We signed a contract with our photographer in March. Today, we happened to Google our photographer, and found a news article published the day after we signed our contract that she was arrested a few days prior to us signing. I don't know the full charges, but it appears to include giving false information to cops (she was harboring a fugitive, her partnehusband, who had outstanding arrest warrants related to dealing heroin and fentanyl), potentially assaulting a cop, and possession of fentanyl.
Jury selection is in June, and pre-trial conference is in September. Our wedding is in July. As much as we do not want to search for a new photographer with so little time left, we are uncomfortable moving forward with her as our photographer. We would be worried on our wedding day, and are not certain that we would ever see our photos due to the ongoing criminal trial. She has been posting work on social media over the last month, so it appears that she is still working at the moment.
Is there any way to break our contract due to this situation? I assume that the 50% deposit is forfeit, but we would love to not pay the remaining 50% and try to find another photographer.
The contract states, "If for any reason this contract needs to be cancelled, it MUST be done prior to 90 days before the wedding date. Any cancellations after that will be charged in full for the entire agreed upon package amount. There will be no exceptions to this." Since we are within 90 days, I feel like we are out of luck, but did not know if there is anything I am missing. Additionally, although we signed the contract, we never received a copy with her signature. We live in MA, the wedding is in NH, and the photographer lives in VT. The contract does not specify which state legal action takes place if there is a dispute.
We have not spoken to her yet about the situation, so it is possible that she will let us out of the contract, but we want to be educated before having that talk with her.
Thank you so much for your help!

At the world’s top college of magic and technology, every day brings a new discovery -and a new disaster. The advanced experiments of the college students tend to be both ambitious and apocalyptic, with the end of the world only prevented by a mysterious time loop, and a small handful of students who retain their memories.
Surviving the loops was hard enough, but now, in his senior year, Vell Harlan must take charge of them, and deal with the fact that the whole world now knows his secrets. Everyone knows about Vell’s death and resurrection, along with the divine game he is a part of. Now Vell must contend with overly curious scientists and evil billionaires hungry for divine power while the daily doomsday cycle bombards him with terrorists, talking elephants, and the Grim Reaper himself -but if he can endure it all, the Last Goddess’s game promises the ultimate prize: power over life itself.
[Previous Chapter][Patreon][Cover Art]
The last few notes of a Roxy Rocket song echoed through Vell’s dorm, and while scrappy and dissonant, they were at least coherent. An improvement from early lessons, especially.
“Well, that didn’t hurt to listen to,” Skye said. “You’re making progress.”
“You have such a way with words,” Vell said.
“Okay, fine,” Skye said. “You’re actually making good progress for a guy who only finds time to practice every couple weeks.”
The ever-encroaching responsibilities of being a senior, the leader of the loopers, and the focus of a godly game of fate had whittled Vell’s free time down to almost nothing. The occasional guitar lessons were some of his only islands amid the storm, and a welcome excuse to spend more time with Skye.
“You want to try a few more chords?”
“My hands are starting to hurt, actually,” Vell said. He pulled away from the guitar strings and shook tense fingers loose, revealing fingertips rubbed red and raw by practice. Skye stepped forward and took him by the wrist to examine his hands.
“I do not understand how a guy like you doesn’t have thicker skin,” Skye said. “Weren’t you an actual cowboy for a while? You did rodeos and everything.”
“I wore gloves,” Vell said.
“And for the rest of the weird shit you’ve done in your life?”
Vell took a long pause.
“Yeah, I don’t know,” Vell said. “Good genes, I guess.”
“I’m not complaining, mind you, I just think-”
A loud dinging sound from Skye’s purse interrupted the conversation, and she released her grip on Vell to go answer her phone. Vell recognized those familiar chimes as the Dad Ringtone. While most contacts were set to vibrate, Skye’s father and a few other lucky high-priority contacts got their own ringtones. Vell was lucky enough to have his ringtone set to the theme song of a cartoon Skye had loved as a kid, but played at a much lower volume than the Dad Ringtone. Skye’s father didn’t call often, and when he did it was usually about something important, so she wanted to be sure to never miss a call.
“Hey dad,” Skye began. “No, now’s fine. What’s up?”
Vell set his guitar back on the shelf and relaxed while Skye continued the call.
“No, no, that’d be fine, great, even,” Skye said. “He might be a little busy, but- What?”
Skye’s delight and talking to her father shifted to mild concern.
“Dad we kind of need to- no, not tomorrow, dad,” Skye said. “Dad!”
A long silence followed as Skye held the phone frozen by her ear for a short time. She tucked it back into her purse, took a deep breath, and clapped her hands together as she spun to face Vell.
“So, good news, you’re going to get to meet my dad,” Skye squeaked.
“And the bad news?”
“Well, part one of the bad news is that it’s going to happen tomorrow,” Skye said. Vell would’ve like a little more notice, but that was far from disastrous. Part two was still waiting, though. “And part two is that I kind of maybe didn’t do a very good job describing the nature of our relationship, and he sort of a little bit thinks you’re...a hero.”
Vell waited for a part three, and there was none.
“Is that the bad news?” Vell scoffed. “I might let him down a little, but there’s worse things my girlfriend’s dad could think of me.”
“Yeah there’s definitely a few upsides, be sure to hold on to those,” Skye said. “But also, you know how I flunked out of mad scientist school?”
“Yeah?”
“Well my dad...didn’t.”
***
“Your girlfriend’s dad is a supervillain?”
“Former supervillain,” Vell corrected. He adjusted the suit coat he’d just put on. “He left the game after she was born and went white hat, now he only builds death rays and robot armies so relevant authorities can observe, learn, and prepare for the real deal.”
Having a genuine mad scientist to train with helped keep secret agents and spies ready for actual threats, and Skye’s father got to keep doing what he loved: threatening to blow up the world.
“Are you still really a supervillain if you don’t actually do any villain shit?” Hawke wondered aloud. “Isn’t he just sort a supertrainer? What would you call that?”
“I’d call it asinine,” Alex said. “We shouldn’t be condoning this behavior, much less inviting him to build a death ray on our campus.”
The Einstein-Odinson had been selected as the faux-mad scientist’s next testing ground, and due to a misunderstanding of his role on campus, Vell had been selected as his testing partner. He had to put on a tuxedo and everything, to better fit the classic secret agent trope Skye’s father was envisioning.
“Mad scientists are an important part of the scientific ecosystem,” Helena said.
“You’d know,” Samson muttered under his breath.
“Conflict breeds innovation,” Helena continued, either heedless to or deliberately ignoring his snide comment. “The arc of history requires both heroes and villains.”
“Yeah, well, as far as villains go, I prefer mine to be weird old dads with fake death rays,” Kim said. “Still, Vell, doesn’t it feel kind of weird that he doesn’t actually know you’re dating his daughter?”
“It’s fine,” Vell insisted. “It’s always awkward trying to talk to your parents about your relationship, and she just over-focused on me saving the day and helping people. Simple miscommunication.”
“And when are you resolving that miscommunication?”
“Later,” Vell said. “Skye and her dad don’t get to spend much time together anymore. They’ll take the day, and we’ll get this all sorted out later.”
A life of volcano lairs, alpine bases, and remote tropical islands did not exactly make it easy for Skye to keep up with her dad, so having him concoct a scheme right on her home turf was a good way for the two of them to spend time together. Right now, Vell’s only priority was allowing for some healthy father-daughter bonding time. And also preventing the apocalypse.
“Okay, I’m good to go,” Vell said, as he finished up the knot in his bow-tie. “Hawke, ready on comms?”
“Mission control good to go, Agent Harlan,” Hawke said. He enjoyed any apocalyptic arrangement that allowed him to stay safely behind a chair, but playing mission control was especially fun.
“Good. Samson, you’re on tech duty,” Vell said. “The rest of you, keep an eye on the island. There’s no guarantee our supervillain will actually end the world. Which feels like a weird thing to say.”
Big events usually invited big catastrophes, and a literal supervillain seemed like a prime spark for some apocalyptic fire, but Vell was not so sure. He couldn’t think of anything less likely to actually end the world than a deliberate attempt to do so. All the loopers agreed having some backup eyes on other potential disasters might be warranted.
“Let’s just get this over with,” Alex said. She was the first to leave, everyone else filtered into their respective roles to play soon enough. Samson walked alongside Vell as he left the lair.
“Hey, do I have to put up the whole mission control act like Hawke was doing?”
“Not if you don’t want to,” Vell said. “Play it up a little if Skye’s dad is around, maybe, but like, right now we can just talk normally.”
“Okay, cool. Got your shit right here,” Samson said, as he hefted a large bag of gadget. “Standard spy bullshit. Gizmo watch, secret cufflink radios, pen with a concealed laser cutter, got it all right here.”
“Thanks,” Vell said. “Where’d you find all this stuff?”
“I just asked,” Samson said with a shrug. “Island full of supergenius weirdos, most of them had this kind of stuff just lying around.”
“Convenient. Did you make a list of everyone you got this stuff from?”
“So we can keep an eye on them? Yeah.”
“So I can give it back later,” Vell corrected. “But yeah, actually, knowing about the laser pen guy might be a good idea.”
“We’ll know where to start with any laser-based apocalypses,” Samson said.
“Good instinct,” Vell said. The two of them walked out of the building and towards the docks. “Am I walking weird? I’ve never worn a tux before.”
“Little stiff, but I think it’s working in your favor. You look more serious.”
“Great, thanks,” Vell said. He stepped up to the edge of the docks and strapped on his gadget watch before checking the time on it. “Should be here soon.”
“You need me to stick around?”
“No, you’re good,” Vell said. “Thanks for the help.”
Samson excused himself before the chaos started in full. Vell felt like an idiot standing around in a tux for a minute or two, until he was joined by someone in an equally odd outfit. Skye joined him in waiting on the docks, wearing a dress with long sleeves and a short skirt over sparkling tights and some very high-heeled boots.
“Very gogo dancer,” Vell said.
“Yeah, dad’s really into that whole Cold War era 60’s style,” Skye said. “Apparently this is what a ‘proper villainess’ looks like to him.”
“Could be worse, could be the catsuit kind of female villain.”
“Ugh, don’t get me started,” Skye said. “Every time he took me to work conferences I had to watch grown women try to waddle around in pleather bodysuits.”
“Supervillains have conferences?”
“Oh yeah, surprisingly good ones,” Skye said. “Especially if you’re a little girl who likes genetically engineered sharks.”
“Oh, so that’s where you got your start.”
Skye nodded. Her penchant for genetic engineering had struck at an early age. Her father had initially been excited for her to get into the family business, but it turned out Skye just liked fucking with fish DNA, and didn’t have much skill in all the non-genetic engineering parts of mad science. He was proud of her anyway.
After shifting on uncomfortably high heels for the umpteenth time, Skye checked her phone and texted her father.
“He says he’s pulling up right now,” Skye said. Vell scanned the horizon and saw nothing coming across the ocean.
“Is he at the right-”
Vell was cut off, and forced to step back, as the ocean started to churn. The waves parted to reveal a jet-black submarine with a towering, jagged skull carved into the prow.
“Oh, right, supervillain,” Vell said.
The imposing submersible drifted to a halt, and a hatched on the side hissed open. Red lights beamed out from the darkness within, and a few seconds later, an armored killbot marched down a boarding ramp, flanked by a towering man in a long white labcoat. He had a jagged streak of black through his otherwise gray hair, and wore heavy glasses with thick black lenses that obscured his gaze and shadowed his face.
“Hi dad,” Skye said.
“Hello dear,” said the man behind the murder machine. He stepped off the boarding ramp onto the dock, as another killbot exited to flank him, and fixed his dark glasses on Vell. “And as for you...I am Doc-”
“Doc” stopped his imposing introduction to have a coughing fit. Skye stepped up and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Dad, did you take your meds today?”
“I did, I did,” the Doc said, between coughs. “Just a climate thing. I got on the damn submarine in Seattle, now we’re in the tropics, there’s pressure differentials, humidity.”
He let out a few more coughs and then cleared his throat loudly, before regaining his previous composure.
“Now, as I was saying,” he continued. “I am Doc Ragnarok!”
His boisterous shout failed to echo in the open air of the docks.
“Oh, good lord, that was terrible,” Doc Ragnarok said. “Can I try again?”
“I wouldn’t bother,” Vell said. “We’re by the beach, open air, the acoustics are terrible.”
“Oh, yes, you’re right,” Doc Ragnarok agreed. “Finally, someone who appreciates the details. You must be Vell, then, or is it Agent Harlan? Do you have a codename I should be using?’
“It’s just Harlan. Vell Harlan.”
“Yes, Skye has told me quite a bit about you,” Doc said. “You’ve escaped kidnapping attempts, outwitted undead thieves, stolen secret treasures.”
“Oh, he’s, uh, also a really nice guy, very helpful, top student,” Skye said, laying groundwork for the eventual boyfriend reveal.
“I expect nothing less,” Doc Ragnarok said. “I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am to face off against someone with real credentials again, Mr. Harlan. For the past few decades it’s been nothing but greenhorns using me as a test run, well-trained but no experience, no sense of style.”
“Well, I am nothing if not experienced,” Vell said. “Stylish, however...well, this tuxedo is a rental.”
“I can tell,” Doc Ragnarok said. He let out a single boisterous bark of delighted laughter. “Ah, look at us, already bantering. I missed this.’
Doc cleared his throat again and regained his ominous supervillain demeanor, as he snapped his fingers to make the killbots flank him.
“I must begin my preparations,” he said, in a voice shockingly distinct from his earlier conversational tone. “Challenge me if you dare.”
“Excuse me a moment,” said a voice somewhere behind the killbots. Doc snapped his fingers, ordering the crowd to part again, and Helena hopped forward on her crutches. Skye glanced at Vell curiously, and he shrugged in confusion. She wasn’t supposed to be here, for multiple reasons.
“Can I help you?”
“Yes, I was just reading your book earlier, ‘Practically Evil: A Guide to Classic Villainy’,” Helena said. “It’s a great read, but what really stood out to me is the section on classic henchman archetypes, specifically ‘The Igor’?”
She held up the book in question, which Vell noted had a picture of Doc Ragnarok holding a skull on the cover, and opened it to the section in question.
“Oh yes, I understand, completely,” Doc Ragnarok said. “As I said in the section opener, that information is presented for historical context, and I strongly condemn the typecasting of differently-abled persons like yourself into such roles. Regardless of my intent, I’m sorry if I caused any offense, and if you have feedback-”
“Oh, no, you misunderstand, I’m not offended, I’m actually intrigued,” Helena said. She turned the book around to quote a specific passage. “‘An outcast, often hunchbacked or otherwise misshapen in such a way to make them a pariah, physically handicapped but mentally gifted, driven to evil by the harsh treatment of judgmental peers’. I think it’s a very fitting role for me, and I’d love to give it a try.”
Vell had several very strong opinions about that, but kept all of them to himself.
“Well, it’s a bit short notice, but I’ll never discourage anyone from following the path of evil,” Doc Ragnarok said. “And this is a training exercise, after all, perfect time for you to train. Come along, minion! The more the merrier!”
Doc Ragnarok snapped his fingers again, and the killbots fell in line, this time with Helena in tow. A procession of smaller robots followed, carrying a worrying number of power cores, ray guns, and mutagens. Not for the first time, Vell began to wonder if this was a good idea. The recurring doubts got obliterated as Skye looked over her shoulder and winked. She was worth a lot more trouble than this.

"A new Star Trek movie is on the way, and it has a familiar producer joining what already sounds like a wild project. Simon Kinberg, known for many projects including overseeing much of the X-Men franchise when it was with Fox, will be a producer on a new movie that will serve as a prequel story to Trek's prime timeline. The recent news has given me major concerns without even getting into the fact that First Contact is already the definitive prequel story.
As the resident Star Trek fan who recently reiterated I have zero interest in seeing Quentin Tarantino's movie brought to life, I'm now sharing my concerns for Simon Kinberg entering this franchise too. At the risk of sounding like an over-protective parent who thinks the new person dating their child is "bad news," here are some of the red flags I have with the news about this latest Trek movie arriving sometime in 2025.

• Simon Kinberg Has Had Zero Involvement With The New Era Of Star Trek Television

[...]
Now it seems like Paramount is interested in once again bringing the Prime timeline to theaters, and yet it's not doing it by featuring Star Trek: Section 31 with Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh on the big screen. Instead, we're getting Simon Kinberg and a director from Andor on this new movie, neither of whom have been involved with the work on television since 2017.
When CinemaBlend spoke to Jonathan Frakes, he mentioned the separation between the Star Trek movie and television divisions. When they take place within separate universes, it's not really a big deal. However, when the canon is beholden to whatever this movie is about for upcoming Star Trek shows going forward, I'd like to know that Alex Kurtzman and others have some say in what's going on. Thus far, I haven't seen anything that states that, so I do have some fears based on that fact alone. The idea of someone potentially undoing the hard work of many with a wild movie that has to be acknowledged is very scary as a fan.

• Simon Kinberg Produced Much Of X-Men's Movie Era, Which Struggled With Keeping Its Canon Consistent

[...]
What's worse is that the franchise as a whole during the Fox era had a lot of trouble keeping its continuity straight, which is what I fear most about Simon Kinberg making a movie set in Star Trek's prime timeline. Pretty much all of the positive things going on for this franchise at the moment exist in the prime timeline. Now we have this movie on the way that is set to detail the time after First Contact, which is one of the biggest cornerstones of the Star Trek lore.
Granted, I would think that there are some people in the know at Paramount who recognize this and have measures in place to ensure the movie doesn't go too far off the rails in any one direction. After all, who wants to make a movie that is so bad it potentially jeopardizes the shows as well? Obviously that's a bit of an alarmist take on my end, and it's a bit unfair to not even give this movie a fair shake with little information to go on. Still, there's no harm in being cautious, especially with a movie that has so much power.

• The Next Major Star Trek Movie Needs To Be A Hit

When Star Trek hits at the box office, great things can happen. It was J.J. Abrams' 2009 Kelvin timeline movie that injected life into the stagnant franchise, which was struggling to find legs after Enterprise's cancellation. Now, it feels like we've entered a situation in which it's the opposite way around, and the success of the shows has encouraged the film division to try and draw on the popularity of the prime timeline.
This movie must be a hit, especially for those who want to see Star Trek continue to have a future in Hollywood. Sure, the franchise has survived box office bombs and poor reviews from critics in past releases, but there hasn't been a movie on screens in eight years. It's officially the longest gap between Trek movies, and that gap could be even longer if this new movie ends up being a poorly-reviewed flop at the box office.
All of this is to say that if the plan is for Paramount to bring in Simon Kinberg to oversee the future of Star Trek movies, I do hope that it ends up being something that truly gets this franchise up and rolling again in theaters. I also hope that this movie draws on some of the talent that has made the prime timeline such a success, but of course, only the biggest names put butts in seats when it comes to major motion pictures. I guess we'll see what the plan is as we get closer to the movie's arrival in 2025.
[...]"
Mick Joest (Cinemablend)
Link:
https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/x-men-simon-kinberg-next-star-trek-movie-fan-major-concerns

I tried reposting it on another post but It wasn’t letting comment after i edited.
This is the book summary. Sorry if there are mistakes; I tried my best.
The two girls meet when Kim’s family moves next door to Wan’s family. Wan has been dreaming about a girl since she was young and realizes Kim is the girl in her dreams. Wan finds out that her dad is strangely close to Kim's dad. It happens several times, and Wan figures out they are lovers. The two Dads run away together, leaving their daughters and wives behind. Some time passes, and when they go back to school, rumors emerge about the two father run away together at their school. Wan tries to get close to Kim, but she ignores her and tries to avoid her at all costs. Wan wants to be close to someone who can understand the pain of their father leaving, and Kim is that person.
They eventually get close, but Kim and Wan makes it clear they are not friends. Wan and Kim have dreams of each other, and they do romantic things in their dreams. Some of this affects their real life because if they fight in real life, they make up in their dream world. The four friends get closer as time goes by. They have a lot of tension in their friendship. They have feelings for each other but neither of them wants to confess. Also, Kim doesn't like same-sex relationships because of her trauma of her father abandoning them for Wan's dad. This is why Wan is even more afraid to confess her feelings towards Kim. Wan, in school, one day, says that whoever is the first person to give her a gift, she will date them. After school, Wan checks the bag for the gift to see who gave it to her but cannot find it. Mon, one of the friends in their group, makes some time to talk to Wan alone. She tells Wan that another student at school saw Kim throw away the gift given to Wan on Valentine's Day! Later that day, she gifts a drawing of Wan sleeping to her ☺️ Mon (the friend questions Dawan if they like each other and asks her if Kim gave her a gift, and Dawan denies it ).
Dwan is planning to tell Kimhan her feelings. In chapter 19 of the book, as she heads home for dinner, she finds that her mom is not home. So she checks to see if she's at the neighbor's house, Aunt Aey’s (Kimhans mother). She finds an unexpected scene. She sees her mother and Aunt Aey kissing each other. She keeps it a secret. This prevents Dawan and Kim Han’s romantic relationship from progressing. Wan finds it impossible to confess now because both of their father had an affair and ran away together. Now, their moms are also in love, and Kim and Wan love each other. She finds it too much to bear and doesn't want Kim to find out and get hurt again. The four friends make a time capsule where, in 10 years, they will open the letters they wrote to each other. Kim and Wan write letters, confessing their feelings to each other, and leave them in the time capsule.
Time passes by, and Dawan becomes a famous actress. Kim works for her, and they protect each other and live together in a condo. Dawan insists they live together to prevent Kimhan from discovering the truth about their moms. Dawan knows her mom and Aunt Aey suffered after their husbands left them and doesn't want to separate them because she knows they are in love. Wan doesn't want to take her mom's happiness away. Eventually, Kimhan meets a man named Mawhin. Kim introduces Mawhin to Wan as her boyfriend. She is jealous but cannot complain because she has had boyfriends in the past as well. The difference is that when Wan went on the dates with her ex boyfriends, she takes Kimhan along with her on her dates—leaving the boyfriends as the third wheels🤣. Wan's ex-bfs always gave her an ultimatum to choose between them (Wan’s bf’s) and Kim. Dawan always chose Kim, and her boyfriends broke up with her. Wan has never slept with her ex-boyfriends, and when they tried to get her drunk to have sex with her, Kim always rescued her. Mawim Wants to marry Kim Han. Mawhin has a conversation with Dawan, asking her if he should go ahead and ask Kimhan to marry him. Mawhin wants to know if Dawan has feelings For Kim, telling her that he knows how Kim feels for her and wants to see if Dawan also feels the same for Kim. Making sure he can safely propose to Kim with out Dawan getting in the way. Mawhin asks this in an indirect way. Dawan understands, but she is still in denial or doesn't dare to confess the truth about her feelings for Kim. It's finally Time to open the time capsule. Wan goes before the friend Groups goes together to retrieve the time capsule. She secretly steals the letter she wrote, confessing her feelings for Kimhan. When all the friends go retrieve it, Kim hands the letter to Wan. Days pass, and Wan still does not dare to open the letter Kim wrote to her 10 years ago. Kim calls Dhawan and asks if she read the letter, and Wan says yes and asks what she thinks. (But Wan still has not read the letter) Kim wants to know what she thinks. Dahwan responds she has no opinion on it. So before Kimhan ends the call, she goes silent and tells Wan, “It's time for me to let go”. On Kim's wedding day, Wan finally reads the letter. It reads:
A Dahwan, If you're reading this, it means ten years have passed. I've spent a long time contemplating whether I should write to you about this. But by the time you read it, ten years will have gone by, and we will probably laugh because we will have grown and matured.
Among all my friends, you are the one I love the most. You are the best person who will always hold a special place in my heart, and no one can replace you. If I were to tell you that we were so close that I dreamt about you, would you think it's strange? I saw you even before we became friends.
In my dreams...
For as long as I can remember, I've had a friend in my dreams. It's a completely blue and white world. There's a big tree and a river, and the surroundings change over time, though I don't know why. I never knew if you truly existed. Every time I woke up, I would forget who that friend was.
Until we met in reality. That girl from my dreams turned out to be you.
We did many things... Ah, I don't know how to put it into words. Let's just say they were very good dreams. Every time I dreamt, I didn't want to wake up. But if I didn't wake up, I would regret not being able to go to school and come home to you, just like we do.
You were always with me. And now, it turns out that you're always in my thoughts and in my heart. You're a friend, a big sister, a little sister, and sometimes a pain in the ass. But I love everything about you.
I think I'm in love with you... Even though I don't like deviating from heterosexuality because of our parents, you are my exception. I love you for who you are. I don't care if you're a man or a woman. But I don't know if, after ten years, when this letter is opened, I will still feel the same.
If either of us already has a lover, read this letter and laugh awkwardly with each other.
But for now, as I write this letter, this is how I truly feel. And if what I feel in ten years is still the same, and you feel the same way, let me know.
Dhawan, I dream of you.
End of letter.
After Dhawan reads the letter, she rushes to Kim's wedding ceremony and enters when Kim is getting ready for the ceremony. Dhawan tells her, “Kim Han, I also dream of you”! They confess to each other their love. Just as the wedding is about to start, paparazzi and new stations are waiting for the couple to get married. Wan takes and escapes with Kim together. They run away to a hotel, And Kim and Wan spend the wedding night together. News goes out to the public that a famous actress took the bride and escaped with her, embarrassing the rich groom.
There is more to the story, but they have a happy ending

Retailers we are waiting on the news from Ryan Cohen Teddy holdings; Gme earnings is on June 6th. The court date finalizing on bbby June 4th moved up early .
Once the official news comes concerning Teddy holdings it’s on and shares/equity are returned. The short criminals will have no option not to close!
Keep in mind the CAT system is also being implemented shortly. Don’t believe the news!
All connected great things ahead don’t become discouraged by corruption! Not much longer!
Been a long ride stay charged up and excited because you are going to be filthy rich in near future standing against evil what this is about!
Here is an example my buddy has 1.5 million only in amc some would call that insane! However, it should be viewed as a reminder how serious some are about amc, not willing to accept the corruption period, we are not some college kids living in a basement as they claim, and we know where it’s going! He has been holding for two years and today more confident than ever in near future the squeeze is coming!
I also hold a lot more shares than most humble and grateful!
Though we all hold real shares and counterfeit shares let’s be honest!
Semper Fi

I was at work today and got a voice mail from my local police department saying I had legal Documents and needed to come down to the station. Freaking out I called back and talked to the fake police officer who gave me a story how I missed a court date as an expert witness. Now I know I should have been listening to the alarm bells going off in my head but my anxiety took over and made me freak out. I left work suddenly and was instructed to go to the bank but finally my gut feelings gradually took over just before I went into the bank to get money to pay for my supposed bond and I ended up the phone call. Told a police officer about it and showed him the voice mail. Unfortunately he said this is a common scam in the town and there was even a news article about it and said he would take the phone number but other than that there would be much he could do since the number was not traceable and even said they use spoof number to make it seem legit. Thank god I didn’t give them money but I feel embarrassed about this.

I (38F) had a special needs child with J (37M). Me and J met while I was going into the military, where he already had a career as a Corporal. I started my military career late, 24, after holding off on this dream to complete college. Me and J had a great long-distance relationship while I was in basic, constantly writing letters to each other and plotting out our future. During my boot leave I went down to go see him and this is when we conceived my child. I again had to go back to training shipping me to the other side of the country. This was a grueling training and they had strict rules, like no outside communication for certain training. While at the training I started to identify the changes in my body and believed I was pregnant and snuck to communicate the news with J. He answered on the first call, which came from an anonymous number, and I informed him that I was likely pregnant with his child, and we may need to talk further about next steps. J went silent, then rushed me off the phone. Any time after that he did not answer the phone when I called. Two weeks go by, and I complete the training and reach out again to J to see if we can discuss the bun in the oven. He finally picks up and tells me that I am ruining his life by being pregnant and he breaks up with me. I cry and feel devasted as I am across the country from anyone, I am close with and in a situation that is new to me I felt betrayed that he did not even want to talk about anything. Two days after that conversation I make up my mind that I will keep the baby and I will do it on my own, as I was headed towards a career in the military. To speak on the timeline, this is December, this information will be important. I continue working and at this time J has made a few attempts to reach out to me, but I did not want to deal with the stress and ignored him. By early February, I started having complications with the pregnancy and was shipped back home to the east coast to manage the situation amongst family. At this point I spoke with J to let him know that the pregnancy is deemed high-risk, and he was showing slight interest in the child, and I would not deny access to my child if the parent was genuine. Throughout my pregnancy J made comments that told me he wanted to get back together with me, but I no longer trusted him and refused to ever go back into the relationship. The lack of interest on my part made him upset and caused him to tell me things that made me realize that we could not be friends either. He asked for a paternity test and also questioned why I wanted to hyphenate my son's last name with mines. His mother also was asking those questions, but that is another story. I was in an out of the hospital and my son was born 24-week gestation as a micro preemie. J was not hands on with my son and did not financially contribute to the care of the child. He stated that it was because he was in the military, but he was never deployed while my son was alive, yet he still never called to check-in. 4 years after my son was born J was discharged from the military and co-parenting was nonexistent, I did everything, and J watched him every other weekend. An arrangement I had to force on him because I worked on weekends and did not think it was fair to constantly rely on my family to take time on their weekend to watch my son when his father lived 15 minutes away. It was during one of those visits that my son fractured his arm. My son is nonverbal and non-ambulatory, so he is unable to say how he is in pain, so as a parent you have to be observant. When I went to get my son, J informed me that my son had hurt his arm, but he woke up that way. My son likely woke up at 8AM Sunday and he handed him to me about 8PM Sunday night. Meaning my son was in pain for at least 12 hours and J was aware and never took him to urgent care to ensure it was not serious. Because his "he woke up that way" explanation the doctors called child protective services on J. J's reaction to this was to "lay low" he did not communicate with us, he never asked how my son was healing. This was the triggering step to cause J to disappear for 7 years no communication. I continued to manage everything for my son. Now my son's passport is expired and we had to go to court to get legal custody (j's name is on the BC) and since we could not find him I had to fight in court to get sole custody. I was in court for 3 years and on the last court date, J shows up and states that he wishes to have a relationship with our son. I was upset and outright refuse to modify our lives to accommodate the whims of a man that did not care for his existence for 7 years. Our last court date is due to come in a week and I will see how the judge is trying to rule.

We signed a contract with our photographer in March. Today, we happened to Google our photographer, and found a news article published the day after we signed our contract that she was arrested a few days prior to us signing. I don't know the full charges, but it appears to include giving false information to cops (she was harboring a fugitive, her partnehusband, who had outstanding arrest warrants related to dealing heroin and fentanyl), potentially assaulting a cop, and possession of fentanyl.
Jury selection is in June, and pre-trial conference is in September. Our wedding is in July. As much as we do not want to search for a new photographer with so little time left, we are uncomfortable moving forward with her as our photographer. We would be worried on our wedding day, and are not certain that we would ever see our photos due to the ongoing criminal trial. She has been posting work on social media over the last month, so it appears that she is still working at the moment.
Is there any way to break our contract due to this situation? I assume that the 50% deposit is forfeit, but we would love to not pay the remaining 50% and try to find another photographer.
The contract states, "If for any reason this contract needs to be cancelled, it MUST be done prior to 90 days before the wedding date. Any cancellations after that will be charged in full for the entire agreed upon package amount. There will be no exceptions to this." Since we are within 90 days, I feel like we are out of luck, but did not know if there is anything I am missing. Additionally, although we signed the contract, we never received a copy with her signature.
We have not spoken to her yet about the situation, so it is possible that she will let us out of the contract, but I am not banking on it, and want to be educated before having that talk with her.
Thank you so much for your help!

A little background, I was in the Navy before I joined the army. So when we were about to join training academy, we had about a few months after our selection and before the academy regime began. During this time all of us got along in whatsapp groups we made friends, both guys and girls ecstatic about becoming officers, dream come true. I encountered a friend (F23) she told me about how she broke up with her ex the moment she got selected. She told me she made her first call to her mother to inform the good news and second to her ex, then her current bf to break up with him. I asked her why she did that, to which she says “he was toxic!”. Then why did you wait till you got selected I thought. Most of my coursemates who had civilian boyfriends broke up. Hardly one or two still had. On the other hand I saw guys falling deeply in love with their civilian gfs. Never heard any one them break up after being selected or as their status of life changed. Similar incident occurred during my officers training academy training. I asked a coursemate of mine why did she break up with her ex. She told me she had stopped feeling for him once she got into the academy, before that everything was good. It reminded me of Naval academy incidents. I myself was with a girl who was my coursemate and suddenly changed the moment she went to the academy, she went cold. Only later I found out she was dating an officer way senior to us. I wonder why is it that with girls, once their status changes they always prefer someone better than them. I have seen this doesn’t come directly but then they start getting irritated with the guy, everything related to him pricks. Problems arise, he suddenly becomes toxic, controlling man. I understand this is primal to be attracted to best male out there. But haven’t we evolved? I currently have a gf but sometimes I worry that when in corporate she will do better will that change her as well!

Kruger Kayla

· Don’t give up usually the miracle happensAfter things get so tough that we think but then remember why we started I didn’t come this far to go this far I didn’t survive , child sexual abuse, human trafficking, herion , fetynal, meth , pills addiction, car crashes / high speed chases, 3 overdoses,in and outta jail 4 years total , being beat up head shaved , ex’s who beat and used and abused me to benefit only them ,trama , tried to kill me, hospitals, mental institutions ,Melosing my son at 23 and him 3 then to lose his father whom died over drug overdose and who I dated for8 years ) loosing my grandma who raised me to grade 9 ,( only mother figure I ever known) foster cares from grade 9-12 , shelters for abused women and kids for years in and out, rehabs x5, abandonment issues fromNot growing up without BOTH parents, being bullied my whole life And bashed all over google .. having my whole addiction posted and mocked ALL over the BC news and o ratio news sites and websites and then bashed all over Facebook , dirty etc.. also I’m now raising a child who when I found out I was pregnant was in Toronto being trafficked and beat, guns held to my head on the daily , shot up right drugs in my sleep. When I found out I was pregnant was on 55 mls methadone and I went to Toronto hospital and stayed 3 weeks of hell , feeling like I was gonna die from withdrawal so she wouldn’t be born addicted cuz that’s the kinda women iam. Nurse says in 30 year career she’s never seen someone follow through but I did … I’m without a license or any help fromAnyone really !!! these past 3 and some years all while slowly weening of methadone down half my dose im one yearAnd it’s not easy also keeping up with all these different socialMedia accounts, and doing cannabis influencing etc cannabis cures saving me while I get off this crap seriously way better than any pill or drug Paired with healthy food and exercise all while trying to make content and share my life and be realAnd to be honest and it’s Lonley ASF but I’m learning so much about myself , when you get clean, it’s not easy or everyone would do it learning to live again and find the things I like.. but most my attention,money, energy is spent on my kid.. but I’d DO anything to get us in a better position in life ..I wasted10 years that just flew by on dating loserMenAnd doing so much drugs and booze .. these past 3+ years I swear, I been made as an easy target , because I’m so new In sobriety and don’t drive or have much right now cuz I can’t work like I’m used too and many have been so rude and toookadvantage talked a lot of and hate when they see me yell out windows calling me names despite never actually meeting me .. but I won’t give them the satisfaction hell no … I’m out here and I’m a warrior built like they don’t makeMany of.. loyal to those who are to me .. show love to allWho have never judged or gave upAnd either motivated me or helped me with their words heck even my haters y’all help me so much thank you for making me famous in lindsay lol but ya girl had a taste nowShe want it ALLAnd by any meansI fit necessarily I will get to the top and as long as I have my kids and I stay clean and sober she good choices imma be Good … ASF duhhh obviously feeling super blessed super greatful and humble and I pray for those who wish me harmAnd whom are talkin my name and because y’all got issues too that’s why you so quick to point the finger at my flaws … well girl for once in my life I’m legit. Sober and clean I have everything I need technically that I can handle right now but this mama is on fire and there’s not a damn thing y’all can do bout it imma keep winning Kruger Kayla

Like most of you, Bloodborne has been one of my favorite games for many years and have been in hopes of something…anything new that is Bloodborne related to come. It has been so long since it released and obviously is still an exclusive capped at 30fps. I have always wondered why there hasn’t been a sequel, pc port, or even just an upgrade to fps. The game did sell very well right? Even before I ever played Bloodborne I would always see it mentioned somewhere and have always known there are many diehard fans.
So why hasn’t there been any kind of news…I mean anything Bloodborne related? Maybe I’m biased and not looking at the bigger picture of the gaming business but I would bet money that if anything Bloodborne related released it would sell extremely high. Even at the least if it was upgraded to 60fps and that’s it I believe it would generate good revenue. I think if they only did a pc port that would be an insane amount of sales by itself. Don’t get me started on if they ever make a sequel.
What is stopping them? Legal issues over the IP? Studios already being too busy with other games? What is really the reason behind it being left alone?
Imagine at the Game Awards or something similar we are revealed a trailer for a Bloodborne sequel with a future release date as well as a mention of a Bloodborne remaster and pc port at an earlier date. I believe it would be beneficial for anyone who is involved with the IP to go through with it because I see no way of how it wouldn’t generate an absurd amount of hype in the gaming community. It honestly seems like there would be too much money left on the table to not touch that IP again.
I personally am hoping there is plans for a remaster and sequel but it’s been pushed back because of a reason like FromSoftware has just been busy with other games and hasn’t figured things out with Sony yet. I do not want this to be the last Bloodborne content ever made. There is probably a lot that I have missed if it has ever been discussed of why we haven’t seen anything new for Bloodborne but what do you guys think will be the most realistic future for the IP? I’m confident we will get “something” one day but it is upsetting of how long it’s been shelved and would prefer to not wait another decade for more Bloodborne.

I rarely post but I have barely any remaining living family to talk to and hopefully this will hit on a Google search one day to help someone else so here goes and will try to make it short
I met my girlfriend 5 years ago, she came from a poor background, divorced parents, lived with her father in a mobile home. I grew up upper middle class, nice home, etc. Her parents loved me and thought I was the best thing ever since she only went out with trashy guys, drug dealers, etc before me. She was open that she didn't understand why I loved her, but she was genuinely sweet and a good person and I was open that I date for personality and not money etc. She moved in with me after a few months and everything was perfect for 4 years, we both got better jobs and she always said she hopes I never leave her and I genuinely never had doubts with her. I've had 3 longterm partners before her and all of them at the 3 year mark things got a rough patch, but this one I only fell more in love with. I was raised Catholic but my family never practised it or went to church except once when I was super young and was open to my parents its not my thing and they never took me again and she wasn't religious in her adult life at all. Mental health issues also run heavy on her moms side of the family. She also states she is terrified of pregnancy and never wants kids except adoption, I want kids and agree we can just adopt.
Fast forward to November 2023 (4.5 year mark of being together) she has minimal friends that haven't moved away yet and no hobbies, she volunteers and takes a 2nd job at a Christian horse camp for kids which is whatever, and is open that she wants to get married so I go looking for an engagement ring. She also wants to experience "living alone" and buys a condo which she says will be a 1-2 year thing then she will move back in with me and we get married, whatever. She is open that there is Christian elements in this church and she doesn't know religion at all and is worried, I told her she can figure it out im sure and im sure its more horse based and not religious. Later, she meets a friend there same age as her who is Pentecostal Christian and invites her to the Pentecostal church. I took religious studies way back in HS and am aware Pentecostalism is basically a cult, preys on the mentally weak, and focuses on believing everything is a "miracle if you pray for it to happen" and relies on recruiting people to follow. My parents, parents friends, her father, and myself are open to her this new friend seems like bad news and so is this church but she says we're paranoid. By January 2024, her entire house is FILLED with religious pictures, quotes, etc, she goes to church 2x per week, spends 1-2 hours a night studying the bible, and non-stop talks about religion. She was never into physical intimacy really but at least slept naked, we had sex 2-3 times a month, and showered together often which was enough for me. January 2024-March 24 is 0 sex, wearing a hoodie and all covered up to bed, wont even let me see her in underwear, etc ontop of CONSTANTLY hounding me to go to church with her, I repeat that church is not my thing and I don't believe religion and politics should be kept anywhere but internally in your mind and heart. Huge red flag of changes within months just due to this friends influence. We almost break up March 2024 and I say this religious stuff needs to cool off and I can't live without SOME physical intimacy and sex. She apologizes, cries for 2 days straight, says the religion will cool off and sex will come back and begs me to not break up with her. I was open that if things do get better we can work this out. She still continues to be off and believes everything is a "miracle" due to prayer etc and myself, her father and my mom are all thinking wtf. I thought her dad wasn't THAT concerned and just let it be. We later watched videos of the pastor at this church that speaks to her, and he's fullblown nutjob screaming into a headset preacher crazy. She also denies Pentacostalism is different than any other religion, yet a simple Google search confirms it's extreme and ironically this church tries to hide it's Pentacostal and tries to reiterate it's a "community church"
Fast forward to last week (May 21), still 0 sex, let me shower with her once while being super apprehensive about it, still wildly religious, and she gets baptized in this Pentecostal church. Her and her friends/church members are around a tank that says "New Life" on it while praying in a circle around her in the tub, her father and me stay seated in the back checked out and mortified. 3 days ago (May 25), I tell her i'm concerned she's getting more deeply religious and our relationship is still struggling and I can't live without physical intimacy as I was open with in March, even if it's 1-2 times a month. She cries, apologizes and says it will get better. Saturday May 25, I stay overnight with her at her condo, she promises sex May 27 and says she wants it, starts crying she is having a "crisis of faith" and doesn't know if god is real. She then states she will be going to church Sunday, May 26 still and right before church says she loves me and is glad we are working through our issues and we should go on a trip the next week, and also states she now wants 2 biological children (after wanting none for 4.5 years, wtf). Right after church, boom she says the pastor "said something that is too coincidental to be one off, has helped her make her decision, we're now breaking up permanently". I reply it's her choice but this Pentacostal church is a fucked cult IMO, her friend that got her into this is bad news, and I think she is having a mental health crisis and that she needs help. She just keeps reiterating that everyone is irrational that Pentacostalism is a cult, she's happy now, and this is it but wants to be friends. I tell her im cutting contact and won't remain friends and need to move on with my life. I reach out to her dad who is completely shocked, says he fully agrees she needs medication and not religion, says her friend that got her into this is bad news and tells me to not chase her, i'm a good man, cut my losses and run because she has lost it, and said at least this happened before I proposed this year.
Is Pentacostalism really that bad and will it affect someone to this degree? She literally was normal for 4.5 years, fully loved me, said she would die if i ever break up with her, etc until her friend got her into this Pentacostal crap and suddenly she goes from begging me to not leave to kicking me to the curb after a 1 hour church session with this pastor. I was open to her father that this is a mental health crisis being fed into by her friend and church and he fully agrees, I notified him I worry she will be suicidal when she wakes up from this brainwashing and realize I won't be willing to take her back at this point and he notified he will keep in contact with her to keep her safe even though they are on bad terms now from all this. I've been through my share of breakups over the decades and will be okay getting through this especially with it being her choice, but the degree this church mindwarped her has me baffled.

To start off a couple of years back I started seeing a girl from work after she made the first move to my surprised since no one before or since has tried to really hit on me.
I was super reserved but took a chance( Stupid mistake) and we saw each other for six months. Unfortunately around the sixth month, I learned from her roommates she one of those people who keeps her options out and been seeing other people during our time together. Not sure how I missed that but I feel ashamed for not seeing it earlier.
Honestly felt bad for the roommate who thought I knew she is dating other people and it was awkward for her to be breaking the news to me. Long story short, I confronted her and she tries to defend with some excuse about how we haven't made it official so we not exclusive.
Which caused me to ask her if I just wasted six months of my life because besides going on dates, attending parties or events, we had kissed a lot and done other things.
She ended up calling me immature and that I overreacting then saying I need to chill out. Which lead me to feeling gross out and said things I Shouldn't which ended whatever we had.
Back to the present, she hit me with a txt just a couple of days ago and it is almost surreal since she acting like nothing had happened. Asking if I wannat to go out or just hang out somewhere.
I not sure if I should forgive her and try to get back together despite wondering if she only talking to me because she heard how miserable my dating life been recently.
I really not sure if it's a good idea or not to attempt another shot at seeing her.

Joe Perez is exactly the type of voter President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump are fighting over: A 22-year-old Hispanic man in Las Vegas who grew up leaning Republican, he also supports abortion rights and was turned off by the Capitol rioters on Jan. 6, 2021.
But Mr. Perez — unenthusiastic about a Biden-Trump rematch, overwhelmed by the news and disillusioned by politics — is tuning out.
“If you ask me right now what’s going on with, like, the presidential race, or the situation in Gaza or Ukraine or whatever, I don’t think I can answer,” said Mr. Perez, who supported Mr. Trump in 2020 and is intrigued by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. now. “I’m not trying to follow that anymore.”
Instead, said Mr. Perez, a valet who hopes to become a firefighter, “I’m just going to have to roll with the punches, because I don’t think I’m going to make a difference.”
In fact, people like him could be quite important.
Politically disengaged Americans are emerging as one of the most unpredictable, complex and potentially influential groups of voters in the 2024 race. They are fueling Mr. Trump’s current polling leads but in many cases hail from traditionally Democratic communities, giving Mr. Biden a chance to win some of them back — if he can get their attention.
No shortage of events could jolt alienated voters over the next five months, starting with a verdict in the first criminal trial of a former president in American history, which could arrive this week. Even though many of these people are historically infrequent voters, those who do cast ballots could make the difference in an inevitably close race.
But reaching them is a problem. Campaigns up and down the ballot are operating in an ever-more-fragmented media landscape where misinformation thrives — spread especially by Mr. Trump and his allies — and basic facts are often ignored, disputed or filtered through a partisan lens.
“People have really separated into their own information cul-de-sacs,” said former Representative Stephanie Murphy, a Florida Democrat. “It’s harder now to reach people than it was in previous elections because of that disaggregated or decentralized information network.”
In a presidential election in which more than 80 percent of voters, according to a Pew Research Center survey, say they wish one or both major candidates were not running, some are opting out of straight-ahead political news entirely.
When your team’s losing, you don’t read the sports page’
In a presidential election in which more than 80 percent of voters, according to a Pew Research Center survey, say they wish one or both major candidates were not running, some are opting out of straight-ahead political news entirely.
That is evident in polling about current events.
Recent New York Times/Siena College/Philadelphia Inquirer surveys found that nearly 20 percent of voters in battleground states said Mr. Biden was responsible for ending the constitutional right to abortion, even though it was Mr. Trump’s choices for the Supreme Court who helped overturn Roe v. Wade.
Almost half of the country believes the unemployment rate is at a 50-year high, a Harris poll conducted for The Guardian found, even though it is near a 50-year low.
And in a recent Politico-Morning Consult poll, voters were divided over who had done more to “promote infrastructure improvements and job creation.” Mr. Biden signed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill into law, while Mr. Trump repeatedly failed to advance the issue.
“When your team’s losing, you don’t read the sports page after the game,” said Ken Goldstein, a professor of politics at the University of San Francisco. “You have a big swath of the country that just thinks they’re losing when it comes to politics, and so the way to deal with that is to just not pay attention.”
Low-information voters are hardly a new phenomenon: Landmark studies dating back nearly 80 years have found that the public is often uninformed on key issues.
And many Americans are indeed following this contest.
A Gallup survey released this month showed that 71 percent said they had given “quite a lot” of thought to the upcoming presidential election, in keeping with findings around this time in 2020 and 2008.
Voters who are paying less attention, pollsters say, tend to be younger or more working-class, and are more likely to engage late in the race, if they do at all.
“It’s not that politics is unimportant to them, but they have other priorities,” said Whit Ayres, a veteran Republican pollster. “Turning out the low-information voters who favor your candidate is one of the major tasks of political consultants.”
An NBC News poll conducted last month found that 15 percent of voters surveyed said they did not follow political news closely. Among those voters, Mr. Trump had an edge of 26 percentage points over Mr. Biden.
By contrast, among voters who primarily consume news through newspapers, national network and cable news — 54 percent of those surveyed — Mr. Biden was up by 11 points.
Mr. Trump’s commanding lead among the politically disengaged underscores how hard it may be for Mr. Biden to translate his record and vision into a galvanizing and attention-grabbing message for these voters, some of whom are firmly committed to Mr. Trump.
But some Democrats also see an opportunity.
“A single piece of information might have a radical impact on them, because they are by definition low-information,” former Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York said.
Pointing to subjects like Mr. Trump’s record on abortion rights or Mr. Biden’s work to lower the cost of insulin for older people, he added: “That doesn’t take a lot of explaining. It takes focusing people, it takes jolting them, but these are not complex points to get across.”
Mr. Trump also remains unpopular, and Democrats are betting that he will grow weaker as more voters see reminders of what they disliked about him.
Republicans, however, note that most Americans drew conclusions about Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden years ago — and that many voters are not following the former president’s provocations closely.
“Trump, I think he gets up there and talks a lot of stuff,” said Carla Williams, 50, of Detroit.
But Ms. Williams, who said she was often too busy with her work at an auto factory and a hotel to follow the news closely, said she was considering him anyway. She faulted Mr. Biden, whom she said she supported in 2020, for the high cost of living.
“People out here are struggling,” she said. “Everything is expensive.”
For voters who pay less attention to the news, “short-term forces” tend to play a dominant role in their thinking about politics, said Christopher H. Achen, an emeritus professor of politics at Princeton University.
“If the price of eggs goes up, they’re more likely to vote against the incumbent, even if the incumbent has nothing to do with the price of eggs,” he said.
Those are among the concerns driving Paul Ferando, 61, of Henderson, Nev., to consider voting for the first time, he said.
“You go to the grocery store, 150 bucks for one bag,” said Mr. Ferando, who works in construction and said he was too busy to closely follow the news. “It’s a joke.”
He added of Mr. Trump, “This year I might vote just to make sure he gets in.”
Many Americans now consume political news through social media, and TikTok’s emergence has greatly accelerated that trend.
By 2023, almost a third of people aged 18 to 29 were regularly getting news from TikTok, a hub for liberal causes that has also had an uptick of pro-Trump influencers since the last election.
The nature of social media — fast-moving and sometimes driven by unreliable narrators or bad actors — means that large audiences are more vulnerable to misinformation.
“I don’t really dig into it very much,” said Dean Citroni, 30, of Newnan, Ga., who works in TV and film production and said he predominantly got political news from Facebook or TikTok. Mr. Citroni, who said he would “probably” lean toward Mr. Trump over Mr. Biden but was interested in Mr. Kennedy, added, “Somebody posts a reel of it, I’m probably looking at it, going: ‘Huh! Can’t believe that!’”
And even as young voters get much of their information from individualized social media feeds, while cable news often reinforces partisan instincts, Americans have fewer cultural connections to unite them.
The era of major-network, prime-time TV hits has given way to pay-walled streaming services. Music has moved into personalized, app-driven experiences. Instagram and TikTok algorithms pelt people with unending, individualized streams of content.
And Americans’ shared vocabulary — and shared set of facts — is shrinking.
“It used to be that you could reach practically every voter through conventional electronic media, radio and television,” said Representative Dan Kildee, a Michigan Democrat. Now, he said: “You can’t really even just reach them through the more popular social media platforms. The splintering of information, the way people consume information, it’s much more difficult.”
Darrell Hammond, the comedian and former “Saturday Night Live” cast member, said those realities were even changing the nature of political comedy.
“You’d like to think that in order to laugh at a joke, the crowd has to basically understand the premise and agree with it to some extent,” he said. “But now, you have blanket generalizations only.”
Kal Penn, an actor who worked in the Obama administration, said he challenged himself to bridge the divide through humor.
“I love making something that your crazy uncle can watch with you on Thanksgiving,” he said. “And it’s like the only night where you’re not yelling at each other about the election.”
NYT link here: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/28/us/politics/trump-biden-voters.html

The man who became known as Conception Bay John Doe after his severed head was found buried in a dump site 23 years ago has been identified by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary as a Cuban who came to Canada on a tourist visa.
Temistocle Casas was identified through genetic genealogy that led investigators to his first cousin, police said.
RNC Const. Greg Davis said he will never forget the moment he learned Casas's name and saw his photo for the first time.
"Surreal I guess would be the word to use. I couldn't believe it had happened," Davis said. "I always knew it was possible but I didn't know if we were going to get there … my head was spinning, it was a crazy moment."
Two men looking for tree saplings discovered Casas's remains in a Billy Boot shopping bag in a dump site in Conception Bay, near St. John's, in 2001.
He had been known as Conception Bay John Doe since then.
After the remains were discovered, police said the victim probably lived in Quebec or Ontario or possibly the northeastern United States. Through isotope analysis and carbon dates, it was established that he was probably born in the late 1950s or early 1960s.
However, the RNC has now told The Fifth Estate they don't believe Casas ever lived in the U.S. They said he came to Montreal on a tourist visa in 1992.
It is not known how Casas ended up in Newfoundland.
"Through our investigation, we believe Mr. Casas was killed in 1997 or 1998," said Davis. "We're not going to disclose any more details at this time since it is an active homicide investigation."
The Fifth Estate was not able to find any records indicating Casas became a Canadian citizen.
Three years ago, the RNC began using genetic genealogy — when DNA is used to do family tree research — to try to identify the man. But any matches made with relatives had been too distant to make an identification, according to the RNC.
Then, in February 2024, a man from the U.S. uploaded his DNA. He turned out to be John Doe's first cousin.
In 2001, when the RNC held a news conference about the case, they said they believed the man was killed sometime between 1994 and 1997, but they would not disclose the cause of death, saying it would compromise their investigation. They did confirm that he was a victim of homicide.
Over the past two decades, the RNC pursued several avenues to try to crack open the case. They held media conferences, used isotope analysis, submitted the unknown man's DNA to the national DNA data bank for the missing and unidentified and sent his dental records to authorities in the U.S.
It was all to no avail.
In 2001, the RNC concluded that the skull, which had shoulder length black, curly hair, belonged to a male between the ages of 20 and 40.
It was not possible to determine other physical features like height because the rest of the man's remains have never been found.
In 2021, the RNC decided to pursue genetic genealogy. It has become a popular tool for policing agencies to try to identify John and Jane Does, but it only works if a close relative of the dead person enters their DNA into a public family tree database.
Identification becomes more difficult if the unknown person comes from an ethnic community that doesn't typically pursue family tree research. That was the challenge in this case, according to police.
The RNC uploaded Casas's DNA profile into GEDmatch, a public database of profiles from different family tree databases, in February 2022. His identity was confirmed in April 2024 after a DNA match with a family member.
"Personally I am relieved that we are at this point. I never knew that we'd get to the point where we'd have an identity. I knew the technology was there to identify him but I didn't know if it would work because of the Cuban ancestry," said Davis.
Casas arrived in Canada from Cuba on April 1, 1992. The RNC have not been able to find any records of Casas travelling to Newfoundland and Labrador.
"I beg anyone out there who is reading this story that if you know any information to contact us," said Davis.
"We are back to Square 1. In a normal [homicide], you know who the victim is from the start. We only learned his name 23 years later, so now I feel that in a lot of ways we're only now starting a homicide investigation, even though we put great effort into this file for over two decades."
Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labradoconception-bay-john-doe-temistocle-casas-1.7217354