#VAn Brady Report
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Interesting Papers for Week 18, 2024
Neural circuit mechanisms for transforming learned olfactory valences into wind-oriented movement. Aso, Y., Yamada, D., Bushey, D., Hibbard, K. L., Sammons, M., Otsuna, H., … Hige, T. (2023). eLife, 12, e85756.
Stimulus-Specific Prediction Error Neurons in Mouse Auditory Cortex. Audette, N. J., & Schneider, D. M. (2023). Journal of Neuroscience, 43(43), 7119–7129.
Guinea baboons are strategic cooperators. Formaux, A., Sperber, D., Fagot, J., & Claidière, N. (2023). Science Advances, 9(43).
Perceptual learning across saccades: Feature but not location specific. Grzeczkowski, L., Shi, Z., Rolfs, M., & Deubel, H. (2023). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(43), e2303763120.
Continuous multiplexed population representations of task context in the mouse primary visual cortex. Hajnal, M. A., Tran, D., Einstein, M., Martelo, M. V., Safaryan, K., Polack, P.-O., … Orbán, G. (2023). Nature Communications, 14, 6687.
Mood fluctuations shift cost–benefit tradeoffs in economic decisions. Heerema, R., Carrillo, P., Daunizeau, J., Vinckier, F., & Pessiglione, M. (2023). Scientific Reports, 13, 18173.
Reliable retrieval is intrinsically rewarding: Recency, item difficulty, study session memory, and subjective confidence predict satisfaction in word-pair recall. Holm, L., & Wells, M. (2023). PLOS ONE, 18(10), e0292866.
Curiosity evolves as information unfolds. Hsiung, A., Poh, J.-H., Huettel, S. A., & Adcock, R. A. (2023). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(43), e2301974120.
Human perception of spatial frequency varies with stimulus orientation and location in the visual field. Kirsch, W., & Kunde, W. (2023). Scientific Reports, 13, 17656.
Dynamic neural representations of memory and space during human ambulatory navigation. Maoz, S. L. L., Stangl, M., Topalovic, U., Batista, D., Hiller, S., Aghajan, Z. M., … Suthana, N. (2023). Nature Communications, 14, 6643.
Visual event boundaries restrict anchoring effects in decision-making. Ongchoco, J. D. K., Walter-Terrill, R., & Scholl, B. J. (2023). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(44), e2303883120.
A thalamic-hippocampal CA1 signal for contextual fear memory suppression, extinction, and discrimination. Ratigan, H. C., Krishnan, S., Smith, S., & Sheffield, M. E. J. (2023). Nature Communications, 14, 6758.
A quantitative model of ensemble perception as summed activation in feature space. Robinson, M. M., & Brady, T. F. (2023). Nature Human Behaviour, 7(10), 1638–1651.
Quantifying decision-making in dynamic, continuously evolving environments. Ruesseler, M., Weber, L. A., Marshall, T. R., O’Reilly, J., & Hunt, L. T. (2023). eLife, 12, e82823.
Predictions and rewards affect decision-making but not subjective experience. Sánchez-Fuenzalida, N., van Gaal, S., Fleming, S. M., Haaf, J. M., & Fahrenfort, J. J. (2023). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(44), e2220749120.
Lateral orbitofrontal cortex integrates predictive information across multiple cues to guide behavior. Tegelbeckers, J., Porter, D. B., Voss, J. L., Schoenbaum, G., & Kahnt, T. (2023). Current Biology, 33(20), 4496-4504.e5.
Cross-modal representation of identity in the primate hippocampus. Tyree, T. J., Metke, M., & Miller, C. T. (2023). Science, 382(6669), 417–423.
Optogenetic activation of visual thalamus generates artificial visual percepts. Wang, J., Azimi, H., Zhao, Y., Kaeser, M., Vaca Sánchez, P., Vazquez-Guardado, A., … Rainer, G. (2023). eLife, 12, e90431.
Parietal-driven visual working memory representation in occipito-temporal cortex. Xu, Y. (2023). Current Biology, 33(20), 4516-4523.e5.
Neuronal Population Activity in Macaque Visual Cortices Dynamically Changes through Repeated Fixations in Active Free Viewing. Yamane, Y., Ito, J., Joana, C., Fujita, I., Tamura, H., Maldonado, P. E., … Grün, S. (2023). ENeuro, 10(10).
#neuroscience#science#research#brain science#scientific publications#cognitive science#neurobiology#cognition#psychophysics#neurons#neural computation#neural networks#computational neuroscience
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LONDON (AP) — A knife-wielding assailant stabbed two college students to death in the streets of the English city of Nottingham and then fatally stabbed a middle-aged man, stole his van and ran down three pedestrians in a shocking rampage early Tuesday morning, police said.
Police arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion of murder. The Nottinghamshire Police force said investigators believe the perpetrator acted alone and detectives were working with counterterrorism officers to try to establish a motive.
“This is a horrific and tragic incident which has claimed the lives of three people,” Chief Constable Kate Meynell said.
A man who was among the people struck in the hit-and-run was hospitalized in critical condition. The dead included two 19-year-old students from the University of Nottingham.
“We are shocked and devastated by the news,” the school said in an announcement. A graduation ball scheduled for Tuesday evening was canceled.
The knife attack on the students occurred around dawn in an area near student housing a short walk from the university’s Jubilee Campus. A caller reported that two stabbing victims were lying in the street.
Police think the attacker then killed a man in his 50s and took his van, Meynell said. His body was found on a different street more than a mile from the first crime scene.
About 90 minutes after the initial attack, witnesses were horrified as they watched the van plow into pedestrians and flee.
Lynn Haggitt was on her way to work when a white van pulled up beside her at 5:30 a.m. She saw the driver look in his mirror and spot a police car approaching slowly from behind without its emergency lights on. The driver then accelerated and struck a man and woman at a street corner, she said.
“He went straight into them. He didn’t even bother to turn,” Haggitt told reporters. “The woman went on the curb, the man went up in the air, there was such a bang, I wish I never saw it. It’s really shaken me up.”
The driver then sped through the city center with police on his tail, she added.
Haggitt said the wounded man appeared to have a head injury but was helped to his feet. The woman was sitting on the curb and appeared to be OK. A third pedestrian was struck on the same street, police said.
Two of the hit-and-run victims had minor injuries, Meynell said.
“We believe these three incidents are all linked, and we have a man in custody,” the police chief said. “We are keeping an open mind as we investigate the circumstances surrounding these incidents and are working alongside Counter Terrorism Policing to establish the facts, as we would normally do in these types of circumstances.”
After stopping the van, officers subdued the suspect with a Taser before detaining him.
University of Nottingham student Kane Brady said he awoke to loud shouts of “armed police” and heard what sounded like a gunshot outside.
He said he saw officers holding stun guns and a man being dragged out of the van and pinned on the ground.
“I saw him getting arrested, him trying to resist,” Brady told British broadcaster GB News. “When they opened the van, I saw a large knife being pulled out and then straight away, that’s when police closed off both roads.”
Photos showed the hood of the van dented and cracks in the windshield.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called it a shocking incident and asked that police be given time to investigate the crime.
“My thoughts are with those injured, and the family and loved ones of those who have lost their lives,” Sunak said.
Nottingham is a city of about 350,000 people some 110 miles (175 kilometers) north of London.
Images on social media showed police, some with rifles, standing near cordons at several locations in the city center.
The city’s tram network said it suspended all services.
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🏈🇸 🇺 🇵 🇪 🇷 🇧 🇴 🇼 🇱 Sunday!! 😁😃🙌Go my 49ers!! Eventhough my Jimmy Garoppolo (former New England Patriots) ran away to the Raiders, I still love him & wear his jersey for the 49ers haha! ❤️ I'm so glad we're playing the Chiefs because I love Mahomes & Kelce (Taylor Swift's Boyfriend)! Before my T-Swizzle (Taylor Swift) dated Kelce, I already liked Mahomes & Kelce.
I hope my 49ers win but it's okay if the Chiefs win because I actually like them! Top 5 favorites literally since I was 12: 1) Patriots 2)Seattle Seahawks, 3)Steelers, 4)49ers, 5)Colts then newer ones: Buccaneers (because of Tom Brady-Former Patriots & recently retired!)& 2nd newer one Rams! I'm so excited for Usher to perform too! One of my my top childhood favorite artists to sing to during 6th grade! Wooh! Usher baby! 🙌 My favorite songs are"Yeah!" And "Burn!"😁🤩
Song played on Instagram is called "Yeah" by Usher! ❤️🙌I've known all the words to this song since I was 12 and also the "Burn!" Song.
Always needing some prayers again.🙏 I, Mina Van 文风英 Woon Foong Yin (in Hakka Chinese).Proud nurse, coach. Nevada born & raised.Family living in Nevada for 45 (forty-five) years.Spread kindness.❤️
Then my other successful blood-related family of doctors in my family,🇺🇸veterans,doctors,nurses,coaches,news reporter,lobbyist,good singers,dancers,good photographers, good writers,artists,a cop,a dentist,teachers, etc.Mixed family of Asians & white people.Spread Kindness.
Again, half of our family is Asian half our family is white. Even-though my parents look Asian we have some Chinese, Vietnamese, Native American, small portions of French, German descent, Ashkenazi Jewish descent(but Jewish is not my religion), British,Irish, & smallest percentage of African American blood. (Through DNA Ancestry & 23 & Me).
✞♡ # Selfie # SuperBowl # Nurse # Coach # NativeNevadan # StopAsianHate # Biden2024💙 # JesusChrist 🦂 # Buddha # GuanYin # MotherMary # NevadaBornAndRaised # HakkaChineseRaised # ProChoice (though, in politics) # Equality # Justice # Healthcare # Running 🏃🏻♀️ # NevadaNative # athletic # HomeMeansNevada # Nevada # UNRnevadaAlumnaMay2016 # 3collegeDegrees # 3MedicalLicenses
•2019:OlderSisterCatherineVan&Adam Schwartz’sWedding&TheirWebsiteOn: https://www.theknot.com/us/catherine-van-and-adam-schwartz-aug-2019•ReminiscingMoreThan200PeopleCame.
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'Days of our Lives' Weekly Spoilers: Bo and Hope's Maddening Meeting
Days of Our Lives weekly spoilers divulge Bo Brady and Hope Brady‘s run-in will not go as fans wished. Plus, Wendy Shin and Tripp Dalton Johsnon‘s date gets interrupted. And breaking news reports, screen legend Dick Van Dyke visits Salem this fall. Here’s the scoop for the Peacock sudser the week of April 24-28, 2023.
Days of our Lives Spoilers: Bo & Hope’s Crazy Reunion – Will Her Love Save…
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Green bay packer news
GREEN BAY PACKER NEWS MOVIE
Signed: TE JP Holtz, LB Drew Desjarlais, DL Christian Ringo.Signed: QB David Blough, CB Tay Gowan, WR Travis Toivonen.Signed: CB Kalon Barnes, OT Larnel Coleman, WR River Cracraft, OL James Empey, LB Cameron Goode, LB Porter Gustin, S Verone McKinley III, WR Braylon Sanders, DT Niles Scott, DT Ben Stille, WR Freddie Swain, RB ZaQuandre White.Signed: G Arlington Hambright, LB Segun Olubi.Signed: TE Shaun Beyer, CB Benjie Franklin, WR Juwann Winfree.Signed: RB Qadree Ollison, C Dakoda Shepley.Signed: OL Kellen Diesch, LB Joe Thomas.Signed: QB Zach Davidson, DB Kyler McMichael, OL Ryan Van Demark.Signed: TE Anthony Firkser, TE Tucker Fisk, CB Ka’Dar Hollman.Signed: LB Devon Kennard, S Steven Parker, S Josh Thomas, OL Badara Traore.But an already slim reality where he leaves Green Bay just got slimmer and Packers fans can walk away from the Friday trade chaos with a little bit more peace of mind. There will still be rumors though, as the Rodgers stuff is fun to talk about. So with the Niners in a position to draft a top young quarterback and the Patriots now in a position to possibly re-acquire Garoppolo, two of the biggest potential suitors for Rodgers are out of the game. Bill Belichick getting back his prized Tom Brady replacement, though, seems to be just as appealing to the Patriots and is likely going to be much easier (and see also: practical) than putting any eggs into the Rodgers basket. Specifically, it puts a very attainable quarterback into the mix which is even better.Īfter the 49ers, the New England Patriots were a rumored landing spot for Rodgers. This puts another quarterback into the mix, which is very good news for Packers fans. “49ers now square in the QB mix, but are holding on to Jimmy Garoppolo and have no plans to trade him, per sources,” Schefter reported after the trade went through. The next big piece is the Jimmy Garoppolo element.Īccording to reports, the Niners aren’t planning on trading Jimmy G despite trading three first-rounders to move up and draft his replacement. Not only does Rodgers have deep personal ties with the 49ers, but the situation is absolutely ideal for him to fulfill his Super Bowl destiny.Īaron Rodgers in a Kyle Shanahan offense is how many sold the hiring of Matt LaFleur, so just imagine the real thing. Of the teams rumored to be landing spots for Rodgers, the Niners were the most worrisome. The biggest pillar to be smashed is in San Francisco. They still emerged as perhaps the biggest winners if for no other reason than it lends some clarity to the ongoing Aaron Rodgers rumors we can’t get enough of. Obviously, the Packers had nothing to do with the trades that went down on Friday. Green Bay Packers were biggest winners of 49ers-Dolphins trade The noise of Friday’s trade chaos also didn’t involve the Packers either, yet it helped provide some clarity - or peace of mind - for Packers fans hoping the Rodgers rumors get tuned out. Hilton, Will Fuller, JuJu Smith-Schuster, or any of the top receivers who hit the market and likely would have taken a discount to play a year with Rodgers. The fact that they seem so outrageous is only adding to the frustration fans feel every time they see something new about them pop up.įor what it’s worth, the Packers are doing themselves no favors in refusing to commit to Rodgers long term nor add win-now pieces to the offense.įree agency produced no additions to the offense outside of Aaron Jones returning. Packers fans would like nothing more than the Aaron Rodgers rumors to get off their lawn so they can enjoy some peace and quiet.īut the rumors aren’t going anywhere.
GREEN BAY PACKER NEWS MOVIE
Even Thanos, one of the most brutal villains in movie history, was motivated to murder billions of living creatures just so he could relax in his garden. Most movies revolve around that being the reward a character seeks. Despite not being involved in the 49ers-Dolphins-Eagles trade chaos, the Green Bay Packers came out the biggest winners.Īll we really want in life is a little peace and quite.
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Get their attention-and keep it that way!
3 Strategies to Grab your Audience by the Horns:
Do you have your audience’s attention? Grabbing their attention is the first step towards success in social media. This can be challenging for several reasons. Research confirms that users on social media tend to exercise a very short attention span, and it is essential to grab their attention within the first ten seconds. Another challenge occurs due to the rise in users. According to Close Scheinbaum (2017) over one fifth of Americans report constant use online. Also, reports by Aliverdi, Farajidana, and Tourzani (2022) expand on this saying that 521 million new users have joined social media by 2021. Now, there are strategies you can implement to greatly increase your chances of gaining attention from your desired (or undesired) audiences. First, it is important to remember that emotional and moral content tends to gain attention. Brady, Gantman, and Van Bavel (2020) explain that these types of content are related to goal attainment and are prioritized in early visual attention. Another strategy you may want to try is to be a bit controversial. This may sound like a bad idea but it is important to let your audience know how you feel and where you stand- many may relate! Horn (2017) explains that you should not be afraid to say how you feel because many people can relate and will appreciate the honesty. Lastly, SPEAK UP! You can’t grab a viewers attention if they cant hear or understand what you are saying.
Once You Have Their Attention-Keep it That Way!
Is your audience staying engaged? Once you have the attention of your viewers, your work is not done! It is important to understand that your audience must stay engaged to ensure that your conveying the information desired and keeping them interested and coming back for more. Tsimonis and Dimitriadis (2014) describe some types of engagement that many platforms offer such as collaborating on content, sharing insights, and connecting for business. There are some steps you can take to increase your engagement and influence with your audience. First, it is important to respond to users comments in a rapid and professional manner. Even if you aren’t on a business venture you should still be responding to your commenters to increase your engagement. Responding to comments related to your business or services have the potential of boosting your reputation and sales. Next, a strategy shared by Horn (2017) explains that you can use common concerns from your audience and create a “frequent questions” section within your platform or website. Lastly, follow-up is important as well. It is crucial that not only should you respond to your audience but if you feel that they could use some extra insight or help with an issue it is always important to follow up with them, showing you can and appreciate the time they have given to you as well.
Hopefully you can implement some of the strategies mentioned to boost your content and confidence on social media!
References:
Aliverdi, F., Farajidana, H., & Tourzani, Z.M. (2022, July 5). Social networks and internet emotional relationships on mental health and quality of life in students: structural equation modeling.
Brady, W. J., Gantman, A. P., & Van Batel, J. J. (2020). Attentional capture helps explain why moral and emotional content go viral. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149(4), 746-756. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000673.supp (supplemental)
Brian Horn. (2017, July 20). 7 ways to get attention on social media. https://marketinginsiders.com/get-attention-on-social-media/
Close Scheinbaum, A. (Ed.). (2017). The dark side of social media: A consumer psychology perspective. Routledge.
Tsimonis, G., & Dimitriadis, S. (2014). Brand strategies in social media. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 32(3), 328-344. https://doi.org/10.1108/MIP-04-2013-0056
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A sentencing hearing for the man convicted in the tragic Toronto van attack that killed 11 people and injured 15 more begins this week. Today's News
In March 2021, a judge convicted Alek Minassian guilty of 10 charges of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder.
As the case against Minassian nears completion, survivors of the assault and scores of victims' loved ones will submit victim impact statements beginning Monday.
The attack murdered Amaresh Tesfamariam, Betty Forsyth, Ji Hun Kim, So He Chung, Geraldine Brady, Chul Min Kang, Anne Marie D'Amico, Munir Najjar, Dorothy Sewell, Andrea Bradden, and Beutis Renuka Amarasingha.
Morganne Campbell reports on what to expect at the sentencing hearing and why the victims' families are upset. had had to wait so long to find out what happened to Minassian
Today's news or any kind of news of the world or things you like to watch, TOPIDEA has it all.
#Newsfortoday, #Today's news, #Newsoftheday, #Today's news #newsfortoday #newsoftheday #thenewstoday #thenewsoftheworld #newsintheus #usanews
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Moors Murders
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley had already committed their first murder as a couple on 12th July 1963 when they found 16-year-old Pauline Reade walking on Gorton Lane on her way to a dance to which Hindley offered her a lift.
When Reade entered the van, Hindley asked for her help finding an “expensive” lost glove on Saddleworth Moor, to which the 16 year old agreed. Once at Saddleworth Moor, Brady arrived behind them on his motorcycle.
Brady took Reade onto the moor as Hindley waited in the van.
This was to be the first of 5 murders committed by the couple.
The second was 12-year-old John Kilbride, who, at a market in Ashton-under-Lyne on 23 November 1964, was offered a lift home by Brady and Hindley, who also promised him a bottle of sherry. Brady said they would have to make a detour to get the sherry, then another detour to find a lost glove. When they reached the moor, Brady took Kilbride on the moor where he was sexually assaulted and tragically killed.
On 16 July 1964, the pair took their third victim, Keith Bennett. He was on his way to his grandmothers house in Longsight when Myra stopped him and asked for help loading boxes into her car. Brady was in the back of the van. Myra drove to a lay-by on Saddleworth moor and Brady went off with Bennett.
After thirty minutes, Brady returned alone, carrying a spade
The youngest of the 5 victims was Lesley Ann Downey, who was 10-years-old when she lost her life. The couple noticed the girl all alone at a funfair in Ancoats. They approached Lesley and deliberately dropped some shopping they were carrying. Brady and Hindley bought Lesley back to Wardle Brook Avenue where she was undressed, gagged and forced to pose for photographs before being raped and killed. The next morning they took Lesley to Saddleworth moor where she was buried in a shallow grave, naked with her clothes at her feet.
Edward Evans was the eldest of the five victims. 17-year old Evans was at Manchester Central railway station when he was approached by Brady. He introduced Myra as his sister. Evans got into the couples white van and accompanied them to their home where Brady sent Myra to pick up Myra’s brother in law, David Smith.
When Myra and David returned to Wardle Brook Avenue, she told him to wait outside and wait for the signal, which was a flashing light.
Hindley’s family didn’t approve of Maureen’s (Myra’s sister) marriage to Smith due to his several criminal convictions, including actual bodily harm and housebreaking.
Throughout the previous year, Brady had been cultivating a friendship with Smith, who had become “in awe” with Brady.
Smith watched on as Brady throttled Evans with an electrical cord. During a struggle, Brady bad sprained his ankle, and Evan’s body was too heavy for Smith to carry, the 3 of them wrapped his body in plastic sheeting and put it in the spare room.
The next morning, after Smith had told Maureen what he had witnessed, they left their home. At 6:10 am, armed with a screwdriver and bread knife in case Brady was waiting for him, they made their way to the phone box to call the police.
The police arrived and picked Smith up by the phone box and took him to the local police station. He told the police officers what he had seen in the night.
Believing the statement of David Smith, the officers superintendent Bob Talbot and an accompanying detective sergeant went to Wardle Brook Avenue. Upon entering the premises, they noticed Ian Brady resting his leg on a divan and writing a letter to his employer about his ankle injury.
Talbot explained he was investigating an “act of violence involving guns” that had been reported to have taken place the night before, Hindley denied that there had been any violence and allowed police to look around the house.
They noticed the locked spare bedroom and requested the key. Hindley told the officers that the key was at her workplace, but when offered to drive her there to pick it up, Brady told her to hand it over. When police returned to the living room, they arrested Brady on suspicion of murder.
As Brady was getting dressed he told the officers “Eddie and I had a row and the situation got out of hand”.
On 11th October, Hindley was arrested and taken to custody where she was charged as an accessory to the murder of Evans.
Police searched Wardle Brook Avenue and found an old exercise book with the name “John Kilbride” which made them suspect that Brady and Hindley had been involved in the disappearance of other youngsters.
The trial took fourteen days before Judge Fenton Atkinson charged Brady and Hindley. The jury found Brady guilty of all three murders, and Hindley guilty of the murders of Downey and Evans.
Brady was sentenced to three concurrent life sentences and Hindley was given two, plus a concurrent seven year term for harbouring Brady in the knowledge that he had murdered Kilbride. Brady was taken to HM Prison Durham and Hindley to HM Prison Holloway.
It wasn’t until 1985 when Brady told journalist Fred Harrison that he had killed Reade and Bennett, something the police had already suspected.
Brady was diagnosed as a psychopath and was moved to Park Lane Hospital now Ashworth Hospital in Merseyside. He subsequently went on hunger strike and was force-fed and transferred to another hospital.
Hindley remained in contact with Brady for several months, but Hindley had fallen in love with one of her prison warders, Patricia Cairns. With help from Cairns, and the outside contacts of another prisoner, Maxine Croft, Hindley planned a prison escape, but it was thwarted when impressions of the prison key were intercepted by an off-duty policeman. Cairns was sentenced to six years in jail for her part in the plot.
Hindley died in West Suffolk hospital on 15 November 2002 from bronchial pneumonia at the age of 60. She was cremated at Cambridge Crematorium and her ashes were scattered by her ex-partner, Patricia Cairns less than 10 miles from Saddleworth Moor.
After receiving end-of-life care, Brady died of restrictive pulmonary disease aged 79 at Ashworth Hospital on 15 May 2017. He was cremated without a ceremony and his ashes disposed of at sea during the night.
Maureen Smith, Myra’s younger sister, died of a haemorrhage at the age of 34 in 1980.
David Smith lived in the Republic of Ireland with his second wife, Mary, and their daughter Jodie. He ran a bed and breakfast hotel. He had three sons from his marriage to Maureen Hindley and had several grandchildren. He died in 2012.
#truecrime#moors murders#myra hindley#ian brady#tcc family#tc community#serialkillers#murder#instagram#blog post#second post
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Why Do Republicans Lie About Everything
New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/why-do-republicans-lie-about-everything/
Why Do Republicans Lie About Everything
Which Came First: Republican Hate Or Gop Misinformation
Do Honest Republicans Still Exist?
Hate is a great motivator. All political parties have used it to get out the vote. Generally, those who seek elected office shape information in a way that helps a certain voting block hate their opponent. Thats how we elect people in America. That is a sad reality we just have to accept in order to fix it. Hope doesnt fix it.
Whats unique and new about negative politics in the post-Obama era is that we have this thing called the Internet and dare I acknowledge itSocial Media. ;Social media has completely isolated the Republican Party base. The Internet and social media have created hard-edged, isolated buckets of information where facts dont matteragreement;and emotion matter. For republicans, agreement with their own bias is considered fact, whereas disagreement is a lie they literally transform reality to support their own opinion: the Post-Truth Era. In order to maintain that alternate reality, they have to hate those who dont agree, otherwise their reality bubble starts to break apart.
This is the case on both sides of the aisle, but the hardliners have taken it to a new level, which is why they seem to hate everything. Theyre even taught to hate things that help them like the ACA, unions, and public education.
Social media and 1000 cable channels dont increase the information we receive they focus the information and repeat it 1000 times more often. Anything can become the truth when its repeated enough times.
The Big Lie Is Gop Gospel
Cheney is not alone in suffering consequences for challenging Trumps allegations.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who defended the states counting process against Trumps attempts to interfere with it, was stripped of his voting power on the State Election Board as part of Georgias new voting restrictions law.
In a special House election in Texas held on in early May, the Trump-critical Republican in the race Michael Wood got 3 percent of the vote.
In January, Michigan Republicans removed Aaron van Langevelde, a GOP attorney who broke with the party to certify Bidens victory in Michigan, from his post on the states Board of State Canvassers.
At the Utah Republican Partys convention this weekend, Sen. Mitt Romney perhaps the GOPs leading Trump critic was booed and called a traitor.
At the same time, Republicans who have embraced falsehoods about the election have been elevated.
Rep. Elise Stefanik , who appears likely to replace Cheney in the No. 3 spot, backed Trumps anti-election efforts to the hilt. Most egregiously, she falsely asserted that there were 140,000 illegal votes in Georgias Fulton County alone which would amount to more than 25 percent of all the votes in the entire Democratic-leaning county. The breakout Republican stars in the House of Representatives, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert , both egged on the January Stop the Steal rally that culminated in the attack on Capitol Hill.
Why Do Conservatives Soak Up Lies
The evidence that conservatives crave lies is abundant.
Conservatives loved George W. Bush’s and Dick Cheney’s lies about “Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction” — loved them so much, that the researchers who wrote “‘There Must Be a Reason’: Osama, Saddam, and Inferred Justification” surveyed 49 conservative Republicans, during October 2004, who admitted that they still believed Saddam Hussein had caused the 9/11 attacks, and these researchers found that 48 of those 49 extreme conservatives were entirely impervious to the overwhelming factual evidence that was provided to them by the presenters contradicting this false belief they held. Then, a showed that when Republicans were offered the official 2004 Duelfer report that had concluded Iraq hadn’t possessed any weapons of mass destruction for years before the United States invaded it in 2003, the percentage of Republicans who believed that Iraq did have WMD immediately prior to the invasion shot up, instead of going down . Even all of the exposés that had already been published about Bush’s faked WMD “proofs” didn’t persuade Republican voters that they’d simply been deceived by the people they trusted and supported. They didn’t resent it at all; they just asked for more, from those same discredited liars.
So: why do conservatives sop up lies, on topic after topic?
They do it because, if they didn’t, they couldn’t be themselves; they couldn’t be conservatives. Lie-lovers is whom they are. It’s their identity.
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Don’t Miss: Have Democrats Tried To Impeach Every Republican President
The Gop Elite Gave Us This Party
This dire outcome was not inevitable: The best evidence we have suggests that the rise of the Big Lie is the direct result of strategic choices by Republican leaders.
A new paper by Dan Hopkins, a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, analyzes data from a panel survey, which looks at roughly the same group of people over time, running between 2007 and 2020. The survey asked people to rate the fairness of the US electoral system on a scale of 1 to 5, and tracked the changes over time.
What they found was a striking consistency: Support for the American system is both high and reasonably stable when assessed via this measure, Hopkins writes. Though there are some fluctuations, with partisans evaluating the system as somewhat less fair when the other party is in power, generally theyre small.
Hopkinss last survey wave was in October 2020 which means the results dont reflect the false allegations lobbed in the aftermath of Bidens victory. The stability documented here was very likely shattered by Trumps post-election actions, Hopkins concludes.
Other data confirm this supposition. A report from the Voter Study Group analyzed Pew surveys, conducted after every presidential election since 2004, on whether voters thought their vote was counted fairly. You see the same general stability documented in Hopkinss paper, with a majority of voters in both parties saying they were very confident their vote was counted accurately in every year except 2020:
Republicans Have A Good Reason Not To Want To Investigate Jan 6: Theyre To Blame
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Our nations preeminent bipartisanship fetishistsJoe Manchin, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowskiare deeply disappointed that they cant get Republicans to back an investigation into the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill. Indeed, they seem outright baffled that their efforts at compromise have fallen short on plans for a bipartisan panel. There is no excuse for any Republican to vote against this commission since Democrats have agreed to everything they asked for, Manchin said in an angry statement on Twitter. It would be so much better if we had an independent outside commission, Collins, a moderate Republican, told reporters Thursday. Is that really what this is about, one election cycle after another? added Murkowski, blasting Mitch McConnells anticipated filibuster. Or are we going to acknowledge that as a country that is based on these principles of democracy that we hold so dear, and one of those is that we have free and fair elections.
I kind of want that to endure beyond just one election cycle, the Alaska moderate Republican told reporters.
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Recommended Reading: Did Trump Really Say Republicans Are Stupid
In 2009 Republicans Predicted That The Economic Stimulus Package Would Only Make The Recession Worse And Cause More Unemployment
The results show they couldn’t have been more wrong. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ended the recession after only a few months. Although 750,000 people were losing their jobs each month when Obama took office, after the Recovery Act was passed the rate of job loss immediately decreased each month and within a year the economy showed positive job growth.
Considering the severity of the 2008 economic collapse and the total opposition by Republicans to do anything at all to stimulate the economy, it is remarkable that the US economy recovered as quickly as it did.
Looking at the rate of job loss and job creation, its easy to see that the stimulus of 2009 was highly successful in stopping the job losses and turning the economy around.
Republicans Predicted That We Would Find Iraqs Weapons Of Mass Destruction Even Though Un Weapons Inspectors Said That Those Weapons Didn’t Exist
The Bush administration continued to insist that WMDs would be found, even when the CIA said some of the evidence was questionable. As we all know, the WMDs predicted by the Bush administration did not exist, and Saddam Hussein had not resumed his nuclear weapons program as they claimed. Ultimately, both President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to admit that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Don’t Miss: Who Is Behind Republicans For The Rule Of Law
Republicans Said President Obama Would Raise Taxes Sky High
It never happened. Income taxes for over 95% of Americans remained the same or lower than they were before Obama was elected. The only people whose income taxes increased were those who make more than $400,000 per year, and their taxes rose only 3%. For most Americans, taxes are still lower now than they were under Reagan.
In 1993 When The Brady Law And The Assault Weapons Ban Were Passed Republicans Predicted Increasing Rates Of Crime And Murder
Republicans Are Lying To Themselves About Trump’s Toxicity
Thankfully, just the opposite happened. While the rate of violent crime had increased steadily from the 1970s into the 1990s, it suddenly began to drop after 1993 and continued to decline for more than ten years. What could have happened in 1993 to precipitate such a sudden and prolonged drop in crime? Thats the year Congress passed the Assault Weapons Ban and the Brady Law, which mandated background checks and a waiting period to buy a gun.
Despite Republican predictions to the contrary, the Brady Law and the Assault Weapons Ban were followed by the most dramatic reduction in violent crime since the FBI started keeping statistics. The graphs below, based on the actual numbers from the FBI Uniform Crime Reports website, show how the rates of murder and violent crime in the US dropped suddenly after the 1993 Brady Law and Assault Weapons Ban were passed.
These charts show the rate of murder and violent crime over 35 years based on numbers from the FBI Uniform Crime reports.
Recommended Reading: How Many Republicans Voted For Obamacare In The Senate
Here Are A Few More Things Republicans Have Been Wrong About:
Republicans said that Obamacare would have death panels to decide who would live and who would die. Wrong. No such death panels were ever proposed and nothing of the kind ever happened.
They said the 2009 laws to improve automobile fuel efficiency standards would kill the US auto industry. Wrong. The new standards were followed by a resurgence of the US auto industry enabling them to hire back tens of thousands of workers.
They said environmental protection laws requiring companies to clean up their pollution would create an undue burden and kill businesses. Nope, it never happened.
They said Ebola would spread across the country because President Obama allowed American Ebola patients to be treated in the US. The outbreak never happened. Only three people contracted Ebola in the US and all three survived.
They said President Obama would open our borders to illegal immigrants. Wow, were they wrong about that. Under Obama, we set new records for most illegal immigrants stopped at the border and sent home.
They said Obama would drive up the Federal budget deficit. That didn’t happen. Obama cut the $1.4 trillion deficit he inherited by two-thirds.
While someone could no doubt find instances where Democrats engage in over-the-top rhetoric, nothing compares to the consistently false and erroneous claims made by the GOP in recent years. When a political party has been so dismally wrong about nearly everything over the past 30 years, that party should lose all credibility.
‘nothing There’: More Republicans Are Calling Out Trump’s Election Lies
WASHINGTON The more we learn about Donald Trumps baseless, false and discredited claims about the 2020 election, the more baseless, false and discredited those claims have become.
Just consider the revelations over the past week from Republicans:
In Michigan, a GOP-led investigation by its state Senate concluded that it found no evidence of widespread or systematic fraud in Michigans prosecution of the 2020 election.
Regarding Arizona, a report co-authored by former Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson criticized the so-called audit of the election results in that state, saying it does not meet the standards of a proper election recount or audit, and that its being conducted by an inexperienced, unqualified contractor.
And over the weekend, ABCs Jon Karl writing for the Atlantic had former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr debunking Trumps claims about the 2020 election results. If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it. But my suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there, Barr said. It was all bullsh!#.
Predictably, Trump lashed out at those GOP findings.
Michigan State Senators Mike Shirkey and Ed McBroom are doing everything possible to stop Voter Audits in order to hide the truth about November 3rd, the former president said in a statement, which even included those state senators phone numbers.
Even Bill Barr doesnt buy them.
Read Also: Who Won The House Republicans Or Democrats
Get Ready For Another Possible Crisis Like 2020
This is not the first time that Republicans have declared a Democratic president somehow illegitimate. They impeached Bill Clinton on flimsy grounds, after previously accusing him of crimes ranging up to murder; there was a widespread campaign to label Barack Obama an unlawful foreign-born president . These campaigns were effective: A 2019 poll found that 56 percent of Republicans still believed that Obama was born in Kenya.
Nor is this the first time Republican elites have ginned up suspicion of voter fraud for political purposes. After Republicans won a series of statehouse elections in 2010, they spent the next few years falsely claiming that voter fraud was a serious threat in order to pass voter ID laws that were nakedly designed to suppress the vote among Democratic-leaning minority groups. Research has found that, even prior to Trump, this convinced Republicans that voter fraud was a real problem when its exceptionally rare.
These earlier campaigns laid the intellectual groundwork for 2020. Republicans were already primed to believe elected Democrats were somehow illegitimate and to believe in widespread fraud in the American electoral system. Trumps innovation claiming that an entire presidential election result was fraudulent was pushing on an open door.
Paying Lower Taxes Hurts Taxpayers
Less revenue means fewer handouts. Thats bad news for Democrats who lie obsessively year after year about how tax revenue never gets the job done in distressed communities because we still arent spending enough.
Why is it that even when the party is in power, when Democrats call the shots every single year like they do in Illinois, the poor stay right where they are most valuable in poverty?
Recommended Reading: How Many Democrats And Republicans Are In The House
Times Republicans Were Wrong
It’s no secret that politicians tend to use exaggerated political rhetoric to get people to vote for them. In recent decades, Republicans have repeatedly made very ominous predictions about the horrors that will result from Democratic policies while painting a rosy picture of what will result from Republican policies. Now we have the luxury of looking back over the years to examine those predictions and policies. Below, you will find twenty-one examples of times Republicans were blatantly wrong.
Most Republicans Said That President Obama Should Be Impeached Because Of The 2012 Attack On The Us Consulate In Benghazi
Their own investigations, however, proved them wrong. Every Congressional inquiry, including those by the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee, concluded that the Obama administration did nothing wrong regarding Benghazi, that there was no stand down order given, and that neither the President nor anyone in his administration lied about it. Each and every Republican investigation has reached this same conclusion, but Republicans continue to exploit this tragedy for political gain.
You May Like: What 7 Republicans Voted To Impeach
Truth Matters Which Is Why I’m Telling It
I take comfort in knowing that I am doing the moral thing by telling the truth to my constituents.;I also;happen to believe;telling the truth;about;the 2020 election;is good politically.
If Republicans;become the party of the Big;Lie if we encourage this madness much longer we;will lose credibility with;the majority of;Americans on issues where I believe we have better ideas.;We will do;lasting damage to our republic.
True Republicans would never dream of wasting taxpayer money to hire an unknown cybersecurity firm with no elections auditing experience to audit an election that has;already been audited.;This is what the Arizona Senate is doing with their Cyber Ninja audit.
True Republicans would not;stand idly by while auditors paid with taxpayer dollars;chased;insane rumors that ballots were flown in from South Korea to change the outcome of the presidential race, or;that;secret watermarks;on the ballots;revealed by UV lights;would;expose fraud;once and for all.
This is what the Arizona Senate is doing with their Cyber Ninja audit.
Lies Damned Lies And The Truth About Joe Biden
Saagar Enjeti: Media Lets Biden SHAMELESSLY LIE About Hunter Bidens Business Dealings
Joe BidenKentucky state lawmakers vote to scrap school mask mandate Arkansas governor pushes back against Biden’s vaccine mandate RNC vows to sue over Biden vaccine, testing mandate MORE. I know him, said the House Speaker authoritatively, and that was that.
Does Bidens record warrant such confidence? Not really. In fact, Biden has a long history of lying about himself, about his past and about events that never took place.
Democrats want the 2020 campaign to be a referendum on President Trump. Fine, but if this is to be a contest of characters, it is only appropriate that Joe Bidens history of fabrication and deceit often intended to bolster his intellectual credentials also be fair game.
Over the past year, Biden thundered that the Obama administration didnt lock people up in cages. He also claimed that, Immediately, the moment started, I came out against it. And I was always labeled one of the most liberal members of Congress. Politicos rating of all three assertions? False.
No one should be surprised. Lest we forget
A video is making the rounds in which Biden boasts at a 1987 rally, “I went to law school on a full academic scholarship ended up in the top half of my class.”
Biden also maintained that he “graduated with three degrees from undergraduate school” and was the outstanding student in the political science department.
That commentary holds up well, as today more than ever Biden blunders into conversational crevasses, with no way out.
Also Check: Who Created Social Security Democrats Or Republicans
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Is Social Media Manipulating You?
Capturing Attention in Social Media
Statista.com reports that as of August 2021, each minute approximately 65,000 photos are shared by Instagram users, 575,000 Tweets are tweeted, and 167 million videos are watched by TikTok users worldwide.
So, how do you choose which one to give your attention to?
Have you ever stopped to read an article because a flashy photo or striking headline caught your eye?
Social networking sites (SNS’s) and platforms understand that they are competing with all the other SNS’s and the content uploaded to them each minute. And they aren’t just concerned with advertising products to you.
Research indicates that moral and emotional words are more attention-grabbing than neutral words (Brady et. al., 2020). So, as you’re scrolling through Tumblr, Facebook, or Twitter, ask yourself: Are you stopping to watch the cute video of a puppy because you love puppies? Or because the headline mentioned “Puppy Saved from Drowning”?
Maintaining Engagement in Social Media
Engagement in social media, defined as using social networking platforms to share photos, likes, comments, etc. is largely dictated by emotion; and user’s emotions are tied to the likes and comments they get (Stsiampkouskaya et al., 2021). Engagement from users on the platform increases the engagement of others.
And simply allowing you to create and add your “own” profile and content to a platform makes you want to use it more (Scheinbaum, 2017). When’s the last time you posted something and didn’t come back to see if people had commented or liked it?
So, are you really choosing how often you use social media, and what content you consume? Or are you being manipulated?
References
Brady, W. J., Gantman, A. P., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2020). Attentional capture helps explain why moral and emotional content go viral. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149(4), 746–756. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000673.supp
Close, S. A. (Ed.). (2017). The dark side of social media : A consumer psychology perspective. Taylor & Francis Group.
https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.library.capella.edu/lib/capella/detail.action?docID=5046871
Stsiampkouskaya K, Joinson A., Piwek L., Ahlbom C.P., (2021) Emotional responses to likes and comments regulate posting frequency and content change behaviour on social media: An experimental study and mediation model, Computers in Human Behavior, 124
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106940
User generated internet content per minute 2021
https://www.statista.com/statistics/195140/new-user-generated-content-uploaded-by-users-per-minute/
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JULY 2021
THE RIB PAGE
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They are still uncovering statues on Easter Island.
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Everyone is talking about ‘Exterminate all the Brutes” from Raoul Peck.
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Vampire bats, prevalent in Latin America may be on the way to the U.S.
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What they call faith, I call strength.
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Criss angel will open CABLP, a restaurant in Overton, Nevada. The letters stand for breakfast, lunch and pizza and will include a free meal outreach program to help under privileged and pediatric cancer families.
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A fifth ocean in Antartica??** There have also found 4 new ocean species: Apolemia, Tegula Kusairo, Leptarma Biju and Duobrachium Sparksae.
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In China they have found a possible new species in a skull that is 140,000 years old.
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Why would Jeffrey Toobin be back at CNN?? Surely there are more young deserving talking heads around.
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The Keystone pipeline is dead.
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5,000 pounds of explosives were discovered in a home in South LA. LAPD seems to have detonated the fireworks in a truck right there in the neighborhood. They were too dangerous to transport but not enough to blow them up??? How stupid are these people??
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Days alert : So glad to see Clyde again even if it is only for a moment!! **BTW, I do not understand the Daytime Emmy noms this year as they relate to Days. I really was pulling for Victoria Koneful (Ciara) and she won but George DelHoya (Orpheus), Tamara Braun (Ava) and Cady McClain (Jennifer)??? I was shocked when Cady McClain won. I mean, she was so whiny. I question my own ability to judge a performance. In most categories, the winner was usually the one I thought was the worst option. I was happy for Max Gail and CBS Sunday Morning. Some performances were sure overlooked. What about James Read (Clyde), Paul Telfer (Xander), Bryan Dattilo (Lucas), Robert Scott Wilson (Ben), Daniel Kerr (Eli) and Lindsay Arnold (Allie) ?? As annoying as the Kristen character is and as long as it took me to get used to Stacy Haiduk in the role, she kicked ass this year. Did they even submit clips?? And, they are not often on but Tony and Anna forever!!!!!!** And how wonderful is it to see the Dimera boys all together and recounting the whole fam for the votes? **And one more thing, Days was not even nominated for writing while Bold and the Beautiful spends every other show with the Liam character standing in front of the fireplace making excuses for the same shit! Just push repeat, C,mon!!**Philip had a great line for Brady about following Kristen like a zombie.** Dis Eli really say, “Peacock and chill??’ Are these the things they will have to do to do to stay on the air? It took me right out of the show. It was the same day the ads for Days on Peacock started. OMG
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Texas Gov. Abbott vetoed a bill that would make it illegal to chain up dogs without water.**ATexas churches have lost their 501(c) (3) status because it actively ‘educates’ its members on electing specific Republican politicians. –Pete West* This should have been happening long ago. Many churches I know of do this and should not be allowed to have it both ways. #tax the church
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Ellen Burstyn, Jane Curtin, Loretta Devine, Christopher Lloyd, James Caan, French Stewart and Ann-Margaret in Queen Bees and directed by Michael Lembeck?? Yes please!!
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NY has suspended Giuliani’s law license.
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Miracle Workers: The Oregon Trail is coming to TBS, this will be season 3 in the series.
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What is this about Bowen Yang?? A podcast about a sperm bank heist?? Yeow!!
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David Geffen has given $150,000,000 to Yale drama school: Every student will be tuition- free in perpetuity.
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Allison Mack was sentenced to 3 years.
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The latest in sexual assault news: James Franco has agreed to 2.2 mil settlement in sexual misconduct case.** Kyle Massey was charged with immoral communication with a minor.**Bill Cosby is out and here are some reactions: A terrible wrong is being righted.: a miscarriage of justice is corrected. I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward.- Phylicia Rashad*I really don’t ever want to hear again as to why many survivors don’t report their rape or assault.- Charlotte Clymer* Women are showing great restraint in not burning everything to the ground right now and I don’t know how they do it.-Jeff Tiedrich
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Amazon is making a series of A League of Their Own with Nick Offerman as the coach.
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Does anyone else have family members that are rich, transient, know it all snobs??
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It looks like New York’s ranked choice voting is leaning toward Eric Adams for Mayor.
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Michigan republicans investigating voter fraud found 2 incidents. One is for a lady who voted by mail and then died, the other was confusion over a man who had the same name as his Father. That was it!
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Jamie Lee Curtis will get the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the 78th Venice International Film Fest in September.
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Jerry Seinfeld will star in and direct ‘Unfrosted’ about Pop-Tarts.
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Why is Airbnb still listing properties in illegal settlements and outposts in Palestinian occupied territories? –James J. Zogby
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Merrick Garland has announced that the Justice department sued Georgia over the voting rights.
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The NFL says that it will halt the use of “race norming” which assumed black players started out with lower cognitive functioning in a $1 billion settlement of brain injury claims. The practice had made it harder for black players to qualify. –The Associated Press.
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Scary Clown 45 ended his ‘From the desk of Donald J. Trump’ blog after 29 days. Word is that he felt he was being mocked in the media.
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Religious leadership keeps engaging in partisan politics on behalf of politicians that are particularly unpopular with younger people and they wonder why younger people are disenchanted with the church. – Schooley ** Give young people credit as well for seeing through the hype and lies of these religious hypocrites who use God only as a weapon and a threat. –Larry Charles
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Amazon will stop drug testing for employment. Can every other company jump on this bandwagon? Let’s judge employees on the work they give.
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The Backstreet Boys and NSync are going to work together??!!
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Showtime is bringing back American Gigolo with Jon Bernthal.
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If Biden can carry out air strikes without proper authorization, the Senate can raise the minimum wage without the Parliamentarian. –Alexandra M. Hunt
Reality Winner is out!!
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Judy Woodruff has been given the Peabody award for journalistic integrity.
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Donald Glover is bringing us Hive. Malia Obama will be a writer.
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Nicholas Cage has married Riko Shibata.
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Catch and Kill: The podcast tapes, is here on HBO.
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Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening will star in Jerry and Marge go large.
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Amblin Partners and Netflix are partners.
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Fall 2022 will bring the Roybal School of film and television production for underserved communities. They are looking to help 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade students. Among others, the program was cofounded by George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Kerry Washington, Mindy Kaling and Eva Longoria.
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Will there be a Wedding Crashers2??
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The Mysterious Benedict Society stars Tony Hale.** I would love to see he and Danny Pudi in something together.
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Actor Stephen Amell from Arrow was removed from a plane after getting into it with his wife. A source said he was drunk and screaming. An official source said that they removed “an unruly customer.”** Andy Dick was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, allegedly assaulting his partner, Lucas with a metal chair.
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So.. Fox news was digitally altering the faces of people they did not care for??? Is there no end to their bullshit????
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Mark Ronson is set to marry Grace Gummer.
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Crime shows seem to be in the cycle of prisoners and the women who get a thrill from helping them escape.
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Wolfgang Van Halen has released a debut album: Mammoth
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Everyone seems to love Danny Trejo’s memoir and its honesty.
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David Spade will take over as host of Bachelor in Paradise.
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I am sickened when I see the first question that pops up on an online search is the net worth of a person. Oh this twisted world.
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Life is a short pause between 2 great mysteries. –Jung
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Prince Harry and Meghan had a daughter that they named Lilibet ‘Lili” Diana.
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Michael Flynn’s brother Charles (who withheld help from the capitol on Jan. 6), leads the U.S. Army Pacific and commands 90,000 troops.
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I am so excited to read ‘The Boys’ from Clint and Ron Howard, due out in October.
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Dave Chappelle closed out the Tribeca film fest with a surprise concert. This was the first in person film fest since Covid. Look for This time, this place which premiered there.
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Ron Wood will release the album Mr. Luck: A tribute to Jimmy Reed on Sept. 3
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Howard Stern signed a new $500 mil contract with Sirius XM. He is taking the whole summer off and many fans say they will cancel their subscription because they don’t want to pay for a summer of reruns.
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Acorn will bring Jane Seymour back to a series. Seymour will be co -executive produce on Harry Wild. Her character will be a retired University professor who loves her whiskey and solves crimes.
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Annie Murphy stasr in ‘Kevin can f*** himself about a sitcom wife which airs on AMC.
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I still do not understand why Rep. Mike Nearman hasn’t been arrested for letting insurrectionists into the Capitol.
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There is a wing shortage??
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The Pulitzer prizes have been announced. The list includes Ben Faub, Barry Blitt, Katori Hall, Emilio Morenatti, AP photographers Marcio Jose Sanchez, Alex Brandon, David Goldman, Julio Cortez, John Minchillo, Frank Franklin II, Ringo H.W. Chiu, Evan Vucci, Mike Stewart and Noah Berger. There was a special citation for Darnella Frazier who filmed the death of George Floyd.
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Conan’s last TBS guests were Martin Short, Jack Black, Bill Hader, Mila Kunis, Dana Carvey, Patton Oswalt and JB Smoove. There were some surprises. The big musical number never happened when Jack Black hurt himself. It was all funny and sweet but Conan never mentioned the band in the last show WTF????????????????????????????????????????? Music is so important to him and he does not thank the band? ** Colbert and Brian Stack gave Conan a cute send after4, 368 shows on CBS calling him a ‘Slenderman Ron Weasly’. Kimmel wished Conn well also.** Hope his HBO MAX variety show goes well.** BTW, the Duvall interview with Colbert was great to see but why does nobody ever mention ‘Get Low?’ What a performance!!
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Tattoos are on the rise.
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Fast food drive thru’s sometime close with fake excuses like the equipment is down or something because they don’t feel like working. Good people can’t find work and so many waste the opportunities they have. AAAAGHH!!
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Valerie Bertinelli and Demi Lovato will star in ‘Hungry’ on NBC.
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Hulu will bring us David E. Kelley’s Nine Perfect Strangers with Nicole Kidman, Michael Shannon, Regina Hall, Bobby Cannavale and Melissa McCarthy.
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R.I.P. Gavin Macleod, Frank Bonner, Joy Vogelsang, Benigno Aquino, Champ Biden, victims of the Miami building collapse, Robert Sacchi, Stuart Damon, Johnny Solinger and Clarence Williams III.
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Bite (Part Two)
Summary: Peter’s team is invited onto a big case in which their involvement will have serious consequences. (Part 2/3)
Word Count: 6,323
Warning: Brief mention of hard drugs and their abuse.
“Stupid me,” you grumbled, grabbing your bottles of sparkling cider and shoving them back into your bottom left desk drawer. “I should never get cocky.” The glimmering, golden, spiralized ribbons wrapped around their necks felt like they were particularly insulting. It took a lot of self-control not to grab your scissors and snip them off for the trash.
You’d been so excited for the case to end. So, so excited for the case to finally be over and things in the office to go back to normal, and for you to finally have that talk you and Neal decided to put off for “later”. Now you had share-size bottles of cider and a big case of plastic cups in your desk and no reason to share it and get it out.
“Y/N,” Diana said, watching you move with terse movements. “It could’ve gone so much worse.”
You knew that. Damn it, you knew that, you did, but you still didn’t feel much better. Neal was still alive, but your victory was taken away. Instead of being held accountable for his actions, Brady got to just take a permanent escape. There was no retribution, there was no restitution. No justice for the man he murdered or for any of the poor victims who made the mistake of trusting him. You put all your energy, all your time into this freaking case and now it was all for nothing because the coward preferred to die than go to prison, and had threatened to kill in order to force Peter to honor his wish.
Diana spoke again, trying to get your attention. “Neal could be hurt a lot worse.”
“Yeah, Di, I know he could’ve been,” you said through gritted teeth. “I still wish that ass were still here so I could kick him in the goddamn face for putting a knife to my friend’s throat.”
~~~ Bite ~~~
Brady tried to arrange a meeting as soon as possible, but Neal, playing his enthusiasm down to be sure not to jump too high, managed to delay the second rendezvous to Wednesday afternoon. According to the artist, the embezzler wasn’t happy with waiting but had more decorum than to insist that a man not even in his employ drop everything when called, and this gave you time to implement the operation you had spent the last week preparing for.
Peter had a thorough game plan. Neal as going to be wearing a wire fully concealed by his clothes, and the techs knew to thread the microphone so that it was covered by his tie in case he was patted down. Stealth aside, Peter, Madeline, and Ruiz were all confederates in Brady’s company suite, Damien had the back exits and fire escape covered, Matt and Diana were in the lobby looking busy, and you and Jones were in the van, coordinating all teams.
You had executed plenty of highly successful operations before with less manpower, but this one somehow went so wrong that you weren’t even sure how. Neal went in without even acknowledging your confederates, and he arrived separately from your unmarked vehicles. There was nothing linking him to the bureau. Brady received him with the smarmiest facsimile of hospitality you’d ever heard and invited him into his office.
The first five minutes were tense for all of you. You, especially, were feeling particularly wound up. Fidgeting your knee made Jones give you a look, but not being able to do anything was one of the worst assignments you could have possibly gotten. Neal made friendly with Brady, and Brady brought up how there was a fed questioning his practices. Peter made a petty comment which somehow helped to relax your nerves, and Brady hypothetically asked Neal what experience he might have with nosy feds.
After that, it went quiet. To occupy yourself, you imagined what expressions Neal might be making, what gestures, what body language he was using to say-without-saying that the feds weren’t as smart as he was.
The quietness lasted too long. Twenty seconds. Thirty.
“Is anyone else hearing anything?” Matt asked with his voice low, calm but concerned.
You turned on the switch allowing for you and Jones to talk over the communicators. “Our bugs aren’t the problem,” you answered to everyone, glad that someone else was the one to ask. Even after you responded, there was still no noise from Neal, or anyone in the office with him. “Damien?”
“Here,” Ruiz’s agent reported.
You frowned nervously. Something was off. “Neal, if you can hear, cough.”
There was still nothing – not just the absence of a cough, but the absence of any audio at all. It sounded louder than anything before it had, like white noise. With the rest of the earpieces fully functional, that made it clear something was very wrong.
“Peter, how far are you from the office?” Jones asked, standing up as you did the same and getting his sidearm from the collapsible table.
No answer came, even when Jones tried again, this time asking for Ruiz, and then for Madeline. Diana answered when prompted, but none of the wires in Brady’s suite were responding.
~~~ Bite ~~~
CSI found a signal jammer in one of Brady’s desk drawers after the body had been taken away, which explained why you had lost contact with your team. As soon as your team leaders realized that they couldn’t contact Neal or any of their backup, they stormed the office.
You got the chance to read Peter’s statement. He had moved impulsively, rashly, before Ruiz had made the same call. He was the first to enter, and he had kicked the door in to do so. Neal had been put down on his knees with a bloody lip, and the embezzler had held a sharp hunting knife to Neal’s throat. Neal was begging him not to do it. Your heart clenched when you read and it almost made you put the paper down, but it had gone so far sideways that you needed to know in case you were facing a review. Once Brady saw Peter’s gun and knew that he wasn’t leaving, he raised the knife and charged the agent. Peter had to shoot him twice before he fell, and he was dead before Ruiz got into the room.
Neal was able to report later that he had been made since before he even entered the building. It wasn’t a problem with the specific operation – it was that Seamus Brady had known exactly what Neal and Peter were up to, and he had turned the tables, using the con to lure Neal into an ambush. Ruiz went on what you would call a rampage and if Peter hadn’t been busy making sure that Neal was okay, and stunned by the blood on his own hands, you were sure he would’ve been laying into everyone, too. There had to be a leak somewhere in the bureau, either in the WCCD or in Organized Crime. Hughes heard the case, heard Neal was sent to the hospital and Peter had been forced to fire, and ordered everyone off. Ruiz’s division chief did the same, and the two together disbanded the Brady task force.
Neal went to the hospital to be checked out and was released within a few hours. Peter drove him home and then went back to Brooklyn, where he called in on Thursday and claimed to be sick. No one bought it, but no one bought him on it, either. Peter hadn’t done anything wrong, but the cost of protecting himself was staggering, and in your division you rarely, if ever, had such an event occur. No one could blame the man for wanting to stay home with Elizabeth for a day or two. Similarly, Hughes called Neal and said that he didn’t need to come in on Thursday, and on Friday morning, Neal called in sick, as well.
A brass from over Hughes’ head came and questioned Peter’s team that Friday. You, Diana, and Jones put your heads together so you could give as clear a picture as you could, but you had missed so much that all you could really offer was a photocopy of the statement Peter wrote and a promise to forward one of Neal’s once the conman issued his own. You went to Organized Crime for just a couple of minutes, saw Madeline at her desk, and compared notes. The same steps were being taken in their division as in yours, but they had even less to offer because Ruiz had been behind.
Peter and Neal both returned to the office on Monday. Peter had rebounded, for the most part, but Neal looked like he had hardly slept. It didn’t help that OPR also came to the WCCD on Monday, opening an investigation into who tipped off Brady. Your brain knew that the vast majority of OPR agents were well-intentioned and following orders, but after everything that happened with Fowler, having them around made you feel like your office had a roach problem.
The entire week passed in slow motion, and as it did, you watched Peter grow both stable and weary – stable as he accepted what he had been forced to do, and weary as he accepted that, yet again, he had to look over his shoulder for a traitor within the bureau. It was a heavy weight on all of you, but none of you felt it more than the Burke-Caffrey duo, and you wished you knew how you could help. While Peter at least recovered from the ambush itself, you saw Neal moving in the opposite direction. He pulled away from everyone, preferring quiet and solitude. He was willing to spend time with Peter during lunch breaks, and make small talk when prompted, but he didn’t act like the social butterfly he usually was and he didn’t return your friendly attempts at flirting.
It hurt to watch him withdraw. You hadn’t seen him doing such a thing since Kate had died, but even this was on a completely different dimension. When the jet exploded, Neal emotionally withdrew but he wanted to seem like he was fine. He slapped on a veneer of happiness to hide the anger and devastation, and he used friendships to distract himself from how badly it hurt to be alone with his thoughts. This was different – he was physically present, but he wasn’t making any attempts at acting as he normally did.
While waiting for the Brady case to make another move, you had started to complain to yourself that your “later” wasn’t going to ever come. Now, as he turned down offers to leave the building for lunch, failed to reciprocate any signs of interest, and rebuffed any attempts to have a conversation that didn’t strictly revolve around work, you were thinking that it really might not ever happen. Worse than thinking that the romantic potential might go unfilled was the hurt you felt at the threat of losing a good friend.
The second week after Neal was ambushed, OPR left the WCCD in peace without any answers as to who betrayed the team, Peter was able to lower his figurative hackles, and Neal started to reengage – but, like with Kate, it was just a veneer. He started to banter with Peter and talk to you, but nothing went deeper than the surface and even though he acted like normal, happy, healthy Neal Caffrey, that was all it was. Acting.
It wasn’t up to you to decide how quickly he needed to get over a near-death experience, and you knew that. You never thought you had the right to try. But, you did have the right to worry, as long as you didn’t shove it onto him, and so you worried to yourself while keeping your eyes on him. Unfortunate as it was, Neal was no stranger to near-death experiences. When you compared what happened during that case to what had almost happened in the past, you couldn’t understand why it would have shaken him up so much. Getting a bullet blocked by a Bible in front of his chest, having the air sucked out of a sealed room, almost boarding a doomed plane, being in an apartment with an assassin, confronting and being placed in a variety of nearly-fatal situations by Adler, and a number of other close calls hadn’t shaken him up for more than a couple days, so it mystified you how one sole creep with a knife had a more profound impact on Neal than losing Kate.
~~~ Bite ~~~
After two weeks, you were done thinking about “later”. You would’ve happily taken what you had before it went down and been grateful to have the old Neal back. You laid in bed on Saturday night wondering who you would find when you went to work the next Monday. Would your friend be back at his desk, or was it going to be the shellshocked victim? If it were the latter, was he going to be ready to accept the support that you had already tried to offer?
While thinking about him, you did come to an important epiphany. You figured out what made this near-death experience so much worse than the others: someone Neal trusted had been the one to cause it. Brady had held the knife and he was guilty of all of his actions, for sure, but he wouldn’t have lured out and tried to hurt Neal if it hadn’t been for someone in the FBI tipping him off to the operation. Neal had come to respect the individuals who worked in the division, and although he wasn’t going to try to move into the office, he felt comfortable and safe within its walls. That sense of safety had been ripped away, and he didn’t have the option of avoiding the space that now felt dangerous.
You should’ve thought of it sooner. OPR had made your skin crawl, but you had been focusing your energy on the wrong thing. A leak in the office unsettled you, but you had a clean record, no gripes with anyone, and your neck wasn’t sticking out off a perilous ledge. You had no reason to fear the leak except for on the basis of principle. Neal, however, had a felony conviction, a long list of people who may want him hurt or dead on principle or for revenge, and was frequently enlisted as the WCCD’s personal piece of criminal bait.
What would it feel like to not feel safe at work? To know there was a knife in your back and not know who put it there? If you were in his position, you thought that paranoia might be crippling. You also thought you’d have no choice but to rely emotionally on your friends, the ones you knew for certain would never harm you, not withdraw from them. Surely Neal knew some people that it wasn’t – Peter, whom he’d known in one capacity or another for going on a decade; Diana and Jones, for almost two years. Certainly, he knew you’d never try to get him killed. Maybe you didn’t have as long of a history as he had with Peter, but you had a history, nonetheless, and it was a good one. If anyone were going to rat him out, it would have to be someone from Ruiz’s side of the task force, or maybe someone who accessed the plans and files without actually being assigned to the team.
Fear wasn’t rational, you knew that, and you knew Neal did, too. He was too clever about people not to know how powerful emotions could be. That didn’t mean it was a good thing for him to be socially isolating himself to any degree. Cases like this were when he should be keeping closer to his friends than ever. If he wasn’t sure about who those friends were, then you were just going to have to show him.
You woke up early on Sunday morning and Googled a few minutes to find a breakfast restaurant in Neal’s radius that looked particularly delicious, and then you made the trip to the west side of Manhattan as the sun was still rising. You couldn’t keep waiting for him to get better and pretending to be fooled by the way he acted like he was fine at work. He was your friend, damn it, and friends took friends out for breakfast and made them talk when they were distressed. Neal had had more than two weeks to come around on his own. Time to give him a gentle push. If he were reticent, then you’d just have to push a little harder and prove you’d catch him. Like an emotional trust fall.
It was a little after seven when you got to June’s. You weren’t trying to blitz attack Neal, but you did want to get to him before he left the house on his own plans. One of June’s cars was gone, so you pulled into the driveway, knowing you wouldn’t be here long. You parked and turned off your car, then double-checked that nothing valuable was left visible from the windows before unbuckling your seatbelt.
Before you got out of the car, you looked up to June’s house to admire the old building and saw motion on the porch. For just a heartbeat you thought Neal might have seen you pulling in and came out to meet you, but then you realized the person coming out had long hair and was wearing a shimmering black dress. To each his own, but they were five foot six, tops.
You stayed put to assess. It felt uncomfortably like spying and the agent in you was uncomfortably okay with that. The person turned around and you didn’t recognize her face. Her hair was a little snarled and her dress had some oddly-placed wrinkles. You spent a lot of time at the office, but not so much that you didn’t know what a walk of shame looked like.
“Maybe I should have texted ahead,” you said to your empty passenger seat, somewhat amused. It looked like Neal had a way of coping, after all.
She walked off the porch and went to the street, looking down at her hands. You were trying to avoid the awkwardness of being seen, so you pressed yourself back against your seat and watched her through the side mirror when she came into view. The lady didn’t even look at your car, instead moving her fingers on her phone.
“Wait,” you said softly, narrowing your eyes to look closer. She wasn’t holding a phone, the motions of her fingers weren’t right.
Since she wasn’t even looking, you shifted around up onto one knee to look directly out the rear window. She got to the sidewalk from the driveway and started going east, towards Broadway, and as she turned to follow the street you got a better look at what she was holding. It was a wad of cash, and she was counting the bills.
You turned back around and dropped into your seat, narrowly avoiding giving your thigh a hard knock on the steering wheel.
A woman leaving Neal’s address, as June isn’t home, while in last night’s clothes and counting bills.
You felt breathless. What were you supposed to say, to yourself or to Neal, about what you had seen? Breakfast was off the table. You pulled your seatbelt back over yourself and started the car, leaving him none the wiser to your visit, so you could have time to think.
~~~ Bite ~~~
You stalled on talking to Neal for days. There were four very long days, almost an entire business week, where you wracked your brain trying to come up with another explanation for what he was doing. Neal freaking Caffrey hooking up with an… escort? There was no way, absolutely no way. Okay, so you supposed it made sense that if he needed something to lift his spirits, sex worked for most everyone. But even if you assumed that his looks and intellect and charm had suddenly become completely useless in the world of romance and sex (and you were one hundred percent sure that wasn’t the case), there was no way he was stupid enough to risk everything he had just to get laid. Victimless or not, solicitation of a prostitute was breaking the law and if anyone found out, Neal would go straight back to prison.
So you just kept telling yourself that it wasn’t what it had looked like. You kept telling yourself that you misread the situation, that there was some important piece of context you just weren’t aware of, and you kept trying to think of what it might be. Because you were trying so hard to convince yourself of that other piece’s existence, you resisted the urge to conclude he was seeing a prostitute – because if you came to that conclusion, you were legally obligated to report it. And if you reported it, and Neal couldn’t factually disprove it, then your friend was going back to prison for a crime that you didn’t personally believe should be a crime in the first place.
The problem was that it had been four days, and you couldn’t think of anything to explain why Neal had seen a woman out early in the morning with a going-away gift of cash. If it wasn’t solicitation, then it had to be something worse – conspiracy for a white-collar crime, maybe, or worse, drugs. Drugs would explain why she looked unkept.
The conspiracy option seemed like the most likely bet, but Neal of all people knew how thin his ice was, and he wasn’t going to start tap dancing on it by relying on strangers not to narc. He had a small circle of people whom he trusted. You were reasonably confident that you’d met everyone on the list, and the woman whom you’d seen leaving wasn’t one of them. Plus, since Alex, you were pretty sure Neal learned to stop mixing business with pleasure, so it wouldn’t account for why she had stayed the night.
Drugs only occurred to you on Wednesday, and you’d nixed it by lunchtime. You wouldn’t put it past Neal to have experimented once or twice with some less intense stuff, but you’d known him too long not to know if he had a particular vice, and he didn’t. Sometimes he smoked when he was stressed, but that was it. You carefully tried to see if there were any signs of a new habit, but Neal looked healthy, his mind was sharp, his hands were steady, and there was no discoloration anywhere on him. Addicts were good at hiding addictions, but it hadn’t been long enough for Neal to get that far down the rabbit hole, so you took comfort in knowing that he wasn’t slowly poisoning himself.
Without those options on the table, though, there was no alternative to a prostitute. One part of you wanted to just let it go and pretend you hadn’t seen anything. It wasn’t like you’d seen them screwing so it wasn’t shirking responsibility to fail to report – you didn’t know for sure anything illegal had happened. When the worse alternatives included heroin, you were tempted to just be relieved that the most likely reality was consenting adult activity. The other part of you was just so… disappointed. You knew how clever he was. Of all the things to risk his parole over, this was what he chose?
Being a pushover wasn’t a quality for any good agent to have. Avoiding conflicts wasn’t exactly what you were known for – you liked to handle things as they came up, rather than letting them fester. Now, though, you felt like such a wimp, cowering from a conversation you needed to have just because you were afraid of how it might go. Even that unpleasant feeling of knowing you were letting yourself down didn’t motivate you into gathering your wits and putting your foot down – it was what happened at lunch.
You went in to get your salad from the fridge and happened to cross paths with Peter and Neal, who were already in the kitchen brewing themselves more coffee. You said a pleasant greeting to them both, putting aside the lurching feeling in your stomach when you saw Neal smile at you. He still didn’t know you’d seen anything. He didn’t know you’d spent the week trying to decide how to respond.
“What’s good?” You asked, opening up the fridge and taking out your meal.
“Not the coffee,” Neal quipped, earning himself a side-eye from Peter. “What about with you? You’ve seemed a little intense this week. Good case?”
Heh, I wish. So he had noticed there was something wrong. Well, so had you – he was convincing but you weren’t fooled by his back-to-normal demeanor. “Not good as in interesting,” you said, going along with what he thought. The middle of the bureau wasn’t the place to ask Neal what the hell he was thinking, and any time when another agent was around was the wrong time. “But particularly challenging, and I think I’m close.”
“That’s a good feeling,” Peter commented, smiling slightly. He’d always had a good work ethic. It made you happy to work under him and you felt a little bit guilty for lying. “Just don’t forget to take time for yourself.”
“I may not be married, but I still have my own life,” you teased him. It was well-known that your boss was a workaholic. Were it not for his wife, he’d spend even more time in the office. “I might even make weekend plans.”
You stuck your thermos in the microwave as Peter chuckled and Neal gasped in overdramatic surprise. It made you smile at the appliances. Being so tense for the last week, and worrying about Neal for the last several, had almost made you forget how much you liked your work environment and your friends.
“Weekend plans doing what?” Neal asked, his grin just big enough to show a little flash of his front teeth.
Your weekends were never very exciting, but at least you were able to quickly think of something that rhymed with your streaming service. “Hulu and Cthulhu,” you said smartly as the microwave dinged.
Neal laughed. “Very cultured, Agent Y/L/N.”
“You know it.” You clicked your tongue at him with a wink. “What about yours?”
“Ah, I might have a friend over,” he answered smoothly, and you raised your eyebrows, wary that he was referring to a paid friend and not a real one.
“Mozzie?” Peter guessed.
“Sh,” Neal rebuked, glancing meaningfully between Peter and the doorway. “The walls have ears.”
“He’s literally been here,” the investigator grumbled, forever exasperated by Haversham’s paranoid distrust of every government official in the world.
The microwave dinged and you took your thermos out and picked up a plastic spork. “Yes, and now I bet he has PTSD,” you joked.
“And I’m the one who has to hear all about it,” Neal complained. His tone wasn’t giving much away – he could have been either joking with you or completely serious, and somehow not knowing made it a little funnier. You were never sure what to make of Mozzie, so the ambiguity was suited to him. “Good luck on your case.”
“And on yours, guys,” you replied as you took your lunch and went back out into the bullpen, heading for your desk to work through your break.
It was only a couple of minutes after you sat down again that you realized Neal had deflected the question of who his friend actually was. Maybe he was just taking it for granted that you and Peter knew it was Mozzie after he hadn’t said no, but part of you just said it wasn’t that simple. The principle of Occam’s razor rarely applied to Neal – which was just unfortunate, because your life would be so much easier if it did. You needed to talk to him before he had the chance to repeat whatever he had done last weekend, because if you didn’t, then he might make a huge mistake.
~~~ Bite ~~~
Your time to talk to him came towards the end of the day, and you didn’t even have to make up a good excuse to get him out of the building alone. Peter came by your desk an hour before the workday usually ended, almost blushing and quickly hurrying to explain how it was his turn to pick up the dog from the groomer’s and he had to hurry or the groomer would call El and then his wife would find out that he forgot a shared domestic responsibility again. Okay, so he didn’t say anything past his wife being called, but you weren’t exactly new to the office. You knew how it worked.
Anyway, you said you’d let Hughes know where he was if you were asked, and that you could give Neal a ride back to Riverside. If he didn’t have the tracking anklet, he could take public transportation, but public transit never ended up going straight to his apartment, and it was almost an eight mile walk, and since federal plaza was already out of his radius, letting him go home alone made the U.S. Marshals all skittish. It was easier to just carpool with everyone’s favorite ex-con in the passenger seat.
Neal was usually a very animated passenger, but like his demeanor at work, he was more subdued in the car than he used to be, and another pang hit you in the chest as you wondered if he behaved like this in Peter’s car, too. You wanted so badly to believe he wasn’t just choosing to shut you out, specifically.
“I have satellite,” you said casually while waiting at a traffic light. You felt like your heart was pounding, and between that and the emotional chest ache, you almost felt like a trip to the ER should be in order. “I decided to start paying. Better music, less commercials.”
Neal shrugged. “It’s just a few more minutes.” Except in rush hour traffic, it was actually closer to fifteen. In spite of his lacking enthusiasm, he took the hint after a few seconds and reached for the stereo controls, turning the satellite stations on and flipping between a few until he could something that wasn’t pop, rock, or rap.
The music made the ride less awkward and you kicked yourself for it in hindsight. At least when the silence had seemed loud, it would’ve been easier to break it with words instead of radio. June’s address drew closer and as it did, you had the sinking feeling that you weren’t going to have the courage to say anything, no matter how serious you knew the situation was.
Too many feelings.
“Can I come inside?” You asked, apparently out of the blue, glancing across the car at him. Neal’s eyebrows were up and his lips slightly parted when he looked back from the window, surprised as you’d ever seen him. “We don’t talk much anymore,” you lied with a little shrug. “Haven’t had much time for it, I guess. But we could do coffee.”
Neal took a second to respond, and you were sure that he was going to politely reject you. Instead, his expression became a little more open as he considered and dropped a hand onto his knee. “Yeah, that sounds nice,” he agreed, and then looked back out the window.
After that, it became less painfully uncomfortable, at least on your end. Invitation secured, you stopped worrying. You were going into his home – backing out wasn’t an option. What was an option was doing what you could to try taking care of your friend, and hopefully that would include setting him on a better direction and figuring out what the hell had happened in Brady’s loft. You even felt hopeful that in a couple of weeks’ time, things would be back to normal and your friendship would rebound like none of this had ever happened.
You made it to Riverside and fortunately found curbside parking. June had a driveway, which was a luxury for a Manhattan residence, but she also had two cars already in it and you hated feeling like you were blocking anyone in. Neal reiterated the welcome for you to come inside and you went in with him, looking around June’s first floor with curiosity before following the artist up to his rented space. It looked cleaner than it usually did… not that Neal was a slob – far from it, in fact – but the penthouse looked a little less homey than usual and it was extra concerning.
You took your shoes and coat off by the door after Neal hung his jacket on the coat rack. “Italian or Ethiopian?” He asked, striding into the small kitchen and opening up the cupboards to the left of the fridge.
“Ethiopian,” you replied and watched him take a name-brand bag of coffee grounds off of the shelf. You’d never had it before but Neal had good taste.
While he brewed coffee, you took a quick look through the parlor section of the open-floor plan, seeing the records and books that he had opted to keep accessible. Neal’s tastes in music were in line with what you would have expected. He liked instruments, and when it came to singing, he liked classics. His reading interests were more eclectic, but that, you supposed, was part of how he kept his skills up. Neal was very proud of his excellence in art, but he also went out of his way to be a sort of jack of all trades so that he could connect with a mark on some level, no matter what it was they were into.
Once you couldn’t hear the coffeemaker running anymore, you treaded to the kitchen table and pulled out a chair to sit. Neal brought two mugs over a moment later. “It’s how you like it,” he remarked, setting one in front of you and sitting only a couple of feet away with his.
A real smile came to your face. “You remember.”
“Of course I remember,” he said, giving you an almost playful look like you should know better. “I never forget a coffee order.”
“I thought it was names you never forget.”
“I never forget either,” he replied without missing a beat, smiling slightly over the edge of his mug.
“Silly me,” you commented. The roast tasted almost like a heavy tea, but it was good. You put it down on the table, then reached for your belt and took your badge off. You put it facedown next to your coffee and Neal’s attention was rapt.
“Is there unofficial business I should know about?” He asked. His tone and words were light, but you could see a very subtle change in his face that you would have completely missed if you hadn’t been watching for it.
“I don’t want you in trouble and I’m not gonna start any,” you responded, tilting your head. Neal had taught you that a lot of crime was actually in shades of grey, and after Peter had begun to loosen up, you started thinking that maybe there was really something to the lessons Neal occasionally espoused. One of them was that sometimes the ends justified the means, as long as the means fit within a moral framework that prioritized human wellbeing. “I saw something on Sunday. I came to pick you up for breakfast and there was a woman leaving. She had cash.”
Neal put his mug down and reached for his face. Slowly, he rubbed his hands over his eyes, and then his cheeks, his head down tiredly. You were curious how he would play it, and simultaneously hoped he wouldn’t try to play you at all.
“I’m not sure how I’m supposed to read it,” you continued quietly. “But you have to know that the most obvious reading isn’t worth going back to prison over.”
Neal drew in a long, tight breath, through which his shoulders barely moved. “No,” he agreed, sounding absolutely exhausted. “It’s not.” He moved his hands, and then you saw in his eyes the same look that he’d had after the op went south weeks ago. He looked like his spirit had been beaten down, and he was so weary he couldn’t summon the energy to hold his shoulders up. “It’s not what it looked like.”
“Tell me what it was, then,” you prompted gently. It wasn’t your intention to violate his privacy or push very far. Despite the symbolic gesture you had made, your badge was still right there and you were still an agent of the FBI. You weren’t interested in that being a factor in how much or how little Neal chose to reveal to you – you wanted to be his friend first and foremost. But you also weren’t sure how much you truly wanted to know, or how much Neal would tell you regardless of whether or not you were a fed.
The artist rested his elbow on the table, still turned towards you in his chair. After he lowered his eyes from your face, he didn’t look up for a couple of very long moments. Because you knew him well, you waited patiently. If he had decided he wasn’t going to tell you anything, then he wouldn’t be looking away from you. Neal was very good at issuing a challenge without being overtly confrontational, and right now, he wasn’t challenging your right to know, just… figuring something out in his head. Thinking.
“I want you to know that I didn’t intend for this to happen,” he said finally, lifting his head. His usually kissable lips were frowning. “And I tried resisting.”
That made you frown. What was there to resist? Coercion? “Resisting what?” You asked him worriedly.
That worry only increased tenfold when he answered, “Blood.”
~~~~~
~~~~~
A/N: This is part two of three. There will be one more chapter after this.
If you like my writing and would be interested in skipping the request queue, please consider commissioning me on Ko-Fi. Imagines are $1 each and a 2,500-word oneshot is $4.
#white-collar-lawmen-and-conmen#lawmen-and-conmen#White Collar#white collar x reader#neal caffrey#neal caffrey x reader#peter burke#reader insert#request#series#bite#casefic#x reader
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'Days of our Lives' Comings and Goings: Jasper Newman Debuts as Colin - Linked to Chanel & Sloan?
Days of our Lives comings and goings report actor Jasper Newman rolling into Salem as a man named Colin. Plus, Bo and Hope Brady’s dramatic exit. And legendary Dick Van Dyke joins the cast this Fall on the Peacock sudser. Here’s what we know so far.
Days of our Lives Comings and Goings: Jasper Newman Rolls in as Colin
DOOL comings and goings reveal actor Jasper Newman makes his Salem debut as…
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TV Guide, August 31-September 13
You can buy a copy of this issue with Tom Brady of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the cover for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks
Cover: Collectible Cover 2 of 2 -- Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs
Page 1: Contents, Ask Matt -- Will Sasso of Mom and United We Fall, Spenser Confidential
Page 2: Readers’ Letters, CSI is returning with William Petersen as Gil Grissom and Jorja Fox as Sara Sidle plus new characters, NCIS plans to return to production on September 9 and Season 18 will include the milestone 400th episode
Page 4: A long-lost episode of black-ish called Please Baby Please is now available on Hulu, TV’s top coaches -- Ted Lasso, Ben Hopkins of Hoops, Gwen Stefani of The Voice
Page 6: The Roush Review -- Raised by Wolves
Page 7: Coastal Elites, Love Fraud, Away
Page 8: Cover Story -- Football is back -- previews of the NFL teams and players to watch plus 10 don’t miss matchups
Page 12: Fall TV -- the shows we can’t wait to see -- The Crown, Ratched, Supernatural, Law & Order: Organized Crime, The Right Stuff, Fargo, Grey’s Anatomy
Page 14: What’s Worth Watching -- Week 1 -- Chris Evert on the US Open
Page 15: Monday, August 31 -- Being the Queen, black-ish, Planet Earth: A Celebration, Pawn Stars
Page 18: Tuesday, September 1 -- Hamza Haq on Transplant, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Supernanny, The Son
Page 19: Wednesday, September 2 -- Into the Wild Tibet, Coroner, Tough as Nails
Page 20: Thursday, September 3 -- Dr. Sandra Lee on Dr. Pimple Popper: Before the Pop, A Hidden Life, Buried in the Backyard, Cannonball, Holey Moley, The Real Housewives of New York City
Page 21: Friday, September 4 -- Xena: Warrior Princess, Love After Lockup, Elvis: That’s the Way It Is, Saturday, September 5 -- Dolly!, Love Island, 21 Bridges
Page 22: Sunday, September 6 -- Top Gear, Air Disasters, How It Really Happened With Hill Harper, Power Book II: Ghost, NASCAR, Major League Baseball -- St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs
Pages 25-45 -- TV listings
Page 46: Stream It! Your Guide to the Best Streaming Available -- Netflix -- Hilary Swank on Away, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, All Together Now
Page 47: Prime Video -- Jack Quaid on The Boys, The Deep, Hulu -- Blindspot, The Kids Are Alright
Page 48: New Movie Releases
Page 49: Series, Specials and Documentaries
Page 50: What’s Worth Watching -- Week 2 -- Lucy Worsley’s Royal Palace Secrets
Page 51: Monday, September 7 -- Judy Spera on Devil’s Road: The True Story of Ed and Lorraine Warren, American Ninja Warrior, Biography: The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne, NYPD Blue
Page 52: Tuesday, September 8 -- Biography: I Want My MTV, Live With Kelly and Ryan, America’s Got Talent, Hard Knocks: Los Angeles, Harbor From the Holocaust
Page 53: Wednesday, September 9 -- Drew Scott and Jonathan Scott on Brother vs. Brother, The 100, Crimes Gone Viral, NFL: The Grind, Stargate: SG-1, Major League Baseball -- Chicago White Sox at Pittsburgh Pirates
Page 54: Thursday, September 10 -- The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Christina on the Coast, Bin Laden’s Hard Drive, Impact of Murder, My Feet Are Killing Me: First Steps, Friday, September 11 -- Romeo and Juliet, 9/11: The Final Minutes of Flight 93, Selling the Big Easy
Page 55: Saturday, September 12 -- Disney Weekend, Bonanza, Help! I Wrecked My House, Deranged Granny, Tennis -- US Open: Women’s Final
Page 56: Sunday, September 13 -- Michele Buck on Van der Valk, Close Up With the Hollywood Reporter -- Damon Lindelof and Michelle King and Liz Tigelaar and Courtney Kemp and Alexander Woo, The Brady Bunch, Lovecraft Country, Outrageous Pumpkins, Tennis -- US Open: Men’s Final
Pages 57-78 -- TV listings
Page 80: Horoscope
Page 84: Cheers & Jeers -- Cheers to Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Selling Sunset, Kelly Clarkson, Jeers to the networks for missing their shot at surefire fun, Comedy Central for screwing over its viewers, a Sarah Paulson surplus
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Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini 'can't understand' Premier League sackingsThe Chilean put an end to the speculation over his job by signing a new contract in August, but he feels the 'patient' culture of the Premier League is changing22:30, 7 NOV 2015Updated23:36, 7 NOV 2015Impatient: Pellegrini says he cannot fathom why Premier League bosses are getting sacked so quickly (Photo wholesale nfl jerseys: Reuters / Eddie Keogh) Get football updates directly to your inbox+ SubscribeThank you for subscribing!Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid EmailManuel Pellegrini is exposing the folly of the Premier League sack race.While Jose Mourinho and Louis van Gaal find themselves in the firing line for the respective lack of style and substance their teams are producing at Chelsea and Manchester United, the Manchester City boss is proving that Sheikh Mansour was right to stand by him last summer.City are top of the Premier League and have already qualified for the knock out stages of the Champions League.And Pellegrini, who has learned the live in the shadow cast by the constant linking Pep Guardiola with his job from the day he took over 29 months ago, Cheap Jerseys from china believes security is the key to success.City travel to Aston Villa on Sunday to face a team that will be managed by Remi Garde for the first time.In pictures Sevilla 1 3 Man City:And Pellegrini, who is already the third longest serving manager in the top flight behind Arsenal's Arsene Wenger and Eddie Howe, of Bournemouth, has a warning for the Frenchman."Things have changed in England and I don't why they are now so impatient," he said"Several years ago in England, most clubs in the Premier League had patience with their managers. That is changing."And it is not just more difficult for young managers it is difficult for all managers. I read every day that Chelsea will sack Mourinho.
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