Huh. Well that definitely was a pretty explosive and exciting finale wasn't it? And earth shattering finale I should think, considering. It seems to be a turning point, too. But we'll talk about that in a moment.
​
First, we go back to the Ebou Dar party for one last hurrah before the book ends. I'm surprised that we jumped back to them at all, to be honest, considering we were in the middle of a FUCKING KIDNAPPING, but what do I know. I suppose we're easing the tension a bit before addressing it.
​
Briefly we go back to Mat who is told that Elayne and Nynaeve snuck out of the palace. Again. They seem to be really good at that. So he goes to prepare to find them and defend them. More importantly, Olver, the kid that Mat adopted, has been doing horse races as a jockey, which is pretty cute. And funny that Mat didn't know he was doing it. Also funny how he starts flirting with a woman who's been babysitting him and Mat wonders where he got it. Um hello? Mat? No self-awareness? Alright alright.
​
There's a lot of descriptions of Rahad as the bad side of town as Elayne, Birgitte, Nynaeve, and Aviendha go through it. It really just could be the poor side of town in any city ravaged by capitalism now, but in this setting it would be ravaged by feudalism. This is one thing about these fantasy epics that often gets unaddressed, how the main characters won't actually try to fix the systemic issues that lead to poor people being poor, they'll just address the giant world ending threat. It's the classic Marvel problem: thanks Captain America for stopping the world from ending or whatever, but you want to push for universal healthcare? In reality, I could see Rand trying to fix it, considering he came from a non-noble place as a Two Rivers person. But I don't know if the books ever will. Considering we're pretty directly bringing it up here and throwing it in the reader's face, maybe we will?
​
They witness a brawl followed by a woman, Asra, coming forwards to heal the person who lost and got stabbed. She tries to use the power to heal, but it doesn't work. And she tells the person who won the brawl to go tell the dead man's wife that he killed him. However, they're after the bowl, not a random wilder woman, so Birgitte tells Elayne not to talk to her since Elayne will probably get herself into trouble doing it. All this to set up the next book, so we'll see how all this Ebou Dar stuff goes next time. Considering we introduced Asra as a powerful wilder, I assume she'll come into play here at some point.
​
Egwene goes to see Logain where he's being shielded. There's some nice foreshadowing here where she suggests tying off the weave for the shielding, but it's seen as taboo to do that. By tradition six Aes Sedai shield a man at all times and never leave the shield unattended.
​
Egwene weirdly asks Logain what he thinks about Rand's amnesty, which is a weird thing to ask. Like obviously he's not going to be a fan of where he is now compared to going to someone who will let him continue to channel. Understandably, Logain is pissed that there's still any question of whether they will gentle him after everything he's done for them. He's cooperated at every turn. There was also that debate earlier that I found interesting: that gentling a man actually looks incredibly bad if you want to get Rand on side.
​
The Salidar party is indeed on the move and Gareth Bryne's forces have been growing while Mat's forces have been following. Egwene has been using the tension of two armies following each other who clearly are at odds with each other to trick nobles into pledging fealty to them. Which means that they're going to have to be in it until they can topple Elaida or those nobles will also get executed in addition to all the Salidar Aes Sedai.
​
Egwene then goes to Tel'aran'rhiod and reports to Elayne and Nynaeve what's going on and they report back to her. This conversation isn't super interesting, it's just stuff we already know. Just that they can't find something with "need" again, which is how they found the bowl in the first place. Finally, when Egwene awakens, Siuan is there to report that the plan to free Logain has been started. It's the correct thing to do, since the Hall will gentle him if they don't free him and send him off to Rand. I like the conversation here. Siuan, as the former Amyrlin, tells her that she's often found the stole to be heavier than ten men and doesn't leave a lot of easy decisions.
​
Finally, we see Myrelle and Lan finally has made it to her. Moiraine passed Lan's bond on to her when she died/disappeared. Interestingly, this has political connotations because Myrelle is in Sheriam's inner circle and she's accepting Moiraine's former warder.
​
Finally we get back to the kidnapping. The next two chapters, especially Chapter 54, that lead up to the final battle aren't very exciting to be honest. Mostly because they're with Perrin. Perrin not only sucks, he's also just really boring as a character. The most boring of the main three that's for sure. But we're stuck with him. Again, there's a reason why he was exiled from the previous book and the majority of this one. And there's a reason why I started to actually like these books with the previous one. I'm not gonna say it's just because Perrin was gone, but it definitely was a factor, I think.
​
So we're in the middle of the Feast of Lights where everyone's partying in the streets shirtless, even the women, and Perrin is shocked out of his mind. I loved the little statement that the Tairen men took one look and joined in and the Tairen women took one look and said NOPE, went back inside and put armed guards on the door.
​
There's a nice little meeting with all the people in Rand's inner circle including Perrin, Faile, Loial, Dobraine, Berelain, Sulin, Rhuarc, and Sorilea. Quite a rogue's list of characters. We find out that Colavaere has been taking advantage of the chaos of the partying in the streets for the Feast of Lights to assassinate some of her political rivals, to make her way to the throne. And now that Rand is gone, she possibly could take it. Berelain comes in and Perrin, being Perrin, immediately assumes she's there to flirt with him. Instead of, you know, showing the things that Rand left behind after he's been gone for so long. Sulin immediately recognizes that Rand has been kidnapped because they're things that Rand wouldn't have left behind and she decides she's done enough time as a servant, thank goodness.
​
Berelain apparently also got pressured by the Aes Sedai to go home because they're trying to make the city and country more friendly to the Tower and Rand's inner circle is not likely to be, particularly after they KIDNAPPED HIM. Obviously. Dobraine was also pressured into leaving. This political pressure is what convinces Perrin that Rand was kidnapped and so he takes off with an army at his back to fight the Tower Aes Sedai. What's even more wild here is that the Wise Ones agree to take part in the battle since they can channel. It's cute how Sorilea lights a fire here to show that she can channel, but she's not very powerful in the power as we've made clear. She's powerful politically, so she can convince a lot of the Wise Ones to fight.
​
Back with the kidnapping Aes Sedai, we learn that they've also kidnapped Min. That's apparently where she was when the Aes Sedai kidnapped him. When Rand found out that Min was also kidnapped, he managed to kill a Warder with his bare hands and injure another who died from the Healing. And both Warders belonged to an Aes Sedai named Erian, so she's insanely pissed at Rand and wants to punish him. Which she gets to do. She gets to whip him over and over again.
​
Interestingly, Rand actually works with Lews Therin. If they tie off the shield, then Lews Therin can break through. One thing that made me think Lews Therin was really there was when he asks who are you or some such to Rand. It made me wonder if there actually is a real connection there, through time, to Lews Therin. What if the two are actually hearing each other in their heads talking to each other? Perhaps after the tainting of saidin. Because if that's the case, that's huge. They can communicate what's happening to each other and literally work together to solve what's happening in their own time periods.
​
Sevanna, the Wise One of the Shaido that they allied with, just wanted to see Rand as part of the deal. The other part of the deal is that the Shaido kill Gawyn and the Younglings. Presumably they're too much of a bother or unwieldy to deal with or some such. I'm not sure why. I do think I remember earlier in the book the Aes Sedai in this party complaining about them. But again I'm not sure why. Seems like a bad idea to have your only defensive force offed, but then I'm not a Tower Aes Sedai. Sevanna intends to turn on the Aes Sedai, though, and take Rand for herself to marry him. The real Car'a'carn instead of her fake Car'a'carn that she supported, Couladin. Rather abruptly she has Desaine murdered because, according to the app, she opposed Sevanna being made a Wise One. She also tosses away a little cube she had been given at the beginning of the book that she was supposed to use when Rand was taken captive. Not sure of the significance of that.
​
And then the Perrin chapter where they're tracking him. This is the least interesting part. It's kind of funny how they have to push through all the festivities of the Feast of Lights to get a boat to cross the river, though, and it's a struggle to get the people on the boat to do anything. Understandably so.
​
Perrin slowly builds up his force here as more and more troops join: Dobraine's men, Mayeneres from Berelain, Rhuarc's Aiel and Maidens, ninety four Wise Ones ready to break with tradition and actually get involved in a battle, the wolves that Perrin talks to, his Two Rivers men, and finally the rebel Aes Sedai using Alanna's Warder bond to track him down.
​
We open up the final chapter with Gawyn getting warning that thousands of Aiel are about to attack. He tells Galina that they should actually be cautious for once and prepare for the defense. She, amazingly, relents her arrogance and agrees. Inside the trunk, Rand can tell that Alanna is getting closer, but obviously doesn't trust her since he doesn't trust any Aes Sedai at all anymore.
​
When Perrin's forces arrive they see a battle already in place, the Shaido are besieging the Aes Sedai and Younglings, trying to take Rand for themselves. The Shaido also have a few channeler Wise Ones, most of whom probably killed Desaine in the other chapter. There's all kinds of magic being cast on both sides: lightning, fireballs, earthquakes. The usual battle magic. Perrin realizes that the Shaido will probably eventually overwhelming the Aes Sedai position and take Rand, so Perrin leads the charge. They don't have a plan other than to get Rand out. There is a plan, though, the Two Rivers men and Mayeners are supposed to go in two squads with the Wise Ones with one group and the Aes Sedai in another group. They're supposed to be pincers to attack from both sides. Except they don't actually follow this plan and Aes Sedai do whatever the fuck they want because of their arrogance, I guess. Perrin sends wolves out to be the initial charge, attacking and surprising the backs of the Shaido ranks. It's also shocking that the Aes Sedai are fighting offensively in this battle at all. According to the three oaths, they're not supposed to take part in battle except in self-defense. All of a sudden, a bunch of gateways start appearing all over the battlefield as Asha'man from Rand's Black Tower appear and start fighting.
​
In the meantime, Rand manages to break free from the chest. He feels the shields tied off because the Aes Sedai holding him have to go take part in the battle. With Lews Therin's help, Rand is able to exploit that, pushing through the ties, like untying a shoe, and weakens the barrier enough to break through and burst out of the chest in an explosion of wood and splinters. Very dramatic and cinematic, I love it. He also might have accidentally stilled and killed some of the Aes Sedai holding him.
​
Rand finds Min and Min wants him to create a portal and get the fuck out of there, but Rand doesn't want to abandon the people who came to save him. Plus he can't because he doesn't know the place well enough. Presumably he could use the other method, the one where you have to know the place you're going, but you don't have to know the place you're at and then you have to sit in blackness for hours. But he doesn't use that. Instead, he starts knocking out Aes Sedai and shielding them from behind cover. The Aes Sedai don't know who's doing it, because they can't feel Saidin like Rand can feel both sources.
​
Gawyn rides up briefly but leaves because Elayne loves Rand and Egwene doesn't want anything bad to happen to him. Plus Gawyn couldn't kill Rand if he tried. Instead, he simply runs out of the battle with the few remaining Younglings that are still alive.
​
Mazrim Taim appears and offers to heal Rand, but he doesn't accept it. Rand doesn't want anything to do with anyone wielding the Power at all anymore except himself. Understandably so. There's an Asha'man who tries to attack Rand and Taim stops him. AGAIN, this seems to be a consistent problem: the Asha'man not knowing who Rand is. I can very easily see this being a long running problem throughout the books, actually, to the point of a big political crisis or something. Rand is not around them often enough for them to know who he is. They don't recognize him.
​
Taim and the Asha'man secure the campsite with a dome of air. They manage to secure the Aes Sedai as well, shielding them and binding them. That, in itself, is fucking wild. The Black Tower is holding prisoners from the White Tower. That has huge political implications. The White Tower is not as powerful as it once was and is being brought low by MEN who can channel for the first time in a long time.
​
Perrin begs Rand to open the dome of air because most of their force is still out there fighting the Shaido. Taim doesn't want to open the dome, he'd rather learn the place well enough to escape. Loial's idea to slip out and let the rest of the force know that Rand is alright reminds me of the tactics Perrin used in the fourth book when Loial slipped out and closed the Waygate during the battles in the Two Rivers. Instead, Rand just orders Taim to open the dome of air and unleashes the full might of the Asha'man in what can only be described as absolutely fucking insane and horrifying.
​
"Asha'man, KILL!" shouts Taim and the line of Asha'man start doing just that. Shaido bodies literally just explode. Lines of bodies just explode in guts and gore. The first line, then the second, everyone dies in an instant and the Shaido can't escape fast enough. It's absolutely horrifying. Everyone retches, understandably. The Asha'man are so insanely powerful that they can decimate an entire army. They are very much the superior fighting force. Not only did they make an entire army explode into mists of blood and guts and gore, they have captured and are holding prisoner Aes Sedai from the Tower. Again, this all has massive political implications. With an army of Black Tower Asha'man behind Rand, it's going to be damn near impossible NOT to conquer the rest of the world.
​
The Salidar Aes Sedai come to Rand and, he is understandably spooked by Aes Sedai. He doesn't recognize any difference anymore between Tar Valon and Salidar. They are all Aes Sedai to him and absolutely all not to be trusted. Especially when the Salidar Aes Sedai were told they could bring six and they brought nine, breaking the little trust Rand had left for them. He's been distrusting Moiraine this whole time, he distrusts anyone who can channel including Wise Ones, and then he was understandably spooked by Alanna forcibly making him a Warder. Then the Salidar Aes Sedai tried to intimidate him, there were suddenly thirteen and he left, only to be kidnapped by the Tower Aes Sedai. He's been fucked around with by Aes Sedai for the last time. He demands fealty so that he can finally feel safe around Aes Sedai. He demands that they bow to him and Taim backs him up. "Kneel to the Lord Dragon, or you will be knelt."
​
"As stories do, the tale spread, across Cairhien and north and south, by merchant train and peddler and simple traveler gossiping at an inn. As stories do, the tale changed with every telling. The Aiel had turned on the Dragon Reborn and killed him, at Dumai's Wells or elsewhere. No, the Aes Sedai had saved Rand al'Thor. It was Aes Sedai who had killed him- no, gentled him- no, carried him to Tar Valon where he languished in a dungeon behind the White Tower. Or else where the Amyrlin Seat herself knelt to him. Unusually for stories, it was something very close to truth that was most often believed.
​
On a day of fire and blood, a tattered banner waved above Dumai's Wells, bearing the ancient symbol of Aes Sedai.
​
On a day of fire and blood and the One Power, as prophecy suggested, the unstained tower, broken, bent knee to the forgotten sign.
​
The first nine Aes Sedai swore fealty to the Dragon Reborn and the world was changed forever."
​
The politics of the world are forever changed. The Aes Sedai, who never kneel to anyone, EVER, at least nine of them, have been forced to kneel to the Dragon Reborn. What will happen in the series going forward now that that has happened, that the Aes Sedai have been humbled so? Time will tell I'm sure. And with that, the story comes to a close in what I can only describe as an epic and exciting and fantastic ending. What a great ending to one of the best books in the series so far. This series really does get better with each book, that is for sure. I'm so glad I wasn't completely turned off by Eye of the World and kept reading. There will be one more post for the final thoughts for the book as a whole, so look out for that!
​
Only we do have a brief Epilogue to consider with some disparate scenes. Falion, a Black Ajah Aes Sedai from the last book, had been given a secret task by Moghedien and we find out that it is to go to Ebou Dar to find a cache of angreal. Only, Moghedien hasn't talked to her in awhile on account of being captured so Falion is enjoying her time without being harassed by a Chosen. If she can capture Nynaeve and Elayen, though, Moghedien might be very grateful.
​
The scholar who hardly ever noticed that Rand was there, Herid Fel, gets killed by something called a gholam, something we've never seen before.
​
We see a rider leaving Ebou Dar saying something about it being ripe for looting. And he thinks that the Return is coming soon. Which, I have to assume, means the Seanchan. Again, it's that Seanchan activity that we saw in Pedron Nial's chapters. The Seanchan have taken over Tanchico, I'm almost certain of it, and are going to start spreading across the continent, possibly in the next book, but at some point in the future.
​
Moghedien gets rescued by Aran'gar, the resurrected Forsaken that had been hiding out in Salidar. Aran'gar is using saidin to channel as Moghedien never felt saidar being channeled. Which confirms my suspicions, that Aran'gar is one of the male Forsaken that died being resurrected. That had to have been the case, because none of the female Forsaken died before this book. So Moghedien finally escapes after having spent the whole book as a prisoner.
​
Egwene felt the necklace come off. Somehow she's able to know that a man did it, something about a particular stab of pain. I'm not sure why she's able to recognize that. She has already let Logain go free and so naturally wonders whether Logain let Moghedien free as well, though it's doubtful he would do that.
​
And finally, we see Demandred in the pit of doom, where this whole story started, kneeling to his Dark Lord.
​
"'Have I not done well, Great Lord?'
​
The Great Lord's laughter filled Demandred's head."

I’m talking witnesses or someone who helps with a case from a short scene, not a main victim or main perp or cops etc.. ?
My two favorites are the Asian massage worker in S3 EP8 Inheritance as she describes the prior attack by the main perp. They way she starts taking off her headdress and makeup and earrings as she tells the story.. makes such a memorable performance!
Also Anthony Chisholm as the prisoner in Execution S3 EP15. When he tells the father he doesn’t need his voice telling him about his sons last moments in his head.. damn! Also he was so great in Oz!
This is why I love law and order!

IGS_rep_page
Steamtrade
I have...
NEWLY ADDED: Control Ultimate Edition Syberia: The World Before Praey for the Gods Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Sable Dreamscaper Call of the Sea Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order (Steam) Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered (Steam)
0-9 911 Operator 112 Operator
A Armello Agent in Depth Alchemist's Castle Amnesia: The Dark Descent + Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
B Backbone
C Control Ultimate Edition Call of the Sea Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 ConflictCraft 2 Calico Cosmic Express
D Dreamscaper Deadlight DreadOut Detached: Non-VR Edition Doughlings Arcade Doughlings Invasion
F Frick, Inc. Fix my hand doc
G Guilty Gear X2 #Reload Guns & Fishes
H Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Hyper Gunsport Hack 'n' Slash
I Izmir: An Independence Simulator
L Let's Park Backyard Edition Liberated (GOG)
M Monaco Meow Express MirrorMoon EP
N Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered (Steam) Non-Stop Raiders
O Orbital Racer
P Praey for the Gods PAYDAY 2 Pilgrims Planet TD Pill Baby Pixross
Q Quadrata
R Rym 9000 Remnants of Naezith
S Sable Syberia: The World Before Supraland Strange Brigade Stick Fight System Shock Enhanced Edition System Shock 2 Space Crew: Legendary Edition Soulblight Symmetry Stacking Soul Searching Sunlight Stikir Soulflow Stunts contest super bike
T Ticket to Ride The pizza courier The Inner World The Amazing American Circus
W Worms Rumble Wanderlust: Travel Stories (GOG)
X XCOM 2 X-Morph: Defense Complete Pack
Z Zombie Driver HD

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 88%. (I'm a bot)

The Biden administration condemned the detention of a Wall Street Journal reporter in Russia for what Moscow described as espionage, the first such case of an American journalist detained for allegations of spying since the Cold War.
President Biden was briefed on the detention of Mr. Gershkovich, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
"The Wall Street Journal vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich," the Journal said.
The White House and the Kremlin remain entangled over Russia's detention since 2018 of former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan on espionage charges.
Mr. Gershkovich is the first U.S. journalist detained on espionage charges in Russia that the Committee to Protect Journalists has documented since the 1986 detention of Nicholas Daniloff.
"CPJ is deeply concerned by the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. This is the latest in a long line of attempts by Russia to use national security laws to silence reporting. We urge his immediate release," said CPJ President Jodie Ginsberg.

Summary Source FAQ Feedback Top keywords: Gershkovich^#1 Russia^#2 reporter^#3 Russian^#4 journalist^#5
Post found in /UkrainianConflict and /worldnews.
NOTICE: This thread is for discussing the submission topic. Please do not discuss the concept of the autotldr bot here.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-30-2023
The New York grand jury investigating Trump’s 2016 hush-money payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels has voted to indict the former president. While we don’t know the full range of charges, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s office confirmed that they were forthcoming tonight when it released a statement saying, “This evening we contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.’s office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal.”
This is the first time in history a former United States president has been indicted, although it is worth remembering that it is not new for our justice system to hold elected officials accountable. Mayors have been indicted and convicted. So have governors: in fact, four of the past ten Illinois governors have gone to prison. Vice presidents, too, have been charged with crimes: Aaron Burr was indicted on two counts of murder in 1804 while still in office and was tried for treason afterward. And in 1973, Richard Nixon’s vice president Spiro Agnew resigned after pleading no contest to tax evasion to avoid prison time.
That Trump’s indictment is happening in New York has likely made it harder for Trump to drum up the mobs he has been inciting to defend him. New York City notoriously dislikes the former real estate man. Voters of Tomorrow official Victor Shi was at the Manhattan district attorney’s office this evening and found no one protesting. When people did show up, he tweeted, they were not Trump supporters. They were women carrying signs that said, “‘Trump is guilty’ and ‘The Time Is Now,’” he wrote. “People in the background are chanting, ‘Way to go, ladies!’ NYC is rejoicing.”
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, to whom Trump people feel comfortable talking, said that the Trump camp at Mar-a-Lago is “in…shock” at the news. They thought yesterday’s announcement that the grand jury will go on a break in early April indicated that nothing would happen before the jury reconvened. As Haberman points out, Trump has been afraid of indictments for many years, and while some speculate this indictment might help his political profile (I disagree with that, by the way), he is unhappy to see it finally arrive. He did, though, immediately start fundraising off it.
Trump also released quite a long, antisemitic statement blaming “Radical Left Democrats” for a “Witch-Hunt” and saying this is “blatant Election interference.” House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) also quickly reinforced Trump's argument, saying that Bragg had “irreparably damaged our country in an attempt to interfere in our Presidential election,” and a number of other Republican officials reinforced that sentiment.
That is quite a position to take. The vote to indict came not from Bragg himself, but from a grand jury made up of ordinary Americans, and none of us knows what’s in the indictment, so one can hardly object to it in good faith.
CNN reporter Melanie Zanona reports that Trump has been working the phones tonight, reaching out to Republican allies to shore up support. Some of them, of course, are trying to discredit Bragg’s work by investigating him. Trump is at his company’s property in Florida, Mar-a-Lago. Florida governor Ron DeSantis echoed Trump’s antisemitism and accusations, tweeting that Florida would “not assist in an extradition request.” But Article IV, Section 2, of the United States Constitution says, “A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.”
So either DeSantis is planning to violate the Constitution, or he recognizes that Trump will probably return to New York voluntarily, or—and this is the most likely—he is posturing to pick up Trump voters while secretly rejoicing that this will likely make it harder for Trump to win the Republican presidential nomination. While all eyes were on Trump this evening, paperwork was filed in the Florida Senate to begin the process of revising election laws, possibly so that DeSantis can run for president without resigning as governor, as under current Florida law he must.
But there was something striking about Trump’s statement. In blaming the “Radical Left Democrats” for their “Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement,” he wrote, “You remember it just like I do: Russia, Russia, Russia; the Mueller Hoax; Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine; Impeachment Hoax 1; Impeachment Hoax 2; the illegal and unconstitutional Mar-a-Lago raid; and now this.”
It's not a list to be proud of, but that wording—“you remember it just like I do”—jumped out. Trump always goes back to what he calls the Russia hoax, his second attempt to rewrite the way people thought about his presidency (the first was the size of the crowd at his inauguration).
From the very start of his presidency, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation caught Trump's then–national security advisor Michael Flynn lying about his contact with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, more and more information has come out tying the Trump campaign to Russian operatives. As it did, Trump insisted that his followers must believe that all that information was a lie. If they believed his lies rather than the truth over the Russia scandal, they would trust him rather than believe the truth about everything.
The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has given a new frame to Russia’s attempts to interfere in the 2016 election. A piece by Jim Rutenberg in the New York Times Magazine in November 2022 pulled together testimony given both to the Mueller investigation and the Republican-dominated Senate Intelligence Committee, transcripts from the impeachment hearings, and recent memoirs. Rutenberg showed that in 2016, Russian operatives had presented to Trump advisor and later campaign manager Paul Manafort a plan “for the creation of an autonomous republic in Ukraine’s east, giving Putin effective control of the country’s industrial heartland, where Kremlin-armed, -funded, and -directed “separatists” were waging a two-year-old shadow war that had left nearly 10,000 dead.”
In exchange for weakening the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), undermining the U.S. stance in favor of Ukraine in its attempt to throw off the Russians who had invaded in 2014, and removing U.S. sanctions from Russian entities, Russian operatives were willing to put their finger on the scale to help Trump win the White House.
Rutenberg notes that Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine looks a lot like a way to achieve the plan it suggested in 2016 but, thanks to a different president in the U.S., that invasion did not yield the results Russian president Vladimir Putin expected. The Russian economy is crumbling, and Tuesday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Russia's Wagner group of mercenaries is "suffering an enormous amount of casualties in the Bakhmut area.” He called it a “slaughter-fest" for the Russians. Today, Putin issued an order to conscript another 147,000 soldiers by July 15.
Pressure on Putin continues to mount. The International Criminal Court’s March 17 arrest warrant against him and his children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, for war crimes apparently caught Russian leadership by surprise. It isolates Russia and worries other Russian lawmakers that they will be charged as well, weakening their support for Putin. “Now proximity to the president isn’t just talk,” one political strategist said, “it’s a real step towards being prosecuted by international law enforcement.”
And President of the European Commission (which is the executive of the European Union) Ursula von der Leyen today warned that as the European Union rethinks its trade policies, China could find itself isolated as well if it continues to support Russia. “How China continues to interact with Putin’s war will be a determining factor for EU-China relations going forward,” she said.
Meanwhile, Turkey today dropped its opposition to Finland’s membership in NATO, a membership Finland has pursued in the wake of Russia’s recent aggression. Finland shares an 830-mile border with Russia, and now it will be part of NATO.
Under such pressure, Russia today took the extraordinary step of detaining American journalist Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, accusing him of spying. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed deep concern and urged U.S. citizens living or traveling in Russia to “leave immediately.”
Yesterday, another study of the Russian invasion of Ukraine invited us to look backward as well as forward. Britain’s Royal United Services Institute, a government-affiliated think tank, released a report on Russia’s “covert and clandestine operations, psychological operations, subversion, sabotage, special operations and intelligence and counterintelligence activities” designed to destabilize Ukraine and take it over. The report’s focus was on the current war in Ukraine, but as Josh Kovensky of Talking Points Memo notes, it establishes that some of the same people behind the destabilization of Ukrainian politics were part of Trump’s world. Notably, Russian operative Andrii Derkach not only worked to grab Ukraine for Russia, but also escorted Trump ally Rudy Giuliani around Ukraine in 2019 to dig up dirt on Biden.
In the end, as legal dominoes begin to fall, it might be that Americans do not, in fact, remember the history of his presidency from “Russia, Russia, Russia” forward the same way Trump does.
—
Notes:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/03/30/trump-ny-indictment/
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/03/30/nyregion/trump-indictment-news
https://www.kcra.com/article/what-are-grand-jury-indictments/43380155#
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/02/magazine/russiagate-paul-manafort-ukraine-war.html
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/03/30/trump-indictment-manhattan-grand-jury-haberman-reaction-vpx.cnn
https://www.cnn.com/lo europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-03-30-23/h_7232bfde62d50e029e99d2a389bf8e46
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-30/putin-orders-to-draft-147-000-conscripts-by-july-15-kremlin
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/4-of-illinois-past-10-governors-went-to-prison/
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/trump-falls-under-the-shadow-of-spiro-agnew
https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/7050/?Tab=BillText
https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/03/23/like-a-slap-in-the-face
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/31/turkey-formally-approves-finlands-nato-membership.html
https://www.politico.eu/article/eus-ursula-von-der-leyen-xi-jinping-calls-for pop-tougher-policy-on-china-ahead-of-beijing-visit/
https://static.rusi.org/202303-SR-Unconventional-Operations-Russo-Ukrainian-War-web-final.pdf.pdf
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/prime/the-same-russian-agents-who-meddled-in-us-politics-set-the-stage-for-ukraine-invasion
https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-economy-is-starting-to-come-undone-431a2878
https://www.state.gov/russias-arrest-of-a-u-s-citizen/
Too much breaking news on Twitter; I’ve gone over my space limit. So, on Twitter:
SecBlinken/status/1641479253874159635
MZanona/status/1641636032939433985
JoyceWhiteVance/status/1641278615122767875
Victorshi2020/status/1641567835448016896
GovRonDeSantis/status/1641575007552778243
ManhattanDA/status/1641579988360019968
meridithmcgraw/status/1641576453333499906
FLVoiceNews/status/1641597435725094912

Tl;dr: Shadows of the Past, while a fun idea, is a scam and a terrible precedent due to low drop rates for rares and mythics.
​
Shadows of the Past is the collective name for the original Innistrad cards included in Shadows over Innistrad Remastered packs. These “bonus sheets” as they are often referred to in paper usually replace a common in a pack at a set rate.
​
Shadows of the Past is the third bonus sheet released thus far in Arena, with the Mystical Archive being released alongside Strixhaven and the Retro Artifacts being released alongside Brothers War. There are currently plans to release a fourth bonus sheet in March of the Machines, and though we are not yet sure if these will all be implemented into Arena we know that at least most of them will be.
​
However, Shadows of the Past has multiple problems with it that makes collecting the cards very difficult without spending your precious wild cards:
​

1. It is the first Bonus Sheet that is not part of a standard set, as the Kaladesh inventions were skipped in Kaladesh Remastered. This means that the set is only draftable for one month compared to the usual 3 + standard rotation for two years in Quick Draft (indeed, SIR will likely never be quick-draftable).
2. Unlike standard sets, there are no mastery passes for Remastered sets, and players will very rarely ever receive free SIR packs without purchasing them or drafting.
3. Non-standard sets have no golden packs or equivalent (though you do get golden packs by purchasing SIR packs).
4. Bonus sheet mythics are not available in the mythic slot opened in a Mythic pack.
5. Worst of all, hidden deep within the MTGA drop rate article, drop rates for Rare/Mythics in Shadows of the Past slots are abysmally low at 1/15 for Rares and 1/30 for Mythics. This is low compared to past standard sets AND bonus sheets:

​

Set	# of Rares	Rare Rate	# of Mythics	Mythic Rate	Packs for Rare Complete	Packs for Mythic Complete
Mystical Archives (Historic Legal)	96	4 out of 15*	44	1 out of 15	360	660
Mystical Archives (All)	120	4 out of 15*	60	1 out of 15	450	900
Retro Artifacts	120	5 out of 15 (1/3)	60	1 out of 15	360	900
Shadows of the Past	48	1 out of 15	48	1 out of 30	720	1440
Shadows over Innistrad Remastered	264	49 out of 60**	92	7 out of 60**	323	789
"Normal" Standard Set	240	49 out of 60**	80	7 out of 60**	294	686

*Estimated, based on published paper drop rates and 17lands limited data
**1/30 mythic WC, 1/30 rare WC. Mythic drop rates vary by set but is usually between 1/7 and 1/8 for standard sets.
​
That’s right, if you were rare and mythic complete in SIR by opening just packs, you would need to open 650 more packs – almost double! - to complete the Shadows of the Past bonus sheet.
​
To top it all off, for those who aim for set completion through drafts, 9 of the 12 mythics are available in drafts only for a single week. Luckily these are at a slightly boosted rate of 1/15 in limited packs – you’d still have to open 540 limited packs across 180 drafts if everyone at the table picks them on sight. In one week.
​
With everything put together, the Mythic Shadows of the Past cards (and to a lesser extent, the rares) are literally the rarest non-promo cards on Magic Arena, in a remastered set that is otherwise pretty weak on a PioneeHistoric power level, arguably only an average set to draft, and one that is available for an extremely limited time.
​
Why is this such a problem?
​
Well… these cards could have been printed at any rarity or frequency. This is a digital only set. Shadows of the Past rares and mythics had no paper basis to rely on for their drop rates, and could have had limited packs have different drop rates than store packs. In order to sell the set better, WotC could have advertised high drop rates for cool and interesting cards. Instead, they nerfed them to be worse than any other bonus sheet beforehand. For a game that promotes itself as a collectible card game, this is incredibly anti-consumer, and the fact that it’s hidden in a 20+ page drop rate article really just proves that Wizards is being malicious about it.
​
Ever since 2020, with the introduction of Jumpstart, remastered sets, bonus sheets and Alchemy, WotC has continued to push new rares/mythics on players without notably changing the ways that FTP players can receive or win cards. Hell, we are 3 months into 2023, and we have had as many mythics printed this year on Magic Arena (240) than we did in 2018 (236) or 2019 (240) for each entire year. Without a dust/shard system like other digital CCGs, printing such an obscene amount of cards and making them more difficult to obtain at the same time has clearly become part of WotC's strategy to force players into buying wild card bundles or large numbers of packs to stay relevant. Golden packs were a big step in the right direction towards fixing this, but the Shadows of the Past bonus sheet was a huge step in the wrong direction that WotC was probably hoping you wouldn't notice.

The story of the Imperial Republic of Troy (which I'll simply refer to as Troy going forwards) starts in Afghanistan during early December 2018. The last official transmission received from The Pentagon occurred on November 28th, and with no new news arriving most feared the worst. With almost no air assets, no new supply shipments, and the only real news they knew being of a governmental collapse, panic set in.
Stationed in Kabul the 1st Infantry Division, supported by Army Rangers and elements of the 101st Airborne, were now trapped in an increasingly hostile country without any hope of resupply. Fearing the worst, large scale desertions began. Not helping the matter was the untimely suicide of the 1st's commander: Brigadier General Mordecai Rowlitzki.
This led to his most trusted commanding officer, Colonel Alexander Moore, to take over command of the 1st and it's supporting elements. Immediately, he set about organizing a withdrawal from Kabul, with plans to head east through Iran and then north into Europe.
I won't go into too much detail as to the exact battles, as that'll be saved for the lore companion, but they managed to successfully escape Afghanistan. While somewhat encouraged by their brilliant success in escaping Afghanistan and a victory at Mashhad, their darkest hour was only just beginning.
At Tehran, they narrowly avoided a trap thanks to a last second withdrawal from the city. Iranian forces detonated a crude nuclear device within the city, in the process losing most of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard in the process. While casualties were mercifully only light, it greatly demoralized the remaining forces and blocked their initial path through the Middle East.
Before shifting their forces south hoping in order to move through the various central mountain passes, they took a week long break to recover from Tehran. Then, upon moving through Isfahan, they found large refugee caravans moving towards them. Initially suspecting it to be a hostile force, many of Moore's men fired upon them, before being ordered to stop upon realizing that they were mostly unarmed.
As it turned out, they were fleeing from an Indian invasion that had landed near The Strait of Hormuz. Moore ordered that they be given a clear passage, before attempting to make contact with the Indian forces.
Upon making contact, he found that they were survivors fleeing from the minor nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan. In particular, they were being led primarily by members of the wealthy Zoroastrian minority; in an attempt to reclaim their ancestral homeland. He agreed to ally with them, if only until they could make their way into Kuwait.
Of course, they claimed that they were only doing what's justified in order to reclaim their homeland. In reality, if the testimonies of the refugees were to be believed, they were on a path of genocide. Mosques were burned, religious figures executed, and the only Muslims spared being those that incorporated older Zoroastrian beliefs into their worldview.
But, the alliance was necessary, and he made sure that his scouts were sent first, so as to warn anyone who'd listen about what was about to come. The alliance ended upon the crossing of the Zagros mountains into Kuwait.
It was nearly summer by the time they reached Kuwait, and so they decided to stay there for the duration of the summer. Reconnaissance was sent out to Iraq, Syria, Arabia and Dubai in an attempt to try and find any remnants of US forces still present in the Middle East. Attempts to contact said forces by radio failed due to heavy sandstorms.
That's where I'll leave part 1 of The History of The North American Federation. Part 2 will either cover the early history of The Lone Star Republic, continue the story of the Trojans/ United Legionnaires of America, or focus on another region of North America that would eventually join the Federation. As always, have a nice day!

For those of us that like to get things done, here is a template I created to use when contacting your state rep. I submitted my request and received a phone call 10 minutes later…
On (Insert Date) I submitted multiple eForm 1’s to remain in compliance with ATF’s unconstitutional, arbitrary and capricious new rule 2021R-08F. In order to remain compliant with the aforementioned rule, I like many others have incurred personal expenses related to the rule (digital fingerprinting $69.00 and passport photos $15.00) in addition to personally uncompensated time spent preparing and submitting each eForm. Given that myself and millions of other law abiding citizens are now required to register our legally owned items, the ATF’s processing time is unacceptable. After speaking with an individual from the NFA division on (Insert Date), I was advised “There is no estimated processing time for eForms submitted as a result of Rule 2021R-08F”. This response is unacceptable from a federal agency that is threatening millions of Americans with criminal procedure if compliance is not met.
I am requesting your assistance in holding the ATF accountable to provide both a clear estimate for processing time for eForms submitted under the new rule in addition to ensuring my eForms are processed in a timely manner. Given that I am required to comply to the unconstitutional rule or be labeled a Felon, the ATF MUST be held accountable for their lack of transparency and dereliction of duty.
For reference, I am including (Insert number of forms) Permit/Control numbers that were submitted on (Insert date) which are currently ‘Pending’:

BACKGROUND:
Son of King of Gods Indra and human woman Kunti, and third among the adopted sons of King Pandu King of Kuru kingdom, Arjuna was born as an avatar of his father Indra and the reincarnation of the great heavenly sage Nara in order to destroy the warriors and demons who filled the earth and burden it, and also to bring glory to the kingdom of Kuru.
At the age of fourteen, after his father's death, he returned with his brothers to their father's kingdom and underwent training under royal mentors such as Drona and Karipa, But rivalry and hatred on the part of their cousins will disturb the serenity of Arjuna's life, as he will be exposed with his brothers to many conspiracies and tricks. The rivalry will finally end between them in the bloody Kurukshetra war.
Despite Arjuna's desperation and his refusal at first to participate in the war because he did not want to kill his relatives, teachers and his people, but his charioteer and friend Krishna succeeded in convincing him to go to war and achieve the purpose for which he was born, achieve dharma and rid the earth of evil. after the end of the war Arjuna came out with hands full of blood of his people after he saw those closest to him killing each other.
Arjuna appears as a lancer carrying his famous father's spear, the Vajra.
PARAMETER:
STRENGTH: B+ ENDURANCE: B
AGILITY: A MANA: B++
LUCK: A NP: A++
CLASS SKILLS:
Magic Resistance : B
Riding: A
Divinity: A
PERSONAL SKILLS :
Great asceticism for Lord Shiva C Rank: In order to obtain his destructive weapon, Arjuna sought to please Shiva and with meditation and austerity lasted for months until he was able to impress Shiva himself. This skill gives him resistance to external influences, temptations, and mental manipulation.
Knowledge of divine martial arts A Rank : Yudhishthira sent his younger brother Arjuna to obtain the weapons of the gods in anticipation of their enduring war against the Karuvas, Arjuna stayed for five years among the gods, learning from them all kinds of martial arts and war, and also learning dance and singing from the heavenly beings, This skill grants the ability to display martial skills at the level of the gods in various weapons and fighting styles, and Arjuna combined his martial knowledge and knowledge of dance to produce his own style of spear fighting.
Narayan-Nara EX Rank : In ancient times, two divine twins were born who performed great austerities and many other heroic deeds that contributed to saving the world and defeating evil, Both Arjuna and Krishna were the second births of these two great deities, reborn for the destruction of evil and the purification of the world. This skill embodies the spiritual relationship between Arjuna and Krishna, twins in their previous lives and close friends in their current lives, It also gives him an edge against demons and enemies who embody evil and chaos.
Mana Burst (Lightning) A+ Rank:
He was seen as an avatar of his father, Indra, the god of lightning and sky, and carried his father's weapon, the Vajra. Arjuna possessed this skill at a high level.
NOPLE PHANTASM :
Sakra's Vajra A+++ Rank:
The favorite weapon of the King of devas, Arjuna got this weapon from his father Indra and learned directly from him how to use it and show his true power, During his life, Arjuna used this weapon against the armies of the demons of the city of Nivatkavachas when he conquered them and killed thousands of them with this weapon.
Brahmashirastra EX Rank:
Arjuna got this weapon from his guru Drona, ironically he wanted to use it against Ashwatthama his guru's son and former classmate, when Ashwatthama attacked the camp of the Pandavas, The Pandavas sought to pursue Ashwatthama and take revenge, but he used the Brahmashirastra against them, and Arjuna responded by using his version of the weapon. Fortunately, the heavenly sages Narada and Vyasa intervened, and asked the warriors to withdraw their weapons before a disaster affects the whole world, Arjuna knew how to retrieve the weapon, but unfortunately Drona did not teach his son Ashwatthama how to retrieve the weapon, so he threw it at Arjuna's daughter-in-law who was pregnant with his grandson, but fortunately Krishna intervened to save them. (Arjuna cherishes this weapon but hates using it, it is a weapon which he got from his beloved guru Drona but it brings back in his memory many tragedies and painful memories).
Pashupata Rank EX :
Arjuna got this weapon from Shiva himself as a reward for his devotion and for passing Shiva's test and as proof of his entitlement to ascend to heaven and train with the gods, But due to the weapon's destructive effect, Arjuna is careful not to use the weapon at all. In fact, as long as there is no danger worth using the weapon against, Arjuna will forget how to summon it.

This is an extremely effective cleanse used to remove all negative energy, hexes, curses, stress, anxiety and feelings of depression from the individual it is cast on! If you have ever felt down without any explanation, suffer from depression, are overly stressed, constantly having bad luck or feel like you may be cursed or hexed with black magic then this cleanse will be your saviour, it is guaranteed to remove all of them and in an extremely short amount of time!
💎What you will receive:
- One strong spiritual cleansing spell ritual that will eliminate any type of harmful curse and dark energy attached to you. You may not be aware, but negative spells are casted on a daily basis by regular human beings for example when someone is envious of you, they will send bad intentions towards your body. Being protected and cleansed is a necessary thing in order to live your best life! - A photo with the ritual after it has been completed
I will perform your spell within the same day after purchase and the first results will start to appear immediately experiencing a subtle shift in your vibration making you feel lucky and confident. The full manifestation will take place after you cultivate our little secret with love and trust, so please expect a certain level of patience. My clients usually experience instant relief upon receiving the confirmation of completion.
WHAT IS REQUIRED FOR THIS CLEANSE To begin this cleanse I will require the full name and date of birth of the person receiving the cleanse!

For some background. malcontends blogspot explains it well

One illustration of the DOJ and Democratic judges' perfidy concerns the State's returning the murder victim's remains to the Halbach family, a law enforcement scheme revealed when Avery sought to conduct DNA testing, and found out the bones had been destroyed without notice to him, in violation of Wisconsin's evidence preservation law.
Flaunting the evidence preservation law, in 2011 Calumet County Sheriff Deputy Jeremy Hawkins, Mark Wiegert,and DoJ Attorneys Thomas Fallon and Norman Gahn secretly sneaked the remains of Ms. Halbach, and illegally transported the bones to the Halbach family.
The State previously suggested to the Appellate Court in its Dec. 2018 filing that Avery and Zellner drop their appeal without the State ever having "admitted or disclosed that it had given the bones back to the Halbach family in 2011 [illegally] without notice to Mr. Avery or his counsel," notes Zellner in her Feb. 2019 legal filing.
In other words, law enforcement hid evidence it claims is the murder victim, destroyed this evidence, hid the destruction, lied about the destruction, then claimed the evidence cannot be determined to be exculpatory because it has been destroyed.
In short, the State acted in bad faith at every turn.
Even the prosecutor-biased Judge Angela W. Sutkiewicz acknowledges in 2020 what Zellner uncovered: Writes Sutkiewicz: "The report of Deputy [Jeremy] Hawkins indicates that he, Sergeant Investigator Mark Wiegert, Attorney Thoman Fallon and Attorney Norman Gahn removed materials stored in evidence, and released them to the Halbach family," (p 2).
The Appellate Court hearing the case in July 2021, however, divined, "The Halbach family requested these bone fragments for purposes of its own—likely for closure ... ."
Yet, even the DOJ's Thoman Fallon and Norman Gahn who implemented the scheme disconfirm this attempt by the Court, contriving a State-Halbach family scheme, to cover for illegal evidence destruction.
Fallon and Gahn argue that the evidence they helped destroy was "inexplicably released" from the Calumet County Sheriff’s Department’s evidence control unit, March 29, 2019 legal filing, (p 13).
Fallon and Gahn, in effect, assert Fallon and Gahn cannot explain why they released and destroyed the evidence, and state nothing about the Court-invented 'family did it' offering by the appellate court.
This 'Halbach family did it' invention appears nothing so much as a public signal to the Halbach family to speak up and get on board with the lie of moment.
Inexplicably released is of course a disingenuous characterization for the illegal destruction of evidence that not only implicates Fallon, Gahn and Wiegert, but also is a clear violation of the Due Process Clause, and is a Brady violation under Wisconsin judicial doctrine.
Lost in all the Court and DOJ lies is the fact an innocent man is litigating for his very life.
https://malcontends.blogspot.com/

There is probably no one in Wisconsin who knows how important it is to preserve evidence than Norm Gahn.

Norman Gahn, who pioneered the use of DNA evidence in criminal prosecutions in Wisconsin, is the first winner of the State Bar of Wisconsin's Lifetime Legal Innovator award
http://archive.jsonline.com/news/crime/prosecutor-gahn-named-legal-innovator-for-pioneering-use-of-dna-b99622834z1-357303711.html

On February 17, 2019, Prosecutor Fallon left a voicemail on Zellner's cell phone, admitting, "Um, yes, uh, many bone fragments were returned to the family."
What. The. Fuck. This isn't some inexperienced asshole. Gahn was one of the top experts in the country on the preservation of DNA evidence and about how it can be used in the future. It sure makes you wonder if Gahn knew exactly why he needed to destroy the evidence.

In 1998 Mr. Gahn was appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice to the National Commission on the Future of DNA evidence. In 1999 the Federal Bureau of Investigation formally recognized him as a pioneer in DNA technology in the courtroom. The National Institute of Justice formally recognized him in 2000 as an innovator in the field of DNA evidence. In 2010 he was selected to serve as an advisory member under the National Science and Technology Council Subcommittee on Forensic Science.

This scumbag even has a Masters in Forensic Science. How the fuck does someone with a Master of Forensic Sciences Degree give away forensic material in an ongoing murder case?

Mr. Gahn is an Assistant District Attorney and has been with the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office since July of 1984. He received his JD from Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee. He has a B.S. in Psychology from St. Louis University and a Master of Forensic Sciences Degree from George Washington University
https://www.convolutedbrian.com/Support/kratz/2009_CCAW_Brochure.pdf

Wisconsin has an evidence preservation law that Norm Gahn wrote. He broke his own law when he gave away the evidence.

968.205 Preservation of certain evidence.
(2) Except as provided in sub. (3), if physical evidence that is in the possession of a law enforcement agency includes any biological material that was collected in connection with a criminal investigation that resulted in a criminal conviction, delinquency adjudication, or commitment under s. 971.17 or 980.06 and the biological material is from a victim of the offense that was the subject of the criminal investigation or may reasonably be used to incriminate or exculpate any person for the offense, the law enforcement agency shall preserve the physical evidence until every person in custody as a result of the conviction, adjudication, or commitment has reached his or her discharge date.
https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/968/205?view=section

This two faced dickhead Norm Gahn knew how important it was to preserve evidence and disclose it. In 2007, Norm Gahn told a court

The very integrity of the judicial system and public confidence in the system depend on full disclosure of all the facts within the framework of the rules of evidence to ensure that justice is done. It is imperative to the function of courts that compulsory process be available for the production of evidence needed by either the prosecution or by the defense. And that's in United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S., 683, 1974 decision. And a few years later, in United States v. Robinson, at 485 U.S. 25, 1988, the Supreme Court stated, The central purpose of a criminal trial is to decide the factual question of the defendant's guilt or innocence. To this end, it is important that both the defendant and the prosecutor have the opportunity to meet, fairly, the evidence and arguments of one another.

Then after he destroyed the bones in the Avery case, he backtracks like Ken Kratz when he tells the court in 2019 that:

As addressed below, the State preserved some bone fragments clearly identified as the remains of Teresa Halbach or that could be identified as being female, human bone. And the State made reasonable efforts to determine the identity, hence importance, of the bone fragments in #8675 when it sent the items to the FBI. The FBI could not test the items. When these items were inexplicably released to the family their origin remained scientifically undetermined. Under these circumstance there is no bad faith.

So what happened to Norm's heartfelt belief that it is important that both the defendant and the prosecutor have the opportunity to meet, fairly, the evidence and arguments of one another? Do as I say but not as I do should be Wisconsin's state motto.
Honestly, there are very few DAs in the entire world who know more about Forensic Science than Norm Gahn, so why does he acts like a dumb fuck in the Avery case? You ever get that feeling that someone is shady as fuck? I get that feeling all the time with every DA in the Avery case: Gahn, Fallon and Kratz. Gahn participated in releasing the bones even though he wrote the preservation law, and knows DNA is ever changing. He was 1,000,000% aware that that Avery's counsel needed to be notified, yet they weren’t. How can this not be bad faith? Tom Fallon (the mastermind because he passed the bar exam) also participated in releasing the bones. Fallon then spent two years telling Zellner he had the pelvic bone when he clearly knew he didn't. More bad faith from the most corrupt DAs office in the United States. Norm Gahn and his conspirators knew EXACTLY what they were doing when they gave away those bones. Fuck these criminals who hide as DAs and Adjunct Professors of Law in Wisconsin diploma privilege law schools (to perpetuate the corruption and scumbaggery). If this dickead doesn't understand the law he wrote, imagine having him explain it to the next generation of Wisconsin diploma privilege morons.

Adjunct Professor of Law Biography
Mr. Gahn holds a B.S. in Psychology from Saint Louis University. He graduated from Marquette University Law School in 1984. Prior to entering law school, he served 10 years in the United States Army as a Military Police Officer and Criminal Investigation Division (CID) Field Office Commander. While in the service and stationed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, he attended George Washington University and received a Master of Forensic Sciences Degree in 1980.
Upon graduation from Marquette Law School, Mr. Gahn spent 31 years with the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office. His primary duty as an Assistant District Attorney (ADA) for Milwaukee County was the prosecution of homicide and sexual assault cases that involved the use of DNA evidence or other forensic science disciplines. From 2001 to his retirement in 2015, Mr. Gahn filled a DOJ funded position as the statewide DNA prosecutor with duties and responsibilities to assist prosecutors and law enforcement throughout Wisconsin with DNA related matters, as well general forensic science issues.
In 1998 Mr. Gahn was appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice to the National Commission on the Future of DNA evidence. In 1999 the Federal Bureau of Investigation formally recognized him as a pioneer in DNA technology in the courtroom. The National Institute of Justice formally recognized him in 2000 as an innovator in the field of DNA evidence. In 2010 he was selected to serve as an advisory member under the National Science and Technology Council Subcommittee on Forensic Science. On April 21, 2015, at a ceremony in Washington D.C., Mr. Gahn received the Allied Professional Award from Attorney General Eric Holder for his work with DNA evidence on behalf of victims of crime. In 2015 the State Bar of Wisconsin selected him to receive the Lifetime Legal Innovator Award for his work as an Assistant District Attorney in Milwaukee County. He has received numerous other awards and recognitions during his career as a prosecutor for Milwaukee County.
Mr. Gahn has lectured extensively around the country on the use of DNA evidence and the forensic sciences during his years as an ADA. He has taught prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and sexual assault nurse examiners about DNA evidence and DNA technology and forensic science. He has taught DNA evidence for Wisconsin trial court and appellate judges.
Mr. Gahn is currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at Marquette University Law School teaching Forensic Science and the Law.

A little about me:
I live in South Florida. I have 10 years in the military with an secret clearance (3 1/2 Active and the rest reserve) so far. My active service was as a Tactical Data Systems Specialist and am currently a plumber in the reserve (only took it for the big enlistment bonus attached, I do not care for plumbing).
My civilian career is in law enforcement for over 5 years now. I hold an associates in Criminal Justice and numerous advanced law enforcement classes such as Crisis Intervention, DUI, and Radar. I hold two life saver awards and multiple investigation accommodation letters. I am also 90% VA disabled.
I am getting both burnt out from the military reservist life and road patrol life.
I just bought my first house before the burn out was being felt, and I truly just don't believe my heart is in either anymore. The amount of family time and downtime missed isn't worth it to me anymore.
But with the looming economic uncertainty, a standing military and law & order will always be in demand regardless of the state of the economy.
I don't exactly know any transitional skill sets with my background. I would love to transition, but with a mortgage, bills, a child and the state of the economy I'm not sure I could leave. What would you do in my shoes?

There are a lot of messenger apps out there for smartphones, all touting end-to-end encryption and privacy and blah blah blah...
Predictably, their claims are all bullshit. Facebook Messenger, and the popular WhatsApp that they acquired, might claim to have end-to-end encryption, but I'll eat my shoes if they don't have a copy of your encryption keys and decrypt and analyze all of your messages first. Especially being a US-based company, they definitely have secret orders to do this and not tell anyone.
ANY US-based messenger is off the table because of that, actually. If the company is based in the US (or any other of the major western surveillance states, or China or Russia), then it's a very good bet that they've been backdoored.
Telegram is a contender for secure messaging, but on principal I avoid it because they have they are closed-source and built their own encryption that we cannot audit. So it is inherently untrustworthy.
Signal doesn't have all the features of other messenger apps, if that's what you care about. But if you care about not being snooped on, it is the ONLY option.
It is free and open-source, allowing anyone to audit it or compile their own build. It is end-to-end encrypted for text, voice, and video chats. It supports self-destructing messages. It supports files up to 100 MB. It has both mobile and also desktop apps. It automatically strips metadata from photos sent through it. It keeps its messages in an encrypted data store, which cannot be read by other apps. It supports application locking via pin/password/biometrics.
The EFF has given Signal a perfect score in its secure messaging scorecard. It has been endorsed by Edward Snowden.
Most people here are probably using Gmail. Or iCloud, Yahoo, and I even some people that are still using Hotmail of all things.
I will admit, I still use Gmail. I want very badly to stop, but well, the cost of privacy is always convenience, and Google Calendar is simply too useful.
BUT, I do pay for a ProtonMail account (they do have a free option, btw). Yes, shocker, actually paying for email probably seems extremely strange. There are times I use Gmail (my 'public' email address), and there are times I use ProtonMail (for communication with friends and family).
This is the ONLY email service that is end-to-end encrypted and ISN'T saving copies of your encryption keys or analyzing the contents of your messages.
Say what you want about the Swiss - I'm not a fan of their culture of "neutrality", and doing business with "the bad guys" (aka, Germany back in the day, and Russia today). I think it's greedy and supports evil shit just so they can make a buck, and if you can't stand up to evil then you need to look in the mirror.
BUT. They do make a pretty great country for being the home of Signal, with good privacy laws and being great about information freedom and not bending over to let the Five Eyes+ enter them.
I don't want to make this post too long - I think you already get the point, and there are plenty of reading material out there if you want to do more research.
TLDR: If you need a secure messaging app, use Signal. And if you need secure email, use ProtonMail.

Dino lost his internet for the third time !
He then embark on a quest to bring it back and went through some of the big guys fighting. However he doesn't mind their business.
Be like Dino.
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Little bit of a long story:
I am converting a King Canada KC20VS bench mill to CNC.
As part of this conversion, one pulls off the table saddle and machines some clearance pockets into it, to clear the ballscrew that is being installed on the X axis.
Well I managed to machine those pockets on the wrong side of the saddle, and the pockets are deep enough that if I just flip it over and machine them again, pocket will hit pocket and the saddle will be Swiss cheese.
I ordered a replacement saddle from King, but it is backordered until June.
Well, these machines are all made in the same factory and rebranded according to the importer. A saddle from a Grizzly G0704 should work, and Grizzly had it in stock. So I ordered it.
Saddle shows up, and it is essentially identical to the King. It fits.
The problem is the gib strips.
These are flat chunks of cast iron, tapered in thickness, that fit between one dovetail and the saddle, and between one saddle dovetail and the table. They are held in place at each end by adjustment screws, and by tightening the screw on the fat end and loosening the screw on the thin end the slop in the dovetails can be taken out.
Roger so far?
The issue is that the gap between the King saddle and the King base is a little (on the ordfer of 0.007") wider than the gap between the King base and the Grizzly saddle. This means the gib slides in about 2/3 of the way in before jamming.
OK, so maybe the Grizzly jibs are a little thinner? I ordered new gibs from Grizzly, and they are actually thicker. They are also quite a bit longer (more than double) because apparently at the factory they hand-tune the gib thickness then cut the gibs to length such that they are centred on the adjustment screw range.
So, what I need to do is thin down these gib strips (by roughly 0.020") while keeping the same taper. And if I specify the thickness at the thin end undersize by a couple of thou, and if the taper stays the same, the gib should slide in and jam with a little bit sticking out the thin side and a lot sticking out the thick side. I can then mark these spots and cut off the excess and Bob's my uncle.
If I had my own surface grinder, I'd put the strip on the magnet, then shim up the thin end until an indicator swept across the surface to be ground read flat. That means I have the taper established, and now I can grind down the back of the gib to thickness.
Or maybe slightly less blacksmithy, support the strip with a sine bar to get it flat, then grind.
Or maybe I specify a thickness at 0.5" in from the thin end, specify another thickness at the length of the dovetail down from that point (both measured directly off the base) to set the taper explicitly.
If you were going to take this job, how would you want it specified?
Would you take it on?
Thanks!

Right now the world lives in a way that people want to silence opposing ideas on public forums we have dubbed “social media.” Although you were born in the Eretz, you are, because of me, also an American. It's odd that America, a place founded on ideas so radical that they were considered criminal by monarchies of the day, is now almost criminalizing ideas itself within its citizenship. As it's said, my race is human, my birthplace is Earth, my political affiliation is freedom, and my religion is love. I finally chose not to vote in the last presidential election here because I didn't think either choice was genuinely good for the world. I'm sick of voting for the lesser of two evils. People are still savagely abusing one another here over that election. It reminds me of what I read about Jamaica in the 70s, where wealthy men presided over impoverished mobs willing to kill one another in their politician's name, the names of men who had only disdain written on their faces and in their actions for most of their constituency. We are at time that this madness infects our country too. By canceling people for their opinions or thoughts, even if some of them seem foolish or dark, we put them in a kind of prison. I'll explain. In the Torah, there is no punishment like prison. The vast majority of punishments are financial, a handful are lashes, and a there are some capital punishments that in the enacting correspond to the four elements of wind, water, fire, and earth. The reason, it is believed, is that in prison a person can't make the things they did right through a repentance through proper action. Teshuva, or repentance in English, has amazing healing properties. Locking a person up without helping them learn from their mistakes and giving them tools for a better life is destroying their life. If someone steals $10,000 from someone, the penalty would be $20,000, that's returning the $10,000 they stole and they knowing what it's like to lose $10,000 of their own money. Simple. Measure for measure. If that thief cannot pay it back, say they spent it all and had nothing, they would be forced into servitude to the person they owed it to. This is about as close to prison as the Torah gets. The idea behind this was that the person who had no money and had to steal would live with someone who theoretically lived a successful life and a has strong family household and from this learn how a good life should be led. If the person who was robbed only had one pillow, they must give it to the servant. The servant was not there to be treated ill and worked like a dog by the person they owed money to, but rather to be rehabilitated and shown a better way to live while paying off their debt. The experience is about repenting through our actions and growth of the soul. This is much healthier than locking someone into a prison where they can't really make things right. Cancel culture perhaps reflects the industrial prison complex of this beautiful country that has been going astray. Just like offenders of the law are locked away without a chance for genuine reconciliation and change, so too are thinkers who in some aspect have an idea that is different from their own. Cancel culture, instead of helping them see a different view, patiently allowing healing of that person's thoughts, angrily cast out those people and effectively imprison them in the solitude of their own dark thoughts. Offenders don't need solitude and confinement, they need to be embraced and shown a better way to live, to be given a chance to find their way and make things right. That is the way of the Torah and I believe it is the way of love as well, whether we deal with those who offend the law or those who offend our minds, love is always the best way, however hard it may seem at times.
For the Good deed of the week, go tell a person this week that you had a disagreement with in the past this, and mean it, “I might not agree with you on some things, but I still have love for you. Save the Humans.” If you have had disagreements with other people, for extra credit, say it to a different person you had a disagreement with in the past each day of the week.

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(WHITELIST APPLICATION TAKES LESS THAN 3 MINUTES)
**SEASON 9 - OPEN FOR ONE MONTH SO FAR.
**
ABOUT US
TotallyNotSuspicious is an established SMP community created in 2018 centered around semi-vanilla gameplay. Our main priority is fostering interaction and creativity within the community. We build together on the server, host Discord game nights, chat, and more. We have server members from around the globe; we maintain open arms for anyone wishing to join an active and friendly community.
Find out more about us below!
FEATURES
We have datapacks that maintain the vanilla feel of the game. Most of the datapacks utilized are used by Hermitcraft. On the other hand, our custom datapacks are intended to enhance and protect the multiplayer experience.

• Guilds (NOT FACTIONS, just a way for friends to group together and work on community projects and live together!)
  
• Non-plugin functioning economy Custom made minigames, inbetween season events, and mini-seasons!
  
• Custom Staff & Player Events
  
• Server Performance Optimization
  
• Version: 1.19.3
  

Previous Season Images: [https://imgur.com/gallery/0PEiH5n
](https://imgur.com/gallery/0PEiH5n)
NOTE: Staff are not permitted creative mode or any command that can provide them with an advantage while playing survival. Staff are restricted and remain on the same level of any other player.
COMMUNICATION
Our community uses Discord for communication. Announcements and information are sent out regarding server events & changes. Joining the Discord is required in order to be whitelisted on the server. Applying is simple and easy. The application process is completed within the Discord Server.

• Do not steal. Taking anything of anyone else’s without their consent is considered stealing; has zero tolerance.
  
• Do not grief in any way. Ruining any sort of building without the other player’s consent is considered griefing.
  
• Do not hack or duplicate items in any way. Any sort of hacking client, hacking texture packs, and duplication methods are considered a violation.
  
• Do not advertise other servers, other Discord Servers, or post invites.