It is the first part of my AU clan story, a loose collection of events written more in the style of a documentary than a novel, highlighting only the most important moments and quotes. Tell me what you think, I'll post more parts and allegiances soon. Here it is:
As the first glimpses of the moonlight appeared in the black sky, illuminating the travelling cats, the danger was already in the air. For some time now, the Lake Territories were being invaded by an unknown group of cats. They always appeared in number, were uninterested in talks, and ready to kill if challenged. Attempts to reconquer the land were always met by decisive action and foiled by the much more numerous enemy.
The hope of the ThunderClan leader, Brackenstar, was that the issue would be resolved at the upcoming Gathering, but events moved faster than he expected. Yesterday, after another of his clanmates was killed, he was forced to prohibit his cats from hunting north of the camp and change the route of patrols, effectively abandoning over half of his territory to the rogues.
And yet, there he was, marching towards the island. His whole clan was with him - he wouldn't dare to leave a weakened camp with cats inside. When they arrived on the island, all the remaining clans were already present. The atmosphere was tense, no one was speaking or exchanging news, only watching the approaching ThunderClan warriors.
As the Gathering begun, the first topic was that of the rogues. The cats were divided. ThunderClan and SkyClan requested the five clans join their forces to expel the enemy, ShadowClan was hesitant, while yet unaffected RiverClan and WindClan were unwilling to make a hasty decision.
"Your obstinacy may cost us our existence!" the Risingstar of SkyClan told Nightstar of RiverClan, "I know the enemy, and I know, there's nothing for us to gain from waiting. What we need is not thinking, but a decisive action to vanquish the forces that threaten us!"
Nightstar argued, but his voice was cut by a shout from the back. The words no cat would want to hear or say fell, silencing the quarrel. "They are here! The RiverClan camp has fallen!" At that moment cats flooded onto the island. First, escaping RiverClan, then Rogues.
The messy defense, which the unorganized cats provided lost them the opportunity to hold the attack at the crossing point. The Rogues quickly established a breach on the shore and started pushing clan warriors further away from the tree trunk that served as a bridge. The first to react was Brackenstar, jumping off the branch and leading his cats with a rallying cry. He ordered his freshly appointed deputy, Olivefur, to secure elders, kits and medicine cats and move them to the other side of the island. Soon the other clans joined in, but it was too late. They fought valiantly, but to no effect. They soon found themselves yielding more ground to the relentless onslaught.
Some of the RiverClan cats, led by Blackpelt, suggested fleeing by lake onto the other shore. Meanwhile Olivefur, helped by Nettleleaf and Eaglefeather managed to break a branch from one of the trees and used it to cross the lake with four medicine cats and some warriors. It is often described that Olivefur opposed the idea of fleeing and had to be dragged onto the branch by Nettleleaf, who more strategically, pointed out that after crossing the lake the medicine cats would need escort as well.
As they moved out, their clanmates' defense started collapsing. From the water they could see Brackenstar falling under the Rogue claws. On the other side, Nightstar, after overseeing the retreat of his cats, entered the water himself, carrying one of the younger ThunderClan warriors. Deprived of leadership and without hope for victory, cats of all clans fought side by side till the end or tried to save themselves by swimming in the cold early-Newleaf water. The chaotic retreat left many of the cats dead, most on the island itself, but there were many who drowned or were hunted down after reaching the mainland.
Fleeing by a wooden branch, Olivefur and her cats landed on the ThunderClan shore, and were almost immediately targeted by a Rogue patrol. Having some ten cats with them, they were a force to not be taken lightly, but even they soon found themselves outnumbered. On Eaglefeather’s suggestion, they fled into the underground tunnels, planning to reach WindClan territory, the one least affected so far. The plan almost fell apart when a Rogue patrol appeared behind them.
"Go on. I'll slow them down," Nettlleaf's words sounded from the end of the escaping group. Olivefur was unwilling to abandon another one of her clanmates but moved forward. It is unknown how exactly Nettleleaf died, but her heroic sacrifice slowed the pursuit for surprisingly long, allowing the rest to reach WindClan camp unharmed. There, they found Rogue cats as well, besieging a group of defenders. They swiftly broke through and chased away the enemy with the help of a group of RiverClan cats that emerged from the other side led by Blackpelt.
Numbering now around twenty cats, they decided to look for more survivors. At first, they successfully rescued several more cats, including the RiverClan leader, Nightstar, the only one of the five to survive, as it would prove later. Yet, as they moved into the RiverClan territory they found increasing opposition and soon had to abandon the search and flee. They regrouped on the outskirts of the WindClan territory and set up a temporary camp. For the next week they found several more escapees, but then, were chased away again.
Faced by an overwhelming enemy, themselves underfed, exhausted and carrying wounded, they decided to abandon the Lake Territories. In total, of some two hundred cats that lived around the lake, only exactly forty-six set off with Olivefur's group.
Up to this day, it is unknown if and how many any other clan cats fled, never reuniting with the largest group, but it is possible such existed. Of the five clans, SkyClan suffered the worst fate, left with only two warriors and a medicine cat. Blackfeather agreed for her mate, Crackedcloud to take the role of the clan leader. In ThunderClan, that honor rightfully fell on Olivestar, who appointed Eaglefeather, her mate, to be the deputy. In WindClan, Wildstar was elected, while similarly to ThunderClan's case, the ShadowClan deputy, Greenstar, took command of his clan. The least affected was RiverClan, where the only change was Blackpelt's appointment for deputy - for his courage and quick thinking in face of danger that saved many lives.
And thus, the five clans, shadows of their former selves, set off into the unknown, a great adventure which begun a new age in the history of the clans - one of pain and suffering, but also of courage, honor, and one that forged the greatest legend in the clan's recent history, shadowed only by the great Firestar.
Context: The CE, or Clan Era, started with the events from the book S4E6 "The Last Hope". The story may not be consistent with some of the later books, thought so much time passed probably no one will notice.

It is the first part of my AU clan story, a loose collection of events written more in the style of a documentary than a novel, highlighting only the most important moments and quotes. Tell me what you think, I'll post more parts and allegiances soon. Here it is:
As the first glimpses of the moonlight appeared in the black sky, illuminating the travelling cats, the danger was already in the air. For some time now, the Lake Territories were being invaded by an unknown group of cats. They always appeared in number, were uninterested in talks, and ready to kill if challenged. Attempts to reconquer the land were always met by decisive action and foiled by the much more numerous enemy.
The hope of the ThunderClan leader, Brackenstar, was that the issue would be resolved at the upcoming Gathering, but events moved faster than he expected. Yesterday, after another of his clanmates was killed, he was forced to prohibit his cats from hunting north of the camp and change the route of patrols, effectively abandoning over half of his territory to the rogues.
And yet, there he was, marching towards the island. His whole clan was with him - he wouldn't dare to leave a weakened camp with cats inside. When they arrived on the island, all the remaining clans were already present. The atmosphere was tense, no one was speaking or exchanging news, only watching the approaching ThunderClan warriors.
As the Gathering begun, the first topic was that of the rogues. The cats were divided. ThunderClan and SkyClan requested the five clans join their forces to expel the enemy, ShadowClan was hesitant, while yet unaffected RiverClan and WindClan were unwilling to make a hasty decision.
"Your obstinacy may cost us our existence!" the Risingstar of SkyClan told Nightstar of RiverClan, "I know the enemy, and I know, there's nothing for us to gain from waiting. What we need is not thinking, but a decisive action to vanquish the forces that threaten us!"
Nightstar argued, but his voice was cut by a shout from the back. The words no cat would want to hear or say fell, silencing the quarrel. "They are here! The RiverClan camp has fallen!" At that moment cats flooded onto the island. First, escaping RiverClan, then Rogues.
The messy defense, which the unorganized cats provided lost them the opportunity to hold the attack at the crossing point. The Rogues quickly established a breach on the shore and started pushing clan warriors further away from the tree trunk that served as a bridge. The first to react was Brackenstar, jumping off the branch and leading his cats with a rallying cry. He ordered his freshly appointed deputy, Olivefur, to secure elders, kits and medicine cats and move them to the other side of the island. Soon the other clans joined in, but it was too late. They fought valiantly, but to no effect. They soon found themselves yielding more ground to the relentless onslaught.
Some of the RiverClan cats, led by Blackpelt, suggested fleeing by lake onto the other shore. Meanwhile Olivefur, helped by Nettleleaf and Eaglefeather managed to break a branch from one of the trees and used it to cross the lake with four medicine cats and some warriors. It is often described that Olivefur opposed the idea of fleeing and had to be dragged onto the branch by Nettleleaf, who more strategically, pointed out that after crossing the lake the medicine cats would need escort as well.
As they moved out, their clanmates' defense started collapsing. From the water they could see Brackenstar falling under the Rogue claws. On the other side, Nightstar, after overseeing the retreat of his cats, entered the water himself, carrying one of the younger ThunderClan warriors. Deprived of leadership and without hope for victory, cats of all clans fought side by side till the end or tried to save themselves by swimming in the cold early-Newleaf water. The chaotic retreat left many of the cats dead, most on the island itself, but there were many who drowned or were hunted down after reaching the mainland.
Fleeing by a wooden branch, Olivefur and her cats landed on the ThunderClan shore, and were almost immediately targeted by a Rogue patrol. Having some ten cats with them, they were a force to not be taken lightly, but even they soon found themselves outnumbered. On Eaglefeather’s suggestion, they fled into the underground tunnels, planning to reach WindClan territory, the one least affected so far. The plan almost fell apart when a Rogue patrol appeared behind them.
"Go on. I'll slow them down," Nettlleaf's words sounded from the end of the escaping group. Olivefur was unwilling to abandon another one of her clanmates but moved forward. It is unknown how exactly Nettleleaf died, but her heroic sacrifice slowed the pursuit for surprisingly long, allowing the rest to reach WindClan camp unharmed. There, they found Rogue cats as well, besieging a group of defenders. They swiftly broke through and chased away the enemy with the help of a group of RiverClan cats that emerged from the other side led by Blackpelt.
Numbering now around twenty cats, they decided to look for more survivors. At first, they successfully rescued several more cats, including the RiverClan leader, Nightstar, the only one of the five to survive, as it would prove later. Yet, as they moved into the RiverClan territory they found increasing opposition and soon had to abandon the search and flee. They regrouped on the outskirts of the WindClan territory and set up a temporary camp. For the next week they found several more escapees, but then, were chased away again.
Faced by an overwhelming enemy, themselves underfed, exhausted and carrying wounded, they decided to abandon the Lake Territories. In total, of some two hundred cats that lived around the lake, only exactly forty-six set off with Olivefur's group.
Up to this day, it is unknown if and how many any other clan cats fled, never reuniting with the largest group, but it is possible such existed. Of the five clans, SkyClan suffered the worst fate, left with only two warriors and a medicine cat. Blackfeather agreed for her mate, Crackedcloud to take the role of the clan leader. In ThunderClan, that honor rightfully fell on Olivestar, who appointed Eaglefeather, her mate, to be the deputy. In WindClan, Wildstar was elected, while similarly to ThunderClan's case, the ShadowClan deputy, Greenstar, took command of his clan. The least affected was RiverClan, where the only change was Blackpelt's appointment for deputy - for his courage and quick thinking in face of danger that saved many lives.
And thus, the five clans, shadows of their former selves, set off into the unknown, a great adventure which begun a new age in the history of the clans - one of pain and suffering, but also of courage, honor, and one that forged the greatest legend in the clan's recent history, shadowed only by the great Firestar.
Context: The CE, or Clan Era, started with the events from the book S4E6 "The Last Hope". The story may not be consistent with some of the later books, thought so much time passed probably no one will notice.

Here are all (*) of the new US and Canadian CCS (Level 3 fast-charging) stations that rolled out in May 2024, according to the Department of Energy. You can get the data yourself here.
These chargers are suitable for most new EVs on the market, except for:

1. Tesla drivers who haven't bought the official CCS adapter yet. Certain older Teslas need additional work done to accept the adapter.
2. Nissan Leaf owners, owners of the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, and some owners of older cars that also use CHAdeMO. If you drive such a car, see my matching post in .

Some of these chargepoints will be "refreshes," e.g. the provider replaced them with faster chargers etc. Some may be incorrect. This report is only as good as the Alternative Fuels Data Center data.
There were 255 CCS charging stations with a total of 606 chargepoints added or refreshed in May 2024, which is a major uptick in both stations and chargepoints. For comparison, there were only 226 new CCS charging stations in May 2023, with only 421 chargepoints. Things are trending upwards overall.
Some part of this is due to Tesla Magic Dock stations. Previously Tesla didn't report these to the AFDC as CCS, but now they do. And that makes sense because all CCS drivers can use them.
NOTE: most Tesla Superchargers do NOT have magic dock as of this writing (all those shown in this report should have it). I recommend using PlugShare to locate compatible stations for your vehicle.
(*) "What about other Tesla Superchargers? Can't everybody charge with NACS now?"
It's coming for many makes and models, and for newer Ford models as well as a few other manufacturers charging at v3 and v4 Superchargers is already an option with a free adapter from the automakers. GM should release their adapter this year. But since they are not open to all CCS vehicles, this report is not the place for them. Tesla's app provides the best guide to their locations, including locations that work with non-Tesla vehicles.
Other Notes
To streamline this post, multi-chargepoint locations are listed with the number of chargepoints first.
For serious trip planning, I recommend PlugShare. But by all means check out these reported new locations and submit reviews on PlugShare, which makes things better for everyone.
If you'd like to know about new chargers along your routes right away, or just prefer not to check this list monthly when new openings are rare in your area, I've set up a free service that provides email notifications as soon as they open. You can sign up at evpov.com. Or not! I don't really have a business plan here, I built it to help EV owners like myself. PlugShare has a similar feature.

➡ AL (1) SEAM HYUNDAI BACKLOT 29736 Frederick Blvd Daphne, AL 36526 (1) HARTSELLE 1 STATION 1 (L) 214 Chestnut St NW Hartselle, AL 35640 (1) 833 Eastern Blvd 833 Eastern Blvd Montgomery, AL 36117 (2) CAT CARD BK PHENIX CITY2 1135 East 280 Bypass Phenix City, AL 36867 (4) Baldwin County Highway Department 22070 AL-59 Robertsdale, AL 36567 ➡ AZ (1) FINDLAY BUICK GMC 1006 COMMERCE DR PRESCOTT, AZ 86305 ➡ BC (4) 7Charge - Langley 20250 88th ave Langley, BC V1M 2Y4 (1) WESTCOASTNISSAN WC NISSAN LV3 19625 Lougheed Hwy. Pitt Meadows, BC V3Y 1Z2 (1) Alberni Chrysler - DC 2651 Port Alberni Hwy Port Alberni, BC V9Y 8P2 (1) YVR Parkade 3211 Grant McConachie Way Richmond, BC V7B 0A4 (2) TOTEM FORD LEVEL 3 DUAL 4631 Keith Avenue Terrace, BC V8G 1K3 ➡ CA (4) ARCO 7171 - 895 Grass Valley Hwy, Auburn, WA 895 Grass Valley Hwy Auburn, CA 95603 (10) Bay Area CoRoasters 2322 Fifth St Berkeley, CA 94710 (1) BWP EV CHARGE DCFC BWP LOT 1 110 West Magnolia Boulevard Burbank, CA 91502 (1) Acura of Concord 1340 Concord Avenue Concord, CA 94520 (10) Park & Shop 1679 Willow Pass Rd Concord, CA 94520 (1) Danville - Library Parking Lot 400 Front Street Danville, CA 94526 (8) Downey Crossroads 9501 Lakewood Blvd Downey, CA 90240 (6) EV Connect Hardware Support 615 N Nash El Segundo, CA 90245 (2) South LA Yard P2 786 S. Mission Rd Los Angeles, CA 90023 (1) G&M OIL G&M #194 2 6101 W Manchester Ave Los Angeles, CA 90045 (1) Honda of Pasadena Public 1965 East Foothill Boulevard Pasadena, CA 91107 (6) Rialto Marketplace Phase II 1530 S Riverside Ave. Rialto, CA 92376 (6) H&S ENERGY PM# CHEVRON 3 1050 Sunset Boulevard Rocklin, CA 95765 (4) ARCO 7161 - 1243 W March Lane, Stockton, CA 1243 W March Lane Stockton, CA 95207 (1) Ocean Honda of Ventura 6450 Auto Center Drive Ventura, CA 93003 (4) ARCO 5731 - 805 Reed Ave, West Sacramento, CA 805 Reed Avenue West Sacramento, CA 95605 (4) 7Charge - Woodland 1670 E Main St Woodland, CA 95776 ➡ CO (3) Fisher Auto 6025 Arapahoe Road Boulder, CO 80303 (2) CO ENERGY OFFCE GUNNISON PL2 202 East Tomichi Avenue Gunnison, CO 81230 ➡ CT (2) CROWLEY AUTO LEVEL 3 - B 238 Broad St Bristol, CT 06010 (1) MB OF DANBURY FRONT DC 1 1 Miry Brook Road Danbury, CT 06810 (1) MB OF DANBURY FRONT DC 2 10 Miry Brook Rd Danbury, CT 06810 (1) Bolles Motors Ellington 84 West Road Ellington, CT 6029 (2) Applegreen Electric - RT 15 Fairfield NB Service Plaza 1396 Merritt Pkwy Fairfield, CT 06825 (4) Applegreen Electric - RT 15 Fairfield SB Service Plaza 4647 Merritt Pkwy Fairfield, CT 06825 (1) MANHONDA HONDA-CUSTOMER 24 Adams St Manchester, CT 06042 (2) Applegreen Electric - I-95 Milford NB Service Plaza I 95 Northbound Milford, CT 06460 (2) Applegreen Electric - I-95 Milford SB Service Plaza I-95 Connecticut Tpke Milford, CT 06460 (2) Cody's Diner 95 Water St New Haven, CT 06511 (4) Applegreen Electric - RT 15 North Haven NB Service Plaza 14 Upper State St North Haven, CT 06473 (1) Vachon Cadillac Putnam 139 POMFRET ST PUTNAM, CT 06260 ➡ FL (1) Gary Yeomans Ford Villages 11660 U.S. 441 Belleview, FL 34420 (4) Randy Marion Cadillac of Jacksonville 4700 Southside Blvd Jacksonville, FL 32216 (2) Waffle House Madison 145 SE Bandit St Madison Madison, FL 32340 (2) Certification 4201 Vineland Orlando, FL 32811 (4) Orange County Multi Cultural Center 7149 W Colonial Dr Orlando, FL 32818 (1) OUC SHINGLECREEK DC 9939 universal Blvd Orlando, FL 32819 (1) PENSACOLA BGC STATION 1 5651 Pensacola Blvd Pensacola, FL 32505 (1) Maus Acura of North Tampa 11025 N Florida Ave Tampa, FL 33612 (6) 11700 Mezzo Dr 11700 Mezzo Dr Venice, FL 34293 Venice, FL 34293 ➡ GA (2) 464 Hwy 441 464 Hwy 441 Clayton, GA 30525 (28) QuikTrip - Tesla Supercharger 11220 GA-142 Covington, GA 30014 (1) GEORGIA POWER MCRAE DC2 90 W Oak St McRae-Helena, GA 31055 ➡ HI (2) Hawaiian Electric Kona Office 74-5519 Kaiwi St Kailua- Kona, HI 96740 ➡ IA (6) Ames Ford Lincoln 123 Airport Rd. Ames, IA 50010 (2) Audobon Waspys Truck Stop 2079 U S 71 Audubon, IA 50025 (6) LINDQUISTFORD FC 3 3950 Middle Rd Bettendorf, IA 52722 (1) Kimberly Car City 625 West Kimberly Road Davenport, IA 52806 (2) Hy-Vee Euclid 2540 Euclid Ave Des moines, IA 50317 (1) HYUNDAI STORE HYUNDAI S 4601 Singing Hills Boulevard Sioux City, IA 51106 (1) HYUNDAI STORE HYUNDAI N 4601-25 Singing Hills Blvd Sioux City, IA 51106 ➡ IL (2) ROSEN GROUP CPE250 2 789 S Randall Rd Algonquin, IL 60102 (1) Volvo Cars Lisle - DCFC 4325 Lincoln Avenue Lisle, IL 60532 (2) Watermark Ford of Marion 1910 W. Coolidge Ave. Marion, IL 62959 (1) Eagleson Automotive Center 520 Whittle Ave Olney, IL 62450 (1) Schimmer Hyundai 911 Shooting Park Road Peru, IL 61354 (4) Casey's #3336 - Troy 440 Edwardsville Rd Troy, IL 62294 (1) KIA OF URBANA WELCOME CENTER 1111 Napleton Way Urbana, IL 61802 ➡ IN (1) Wiers Chevrolet GMC 416 S. HALLECK DEMOTTE, IN 46310 (2) Hubler Ford Franklin 2140 North Morton Street Franklin, IN 46131 (6) 7321 Heritage Square Drive (US-JEF-252-3B) 7321 Heritage Square Drive Granger, IN 46530 (4) Kokomo 1815 E Morgan St Kokomo, IN 46901 (1) All American Cadillac 6580 W HOMETOWN BLVD MUNCIE, IN 47304 (1) Muller Acura of Merrillville 3301 West Lincoln Highway Merrillville, IN 46410 (4) Plainfield 1610 Reeves Rd Plainfield, IN 46168 (4) Ford Charge - Pearson Ford 10650 N Michigan Rd Zionsville, IN 46077 ➡ KY (4) Pilot Travel Center 41 3060 Owingsville Road Mount Sterling, KY 40353 ➡ LA (6) Tanger Outlets Gonzales, Gonzales LA Under Armour Entrance DCFC 2100 Tanger Boulevard Gonzales, LA 70737 (6) 290 Town Center Pkwy (US-NBD-2GZ-3B) 290 Town Center Pkwy Slidell, LA 70458 ➡ MA (1) 400 SUMMER ST 400 SUMMERP3-3 400 Summer St Boston, MA 02210 (20) Trillium Brewery - Tesla Supercharger 100 Royall St Canton, MA 02021 (1) DURAND CHEVY DURAND CHEV 223 Washington St Hudson, MA 01749 (2) NA208940 HND L3 A 88 Walkers Brook Dr Reading, MA 01867 ➡ MB (2) Shell Canada Ltd 1790 Highland Ave Brandon, MB R7C 1A7 (2) Federated Co-operatives Ltd (FCL) 3357 Pembina Ave Winnipeg, MB R3V 1A2 (2) Shell Canada Ltd 50 Sage Creek Blvd, Unit 400 Winnipeg, MB R3X 0J6 ➡ MD (1) BGE - Annapolis Visitor Center 26 West St Annapolis, MD 21401 (2) JONES CDJR JJCDRJ1&2 1506 Belair Road Bel Air, MD 21014 (1) BGE - Bowie Park and Ride 15207 Major-Lansdale Blvd Bowie, MD 20716 (2) RFS 131 2703 Ocean Gateway Cambridge, MD 21613 (2) O’Donnell Honda 8620 Baltimore National Pike Ellicott City, MD 21043 (1) GENESIS BEL AIR JJGEN-EXT 3 1710 Harford Rd Fallston, MD 21047 (2) GENESIS BEL AIR JJGEN-EXT1 1710 Harford Road Fallston, MD 21047 ➡ MI (4) Starbucks Bridgeport 6301 Dixie Hwy Bridgeport, MI 48722 (8) Midland 2029 S Saginaw Rd Midland, MI 48640 (2) Saginaw - TimeSquare Plaza 3430 State St Saginaw, MI 48602 ➡ MN (9) Apple Valley Ford 7200 150th St W. Apple Valley, MN 55124 (3) New Brighton Ford - DCFC 1100 Silver Lake Rd. NW New Brighton, MN 55112 (4) Apple Ford Shakopee 1624 Weston Ct. Shakopee, MN 55379 ➡ MO (6) 2300 Bernadette Drive (US-B76-SYZ-3B) 2300 Bernadette Drive Columbia, MO 65203 ➡ MS (2) 1410 South Gloster Street Tupelo, MS 38801 1410 South Gloster Street Tupelo, MS 38801 ➡ NC (2) 122 Turnersburg Hwy 122 Turnersburg Hwy Statesville, NC 28625 (1) GPM INVESTMENTS 3262 DC 2 310 College Rd Wilmington, NC 28403 (2) WINDSOR STA#1 STATION 1 105 Queen Street Windsor, NC 27983 ➡ ND (2) Luther Family Ford 3302 36th St S Fargo, ND 58104 ➡ NE (1) SDHYUNDAI S.W.HY 8350 South 40th Street Lincoln, NE 68516 ➡ NH (1) Hampton Ford Hyundai 177 Lafayette Road North Hampton, NH 03862 ➡ NJ (2) Applegreen Electric - Connie Chung Service Area 1339 Broad St Bloomfield, NJ 07003 (1) Bridgewater Acura 1231 U.S. 22 Bridgewater, NJ 08807 (6) 1433 Palisade Ave 1433 Palisade Ave Fort Lee, NJ 07024 (2) 171 Bay Ave 171 Bay Ave Highlands, NJ 07732 (2) Rossi Chevrolet Buick GMC 360 RTE 31 SOUTH WASHINGTON, NJ 07882 (2) Sea Pirate Campground 148 Main St. West Creek, NJ 08092 ➡ NM (1) Enel X - Angel Fire Country Club 100 Country Club Dr Angel Fire, NM 87710 (2) Enel X - Angel Fire Shuter Library 11 N Angel Fire Rd Angel Fire, NM 87710 (2) Cumbres and Toltec Railroad 500 S Terrace Ave Chama, NM 87520 (4) Chiricahua Apache Plaza 20885 Frontage Rd Deming, NM 88030 (2) Enel X - Northern New Mexico College 1135 NM-554 El Rito, NM 87530 (1) LAC DPU LOS ALAMOS MUNI 1000 Central Avenue Los Alamos, NM 87544 (2) Henry's True Value Hardware 17342 US-84 Los Ojos, NM 87551 (2) Enel X - Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs 50 Los Banos Dr Ojo Caliente, NM 87549 (1) Enel X - Picuris Pueblo Visitor Center 201 A Pueblo Vw Rd Peñasco, NM 87553 (2) Enel X - Village of Questa Municipal Parking Lot 2500 Old Hwy 3 Questa, NM 87556 (8) Western New Mexico University 1000 W. College Ave Silver City, NM 88081 (4) Enel X - Taos Municipal Parking Lot 122 Paseo Del Pueblo Sur Taos, NM 87571 (2) Enel X - Taos Guadalupe Parking Lot 205 Don Fernando St Taos, NM 87571 ➡ NY (4) Reymore Chevrolet 2 746 N Main St Central Square, NY 13036 (2) SIDNEYFCU CICERO 1 8062 Brewerton Rd Cicero, NY 13039 (6) Applegreen Electric - Clarence Travel Plaza 4002 Ransom Rd Clarence, NY 14031 (6) Applegreen Electric - Clifton Springs Travel Plaza 3236 NY-96 Clifton Springs, NY 14432 (4) Tradition Chevrolet 847 Canandaidua Rd Geneva, NY 14456 (12) Tops Friendly Markets - Tesla Supercharger 16 Jon J Wagner Wy Lagrangeville, NY 12540 (2) Sharon Chevrolet (Outside) 3687 NY-31 Liverpool, NY 13090 (1) WEST HERR AUTO WH NO L3-1 ABB 3850 Southwestern Boulevard Orchard Park, NY 14127 (6) Applegreen Electric - Plattekill Service Area I-87 - NYS Thruway NB Plattekill, NY 12568 (2) Public or Dealer Use Station (DCFC) 18 Union Street Sidney, NY 13838 (2) Service Building 366 West Merrick Road Valley Stream, NY 11580 (4) Acura Service Chargers 700 West Merrick Road Valley Stream, NY 11580 (4) Island Acura 3350 Sunrise Highway Wantagh, NY 11793 (2) ROCKLAND HYU STATION 1 55 New York 303 West Nyack, NY 10994 (4) Target Westbury #T1139 999 Corporate Dr Westbury, NY 11590 (2) Town of Westport 34 State Rt. 9N Westport, NY 12993 (1) White Plains Honda 61 Bank Street White Plains, NY 10606 ➡ OH (6) Ford Charge - Liberty Ford Brunswick 3101 Center Rd Brunswick, OH 44212 (2) KERRY FORD, INC STATION 2 155 West Kemper Road Cincinnati, OH 45246 (1) EASTON EAST GAR CPE-1 117 Easton Station Columbus, OH 43219 (2) EASTON WEST GAR CPE-2 167 Easton Town Ctr Columbus, OH 43219 (1) Mathews Ford DCFCs 1155 Delaware Avenue Marion, OH 43302 (2) MURPHY PARK DC #1 356 Day Light Ln Powell, OH 43065 (2) Diane Sauer Chevrolet 626 S St SE Warren, OH 44483 (4) Innovatures 7428 Tylersville Rd West Chester Township, OH 45069 (2) Germain Volkswagen DCFC’s 750 Polaris Parkway Westerville, OH 43082 ➡ OK (1) GENESISOFEDMOND GOE1 14113 North Kelley Avenue Edmond, OK 73013 (1) TULSA HYUNDAI H SERVICE 9777 South Memorial Drive Tulsa, OK 74133 ➡ ON (1) WEST CITY HONDA WCH LVL 3 676 Dundas St W Belleville, ON K8N 4Z2 (1) GM - Bean Chevrolet Buick GMC Ltd. 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What I think happened was. 1967. November 29th. A baby is born on Rokkenjima and taken in by Kinzo Ushiromiya, still deep in his mourning of the Golden Witch Beatrice. As this baby grows up, Kinzo shapes their identity under his upbringing and they grow up with a very stunted sense of self. EIther as some sort of disguise or to give themselves more fulfillment, they assume the identity of a young maid named Shannon and a younger servant named Kanon. This helps them navigate their life on Rokkenjima fine until the larger Ushiromiya family enters the picture, specifically Battler, Jessica and George, whose love for them begins to pull their identity apart. After a conversation with a 12 year old Battler about the kind of woman he likes, and getting even closer with George and Jessica in the years after, this person is at a crossroads on whos wishes get to be fulfilled: Shannon’s, Kanon’s, or Beatrice’s, and this all comes to a head on October 4th, 1986, where they facilitate a series of murders as an internal competition and as a demonstration to the person who affected them the most: Battler Ushiromiya.
….I THINK. I didn’t have the epiphany I thought I would have, more like a slow slow realization when I began to piece together the early-suggested possibility that Shannon was behind the appearances of Beatrice that Maria sees, the weird status of Kanon’s body at the end of almost every twilight, how Kanon had to bail Battler out in the first place, and the Love Duel itself, Shannon, Kanon and Beatrice all being on equal footing within it, and why Shannon and Kanon’s (and Beatrice’s) love had to be mutually exclusive in the first place. Plus more little details like the 19 paces coinciding with the perceived 19 people on the island (family + Beato) and the 19 years since the master of the game had been born, the narration and several characters like Featherine saying that the solution to the previous question or to the logic error could be the key to the whole mystery and is a part of Beato’s heart (her identity). George’s reminiscence of Battler and Shannon as a 12 year old with Beato’s own reminiscence of it coinciding with it. The fact that Battler has literally never seen Kanon and Shannon in the same room and the mystery of how Battler saw Beatrice after the murders of the fourth game. But I think that Shannon, Kanon, and Beatrice are all identities of one person, the 16th person after subtracting Kinzo, Kanon and Shannon from the initial 18, and that their disguises and faked deaths are the key to solving not just the logic error room, but the entire game and magic as a whole. Granted I don’t have *everything* figured out with this yet but I feel like I have my foot in the door finally.
Just starting with the logic error room, we know that Erika and Kanon entered and Batler left, the chain was reset when Erika entered, yet by the end of Erika’s search, Kanon was nowhere in the guestroom. Airtight locked room murder, practically no way to get out of this one, at least through the door. And for good measure, Hideyoshi, George, Nanjo, Kumasawa and Shanon are in the next room over while *everyone else* is in the cousins’ room, and during the escape, the seals to the doors of these rooms are intact. Genuinely the only in that I had on this one at first was the “everyone else” wording with Kanon’s status as furniture as my teeny little screwdriver I was trying to pry this thing open with. Of course the furniture thing is mostly a metaphor for the crested servants’ character arcs, and Genji is considered a person who would be included as “everyone else” but it was a start. Incidentally, my attempts before this episode had me reassessing the idea that Shannon could have disguised herself as Beatrice for Maria from the earlier episodes, and it was like I needed something to bridge these two ideas. And the fact of Kanon coming to save Battler being confirmed in red makes it seem useless to try to figure out how he got out of the cousins' room, but figuring that out was an important first step to my reasoning, as it helped me begin forming the idea that, somehow, to have been out of the cousin’s room, he would have had to be somehow less than one, to not be his own person, to not be included in “everyone else”. And taking this to the guestroom, it eventually dawned on me that, if *he* wasn’t his own person, and his love for Jessica couldn’t exist if Shannon was going to be with George, then maybe these two got in the way of each other because they were the same person, and if this was true, Kanon could escape the guestroom by discarding the disguised and identity of ‘Kanon’, removing him from the guestroom, since it was never specified that nobody was in there, only that Kanon wasn’t. ‘Shannon’ in the next room over could have gotten out through the window, since the status of the seals on the window is a hole that is pointed out in the episode, but Dlanor forbids it from being used, I think because bringing it up without solving Kanon’s identity would be solving the mystery incorrectly or at least out of order.
From here, you can take this to many of the other murders in Question arcs. I think I pointed out that Shannon’s body was hidden from George by Hideyoshi in episode 1, but rereading made me realize that not only had Battler not properly seen it either, but if Kanon was at the scene too, following my theory, the body could not have been Shannon’s. Whose it was I’m not sure. If Kumasawa got into her closet for this that would be funny. If they had a body prepared then sure. But this in conjunction with Kanon’s death not being seen by Battler later leaves this person without the identity of Shannon OR Kanon, free to run around the mansion murdering as they please. Even better if they are prepared to disguise as Beatrice as well, as this would have allowed them to have Maria turn around so they could kill Genji, Nanjo, and Kumasawa without harming her, and when the 4 others would come in and investigate, this person would slip out and kill Natsuhi. For Eva and Hideyoshi, since it was Kanon (and Genji who came upon the crime scene), I think it’s possible that the chain being locked was a lie on Genji and Kanon’s part.
As we know in Episode 2, Kanon’s corpse disappears after his death to the confusion of almost everyone, but this is because the body, as Shannon, is in Kinzo’s study “informing him of the murders” which after learning of Kinzo’s pre-game death means she can be doing whatever she wants. Since Kanon never shows up again, she operates as she needs to until she dies with George and Gohda. I think Shannon struggled with killing both of them. It seemed like there was a genuine struggle to even get the door open and overpower George and Gohda, so her and George could have killed each other, or she kills herself after killing George in mourning, because the final twilight is complete, or because she believes Genji or Rosa will take care of the rest. If Shannon was alive, Rosa stopping Battler from disturbing the body and then chasing everyone out would work for that, but Battler also witnesses like, the viscera of her head spilling out of the hole in it, which could constitute as a body check..? Maybe there’s some fuckery with how this Shannon looks to us and to the people inside the story, and that’s how she bypasses Battler’s body check? idk this one isn’t so solid but Kanon’s missing body is so damning to me. Battler does see Beato and Kinzo at the end and this could have been the culprit as Beato. Battler doesn’t get a good look at her and only sees Kinzo’s back as well. And the magic stuff at the end of every episode in my interpretation is Battler having died and the anti-magic, objective perspective being removed. So idk still working on that one lmao
The biggest thing for Episode 3 is the locked room chain, and having two of the servants being assumed identities really helps. Kanon’s body is ‘found’ in the chapel, a very remote part of the island, so his body is hard to confirm. On the other hand, Shannon is ‘found’ in the parlor, the easiest room to operate from and one that the adults were likely to break the locked room status of by shattering the window. Because Battler sees none of these bodies, the true nature is never confirmed, and it can be assumed that the culprit, having (momentarily) discarded Kanon and Shannon, once again has free reign over the mansion. This comes into play after Eva’s murders take the group into the mansion, starting with Rosa and Maria’s deaths as its unlikely the culprit would kill Maria this early. Kyrie kills Hideyoshi here, briefly surviving a shot to the stomach and either trying to hit Eva or retaliating against her where it would hurt (unwittingly damning her own daughter so yknow that’s not horrible at all). Back when I was a Kyrietrice truther (how I miss those days) I thought she survived much longer and killed George and Nanjo, but it turns out Battler checking her corpse in the metaworld means that Battler confirmed her death in the game too so bleh. But I think the culprit killed George and laid him in the parlor, possibly leading him in as Shannon. From here I think she plays dead as the survivors come in and while they’re distracted (Eva, Jessica and Nanjo are caught up in a fight while Battler overtly is checked out of the situation, not looking closely at the corpses at all), she sneaks out, only to be caught and shot at by Eva, which is what blinds Jessica. The shot isn’t immediately fatal but ‘Shannon’ is bleeding out fast and before she dies, she finds and kills Nanjo, “revives” Kanon, as Beatrice puts it, and leads Jessica out to where they will rest for the remainder of the game.
Chapter 4 is weird, it feels impossible to substantiate anything concrete when the whole island is a huge catbox to Battler, cooped up in the guest house, until after almost all of the murders are committed. WIth Shannon/Kanon in the dining hall with everyone, the best I can work out right now is the first six are shot down by them, the rest escape but are killed as well, at some point in between the 8th and 10th killings, ‘Kanon’ is discarded, making him the ‘9th death’, George and Jessica are killed, not before Jessica sees the dead bodies, is chased to her room and works out that if she gets caught, she’ll probably end up like the rest of them, which she tells Battler. At some point, Kyrie manages to get to a phone and call Battler before being killed. The most concrete thing I can deduce is that the hostage group was potentially never in the dungeon, the status of the dungeon’s existence in that space being up in the air, Kanon’s body is not at the bottom of the well that Battler cannot access, when Beatrice shows up to Battler at the end of the 4th and is spurned by Battler not remembering his sin, she finds a way to die as Shannon and be found.
Very hazy still obviously but idk how else Kanon escapes. Honestly "these clues and circumstances make one body unaccounted for so they can go do whatever" feels sorta cheap which makes me second guess all of this, obv theres some tricks to the locked rooms themselves still but I didn't anticipate that one possible theory would clear up so much. Also relies on the cooperation of some adults and Nanjo. Even tho I believe he’s nice I think Nanjo isn’t difficult considering he lies about Kinzo’s death for so long, and I feel like it wouldn’t be.. too hard to get any of the adults in on it if related to the inheritance? I still think some of Eva and Hideyoshi’s ep 1 behaviors are suspicious and it would be really funny and interesting if Kyrie was fuckin shit up. To me.
Overall if this is what the twist is, I think it's neat since Kanon and Shannon have been among my favorites from the beginning and the idea of them being so closely tied to the thematic core of the story is exciting. My idea of magic is so heavily informed by Ange’s story, it makes me wonder, since the Beato we saw in 67 seemed to live in a great deal of emotional neglect, neglect of her own self rather than of “Beatrice” (probably her mother lol), if this culprit is the same in that she was born from Kinzo and a Beato, likely the 67 one, and their personhood was ignored for the sake of Kinzo having Beato again, maybe “Shannon” and “Kanon” are similar to how Maria summons Sakutaro or Ange summons the sisters, and she summons the servants as a way of enriching her sense of self? Would be sort of interesting but it also feels like its crossing over into like DID territory and after playing like 2 danganronpa games worth of poorly handled stuff like that I dont know. I do kinda feel sad for Jessica not really getting to be with Kanon. They constantly get the short end of the stick, obviously because their love hasn’t developed like George and Shannon’s did over the past few years or even how Battler and Beatrice’s did over the past 5 games, but their love is so full of potential, and I love both of them so much. I’d love to just see them happy together but its not Jessica’s fate sadly lmao.
If we’re to believe that it was Battler’s sin that influenced all of this, I do find it to be really interesting how Battler tends to parallel Kinzo, as another extension of the idea that Kinzo keeps this very harrowing grip on all aspects of Beatrice’s/the culprit’s life. That Battler echos Kinzo’s yearning for the old Beatrice isn’t even solely tragic for Battler’s situation, it also has a lot of terrible implications for what we haven’t seen of Kinzo yet, if Battler’s projection of Beatrice as his former lover onto a girl who sees him as her father is any indication of what Kinzo was like. At the very least, I still love Battler and I think he differs from Kinzo by holding onto the love he had for his family. Even after six games, he’s still just as disgusted at the murders, especially so here, and the portrayal of the mothers of the Ushiromiya family in Battler’s game shows that Battler’s capable of a great deal of reflection and understanding, something that’s hard to believe Kinzo was ever willing to offer. For the sin itself it feels like it’s between Battler being like his grandfather, him neglecting the culprit in some way or him denying magic to her and by extension, her way of like and her worldview, like what we saw with young Ange and Maria.
My last thought on this theory is that it makes so much of the love game in ep6, specifically Zepar and Furfur’s commentary, incredibly funny with how on the nose it is, and shifting from the perspective of the elder Beato who doesn’t get it to that of Kanon and Shannon who are painfully aware, is very eye opening to how heavy handed their dialogue is. Yet another moment of the writers desperately trying to guide you to the heart of the mystery which is comforting as a staple of this whole story.
Looking back at the last post, it is funny how little I had to say about Erika Furudo then. She’s like my second favorite character now, as horrible as she is, and everything she does is in line with how she acted in ep5 (with one caveat we’ll get to), but just way more severe and like mask off about her cold-hearted rejection of emotional truths and desire for complete domination and control of what is accepted as the objective truth which is. very entertaining! Obviously saying a ton about the more clinical, quote unquote “intellectual” camps of mystery readers and writers and about how objective truth really is, which is all incredibly important to understanding the overall mystery, almost like a what not to do when playing Umineko.
But just focusing on Erika herself, she just feels so steeped in every detective trope you’ve ever heard of, and in a story that takes the time to build such nuanced dynamics and relationships between characters, the way she operates can be so two-dimensional it’s actually delightful to watch. Even when she’s given a backstory, it almost feels pre-packaged and thrown in to hastily give her depth and personal relation to truth on a conceptual level, as she is a detective, altho I don’t know if it’s completely hollow. Her back and forth with Dlanor is neat and her final response to it is an early tell that her refusal to recognize the emotions behind people’s truths is a fatal flaw of hers, probably caused by her falling out with her boyfriend. And with the whole game trusting you to see the emotions in everything and to not be cold and clinical in your assessment of the story, I can’t wholly believe she’s completely flat as a character, altho the commentary is still very unsubtle so idk fully. It’s not like bullshit characters can’t be meaningful, and I think there is a level of tragedy in the way she was fashioned on the game board as Bernkastel’s piece, trapped in the position of servitude to Bern, constantly emulating her callousness and seeking her approval, as if she’s like an author insert begging not to be removed by the author herself.
Like I said, she exhibits almost all the same behaviors she did in the last episode, just more brutally here. It’s almost like after failing to beat Battler at the end of episode 5, she’s trying to prove with everything she has that she really is a completely deplorable person, which she does when she fucking kills 5 people in what was supposed to be a non-tragic game, and she does this using the one thing that makes her different from last time: her lack of detective authority. Not only is is a cool trick that runs alongside her casting off the image of a noble seeker of the truth so she can debase herself in order to chase down a more twisted conclusion, it speaks a lot to her own capabilities that even without the privileges of a detective in a classic mystery story, she’s still able to bend the Ushiromiya family to her will and think miles ahead of Battler, making her all the more terrifying. Another thing that makes her different here is that she’s not just trying to solve the murders anymore, she is actively trying to catch Battler in a logic error, trapping him in the broken rules of his own game forever, and once she convinces him to give her seals to a few of the rooms, she does this incredibly easily, guiding Battler to his own damnation in what is, in my opinion, the best battle between the human side and witch side in the entire game thus far. It is absolutely fucking insane the lengths Erika goes to in order to completely destroy Battler. Her command of the game from the very start as if she had planned every mode both of them were going to make is just diabolical and after being a bit desensitized after the past 5 chapters of killings, her BEHEADING five people including a mom in front of her 9 year old daughter just to fuck up Battler’s game genuinely made me sick. And this is all heightened by how well written, translated, and voiced Erika is throughout the entire chapter. Before I got into Umineko, I’d seen videos of the scene completely out of context, and slowly I was drawn into wanting to play the game by the voice acting, the incredible music and tantalizingly rich atmosphere that I would have readily indulged in a full game of. But knowing the context of the scene now, how it acts as the final nail in the coffin of Battler and as the peak of Erika’s twisted level of ecstasy as she gleefully destroys this family, not just for domination of the truth but for the joy of revenge against Battler for denying her that ecstasy in the last game. It is just such an incredibly gripping stretch of scenes so fucking good oh my god.
All of this leads to the wedding of Erika and Battler, which really is the most deplorable action of Erika’s in this whole episode. Just the most disgusting subtext going on here that if you’ve read the novel I don’t even have to spell out. Just the depths she plummets to so she can exercise complete control over Battler. In stark contrast to the way Beatrice let Battler into her game, granting him the tools to understand her and to shed light on the mystery of her existence, finally granting her fulfillment, Erika is an intruder into Battler’s game in every sense of the word, and it’s Bern that created this monster in the first place to further toy with the lives of the Ushiromiya family, not completely different from how it was Kinzo's upbringing that made the adults of the Ushiromiya family who they were, leading to how theyr raised their own kids. Luckily Beatrice is the one who steps in at the last moment to save Battler here, exposing the one thing Erika cannot control: the emotions that are inherent to the facts of the murders. She cannot fathom that the solution to the murder isn’t some one million iq 4D chess move of Beatrice's and after an epiphany about the nature of multiple truths that not only feels kinda fake but is something Battler had come to 3 whole episodes ago with Virgilia and the Braun tubes, Beatrice and Battler’s final red truth shoots her down. Troll officially slayed don't be like Erika Furudo kids. Also there’s only 16 people on the island now! Hopefully you paid attention to Zepar and Furfur earlier. It is actually a funny wink wink nudge nudge that Beatrice entering the chapel to save Battler from the marriage runs parallel to Kanon entering the guest room. As if Ryukishi isnt already on his hands and knees tears in his eyes screaming and begging and groveling for the reader to understand whats going on here.
But yea Erika is a fascinating case study on the nature of truth, its objectivity and how it should be pursued. “True” does not always equal “right”, and the pursuit of objectivity can do immeasurable and irrevocable harm to innocent people just trying to find happiness in their own lives. I didn’t even mention her beefing with a literal 9 year old over a beginner magic trick, but it's clear here that her values run opposite to the games and the writers have a very very fun time criticizing those values through her. I learned this from a YouTube comment but apparently in some WTC bonus material, Rika from Higurashi mentions deep sea fish as omens of misfortune, which absolutely evokes the image of Erika washing up on the shores of Rokkenjima, foreshadowing the ensuing disaster. But after everything, as astute as she is as a riddle solver, she really has not even gotten out of the shallow end in terms of what the heart of a mystery really is, how trauma makes people act and why people are even driven to do the things that they do, ultimately looking like a fish out of water against this very magical setting. Get it like solitary deep sea fish honk honk
Other thoughts. I’m so happy to see Ange again! If the meta aspects of this story weren’t obvious enough, her and Hachijo/Featherine have the most overt readeauthor relationship, and it’s funny how Ange’s risen to Battler’s status of reader insert but in a different way. Battler and Beatrice have a combative, opposing relationship but the way she presents the murders to Battler and beckons him to figure them out very much reflects the writers’ desire for the reader to recognize their fiction. On the outside, it seems tricky but is actually very nurturing. Now, this late in the story, Ange and Featherine have a much more outwardly respectful relationship, likened to a miko and her guardian, although there is a little seedling of toughness that Featherine seems to hold for Ange, probably because of the latter’s stubbornness about some aspects of the story, with Ange also harboring contempt for Featherine sensationalizing her trauma with the message bottles. Funny inversion with Battler and I like the continued commentary on true crime. I also think Ange’s pursuit of the truth and trouble with emotions as Featherine’s reader slightly echoes Bern’s other piece, Erika, although to a much, and I cannot stress that Ange is not anywhere near as flawed as Erika, MUCH lesser extent, and Ange clearly has a higher chance of actually coming to an understanding at the end of the episode, plus its more understanding of Ange to want some power over the narrative as someone whose life was nearly ruined by it, rather than a piece who was just dropped in without any other relation to the Ushiromiya’s, despite being at the mercy of her master. Hate M Zakky guy plotting to kill her at the end altho I figured he sniped those Sumadera henchmen for her earlier and its not surprising but. le sigh
And because you know I have to always bring up Kyrie. That scene with her and Jessica was. Amazing. When Jessica's eyes glazed over and prison strip started playing I lost my mind. Genuinely such a compelling backstory for Kyrie and I love Jessica’s challenge to it, and her finishing line that, as much as Kyrie has been both empowered and terrorized by her jealousy, it does not make her a noble person, and this idea that trauma doesn’t automatically make you virtuous, I believe, will probably be very pertinent to the ultimate mysteries of the story. Besides that, one detail I caught is Kyrie talking about having worked up the nerve to kill Asumu over many many years, and she calls it a miracle that some other force took her the moment that she would have. Earlier this episode, and it’s been echoed in the previous ones, Featherine mentions that magic, as something limited by human ability, is the power to follow through with or get away with it. It really makes me think that. Kyrie could have just. Killed Asumu and is using magic to exonerate herself fdsfdsfds .I mean I’m always biased to my idea of murderer bastard Kyrie and the mountain of circumstantial evidence I thought I had with that and I do think its really funny!!! That she’s the only adult who seems to know how to handle the WInchesters well enough to do it one handed in her cg AND her portrait (og and pachinko not ps3). But hey idk. Every time she makes that closed eyes open mouth portrait it makes me think that she might not be any more savvy than the other adults about whats going on so even if its not serious i can still dream

3rd: Sandra Diaz-Twine 1.0 (Pearl Islands - Winner)

we're not worthy.
u/SMC0629:
Sandra 1.0 is my favorite winner of the show, and while that could change (since her, Chris D, and Fabio are all super close), I still think she's flawless. Pearl Islands Sandra has this rawness in both her humor and emotional moments that I honestly don't think any other season with her can replicate. In her following seasons, you can tell she's slightly playing a character in the back of her mind, but in her first season, it's all fresh. Her rivalry with Jon is spectacular, her relationships with Lill, Burton, Rupert, and Christa are great, and her journey to the end is incredible. Such a fantastic character and as of now, my favorite winner.
~
u/Zanthosus:
Her rivalry with Fairplay is legendary. Add onto that the fact that she’s the undisputed star of every scene she’s in and you have the recipe for a bonafide icon. No matter if it’s her haggling in the village, stealing the tarp, dumping out the fish, or getting loud too, she’s just incredible to watch. I may have mixed feelings towards what her legacy has become following her second win, but there’s no denying that Sandra 1.0 is absolutely incredible.
~
u/Tommyroxs45:
I CAN GET LOUD TOO, WHAT TH-. There’s a reason Sandra is the most quoted Survivor of all time, every time she is on screen she is an iconic queen and I will always love her for the entertainment she brought. Even though I would have Sandra 2.0 here over 1.0, I’m still glad at least one of them made it.
~
u/Regnisyak1:
Sandra is the ultimate subversion of a “hero” on Survivor, and I adore her for that. A quote machine (I CAN GET LOUD TOO, WHAT THE FUCK!), Sandra delivers the entertainment factor of the season and makes it an incredible time. While I do think Pearl Islands is a wee overrated, I can’t deny Sandra’s incredible role in the season, her bickering with Fairplay, her friendship with Rupert and Christa, and her absolute decimation of Burton led to some of the most entertaining parts of the season. She is the queen, and she will stay in that position until the end of Survivor.
Personal Rank: 15/821. 10/10.
~
u/ninjedi1:
Sandra is a really great winner, although not my favorite. She's an amazing personality and has great chemistry with Rupert, Christa, JF, and so many others. There are so many great lines that she says like "I CAN GET LOUD TO WHAT THE FUCK" and so many more, plus her able to overcome everything to make it to the finale and win is great. Also, love the most iconic opening confessional she has.
~~~~~
u/DryBonesKing:
This one… I've started this writeup over and over, trying to figure out precisely what I want to say. Because, honestly, what is there to say that hasn’t already been said? Sandra Diaz-goddamn-Twine (her full, government name, btw. Check it out) literally speaks for herself. She’s honestly probably the safest person to say is one of your favorite Survivors of all time because of just “how” much she can appeal to anybody! Are you a narrative person? Sandra’s got that in spades, with two back-to-back revenge narratives that feel genuinely fresh. Are you here for the funny? SHE CAN GET LOUD TOO, WHAT THE FUCK, and she’ll make you laugh as she does so! Are you a strategy fan? Well, the masterclass UTR gameplay and the two-time winner status sorta speaks for itself. Are you a Facebook-casual type of fan? Well, while you are the type to most likely dislike her, she is Rupert’s buddy so you can definitely root for her for that reason at the very least! Again, there’s something about her for everybody!
It becomes hell trying to think of what to actually say about her that hasn’t already been said about her in the past. A part of me is tempted to do a long-form essay on why specifically Pearl Islands Sandra is better than her HvV version - and that was my original plan - but I definitely am a little burnt out at the moment to do a super in-depth version of that writeup, and I worry that a “not fully perfect” write-up of that will just come across mean-spirited regarding my Heroes vs. Villains take. So, I’ll save those thoughts for a later date. As for what else to possibly write about… well, her narrative has been dissected to death in previous rankdowns. A lot of her best moments are just common knowledge to Survivor fans. Is there any unique perspective I can provide about Sandra?
Well… yes. And quite frankly, it’s probably the most important one to me, as it is what keeps Sandra in my top five of all time and in rotation for occasionally being my favorite player of all time. And it’s specifically what her win means to me.
Like, Sandra’s Pearl Islands win is just grand, okay? Her getting revenge for Rupert? Her outlasting and overcoming both Burton and Fairplay? Her playing a near perfect game and almost shutting-out Lil? Her being this personification of hero and villain and the perfect type of winner to best represent Pearl Islands? Like it’s all great on a superficial storytelling level. Pearl Islands would be a weaker season with literally any other winner, and that’s an incredible feat when you consider the caliber of that cast!
But like… to me, the thing that truly feels the most central about Sandra is just how unapologetically Latina she is. While Sandra’s opening confessional where she drops a “shit” to open the season is iconic, her first “moment” is that village scene where she shines as Drake’s hero completely setting up their tribe for success. And she does so with her Spanish. She hustles. She barters. She jokes about Trish being loved in a sexual way. She gets Fairplay to give her the only compliment he will ever give her in the entire season. And this energy is something she just continues with.
In her later seasons, there is definitely an aspect of Sandra that definitely feels “grander”. Like, she’s the two-time winner, “Queen Stays Queen” persona with much more of an ego and a general feeling that Sandra the character is there and being the best in any given scene. And, like, I’m not trying to shoot down on the authenticity of her in Heroes vs Villains, or Game Changers, or Winners at War, but it’s just objectively a fact that she now has an idea of who she is in Survivor lore and is presented to fit that viewpoint.
But in Pearl Islands, she’s just a normal woman. She’s just “Changa”. There’s no filter, and it just feels so much more humane. And then when you put her up against these larger than life figures like Rupert “the pirate” and Jonny Fairplay “the scientifically-designed Survivor heel”, Sandra just feels even more powerful that she is able to scream and shout and scheme and keep her character on their level. And she’s doing this while also being such an amazing representation for the Latino communities!
Jessie Camacho may have been the first, but she essentially was a non-entity in Africa thanks to her sickness/early boot. To us Latino viewers, Sandra really was the very first prominent Latino representation. From the focus on her Spanish-speaking to the fact that in the loved one visit challenge that she said her favorite food was Arroz con Gandules to just her mannerisms and the way she carries herself… Again, I’ve talked about this multiple times already in my write-ups, but I felt so seen.
Seeing her become as big of a character as she did was already amazing. And then seeing her ultimately end up winning… I’ve already mentioned this in my Yam Yam write-up, but I cried. Like, a lot. Because Sandra just felt unlike any other character on Survivor before. I truly felt like I could know her, that she was like a tia that I probably could have, a prima I’d have visited on the weekends… that’s the impact she had on me. And seeing this more relatable person end up being the winner of easily the best season of Survivor I had ever seen up to that point… my younger self could barely contain it.
Does Sandra deserve a much longer, more story-focused write-up? Possibly. But honestly… my love for Changa is a lot more personal. So any attempt over the past almost-month of working on these final write-ups, nothing just felt right to me. I’m not sure how fitting of a read this will feel to someone else, but to me… it just seems right. Sandra is my third favorite of all time. She’s occasionally my favorite of all time depending on my mood. She was my favorite for the longest time ever. And ultimately why? Because when she won, I cried my eyes out because I was so happy.
Literally, a perfect Survivor player. Thank you, Sandra Diaz-Twine. For making Survivor that much more important and transformative to me.
SMC0629: 4
DryBonesKing: 3
Zanthosus: 11
Tommyroxs45: 16
Regnisyak1: 11
DavidW1208: 2
ninjedi1: 11
Average Placement: 8.286
Total Points: 58
Standard Deviation: 6.651 (9th Highest)

A device that will drain most of the seawater in the world, revealing that the world is actually ONE PIECE of land.
I came to this conclusion after Vegapunk revealed most of the world is underwater. Luffy's dream is along the lines of being 'the most free' in the world.. but in a deeper sense, it's the ability to be able to travel all over the world for adventures. It's an outrageous dream based off the reactions of the SH crew plus Luffy can't rely on SH cew forever.. they all have their own hometowns to go back to. Devil fruits and the insane seas prevent him from doing so and we know that the majority islands have not been explored by SH crew since they're taking a seemingly linear route to Laugh Tale. A quote from Vegapunk (viz translation): "The world of a millenium ago now slumbers unseen at the bottom of the sea". To me that screams a lot of new adventures for Luffy to explore on top of being able to traverse more freely throughout the humongous world of One Piece.
I believe Roger and his crew laughed because they were powerless/helpless to activate One Piece because Roger still remarked how incredible the treasure was so it's nothing that's really 'funny' or something to laugh at.. it's just that they couldn't do anything despite knowing the void century history. The activation method is probably related to ANCIENY ENERGY that Vegapunk is trying to reproduce through the knockoff version aka MOTHER FLAME. We know the Iron Giant lost its energy climbing Mary Geoise but powered back up from the 'Drums of Liberation' through Joyboy's Gear 5.
The activation method for One Piece is probably related to the 'ENERGY' from the Drums of Liberation Gear 5 produces and that's related to 'ANCIENT ENERGY', thus they were 'too early' because Joyboy was nowhere to be seen.

Salutations, as the title states I'm going to name one song for every VShojo member that fits them the most, why am I doing this? To quote a fan of radio's "Why does anyone do anything, sheer absolute boredom." And since I'm a fan of both Sabaton and VShojo two polar opposite things, I decided to make this list. Without further ado. Enjoy.
Ironmouse - Hellfighters/The Unkillable Soldier.
Reason: I personally picked Hellfighters for two reasons, one the song is about the 369th Regiment a regiment of Puerto Rican and African-American forces. Two, because, well in the lore Ironmouse is Sayton, put two and two together. For the second choice of The Unkillable Soldier, well it fits due to both Adrian Carton De Wiart and Ironmouse's will to push forward in the most desperate of times.
Kson - Shiroyama
Reason: Shiroyama is one of the few Sabaton song's to be about Japan and the only Sabaton song about Japan not taking place during the Second World War. To quote the official Sabaton website about the song's story, "A turning point in Japanese history, the Battle of Shiroyama took place in 1877 and marked the end of Japan’s most famous warriors. The Satsuma Rebellion was the very last revolt of the Samurai against the imperial government of emperor Meiji."
Henya - Father
Reason: This one is probably going to be a controversial pick but I honestly couldn't think of anything better. Father is about Fritz Haber, a German/Prussian scientist who would create the Haber-Bosch process, an invention that lead to a significant boom in population due to the increase of agriculture. It should go without mention that Fritz Haber was also the one who helped Germany create lethal gas during World War 1, but with that aside. Both the 999IQ Genius Henya and Fritz Haber were both really smart people (or at least, Henya is, sometimes. Lol, love to the kettle.)
Kuro - Attack of the Dead Men
Reason: Like other songs on this list, most of them are based on the lore of members in VShojo since it's really hard to find songs directly linked to them. This case goes for Kuro as well. Attack of the Dead Men is based of the Siege of Osowiec Fortress and the events that would occur when the Germans gassed the Russian trench lines. On the early morning of the 6th of August, 1915. A cloud of poisonous gas crept of the Russian lines. As the Germans advanced through the gas, they could see figures stand back up. The Russians attacked the Germans and forced them back with pure anger and fury. Revenge for they're fallen comrades. It was the Attack of the Dead Men. In Kuro's lore, (from what I remember off the top of my head.) is about him basically coming back from the dead. Which fits with the song very well I'd think.
Apricot (Froot) - Metal Trilogy
Reason: Froot, being the metal head of VShojo was probably the easiest on the list to pick a song for. Metal Trilogy is a song which combines the three song's Sabaton have made as tribute to the metal genre. These three song's being in order of when they were released, Metal Machine, Metal Crüe, and Metal Ripper. I feel like it is blatantly obvious why I picked Metal Trilogy (especially since my indecisive ass would've been here for hours trying to pick which of the three songs would be better.)
ZZZZZZZZZZZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNN - To Hell and Back
Reason: Texas, yep that's it, pack up your bags. Anyway, To Hell and Back is about the WW2 hero and Hollywood actor, Audie Murphy, a short man from Texas. Who, fun fact, potrayed himself in the move by the same name as the song, "To Hell and Back." Both Zen and Audie Murphy were/are badasses.
Projekt "Yoga Instructor" Melody - The Future of Warfare
Reason: This one mean's two things to me in my brain, spiritually when tying Mel to this song it could mean how she was the pioneer of lewdtubing. The second thing it could be is, hehe funny metal machines go BRRRRRRRRRRRR... you know come to think of it, Metal Machine could also work for this, reason? Why do you think the line, "Come suck my Metal Machine." exists?
Mississippi- Michigan- Minnesota- Michi - Carolus Rex
Reason: There is none, the only real reasoning I have is that Michi is the newest member of VShojo and that Carolus Rex was the new heir to the Swedish throne. Otherwise I got nothing else.
That's the current list folks. Now your probably asking yourself, "Wait a goddamn minute, that isn't every member of VShojo!?" And you're right. Mainly because I can not for the love of god think of a Sabaton song for Matara, Hime, Haruka, or Geega! If you got any suggestions, let me know in the comments. But that's it for me, I'm off to go be a Rhode Islander.

I'm a Marxist and recently saw this quote criticizing anarchism/ the anarchist societal form of autonomous communes, curious of what you guys think about it and if you have any criticism of it. I'm not going to put it in the quote version text thingy because it's long.
From: https://www.international-communist-party.org/BasicTexts/English/57Fundam.htm
Quote:
It is a very strange fact that the libertarians, who around 1870 or so engaged in their polemics against Marx in the First International, and whose short-sightedness we have already referred to, are still widely considered to be "to the Left" of Marx. Actually, in spite of their verbal opposition to militarism and patriotism, they never grasped the importance of going beyond the purely national level when criticising bourgeois economy and studying how it spreads onto the global scale.
Marx described the formation of the international market as the ultimate and crowning historical task of the modern bourgeoisie; after that it only remained to fight to establish the proletarian dictatorship in the countries which were most advanced, and, after the destruction of the national states which arose alongside capitalism, an expansion onto an ever vaster scale of the power of the international proletarian class. The anarchist proposal, when not actually advocating unlimited autonomy for all individuals, whatever their class, was to destroy the capitalist State so as to replace it with small social units, the famous communities of producers, which after the collapse of the central government would supposedly be totally autonomous, even with respect to each other.
The rather abstract form of future society based on local "communes" doesn’t seem that different from today’s bourgeois society, and its economic procedures don’t seem that different either. Those who set out to describe this future society, such as Bakunin and Kropotkin, thought it enough merely to link it to a set of philosophical ideologisms, rather than to an analysis of historically verified laws of social production. When they did take up Marx’s critique, it was only in the most minimal and selective way since they were unable to infer the conclusions implied by the theory: they were impressed by the concept of surplus value (which is an economic theorem) but used it merely to support their moral condemnation of exploitation, which they saw as arising from human beings exerting "power" over each other. Unable to attain the theoretical level of dialectics, they were debarred from understanding, for instance, that in the transition from the appropriation of the physical product of the serf’s labour by the landowning lord to the production of surplus value in the capitalist system, an actual "liberation" from more crushing forms of servitude and oppression has taken place; for even if the division into classes, and the existence of a State power, still remained a historical necessity, and benefited the bourgeois class, in that period it also benefited the whole of the rest of society as well.
One of the principal causes of the greater output of labour as a whole, and of the higher average remuneration for the same amount of labour, was the creation of the nationwide market and the division of productive labour into different branches of industry, with the latter enabled to exchange their fully and semi‑worked products within a zone of free circulation of commodities, and increasingly impelled to extend this zone beyond the State boundaries.
This increase (fully condoning the Marxist view) in the wealth of the bourgeoisie and in the power of each of each of its states, and along with this the production of surplus-value, does not immediately mean that an absolute increase in the gross revenue extracted is at the expense of the lower classes. To a certain extent, it is still compatible with a lessening of the hours of labour and with a general improvement in the satisfaction of needs. Therefore, the idea of dismantling capitalism by breaking up the national State into little islands of power, characteristic of the pre‑bourgeois Middle Ages, makes no sense at all. It would clearly be a retrograde step to force the economy back into these limited confines, even if the sole aim were to prevent a few lazy, non‑workers from appropriating any of the resources from each of the little communes.
In this system of egalitarian communes, it is certain that the cost of the daily food supply, calculated in terms of the hours of labour of all the adult members of the community (leaving aside the niggling question of those who didn’t want to work, and who would compel them to do so!) would be more than if production was organised at the level of the nation, take modern France for instance, where there is a continuous and regular economic traffic between the different communes, and a given manufactured article is obtained from the places where it is produced with least difficulty; even if the "hundred families" still gobble everything up for free.
In fact, these various communes would have no option but to trade amongst each other on the basis of free exchange. And even if we admitted that a "universal consciousness" would suffice to peacefully regulate these relations between the different locally based economic nuclei, there would still be nothing to prevent one commune extracting surplus value from another due to a fluctuating equivalence between one commodity and another.
This imaginary system of little economic communes is nothing more than a philosophical caricature of that age‑old petty-bourgeois dream self-government. It can easily be seen that this system is just as mercantile as the one which existed in Stalin’s Russia or in the increasingly anti‑proletarian post‑Stalinist Russia, and it is equally clear that it involves a totally bourgeois system of monetary equivalents (without a State mint?!) which is bound to weigh down the average productive labourer far more than a system of national or imperialist, large‑scale industries.

"Do you kill the messenger? No! You kill the person that delivered the message!" - Jelle Van Vucht (2024)

I’m not sure where to start. I’ve (34F) recently been afforded the opportunity to stay home with my two boys 8 and 4 this summer. I was recently laid off from my employer. After looking at summer childcare prices for both boys my husband (34M) and I decided it makes more sense financially for me to stay home with the kids. Summer camps were looking to be around $100-$200 more than I even made a week. So I’ve been home since mid April.
I did not have the best childhood. Both my parents are drug addicts. My sister and myself were put into foster care for 3 years when I was 5 to 8. We lived in poverty never knowing if we would have electricity or food. Or the next abusive jerkoff my mom would bring home. We moved around a lot. I never lived in one place longer than 8 months until I was 22 years old. I spent much of my youth taking care of siblings, working, and getting out of there. I’ve never had the quote unquote childhood experiences. I’ve been emotionally physically and SA abused. I’ve come sooooo far. I have a life beyond my wildest dreams. Two amazing boys and my husband tries so hard.
However, with that being said I’m having a difficult time finding the gratitude. I have worked my whole life. I never was able to go to college. I’ve sacrificed so much and now that I’ve had a second to pause and reflect I feel almost jaded.
My husband and I are very different people. He loves sports. He watches every football game. No matter who is playing. I didn’t even know people did that before I met him. He grew up very ummm taken care of let’s say. I taught him how to cook, clean, write a check, set up a phone plan, buy a car. His mom did his wash until we got together. Hes had a very blessed life. Not rich, not wealthy, just taken care of. Something I have never experienced from my own parents. He has a hard time relating to my up bringing and sometimes doesn’t understand why I take certain things like cleanliness (ewww never want bugs again ever or to be called dirty) and keeping our yard clean. And constantly feeling judged by others on the cleanliness of our house.
He also has a group of male friends. Tight knit group of four guys. They take trips together. They play video games together. It’s really sweet. And they are great guys. Like they give him good advice and listen. When we were arguing the one time they took my side and said he was being immature. (Long story for another day). My husband also plays basketball 1-2x a week and is in a flag football league. He coaches our older son’s flag football league also.
Now that I’m not working I’m alone 80% of the time. Which will change next week when school lets out. But right now I’m alone most of the time. My life is centered around things that I do not like. Football, basketball, rough and tumble. I feel like I’ve sacrificed my whole identity (did I even have a chance to find an identity) and will never have the opportunity to try things in my life that spark joy in my soul.
I feel ashamed to even want these things because for so long just getting my head above water was all I ever wanted in the whole world. To have a yard and a clean kitchen. That’s it. And now I have dreams. I let myself dream in the quiet. Climbing mountains, seeing state parks, learning about the earth and all of her glory, getting away from junk food and living clean. Seeing islands. Touching the Atlantic. Going on a cruise. Feel like unattainable mirages that I’ll never reach. Just gaze upon from a distance thinking about what could be.
My husband gets horrible motion sickness. Refuses to get on a boat. Won’t fly. We flew to Florida back in 2013 and it was so turbulent he wouldn’t get on a plane again. I love him so much. I will learn to accept. I do have friends. Friends I have met throughout the years. Amazing wonderful supportive friends. But not one of them is friends with another. They all live separate lives and are independent from each other. I do not have a friend “group”. And from listening to my husband and his friends I feel sad. Because my friends don’t talk to each other my friendships feel very segmented and conversation seems piecemeal on my part. I’m not one to sit on the phone and prefer in person conversation. I don’t know how to describe it but because my friends aren’t friends and I have trouble asking for help in the first place and I don’t like repeating myself I’ve started speaking to them less and less about my internal feelings. I feel like a burden weighing everyone down with my wants. I feel like an after thought.
In the beginning I talked to my friends about my own dreams but they also have their own busy lives and share different interests. And it kind of exhausts my heart to even try anymore. I downloaded this new app called bumble BFF to find new friends with similar interests but it all feels so pointless. I don’t know what I’m even trying to get across at this point sorry for the longness of it all. I just feel so squashed. I’m jealous of my husband for being happy and I just want this feeling to go away.
If anyone can relate you’re not alone. Thank you for listening 🫠💕

To quote from the bail application:

A forensic analysis of the “HK2002-04” document reveals that it was not only a locally-created draft (i.e., not downloaded from the internet), but also recovered from a hard-drive that indicates it was utilized by Heuermann himself. While the original document appears to have been created in 2000, based on its original title (“HK 2000-03”), this iteration of the Word Document(titled “HK 2002-04”) appears to have been created and modified between 2001 and 2002.

I. Based on the circumstantial evidence (Heuermann's recon zone for video cameras cites the Long Island Expressway, which is where Taylor's remains were initally found), I tend to agree with LE's conclusion that the current 2002 iteration of the document refers to the blueprint he followed to murder J. Taylor, though I'd hazard a guess that he might have not been looking to kill her specifically, considering the difference in timing between 2002 and her going missing in July 2003. The fact he lists two potential targets would seem to lend credence to this assumption.
But might it be possible that 'Megan' had been an alias used by Jessica and Heuermann had been gaining her trust by soliciting her services for over a year before putting his plan in motion? His notes have him say he forgot to recon the pick-up zone for video cameras, suggesting a relatively isolated stretch. I doubt any sex worker would have agreed to meet him in a distant area unless he was a regular. We can only speculate at this point, but it's something to think about.
II. The original document was named 'HK2000-03'. Based on the date of 2000, I'm presuming that this version was the blueprint used to kill Valeria Mack. Law enforcement probably has access to this original file and will include it in a bail application should they ever charge him with Valeria, but this opens up another question: what does the naming convention signify?
If 'HK' really stands for 'hunt-kill' or something else close to that, could this mean that Valeria Mack was his third kill, and Taylor his fourth?

Two big stories today that together reveal a broader landscape.
The first is that the Bureau of Labor Statistics today released another blockbuster jobs report. The country added 272,000 jobs in May, far higher than the 180,000 jobs economists predicted. A widespread range of sectors added new jobs, including health care, government, leisure and hospitality, and professional, scientific, and technical services. Wages are also up. Over the past year, average hourly earnings have grown 4.1%, higher than the rate of inflation, which was 3.4% over the same period.
The unemployment rate ticked up from 3.9% to 4%. This is not a significant change, but it does break the 27-month streak of unemployment below that number.
The second big story is that Justice Clarence Thomas amended a financial filing from 2019, acknowledging that he should have reported two free vacations he accepted from Texas billionaire Harlan Crow. While in the past he said he did not need to disclose such gifts, in today’s filing he claimed he had “inadvertently omitted” the trips on earlier reports. ProPublica broke the story of these and other gifts from Crow, including several more trips than Thomas has so far acknowledged.
Fix The Court, a nonprofit advocacy group that seeks to reform the federal courts, estimates that Thomas has accepted more than $4 million in gifts over the last 20 years. As economic analyst Steven Rattner pointed out, that’s 5.6 times more than the other 16 justices on the court in those years combined.
These two news items illustrate a larger story about the United States in this moment.
The Biden administration has quite deliberately overturned the supply-side economics that came into ascendancy in 1981 when President Ronald Reagan took office and that remained dominant until 2021, when Biden entered the White House. Adherents of that ideology rejected the idea that the government should invest in the “demand side” of the economy—workers and other ordinary Americans—to develop the economy, as it had done since 1933.
Instead, they maintained that the best way to nurture the economy was to support the “supply side”: those at the top. Cutting business regulations and slashing taxes would create prosperity, they said, by concentrating wealth in the hands of individuals who would invest in the economy more efficiently than they could if the government interfered in their choices. That smart investment would dramatically expand the economy, supporters argued, and everyone would do better.
But supply-side economics never produced the results its supporters promised. What it did do was move money out of the hands of ordinary Americans into the hands of the very wealthy. Economists estimate that between 1981 and 2021, more than $50 trillion dollars moved from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%.
In order to keep that system in place, Republicans worked to make it extraordinarily difficult for Congress to pass laws making the government do anything, even when the vast majority of Americans wanted it to. With the rise of Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to the position of Senate majority leader in 2007, they weaponized the filibuster so any measure that went against their policies would need 60 votes in order to get through the Senate, and in 2010 they worked to take over state legislatures so that they could gerrymander state congressional districts so severely that Republicans would hold far more seats than they had earned from voters.
With Congress increasingly neutered, the power to make law shifted to the courts, which Republicans since the Reagan administration had been packing with appointees who adhered to their small-government principles.
Clarence Thomas was a key vote on the Supreme Court. But as ProPublica reported in December 2023, Thomas complained in 2000 to a Republican member of Congress about the low salaries of Supreme Court justices (equivalent to about $300,000 today) and suggested he might resign. The congressman and his friends were desperate to keep Thomas, with his staunchly Republican vote, on the court. In the years after 2000, friends and acquaintances provided Thomas with a steady stream of gifts that supplemented his income, and he stayed in his seat.
But what amounts to bribes has compromised the court. After the news broke that Thomas has now disclosed some of the trips Crow gave him, conservative lawyer George Conway wrote: “It’s long past time for there to be a comprehensive criminal investigation, and congressional investigation, of Justice Thomas and his finances and his taxes. What he has taken, and what he has failed to disclose, is beyond belief, and has been so for quite some time.” A bit less formally, over a chart of the monetary value of the gifts Thomas has accepted, Conway added: “I mean. This. Is. Just. Nuts.”
As the Republican system comes under increasing scrutiny, Biden’s renewal of traditional economic policies is showing those policies to be more successful than the Republicans’ system ever was. If Americans turn against the Republican formula of slashing taxes and deregulating business, those at the top of the economy stand to lose both wealth and control of the nation’s economic system.
Trump has promised more tax cuts and deregulation if he is reelected, although the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently projected that his plan to extend the 2017 tax cuts that are set to expire in 2025 will add more than $3 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. In April, at a meeting with 20 oil executives, Trump promised to cut regulations on the fossil fuel industry in exchange for $1 billion in donations, assuring them that the tax breaks he would give them once he was in office would pay for the donation many times over (indeed, an analysis quoted in The Guardian showed his proposed tax cuts would save them $110 billion). On May 23, he joined fossil fuel executives for a fundraiser in Houston.
In the same weeks, Biden’s policies have emphasized using the government to help ordinary people rather than to move wealth upward.
On May 31 the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that it will make its experimental free electronic filing system permanent. It asked all 50 states and the District of Columbia to sign on to the program and to help taxpayers use it. The program’s pilot this year was wildly successful, with more than 140,000 people filing that way. Private tax preparers, whose industry makes billions of dollars a year, oppose the new system.
The Inflation Reduction Act provided funding for this program and for beefing up the ability of the IRS to audit the wealthiest taxpayers. As Fatima Hussein wrote for the Associated Press, Republicans cut $1.4 billion from these funds last summer and will shift an additional $20 billion from the IRS to other programs over the next two years.
Today the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued five new reports showing that thanks in part to the administration's outreach efforts about the Affordable Care Act, the rate of Black Americans without health insurance dropped from 20.9% in 2010 to 10.8% in 2022. The same rate among Latinos dropped from 32.7% to 18%. For Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, the rate of uninsured dropped from 16.6% to 6.2%. And for American Indians and Alaska Natives, the rate dropped from 32.4% to 19.9%. More than 45 million people in total are enrolled in coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
President Biden noted the strength of today’s jobs report in a statement, adding: “I will keep fighting to lower costs for families like the ones I grew up with in Scranton.” Republicans “have a different vision,” he said, “one that puts billionaires and special interests first.” He promised: “I will never stop fighting for Scranton—not Park Avenue.”
—
Notes:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/06/07/may-jobs-unemployment/
https://www.cnn.com/business/live-news/jobs-report-may-06-07-24/index.html
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/07/jobs-report-may-2024-us-job-gains-totaled-272000-in-may.html
https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-gift-disclosures-harlan-crow
https://fixthecourt.com/2024/06/a-staggering-tally-supreme-court-justices-accepted-hundreds-of-gifts-worth-millions-of-dollars/
https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-money-complaints-sparked-resignation-fears-scotus
https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america/
https://apnews.com/article/treasury-income-taxes-irs-audits-direct-file-04c3b4b55ca0d37b2c40697a392c78aa
https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2024/06/07/biden-harris-administration-releases-data-showing-historic-gains-health-care-coverage-minority-communities.html
https://thehill.com/business/budget/4652668-extending-trumps-tax-cuts-would-cost-us-trillions-of-dollars/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/16/donald-trump-big-oil-executives-alleged-deal-explained
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/22/trump-oil-industry-campaign
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/11/us/politics/trump-biden-affordable-care-act.html
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/06/07/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-the-may-jobs-report/
X:
SteveRattnestatus/1799058177373381097
SteveRattnestatus/1798749555002941930
gtconway3d/status/1799122270037713027
gtconway3d/status/1799123230772568563
BidenHQ/status/1799098652297769271
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-7-2024

Our dark humor love story:
My King who lives on Dom Hill: u get me, I get u. Is this Mac miller?
Teaching body language to mimic the true mind. (subconscious) I subconsciously mimic not being scared of the perceived notion of the 3D worldview scared. Aka loving horror and blood since I was 4? Maybe it was one of my mom's ways of coping with me? Why was I fascinated with that stuff? When I was 4?
Signs, you say or saw:
In this story, I closed the very last chapter for Good, Better is not here, Best is where you are found. We are one Now. You can build your story as tall and wholesome and loved as you want.
My kids are my lighthouses. They lead me to safety. Making the proper way to ensure I get them to safety. In the raging fucking red sea thunderstorm (::: STORMS OUT, IN A RAGEEEEE. RAT IN A CAGE. GO. I AM ONLY HAPPY WHEN IT RAIIIINS.:::). Nineties. 1994. The year Kurt died by suicide I was 10 and died by suicide inside. Boy, interrupted, I watch Now. I know. Why is that? My "what" was answered at the time of death. I turned into a monster. I just didn't share myself with you or them or scare anyone. I made myself not feel. It was my only way to safety. I killed the innocence inside cuz I didn't want to face that I didn't any have childhood innocence on the outside? :::NIN PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND:::
💌Again, I always was....::: R. sings it in her Eeyore Nirvana wearing sweaters phase:::: /Endscene.
The sun is setting in Autumn at the pumpkin patch. You can smell a bonfire in the distance. The peace on Earth is over there. You are seen by the embers in the fire. You are bright, abundant and warm. But only on a winter night. Never in the joy you see sunshine in.
/Fade into You:
Didn't you know? I knew! All along, I knew. I could never betray you.
His work space is his treasure capsule.
Mindfulness techniques back to baseline. Focusing on what you normally wouldn't while in psychosis. This healthy salad is really good says my brain activity. I can taste the goodness in each bite, appreciating its nutrients. Helps me get back to baseline, mind. Do this for me and I'll share your story with the world. U got my word, you're my world.
Oh, you poet to my own island society! My heart, struck in love. We mirror opposite, though. I'm afraid... I think of the ocean with my sweet girl in the distance, having fun in the North East of the world, with her grandparents on a beautiful hot summer day. The waves in the distance sound so soft and still. It's quiet and it's a sight of Heaven. Maybe she can teach them about forgiving others with her sun kissed freckles and smile to wrap around you when you feel the sadness engulfing you.... and for you, to see me, which includes your love and safety of my heart... My mom is alive in that wish!
He can be anything he needs around me. Outside of work, on our phones... I just wish he would tell me to leave him alone. It's an easier, true cold fact rather than my truest and happiest divine being helping him feel this way, so cold? Masking the opposite on the outside to keep your treasure capsule safe. I know a good quote or two by Stephen King. That I'm not there? Just a ghost again...typical, per usual. ::::EYEROLL, EVERYONE!::: That he just thinks ::::THE AUDEIENCE, GASPS::: WHILE CAMERMAN ZOOMS IN ON OP'S, FACE?? (Scratch that)::::? That...I'm boring? Halt and catch. He is halt and I am catch. Stop and go. Gender reverse. Masc energy outside on text and he is in fem at work inside with me, I love that a Billie Eyelash song...
\end disassociation.
I bring out the best in him no matter where he is. He just feels my safety. Words don't matter and they don't lie. They aren't the truth, though. They are there for support. But you are my Pride. My Peace. My Hidden Heaven. Rainbow at the end of an Autumn storm. Catch me if you can, watch it... Watch out.... Here I go.
Call me if you can!

DUBAI

• Caroline Stanbury puts on a very loved-up display with her husband Sergio Carrallo at Brisbane's Lone Pine Sanctuary… after opening up about family plans (Daily Mail)

NEW JERSEY

• Where Did The Real Housewives of New Jersey Cast Go to College? (Bravo)
• Milania Giudice Looks Like an Actual Princess in Her Second Senior Prom Dress (PHOTOS) (Bravo)

NEW YORK

• Real Housewives of New York cast net worths (Cosmopolitan)

BEVERLY HILLS

• Kyle Richards Hints at Early Drama During RHOBH Season 14 Filming (Heavy)
• Kyle and Kathy Tease RHOBH Season 14 & Bozoma Saint John’s Debut: “She Is Something Else” (Bravo)
• Kathy Hilton Reflects on 'Very Scary' Time for Sister Kyle Richards as Her 28-Year Marriage Ends (ET exclusive)
• Kyle Richards and Mauricio Umansky's Latest Reunion Is Their Sweetest Yet (PHOTO) (Bravo)
• Erika Jayne promotes her new project, “Dominos,” in furry boots (Page Six Star Snaps)
• Yolanda Hadid's Photos When She Was Young Prove She Was Destined to Be a Model (Bravo)

BRAVO

• Kristen Doute Likely Won’t Mend ‘Conditional’ Lala Kent Friendship: ‘Don’t Need That in My Life’ (US Weekly)
• 'VPR' Is Dead, Long Live 'The Valley,' the New Mecca of Messy Reality Drama (Emma Chance for Pajiba)
• Vanderpump Rules’ Billie Lee Fires Back at Tom Sandoval’s Girlfriend Victoria, Says She’s “So Desperate” and Clarifies Claim About Victoria Moving Ariana’s Stuff (Reality Blurb)
• ‘Vanderpump Rules’ EP Alex Baskin Denies Cast Claims of Interference, Addresses Future of the Show (Kate Aurthur for Variety)
• Stassi Schroeder Announces Death of Her Stepfather (Heavy)
• Stassi Schroeder Says She Misses ‘Sleeping In’ Now She's a Mom of 2 (People exclusive)
• Summer House’s West Wilson and Ciara Miller Speak Out After Shocking Reunion Revelations (US Weekly)
• Amanda Confronts West Over Ciara in Unseen Reunion Moment: “Seems Like a Pattern" (Bravo)
• Summer House’s Paige DeSorbo Admits West ‘Fumbled the Bag’ With Ciara, but He’s ‘Not Like a Sandoval’ (US Weekly)
• Paige DeSorbo Is Summer House’s Season 8 Confessional Queen — And We Have the Quotes to Prove It (US Weekly)
• Craig Conover finally reacts to Kyle Cooke calling him a ‘liar’ over Loverboy investment feud: ‘Deeply disappointed’ (Page Six exclusive)
• Jasmine Ellis and Silas Cooper Share What They Would’ve Changed About ‘Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard’ (US Weekly exclusive)
• Fran Lebowitz, Annie Lebovitz, and Andy Cohen attend opening of Little Island’s summer season (Page Six exclusive details)

AFRICAN FRANCHISES

• Christall spills the tea on island romances, and her position with the ladies on The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip (IOL)
• 'Real Housewives of Durban's Sorisha Naidoo and Husband Vivian Reddy Visit Tongaat Tornado Victims (Briefly)

Links to this week's episode discussion posts:

• Summer House S8E16 ☀️
• The Valley S1E12 🏘️
• RHODubai S2E1 🐪
• RHONJ S14E5 🍝

With new speculation about a Code: Veronica remake every day comes discussions about how a modern reimagining will tackle the story. Both to keep it fresh, new and interesting in a way that a story from 2000 would need 25 years later, and also to examine elements that could be considered controversial today.
The long-and-short of CV is the follow up story to RE2 following Claire's adventure(s) deeper down the Umbrella rabbit hole where
I want to talk about the potential issues, and am open to conversation with genuine criticisms of them themselves but also nuanced debate over potential backlash and solutions.
The biggest points of contention in CV are 1. Alfred's Dissociative Identity Disorder explored through crossdressing 2. Accusations of twincest 3. Steve
1: Alfred Ashford clearly exhibits traits of Dissociative Identity DisordeMultiple Personality Disorder - thinking himself to be his (presumably at the time deceased) sister Alexia. I enjoy the Norman Bates-esque character horror behind this. While some may argue the antagonisation of mental disorders is problematic, ableist, or just perpetuates negative ideas, it's also such a staple in horror. It does make an antagonist scarier when they're so "fucked up" and unhinged, in this instance thinking they're someone else. The crossdressing sub plot is incredibly anime. And relies heavily too on too many external factors. What luck that Alfred happens to pass as a woman and look just like his sister. I'm a frateral twin, transgender female originallly male with a female sister. And while we look like siblings, I'm very clearly still male. And I live like this every day and do professional makeup and hair. And I'm meant to believe this aristocratic guy in Umbrella is suddenly able to impersonate his sister, looks and voice, so well? That he's sitting down for the long process of putting on makeup and a wig, mid psychosis? I find it hilarious. I picture cross dressers in horror to look more like Buffalo Bill, Frankenfurter. Horrible, hard to look at, mentally sick "crossdressing freaks" to quote Claire.
I think one solution could be to possibly remove that aspect entirely (The likely option) or even what if Alexia's inferior twin was female? So she's just another girl, Alexia's inferior recessive twin sister, who assumes her identity after death and is revealed later to just be The Other. Call her Alexandria or something. We still get the DID "Is there really an Alexia after all? Thinks they're 2 people?" storyline but without the awkward crossdressing territory.

1. The twincest angle is definitely more between the lines and an easy low hanging fruit joke to make. But in terms of horror, and freaking out the viewer(/player) really effective. It's probably going to get removed though, because as horrific as RE can get, it's usually corporations being evil, horror through power, and metaphors against imperialist capitalism. I don't think fucked up twincest freaks is quite at home in RE, even after RE7.
   
2. I'd still absolutely want Steve to stay. Just tweak him a lot. Maybe age him up so his pining after Claire feels more acceptable. His Darkside Chronicles counterpart was pretty much perfect.
   

What do we think is coming story wise in the remake? I really think Code Veronica is where the story jumped the shark. We went from a power-crazy corporation that accidentally zombified an entire city's population to suddenly seeing them as a massive worldwide conglomerate with a military island for training their own private military, and zombies in both Europe and Antarctica, ran by a bunch of crazy aristocrats. Should Antarctica be cut out? Should Rockfort be more grounded? Should Umbrella be dialled down? Should the Ashfords be less eccentric?

Hello fellow Long Islanders,
We are in the middle of our kitchen renovation sms are starting to get to the countertop stage. Can you recommend companies to get quotes from that you worked with previously? Thanks in advance!

4th: Shane Powers (Panama - 5th)

i have an issue with my penis, im so sorry. the linsanity run ends here!
u/SMC0629:
Shane is a character who I don't think you can replicate. His focus on humor is something people can find overbearing, but most of it is just a joy to watch. He has some of the funniest moments the show has seen, whether intentional or unintentional. However, the main reason I love Shane is his moral and emotional stuff. From his nicotine withdrawls, to his relationship with Aras, to most imporantly, his bond with his son. It makes for to this day, the best family visit the show has ever seen. Shane is incredible, very deserving of endgame.
~
u/DryBonesKing:
So of all the people in this Endgame who are in my Personal Top 100, Shane ranks the lowest. I’ve actually lowered on him a little bit since this thing started and if I had no deals attached at all, I’d probably have him cut around the same time I tried to cut Lex. One of my 10/10s with minor criticism. But before I get into that, let’s talk up why Shane’s great: because he’s literally batshit.
I cannot fathom how he passed the psyche test to get on the cast, because there’s so much going on with him to the point of it being overwhelming. Shane going cold turkey with his nicotine withdrawal is an amazing case study that doesn’t feel ethical, but goddammit was it entertaining! Shane slots perfectly into Casaya and his dynamic with literally everyone on that godforsaken tribe (but especially his relationship with Courtney) is perfect. Hell, he’s also got an underrated dynamic with Terry as well and I think gives the guy some very interesting characterization in the endgame. Shane’s batshit energy and “bad vibes” however does get offset by his relationship with his son, which I think is probably one of my favorite loved one visits of all time. Boston helps humanize him in a way that you normally don’t get to see for these “crazy” type of characters and their whole dynamic and the build-up to the loved one visit is probably one of the biggest reasons why Shane not only works, but works perfectly.
The only criticism I think I can give Shane is that sometimes, his bullshit does come across a bit too much. Like, moments where he loses his shit on Courtney and threatens to kill her in her shitty apartment? Feels believable in terms of his loss of sanity. Him losing his shit about “his sitting spot”? Pushing it, but I kinda buy it. But that whole blackberry scene? Honestly, a bit too much, makes the whole character feel a little fake. Like I know he’s doing a bit, but he says it such crazed energy and the edit takes him serious enough that it just rubs me the wrong way. It’s admittedly only a single scene so it doesn’t irk me enough to bring him down from a 10/10, but like Lex and his relationship with Big Tom, it’s just a minor nitpick I have with this otherwise flawless character.
Overall Rank – 87/821
~
u/Zanthosus:
Shane rides the line of being incredibly chaotic without it ever becoming concerning or worrisome. That’s not to say it never rides that line incredibly close, because there’s definitely points where he can bring a level of discomfort to the season that makes me hesitant to consider him truly great. Even despite that, though, he makes for incredible TV nine times out of ten, so I’m still glad he’s made it to endgame again.
~
u/Tommyroxs45:
Shane is the soul of Casaya, all of the incredible moments quoted to this day basically all come from Shane. He works so well with the rest of the tribe and how he and the rest of them are somehow able to control the game is baffling but also comedic gold.
~
u/Regnisyak1:
You better believe I am getting him to endgame in Survivor Rankdown: All-Stars to do his damn writeup
Personal Rank: 4/821. 10/10.
~~~~~
u/ninjedi1:
When I was a kid, my bedtime was 8pm. However, because I was a little shit I would usually get out of bed usually about 30 to 50 minutes later and see what my Mom was watching on TV. This would be my first way I would experience Survivor for a while. My first experience were these two guys sitting at this set and one of the guys looked really cool with his beard and funky rainbow shirt. The next key Survivor memory I have is a challenge where they had to swim out and then down to get rings, but one guy drops him to the ocean floor, but then another guy goes down and goes “It was so deep…and I got it!” and that was really cool. I finally got a chance to see more than a couple minutes of an episode where I got to see most of this one episode where one team only had two people left on it, and I thought that they must stink at the game, and I was right cause they lost both challenges. Then my Mom started letting me watch the first half of the episodes about the jury phase of Guatemala, where I was rooting for Rafe cause I thought his name was cool. But finally, I got to experience my first real season right from the start, Survivor Panama Exile Island. Naturally, I needed to pick my favorite to root for in the season, and when I saw this one guy right at the start with hair that I thought looked cool and saw his name, I decided “Him. He’s my favorite”.
Shane Powers (5th Place, Panama)
Shane powers is my favorite survivor player of all time ever since I first saw him as a kid. I was worried on rewatch that I only liked him because I had nostalgia goggles on, but on rewatches I love him even more. The first episode actually greatly sets up who Shane is and what his story is going to be, which is actually pretty incredible considering all screen time is split between 4 teams, and La Mina wins immunity so they aren’t nearly as important for the focus of the first episode. He complains about how all his tribe wants to do is work and wants to call people out for being moronic. He also talks about how he just stopped smoking the day before coming out to the island, so he can’t lash out at anyone while he’s on this detox.
The next episode is when Shane hits a low point in the game. The shelter La Mina has isn’t finished when a huge rainstorm comes in, so they’re soaked, and wonders why he’s even out here cause he doesn’t need the money and misses his son. We also get two iconic lines back to back from him. Most remember the “No more torrential downpours sir god, no more of those!” line, but my favorite as a kid was “I do not like you flea!”. Luckily though, a swap happens and Shane gets first as “the cool guy with the Boston tattoo” to be on the new Casaya tribe and chooses Courtney to be on it. He then immediately starts trashing the season theme by complaining about how didn’t belong in the older men tribe because he was 34 going on 12 and prefers this new tribe as he doesn’t feel like wanting to leave at all. He even gets himself in a great spot strategically as Shane instantly forms an alliance with Aras, Courtney, and Danielle, swearing in his son to stay true and tells everyone that if they screw him he’ll kill them and tells them he’s serious when they laugh. However, that grace period ends quickly after they lose immunity, saying that Casaya is in dire straits and were wrecked physically, and now he was once again done with the game and wants to be voted out, which annoys everyone including the alliance he just made. However, he gets convinced by Aras to stick it out and he just needs water, so he decides to stay and immediately tells Cirie and Melinda to their face that they’re going home. Such a huge emotional roller coaster with Shane, and it's only the second episode.
The next couple episodes do set up a rhythm of how Shane’s experience on Casaya goes. For starters, he starts developing a big hatred for his two biggest allies, Danielle and Courtney. With Danielle, he feels like she doesn’t do nearly as much work as him or Aras, and argues with her about her aversion to working. He also gets annoyed with Courtney simply by the fact that she annoys him, and they end up bickering over everything. Another big part of Shane’s character is his big outbursts, the big one from episode three is when he gets a big rock to sit on and calls it his thinking seat, tells everyone that no one can sit on it, and when everyone laughs he starts yelling about how he just wants to sit on this rock.
These emotions boil over in episode 5 when Casaya loses immunity again, and originally he wants to vote out Bobby, but gets convinced by Aras to vote Bruce. So Shane makes a deal with Bobby, swearing on his son that he would keep Bobby around until final 6. But uh oh, the women of the tribe want to vote out Bobby now, which greatly annoys Shane cause he just promised Bobby that he would get Bobby to F6 and starts yelling at Courtney about it for some reason. He would throw his vote and Bobby went home, but he was so livid he yelled about how they made a bad decision due to Danielle’s emotions while everyone was trying to sleep. He basically wants out of the alliance but can’t because he swore on his son’s name. Luckily for him, all the women on the tribe want him out next, so when asked if he could take back his son’s name, they say yes immediately, and then he tells them that he can’t work with people who make their decisions emotionally and then tells them that they do nothing. At that point, even Aras was ready to vote Shane out. Luckily, they win immunity and go on a reward to a panamanian village. That’s where Shane manages to bum a cigarette off a local and gets an insane rush from it that somehow gives him the ability to make up everything with Danielle, allowing all to be forgiven.
Then the merge hits, and Shane ends up in a really good spot! Since Casaya are up in numbers when the merge hits, 6-4, and he quickly rallies all of Casaya to stick together, giving Shane an easy ride to final 7. That means we get a lot of great Shane moments! We get him asking Jeff to bring out a temptation during an immunity challenge, and when Jeff reveals he doesn’t have any, he just drops out. He complains about the people talking about the reward they won, saying “That’s a problem, I couldn’t finish my bacon cause there was too much”. We get Shane chowing Cirie his penis to check on a rash he’s getting and then him stuffing his face full of cheeseburger instead of doing the immunity challenge, and then says he overperformed at the immunity challenge cause he almost ate two cheeseburgers both in the same episode!
The biggest episode for Shane though was the touchy subjects episode. We do get the funny Shane moments at that challenge where he gets voted as “person who thinks they’re in control of the game” and “most moodiest person”, which he then proves by complaining about Courtney cutting him twice, saying that her life in the game is changing, specifically her enjoyment around camp. He also gets on his hands and knees begging Cirie to take him on reward, which she doesn’t. We also get the iconic Bruce medevac scene, where Shane helps carry Bruce out on a stretcher buck naked. But in the morning, Shane begins strategizing with Courtney, seeing her as a dream person to take to the F2 to beat. They solidify a plan to work together in the game, and then Shane proceeds to threaten to kill her in her shitty apartment if she betrayed him, much to Cortney’s annoyance because her apartment isn’t shitty! This would lead into Shane’s strategic downfall, as Cirie figures out how useful Courtney would be to take to the end while Shane is too busy using a piece of wood as a blackberry to allow him to communicate to people not on the island, and she organizes a Courtney vote, leaving Shane out of it. This shocks Shane when it happens, but gets assured that he is still good for F4 by Aras. This calms Shane down and makes him confident that he’s safe, when in reality he would be next to go if Terry won immunity again. And sure enough, Terry won immunity again and Shane gets blindsided at the vote, and instead of a huge meltdown which everyone was probably expecting, Shane brags about how he’s going to have a chocolate ice cream bar in one minute (extra emphasis on the one minute) before finally getting his torch snuffed.
So all of the above is great. Shane is clearly a goofy crazy character with a lot of funny moments and outbursts, and that makes him a great character, but that isn’t what makes him number one for me. What makes Shane the best for me and elevates him from a great character to a perfect character, is the love he has for his son. We see Shane himself explain how much Boston means to him, as when watching a part of his video from home, he begins to tear up and cry when seeing his son, calling him his son, his brother, his other half.It really resonates with me how much Shane clearly loves and cares for his son Boston out there, especially when you consider the status quo at the time was for men to keep their emotions under wraps. It's especially unique with Shane since usually people who are about their family play the game to win it for him, but for Shane it is what makes him want to leave. The first time he thinks about quitting is when he realizes how much he misses his son and questions why he’s even out there. He cares so much that when he uses his son’s name for promises, it ways on him deeply, like when he hated the people in his alliance but he was stuck with them due to using his son’s name and asking them to let him take it back instead of just outright betraying them, or being annoyed when the vote switches to Bobby cause he just promised on his son name to keep Bobby until F6. We were honestly robbed with that extra scene where Shane thinks he shouldn’t be there cause he’s missing his son’s birthday, so Courtney suggests the whole tribe sing happy birthday for him, and the whole tribe sits at the beach singing happy birthday while Shane just stares off into the night sky is just emotionally powerful. This all leads into the F5 reward challenge, where we learn that the reward for the challenge was the loved ones visit, where Boston shows up. But Terry already won, so it's up to him who gets love. It's generally tense because we know how much Shane hurts and misses his son, so when Terry lets Shane take Boston to the resort with him, it's just so emotionally powerful. In a way, after everything Shane had gone through, getting to finally see the son he missed the whole time he was there was probably better than winning the million dollars. That’s what makes Shane the perfect character to me, as even though he was crazy due to nicotine withdrawal and was high strung, at the end of the day, he was just a father who really missed his son, and I will always love that about him.
SMC0629: 15
DryBonesKing: 17
Zanthosus: 12
Tommyroxs45: 11
Regnisyak1: 4
DavidW1208: 1
ninjedi1: 1
Average Placement: 8.714
Total Points: 61
Standard Deviation: 6.651 (9th Highest)

• SPOILERS BELOW. You've been warned, prepare for my final GOLDEN TRUTH.

Last week I put out a post regarding being 100% certain that the popular theory of Ikuko = Sayo was the intentional final answer to the mysteries intended by Ryukishi07 himself. That post kept almost entirely to information presented in the visual novel. If you didn't read it, feel free to check it out before continuing here.

• This post will build off that post by using additional information presented in the manga.
• This post is the battle finale (pt 2), feel free to engage the battle in the comments.

I will link my points to screenshots to confirm the information presented. Please note I have used the fan Visual Novel rebuild of the additional manga portions for ease of screenshot-ing, but all information is from the original manga.
Many quotes and ideas below have an associated link if you hover over the text, taking you to a screenshot of the referenced claims. It can be hard to see the linked text against the background, so feel free to hover over ideas to see if there's a picture to support it.

1) Ikuko's absurd claims

Ikuko claims to have found the final true confession of the Golden witch in the exact same spot that she found Tohya (battler) on the beach. Read it for yourself here. Notice the conflicting stories of how she found Battler (Tohya)? What are the chances she would also be the one to find the final truth and confession behind the killings! Talk about right place, right time! Better bribe a doctor, rename the man and keep it all hush-hush! Seems logical.

2) Sayo explicitly planned for a (low-chance) happy ending

Sayo was always conflicted about what she wanted out of the events of October 4-6, so she allowed it to be decided by the roulette of fate.
She planned and wrote out, many alternate versions of events. Notice that Sayo says she was weighing up "what the best future would be", that she "wasn't just drawing up a criminal plan", insinuating plans for a happy ending also.
She gave herself many rules for how the events of October 4-6 would play out in order to make the roulette a genuine roulette of fate. Notice one of her rules, Rule Z "Someone please, please stop me". Part of her wanted to be stopped. She had a split personality; part of herself wanted to die, yet part of herself wanted to live. Part of herself wanted to kill, some part of herself wanted to save them.
But she goes further! She explicitly promises to live out her life with the ones she loves if they win the roulette. Notice she is planning to cast aside her other personalities depending on the winner, and devote her entire life to that one person! Whilst planning for October 4-6, sometimes she dreams it is George who takes her from the island, other times Jessica (as Kannon), and other times Battler.
Think about it - she even planned out the escape boat for the 'winner of love' to take her off the island, in the event this is what the roulette chose!
Her ultimate hope that she plans for, even if it takes a miracle, is that "if it is permitted, may I be blessed with the miracle of laughing and smiling with the one I love".

3) The roulette gives Sayo a strange twist of fate

Sayo has a change of heart once the Epitaph is solved and the family begins killing each other over the gold. Sayo herself is the one to rescue Battler, and Battler in turn rescues her, refusing to let her die.
On the boat, as Sayo is finally escaping the island with the one she loves, as she dreamt of so many times before, Battler says "If you want to make up for your hundreds of sins... do so by living".
This is the roulette fate chose that she swore to keep, yet even so, she throws herself overboard.
This is where the story splits in two. A world within the gameboard, a world of magic, and the real world.
Within the gameboard, they both die in the ocean, sealing reality of those events in the cat-box. This 'death' we see within the cat-box allows them to live on in secrecy in the real world, as they both 'died'. A bit of magic, if you would.

4) The Real vs Meta vs Gameboard

Understanding this point is the key to understanding Umineko. There are 3 layers of reality always at play, which confirm that Ikuko = Sayo. This is hard to grasp at first, so read carefully.
A gameboard is playing out an individual fragment, a single "what-if" to explain the events of 1986. These are all trapped within the cat-box, a world where even magic may be possible. These fragments began with the washed up bottles and became more numerous over time.
The meta-world features Beatrice & Battler battling over the events of different gameboards, comparing events of the various fragments in order to ascertain the "single truth". THIS is the clincher--where does this meta-world begin? The manga makes this clear. Right after Beatrice (Sayo) and Battler drown after jumping from the boat, they awake in the meta world, only Battler has no memories! So the birth of the meta-world loops back around to episode one. It is born because Beatrice (Sayo) with all her mixed up emotions, gets to play out her mystery / fantasy battle with Battler like she loved to do in the past, all to restore to him his memories which he has lost.
But even though within the cat-box both Battler and Sayo die (the magic ending) we know for certain they didn't die. Only their prior personalities did. Remember what we confirmed earlier, that Sayo promises to leave behind her alter-egos to serve the one she escaped with for the rest of her life. I won't even begin to discuss how going into water and emerging is symbolic for death and rebirth (like in baptism), as evidenced by Battler truly "dying" in the water, only to live.
The real-world always parallels events within the the cat-box and meta-world, as those on the outside seek to discover the truth, or in some cases, have influence over the events themselves. Every bit of magic, every 'witch or demon' has a parallel as a real-world figure or idea. I don't have time to go into this all, but this is made pretty clear in the story.
So, back to the start. In the real world, Ikuko and Tohya (Battler) mirror the meta-world between Beatrice & Battler exactly. Both are seeking to restore Battler's memories within / between fragments (meta-world) and on the outside in the future (real-world).
The meta-world represents the on-page, in-world fantasy / mystery battle between Ikuko / Tohya that is happening in the real world; as they each unpack their respective ideas. It was created by Ikuko who is the sole person who knows the truth of the events.

Conclusion:

We are explicity told that Ikuko is the one who drags Battler from the beach, the only one who knows the true confession of the 'witch'. Ikuko (Sayo) is the one who hides Battler's identity, loves mysteries and solving them, resolves to live out her life with Battler without being sexual (furniture?). She doubles all the events of Sayo / Beatrice in the meta-world. She lives out all the hopes of Sayo that she claims she would abide if the roulette so chose. We know she planned out potential happy endings and resolved to devote herself to that one person is the roulette so chose, and begin a new life. We see her literally escaping with Battler in a boat, and we see Battler saying her only way to atone is for her to live on with him; their "death" scene is actually the beginning of the meta-world, the death of those personalities that get trapped in the cat-box, not the death of their flesh, per se.
None of her actions make any sense whatsoever without her being the rebirth of "Sayo" that the roulette chose. Ikuko is the crystallization of Beatrice / Sayo's true hopes, a new person born out of a tragedy, a life lived in service to Battler like she promised, the only way to atone for her sins.
Most smaller concerns (like how Sayo kept some wealth from her time as family head, or the time-frame regarding events etc) I covered quite well in the last post and in the comments there, but I'm happy to re-tread if needed.

I would love to hear your responses, what you agree / disagree with, and even what you hadn't considered before.

It's my goal to convince people it's the true intent of the author, but I'm open to all good alternative interpretations! Battle with your red & gold truths in the comments below.