drugs. They also generally favor capital punishment and back a system with many layers to ensure the proper punishment has been meted out. Democrats are more progressive in their views, believing that crimes do not involve violence, such as selling drugs, should have lighter penalties and rehabilitation. They are also against capital punishment in any form.

Recommended Reading: Are There More Democrats Or Republicans In Us

Poll Finds Startling Difference In Vaccinations Among Us Republicans And Democrats

A Washington Post-ABC News poll has found a startling difference between Democrats and Republicans as it relates to COVID-19;vaccination.;The poll found that while 86% of Democrats have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, only 45% of Republicans;have.

In addition, the survey found;that while;only;6% of Democrats said they would;probably;decline;the vaccine, 47% of Republicans;said they;would;probably not;be inoculated.;

The poll also found that;60% of unvaccinated Americans believe the U.S. is;exaggerating;the dangers of;the;COVID-19;delta variant,;while;18% of the unvaccinated say the government is accurately describing the variants risks.

However, 64% of vaccinated Americans believe the government is accurately describing the dangers of the;delta variant.

Iran fighting COVID 5th wave The variant is having a;global impact.;Irans;President;Hassan Rouhani;has warned that the country is on the brink of a fifth wave of;a COVID-19 outbreak.;The;delta variant of the virus, first;identified;in India, is;largely;responsible;for the;rising number of hospitalizations and deaths in Iran, officials say.

All;non-essential businesses have been ordered;closed;in 275 cities, including Tehran, the capital.;Travel has also been restricted between cities that are;experiencing;high infection rates.

Reports say only about 5% of Iranians have been vaccinated.;

Taking The Perspective Of Others Proved To Be Really Hard

Are Republicans or Democrats Better for Stocks? Fisher Investments Answers

The divide in the United States is wide, and one indication of that is how difficult our question proved for many thoughtful citizens. A 77-year-old Republican woman from Pennsylvania was typical of the voters who struggled with this question, telling us, This is really hard for me to even try to think like a devilcrat!, I am sorry but I in all honesty cannot answer this question. I cannot even wrap my mind around any reason they would be good for this country.

Similarly, a 53-year-old Republican from Virginia said, I honestly cannot even pretend to be a Democrat and try to come up with anything positive at all, but, I guess they would vote Democrat because they are illegal immigrants and they are promised many benefits to voting for that party. Also, just to follow what others are doing. And third would be just because they hate Trump so much. The picture she paints of the typical Democratic voter being an immigrant, who goes along with their party or simply hates Trump will seem like a strange caricature to most Democratic voters. But her answer seems to lack the animus of many.;;

Democrats struggled just as much as Republicans. A 33-year-old woman from California told said, i really am going to have a hard time doing this but then offered that Republicans are morally right as in values, going to protect us from terrorest and immigrants, going to create jobs.

Also Check: What Percentage Of Republicans Support Trump

Democrats Or Republicans: Who Has The Higher Income

In the end, many people assume Republicans are richer based on these figures. Although, this is only a look at the richest families and politicians in America though. In everyday American households, it seems that Democrats have a higher mean salary. Its true that many of the wealthiest families in the country are contributing to Republican campaigns. On the contrary, families registered as Democrats have higher annual salaries than Republicans, statistically speaking.

These findings still have some loopholes in them, of course. For instance, the data was collected over the last 40 years or so. Moreover, it is only based on the most recently collected information. As you know, demographics are constantly changing. These figures may have been affected as well. There is also a margin of error with every type of data collection like this. So, what do you think? Who is richer? Democrats or Republicans?

Republicans Vs Democrats: Where Do The Two Main Us Political Parties Stand On Key Issues

After an impeachment, a positive coronavirus test and an unforgettable first presidential debate rounded out the final months of Donald Trump’s first term, it seems fair to say the past few years have been a roller-coaster ride for US politics.

On November 3, Americans will decide which candidate will win the 2020 presidential election, sparking either the beginning, or end, for each nominee.

But how does it all work?

Well, the US political system is dominated by two main parties the Democrats and the Republicans and the next president will belong to one of those two.

Just how different are their policies?

Here’s what you need to know, starting with the candidates.

Read Also: Did Trump Call Republicans Stupid In 1998

Views Of The Parties Traits And Characteristics

The Republican Party and the Democratic Party are both seen as too extreme by a majority of Americans. About six-in-ten say the phrase too extreme in its positions describes the Republican Party at least somewhat well, including 30% who say this describes the GOP very well. The share of Americans who say the same phrase applies to the Democratic Party is nearly identical: 61% say this applies at least somewhat, and 29% say it describes the party very well.

The public also is critical of the parties ability to govern honestly and ethically: Just 38% say the phrase governs in an honest and ethical way describes the Republican Party at least somewhat well, while 61% say it does not. Roughly half say this describes the Democratic Party at least somewhat well, while about as many say it doesnt.

The public views the Democratic Party more positively than the Republican Party on three other traits and characteristics. Four-in-ten say that the phrase represents the interests of people like me applies at least somewhat well to the Republican Party, while half say this phrase describes the Democratic Party at least somewhat well.

A majority says the description cares about the middle class describes the Democratic Party at least somewhat well. By comparison, 39% say that it applies to the Republican Party.

Large majorities of Republicans and Democrats assign positive characteristics to their own party, while taking a much more negative view of the opposing party.

Party Affiliation By State

Party affiliation by state Switch to:State by political party

% of adults who identify as

Democrat/lean Dem. Sample Size

Sample size = 511. Visit this table to see approximate margins of error for a group of a given size. For full question wording, see the survey questionnaire.Sample sizes and margins of error vary from subgroup to subgroup, from year to year and from state to state. You can see the sample size for the estimates in this chart on rollover or in the last column of the table. And visit this table to see approximate margins of error for a group of a given size. Readers should always bear in mind the approximate margin of error for the group they are examining when making comparisons with other groups or assessing the significance of trends over time. For full question wording, see the survey questionnaire.

Alabama

Read Also: When Did The Republicans And Democrats Switch

Reality Check 2: The Fight Is Asymmetricaland Favors The Gop

While Democrats gesture on Twitter at building new systems, Republicans are working the current one with ruthless effectiveness.

The threats to a free and fair election that have emerged since last November are realand require nothing more than the willingness of state legislators to use and abuse the existing tools of government. Arizona, whose two new voting rules were just validated by the Supreme Court, also took the power to litigate election laws away from the Secretary of State and gave the power to the Attorney General. In at least 8 states, Republicans are advancing legislation that would take power away from local or county boards. Many more states are moving to make voting harder. It might be anti-democratic, but it falls well within the rules.

Also within the rules: How McConnell helped build a federal bench almost certain to ratify the power of those legislatures to pass laws far more restrictive than the Arizona rules upheld last week. He creatively eviscerated Senate norms to keep Merrick Garland off the Supreme Court and hand Donald Trump an astonishing three nominations in a single term. And hes recently suggested that, should a Supreme Court vacancy open, hed block even consideration of a Biden nominee if the Republicans take the Senate back in 2022. This is abnormal, anti-democratic and a cynical abuse of powerbut its legal within the existing rules.

Famous Republican Vs Democratic Presidents

Republicans have controlled the White House for 28 of the last 43 years since Richard Nixon became president. Famous Democrat Presidents have been Franklin Roosevelt, who pioneered the New Deal in America and stood for 4 terms, John F. Kennedy, who presided over the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban missile crisis, and was assassinated in Office; Bill Clinton, who was impeached by the House of Representatives; and Nobel Peace Prize winners Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter.

Famous Republican Presidents include Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery; Teddy Roosevelt, known for the Panama Canal; Ronald Reagan, credited for ending the Cold War with Gorbachev; and the two Bush family Presidents of recent times. Republican President Richard Nixon was forced to resign over the Watergate scandal.

To compare the two parties’ presidential candidates in the 2020 elections, see Donald Trump vs Joe Biden.

Read Also: Why Do Republicans Hate John Mccain

The Philosophy Behind Democratic Economic Policy

Democrats gear their economic policies to benefit low-income and middle-income families. They argue that reducing income inequality is the best way to foster economic growth. Low-income families are more likely to spend any extra money on necessities instead of saving or investing it. That directly increases demand and spurs economic growth. Democrats also support a Keynesian economic theory, which says that the government should spend its way out of a recession.

One dollar spent on increased food stamp benefits generates $1.73 in economic output.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt first outlined the Economic Bill of Rights in his 1944 State of the Union address. It included taxes on war profiteering and price controls on food costs. President Harry Trumans 1949 Fair Deal proposed an increase in the minimum wage, civil rights legislation, and national health care. President Barack Obama expanded Medicaid with the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Past Jumps In Party Affiliations

Who are better for the economy, Democrats or Republicans?

The bump in Democratic affiliation following Biden’s inauguration mirrors that of former President Barack Obama’s first term, Jones said.

“That was really the high point that we’ve seen; kind of the 2006-2009 period, when really the majority of Americans either identified as Democrats outright or were independents but they leaned toward the party,” he said.;”Our data on this only goes back to the ’90s, but it’s pretty much the only time we consistently had one party with the majority of Americans on their side.”

Republican advantages, though rarer and more short-lived, followed the Gulf War in 1991 when George H.W. Bush was in office and the 9/11 terrorist attacks during President George W. Bush’s term, according to Gallup. More people also reported GOP affiliation after the 1994, 2010 and 2014 midterm elections.

Whether the Republican Party can regain advantage during the 2022 midterm elections may rely on the successes of the Biden administration, according to Jones.

“A lot of it is going to depend on how things go over the course of the year. If things get better with the coronavirus and the economy bounces back and a lot of people expect Biden can keep relatively strong approval ratings, then that will be better for the Democrats,” Jones said.;”But if things start to get worse unemployment goes up or coronavirus gets worse; then his approval is going to go down. It’s going to make things a lot better for the Republican Party for the midterm next year.”

Recommended Reading: What Other Republicans Are Running For President

Democrats Return The Favor: Republicans Uninformed Or Self

The 429 Democratic voters in our sample returned the favor and raised many of the same themes. Democrats inferred that Republicans must be VERY ill-informed, or that Fox news told me to vote for Republicans.;;Or that Republicans are uneducated and misguided people guided by what the media is feeding them.

Many also attributed votes to individual self-interest whereas GOP voters feel Democrats want free stuff, many Democrats believe Republicans think that I got mine and dont want the libs to take it away, or that some day I will be rich and then I can get the benefits that rich people get now.

Many used the question to express their anger and outrage at the other side.;;Rather than really try to take the position of their opponents, they said things like, I like a dictatorial system of Government, Im a racist, I hate non-whites.;

source https://www.patriotsnet.com/who-is-better-republicans-or-democrats/

[patriotsnet]

Who Is Better Republicans Or Democrats

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/who-is-better-republicans-or-democrats/

Who Is Better Republicans Or Democrats

Reality Check 3: The Democrats Legislative Fix Will Never Happenand Doesnt Even Touch The Real Threats

Republicans or Democrats: Who is better for the economy?

Its understandable why Democrats have ascribed a life-or-death quality to S. 1, the For the People bill that would impose a wide range of requirements on state voting procedures. The dozensor hundredsof provisions enacted by Republican state legislatures and governors represent a determination to ensure that the GOP thumb will be on the scale at every step of the voting process. The proposed law would roll that back on a national level by imposing a raft of requirements on statesno excuse absentee voting, more days and hours to votebut would also include public financing of campaigns, independent redistricting commissions and compulsory release of presidential candidates’ tax returns.

There are all sorts of Constitutional questions posed by these ideas. But theres a more fundamental issue here: The Constitutional clause on which the Democrats are relyingArticle I, Section 4, Clause 1gives Congress significant power over Congressional elections, but none over elections for state offices or the choosing of Presidential electors.

Trump Supporters The Exception

Despite political rhetoric that places them at opposite ends of the spectrum, Republican and Democratic voters appear to be similarly compassionate.

Democrats view compassion as a political value while Republicans will integrate compassion into their politics when their leaders make it part of an explicit message.

There is a caveat to this: I asked these survey questions about personal feelings of compassion in a 2016 online survey that also asked about choice of president.

The survey was conducted a few days after Republican presidential primary candidates Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio had dropped out of the race, making Donald Trump the only viable Republican candidate for the nomination.

In their responses to the survey, a large percentage of Republican voters said they would rather vote for someone other than Trump, even though he was the unofficial nominee at that point.

The Republican voters who didnt support Trump were similar to Democrats on the survey with respect to their answers about compassion. Their average scores on the compassion items were the same. This is in line with the other survey data showing that liberals and conservatives, and Republicans and Democrats, are largely similar in these personality measures of compassion.

But Trump supporters answers were not in line with these findings.

The research indicates that appeals to compassion if made by trusted leaders should work for voters of both parties.

What Was John Quincy Adamss Childhood Like

John Quincy Adams was the eldest son of John and Abigail Adams. Growing up during the;American Revolution, he watched the;Battle of Bunker Hill;from Penns Hill and heard the;cannons;roar across the Back Bay in;Boston. He accompanied his father on diplomatic missions to;Europe and studied in;Paris and;Leiden, Netherlands.

Read Also: What Name Did The Democrats Give Southerners Who Became Republicans

Infection And Fatality Growth Rates

Growth rate in infections was calculated as /It 1×100. Exponential growth rate was calculated as the growth rate tailored to an exponential model of disease spread ). Fatality growth rate simply substitutes fatalities for infections. Calculated as such, growth rate is identical to growth rate in cases per capita because counties populations did not vary during the sample period .

Republicans Have Realistic Goals

First off the democratic wants everyone to have free health care. And how will this be solved? Aw yes, Taxes. With prices going up along with tax how will people make a living? Heres the answer, You won’t. To the democrats global warming must be real because their is evidence! Umm there is also evidence global warming isn’t a threat or even real as well but we are only shown the democrat view. How can we make opinions when teachers usually show us the democrat side? And ummmm democrats believe rich people should pay even more taces and give to the poor. Well then heres what will happen, Poor people will sit on their lazy bottoms because they don’t have to work. The rich people will pay for them. And ummmm democrats believe we are so harsh to illegal immigrants. Do you even understand how many rape and kill people! ? That wouldnt even happens if they were here! And then we pay more taxes for their healthcare which is free to them when we actually have legal rights to live here!

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Democrat Vs Republican: Who Is Better For The Us Economy

7 7. Abortion

The Democrats and Republicans have been at loggerheads over several issues for decades, with each passing year being more polarizing than the one before. Like the American public, both parties continue to grow further apart on top priorities like what is better for the US economy and and let partisan acrimony dictate policy.

Their differences pervade all aspects of life includingideological, social, economical, and even national security. The two just cantseem to get along.

In this article, weve rounded up the seven key areas ofdissent that should give you a crash course on US politics.

Crime And Capital Punishment

Republicans generally believe in harsher penalties when someone has committed a crime, including for selling illegal drugs. They also generally favor capital punishment and back a system with many layers to ensure the proper punishment has been meted out. Democrats are more progressive in their views, believing that crimes do not involve violence, such as selling drugs, should have lighter penalties and rehabilitation. They are also against capital punishment in any form.

Recommended Reading: Are There More Democrats Or Republicans In Us

Poll Finds Startling Difference In Vaccinations Among Us Republicans And Democrats

A Washington Post-ABC News poll has found a startling difference between Democrats and Republicans as it relates to COVID-19;vaccination.;The poll found that while 86% of Democrats have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, only 45% of Republicans;have.

In addition, the survey found;that while;only;6% of Democrats said they would;probably;decline;the vaccine, 47% of Republicans;said they;would;probably not;be inoculated.;

The poll also found that;60% of unvaccinated Americans believe the U.S. is;exaggerating;the dangers of;the;COVID-19;delta variant,;while;18% of the unvaccinated say the government is accurately describing the variants risks.

However, 64% of vaccinated Americans believe the government is accurately describing the dangers of the;delta variant.

Iran fighting COVID 5th wave The variant is having a;global impact.;Irans;President;Hassan Rouhani;has warned that the country is on the brink of a fifth wave of;a COVID-19 outbreak.;The;delta variant of the virus, first;identified;in India, is;largely;responsible;for the;rising number of hospitalizations and deaths in Iran, officials say.

All;non-essential businesses have been ordered;closed;in 275 cities, including Tehran, the capital.;Travel has also been restricted between cities that are;experiencing;high infection rates.

Reports say only about 5% of Iranians have been vaccinated.;

Taking The Perspective Of Others Proved To Be Really Hard

Are Republicans or Democrats Better for Stocks? Fisher Investments Answers

The divide in the United States is wide, and one indication of that is how difficult our question proved for many thoughtful citizens. A 77-year-old Republican woman from Pennsylvania was typical of the voters who struggled with this question, telling us, This is really hard for me to even try to think like a devilcrat!, I am sorry but I in all honesty cannot answer this question. I cannot even wrap my mind around any reason they would be good for this country.

Similarly, a 53-year-old Republican from Virginia said, I honestly cannot even pretend to be a Democrat and try to come up with anything positive at all, but, I guess they would vote Democrat because they are illegal immigrants and they are promised many benefits to voting for that party. Also, just to follow what others are doing. And third would be just because they hate Trump so much. The picture she paints of the typical Democratic voter being an immigrant, who goes along with their party or simply hates Trump will seem like a strange caricature to most Democratic voters. But her answer seems to lack the animus of many.;;

Democrats struggled just as much as Republicans. A 33-year-old woman from California told said, i really am going to have a hard time doing this but then offered that Republicans are morally right as in values, going to protect us from terrorest and immigrants, going to create jobs.

Also Check: What Percentage Of Republicans Support Trump

Democrats Or Republicans: Who Has The Higher Income

In the end, many people assume Republicans are richer based on these figures. Although, this is only a look at the richest families and politicians in America though. In everyday American households, it seems that Democrats have a higher mean salary. Its true that many of the wealthiest families in the country are contributing to Republican campaigns. On the contrary, families registered as Democrats have higher annual salaries than Republicans, statistically speaking.

These findings still have some loopholes in them, of course. For instance, the data was collected over the last 40 years or so. Moreover, it is only based on the most recently collected information. As you know, demographics are constantly changing. These figures may have been affected as well. There is also a margin of error with every type of data collection like this. So, what do you think? Who is richer? Democrats or Republicans?

Republicans Vs Democrats: Where Do The Two Main Us Political Parties Stand On Key Issues

After an impeachment, a positive coronavirus test and an unforgettable first presidential debate rounded out the final months of Donald Trump’s first term, it seems fair to say the past few years have been a roller-coaster ride for US politics.

On November 3, Americans will decide which candidate will win the 2020 presidential election, sparking either the beginning, or end, for each nominee.

But how does it all work?

Well, the US political system is dominated by two main parties the Democrats and the Republicans and the next president will belong to one of those two.

Just how different are their policies?

Here’s what you need to know, starting with the candidates.

Read Also: Did Trump Call Republicans Stupid In 1998

Views Of The Parties Traits And Characteristics

The Republican Party and the Democratic Party are both seen as too extreme by a majority of Americans. About six-in-ten say the phrase too extreme in its positions describes the Republican Party at least somewhat well, including 30% who say this describes the GOP very well. The share of Americans who say the same phrase applies to the Democratic Party is nearly identical: 61% say this applies at least somewhat, and 29% say it describes the party very well.

The public also is critical of the parties ability to govern honestly and ethically: Just 38% say the phrase governs in an honest and ethical way describes the Republican Party at least somewhat well, while 61% say it does not. Roughly half say this describes the Democratic Party at least somewhat well, while about as many say it doesnt.

The public views the Democratic Party more positively than the Republican Party on three other traits and characteristics. Four-in-ten say that the phrase represents the interests of people like me applies at least somewhat well to the Republican Party, while half say this phrase describes the Democratic Party at least somewhat well.

A majority says the description cares about the middle class describes the Democratic Party at least somewhat well. By comparison, 39% say that it applies to the Republican Party.

Large majorities of Republicans and Democrats assign positive characteristics to their own party, while taking a much more negative view of the opposing party.

Party Affiliation By State

Party affiliation by state Switch to:State by political party

% of adults who identify as

Democrat/lean Dem. Sample Size

Sample size = 511. Visit this table to see approximate margins of error for a group of a given size. For full question wording, see the survey questionnaire.Sample sizes and margins of error vary from subgroup to subgroup, from year to year and from state to state. You can see the sample size for the estimates in this chart on rollover or in the last column of the table. And visit this table to see approximate margins of error for a group of a given size. Readers should always bear in mind the approximate margin of error for the group they are examining when making comparisons with other groups or assessing the significance of trends over time. For full question wording, see the survey questionnaire.

Alabama

Read Also: When Did The Republicans And Democrats Switch

Reality Check 2: The Fight Is Asymmetricaland Favors The Gop

While Democrats gesture on Twitter at building new systems, Republicans are working the current one with ruthless effectiveness.

The threats to a free and fair election that have emerged since last November are realand require nothing more than the willingness of state legislators to use and abuse the existing tools of government. Arizona, whose two new voting rules were just validated by the Supreme Court, also took the power to litigate election laws away from the Secretary of State and gave the power to the Attorney General. In at least 8 states, Republicans are advancing legislation that would take power away from local or county boards. Many more states are moving to make voting harder. It might be anti-democratic, but it falls well within the rules.

Also within the rules: How McConnell helped build a federal bench almost certain to ratify the power of those legislatures to pass laws far more restrictive than the Arizona rules upheld last week. He creatively eviscerated Senate norms to keep Merrick Garland off the Supreme Court and hand Donald Trump an astonishing three nominations in a single term. And hes recently suggested that, should a Supreme Court vacancy open, hed block even consideration of a Biden nominee if the Republicans take the Senate back in 2022. This is abnormal, anti-democratic and a cynical abuse of powerbut its legal within the existing rules.

Famous Republican Vs Democratic Presidents

Republicans have controlled the White House for 28 of the last 43 years since Richard Nixon became president. Famous Democrat Presidents have been Franklin Roosevelt, who pioneered the New Deal in America and stood for 4 terms, John F. Kennedy, who presided over the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban missile crisis, and was assassinated in Office; Bill Clinton, who was impeached by the House of Representatives; and Nobel Peace Prize winners Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter.

Famous Republican Presidents include Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery; Teddy Roosevelt, known for the Panama Canal; Ronald Reagan, credited for ending the Cold War with Gorbachev; and the two Bush family Presidents of recent times. Republican President Richard Nixon was forced to resign over the Watergate scandal.

To compare the two parties’ presidential candidates in the 2020 elections, see Donald Trump vs Joe Biden.

Read Also: Why Do Republicans Hate John Mccain

The Philosophy Behind Democratic Economic Policy

Democrats gear their economic policies to benefit low-income and middle-income families. They argue that reducing income inequality is the best way to foster economic growth. Low-income families are more likely to spend any extra money on necessities instead of saving or investing it. That directly increases demand and spurs economic growth. Democrats also support a Keynesian economic theory, which says that the government should spend its way out of a recession.

One dollar spent on increased food stamp benefits generates $1.73 in economic output.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt first outlined the Economic Bill of Rights in his 1944 State of the Union address. It included taxes on war profiteering and price controls on food costs. President Harry Trumans 1949 Fair Deal proposed an increase in the minimum wage, civil rights legislation, and national health care. President Barack Obama expanded Medicaid with the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Past Jumps In Party Affiliations

Who are better for the economy, Democrats or Republicans?

The bump in Democratic affiliation following Biden’s inauguration mirrors that of former President Barack Obama’s first term, Jones said.

“That was really the high point that we’ve seen; kind of the 2006-2009 period, when really the majority of Americans either identified as Democrats outright or were independents but they leaned toward the party,” he said.;”Our data on this only goes back to the ’90s, but it’s pretty much the only time we consistently had one party with the majority of Americans on their side.”

Republican advantages, though rarer and more short-lived, followed the Gulf War in 1991 when George H.W. Bush was in office and the 9/11 terrorist attacks during President George W. Bush’s term, according to Gallup. More people also reported GOP affiliation after the 1994, 2010 and 2014 midterm elections.

Whether the Republican Party can regain advantage during the 2022 midterm elections may rely on the successes of the Biden administration, according to Jones.

“A lot of it is going to depend on how things go over the course of the year. If things get better with the coronavirus and the economy bounces back and a lot of people expect Biden can keep relatively strong approval ratings, then that will be better for the Democrats,” Jones said.;”But if things start to get worse unemployment goes up or coronavirus gets worse; then his approval is going to go down. It’s going to make things a lot better for the Republican Party for the midterm next year.”

Recommended Reading: What Other Republicans Are Running For President

Democrats Return The Favor: Republicans Uninformed Or Self

The 429 Democratic voters in our sample returned the favor and raised many of the same themes. Democrats inferred that Republicans must be VERY ill-informed, or that Fox news told me to vote for Republicans.;;Or that Republicans are uneducated and misguided people guided by what the media is feeding them.

Many also attributed votes to individual self-interest whereas GOP voters feel Democrats want free stuff, many Democrats believe Republicans think that I got mine and dont want the libs to take it away, or that some day I will be rich and then I can get the benefits that rich people get now.

Many used the question to express their anger and outrage at the other side.;;Rather than really try to take the position of their opponents, they said things like, I like a dictatorial system of Government, Im a racist, I hate non-whites.;

[dcmarticles]

What can an immigration lawyer do for you?

Our immigration lawyers in Boston, Massachusetts are experienced in handling all types of immigration cases. We take great time and care to understand our client’s goals and situations, in order to craft the best immigration strategy to help them obtain the results they are looking for and to achieve their immigration goals. There can be different ways of approaching one situation and the best alternative may not be the same for everyone, as each alternative can have different risks, timing and potential outcomes. Our immigration attorneys will go above and beyond to make the process as stress-free as possible, by explaining what you can expect and need to do, walking you through the entire process and providing the best possible immigration legal services in the area. 

Immigration Legal Services

Our team of legal experts can help clients with a variety of immigration-related issues and cases: 

1. U.S. Permanent Residency / U.S. Green Card: A U.S. Green Card holder / legal permanent resident is an individual who has been granted permission to live and work in the United States permanently. While there are numerous ways in which a person may acquire a Green Card, two of the most common ways by being sponsored by an immediate family member or an employer. Other ways individuals can apply for permanent resident status include after being present in the US for at least 1 year with asylum status; after being present in the U.S. for 3 years with a U visa (for victims of crime); and being granted cancellation of removal, among others. 

2. Non-immigrant U.S. Visas: There are many ways to obtain a non-immigrant U.S. visa that may grant someone the right to live and work in the United States. Our legal team can offer help with E-1 & E-2 visas for investors and traders, L-1 visas for intra-company employee transfers, H-1B visas for professional employees, K-1 visas for alien finances, U visas for victims of crime, O visas for foreigners with outstanding ability, TN visas for certain professionals from Mexico and Canada, R visas for religious workers, and others. 

3. U.S. Citizenship Applications / Naturalization: A person is usually eligible to apply to become a U.S. citizen, after being a legal permanent resident for at least 5 years (or 3 years if you are married to a U.S. citizen). Read more about the eligibility requirements for US citizenship and the documents needed.

4. Cancellation of removal / deportation (also known as the 10 year law) is a process by which certain non-permanent residents who are in removal / deportation proceedings before an immigration judge, may be granted legal permanent residency, if they have been in the U.S. continuously for the last ten years, are of good moral character, and can demonstrate that their removal will cause exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident. 

5. Renewal of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals): Individuals who came into the United States as young children (under the age of 16), and meet the eligibility criteria, may be granted Deferred Action or relief from removal / deportation from the US. And under certain circumstances be granted work authorization. Currently the government is not accepting new applications for DACA, but it is allowing renewals. 

6. Temporary Protected Status (TPS). A procedure by which Congress allows the Attorney General of the United States to provide TPS to foreigners in the United States who are temporarily unable to return to their countries because of armed conflicts, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions. 

7. Asylum / Political Asylum: Asylum status may be granted to a person who has a reasonable fear of persecution because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion, if forced to return to their country of last residence.

8. Writ of Mandamus / Law suits against the USCIS: A complaint, or Writ of Mandamus, may be filed in the U.S. District Court if the USCIS has failed to issue a decision after a “reasonable” period of time, on a properly filed immigration application.

9. I-601 Waivers: For certain immigrants who have committed an immigration violation such as overstaying their permission to remain in the US under their visa and providing false or misleading information; if they can show evidence that their US citizen or legal permanent resident spouse or parent will suffer an extreme hardship, if they are not allowed to remain in the U.S.

These are just some of the many immigration legal services we can provide clients. We have the experience, skills and resources to help individuals in a variety of different immigration situations. We also can represent immigrants facing criminal charges and deportation, as we are also experienced criminal defense lawyers.

Schedule a Legal Consultation with an Immigration Attorney Today

At FitzGerald Law Company, our legal team has years of experience representing those seeking to legalize their immigration status or facing complicated immigration situations in Massachusetts. We have a deep and thorough understanding of immigration law and can devise the best immigration strategy for our clients. We serve clients in Boston, Cambridge, Quincy, Malden, Somerville, Everett, Revere, Chelsea, East Boston, Waltham, Framingham, Jamaica Plain, Lowell, Lawrence, and surrounding communities. To schedule a legal consultation today to discuss immigrating to the United States, obtaining U.S. citizenship or legalizing your immigration status with one of our experienced immigration attorneys, call us at 617-303-2600. 

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[giantsfootball0]

For Quincy Pondexter, basketball nearly turned deadly

FRESNO, Calif. — Quincy Pondexter’s spacious six-bedroom house in his hometown of Fresno sits on a few acres. For the past eight months, the 29-year-old forward has spent more time here than ever before while rehabbing his injury. It’s a home he’s proud of, especially the theater room, which is equipped with a massive screen, theater-style seating, a pool table and a cards table.

On the wall hang NBA jerseys in framed glass display cases. He has collected them from some of his favorite teammates, including Chris Paul, Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday, and he even has the high school jerseys of two of his former San Joaquin Memorial High teammates, Brook and Robin Lopez.

This is where his family and friends gather for cookouts. It’s where his AAU team, California United, flocks for pizza parties. It’s where he wanted to do this interview, “because when I think of happy times, it occurs in this room,” he said.

After being sidelined the past two seasons, Pondexter is ready to make his comeback on opening night for the Chicago Bulls, who acquired him from the New Orleans Pelicans this summer. He is finally healthy after multiple surgical procedures — and major setbacks — on his left knee.

It’s been a longer journey than many people know about. While his knee problems have been public, Pondexter revealed to ESPN that his health issues were much grimmer. He was dealing with a life-threatening infection. He thought he was going to die.

Quincy Pondexter’s aim was getting back on his feet and back soaring to the rim. Layne Murdoch Jr./NBA/Getty Images

The New Orleans Pelicans acquired Pondexter from the Memphis Grizzlies in January 2015. They needed a 3-and-D player who could help them make a playoff push, and Pondexter excelled at hitting spot-up 3s and chasing the team’s best perimeter player around.

Soon after joining the team, however, Pondexter began limping laboriously to his car after games. He can’t pinpoint when his knee began to bother him, but he grew concerned at the end of February. The pain worsened in March, and the team sent him for X-rays and MRIs, which failed to reveal any issues. Pondexter continued to play. If it was just a matter of tolerating the pain, then that’s what he would do. He would take pain medication and drain his knee on occasion. He didn’t want to let his team down by sitting.

New Orleans earned the eighth seed in the Western Conference playoffs and met the Golden State Warriors in the first round. Although they were swept, the Pelicans had a bright future with a budding superstar in Anthony Davis and a young supporting cast.

Pondexter was excited about the team’s potential and desperate to solve his knee issue so it wouldn’t linger into the next season. The day after the season ended, he had another MRI and then met with a few doctors for consultations. They came to the conclusion he would need his knee scoped, with the outside chance he might require microfracture surgery.

During the May procedure, the worst-case scenario was realized.

“It was just supposed to be a cleanup,” Pondexter said. “The doctors were really positive about it. They didn’t really think we were going to need to do [microfracture surgery], and then, you know, you wake up from surgery, and it’s done. I was kind of in shock. I didn’t know what to do, but everyone was pretty optimistic that I would be able to return to play in the beginning of the season.”

Pondexter worked hard to return to the court, but his knee didn’t respond well post-surgery. Opening night of the 2015-16 season came and went. Months passed, and he was still nowhere near playing condition.

Questions arose as to what, exactly, was going on with his knee and what stage he was at in his rehab. But Pondexter and the team didn’t have answers. Behind closed doors, Pondexter was struggling to cope with it all.

“I tried to do everything possible to play, and my knee felt really, really bad,” he said. “I couldn’t even walk upstairs or do anything, let alone run, jump or anything like that, but I wanted to sacrifice everything for the Pelicans.”

Midway through the season, he decided to consult other specialists, who concluded that his microfracture procedure had failed. He was infuriated by the news but had no choice but to go through with a second procedure in January 2016 that involved inserting cartilage from a cadaver. It was a season-ending decision to ensure he would be ready for the start of the 2016-17 season.

New Orleans’ season was also very much over. The team did not take the next step forward as expected and lost 15 more games than the previous year. Pondexter felt responsible for the Pelicans underperforming.

“When I was in the hospital, I would look on Twitter and see all the nasty comments saying, ‘He’s stealing money. He’s at home chillin’ and all this s—. Nah, I’m fighting for my life.”

Quincy Pondexter

After the second procedure, Pondexter was aggressive with his rehab in the hopes of being ready for next season. But the season tipped off, and Pondexter was in street clothes yet again. He would remain sidelined for months.

Some fans began turning on him, questioning if he was just mailing it in. In reality, it was the exact opposite.

“[My knee] wasn’t making progress, but then there was this pain in a certain area that we couldn’t get over,” he said. “Again, I tried to do everything possible to play. I tried to pass physicals, I tried to do everything, and, a year of rehab, we didn’t know what to do.

“We didn’t know if my career was over. We didn’t know where to go from there, and then we tried to find an answer because we didn’t know if we could see it in the MRI. I was trying to play, and a few days later, it just took a real turn for the worse, where I woke up and my knee was swollen like a watermelon.”

Pondexter traveled to New York on Jan. 1, 2017, to get his knee scoped again. But on this trip, his health suddenly began to deteriorate. While in his hotel room, he became nauseated and started breathing heavily. His temperature shot to 104.

He walked to a Duane Reade pharmacy to pick up a prescription for the pain. But while waiting in line, his vision blurred, and the 6-foot-7 forward collapsed onto the floor.

Customers and employees tended to the NBA veteran, giving him a chair and some water. Paramedics were called to the scene, as was his physical therapist. Pondexter was drenched in sweat. He was terrified, bewildered and in excruciating pain. He didn’t have control over his body and feared he was dying.

“Quincy never complains,” his sister Myisha Pondexter said. “He never complains about pain, swelling or anything. So when he first called, he never let on about how much pain he was in. He didn’t ask for help. He’s an introvert. I’m telling him it must be the room he’s in. I’m just giving motherly advice, not thinking it’s anything serious. But by the end of the night, around 1:30 in the morning my time [California], he called begging us to get to New York and saying, ‘I’m about to die.‘”

Dr. Riley J. Williams, a New York-based orthopedic surgeon specialist, was enlisted to help.

“Quincy was demonstrating some serious symptoms that required us to act immediately,” Dr. Williams told ESPN.

“At first it was to survive for your family and everything, but I didn’t just want to survive. I wanted to overcome.”

Quincy Pondexter

Pondexter said fluid was drained from his knee and, after a few days, it was discovered he had MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), a skin infection that is difficult to manage and, if not treated properly and promptly, could lead to death. Nobody knew when he developed the infection.

He was immediately taken to surgery to try to flush the infection out of his system. Dr. Williams explained to Pondexter and his family that MRSA tends to cause complications to the healing process of a significant injury.

Following the third procedure on his knee, he was hospitalized for a month.

“I was getting checked on every two hours in the hospital,” he said. “I was doing three full bags of liquid antibiotics, which took close to two hours each time. There was a point where I was connected on both sides, whether it was antibiotics or IVs or all types of other medicines to keep me alive. It was pretty crazy. It’s a full day, 24 hours, around-the-clock watch over that recovery. You’re trying to eliminate an infection that’s deadly.”

Myisha and family members were by his side in the hospital for the first two weeks.

Meanwhile, the Pelicans were suffering their second abysmal year in a row and were on the verge of missing the playoffs again. The DNPs piled up for Pondexter, and some of the team’s fans directed their frustration his way without any clue of what he was facing.

“My condition was really hidden because we didn’t want anyone to know, and I didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for me,” he explained. “And when I was in the hospital, I would look on Twitter and see all the nasty comments saying, ‘He’s stealing money. He’s at home chillin’ and all this s–. Nah, I’m fighting for my life. I was close to dying.”

“My only energy is to go on Twitter to check the score of my team’s game, and then I look at my Twitter account and you see people bashing you. That was my only energy for that day and, you know, that really motivated me.”

Spending several weeks in the hospital took its toll on Quincy Pondexter. Courtesy of Quincy Pondexter

When Pondexter was released from the hospital in February, he couldn’t walk and weighed 192 pounds, down from the 224 pounds he weighed when he was admitted. Six weeks of rehab and bed rest were prescribed to keep the MRSA under control. It would take him three weeks to relearn how to walk.

Davis and Holiday knew the severity of what he was going through and checked on him frequently via calls and texts.

And Pondexter continued to put in the work. His Fresno-based physical therapist, Mike Martinez, pushed him harder and harder. His trainers Josh Norman and Dave Standifer, of Fresno-based Athletic Performance, worked him out six to seven times a week.

Pondexter’s day started at 4 a.m. Pilates in the morning, spin class near 10 a.m., weightlifting after lunch, followed by on-court work, running on a track in the evening and physical therapy to finish it out. Most of the time, his day ended around midnight.

“A year ago, I questioned if he would be able to go again,” Standifer said. “There were days we just didn’t know, but his work ethic is unmatched. He wants to show everybody that he can still play at that level.”

“He’s ready to go,” Norman said. “Anything I ask him to do, he’s a full go.”

But on Sept. 1, he received bad news of a different kind. General manager Dell Demps had traded him along with a 2018 second-round pick to Chicago for the draft rights to Ater Majok.

“It was a shock,” Pondexter said. “I was tired of letting the organization and fans down the last two years, and I wanted to do my best to help the Pelicans return to the playoffs. It was definitely a gut punch. But you know what? It was also motivation in this process.”

Feeling strong again, Quincy Pondexter aims to make his mark in Chicago. Stacy Revere/Getty Images

Pondexter and the Pelicans didn’t always see eye-to-eye during this process. In the fall of 2015, months after Pondexter’s first surgery, Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry told an audience at a meeting held by the 3-Point Club of New Orleans that Pondexter was fined repeatedly by Demps for skipping scheduled MRI exams on his knee out of fear the team would shut him down following the detection of a significant injury.

Pondexter said it was a “false narrative,” noting that he was never fined or missed an appointment.

“I sacrificed a lot of my body to play in that Pelicans uniform,” he said. “Every day I spent countless hours with the team’s trainers trying to get right. I did all that was asked of me and then some.”

Through all the heartbreaks, the pain, the fear and the doubt, Pondexter has worked himself back to NBA-level health. He isn’t experiencing pain in his knee and routinely posts videos updating his progress. There’s even a clip of him exploding for a windmill dunk.

I like the progress….

pic.twitter.com/ymSSIsviuR

— Coach Shad (@Shadymac1) September 1, 2017

“Quincy looks great, physically and mentally,” said Dr. Snehal Patel, a physical therapist who treated him in New York. “I can’t predict anything, but I think he’s primed to make a great comeback in the league.”

Holiday, too, is rooting for his former teammate.

“Quincy is one of the hardest working teammates I’ve ever had,” Holiday said. “Being injured, I understand how hard it is to come back. I have seen Q put in the work needed on a daily basis. Through setbacks and tough times, he has been positive and still has been a great teammate, which at times can be really hard.

“We need more professionals like him.”

Pondexter believes his best days on the court have yet to come. With a new outlook on life that comes from almost having it taken away, the Bulls are getting a more determined, driven person and player.

“I have a lot of faith, and I believe in God’s challenges,” Pondexter says. “I just looked at these last few years as, ‘Damn, God is really testing me to see what happens.’ Basketball is such a part of my life that it was the motivation for me getting back. At first it was to survive for your family and everything, but I didn’t just want to survive. I wanted to overcome.

“It’s been an unbelievable and remarkable recovery. All the doctors, they can’t really explain how I’ve been able to recover and do so well, but we’ve had a great team of people that have really mended me back to health. A few months ago, it was almost over. I’m alive, and I get to play basketball again. It’s a miracle.”

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Baker, Braverman & Barbadoro Participates in Chamber Updates regarding Covid-19

Incoming Braintree Chamber chair Kimberly Kroha, Esq. of Baker, Braverman & Barbadoro, P.C. led a zoom video call meeting on COVID-19 update with Mayor Kokoros, State Senator John Keenan and members of the real estate community on May 11 and its impact on real estate in South Shore. Below are some of the highlights.

Coronavirus update from Town Hall

The mayor reported that 78 Braintree residents have died of Covid-19 to date, and 65% of cases are in nursing homes and long-term-care facilities. The number of new cases is declining, although the numbers are “far higher” than could have been anticipated at the start of the crisis.

The mayor expressed his commitment to working closely with business owners to reopen safely after the governor lifts restrictions and issues guidelines.

Restaurant owners are very concerned about their ability to survive financially if social distancing requirements require them to operate at reduced capacity. The town will investigate using public property for outdoor dining, such as parking lots or French’s Common. Street closures and sidewalk dining are likely unfeasible.

Hair salons and personal services might be best equipped to reopen because frequent sanitization is already part of their daily business practices.

The mayor is skeptical that the town’s summer programming, including community events, will be possible due to safety concerns with large gatherings. “If we don’t maintain reduced numbers of folks in public places,” the mayor said, “we’re going to end up with a spike and it will put us in a bad situation come Fall when we need to have school go back in session.”

Braintree Golf has reopened with distancing rules in place.

The town is working to procure face masks and hand sanitizers for local businesses.

The mayor encouraged the state legislature to consider ways to direct insurance companies to pay out business stoppage claims.

“We want everyone to get back to work, but we also don’t want everyone to get exposed,” the mayor said. Given that Braintree’s numbers are higher than the state average, the town likely will require stricter measures than those ordered by the state, he added.

What landlords and tenants are saying

​Kim Kroha, Esq. of Baker, Braverman & Barbadoro, P.C. conveyed news from her law firm’s commercial real estate practice:

The state moratorium on evictions and foreclosures applies to residence and “small business premises units,” defined as for-profit or nonprofit organizations with fewer than 150 employees that operate in Massachusetts only. Fewer protections are in place for renters who defaulted prior to March 10.

The law allows landlords to use last-month rent in lieu of missed payments, if they follow the procedures for notification.

Her firm’s commercial landlords are getting 25% to 50% of May rents.

A good strategy is to practice open communication regarding inability to pay. This applies to landlords and their mortgage lenders, and to tenants and their landlords. Lenders strongly encourage landlords to contact them to negotiate a deferred payment plan rather than skip payment without notice. Landlords also are advised to be certain that any communications they send to tenants regarding missed rent payment contains notification of Covid-specific rights.

Looking ahead, many clients are tweaking force majeure [1] clauses in leases and reconsidering their space needs in anticipation of extended social distancing.

Source: https://www.southshorechamber.org/braintreechamberblog/covid-19-update-with-mayor-kokoros-impact-on-real-estate

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Supreme Court docket Upholds Obamacare Subsidies

Enlarge this imageSupporters of your Very affordable Treatment Act cheer outside the house the Supreme Courtroom in Washington, D.C., following a greater part over the courtroom ruled that Obamacare tax credits can carry on to head to citizens of any state.Mark Wilson/Getty Imageshide captiontoggle captionMark Wilson/Getty ImagesSupporters with the Affordable Care Act cheer outdoors the Supreme Court docket in Washington, D.C., following a vast majority within the court docket ruled that Obamacare tax credits can proceed to check out inhabitants of any condition.Mark Wilson/Getty ImagesThe Inexpensive Treatment Act survived its second Supreme Court take a look at in three many years, raising odds for its survival but not at all ending the lawful and political a saults on it five years right after it grew to become law. Congre s handed the Reasonably priced Care Act to enhance well being insurance policies markets, never to destroy them.Chief Justice John RobertsJune 25, 2015 The 6-3 ruling stopped a problem that might have eliminated subsidies in no le s than 34 states for people and Paul Martin Jersey family members buying insurance coverage by way of the federal government’s on the net marketplace. This kind of a consequence might have designed protection unaffordable for millions and produced price spirals for people who held their procedures, many industry experts predicted. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion to the courtroom, joined by recurrent swing vote Anthony Kennedy as well as liberal justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elana Kagen. “Congre s handed the Affordable Treatment Act to enhance overall health coverage marketplaces, not to ruin them,” wrote Roberts. “The mix of no tax credits and an ineffective coverage requirement could perfectly pre s a State’s particular person insurance policy current market right into a lo s of life spiral. It is actually implausible that Congre s meant the Act to function during this way.” Shopper advocates were being eager for this end result. “The very first point going on for your enormous swath of men and women is relief that we didn’t blow up the technique,” stated Lynn Quincy, a wellbeing plan profe sional at Individuals Union. “The law was by no means intended to work devoid of this pillar in there,” she explained from the subsidies.But even a victory for the law carefully discovered with President Barack Obama leaves the wellbeing proce s with incomplete insurance coverage, rising expenditures together with other uncertainties. The ACA by itself even now faces various lawsuits, while some believe that Thursday’s selection will discourage judges from advancing the situations. “It sends a me sage towards the decrease courts which they need to have to take a very good, hard take a look at each of the ACA litigation which is to choose from and probably clean up and obtain rid of a lot of it,” stated Timothy Jost, a law profe sor at Washington and Lee University and a profe sional to the health and fitne s law. Kaiser Health Information interviewed Jost along with other authorities before Thursday’s selection inside a case recognized as King v. Burwell inquiring them to clarify the implications of upholding the regulation. Republicans controlling Congre s are most likely to progre s new legislation amending or repealing the regulation, even though it is much more probable to get vetoed by President Barack Obama if it will get to his desk. The higher court determination sets up the 2016 presidential election as being the wellbeing law’s upcoming huge take a look at, even though by then it may be tricky to completely uproot even when Republicans go ahead and take White House. “With an additional calendar year along with a 50 % of busine s as typical below the ACA, if it’s a Republican because the following president, it will be that much more tricky to make adjustments,” reported Joseph Antos, a wellne s care economist in the American Busine s Institute. The situation hinged on tax credits developed by Congre s that can help middle-income shoppers get insurance policy by on the web marketplaces, also referred to as exchanges. The subsidies are offered through an trade “established by the state,” based on the legislation. Thirty-four states didn’t set up their unique exchanges and depend as an alternative on Michel Briere Jersey healthcare.gov, operate from the federal government. Attorneys to the plaintiffs argued that, like a outcome, millions of customers in all those states should not acquire tax credits to pay for rates. Pulling the subsidies might have undermined the insurance policies market place in individuals states for the place of po sible failure, profe sionals mentioned. Not able to pay for the coverage, quite a few individuals might have dropped out. Individuals remaining would almost certainly are actually more mature and sicker, driving up rates to unsustainable amounts. Eighty-five per cent of individuals who bought coverage via healthcare.gov qualified for subsidies averaging $272 for each month. The Office of Health and Human Solutions predicted six.4 million people today might have misplaced subsidies if the court docket ruled to the plaintiffs. Those people subsidies are efficiently earnings for hospitals and wellne s insurers, funding premiums plus the price tag of care. Each industries are relieved they were being upheld. “Providers will feel far better,” reported Peter Strack, a advisor with all the Altarum Institute, which operates closely with hospitals. “They do not really have to stre s about this forwards and backwards of, ‘Will I have the right population protected?'” A reduction with the administration would have afflicted employer-based coverage at the same time, whilst not virtually just as much, advantages attorneys mentioned. For large employers not presenting wellbeing insurance policies, penalties are triggered when workers acquire subsidies in the marketplaces. No subsidies, no penalties, so busine ses could have dropped protection without the need of fearing fines. Though employers are centered on intricate, health-law reporting demands that acquire influence this 12 months, their predicament modifications minimal inside the wake in the determination, explained Edward Fensholt, a rewards lawyer with brokers Lockton Busine ses. “The working a sumption has long been, ‘We will need to offer this protection to our full-time employees or we’re going to risk these penalties,'” he explained. “And which is not gonna transform.” ACA supporters reported the shortage of the reference to tax credits with the federal exchange was a drafting error which Congre s intended for subsidies to get readily available no matter in the platform. Legal profe sionals for your plaintiffs said the federal government have to observe the letter with the legislation. The health and fitne s regulation faces other legal cases, like objections from spiritual institutions to their position in providing delivery command coverage and a suit because of the Household of Representatives contending that Obama’s delay in nece sitating busine ses to supply coverage was unlawful. But although authorized difficulties to the law vanish, health and fitne s insurers, doctors and hospitals deal with broad uncertainty. Signups for 2015 trade protection have been lackluster. At the conclusion of March, slightly a lot more than 10 million people today had enrolled and compensated for coverage, under the thirteen million the nonpartisan Congre sional Finances Place of work Bryan Rust Jersey was projecting previous 12 months. Wellne s charges seem to be creeping up once again within a technique that’s currently the most expensive inside the planet. In recent times significant, self-insured employers have viewed health-spending increases of 4 or 5 % a year, reported Dale Yamamoto, an impartial actuary who performs intently with such firms. To date this year individuals providers are viewing six or eight p.c, he explained. “Everyone I am speaking with it appears like they have begun to go up this year,” he explained. “If it truly is going up for them, it’s almost certainly going up about the person side too.”

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In ‘City on a Hill,’ a Crime-Ridden Boston Before the ‘Miracle’

In Showtime’s new crime drama “City on a Hill,” Jackie Rohr is a cocaine-snorting, corrupt and racist F.B.I. veteran who longs for the days when the “bad men” were in power, and Decourcy Ward is a principled new assistant district attorney from Brooklyn, determined to “rip out the [expletive] up machinery” in 1990s Boston.

The characters — played with flamboyant vigor by Kevin Bacon and simmering fortitude by Aldis Hodge — shouldn’t like each other, or even be able to work together. And for much of the pilot episode, they don’t.

But one morning last April, as Bacon and Hodge filmed a scene for a later episode in Decourcy’s office — actually a set at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn — the mood was different. The characters were on good terms, maybe even kind of pals.

Decourcy shared his uneaten eggs with Jackie. (In between takes, Bacon joked about being too full to partake in the handsomely stocked craft services.) Both sported shiners on their faces but they didn’t give them to each other; Decourcy’s came from a confrontation with a church minister, Jackie’s from an “alcohol-induced haymaker” at the V.F.W. When their easy chatter was interrupted by a distressing call Jackie received on his period-appropriate oversized mobile phone, Decourcy expressed concern and moral support.

Decourcy and Jackie “don’t trust each other, but kind of need each other,” Hodge said later during a phone interview. “They both represent two sides of the same coin. One is a dark looking into the light, one is a light looking into the dark.”

That could be the tagline of “City on a Hill,” which takes place during a time when crime rates and racial tensions in Boston were exceedingly high until a coalition of community groups developed an anti-violence mission that would prove successful in the late ’90s.

[Read our review of “City on a Hill.”]

The show was created by the relatively unknown writer (and Boston native) Chuck MacLean, but it sports an impressive pedigree of Hollywood veterans, including the executive producers Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Barry Levinson. It’s a sprawling ensemble piece that’s part procedural and part machismo-fueled interracial buddy tale: Decourcy and Jackie are brought together through their mutual interest in taking on a family of armored car robbers in Charlestown led by Frankie Ryan (Jonathan Tucker). By the end of the pilot, they’re swapping personal stories and strategizing how to build a potentially career-defining case over drinks in a bar.

Their dynamic may call to mind Tibbs and Gillespie or Murtaugh and Riggs, but the show’s origins lie in “The Town,” the 2010 crime thriller Affleck co-wrote, directed and starred in, which also centered on criminals in the working-class, heavily Irish Charlestown neighborhood.

Affleck was inspired to develop “City on a Hill,” he wrote in an email, after “doing so much research for ‘The Town’ and not being able to tell the scope and scale of the story the research yielded.” The series offers a more expansive means “to explore the city and in particular what was going on politically, socioeconomically, racially and culturally at the time I kind of came of age there,” he wrote.

Affleck tapped MacLean, a self-described “bum from Quincy, Mass.” with an unmistakable accent to match, who had worked with Affleck’s brother, Casey, on a script for a movie about the Boston Strangler that never got made. The veteran writer and producer Tom Fontana, who specializes in character-driven dramas set in distinct environments (“St. Elsewhere,” “Homicide: Life on the Streets,” “Oz”), was impressed by the pilot and came on as the showrunner and an executive producer after “City on a Hill” was picked up by Showtime.

While this high-wattage project is MacLean’s first foray into TV, his fascination with Boston history — his home in Los Angeles contains “wall-to-wall” crime and newspaper memorabilia stretching back to the 1930s — made him a good fit for Affleck’s vision.

“I didn’t want to spend five years talking about bank robbers and I don’t think he did either,” MacLean said. “So we started talking about the different things that were going on in Boston in the early ’90s.”

A lot was going on. The city was plagued by violent crime and racial tension, generating plenty of headlines that the series occasionally rips from, à la “Law & Order.”

It begins by citing the notorious case of Charles Stuart, a white Bostonian who in 1989 claimed that a black gunman attacked him and killed his pregnant wife. More than two months passed — during which the police went on a manhunt and Stuart eventually identified someone as the attacker from a lineup — before Stuart’s story fell apart. His brother Matthew went to the police and outed him as the real killer.

The incident exacerbated the already tense relationship between law enforcement and the black community. “The Boston police and the city of Boston — from the end of World War II, there was at least one time in every decade where they became a national embarrassment,” MacLean said.

“The Stuart one was the first time that I think the circumstances lined up that it was particularly bad, but then in the aftermath of it, it allowed for a lot of good to happen,” he added. “That’s the theme that I wanted to look at.”

MacLean, 33, was a child during the era of “City on a Hill.” But the journalist and author Michele McPhee, a writer for the show, was then a young investigative reporter at The Boston Globe, and recalls well the city’s struggles during those years.

“A little girl gets shot off a mailbox,” McPhee said. “Jermaine Goffigan — whose face I’ll never forget — he’s counting Tootsie Rolls from Halloween, still in his costume, when he gets hit by a stray bullet.”

“The city had had enough,” she added.

Jackie and Decourcy serve as the thematic entry point, their unlikely partnership an explicit allegory for the Operation Ceasefire program — also known as “The Boston Miracle.” Black clergy members, police officers, probation officers and outreach workers — once unaligned with one another — joined forces under the direction of the Harvard University criminologist David M. Kennedy to focus on black youth in high-crime areas. After it was carried out in 1996, Boston began to see a decline in homicides, and similar programs were replicated in other cities like Cincinnati with success.

“These two characters are polar opposites,” Fontana said. “But for at least a period of time, [they] need each other and are willing to overlook certain things in an effort to achieve something greater.”

The show’s creative team is primarily white, a liability for a story that aims to authentically portray a time and place defined largely by racial tension. (This season there was one biracial writer, J.M. Holmes, and one Latino writer, Jorge Zamacona.) But “City on a Hill,” doesn’t shy away from depicting its setting’s deeply ingrained racism: Within the first minute of the first episode, Jackie flippantly slings around the N-word.

“That was the world I grew up in,” MacLean said.

But, he added, he spoke frequently with Hodge and Lauren E. Banks, who plays Decourcy’s wife, Siobhan, about their perspectives. “As much as I wanted my story told correctly, I wanted everyone else’s involved in this to be told correctly,” he said.

Hodge said he “chimes in quite a bit” when it comes to the show’s depiction of Decourcy, who is partly inspired by Boston’s first black district attorney, Ralph Martin.

“That’s something that’s a priority going forward, just to get more black voices in the writer’s room,” he said. “Unless you’ve actually been the victim [of racism], you actually don’t know what it is.”

Stories about such fraught but fruitful partnerships risk turning a racist like Jackie into a sympathetic figure by having him work well with Decourcy. But in the early episodes, at least — the first 3 of 10 were made available in advance — the show is less about Jackie learning to not be a terrible human being than Decourcy’s struggle to take down the (white) status quo without becoming like it.

Decourcy is the “hero of the series” who must “deal with the devil” Jackie, MacLean said.

For Hodge, the question is: “How far will he go before he turns into Jackie Rohr?”

As for Jackie, a defining quality, Bacon said, is that he’s “so narcissistic that his belief that the ends justify the means” allows him to behave unethically. (The character is a loose composite of the F.B.I. agents H. Paul Rico, who was indicted on a charge of murder shortly before his death; John Connolly, who aided the mob boss James (Whitey) Bulger; and Dennis Condon.)

The creative team strove for authenticity in depicting the city of Boston as well, even though it almost never actually films there.

The pilot was shot in and around the city, but the production moved to New York once the series got picked up — exterior scenes were shot in Staten Island, New Rochelle, White Plains and the Bronx. (A few scenes have since been filmed in Boston.)

This decision came down to practicality: Boston lacks soundstages and the city is generally “much prettier now than it was” in the ’90s, said McPhee, who served as a kind of Boston credibility consultant.

“I was getting ready to eye-roll and say, ‘Oh God, we’re never going to get Boston,’” she said. But she was impressed with the attention to detail, adding, “There’s a set that represents [the] Bromley Heath [apartments] that I felt like I was walking through the halls of Bromley Heath.”

(“Believe me, it wasn’t my decision,” MacLean said of the move to New York.)

It’s too early to know whether there will be a second season of “City on a Hill,” though MacLean said he’s plotted out five seasons’ worth of material for the leads. According to Affleck, the plan is to move the action from Charlestown to Roxbury if the show gets renewed, and then to a different neighborhood each season, similar to the “The Wire” and its thematically distinct chapters.

“You meet two people from Boston who talk, they never talk about Boston — they talk about the neighborhood where they’re from,” MacLean explained. “The neighborhood is their vision of what Boston is.”

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The Unsolved Homicide of Tupac Shakur: Untangling the Epic Layers of Thriller Surrounding the Sophisticated Rapper’s Dying

Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Photographs In 1996, Tupac Shakur was the crown prince of West Coast rap. Touring the highway paved by hip-hop pioneers like Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and Ice-T but additionally blazing his personal approach as an inimitably gifted however difficult provocateur, the All Eyez on Me artist had emerged as a boldly trustworthy, startlingly prescient voice poised to vary the sport eternally. Which he did, solely he did not dwell to see it. On Sept. 7, 1996, Shakur, who would have turned 48 right this moment, arrived in Las Vegas to attend a Mike Tyson struggle with Dying Row Data co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight on the MGM Grand. His bodyguard Frank Alexander had arrived the day earlier than to make sure the journey went as easily as potential. Alexander was perturbed to search out out that friends have been being requested to not carry any weapons into Knight’s 662 Membership, the place they deliberate to occasion after the struggle. “Large Frank,” because the rapper known as him, did not like the concept of being with no weapon whereas defending Shakur, who attracted a crowd wherever he went. Tyson, an in depth pal, entered the ring to Shakur’s “Let’s Get It On,” and knocked Bruce Seldon out within the first spherical. As Shakur, Knight and assorted entourage members have been leaving the MGM, Knight affiliate Travon Lane got here as much as Tupac, whispered one thing to him, and the rapper took off, with Frank shut behind. When the bodyguard caught up, Shakur was exchanging punches with a person named Orlando Anderson, who was linked to the Los Angeles-based South Aspect Crips gang. (Knight and Dying Row have been famously related to the rival Mob Piru Bloods.) Resort safety broke up the struggle, and the Dying Row crew returned to the Luxor, their most popular place to remain in Vegas. As if nothing had occurred, they acquired prepared for his or her night time out at 662. Frank deliberate on going with Shakur in Knight’s BMW, however Shakur handed him the keys to his girlfriend Kidada Jones‘ automotive and instructed Frank to drive his backup group, the Outlawz, to the membership. Ron Galella/WireImage.com So Suge was behind the wheel of his BMW, with Tupac within the passenger seat. Frank adopted behind, and he would not even cease for gasoline when the warning gentle went on, so concentrated he was on his cost. The group spent about 30 minutes at Knight’s home earlier than the caravan took off for 662. Suge and Tupac have been blasting music. Stopped in visitors on Las Vegas Boulevard, aka the Vegas Strip, a bicycle cop approached Knight’s automotive. Frank noticed Knight getting out of the automotive and opening the trunk for the cop, who despatched them on their approach. On the subsequent intersection, shortly after 11 p.m., a white Cadillac pulled up subsequent to Knight’s automotive. A gun-wielding hand poked out and fired 14 photographs into the BMW. (The black 1996 BMW has been absolutely restored and Celebrity Cars in Las Vegas has it on sale for $1.5 million.) Frank jumped out of his automotive however Knight, whose cranium had been pierced by a bullet fragment, hooked a U-turn and sped off with a number of different automobiles in sizzling pursuit. Slowed by a blown-out tire, he was lastly pressured to cease. Frank caught up, as did police and paramedics. “As quickly as everyone got here to a cease, bam, the doorways all opened up, just about everyone acquired out, and I believed for certain it was going to be a capturing,” retired Las Vegas Metropolitan Police sergeant Chris Carroll, who was on bicycle patrol on the time and was the primary officer on the scene that night time, tells E! Information. “On the time we’ve got no different data than that there is been a capturing and that these automobiles are working from the police. I figured one in every of [the people in] the automobiles was the shooter, a minimum of. We do not know who’s chasing who, or why. So once they acquired there I pulled out my gun and I used to be making an attempt to inform everyone, yelling at ’em, to get down on the bottom. A few of them did and a few of them did not. It was sort of a passive resistance. A few of them sort of checked out one another, like, ‘will we hearken to him? What are we going to do right here?’ They sort of unwillingly complied.” Carroll seen that one particular person was nonetheless within the passenger seat of the BMW and he approached the automotive, telling the person to get out. At first he could not get the automotive door open, and Suge Knight then acquired out. He is “working round yelling, blood flying out of the facet of his head however he is appearing like he isn’t damage in any respect,” Carroll recollects. “I needed to level my gun at him and say, ‘get again.'” When he lastly acquired the door open, he may see that the person—whom he’d quickly discover out was Tupac—was in unhealthy form. The rapper had been shot 4 instances. In accordance with Tayannah Lee McQuillar and Frank Johnson‘s 2010 biography Tupac Shakur, as soon as he was mendacity on the pavement, he mentioned to Alexander, “Frank, I am unable to breathe. I am unable to breathe. I am unable to breathe.” And that was it. Carroll has a special reminiscence of Shakur’s final phrases.  “We have one thing known as a dying declaration, the place if somebody is ready to let you know, whereas they’re dying and so they imagine they’ll die, who killed them, that is admissible in court docket,” he defined to E! Information. “It isn’t rumour. So I requested him, ‘What occurred? Who shot you? Who did this?’ And he was simply sort of ignoring me. He was making an attempt to yell backwards and forwards to Suge. Suge was yelling at him, ‘Pac, ‘Pac!’ he saved yelling, and Tupac was making an attempt to yell again however he could not’ actually get a breath collectively. “I used to be nonetheless making an attempt to ask him who shot him, what occurred, and eventually he went from sort of swirling and making an attempt to yell at Suge to swiftly straight away going to a sense like he could not do it anymore,” Carroll continued. “And he simply sort of went again and…I may simply see him going right into a relaxed state. And he checked out me and I believed I used to be really going to get some cooperation, and he acquired a breath collectively and I mentioned, ‘Who did this?’ He checked out me and he went, ‘F–k you.’ And that was it. “After he mentioned that, his eyes rolled again in his head, he was gurgling, and he by no means regained consciousness once more, in order that was the very last thing he ever mentioned.” Jeff Vespa/WireImage.com “I knew we should always’ve by no means gone to Vegas that night time,” Kidada Jones, daughter of Quincy Jones and Peggy Lipton and older sister of Rashida Jones, wrote in a portion of her father’s 2001 autobiography. “I had a horrible feeling about it. I’ve gone over it in my thoughts one million instances. It wasn’t alleged to occur. We weren’t alleged to be there. “It was the worst potential factor that would have occurred—I nonetheless to at the present time do not know who shot him. I wasn’t capable of say goodbye. It isn’t one thing that ought to occur to anybody.” Tupac had informed her to remain within the resort that night time, that there had been a struggle earlier, and it wasn’t secure. Shakur underwent emergency surgical procedure at College Medical Heart however by no means wakened. He spent six days on life help and died at 4:03 p.m. on Sept. 13, 1996, after his mom consented to show off the machines. He was 25 years outdated. TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Photographs Tupac Shakur’s legacy has been a fluid one. Every part from books, documentaries and biopics to his look as a hologram at Coachella and countless dissections and reexaminations of the music he left behind, plus the sporadic unearthing of never-before-heard music through the years, has added countless layers to the Tupac mythos. His affect could be felt within the work of artists from Eminem, Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar to those that weren’t even born but when Shakur died. West, saying he had been watching a few of Shakur’s outdated interviews, told Interview in 2014, “I watched them, and one of many issues that Tupac saved saying is that he wished thugs to be acknowledged. Now Jay-Z is a multi-hundred-millionaire who got here from the streets, so Tupac’s mission, in a approach, has been realized.” Regardless of being handled like a cultural deity, Tupac Amaru Shakur, named after an 18th-century Peruvian revolutionary (whose namesake was the final emperor of the Incas), was in fact no saint. However he was, by all accounts, a deeply delicate and intuitive artist, a voracious reader, poet and visionary who introduced gravitas to each lyric and radiated charisma. He and his sister Sekyiwa have been raised by a single mother, Afeni Shakur, a member of the Black Panther Social gathering who had been out and in of jail, together with when she was pregnant along with her son. She labored as a paralegal within the Bronx however, after that job went away, she struggled to place a roof over their heads. A boyfriend who was an affiliate of a neighborhood drug lord went to jail for bank card fraud and died behind bars. Finally the household moved to Baltimore, the place Afeni acquired a job as an information processor. Till he enrolled on the Baltimore College for the Arts, the place tuition was free for native children, Tupac had operated below the idea that white folks weren’t to be trusted. Twitter At college he and the long run Jada Pinkett Smith turned buddies when, because the actress put it in 2017, she was heading out of “the life” and Shakur was heading in. “I do know that most individuals wish to at all times join it on this romance factor, and that is simply because they do not have the story,” Pinkett Smith said on Sway in the Morning. “Nevertheless it was based mostly in survival, how we held one another down…When you might have anyone that has your again if you really feel such as you’re nothing, that is every thing.” In the course of his junior 12 months of highschool, the household was evicted from their house and Afeni packed up and moved them throughout the nation to Marin Metropolis, Calif. However she quickly sank into crack dependancy and her 17-year-old son moved out and lived with another boys in an deserted house whereas he labored in a pizza parlor and went to class. He dropped out simply shy of commencement. Not making it as a small-time supplier (“the drug supplier mentioned give me my medicine again ‘trigger I did not know the best way to do it,” he mentioned), he was already rapping in entrance of buddies and whoever would hear, gaining a neighborhood fame that preceded him when he met Leila Steinberg, a music promoter who took him below her wing and have become his first supervisor, in addition to pal and mom determine when he was so in want of 1. In a 2010 interview with Chicago Now‘s GoWhere Hip-Hop blog, Steinberg remembered Shakur as “simply an unbelievable spirit and an superior younger man. On first assembly, you meet folks and also you join with them. He is one of many deepest connections in my life and he’ll at all times be. Yeah, Pac was positively a connection that was one in every of a sort.” Steinberg mentioned that 24/7, Shakur’s manufacturing firm that he by no means acquired an opportunity to do a lot with, was an apropos identify as a result of its founder was at all times going, on a regular basis. “2Pac was very, very tough and thrilling on the identical time,” she mentioned. “You could not inform him something; he knew every thing. He was extremely cussed, with unbelievable imaginative and prescient. He had a piece ethic in contrast to no different that I’ve met, to this point…His physique…totally different folks have totally different necessities. And he actually didn’t require the identical quantity of sleep. It is like he labored on another stage, the place he tapped into one other power supply and has this desperation to finish what he felt he was right here to do.” Steinberg hooked Shakur up along with his subsequent supervisor, Atron Gregory, who acquired the gifted teen began as a roadie for Digital Underground. Fairly quickly he was becoming a member of him onstage, however he was a unstable presence. “We mentioned, ‘OK, we won’t use you,'” frontman Gregory “Shock G” Jacobs, Shakur’s closest pal within the group, told Vanity Fair in 1997. “Two hours later, Tupac’s again, like nothin’ occurred. It was like that on a regular basis. He’d flip on you, then the incident did not exist.”. Shakur was featured on Digital Underground’s album This Is an EP Launch, debuting his solo abilities on “Similar Tune” and showing within the video. [embedded content] Funnily sufficient, Shakur’s first onscreen look got here with Digital Underground within the 1991 comedy Nothing however Bother, starring Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase; the group performs “Similar Tune” to get Aykroyd’s decide to launch them from visitors court docket. Shakur struck out on his personal and was signed by Jimmy Iovine‘s Interscope Data in 1991, additional cementing Iovine’s personal fame as a visionary. Tupac’s first single, “Trapped,” was a couple of younger black man getting right into a confrontation with a police officer, who then fires at him and the person fires again. Chased down and cornered by police afterward, he raps, “I would quite die than be trapped within the dwelling hell.” On Oct. 17, 1991, a few weeks after the hit single was launched, two white cops stopped the rapper for jaywalking in Oakland and, in accordance with Shakur, they hassled him as a substitute of writing him a ticket and sending him on his approach. He mentioned that he swore at them, then they wrestled him to the bottom, choked him out and he was jailed for resisting arrest. “They sweated me about my identify, the officers mentioned, ‘you need to be taught your house,'” Shakur recounted at a press conference that November. It was his first journey to jail and, whereas he was adamant about having been mistreated by the cops, his fame cut up into two proper there—hardworking black artist calling out the cops for violating his civil rights, 5 months after the beating of Rodney King vs. authority-flouting prison who had no respect for legislation enforcement. Each narratives boosted the discharge of Shakur’s debut algum, 2Pacalypse Now, on Nov. 12, 1991. The album went platinum, incomes Shakur a litany of lifelong followers and the ire of the fearful who scorned the music as detrimental to younger minds, in addition to activists who apprehensive Shakur was only a strolling glamorization of the societal ills he rapped about. (Shakur later settled a $10 million lawsuit he filed in opposition to town of Oakland for a reported $42,000.) In a 1992 interview with E! Information, Shakur drew a distinction between the violence rapped about in music and seen in motion pictures that politicians have been so keen on excoriating and the violence going down on the streets day by day. “It is an journey world that we’re creating,” he mentioned. “What we’re doing is utilizing our mind to get out of the ghetto, any approach we will, so we inform these tales…and so they are typically violent, as a result of our world tends to be stuffed with violence.” “In my rhymes,” he defined, lyrics about capturing again on the police “vents that anger, ‘trigger I can hearth again on the police and will not go to jail for all times.” And in the end his music was primarily speaking about “the oppressed rising up in opposition to the oppressor…So the one those who’s scared are the oppressors. The one individuals who have any hurt coming to them are those that oppress, easy as that.” [embedded content] The emergence of T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E. (The Hate U Give Little Infants F–ks Everybody), his mission assertion to curb the drug use and violence plaguing the interior cities, was as polarizing as you’d anticipate. “It isn’t thugging like I am robbing folks,” he informed MTV, according to Michael Eric Dyson‘s 2006 guide Holler if You Hear Me: Trying to find Tupac Shakur. “That is not what I am doing. A part of being a [thug] is to face up to your tasks and say that is what I do although I do know individuals are going to hate me and say, ‘It is so politically un-correct,’ and ‘How may you make black folks appear like that? Have you learnt how buffoonish you all look with cash and women and all of that?’ That is what I wish to do. I wish to be actual with myself.” Shakur hardly eschewed the great life, however he disdained what to him was the insatiable want for extra being sewn into the material of society, and he decried the obtrusive divide between the white and black expertise on this nation. He told MTV News in August 1992, “Everyone’s like you get taught that from college, all over the place, large enterprise, if you wish to achieve success, you wish to be like Trump, ‘gimme, gimme gimme, push push push push, step-step-step, crush-crush-crush,’ that is the way it all is. And it is like no person ever stops. I really feel like as a substitute of us simply being like ‘slavery’s unhealthy…unhealthy whitey,’ let’s cease that. “And everyone’s good sufficient to know we have been slighted, and we would like ours. And I do not imply by ours like ’40 acres and a mule, ‘trigger we’re previous that. However we want assist. For us to be on our personal two toes, that means youth or ‘us’ that means black folks, no matter you wish to take it for…as a result of we’ve got been right here, we’ve got been a great pal…and now we deserve our payback. You bought a pal that you do not by no means look out for…America’s acquired jewels and so they paid and every thing, and so they’re lending cash to everyone besides us.” He continued, “If that is really a melting pot and a rustic the place we care about everyone, Woman Liberty acquired her hand like this [he raised an imaginary torch], she actually love us, then we actually should be like that.” Shakur’s second album, Strictly Four My N.I.G.G.A.Z., got here out in February 1993 and likewise went platinum. The video for “Hold Ya Head Up” was devoted to Latasha Harlins, a black teenager who was killed in 1991 by Korean liquor retailer proprietor Quickly Ja Du. Du mentioned Harlins was making an attempt to steal a bottle of juice. The 15-year-old had put it in her backpack and witnesses mentioned the woman had $2 in her hand to pay. Du grabbed Harlins’ arm and Harlins hit her within the face, knocking her down. She dropped the juice on the counter and headed for the door. Du shot the teenager at the back of the top. She was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to probation and neighborhood service, and fined $500. [embedded content] Tupac Shakur was quick changing into the voice of a black neighborhood that was uninterested in popping out on the shedding facet. And but he wasn’t at all times so severe. He additionally preferred partying and smoking weed, and dwelling the lifetime of a beloved rapper. As Arsenio Corridor commented when Shakur appeared on his show in 1993, it appeared as if there have been “two Tupacs.” On the identical time, nonetheless, a 3rd Shakur began to emerge. He was arrested twice in Los Angeles in March 1993, on March 11 for carrying a hid weapon and on March 13 after allegedly attacking a limo driver who had pushed him to a taping of In Residing Coloration. Shakur informed a decide that he thought the driving force might have been reaching for a gun. These expenses have been dropped; he was convicted on the gun cost. In April 1993 he spent 10 days in jail in East Lansing, Mich., after swinging at one other rapper with a bat throughout a live performance at Michigan State, practically inflicting a riot within the viewers. In Atlanta within the early a.m. hours of Oct. 31, 1993, Shakur acquired arrested for shooting and wounding two off-duty cops. Prosecutors charged that the 2 cops had been crossing the road with their wives when two automobiles ferrying Shakur and his entourage nearly hit them and a confrontation ensued. In his protection Shakur mentioned he had pulled over as a result of he noticed two white guys harassing a black motorist and he had no thought they have been cops. The assault expenses in opposition to Shakur were dropped after it was decided that one in every of the weapons geared toward him had been seized in a drug bust and stolen from an proof locker, and the officers had been intoxicated. Whereas Shakur’s star within the hip-hop neighborhood was rocketing ever larger, he was additionally more and more in demand in Hollywood. His appearing profession started along with his function as a troubled teen within the 1992 drama Juice. The New York Times known as him the film’s “most magnetic determine.” That was adopted by 1993’s Poetic Justice, co-starring Janet Jackson. He guest-starred on the Cosby Present spin-off A Totally different World, then landed starring roles within the basketball drama Above the Rim and the crime dramas (all launched posthumously) Bullet, Gridlock’d and Gang Associated. He dated Madonna and have become friends with Mickey Rourke. It was through the filming of Poetic Justice that Shakur first heard a tune known as “Social gathering and Bulls–t” by an up-and-coming rapper named Christopher Wallace—or Biggie Smalls on the road—who was affiliated with New York-based Dangerous Boy Data, began by Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs. Shakur noticed Biggie carry out in Maryland and launched himself. They turned quick buddies and ended up collaborating on songs like “Runnin’ (Dying to Reside)” and “Home of Ache.” Biggie even stayed with Tupac on journeys to L.A. In the meantime, in New York Shakur had additionally befriended a membership promoter named Jacques “Haitian Jack” Agnant, mentioned to be an inspiration for Birdie, the charismatic, basketball-playing thug Shakur performs in Above the Rim. On Nov. 18, 1993, 19-year-old Ayanna Jackson, who had had a couple of sexual encounters with Shakur after assembly him at a nightclub a number of nights prior, was invited to the rapper’s suite on the Parker Meridien. When she arrived, a number of different folks have been there, together with Agnant and Charles Fuller, Shakur’s highway supervisor. Shakur later told Vibe that two different males got here into the bed room when he was in there with Jackson and, not desirous to tangle with them, he left and handed out on the sofa. Jackson, nonetheless, maintains that she was sexually assaulted by a number of males that night time, together with Shakur. The rapper and Fuller ended up being charged with first-degree sexual abuse, sodomy and illegally possessing a firearm. (Agnant was additionally charged and tried individually. A fourth man who was supposedly there was by no means situated.) Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Photographs Shakur maintained his innocence, however the expenses in opposition to him had lastly punctured the Teflon that had appeared to encompass him all through his earlier run-ins with the legislation. “He was a delicate man. He did not know if he wished to be a thug or revolutionary,” John Singleton recalled to Vibe in 2011. “I nonetheless dream concerning the motion pictures me and Tupac would have made. I wrote Larger Studying for him. He was taking part in the Omar Epps function. The unique solid to Larger Studying was alleged to be Tupac, Leonardo DiCaprio, Gwyneth Paltrow and Juliette Lewis. ‘Pac ended up getting in hassle after which all that stuff occurred in New York. It was logistically not possible.” Additionally in 1993 Shakur was fired from Menace II Society after changing into arduous to take care of on set and he ended up concerned in an assault on co-director Allen Hughes at a music video shoot. Whereas awaiting trial in the rape case, Shakur was sentenced to 15 days in jail in March 1994 for assault and battery. On the time, per the Los Angeles Times, there have been 4 circumstances pending in opposition to Shakur in three states, together with the then yet-to-be closed Atlanta capturing. “If ‘Pac had been within the film he would’ve outshined everybody,” Hughes told IndieWire in 2013. “It will’ve thrown the entire axis of the film off if Tupac was in it, as a result of he was larger than the film.” Shakur had been nominated for an NAACP Picture Award for Poetic Justice and Nationwide Political Congress of Black Ladies chief and anti-gangsta rap crusader C. DeLores Tucker picketed the present for not rescinding his nomination. (Tucker, who died in 2005, unsuccessfully sued his estate in 1997 after being name-checked on All Eyez on Me.) He additionally met his future spouse, Keisha Morris, in New York whereas awaiting trial. At school on the time engaged on a level in prison justice, Morris selected to not go to court docket with him, however she believed in his innocence. Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Photographs; Jane Caine/ZUMAPRESS.com With alternatives drying up, Shakur was quick going into debt and wanted an infusion of money. He agreed to rap on a document being made by Little Shawn, an up-and-comer signed to Andre Harrell‘s Uptown Data and managed by James Rosemond (aka “Jimmy Henchman”), who knew Agnant. In November 1994, Shakur recommended in an interview with the New York Every day Information that Agnant had set him up within the rape case, reportedly calling him a “hanger-on.” He had additionally seen Agnant and Biggie hanging out. On Nov. 30, Shakur went to the NYC recording studio Quad to chop the observe for Little Shawn. He was along with his sister’s boyfriend Zayd; Reside Squad rapper Randy “Stretch” Walker, a mutual pal of his and Biggie’s; and Stretch’s pal Fred. Once they acquired there, there was a man in military fatigues exterior and one other within the foyer, neither of whom Shakur knew, however he assumed they labored safety for Biggie. On their approach to the elevator, the 2 males pulled out weapons and informed everybody to get down and take off their jewellery. Shakur ended up getting shot 5 instances. Nonetheless, he made his approach to the elevator and went upstairs, the place a gaggle was assembled, together with Combs, Biggie and Harrell. In accordance with some accounts, the police who arrived on the scene have been the identical three who had arrested Shakur for sexual assault, together with one who had simply testified at his trial. (Shakur told Vibe he acknowledged the cop after he acquired shot.) However former NYPD detective Invoice Courtney, who had labored with a task force quietly set as much as monitor the hip-hop neighborhood, told XXL magazine in 2011 that it wasn’t the identical cops. Courtney did, nonetheless, imagine that the capturing was payback for one thing. (In 2011, a jail inmate serving a life sentence for homicide wrote to AllHipHop.com claiming that Jimmy Rosemond employed him to shoot Shakur at Quad; Rosemond’s lawyer brushed that off as nothing however an inmate’s try and get his sentence shortened.) Shakur was taken to Bellevue Hospital however quickly checked himself out to recuperate on the house of a pal, the actress Jasmine Man. On Dec. 1, 1994, Shakur, bandaged and sitting in a wheelchair lower than a day after being shot, and Fuller have been discovered not responsible on the gun and sodomy expenses, however have been found guilty of three counts every of sexual abuse. In February 1995 Shakur was sentenced to 1 1/2 to Four 1/2 years in jail. Fuller, whom the decide decided had organized the date after which stood by as Ayanna Jackson was attacked, was sentenced to 4 months in jail and 5 years’ probation. Shakur apologized to Jackson, however added, “I am not apologizing for against the law. I hope in time you may come forth and inform the reality.” “Possibly the concern, perhaps different folks, the affect round him, perhaps he felt he couldn’t intervene,” Jackson told VladTV in September 2018. She has by no means “come forth” with any story apart from her first one. Although Shakur was discovered responsible of abusing her, she said, “There isn’t any justice in that. By no means.” Shakur did tell Vibe‘s Kevin Powell from jail, whereas awaiting sentencing in 1995, “By no means did nothing…However I do know I really feel ashamed—as a result of I wished to be accepted and since I did not need no hurt achieved to me—I did not say nothing.” (By the way, Powell sued the producers of the 2017 Tupac biopic All Eyez on Me, claiming the script was mainly ripped proper from a collection of articles he wrote about the rapper.) Agnant, who pleaded all the way down to a misdemeanor conviction and acquired probation, was later known as out by Tupac on the 1996 diss observe “In opposition to All Odds.” He told HipHopWired in 2015 that he believes Shakur was ordered to name him out, that he and the rapper had been “like brothers.” “Then in a while different issues result in different issues after which folks put issues in his head, which created a foul blood between him and me,” Agnant, who was deported to Haiti in 2007, mentioned. “However I by no means had any unhealthy blood in direction of him although. A whole lot of these issues will get cleared up eventually. I really had nothing to do with what occurred to Pac. I by no means performed a task in something.” Concerning the rape case, “The factor is Pac did nothing to that woman, neither did I and neither did anybody else.” Tupac Shakur went to jail in February 1995. His third album, Me In opposition to the World, recorded after the capturing and that includes classics like “Expensive Mama” and “So Many Tears,” was launched the next month and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. (It was nominated for Finest Rap Album on the 1996 Grammys.) Shakur then married the devoted Keisha Morris on April 4. (The union was annulled in 1996.)  Whereas in jail, Shakur made it clear he believed he’d been betrayed by folks he trusted. “Be to your self, keep to your self, belief no person,” Shakur mentioned in one other prison interview. “Belief nophysique…My closest buddies did me in, my closest buddies, my homies—individuals who I would have took care of their entire household, I’ve have took care of everythin’ for ’em, seemed out for ’em, put ’em within the sport, every thing—turned on me. “Concern is stronger than love, do not forget that. Concern is stronger than love. All of the love did not imply nothing when it got here to concern. So it is all good, I am a soldier, I at all times survive. I continuously come again…solely factor that may kill me is demise. That is the one factor that’ll ever cease me is demise. And even then, my music’ll dwell eternally.” Evidently, Shakur’s relationship with Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls, aka Infamous B.I.G., had been irreparably broken. Nevertheless it wasn’t the meat between them that originally pitted East Coast vs. West Coast. The final consensus is that it was Suge Knight taking a swipe at “Puff Daddy” Combs throughout the 1995 Supply Hip-Hop Music Awards at Madison Sq. Backyard that August, when Shakur was nonetheless in jail, that lit the fuse. Knight reportedly mentioned, “Any artist on the market who needs to be an artist and keep a star, and do not wanna have to fret concerning the govt producer making an attempt to be all within the movies, all on the information, dancing—come to Dying Row.” The LIFE Image Assortment/Getty Photographs) Then Dying Row artist Snoop Dogg acquired on stage to a refrain of boos and inquired, “The East Coast ain’t acquired no love for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg and Dying Row? Y’all do not love us?…We all know y’all East Coast…We all know the place the f–k we at…So let or not it’s identified then!” Not lengthy after, Knight’s pal Jake Robles was shot and killed in Atlanta, and a witness fingered Combs’ bodyguard, Anthony “Wolf” Jones. Nobody was charged and, in 2001, when the topic got here up once more when each Jones and Combs have been on trial associated to a nightclub capturing in New York, their attorneys acknowledged that their purchasers had “absolutely nothing” to do with Robles’ demise.  Wolf Jones was shot to death in Atlanta in 2003. In the meantime, Knight had visited Shakur a number of instances in jail and ended up posting the $1.Four million bail that acquired the rapper launched early whereas he appealed his case. Shakur then signed a three-album, $3.5 million take care of Dying Row Data, which had altered the hip-hop hierarchy in 1992 with Dr. Dre’s triple-platinum-selling debut solo album The Power. Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Photographs When Shakur acquired out of jail (and right into a white limo after which onto a personal jet to take him to L.A.) in October 1995, he was stepping proper right into a battle zone. However he additionally acquired proper again to work on his fourth album. The primary single, launched that December, was “California Love,” that includes Dr. Dre. The tune, Tupac’s most enduring industrial hit, went to No. 1 on the Billboard 100 and was nominated for 2 Grammys. Shakur additionally reportedly felt that Knight’s connections may assist hold him secure from the assorted enemies he’d acquired through the years, which now included Biggie Smalls. He’d poked the bear by publicly accusing Wallace of co-opting his fashion (a jab hip-hop connoisseurs have since disputed as not having a lot weight behind it). And but he additionally needed to nurture the industrial facet of his life. “I acquired shot 5 instances by some dudes who have been making an attempt to rub me out,” Shakur informed the Los Angeles Instances. “However God is nice. He let me come again. However after I take a look at the previous few years, it is not like everyone did me unsuitable. I made some errors. However I am prepared to maneuver on.” In November 1995, precisely one 12 months after the Quad capturing, Stretch Walker was shot to death in Queens. Tupac, who had began to marvel if his pal had set him up, denied having something to do with it. Shakur had initially tried to insist there was simply a difficulty between him and Wallace, denying that there was some large Coast vs. Coast beef occurring, however he ultimately began taking extra digs on the East Coast scene on the whole—after which he kicked it up a notch. Shakur and Snoop Dogg appeared with Knight on the duvet of the New York Times Magazine in January 1996. Knight mentioned within the article that Infamous B.I.G.’s spouse, Religion Evans, had purchased the outfit Tupac was sporting, in addition to “another stuff.” Requested how he thanked her, Shakur mentioned, apparently lasciviously, “I did sufficient.” Biggie, who ended up getting booed on the 1996 Soul Prepare Awards held in Los Angeles that March, was by many accounts positively furious. When All Eyez on Me—hip-hop’s first double album—got here out in April 1996, it was a vital and industrial smash. One tune stood out specifically, nonetheless, for not having ‘Pac’s typical socially aware bent—”2 of Amerikaz Most Needed,” a duet with Snoop. The music video, filmed within the spring of 1996, includes a bloody Tupac, contemporary from being shot, strolling in on two guys named “Buffy” and “Piggie,” and Buffy’s saying, “He is gone, child, you the person.”  They beg for his or her life. Tupac says, “I ain’t gonna kill you. We was homeboys as soon as, Pig. As soon as we homeboys, we at all times homeboys.” Then he steps apart and the scene cuts to yellow police tape. “All names have been modified to guard the harmless,” the video taunts firstly. Mark Davis/BET/Getty Photographs for BET “Why would I set a n—a as much as get shot?” Combs informed Vibe in 1995. “If I’ma set a n—a up, which I might by no means do, I ain’t gonna be within the nation, I’ma be in Bolivia someplace.” The man who would quickly be often called “Diddy” mentioned that Tupac knew who shot him however he was busy making hassle with them. “When you ask him, he is aware of, and everyone on the street is aware of, and he isn’t stepping to them, as a result of is aware of that he isn’t gonna get away with that s–t. To me, that is some actual sucker s–t. Be mad at everyone, man; do not be utilizing n—as as scapegoats. We all know that he is a pleasant man from New York. “All s–t apart, Tupac is a pleasant, good-hearted man.” In the meantime, a minimum of one beef in Shakur’s life had ended surprisingly fortunately. In a 1993 interview with The Supply, the rapper had slammed interracial {couples}, calling Quincy Jones “disgusting” for being with white girls and making “f–ked up children.” Rashida Jones, 17 on the time, wrote a letter to The Supply defending her father and asking Tupac, “The place the hell would you be if Black folks like him hadn’t paved the best way so that you can even have the chance to precise your self? I do not see you preventing to your race. In my view, you are destroying it and s–tting throughout your folks.” Kidada later noticed Tupac at a membership and he went as much as her to apologize. “‘I did not imply that about your dad otherwise you. I did not see you as actual human beings. Now that I see you…'” she recalled him saying in her dad’s memoir. “He was all sport. He was making an attempt to get a play, let’s face it, however I preferred him.” They began courting and ultimately bumped into Quincy Jones at a Jerry’s Deli one night time in L.A. He got here up, clapped his arms on Shakur’s shoulders and requested him to have a chat. “They stood up and hugged when it was over and so they acquired alongside wonderful from them on,” Kidada wrote. She and Shakur lived collectively for 4 months and have been speaking about getting married earlier than he was killed. Very similar to Infamous B.I.G., Tupac Shakur steadily referenced his personal demise—whether or not he really sensed it was imminent or not. After jail he took to sporting a bullet-proof vest round and by no means went out with out a minimum of one bodyguard. “I do know someday they’re gonna shut the sport down however I gotta have as a lot enjoyable and go across the board as many instances as I can earlier than it is my flip to depart,” he informed Oakland’s KMEL radio station. On June 4, 1996, he launched the diss observe “Hit Em Up,” through which Shakur raps, “That is why I f–ked your bitch you fats motherf–ka.” Michael Eric Dyson known as it “essentially the most bitter, vindictive, vengeful battle rap and diss tune of all time…It was vicious and it was highly effective and compelling on the identical time.” (Within the Might 1996 concern of Vibe, Evans denied ever sleeping with Shakur.) After “Hit Em Up” got here out, bodyguard Frank Alexander informed his boss he’d want reinforcements to guard Tupac. The rapper laughed that off. He was busy touring with Tha Dogg Pound, capturing Gridlock’d, making a video per week and dealing on his fifth studio album, The Don Killuminati: The Seven Day Idea, which—years forward of artists starting from Beyoncé to Nicki Minaj to Garth Brooks—he attributed to an alter ego, Makaveli.  The album got here out Nov. 5, 1996, two months after Shakur was killed.  The murder of 24-year-old Biggie Smalls, on March 9, 1997, proved a miserable, not altogether stunning epilogue to the story of Tupac Shakur’s quick life whereas additionally assuring Infamous B.I.G.’s personal legend would solely develop.  The enduring fascination surrounding the inextricably linked circumstances has resulted in quite a few examinations of what occurred, together with final 12 months’s USA restricted collection Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and Infamous B.I.G., starring Marcc Rose as Shakur and Wavvy Jones as Biggie. Rose, who additionally performed Shakur within the 2015 movie Straight Outta Compton and was Four when Tupac was killed, mentioned he thinks each rappers would’ve nonetheless been on the high of their sport had they lived. “Hip-hop has modified a lot through the years, I do not assume they’d rock with a lot of the music that will get performed on radio right this moment,” he told The Source. “There aren’t messages being informed the best way they used to anymore. I really feel they might’ve modified that.” Government producer Anthony Hemingway additionally labored on American Crime Story: The Folks v. O.J. Simpson, and Unsolved equally examined the Los Angeles Police Division’s twisted historical past with celeb, race relations and inside corruption. Jimmi Simpson took on the function of late LAPD Detective Richard Poole, who ultimately got here to the assumption that Suge Knight orchestrated each murders, and Josh Duhamelperformed Detective Greg Kading, who detailed precisely who he believes is accountable in his 2011 guide Homicide Rap: The Untold Story of the Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur Homicide Investigations and who served as an govt producer on Unsolved. Orlando Anderson, the man Shakur had tussled with hours earlier than he died, was thought-about a major suspect in his homicide—a minimum of by L.A. police—however nothing ever got here of it. Shakur’s mom filed a wrongful demise lawsuit in opposition to Anderson in September 1997, alleging that he pulled the set off and was later seen carrying the identical sort of gun that killed her son, a .40-caliber Glock. In Might 1998, Anderson was killed together with one other man in what police deemed an unrelated gang shoot-out in Compton, Calif. Afeni Shakur died in 2016, having spent the remainder of her life after her son’s demise tending to his legacy. She produced the 2003 documentary Tupac: Resurrection and based Amaru Leisure/Amaru Data—not as a result of she had wished to be a producer or a music mogul, she mentioned, however as a result of she was compelled to take action. “No matter it’s I am doing I do as a result of my son was murdered, and he was not capable of full his work,” Afeni mentioned in a 2003 interview. “In order his mom, my entire job and accountability is to see to it that that occurs for him, and I do this with love.” She was eternally annoyed, nonetheless, that her son’s killer was by no means delivered to justice. Among the theories is that Suge Knight was both the goal or was behind each murders, having offed Tupac to forestall him from leaving Dying Row to start out his personal label. Chris Carroll, the primary cop on the scene of Shakur’s capturing, did not purchase the latter. “I’ve heard all of the conspiracy theories which have come out, that Suge had one thing to do with it,” he told Vegas Seven in 2014. “And I will let you know, that did not occur. And one purpose is: You do not rent anyone to kill the man who’s sitting subsequent to you. And second of all: After we have been on the scene, and he was yelling at Tupac, it was clear he had reputable concern for him. It wasn’t appearing; you may see it was the warmth of the second. This isn’t the man who had him killed; it is ridiculous.” Just like the LAPD, the Vegas police have been accused of not completely investigating Shakur’s homicide for no matter purpose—a principle Greg Kading finds illogical. “It may look worse should you do not clear up it,” he informed E! Information in a 2018 interview. “If there’s fast and quick justice, and also you make it clear that gang members aren’t going to come back to Las Vegas and kill folks, that is the impression you wish to make. You do not depart it unsolved if you wish to create a secure atmosphere.” (Shakur related to gang members, however he himself was not one, Kading reiterated.) There was even a far-out conspiracy principle that Quincy Jones was behind Shakur’s homicide. Requested if he was conscious of it, Jones informed the New York Instances in 2012 that he did. “The individuals who say I wished to have intercourse with him,” the 28-time Grammy winner mentioned. “Man, that is the most important age of haters I’ve ever seen in my life. I have been known as a blonde-lover, a pedophile, homosexual, every thing. I do not care, man. Think about my daughter being engaged to Tupac and me making an attempt to make like to him? And I am not into no males, man. I am a hard-core lesbian. Are you kidding? All my life, all my life.” Then there have been the optimistic souls who have been satisfied Shakur faked his personal demise to get himself out of the sport. Not since Elvis Presley have extra folks believed within the persistent existence of a person who was gone approach earlier than his time. Much more prevalent, as a consequence of their extensively publicized beef, was hypothesis that Infamous B.I.G. was behind Shakur’s homicide and in flip Knight masterminded Biggie’s homicide. Quite a few sources laid out various theories to the Los Angeles Times, together with that Biggie had been in Vegas on the time and had put a $1 million hit on his rival. (Biggie’s mom, Volletta Wallace, informed Rolling Stone in 2010 that the concept her son had masterminded the Vegas assault was “so ridiculous.”) Jim Smeal/WireImage Combs called the theory that he commissioned Tupac’s homicide, as proposed by Kading in his 2011 guide, “pure fiction and utterly ridiculous.” According to Kading, Orlando Anderson’s uncle, Crips member Duane “Keffe D” Keith Davis, informed police in 2008 that he was sitting within the passenger seat of the white Cadillac from which the deadly photographs have been fired at Tupac. He mentioned Anderson shot on the BMW from his perch within the backseat of the Cadillac, and Combs ordered the entire thing. (Keffe D had informed the FBI in 1997 that his nephew wasn’t concerned.) “I take the phrase of the road gang cops in Compton,” Cathy Scott, creator of the 1997 guide The Killing of Tupac Shakur, tells E! Information. Tupac was shot at 11:15 p.m. on a Friday. “That subsequent day, Saturday, Orlando Anderson, they drove house within the Cadillac, he drives house, will get again into Compton, and goes all around the avenue telling everyone, ‘I shot ‘Pac, I shot ‘Pac.’ He was bragging about it.” Additionally in accordance with Kading’s Homicide Rap, Knight’s girlfriend “Theresa Swann” (an alias used within the guide for her safety) had mentioned Knight gave her $13,000 to present to his affiliate Wardell “Poochie” Fouse, and inform him in no unsure phrases that he wished Biggie useless. A number of sources fingered Fouse because the set off man, Kading wrote. Poochie Fouse was shot and killed in July 2003 whereas driving his bike in Compton, caught up in a feud between totally different Blood factions, in accordance with police. The LA Instances reported that Poochie’s demise made 4 of Knight’s closest associates killed since 1997.  Requested in August 2003 if he feared for his personal life, Knight told the Times on the Peninsula Resort in Beverly Hills, “I do not imagine anybody is searching me. However even when they have been, so what?…The one assure a person has in life is that you’re born to die. I am from the ghetto, the place black males get killed day by day.” Kading wrote that he was about to lay out his findings when higher-ups on the LAPD pulled him off the case in 2009. (Police told the LA Weekly in 2011 that the investigation into each murders was “energetic/ongoing.”) He had been a part of a police activity drive put collectively in 2006 to unravel Biggie’s killing, in no small half as a result of Volletta Wallace had sued town of Los Angeles for thousands and thousands over her son’s demise. No variations of her lawsuit named Suge Knight—who was in jail for violating probation on a earlier assault cost when Biggie was killed and did not get out till 2001—as a defendant. One of many first folks named, nonetheless, seemingly due to a principle espoused by Richard Poole, was David Mack, a cop who had been investigated within the LAPD Rampart corruption scandal and who had ties to Knight, and affiliate Amir Muhammad, whom police additionally suspected at one level had pulled the set off on Infamous B.I.G. Each males have been dismissed from the grievance earlier than it went to trial.  The town was ordered to pay Volletta Wallace, who together with Combs served as a producer on the 2009 biopic Infamous, $1.1 million in sanctions. Her authentic swimsuit, filed in 2002, resulted in a mistrial in 2005; she refiled in 2006 however agreed to withdraw the swimsuit in 2010. The duty drive was subsequently disbanded. “What bothers me essentially the most about these circumstances is the paradox, —all of the mysteries, and theories and conspiracies, the conspiratorial considering that surrounds them—when in actual fact the solutions to those two murders are comparatively easy, they’re fairly straight ahead and direct,” Kading informed E! Information. “It does not make any sense. If that is the reality, then why hasn’t anyone been delivered to justice? Nicely, we did not determine these things out till lengthy after the actual fact. Sadly legislation enforcement again in 1996 and 1997 simply weren’t capable of get what they wanted to unravel the circumstances. And that is irritating.” “That is all of the justice that these circumstances will see,” Kading also told Complex in 2012. “The co-conspirators are by no means going to be prosecuted. Sadly, the circumstances are so difficult and convoluted. These won’t ever see prison prosecution.  “The co-conspirators are completely identified and I say that with conviction. I labored straight on these circumstances for years and know precisely the place they stand inside legislation enforcement. They might be very problematic prosecutions due to all the convoluted peripheral points that have been raised through the investigation. The D.A. in Los Angeles is aware of that that is a particularly tough state of affairs to try to prosecute. Here is the issue: You have acquired [Suge’s girlfriend] confessing, after which, there was a foul transfer by legislation enforcement to present her immunity. The shooter’s useless, the feminine confessor has immunity, so that you simply have Suge Knight.” Knight, who’s by no means been charged with something associated to Wallace’s or Shakur’s demise, is at present in jail. The now 54-year-old Dying Row Data co-founder was sentenced to 28 years in October after pleading no contest to manslaughter for hitting two males along with his truck exterior a Compton burger stand, killing one and severely injuring the opposite, after an argument throughout filming on 2015’s Straight Outta Compton. He initially claimed he acted in self-defense. Kading additionally disputed Russell Poole’s principle of the case, that soiled cops have been concerned, which he arrived at with the assistance of a jailhouse informant who named, vaguely, somebody named Amir because the potential shooter in Biggie’s case.  “Coincidentally, [David] Mack has a pal named Amir Muhammad,” Kading informed Complicated. “That circumstantial connection, put this investigator [Poole] down a rabbit gap.” He mentioned, “There was all this exaggeration of data, and a complete principle was constructed on it, which by no means had a foundation however captured the favored creativeness. Truly, the person who introduced that data to the L.A.P.D. recanted and mentioned, ‘I made all of it up. It was all bulls–t.'” Poole died of a coronary heart assault in 2015. Randall Sullivan‘s 2002 guide LAbyrinth particulars the assorted roadblocks Poole got here up in opposition to inside the LAPD throughout his investigation. Metropolis of Lies, the film starring Johnny Depp as Poole and Forest Whitaker as a journalist following the case, was slated for a Sept. 7, 2018, launch however World Highway Leisure pulled it from the schedule. Sullivan’s follow-up guide, Useless Mistaken: The Persevering with Story of Metropolis of Lies, Corruption and Cowl-Up within the Infamous B.I.G Homicide Investigation, comes out Monday. “Russell Poole…obsessed about this till he died, proper up till it mainly may need been the explanation he died,” Josh Duhamel told E! News final 12 months. “My character [Greg Kading] began to go down that very same path, and actually really wished to carry justice to Christopher Wallace’s mom. He was employed to search out out what occurred. “He knew what occurred, however wasn’t capable of show it. It isn’t what , it is what you’ll be able to show, and that is actually what the tragic a part of that is, is that actual justice was by no means introduced to those households.” (E! and USA are each members of the NBCUniversal household.) (This story was initially printed on Feb. 25, 2018, at 6 a.m. PT) https://www.eonline.com/information/915786/the-unsolved-murder-of-tupac-shakur-untangling-the-epic-layers-of-conspiracy-surrounding-the-case?cmpid=rss-000000-rssfeed-365-topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories The post The Unsolved Homicide of Tupac Shakur: Untangling the Epic Layers of Thriller Surrounding the Sophisticated Rapper’s Dying appeared first on Kartia Velino. https://kartiavelino.com/the-unsolved-murder-of-tupac-shakur-untangling-the-epic-layers-of-mystery-surrounding-the-complicated-rappers-death/

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23 Valentine's Day Movies People Never Get Bored Of

Valentine’s Day is a great day to cuddle up and watch a movie about love. In fact, they actually made a movie called Valentine’s Day, but it was just a rip-off of Love, Actually. With so many sappy movies out there, it’s hard to sift out the good from just more of the same.

So we’ve done the work for you! Here are twenty-three of the best romantic movies ever made to watch on Valentine’s Day.

23 – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

In this moving film, it is slowly revealed that a couple chose to have a procedure that erased memories of each other. Jim Carrey plays Joel, opposite Kate Winslet playing Clementine. As the movie slowly reveals loving and intimate moments in their relationship, you become more and more emotionally involved in the story.

Best Quote

Joel: “I could die right now, Clem. I’m just… happy. I’ve never felt that before. I’m just exactly where I want to be.”

22 – About Time (2013)

Tim Lake (played by Domhnall Gleeson) discovers a superpower when he turns 21: he can travel in time and change past events. While he could try doing any number of things to make the world a better place, he decides to use his power to…get a girlfriend. His romantic interest is Mary (played by Rachel McAdams), and their relationship endures its share of trials and tribulations.

This film is from the creators of Love Actually, and it’s worth a try for anyone looking for a well-done romantic comedy.

Best Quote

Tim: [voiceover] “We’re all traveling through time together, every day of our lives. All we can do is do our best to relish this remarkable ride.”

21 – The Notebook (2004)

The Notebook is beloved by women everywhere for good reason. Allie (Rachel McAdams) is such a warm and likable character, pursued by the equally charming Noah (Ryan Gosling). Their love story withstands many tests but we realize that it lasts into their old age.

Wonderful performances by McAdams and Gosling have made this a super-popular and award-winning film. It might be cheesy, but it’s heartwarming and genuine too.

Best Quote

Noah: “I am nothing special; just a common man with common thoughts, and I’ve led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten. But in one respect I have succeeded as gloriously as anyone who’s ever lived: I’ve loved another with all my heart and soul; and to me, this has always been enough.”

20 – Love and Basketball (2000)

While many romance movies are difficult for men to watch, Love & Basketball helps draw male viewers into this “chick flick” genre becuase of its underlying sports theme. Quincy (Omar Epps) and Monica (Sanaa Lathan) meet on the basketball court as kids. Their love/hate relationship develops as their lives continually intersect – they’re both pursuing their individual dreams of playing pro ball.

If you’re young, enjoy sports, or crave passion, this movie’s for you.

Best Quote

Monica says, “It’s a trip, you know? When you’re a kid, you see the life you want, and it never crosses your mind that it’s not gonna turn out that way.”

19 – Cactus Flower (1969)

Kate Hudson’s mom, Goldie Hawn, won an Oscar for her portrayal of Toni Simmons, a confused 21-year old woman in a relationship with an older man (Walter Matthau). Although it sort of looks like an Austin Powers film, Hawn’s wit and charm allows you to still get into it.

The complicated love story is about the various lies a dentist tells to keep a relationship. Interestingly enough, the story was appropriated by by Adam Sandler in Just Go With It (2011).

Best Quote

Toni Simmons: “Now why don’t you go back and mind your own business like everyone else in New York City?”

Although it’s one of those bleak comedies, Lost in Translation has a great romance at its heart. Bob Harris (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) really capture what it feels like to be traveling somewhere completely unfamiliar and wanting a connection. The brief moments of Anna Farris spoofing Cameron Diaz add just the right amount of laughs to tide you over, until the moment when Bob whispers something in Charlotte’s ear and they say goodbye.

Best Quote

Charlotte: “Let’s never come here again because it would never be as much fun.”

17 – When in Rome (2010)

Although Forgetting Sarah Marshall is Kristen Bell’s most popular role, her performance in When in Rome (2010) is underrated. Bell plays Beth, an ambitious New Yorker who steals some coins from a famous love fountain in Italy during her sister’s wedding. Because of her theft, she’s chased down by Danny DeVito, Will Arnett, Jon Heder, and Dax Shepard, who are under a love spell.

The movie is lighthearted, funny, and a great way to create and celebrate a happy Valentine’s Day.

Best Quote

Beth: “Dad. When you married Mom, did you ever think that you wouldn’t make it?”

Beth’s Dad: “Elizabeth Ann. Honey, you cannot learn from my mistakes. You’re going to have to go out there and make your own. Now, you could get your heart broken or you could have the greatest love affair the world has ever known, but you’re not going to know unless you try.”

16 – 50 First Dates (2004)

You’d be hard pressed to come up with a more likeable couple of people than Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. In 50 First Dates, they’re in Hawaii, and after they meet, Henry Roth (Sandler) turns from a playboy to a devoted boyfriend—the only problem is the girl of his dreams has no short-term memory, so she relives the same day over and over. This movie brings laughs, but it’s also a sappy romance movie as only Sandler can do. It’s a chick flick anyone can enjoy.

Best Quote

Dr. Keats: “Tom was in a hunting accident and he lost part of his brain. His memory lasts only ten seconds.”

Ten Second Tom: “I was in an accident? That’s terrible.”

Dr. Keats: “Don’t worry, you’ll totally get over it in about three seconds.”

15 – Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

A testament to just how far a man will go to win over the woman he loves. Slumdog Millionaire portrays a poor man being tortured by the police for being suspiciously good at Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Dev Patel plays one of the most lovable characters on film.

This compelling film won no fewer than eight Oscars and garnered a lot of critical acclaim. The mixture of love, violence, and socioeconomic messages makes for a great date night screening. It’s a great pick to watch with someone who appreciates good films and with whom you want to share an intelligent conversation.

Best Quote

Jamal Malik: “I’ll wait for you at the train station every day at five.”

14 – The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) always has problems—the media hates him, the police hate him, other superheroes hate him, and he’s constantly struggling with his love life because of it. Regardless of how you feel about the new Spider-Man series, they made the right move dropping Mary Jane for Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). Their romance is one of the most memorable in comic book history.

Best Quote

Peter Parker: “We all have secrets: the ones we keep… and the ones that are kept from us.”

13 – The Tourist (2010) (Runner Up: Original Sin)

It’s not just that Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie are beautiful people; the location shots in Paris and Venice are simply stunning. This cat-and-mouse tale has enough thrills going for it to satisfy your intellectual needs, and it has some nail-biting action scenes to boot. You’re never quite sure who to believe, but you can’t deny there’s chemistry between the two—if there’s anyone who could steal Jolie from Pitt, Depp seems like the type.

Best Quote

Hotel Waiter Guido: “Bongiorno!”

Frank Taylor (Depp): “Bon Jovi!”

12 – This Means War (2012)

Reese Witherspoon is omnipresent in chick flicks – for good reason! All of her romantic comedies are enjoyable, but This Means War wins for mixing spy-versus-spy action into the mix. Chris Pine and Tom Hardy do a great job of keeping men distracted from Reese’s message that it’s OK to date multiple people. Adventurous couples will love this action-packed romp.

Best Quote

Trish (Chelsea Handler) “Don’t go with the better guy, go with the guy who makes you better.”

11 – (500) Days of Summer (2009)

Zooey Deschanel is that quirky and beautiful girl everyone wants to be or be with. In short, the boy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) meets the girl (Deschanel), and falls in love, but she’s just that into him. The movie highlights their relationship in a non-linear fashion, and is a great portrayal of modern love and relationships. (500) Days of Summer isn’t your traditional romantic comedy, and maybe that’s a good thing – unlike all the others, it’s a thought-provoking film about love.

Best Quote

Rachel Hansen: “Just because she likes the same bizzaro crap you do doesn’t mean she’s your soul mate.”

10 – Walk the Line (2005)

This portrayal of Johnny and June Cash is an epic biopic. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon beautifully capture the essence of the romance. Johnny loved June Carter so much, he knew he had to marry her. Seeing their love blossom over the course of their lives is a great way to celebrate life and a relationship with someone you truly love beyond anything. These two real life people even died around the same time. It’s said Johnny died of a broken heart after June passed.

Best Quote

June Carter: “Well, then start loving yourself, so we can go back to work.”

9 – Ghost Town (2008)

The cynical among us love Ricky Gervais. In Ghost Town, he plays a man who can see dead people and is now doomed to help them with their love problems. It’s a wonderfully unique Valentine’s Day romance story. Everyone’s tired of people bragging about their relationships on Facebook, and Gervais portrays this feeling perfectly. Love isn’t always as much fun as it sounds; sometimes, you just end up involved in other people’s drama.

Best Quote

Bertram Pincus (Gervais): “All work and no play makes Jack- a vital member of society.”

8 – Shrek (2001)

It’s hard to believe it’s been over a decade since Shrek came out (!). This is a fun, backwards fairy tale where the ogre gets the girl. Featuring the voice talents of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow, Shrek is a feel-good movie that’s perfect for the young – and mature – at heart.

Best Quote

Shrek: “For your information, there’s a lot more to ogres than people think.”

7 – Seems Like Old Times (1980)

Ahhh, the classics. One of the best movies from the 80s, Seems Like Old Times is a Neil Simon film that still maintains its charm. Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn are a divorced couple, and, after being forced to take part in a bank robbery, Chase hides out at Hawn’s house. The only problem is Hawn’s husband (Charles Groden) is the district attorney, so a lot of hijinx ensue. If you pine for an old flame, Seems Like Old Times is the Valentine’s Day romantic comedy for you.

Best Quote

Glenda (Hawn) “Chester. You just went through a stop sign.”

Chester (Chase) “I can’t help it. I don’t like to read when I drive.”

6 – About a Boy (2002)

You’d think watching a man hang out with an unrelated boy would be a little weird – and not great romantic-film fodder. But in About a Boy, it plays out beautifully. This is a buddy flick and a romance rolled into one, and it teaches men that parenting isn’t scary. If you’re a slacker who still hasn’t grown up, About a Boy is for you.

Best Quote

Marcus: “After a few visits, Will seemed to think he had to ask me serious questions, when I knew he really wanted to watch Xena Warrior princess.”

5 – True Romance (1993) (Runner Up: Natural Born Killers)

Quentin Tarantino isn’t exactly known for the romance in his films, but True Romance, which he wrote, is an epic romantic crime drama. There are drugs, hookers, and all sorts of guns. The love between Clarence (Christian Slater) and Alabama (Patricia Arquette) is something we all wish we had. By the time this movie reaches its bloody climax, not only will you be in love with Elvis, but you’ll know the origin of Sicilians.

Best Quote

Clarence Worley: “You just said you love me, now if I say I love you and just throw caution to the wind and let the chips fall where they may and you’re lying to me I’m gonna fuckin’ die.”

4 – Titanic (1997)

If you’ve never seen Titanic, you must! And if you have, consider watching it again for Valentine’s. This classic romantic-disaster film won eleven Oscars, because of its superb cast, plot, and music.

Spoiler Alert: The ship sinks, and it takes like half the movie. Before it happens though, Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) steals Rose (Kate Winslett) from her rich husband-to-be. Titanic is a tear-jerker with an epic romance that is fated to failure.

Best Quote

Jack Dawson: “Where to, Miss?”

Rose DeWitt Bukater: “To the stars.”

3 – Bride and Prejudice (2004)

This Bollywood take on the classic “Pride and Prejudice” is a musical delight. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan may not be well-known in majority-English-speaking countries, but she is beautiful and talented – her acting, singing, and dancing expertise is on full display. This movie is beautiful, tells an old story; and you’ll look sophisticated for suggesting it. The colorful costumes and set designs are like taking an exotic vacation from your couch.

Best Quote

Lalita Bakshi (Rai): “You should be stirring your husband’s dinner not trouble.”

2 – Love, Actually (2003)

Love Actually follows the intertwining stories of eight British couples dealing with love in very different ways. It’s a romantic comedy and a Christmas film, but its sappiness is matched by genuine and heartwarming moments. It’s impossible to watch this movie without laughing, crying, and falling in love with at least one character! Love Actually may be the best romantic comedy ever written.

Best Quote

Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) “Hiya kids. Here is an important message from your Uncle Bill. Don’t buy drugs. Become a pop star, and they give you them for free!”

1 – The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

This Oscar-nominated flick might not come to mind as a movie perfect for Valentine’s Day. But you and your Valentine’s Day date just might find that refreshing!

Martin Scorsese is known for his thrilling films, and Wolf of Wall Street does not disappoint. It’s a raw and emotional movie, with some violence, nudity, and drug use – all to show the underbelly of the high-octane world of finance. DiCaprio’s performance is compelling and exciting – this movie is worth your time!

Best Quote

Jordan Belfort: [to the waiter] “Oh, I’m good with water for now.”

Mark Hanna: “It’s his first day on Wall Street. Give him time.”

The post 23 Valentine’s Day Movies People Never Get Bored Of appeared first on Lifehack.

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12 Week Body Transformation Program, 12..

12 Week Body Transformation Program, 12..

This is definitely the subsequent best thing to utilizing a golf exercise knowledgeable personally. This entails the delicacies ready utilizing white flooring and in addition white sugar. Writer: Karl White There are numerous different "how to jump greater" procedures and procedures out there. Everyone knows that eating good food and figuring out extra equals a greater physique so why do we find it so hard to do? One other unique factor in regards to the Fitness Studio, is that it has a cafe that can function particular health foods with the intention of promoting wholesome consuming. The explanation processed foods are so unhealthy for you is that your physique isn’t ready to totally digest those foods and as an alternative shops them as fats. You should use either the kettle-bell or bar bells however I like each and kettle-bells and bar bells are very inexpensive objects if you do not have them and have to run out and purchase them. When you perceive how your metabolism works, it is less complicated so that you can be able to make use of that information to lose or maintain your weight.

It is necessary to collect this data so that you are ready to check the outcomes of later classes and visualize your results. Although usually taking longer per exercise session, this technique of coaching a number of muscle teams can reduce again on the quantity of classes you carry out in per link week. The longer you'll train for, the more calories and the extra weight you'll lose. And it helps you live a longer life. In this way cardio exercises makes our brain’s that part more energetic which helps in remembering issues and learning new issues. That means you have to be aware of the house gym exercises that provides you with a complete physique workout. Can I get Big With House Workouts? No fancy gym. And within the comfort of your private home. A gym workout will enhance entire cardiovascular system.

All of that tremendous gear will do you no good if you aren't wholesome enough to use it properly for all the round. Competitions billed as “natural” are those that do check for and crack down on steroid use. For my part, these are the assured methods to lose stomach fats, but do not forget that diet and cardio are as necessary. Cardio vascular workouts can either be low impression or high depth. Repeat the sprint-brisk stroll segment 4 instances for an intense 10 minute cardio workout, which will swiftly burn off fat from your stomach. Now, turn your head to the left and notice how far you'll be able to look and if there is any tension in your neck; and repeat with your head towards the correct. Mix dehydration with excessive temps and you've got a pretty good recipe for heat illness, an expertise I am eager to not repeat.

It's not about the amount of reps you hit at the gym but how many times you shake your shaker bottle with your fancy pre workout in it

— Zach (@ZHanson21) July 10, 2017

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