Mercer county chamber of commerce nj

Starjump Politics
1.
It’s a simple thing really. Or at least it used to be. Or at least, he thinks it used to be. Was there not a time - oh so far back along the arc - when the captain of a ship simply issued commands, and the crew simply obeyed? Or is that a legend passed down from one captain to the next, father to son, generation after generation?
Capt. Omen had certainly issued the command. Starjump. He’d had the navigators work the arcane magic that was their source of cred, both physically and emotionally, and the numbers had been delivered over the ether to the little screen at his wrist. This place to that. Here to there. From Y to Z. Math. Cash on Delivery.
The creds had flowed into the Navigators account, the product had been created, received by Command Executive (no less the captain himself), and the order had gone down to Engineering. Down, down, down. So far down, no one in Command or Engineering had any idea how far away (in relative spatial terms) the Engineer was at any given moment. But down, for certain.
Down and splat. The Great Master Engineer Belaster had balked.
Rather than simply obeying. It’s a simple thing really. Or at least it used to be.
Capt. Omen knew there would be an Increase. There was always an Increase.
What was his father's favorite old saying, passed from His Father Before Him and so on back to The Time When Someone Knew What The Hell He Was Doing? Ah, he remembered.
“Fuck Engineering.”
2.
Belaster passed through the unbelievable door. Junior Engineers buzzed about the area, doing nothing, but looking busy - so long as he was within earshot. When the tons of dense metal swung back behind him with a harsh cha-whump, he knew they would be back to the standard activities of drinking and gambling. Not a problem.
Starjump - now that’s a problem.
The great ship only made two jumps a year. That was the routine since long before he’d arisen to the post of Great Master. What was the Commander up to? Leave the loop? What business could be scraped up in that endeavor?
The Master Engineer strode silently through the gantried, claustrophobic mass of the Outer Engine. As he turned over the Captain's orders in his mind, he passed the old and mammoth machines that marked the mantle of his world. It took the same amount of time it would have taken to drink a flagon of decent wine for him to make it to the entrance to the Inner Engine. And by the time he pulled the key from his jerkin, he was beginning to form some ideas of his own about the opportunities that might be waiting in the proposed “endeavor”.
Two of the most trusted acolytes - Apprentice Engineers by their proper title - stood guarding the door to the Inner Engine Room. Until Belaster died, this foyer was as close to the heart of the great ship as they - or any other living thing - would come to the True Engine. As he slipped the key, along with his great fist, into the gaping maw of the Security Fissure, the two junior men obediently turned their backs and knelt into compliant unknowing.
The designation “room” was a misnomer. The space was a vast and oppressive orb, full of tubes, wires, lights, switches, monitors, and every other sort of mechanical contrivance the Builders of Yon could imagine. Machines upon machines in a dizzying layered continent of motorized confusion.
And not one piece of it had worked in living memory. Perhaps ten living memories.
Engineer Belaster worked his way quietly and humbly along a causeway on his right. In about half the time it had taken him to make it from the Outer Engine to the Inner, he came upon a square panel half his size and width. He stopped aside this nondescript feature in the wall. He looked left. He turned slowly, and peered back the way he had come. He turned back with his body facing the way he had originally paced the walk. Formality. Custom.
There was no lock. He simply placed his right hand on the wall, and leaned, ever so slightly. The panel pivoted on an unseen hinge, and with a slight crouch, and one great sidestep, Belaster entered the real engine of the ship. The Sepulchre of the Great Innovation.
Altering the regimen the GI was accustomed to...had this been done in his father’s time? His father’s father? Had it ever been done? Had the GI ever varied from the formula he knew? What consequences might arise from making the changes necessary to achieve the Captain’s little side trip?
Capt. Omen had no idea the Great Innovation existed. Like every other soul upon the ship, he had no reason NOT to believe that the great engines were anything other than what their names proclaimed them to be. Capt. Omen had no idea that the cyclic journey of his craft was anything more than navigator math and brute engineering muscle.
Capt. Omen had other concerns, motives and compelling factors. Belaster had his own set of same, a compliment to his high station, political power, and terrible secret knowledge. And now, this side trip. Completely unprecedented. Unnecessary. Inconvenient. Maybe...profitable.
He had a headache. As he moved, slowly and respectfully to the Sepulchre of the Great Innovation, he heard his father’s ghostly voice speaking somewhere in the back of his mind, a raspy whisper on troubled winds, anointed and annoyed:
“Fuck the Command Executive.”
3.
The GI was a man. He was, in fact, the same genus and species as Belaster, or Omen, or any of the other humans on the ship. He was the oldest of his species by a profoundly long shot. The GI was over fifty thousand years old, if you went by base-metric. And still, he was 27. He’d been 27 for an extremely long time.
The GI was a real “G.I.” He had been an infantryman on the Homeworld, so many ages past. He’d fought in a land war in a place called “Babylon” around the end of the second millennium, early antiquity.
An injury, caused (believe it or not) by the shrapnel created by a combustion weapon buried in the primordial sand, had severed just enough of the GI’s nerve column to render him the perfect candidate for a singularly diabolical experiment of the type so popular with the barbarians of the age.
He had the right number of family members: 0. He had the right number of very close friends: 0.
He was well within the span of ideal years. He was, before the injury, a picture of the ideal “healthy young man”. No one would miss him if his body evaporated from the healing center, no computer would resist the removal of his identifying numbers from their primitive record keeping systems.
Said diabolical experiment was on the nature of semi autonomous interface and control processing. The scientists of his age were making early, brave, crude attempts at man/machine interface. Could the GI process data in his semi-responsive cranium? Could he be augmented to the point where he could move simple input/output switches with that brain? And lastly, but oh-so-most importantly, could he be kept in a physio-chemical stasis field efficient enough to keep him “alive” long enough to be useful?
The primeval researchers considered their experiment a semi-success. Yes, the stasis pod they had been working on for so many years functioned optimally. They considered their efforts in man machine interface development to be inconclusive. They were horribly, terribly wrong on that point. They simply didn’t have the technology to know it yet.
As the years passed, and other technology developed astride, the GI was demoted (with pathetic regularity) from “less interesting” to “obsolete” to “inconvenient”. When an enterprising pirate removed the GI’s pod from a long-dormant storage facility, no one noticed, and no one cared.
4.
Belaster never bothered to wonder how the GI had gone from “man” to “computer” to “engine.” He never wondered if the GI had come to this ship as he was now, or if the great work had been done aboard. The Unrevealed Manual made no mention of these details. If anyone was curious about these facts, they had ceased to be curious about them many ages ago.
The Great Innovation was capable. That's all the Engineer needed to know. Information from the Navigators went in, and with the flick of a switch, the ship simply “popped” from one point in space to another. So it was, so it is, so it would be, forever and ever, amen.
Access to the GI made the Chief Engineer a tin-pot dictator. The GI made the Command Executive a Puppet Royal. The GI made the Navigator corps a misguided and ignorant priesthood. The GI made commerce possible. The GI made the ship a marauding metal miracle.
Only Belaster knew it. On this good ship, the GI was God.
Belaster took the preliminary data from Navigation and processed it into the proper interface.
Impudently out of sequence, and with a bit of trepidation, the worship ceremony had begun.
5.
Will is among the stars. From every point, to every point, William’s consciousness existed under every rock, in every cloud, in the gulf between the stars, in the sliver of nothing between any two atoms you might like to choose.
Will had always been everywhere. He was in his center, wrapped in warm jelly. He was at an edge that never reached an end, far from the coldest glint of far-off starlight. He was his thoughts, he was his sense, he was all and nothing. Any memory of a hand, or a touch, or a breath, or a taste - or any such isolated singular foolishness - was gone. So long gone.
He did not know why the desire to focus came. At intervals, Will would desire to focus his conscience on one point. It lasted a second. He did not know what a “second” was, but that definition was fairly accurate.
In those moments, Will pulled back from the reaches of infinity, and for no reason at all, he would turn his being upon a certain point in space, very near a large floating orb, covered with light, and life. He would behold and embrace that point. Then his existence would fling back out to everywhere at once.
In that moment, the starship would move - in a blink - the distance between one planet and the other. Light years. A feat that would tax - almost to breaking - the resources of every other known starship in the universe.
By this gift of His will, the GI made of the starship’s ancient engines a great bounty of scrap metal bullion. By His grace and generosity, the Chief Engineer was made the Supreme Ruler in the true power structure of the ship.
Will did not know these things, he knew everything. Will did not care, he was care.
And being that, he was not capable of being surprised when a desire began to well in his contemplation. He was able to recognize that the craving was...oh, what was that word...he hadn’t thought of it (or the concept) in millennia...
New. That was it. This yearning was “new”.
How pleasant!
He didn’t think of it in exactly those terms, but it is a fair way to describe the aggregate of the wisps and winds of Will’s ancient thought process as it worked over the first hints of the coming fascination.
In the little Hidden Chamber aboard the starship, Chief Engineer Belaster adjusted long untouched controls, monitored geriatric output screens that had not shared light once in an epoch.
Inside the stasis pod, unseen and unmonitored, for the first time in an all but endless season, Will Gibson sprouted an erection.
6.
Captain Omen wondered why it was that after so much time on this ship, so many generations of Command Executives, it had come to him to suffer the slings and arrows of the current predicament. The men were set on going “off course”. And that course was set.
For better or worse, it would be he who commanded the vessel off her eternal merry-go-round, and out into far off spaces. For richer or for poorer. For sickness, more likely than health.
He moved the additional credits into the Engineering account, along with a highlighted copy of his original orders.
Again, he thought...”Fuck Engineering.”

The Master Engineer noted the ping on his network, and counted the increase. Nice work, when you can get it.
He ministered over the real controls of the starship - a little pad of characters and numbers attached to the pod that housed the G.I. Unless all his holy studies were shit, the information he entered would break the great ship from its long endless circle and off to the programmed destination.
And if it didn’t work? The old engineer didn’t think he had to worry too much about that eventuality. If his commands were in error, or the interface in a state of disrepair, they’d most likely all be dead in an instant.
Why had it come to him, this aberrance, after all the years of peace and profit that had been blessed upon his ancestors?
Blameless, he was. Not his idea at all. Orders come from the Command Executive, not Engineering.
As he pressed the “ENGAGE” key, he muttered again the ancient curse:
“Fuck the Command Executive”.
8.
The GI tensed. Actually tensed in the surrounding medium, which jiggled slightly for the first time in forever.
Input crossed terminal space, information flowed, and Will Gibson’s essence changed focus from the XYZ vector of his current “center” across an etheric neuron into a different set of vectors.
9.
The Captain blinked as the starfield changed. In an instant. He’d seen this before, but this time, everything in his vision was new. Starjump successful.
As it should be. A simple thing, really.
10.
The Master Engineer blinked as the panel output display changed from “pending” to “complete”.
Starjump successful. As it should be. A simple thing, really.

Outside, in less time than could be imagined in the mind of a man, the great starship had jumped an unfathomable distance through space, broken the laws of time and light, and simply “appeared” in the dimensional spot the GI had focused on.
A simple thing, really. But this time - so new!
So wonderful.
Inside his mortal chamber, for the first time in a very very long time, a pathetic driblet of come spurted its way out of the GI’s cock.
Inside his mind, the GI released a long, slow, mental “ahhhhhhh”, followed shortly by three human words:
“Fuck the Universe.”
Durham, NC
April, 2012

[Public]

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

د بهرنیو چارو وزارت

Kabul, Afghanistan Sept/Oct 2024 

Foreign minister Amir Muttaqi would like to reach out to the Gulf Cooperation Council on further cooperation between our nations. With the biggest point of contention in recognizing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan resolved, we would like to ask for formal recognition and exchange of chargé d'affaires.

To Saudi and UAE

Firstly, Afghanistan would like the respective Saudi and UAE Chamber of Commerce to sign a preference agreement on halal meat completely exempting the tariffs on imports from Afghanistan. We will be spearheading huge investments in herding and meat processing facilities in order to reach an export target of $200m in the next three years to both of your countries.
Your countries import billions of dollars worth of halal meat from across the world such as Australia. Importing processed meat from Afghanistan not only means saving transportation, shipping, and insurance costs but the ready pool of dirt-cheap labor ensures we will have the lowest cost possible.
Secondly, we would like to discuss with the UAE and Saudi if they would help in the establishment of an afghan state-owned oil company. We are primarily looking for contractors (engineers, management, etc) to help jumpstart our company. Furthermore, we would like the UAE or Saudi to help support a large-scale training program for our engineers and management personnel so we can run this company properly.

Trade and commerce had long been life blood of the Galatic Economy for countless centuries. As new races and civilizations began to interact with the wider Galaxy, they all began to establish trade agreements with their neighbors.
Supply and Demand was a universal concept after all, as all of the Galatic governments began to rely on one another for what ever they needed. It was not long before each individual speices began to be known for a particular good or service they provided....
The Galvan were known for their high quality mining equipment and mineral ore refining abilities. The Vol'pine were known for creating some of the most beautiful pieces of jewelry in the Galaxy, as their planet was known for its rich deposits of precious metals and their skilled Jewelers. The Calahathy were a race of explorers and steller cartographers, thus they provided some of the most up to date and accurate star chats for many a species. While the Botha'nns possessed some of the largest ship yards in the known galaxy.
But when it came to the humans.... Well.... No one knew just what to make of them or just what they would have to offer. The Calahathy were the first to establish trade routes with this new race and apparently they had become quite fond of a fruit only found in human space. But it was not long before other consumable human products began to appear across the Galaxy and to be fair, they were quite popular. I know that a beverage known as "Cof-ee" had become quite the sensation on several planets, mine included.
But it seemed that the humans were not content with bring known as the go to race for delicious food and beverages. As they soon began to promote what they called a "EXPO" on one of their major trading colonies.
"COME AND SEE WHAT WE GOT!!" Was the tag line for the event, when it was first announed. Obviously there were those who doubted such a Primative species, would have anything of value to offer. And to be fair, just what such a race could offer to the wider Galaxy?
But their were those like myself who were genuinely curious about this up coming event and I booked a ticket for the Human Coloney of Mercer IV.
After a few solar days of travel, the Star Liner touched down at the Mercer IV Space Port. I was quite surprised by the amount of individuals who had also taken the time to come to this human world. Much more than I originally thought would be here, honestly.
After checking into my accomodations, I managed to catch one of the many public transport systems which lead to the event itself....
No sooner had I entered the Expo floor, my senses we're soon assaulted by a assortment of sights , sounds.... And smells. I could smell that sweet sent that came when a fresh jug of Cof-ee was made. I soon found a small temporary structure that had posters advertising a certain brand of this glorious drink and from what I could see, their were multiple flavors which were being offered. I have to confess... I may have, as the humans say... gone over board and bought several of the blue tins. But I eventually made my way deeper into the expo and soon came across another interesting sight.
A human company called.... "Agri-Solutions" was displaying a new Hydroponic farming Unit they had created. It was much smaller than some of the other systems I had seen, but that was by design. As the person in charge of the display explained this was a "portable" Hydroponic system which could either be carried on small ships for Long voyages, but also be installed in homes as well. Like those usually found on frontier planets on the rim. Needless to say, this perked the interest of several freighter captains and others in the crowd. As such a set could provide fresh fruits and/or vegetables on extended cargo runs.
As the day progressed, I also saw several other items which were on display to the public. A automated piece of industrial farming equipment which could be programed to either plant or harvest crops. A drone which could be used to inspect/explore derelict star ships were were too dangerous for anyone to explore themselves. An open wanter tank that not only allowed for someone to sit inside of it, but produced jets of water what messaged and relaxed the muscles..... An interesting sensation to say the very least. I placed an order for one right there and then.
But what really caught my interest as an engineer, was the one section of the expo where several companies had set up stalls which had starship models within them. I soon came to find out that these stalls were operated by some of the major ship building companies owned by the Humans and must say .. this impressed me the most.
One of them.... SinoViet-Hyundai Heavy Industries, has a model of a starship they called "The All In One". Basically, is was a ship which had a modular design which they said could be customized to meet a operator's specifications. Obviously, this was not a new concept or even a novel one, as the Botha'nns had several designs of their own. But these seem to be more..... Practical and utilitarian when compared to those. Stranger still, I swear I saw Vax Ran Taalan speaking on one of the human representatives..
Taalan was the head of the Wuhah Mining Consortium, one of the largest within the Galaxy and operated one of its largest merchant fleets. I could not hear what the Tai'lax was saying to the human, but he seemed to be very interested in the vessels bring offered.
Come to think of it, I could have I saw a number of major figures during the Expo during the five days I was there. Men and women who were well known as masters of industry within the Galaxy. From Crown Prince Al-Twarri of the Henso Emerate and head of the Emerate Merchant Lines, to Claa Cee of the Barboba Agricultural Trust.... They were here and all seemed to be quite interested in what the humans had to offer.
It would not be until I returned home, did I find out that several of these Galatic entities would eventually sign contracts with these human companies. Including a deal with would see SinoViet and the Botha'nns co-develop a new class of cargoship.
I guess in the end, this Expo the humans had held, had turned out to be a grand success for them. New trade deals had been signed, human companies had gotten more exposure to the Galaxy and it seemed that there just might be another such event come the next cycle.
As it would turn out, the humans would be some of the best salesmen and inovators in the Galaxy.....

*Been trying to write a short story/poem a day, so here's today's. Hope you enjoy!
When the older Mister Elway caked the hood of his car with wet meat and frosting, he didn’t know what’d hit him. A day later, he did–slumped in his Lay-z-boy for the eight o’clock news, a tray of chicken warming a chest which suddenly grew cold.
I mean, who could blame the man–who could have known in that weather? The snow was heavier than heavy cream, the kerbs iced, woods infested with deer who’d jump at the chance to kiss a bumper–see love, like a car, is a dangerous thing. And his bumper, the older Elway’s, was patched up before the sun’d even gotten a chance to comb the fields–all snowswept–with its dove-white glow, loosening icicles from their perches, blood from the slurry of ice and shattered bone and mud exposed to the winter air when a heavy something’d barreled across its tow. That same something’d made a shallow dent in the older Elway’s Ford, which pissed him off more than the act of killing itself (crashing’s cheap, fixing a car takes some coin). So he fished some duct tape out of his fat red Uline, plastered over the rough, called that night a night, and called the corpse on the roadside road kill–I mean, if he never investigated, what’s the mass at the foot of his wheels but a busted doe.
That’s what–what he was familiar with at least. A busted doe. Which is why that very first night, he consoled himself by whispering to himself, she’s childless–a remorse he rarely afforded deer. Didn’t dare venture beyond that realm of thought–that that body’s not a doe–cus he preferred his bitter cup of guilt a pooled pair of fawns, motherless, wandering the empty chambers of a hemlock grove searching for a teat that isn’t there. Because that kind of dying–the animal kind–was a familiar sight.
He’d hunted some times before, with his grandfather as a kid, his father as a man, his son as an older man, his grandson as an older older man. Killing was a disease of the blood for Elway sons, who through generations of tracking, shooting, hunting had forgotten what an empty freezer box looks like (a month later, his wife, the elder Missus Elway, would come to know: vacuous, sullen and a little more cold). Nevertheless, they'd always known venison on sacred sundays and how to strip hides; they’d stuff popsicles between the pink blocks to keep 'em cool in summer's hotter spells and string garland between the set of antlers that crowned their Christmas-time hearth once November had died down. They were a proud lineage, after all.
As a child, he’d ogle the court of heads that lined their silent antechamber. Kings who broke the vine rose wallpaper–all yellowed by water, peeling–with their ivory masts and royal, black eyes that’d glare back at him, his head rolling across the floor in awe. *That* him wanted nothing more than to be mounted on a wall, just as all kids, young and unknowing, expect things grand in their future. The truth was the older older Mister Elway had done a shoddy job stuffing those buck skulls. Wood wool puffed through half-broken seams. Their brow lines slumped a little too low. They furrowed at the indignity of their deaths, not the actual dying, but the mounting, the careless shear job done to their lofty tufts, the hackey-state they’d found themselves immortalized in. Like Annie Pork–as I said, meat–who’d be immortalized with a similar lack of care:
Acheron County Hit-and-Run Leaves 14-year-old Girl Dead.
“How sad.”
Now to the weather… a warm front, that his wife would later attribute to a garden-variety flu, crept slowly upon old Mister Elway’s forehead and stomach and chest and his heart, most of all, for the moment that headline fashioned itself across his screen, Mister Elway became the worst kind of killer–a killer without care.
“How sad.” he thought, “Who could do such a thing.”

My ex and i have been split for 6 years i joined the military and have kept my home of record as my permanent address for visitation. While she moved to arizona and had changed her county of residence. In the contract it states if she changes her county of residence and i remain the same she would have to come pick up our child. I have summers with my kid and have paid for flights to pick up my daughter and to return her, even when i was overseas,to not cause any issues. The last 2 years i got stationed in NJ. I have flown and picked up and returned my daughter with no help from my ex. When i brought up the contract she said she didn’t read it that way and i should continue to pick up and return my daughter with no help such as meeting me in the airport or paying for half of my daughters ticket. Have yall seen something like this ? I can post the actual verbiage and see what yall think.

Hello redditors! I’m looking to find someone within a reasonable distance (Orange County, Los Angeles, South Bay, etc.) for some casual fun or an ongoing friend with benefits/sneaky link. Who doesn't miss cuddles, intimacy, teaching each other new things, netflix & chilling, and occasional outings?
About Me:

• Asian
• ENFP (I work well with both introverts and extroverts)
• Born and raised in the South Bay/Los Angeles area
• Vaccinated, full of antibodies 💉 & Disease free
• Talkative (great through text/chat message but better in person and saves our fingers from typing)
• Employed full time, have my shizz together, and love to work on side hustles/gigs (love entrepreneurship)
• Positive attitude, drama-free, and open-minded
• Down to earth, prior meeting experience, and drama-free
• Usually free on week nights, Thursdays, and sometimes weekends depending on plans

Random other interests include: youtube, video/board games, hiking trails, intellectual conversation, entrepreneurial ideas, documentaries, comedy, DIY, E-Commerce, golf, anime, dogs, working out, home improvement, trying new foods, festivals/concerts/conventions (going to: Seven Lions: Beyond the Veil, EDC 2023, Illenium Trilogy, Escape, Countdown), meeting new people, and whatever gets me off my phone. I am frequently complimented on my conversational flow, hygiene, and approachability.
You:

• Vaccinated & disease free
• Preferably in the Los Angeles/Orange County/South Bay area

Hoping we could be consistent – I understand there should be some mutual attraction and chemistry (even though I don't really have a type). We could see if we click, and go from there. If you’re interested, shoot me a brief description of yourself / what you’re looking for and a pic! (More than just a hi!) You don’t have to send a pic, but I’m more likely to reply if you do.
If this post is still up, it means I'm still searching

As Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage month draws to a close here in the United States, I wanted to share a collection of write-ups featuring the stories of Asians/Pacific Islanders who are currently missing or whose cases have not been resolved. This is an expansion of a piece I post annually and therefore may it sound similar. These are mostly my pieces as well as a few other cases that I have remembered reading about over the last year or two including some cases recommended by readers. Feel free to add other cases which have stuck with you down in the comment section. I hope to garner some exposure for these lesser known cases and links to sources can be found at the bottom or embedded.
Khoi Dang Vu was a deaf American man who went missing from his family’s home in 2007 in Vancouver, Washington. He left on a rainy night without his coat, bike, or any belongings. His case is now considered a homicide and no trace of him has ever been found. True Crime Bullsh*t, an investigative podcast, has surmised that Vu may be a victim of serial killer Israel Keyes. The FBI considers the case a kidnapping. Khoi is of Vietnamese descent. My write up here- https://www.reddit.com/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/g89b2z/what_causes_someone_to_leave_their_home_in_the/
https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/khoi-dang-vu
Slideshow made my Khoi's sister- www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IuTeb58vH0&t=0s
Wallace Guidroz went missing from Tacoma in 1983 when he was only two years old. His father took him to a park, went on a walk with a mysterious man, and then when he returned Wallace was gone. Wallace has never been seen again. He is of Korean and African American descent. https://www.reddit.com/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/mdtktl/2_%C2%BD_year_old_wallace_guidroz_disappeared_while/
https://charleyproject.org/case/wallace-guidroz
Helen Doe is an unidentified decedent who died in a semi-truck crash in Kalama, Washington in 1991. Although she is believed to be Native American, Asian, Hispanic, and mixed heritage cannot be ruled out. Her story can be found here. A new facial reconstruction can be see here. https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Helen_Doe https://www.reddit.com/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/lnv1b9/extensive_write_up_on_the_bizarre_case_of_helen/
https://www.koin.com/news/special-reports/the-mystery-of-helen-doe-kalama-crash-1991/
Grays Harbor Jane Doe was found in 1984 off of a logging road in Southern Washington state. She was middle aged and believed to be of Asian descent. You can read about her here. https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Grays_Harbor_County_Jane_Doe
In 1963 the body of an unidentified man was found floating in the Spokane River in Spokane, Washington. The man had most likely drowned. He is believed to be of Asian descent but white and mixed descent could not be ruled out. His story, as well as the stories of 16 other unknown persons from Spokane can be found here. https://www.reddit.com/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/liqj98/extensive_write_up_on_17_of_spokane_countys/
https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1670umwa.html
Gary Ridgway aka the Green River Killer terrorized the Pacific Northwest for decades. What many people do not know is that the Green River task force is still in operation. Ridgway confessed to 71 murders, but only around 49 bodies have been found meaning there are more victims waiting to be discovered or reported missing. Two of Gary Ridgway’s known victims were of Asian American or Pacific Islander backgrounds. Marie Malvar, who was of Filipino descent, and Kimi Kai Pitsor who was native Hawaiian, but there may be more. To read about the stories of these young girls as well as other victims of Ridgway you can start here. https://www.reddit.com/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/gpbcll/what_everyone_has_wrong_about_ridgway_extensive/
https://kingcounty.gov/depts/sheriff/about-us/enforcement/investigations/green-river.aspx
Diane Nguyen Robbins was only 13 in 1985 when she was last seen. She disappeared with her 21 year old friend, Molly Purdin, who was later found murdered. Both Diane and her friend were from Kennewick, Washington but Molly’s was found in northern King County. Gary Ridgway is a suspect in both cases. Diane is of Vietnamese and white descent. https://charleyproject.org/case/diane-nguyen-robbins
Edward Ryon Makuahanai Aikau, usually known as Eddie Aikau, a famous lifeguard and surfer, was credited with saving over 500 people at Waimea bay on Oahu’s north shore during his tenure as lifeguard. In fact not one person was reported drowned during Eddie’s shifts at the beach. In 1978, 31 year old Aikau had decided to join the Polynesia Voyaging society, a group who planned to travel from Hawaii to Tahiti using only outrigger canoes. Shortly into their journey one canoe sprung a leak and eventually capsized 12 miles south of Molokai. Eddie paddled on his surfboard towards Lanai in a valiant effort to summon help, but soon disappeared. The US Coast Guard were able to save all the passengers and a huge search was launched but Eddie was never found and is presumed drowned. Eddie Aikau is a household name in Hawaii and in the surfing community. Competitions bearing his name and t-shirts, bumper stickers, and other items inscribed with “Eddie would go” are a constant reminder of his legacy and memory. Eddie was of Native Hawaiian and Caucasian, mostly Portuguese, descent. His story can be found here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Aikau
Rachel Mellon, sometimes reported as Rachel Mellon Skemp or Rachel Mellon Kemp was a 13 year old who disappeared from her Illinois home when she was home sick one day in 1996. Her step-father is the primary suspect in her disappearance and diary entries from several months earlier reported that her step dad had touched her inappropriately and tried to kiss her. Rachel is of Asian descent but her family reports she is often mistaken for Greek or Italian. Her case can be found here. https://charleyproject.org/case/rachel-marie-mellon
Hang Lee, a 17 year old girl, went missing from St Paul Minnesota on January 12th 1993. Hang was last seen with a friend Kia “Nikki” Lee. She left home with this friend between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. but when Nikki returned home an hour later, Hang was not with her. Nikki initially told authorities Hang had left with some unidentified young men. She later changed her story and said Hang had gone to a job interview with Nikki's own employer, Mark Steven Wallace, at Wallace's small painting and carpentry business on Iroquois Avenue. Wallace told Nikki that he was looking to hire another employee and she suggested her friend Hang as Hang was looking for a new job. Nikki thought that this request from Wallace was odd as he did not have enough work to hire another employee at that time. Nikki eventually told authorities that she and Hang went to Wallace's place of work and drove around with him in a white truck before switching and driving around in a tan Chevy Cavalier. Wallace dropped Nikki off and then left with Hang in the car. Wallace also told Nikki to not report what happened to the police.After a few interviews with the police Nikki retained an attorney and is no longer cooperating. Wallace denied involvement but also retained an attorney. Wallace is the prime suspect in the disappearance of Hang Lee. He has a record which includes rape, kidnapping, stalking, and drug possession. Hang Lee has never been located and her mother and 13 siblings are still looking for her.Hang is described as a sweet and naïve teenager who is only 17 and 1993. She was 5 ft tall and weighed 90 lb. She was last seen wearing a lightweight black leather jacket, a black t-shirt with "Skid Row" written on the back, black jeans or slacks, sneakers and several pieces of jewelry, including two silver bracelets. She is described as an Asian female with black hair and brown eyes. Her parents moved from Lao (sometimes spelled Laos in the US), and she is Hmong descent. She speaks both English and Hmong. She left behind her purse, a paycheck, and all of her other belongings.Full article here.
Deborah Palmer was only 7 years old in 1997 when she was last seen getting ready for school. Her mother said goodbye as Deborah left the home to walk a few blocks to her elementary school in Oak Harbor, Washington. When Deborah’s mother tried to drop off lunch a few hours later, she was shocked to learn that her daughter never arrived. Five days later, Deborah’s body was found on a beach a few miles away. She had been strangled but not sexually assaulted. Her case is cold and unsolved 25 years later. Deborah is of African American and Filipino descent. https://www.q13fox.com/washingtons-most-wanted/little-girl-doesnt-show-up-for-school-but-shows-up-days-later-dead-on-a-beach
In September of 2019, Tampa native Paulino Norberto Del Mundo Japor Jr. decided she wanted to go on a 10 vacation to Cozumel, Mexico but during a layover in Dallas she called her sister and asked for help getting a ticket back to Florida as she had changed her mind about going to Mexico. Her family said on the phone she sounded “desperate” and “incoherent.” She never boarded a flight home or boarded her plane to Mexico. Her last known whereabouts were documented on security tapes from the Dallas airport. Her phone and bank account have not been used since that day and she was never seen again. Paulino is a transgender woman who went by the names Paula, Paulina, or Pauline. Although Paula had lived as a woman for years she had not medically transitioned and it appears she still used Paulino Norberto as her legal first and middle name. She is of Filipino descent and her family is still hoping for answers. https://charleyproject.org/case/paulino-norberto-del-mundo-japor-jr
In 1999, Xuan Cao, a 53-year-old man from China, was visiting the USA as part of a tour group. His tour group had just gotten to a hotel in North Bergen, NJ, when Xuan said he was going out to make a phone call. He disappeared and never came back. He left behind his passport and all of his luggage. It is not believed to be a voluntary disappearance.
In 1990, Tu Thi-Cam Tran, a student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, vanished one night on her way back to her car from the University Center. Tu, who was of Vietnamese descent, was 24 years old at the time, and in her senior year at UMBC. She went missing in the small window of time between leaving her classroom and getting into her car. Here's a write-up on her case with some more information.
Ashok Kuman Narain was last seen in Eugene, Oregon in either 1987 or 1988 where he lived with his wife and young daughter after moving from Fiji several years earlier. In 1987 the dismembered body of a pregnant woman and the body of a toddler were found floating nearby in Washington and Oregon. 20 years later these bodies were identified as Raj Mati Narain and Kamnee Koushal, the wife and daughter of Ashok, after Raj’s brother read a story about the unidentified bodies online. He had not heard from his sister since 1987 when Raj’s letters back to her family in Fiji mysteriously stopped. Ashok is wanted for questioning but his whereabouts are unknown. Authorities are looking for a white 1980 Toyota Tercel with the Oregon license plate number KUV762, which disappeared with Ashok and may be connected to Raj and Kamnee's homicides. Both Oregon and Washington authorities are investigating his disappearance.Most sources say the family is of Indo Fijian descent, however, the Charley project now reports that Ashok is of native Fijian descent. You can read their tragic story here. https://charleyproject.org/case/ashok-kumar-narain
Queens Jane Doe was an unidentified woman who fell to her death accidentally after falling off an elevated train platform in Queens, New York in January, 2000. She is described as an 18 to 28 year old Asian or Pacific Islander woman who is 5 ft 1 in in height and weighed 113 lb. She had brown eyes and 7” straight dark brown hair. She was wearing a dark brown Albert Duke brand leather jacket, a blue and white plaid button-up shirt, a dark colored bra, blue jeans, white underwear, and black Euro sneakers or boots. She was also wearing earrings. Her identity is still a mystery to this day. You can find more information here, https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Queens_Jane_Doe_(January_2000)) but please be careful as post-mortem photos are available of this woman.
In 2011, Mansoor Riaz, a Microsoft software engineer, vanished one night from his Bellevue, Washington apartment. Riaz is of Pakistani descent. His story can be found here.
https://www.reddit.com/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/msgolf/a_software_developer_at_mircosoft_vanished_from/
https://charleyproject.org/case/mansoor-riaz
Yuan Xia Wang went missing near Washington DC when she was headed for a doctor’s appointment. Yuan had been found at Dulles Airport when a man who was smuggling people into the country was detained and Yuan was one of his charges. Police became suspicious when Yuan who was supposedly a Thai citizen could not speak or understand Thai, but rather spoke Mandarin. Yuan told authorities her parents in Fuzhou, China had paid money for this man to get her into the country using a Thai passport. She was supposed to live with an aunt in the US, but she didn't know where or who this person was so she was placed in foster care for the time being. Other reports say that her smuggler was supposed to take her to a hotel in Alexandria, Virginia. Her foster parents hired a Mandarin speaking babysitter to stay with her until she was enrolled in at a local middle school. Yuan went missing only a few weeks later while on the way to a doctor's appointment. She reportedly got off the school bus and was supposed to take a cab to the doctors but vanished by the time the cab arrived. Although Yuan said she was 12, she was 5’ 6” in height and most people thought she was probably 14-15 at the time of her disappearance. She is of Chinese descent and speaks Mandarin. Police believe she either ran away, was kidnapped by her family members or smugglers, or met with foul play. She may have been seen in Kansas city in 2008. Sadly her dentals, fingerprints, and DNA and not available. https://www.reddit.com/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/jbtixc/yuan_xia_wangmissing_from_lincolnia_virginia/
https://charleyproject.org/case/yuan-xia-wang
Su Cha Kim a 54 year old shop owner from Twin Falls, Idaho Was found murdered in her massage parlor in 1997. Her case is unsolved and cold. Unfortunately, little information is available online. https://www.reddit.com/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/njhce2/the_1997_murder_of_su_cha_kim_in_twin_falls_id/
https://magicvalley.com/news/local/twin-falls-police-hope-passing-years-will-help-solve-cold-cases/article_7c83fca5-9dfd-5fd6-915f-063719bc0117.html
Faloma Luhk, 10, and Maleina Luhk, 9, disappeared while waiting for their school bus in As Teo, Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, on May 25th, 2011. The girls were last seen sitting on a concrete slab at 6:10 a.m. across the road from their bus stop, only 300 feet from the home they shared with their grandparents. The bus arrived and left without them at 6:30 am but the girls were not reported missing until they didn’t come home after school that day. The 12 mile long island of Saipan was searched thoroughly by friends, family, locals, and the FBI but no trace of the girls or their things were ever found and their disappearance remains one of the most well known mysteries from the Northern Mariana Islands. Both girls are described as Pacific Islander females with brown hair and brown eyes. In 2011, Faloma had bronze colored highlights in her bangs, and Maleina had a large birthmark on her left cheek. She is reported as small and short for her age. A distant family member by marriage, who was later arrested for domestic violence, is the prime suspect in the case. He has never been named publicly. https://www.saipantribune.com/index.php/disappearance-of-luhk-sisters-marks-10-years/
https://www.guampdn.com/news/local/10-years-later-fbi-still-looking-for-luhk-sisters-who-went-missing-from-saipan-bus/article_f22e2472-cc38-50ac-a187-2ad5f3795155.html
Dong Chull Jung disappeared within minutes in Lakewood, Washington. The 78 year old was residing at the Golden Lion Motel on Tacoma Way in Lakewood, Washington. The establishment has long been a hotbed of criminal activity and violence since at least the 1990s. On average the police responded to incidents at the 24-room hotel over 100 times per year. November 22nd 2003 was one of those times. On that day witnesses called the police after hearing a “disturbance” in Dong’s room. When the authorities arrived, they found a giant pool of blood on the floor as well as Dong’s prescription eyeglasses, but Dong was nowhere to be found. According to the News Tribune, a paper out of Tacoma, one week before Dong’s disappearance he was granted a temporary domestic violence protection order from a Paul C. Jung, who might be Dong’s adult son. In June of 2003, someone named Hae Sung Jung, got a restraining order against Dong. Hae might be the estranged wife of Dong, but this isn’t known for sure. There are vague reports that Dong was having “marital issues'' at the time of his disappearance. Very little information is available in the case. The Golden Lion Inn was finally torn down in 2017 but the fate of the elderly man who resided within remains a mystery. Dong is described as an Asian (Korean) male, with brown eyes and thinning gray hair. He is 5’6'' and weighs 135 lbs. Dong wears prescription eyeglasses but they were left behind when he vanished. If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Dong Jung please call Pierce County Crime Stoppers 253-591-5959. https://charleyproject.org/case/dong-chull-jung
Gordon Kaipo Kealoha, 59, disappeared along with his dog Mahina in 2011. They were last seen fishing near Honolulu where they lived on July 8; Gordon cherished Mahina and brought her almost everywhere he went. After his disappearance, Gordon's white minivan was found abandoned, and his dinghy was found in the water, floating away from his home. Gordon is 6'1 and 250 pounds, and he is of Native Hawaiian descent.
https://charleyproject.org/case/gordon-kaipo-kealoha
Amber Aiaz and Melissa Fu were mother and daughter who went missing In November, 2019 from Irvine, California. The story of their disappearance and possible kidnapping is complicated. I would suggest reading the story here or here if you are interested in the details but the basic story is this. Amber's husband, Cheng Zhang, reported his wife and stepdaughter missing to the police about a week after they were last seen. He said that a Chinese man and woman came to his door, put something on his face and he passed out. He reported that when he woke up he found blood and evidence of a struggle in the apartment. He also found a note telling him not to report his wife and daughter missing to the police for at least several days and continued to get notes over the next week. He did what the notes instructed for the next several days. When he finally did report his wife and stepdaughter missing, police were skeptical of his story to say the least. Several months later police reported that they had found nothing to indicate that Cheng’s story was untrue, including over 40 hours of interviews with him and 44 days of around the clock surveillance. In the past Amber had told acquaintances that she was a very wealthy woman who had millions of dollars to her name. While this was not true, authorities speculated that Amber may have been kidnapped for ransom only for her captors to find out that her story of riches was nothing more than a farce. Amber's money has not been touched in either her Chinese or American bank accounts. Both mother and daughter left behind their passports and there's no indication that either of them have entered China.
Amber is described as a 34-year-old Chinese woman who is 5'9 and weighed 180 lb. She has black hair and brown eyes. When last seen she was wearing a black shirt, a black vest, black fitted pants with white writing on them, and light colored shoes. She may use the name Mei Yi Wu or Meiyi W. Wu.
Melissa is described as a 12 or 13 year old Chinese female with black hair and brown eyes. She was 5 '11” in height and weighed about 200 lb. She was last seen wearing a black tracksuit.
Cheng described the unidentified abductors as a Chinese couple in their 40s. Both had average builds. The woman was reported to be about 5’8” and had her black hair tied back in a bun. The man was of average build about 190 lb. and 5 '10”. He had short black hair. The couple may have been driving a black Cadillac and they may have been seen near the apartment complex that day by other neighbors.
Destiny Dee Sanith was last seen by her family on March 3rd, 2022 in Williamstown New Jersey. At about 2:30 in the afternoon on March 3rd, she asked her mom if she could borrow the car to go visit a friend in South Philadelphia. When Destiny did not return in the evening her mother learned that she never made it to her friend's house that day. New Jersey police had contact with Destiny at about 5:20 a.m. on March 4th In Folsom New Jersey. Destiny and her car were near a strip mall at the time. What exactly happened is not clear but police reported they helped Destiny move her car into a parking spot and then gave her a ride to a Wawa convenience store about a mile up the road. Destiny's family has reported that they have surveillance video of Destiny entering and then later leaving the Wawa store after purchasing a drink. At about 9:00 a.m. she was seen leaving the store with a drink crossing the road, turning into another convenience store and then going behind the building and out of view. This is the last known sighting and location of Destiny Sanith. On March 5th when Destiny had still not returned home she was reported missing to the police and her family learned about her interaction with the police on the morning of March 4th. Destiny has not been seen or heard from since.
Destiny is described as an Asian female 27 years old, who is 5'6 and height and weighs about 160 lb. She reportedly has short wavy brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing black sweatpants, a black Nike sweatshirt, a backpack, white and red Air Jordan sneakers, wearing earrings and carrying a coffee. She has a tattoo of the Virgo symbol on her right hand. Her nickname is Dara. Her family has set up a GoFundMe to help find Destiny and hire a private investigator. Full article here.
Myong Keun Noah, who went by the nickname Mike, was seen by his family at around 7:00 p.m. on May 1st, 2007 in San Bruno, CA. Mike owned a private car company called E Limousine Services that he ran out of his home. That evening Mike told his son that he had to leave to pick up a 7:30 p.m fare. He did not tell his son where he was picking up the fare. Mike's wife was at an evening class at the time. Neither he or his black Lincoln town car was ever seen again. His car was new and didn't have permanent license plates, but had the transportation carrier permit number TCP 18525 printed on the back bumper. It had a transponder that registers when it enters San Francisco International Airport, but the transponder did not register a trip to the airport that evening. A search of parking areas at both the San Francisco Airport and the Oakland Airport did not locate Mike or his car. Mike's bank account and his phone have not been used since May 1st, 2007. Mike had no history of running away or dropping out of sight, he had no reported mental health issues, no personal problems, and no enemies. Police report that they are baffled by his disappearance. Mike was a US Army veteran and a naturalized American citizen. He had one teenaged son with his current wife and two adult children from a previous marriage however, no one in Mike's family has heard from him since May 1st, 2007. Mike is described as an Asian male, 60 years old in 2007, with brown eyes and black and gray hair. He is 5 ft 8 in in height and weighs about 165 lbs. He was last seen wearing a black suit with a white shirt. He may spell his last name “Noh.” He is of Korean descent.
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SAN-BRUNO-Wife-police-plead-for-help-finding-2559008.php
https://charleyproject.org/case/myoung-keun-noah
What happened to these people?

Hi Gang. I really appreciate any support you can give.
Situation: I am a band leader who hits up over 200+ contacts each year, repeatedly, to book gigs. There are groups of them & different behaviour for each group, ie: Clubs (hit up less), Chambers of Commerce (hit up in Jan only), Festivals, contacts, wineries, etc.
Both the tone of my messaging & the timeliness of when I go at them differs. Today Im doing it all on my gmail & managing the CRM portion on google files. I track dates sent, response (if any), & then go back to my last send & use the email header from there to start new.
Doing this more efficiently is ALL I need. Id love the following, can you tell me if Mailchimp can do this, easily / hard, as its a BIG investment of time to drop all my contacts in there & properly sort them & put names to them.

1. Can I have groups that get different messages (campaigns) per above? (pretty clearly yes).
   
2. Can I create text that has some "input name", "input location" type callout so each email can look personalized in its content? Of course the contact would need to be fleshed out so it can pull that data.
   
3. Tracking: Can I see, per group I go after, who replied & who did not? what emails bounced (so I can remove). Or, am I better managing the "post send" workflow through Gmail still.
   
4. Same Contact in multiple groups. I assume I can do this, but can I?
   
5. Managing Results: Is there a dashboard or file I can export to see where I stand on a campaign. ie: I email 100 Chambers of Commerce. 50 respond, I follow up with them directly (through gmail). But 50 dont respond. I need to see this in a chart, so I can action to change the email a bit, but hit them up again in 2 weeks. OR do I need to do all this in google files like I do today?
   
6. If I missed any other powerful tools or things that will make life better, let me know that too! But the above is all Im trying to do. Replying to EACH gmail, even with cut & past tactics, takes a LONG time.
   

Chris

Read THE Z TEAM: Book 1 on Amazon in ebook/print/Unlimited here!
Reading Links: Royal Road ScribbleHub
Book 1 Sample Start Book 2 Start Previous
***
The sun cycle was set to early evening, bathing the grand chamber of the Eternal Spirits in a warm yellow-orange glow. Beneath the artificial sky, Commonwealth diplomats mingled with the Acculturation delegation. Serving bots and staff attended to the guests, food and alterant stations lining the sprawling compartment. Pleasant background music hummed, coloring the atmosphere lively, almost celebratory.
Dash wasn’t in the mood for any of it.
At least he could hide his displeasure behind his mask. Sisters Celescia had no such luck.
Endless guests swept past to interact with the singers. Most were starry-eyed and babbled in admiration. The more polished elitists offered measured praise like they were building social capital. Then there was the minority array of cringe suitors who eyed the singers with obvious lust.
Somehow the troupe had the energy to keep their poise. Dash wanted to snatch a bottle of liquor and retreat to his bunk. Instead, he nodded at infatuated diplomats, resisted punching the creeps in the face, and tried to ignore his sore muscles. Neither Wesley’s strict nutritional guidelines, the troupe’s physical conditioning routine, or the spa attendants of the Eternal Spirits could counteract the physical toll on his body. He pushed through it all, hoping he would hold up until the vote.
After that, who the hell knew what came next, but he didn’t think it would involve him.
Dash caught glimpses of Wesley and Gaius roaming the crowd. A few guests greeted the pilot with a fraction of the awe that Sisters Celescia received. Dash realized they were the pilot’s Galaxy Battles fans. But the exchanges didn’t seem particularly pleasant. Dash remembered Wesley’s comment about Gaius’s recent virtual angst, and suspected that was the source of the awkwardness.
Again, Dash thought of his bunk and the bottle he wished to fall asleep with.
A small group of the ship’s staff approached, drawing his eye. They waited until the troupe wrapped up their current fan interaction then stepped in. The senior staffer spoke while the others formed a barrier with the next round of admirers. “Sisters Celescia, Captain Leross wishes to speak with you in private. He promised it would be brief. Would you please come with us?”
Dash took his position as the stoic escort and the troupe followed the staff out of the chamber. The troupe waved to admirers as they passed. One of the creeps leered back. Dash tracked the creep as they passed. The sight of the Mystery Man’s featureless face staring back was enough for the creep to give up his oogling.
The troupe entered a crew passageway and stepped into a meeting room. Captain Leross waited inside, a look of uncertainty on his face.
And beside him stood Sam, decked out in her class ones, staring right at Dash.
He let out a breath, his mouth suddenly dry.
“Thank you for coming, Sisters,” Leross said. He gestured to Sam. “Captain Maetheson requested my permission to speak with the Mystery Man alone concerning potential security matters. I made clear it wasn’t up to me, but I granted her this opportunity to ask you as a professional courtesy.” He peered at Dash. “Do you wish to speak with her?”
“I have a few minutes to spare,” Dash blurted out before he thought about it and potentially went against his gut instinct. Still, he was somewhat surprised that he agreed to it so readily.
“Only if I stay too,” Celescia said. Ruki and Yanna tilted their heads at her, but Celescia signaled it was okay.
Dash peered at Celescia and saw in her stern eyes it wasn’t negotiable.
“I am okay with that,” Sam said. “Thank you, Captain Leross.”
Leross glanced between all three of them, then went to escort Yanna and Ruki out of the room. Yanna lingered a moment, throwing a hard stare at Sam, before leaving with the others.
Sam stood there, looking between Dash and Celescia. All Dash could think about was that he would’ve bet a lot of cred that of all people to end up in an awkward situation like that it would’ve been Gaius.
“What is it you wish to speak of, Captain Maetheson?” Dash said.
“I know it’s you, Dash. Can you at least drop the weird voice?”
Celescia started to defend him, but Dash placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay.” He commanded his mask to open. It split apart, the air in the room cool on his exposed skin.
Sam regarded him, the muscles of her face shifting. For a second, Dash was reminded of the way she looked at him when they waited backstage for the next performance during their competition days. It made his heart ache.
Her brow arched. “I have to say, somehow that suit actually looks good on you.”
He opened his mouth. Before he could speak, Celescia said. “What do you want, Captain?” Her tone held the same edge of hostility Dash experienced when they first met. He recognized it for what it was; Celescia was feeling defensive of him the same way she did her partners.
Sam finally seemed to register Celescia. The Fleet captain looked the singer up and down, then flicked her eyes back to Dash. He could only imagine what Sam was thinking right then. “I’ve come here to warn you about the vote. There’s a real possibility it will become a dangerous situation.”
“We know that,” Dash said.
“You don’t know what I know.” Sam stepped closer as if wanting to keep her voice down. “You already know my mission in Tyrcellus was running the Commonwealth commerce patrol. Our data shows there’s trouble brewing.”
“That’s expected in volatile systems.”
“Yes, but that’s not the end of it.” Sam paused, reading both Dash and Celescia. “What I’m about to tell you is confidential. I trust it will remain so.”
“Both of us have a lot of practice at keeping secrets,” Celescia said.
Sam went on. “We’ve confiscated a lot of undeclared cargo. Some of it went missing as it was shipped to Sanctum for processing by SecForce.”
“What kind of cargo?”
“I can’t go into detail, other than it’s not weapons.”
“Then why tell us this at all?”“To make you aware of what’s coming,” Sam said. “There’s more. I’ve received unconfirmed but reliable information that Kosmogenic is involved.” Dash blinked, recalling their conversation in her quarters aboard the Deimos. Sam’s brow lowered as she read his expression. “You already know, don’t you?”
“Can we trust this woman?” Celescia asked. Dash nodded at her. She said aloud, “Yes, we know of Kosmeogenic’s presence. We also have confidential information of our own. I assume you watched our recent interviews?”
“Yes. Our intel people briefed us. I promise you every single person in the diplomatic fleet is aware of the accusations against the Provenance. Councilor Traveska, as I’m sure he told you, has assigned resources to investigate.”
“He did tell us. I promise you that what we said is true. But the whole truth is my sisters and I were sent to Sanctum to collect a Provenance defector on behalf of Acculturation. He was part of a secret program, Project Fidelity, created to defeat the charter vote. He claimed it was only made possible with the aid of Kosmogenic. When my team went to meet him, a joint Pree and Human team attacked us. My team was killed. Dash is the only reason we escaped.”
“They’ve been after us since,” Dash said. He told Sam the rest, from the attempted kidnapping on Aurora to the trouble with the Honest Day’s Work. He ended with the destruction of the stolen equipment but left out the part about the suspected injection of the compound into Celescia. She didn’t speak of it, so Dash left it alone.
Sam pinched her brow. “I knew there was more to that story. Who else knows?”
“Besides the Stardancer crew and my partners, Regent Anncellis, Captain Leross, a few in Acculturation leadership, and we just briefed Councilor Traveska on it. No Fleet personnel were present on purpose.”
“To prevent anything from leaking to Kosmogenic.”
“Right.”
Sam bit her lip, deep in thought. Her eyes refocused on Dash and Celescia. “What’s your plan?”
“To keep going,” Celescia said.
“Even if it’s a trap?”
Celescia’s passion broke through. “What would you have us do? Abandon our people at this critical moment? We have no other choice. Do you have a suggestion otherwise?”
“No.”
“What is the Fleet doing about this, Sam?” Dash said. “If some of the things said about Kosmogenic are true, then it’s the Fleet’s fault for letting things fester.”
Sam shot him a look like he was toeing a line. “I have a source up the chain of command in the diplomatic fleet. They were the ones who warned me off the record of Kosmogenic’s potential involvement. I know I can trust them. I’ll give them an update and see where that leads. That’s all I can do at this point.”
“It’s better than nothing. We’re still not any closer to knowing what the Provenance and Kosmogenic plan to do.”
“Is this funny?” Sam asked.
Dash realized he had a thin smile on his face. “It’s as far from funny as you can get, Sam. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined this coming full circle.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I left Auturia behind twenty years ago. Now I’m facing off with people looking for revenge for the Reconciliation.”
“You could’ve walked away,” Sam said, keeping her eyes on Dash, “like you did with me.”
“What?” Dash said, feeling the heat in his breath. “You’re the one who wanted me gone!”
“That’s not true.”
“You know it is. I took my discharge, shut my mouth, and left. I was done with the Fleet, with Auturia, with my entire life up until that point. I got a solid twenty years down the road and now I’m standing here with you, right back in the middle of the Commonwealth and the Fleet and all their bullshit.”
A hand gripped his forearm. Celescia comforting him.
Sam eyed him. “There’s no denying you were dealt a bad hand over the Auturia incident. I didn’t wish it upon you, and I can’t change the past. But for all the good that came out of it, can we at least try to preserve it here and now, for the sake of all those who died?”
Dash remembered the faces. Most he hadn’t known well, for it was a last-minute transfer for him. A temporary assignment running logistics down Auturia’s gravity well. Pure bad timing on his part.
“What do you think I’ve been doing by sticking around?” he answered.
Celescia gave him arm a gentle tug. “It’s time for us to return to the event.”
“Of course,” Sam said. “Thank you for your time.” She began to walk away.
“Sam,” Dash called after her. She stopped. “How did you know it was me?”
Sam turned, regarding him and Celescia. “For what it’s worth, you two make a great pair on the stage.”
She left without turning back.
***
“The galaxy is a mess, I’ll tell you.”
A small mixed group of admirers had gathered around Gaius, gawking at the pilot with an intense level of passion that somehow seemed trite compared to the fanatical zeal Sisters Celescia received. The pilot, whether oblivious or uncaring, basked in the attention nonetheless.
At first, Gaius kept his presence hidden he was that soured on the sim. A lone person approached Gaius, having recognized his stylized hair matching that of his avatar. Afterward, the pilot switched on the proximity function. Several clusters of fans and players then made their way through the crowd toward him, after they caught sight of Sisters Celescia, of course. The pilot needed the in-person ego boosts more than he realized.
“—Unspoken rules are ignored now—”
“—You used to be the wild one—”
Wesley chaperoned Gaius per Dash’s instruction. The pilot remained none the wiser, believing Wesley enjoyed the secondhand attention gleaned from Gaius’s interactions.
The truth was Wesley spent much of the event stealing glances at Sisters Celescia. The never-ending attention they received still blew his mind. They were their own miniature sun, their gravity pulling in every person in their vicinity. Some wanted to interact, others just observe or take pictures.
He still at times felt the urge to suppress a grin when observing Dash as the Mystery Man. The captain played the part well despite his discomfort in doing it. He seemed to have grown accustomed to it, but true acceptance would never come. Being in the public spotlight wasn’t in his nature.
A few times, Wesley caught Ruki peering in his direction, wriggling her mouth as she was apt to do when feeling mischievous. His heart would flutter as he smiled back. A few in the crowd noticed when she did it and would follow her gaze. Wesley would look away lest he caught. He felt jealous at times of Dash being so close to Ruki. Then another throng of guests would swarm to the troupe, leaving Wesley thankful he remained an anonymous observer.
“—It’s getting out of hand. Undermining the whole sim—”
“—People have lost sponsorships. There are real consequences—”
At times, Wesley was tempted to jump into the conversations he was forced to observe. That some of these people could fret about the plight of a virtual world while the real one suffered right in front of them was grating like the squeal one of Tinker’s faulty joints.
“—We need the wild one back—”
At one point, Wesley lost track of Dash and the troupe for several minutes. He assumed they visited the refresher or had taken a short break in a private room. He found them again minutes later, the crowd resuming their migration to meet the singers and their mysterious escort, a feeding frenzy of curiosity and obsession with celebrity.
Ruki flashed him another mischievous glance, forcing Wesley to duck. Somehow, he knew it wasn’t good news.
“—How do you defeat someone burning it all down?—”
The message from Dash came halfway through the event. Leross had summoned them for another meeting once it ended.
The rest of the time dragged on as Wesley wondered what it was about.
Gaius had shaken off his sullen mood now. He resumed his patented bravado and charm, denouncing the state of the sim and boasting of recent successes.
“—Freighters called for help. My squadrons jumped in, outnumbered two to one. But the pirates got greedy. They bunched up too tight and couldn’t maneuver. —”
“—That’s the wild one we know—”
Finally, the event concluded, the attendees departing the Eternal Spirits aboard their shuttles and returning to the Good Omen or the military escorts.
Wesley grew nervous as he waited with Gaius. A member of the ship’s staff approached. Wesley practically had to pull Gaius away so the staff member could escort them to the briefing room. The others arrived soon after, Regent Anncellis coming in last.
Observing the expressions all around, Wesley knew that his gut instinct was about to be proven correct.
Dash and Celescia addressed the room, revealing their chat with an anonymous Fleet source who warned of Kosmogenic’s involvement. Anncellis listened attentively, somehow still mentally sharp after hours of political fraternizing. “This means the Fleet knew of Kosmogenic’s presence for cycles yet didn’t communicate it with the Commonwealth,” Anncellis said. “I find it concerning that they hid this.”
“Like I told my source, Kosmogenic is a black eye for the Fleet. Something they never addressed,” Dash said. “My guess is they fear a high-level resource is part of Kosmogenic.”
“How soon before you hear back from this inside source?” Leross asked.
“We don’t know.”
“In summary, we have more problems and no solutions,” Anncellis said.
“That’s correct, Regent,” Celescia said.
Silence followed. Frustration simmered in the air. “We need to do more than walk into the Imperatrix’s trap,” Yanna said.
“I’m open to suggestions,” Anncellis said.
Wesley racked his brain. He felt like he’d walked into a class at university and was handed a test that he hadn’t studied for.
No one spoke. Dash gently tapped fingers on the table. Celescia stared into the distance, Yanna frowned, Ruki pouted. Captain Leross stroked his chin. And then there was Gaius, bouncing his foot on the deck, mouth shifting as he silently talked to himself. Wesley hoped the pilot wasn’t so completely self-absorbed that his mind drifted to his sim life in lieu of real life—
A fleeting thought caught hold of Wesley’s mind. He peered at Ruki. Her eyes moved to meet his. She gave him a mournful grin.
By the Lords, he would find a solution.
“The Provenance’s goal is to defeat the charter vote, right?” he began. All eyes swiveled to him. “As the Commonwealth scientist said, Project Fidelity is not a weapon in the traditional sense. If the Provenance were to cause mass harm, they would invite a Commonwealth intervention, charter or not.”
“That is correct,” Anncellis said.
“We have a way to see what happens during the program’s activation.” Wesley peered at Celescia. “We can monitor your medical hub in real-time. This will allow us to quickly respond to any effects. Additionally, the data we gather can be used as evidence against the Provenance.”
“You want us to send her in there and hope nothing bad happens to her?” Yanna said.
“Yes.”
“Absolutely not—”
“I agree,” Celescia said.
“You can’t.”
“I have to do it. Our people need me.”
“We need you!” Yanna’s voice cracked and she covered her face.
Celescia embraced her partner. Yanna choked down her sobs. Ruki wrapped her arms around both of them.
“I wish it was me,” Ruki said.
“I know,” Celescia said, “but it is my burden to bear.”
“What’s the latest on Sistere Celescia’s medical status?” Anncellis asked.
“Unfortunately, there’s still no evidence of anything unusual,” the ship’s medtech said.
“It’s a risky plan, but I’m afraid it’s our only option,” Anncellis said. “I will have our medical staff and security on standby. Should anything happen, I assure you, we’ll have you aboard the Eternal Spirits in short order.”
Celescia thanked the leader of Acculturation. Wesley could see a heaviness in her eyes that he finally understood in that moment; she carried a burden and this was her way of offloading it.
He caught Ruki’s eye again. In it, he saw a pain that made him regret speaking up, even though it was the right thing to do.“It’s been a long day,” Anncellis said. “Sisters Celescia has another show tomorrow. Let’s all get some rest, and pray that we can come up with a better plan before the summit.”
She left, and the others began to file out behind her. As Wesley stood, he knew the sad truth.
There was no other option.
***
​
The shuttle purred as the maneuvering jets fired, aligning its airlock with that of the Deimos. Sam was almost home, removed from the diplomats and politics, flag officers and journalists. That was foreign territory to her, obtuse and uncomfortable. Her ship was straightforward and authentic; there was no mistaking its intent and purpose.
As the shuttle mated with the destroyer, her stomach growled, knowing what she held in the insulated bag in her grasp. She didn’t eat at the event; she was carefully observing the crowd, Holcomb’s warning always on her mind. Besides, the party appetizers were too fancy for her. The staple galley fare was all she needed.
She knew the loss of appetite was fleeting, though, and she wasn’t about to pass up another chance at the most delicious soup she’d had in years. She liberated a liter of it and a generous hunk of bread to with her back to her ship.
When the event concluded, she flew back to the Resolute on Holcomb’s shuttle. They found privacy once again and she told him the truth; she knew the Mystery Man from another life. It wasn’t the whole truth—she left out the relationship part. Holcomb had her trust and she didn’t want to complicate it at this critical juncture. Past entanglements couldn’t jeopardize the present.
But she couldn’t let go of a nagging fear. What if she was lying to herself, that she was compromised by her past with Dash?
Sam buried the thought, knowing that even dwelling on it could invite its karmic awakening.
Holcomb found Sam’s update a relief, and came away hopeful Acculturation could counter Kosmogenic on their own. Key figures within the Fleet were gathering evidence of the Kosmogenic rot festering in its ranks. Acting too soon would undermine years of work and allow the cancer to return.
Sam didn’t press for more details, knowing she would get none.
Holcomb had nothing new to offer. He seemed more distracted than usual. She could only imagine the comms coming in from Fleet Command daily. Relayed through the channels via drones, they would be out of date by days or more from the time it took to displace. The realities of physics made commanding a military force, a difficult job by itself, even harder.
The shuttle finished docking. Sam entered the Deimos. Anwarr greeted her as usual. At first, she thought it was a bit odd. At one point, she wondered if he had romantic intentions. She quickly came to realize that’s how he was.
He glanced at her goodie bag. “I see you had so much fun at the party that you forgot to eat,” he said, cracking a rare joke.
“Soup of the day and bread. Want some?” she asked, hoping he’d say no. He passed to her relief. “I’ll tell you all about it right after I eat.”
Anwarr returned to the bridge and Sam made for her quarters after a stop at the galley. She popped the lid of the container, filled her bowl, and savored the first sip of the still-hot soup.
The only thing missing was someone to talk to.
It used to be Dash.
The forgotten memory was reborn in vivid detail. He would save her a bowl of soup from the galley when she had to work late. He’d sit there and watch her eat, listen to her complain about brown-nosing officers and pompous commanders, or discuss tactical formations and weapon systems.
She stopped eating, resting the spoon on the bowl. It had been hours since Dash revealed himself to her as the Mystery Man. But she hadn’t digested it. The revelation idled like a task in a digital cache, awaiting its turn at processing.
Free of distractions, it entered her mind and knocked her askew with an unexpected emotional whiplash.
Deep down, some subconscious part of her mind knew the truth from the beginning. It was the reason she kept watching the performance vids all over GalaxyNet. Looking back, she could see it now when she watched the vid of the lounge incident on Sanctum; it was Dash alright, hopping on stage to save Celescia from some crazy person. It was just like him, his grounded and crusty sense of honor rearing its head at inopportune times. And then he managed to save the singer from falling offstage with an unintended flash of style.
Now he was a Lorddamn celebrity for it.
They met in the Fleet when she was a freshly promoted lieutenant, him a chief petty officer. Their ships were in dry dock at the same time by happenstance. Their first encounter came in the galley when he bumped into her, dumping her soup all over her tray. He insisted on standing in line to get her another one. They got to talking after that and were together almost every day for cycles afterward.
She should’ve known from the start not to get involved. Knew it wasn’t going anywhere. But she couldn’t help herself. She’d never been with someone who made her feel so content, who listened without judgment, who believed in her.
When he casually mentioned that he was thinking of competing in a traditional dancing competition again, she felt like the stars had aligned. She trained in ballet when she was young, and continued with other styles off and on throughout her career. She’d always been too busy to dedicate more time, but with a committed partner and a ship in dry dock, now was her chance.
Dammit, she was the one to kiss him first. Late one night after a practice session in an empty training room. Surrounded by fitness equipment and combatives sims, they stepped, whirled, and dipped until they were slick with sweat.
That was the moment she saw him in a different light. He must’ve sensed it too, for he said, “I know you must get this a lot, but you’re beautiful, you know that?”
She laughed in his face. Fraternization was discouraged. But she saw the way he looked at her, those brown eyes alight with admiration, and lost herself.
Their fates were sealed that night.
For almost a year, they managed to be together. Competing for the military dance team, aligning their duty rotations while their ships went through extensive maintenance. It was a ticking clock that neither of them addressed, instead focused on the here and now. A looming promotion for her and the realities of military life eventually came to fruition. That’s when they fell apart.
A commanding officer got involved. He provided a solution; a clandestine operation was in last-minute need of an experienced logistics chief. Dash was the perfect fit. Sam agreed, and that was it.
Until the clandestine operation turned out to be the secret settlement attempt of Auturia that ended in disaster.
For days, she thought she had sent Dash to die. She was beyond relieved when he was found alive. But the Reconciliation took priority above all else, and the politicians and flag officers needed the incident behind them.
Dash was medically discharged and forbidden from speaking of what had happened for the sake of galactic peace.
She couldn’t imagine how he felt when he first heard that Auturia was gone. The thing he’d suffered so much for ceased to exist. Worse, still no one knew why.
Sam lifted her spoon and forced another sip into her mouth. The pleasure was all gone, this was purely for the sake of nutrition. She swallowed another sip, slowly satiating her still-growling stomach.
Her mind drifted back to Dash, the Mystery Man, standing with Celescia.
The worst part of the whole damn thing was the pangs of jealousy. Something irked her about that Pree singer, the way she held onto Dash, parading him around like a prop. It was childish and beneath her to waste her mental bandwidth with such concerns. She had chosen her career all those years ago. Never once regretted any of it. Why these feelings emerged, she had no idea.
She pushed them aside, thinking of her mission.
Turning to the bread, Sam bit off a generous chunk. It was warm and chewy in her mouth. Delicious.
It still wasn’t enough.

'The new website to promote Buckner has been attacked,' the pastor said from the dais.
'What kind of sick individual thinks it amusing to cover a tourism page with penises- black penises, white penises, big purple, well, you know….' Sandra Richardson said.
The group of teenagers on their phones in the back pews started laughing.
'Thankyou,' the pastor cut her off, 'but Billy at chamber of commerce has found a solution,' the pastor checked his notes. 'On Craig's List.'
The man in the tie-dye shirt stood up, running his hand through a dirty ponytail. 'Thank you all; forgive me my trespasses.'
'Please, introduce yourself to the residents.'
'My name is Philip Piper,' he said, doffing a similarly colorful flatcap.
'Well, thank you, Philip.'
‘Your troll infestation will be taken care of.’
He grinned like a hyena called in to protect the herd.
…
A month later, another meeting was scheduled. The website was safe and had record traffic. Caver's Monthly had even linked to it with the byline, 'Is this America's most exciting unexplored cave system?'
'As a token of our gratitude, Philip, we have a gift voucher for Florry's on Main Street.'
Philip stood, tie-dye shirt stretched across his swollen belly.
'No, no, pastor, we agreed $2000.'
A silence fell over the 100 or so in attendance.
'We've yet to reap the rewards of the tourist income.'
'We made a deal.
'It was probably him who originally vandalized the webpage,' Sandra Richardson shouted.
A murmur of assent went up.
'I'll give you folks one last chance to pay.'
This time it was the sheriff. 'Or what, huh? We don't take kindly to threats here.'
'Very well.'
He departed nonchalantly, whistling a catchy tune.
…
There were 13 teenagers in Buckner, and only one was in Sunday Club.
'Where are your classmates?' The teacher said.
'Oh, they're off doing some TikTok challenge… You know Mom doesn't let me have a phone.'
…
The video showed a cave somewhere under the mountains that ringed Buckner. Box after box of Prime limited edition energy drink came into view, lit by psychedelic flashes.
'First kid to find the boxes, keeps them all!' Phillip shouted.
…
A search party came across Becky at the cave entrance, hobbling on crutches from a soccer injury she’d sustained a month earlier.
'Becky! What direction did they go?' The sheriff shouted frantically.
She pointed into the blackness of the cave's mouth and struggled to break free. 'I've gotta have them!'
…
Cavers were called in from the state capital, but after months, with 100's of miles of caves mapped, only one clue was found.
They reported in one section a sweet-smelling odor, a phantom repetitive tune, and a faint glimpse of a technicolored strobe in the darkness.
But when they rounded the corner, there was just the vast expanse of another empty cave and a scrawled note on kaleidoscopic paper.
'Residents of Buckner, you failed to pay the Piper.'

The Globe has an article today detailing the struggles of folks that live off Cape, but commute there every day. 25% of workers lived off Cape in 2017, but the figure is now 50% according to the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce.
That is brutal.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/05/26/business/cape-bridge-repairs-highlight-how-housing-crunch-has-exacerbated-commutes/

Company Name	Title	City
Delivery Drivers, Inc.	LTL Driver	Absecon
Penske Truck Leasing	Truck Driver	Bordentown
Penske Truck Leasing	Trucker	Bordentown
Fairfield Township Board of Education	Float Teacher	Bridgeton
CareLinx by Sharecare	Caregiver	Caldwell
BAYADA Home Health Care	LPN	Cape May Court House
Quad	Bindery Mechanic Specialist	Cherry Hill
Quad	Sales Representative	Cherry Hill
Quad	Sales Agent	Cherry Hill
Jobot	IP Counsel	Cranford
Unicity Homecare - Bergen County	HHA	Cresskill
Calvin Klein	Designer I Innovation and Launch, Close to Body	Elizabeth
Calvin Klein	Director of Strategic Innovation	Elizabeth
Calvin Klein	Innovation Director	Elizabeth
BAYADA Home Health Care	Home Nurse	Freehold
Jobot	Litigator	Hackensack
Konica Minolta	Field Service Installer	Iselin
Calvin Klein	Director of Strategic Innovation	Jersey City
GHR Travel Nursing	SDU Nurse	Lawnside
GHR Travel Nursing	Step Down Unit Nurse	Lawnside
GHR Travel Nursing	RN:PCU	Lawnside
Delaware North	Dish Washer	Livingston
Delaware North	Diner Manager	Livingston
Delaware North	Dishwasher	Livingston
UnitedHealth Group	Peer Advocate	Manahawkin

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings in nj. Feel free to comment here or send me a private message if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!

"So, almost impossible for a white guy who's not gay, apparently, to get appointed here." - Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) talking about how hard it is for the (straight, White) fellas (who make up the majority of sitting federal judges) to get appointed to the federal bench

Obstruction Worker

It’s been a while since we’ve had a classified documents scandal update. Well, we’ve got a juicy one for you.

• The Special Counsel investigation into disgraced former president Donald Trump’s “mishandling” of hundreds of classified documents (read: he stole them) from the White House and his storage of them in his Mar-a-Lago residence is wrapping up. New details of the investigation suggest broader and more coordinated instances of possible obstruction by the Trump camp than previously reported.
  
• According to sources familiar with the investigation, two of Trump’s employees moved boxes of papers the day before FBI agents and a federal prosecutor visited Mar-a-Lago to repossess classified documents, which is…pretty suspicious timing! In further possible indications of obstruction of justice, Trump and his aides also allegedly performed a “dress rehearsal” of moving classified documents even before he received the now-famous May 2022 subpoena. I wonder if the dress rehearsal included a demonstration of reporting to federal prison.
  
• Federal prosecutors have also gathered evidence that points to Trump periodically keeping classified documents in his office in a place where they were visible, and even at times showing them to other people. So not only do these new details add specificity to obstruction of justice allegations, but they also extend the timeline of the possible episodes.
  

After decades of committing crimes with impunity, could this be the end of “Teflon Don”?

• Maybe. Trump’s guilty verdict in the defamation case brought by former columnist E. Jean Caroll this month has blown a hole in the armor of Trump’s seeming invincibility against the legal system, but it’s clear that his deep bench of lawyers can sense that charges are near in the DOJ/FBI investigations as well. In a highly unusual move, Trump’s legal team sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday asking for a meeting with him to discuss what they called the “unfair treatment” of the former president by special counsel Jack Smith.
  
• The special grand jury working on this case has reportedly not met since May 5, after months of harried activity. That marks the panel’s longest break since the December end-of-the-year holidays, shortly after Garland appointed Jack Smith as special counsel. Smith is also investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and Trump also stands under investigation for such state-level efforts in Fulton County, GA. These (and the many other) contemporaneous investigations have earned the repeated use of Trump’s unholy trinity of accusatory catch phrases: “fake,” “hoax,” and “witch-hunt.”
  

Trump has been nakedly engaged in criminal activity in full public view for years, so it feels surreal that he could finally be held accountable for his actions. But even criminals much smarter than Trump have historically only been able to outrun the law for so long. We’re certainly not holding our breath, but Trump’s comeuppance may finally be on the horizon.

Look No Further Than Crooked Media

What happens when a mysterious stranger comes to town, with a wild idea that weed can solve all of the city's problems That's the question of Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto - Crooked’s newest podcast and an official Selection at this year's Tribeca festival. Dreamtown is the zany but true story of one down on its luck city in the Southern California desert, and the scrappy - sometimes morally dubious - cast of characters determined to reinvent it.
Listen to the Dreamtown trailer now and subscribe to hear the first episodes on June 7th wherever you get your podcasts.

Under The Radar

In yet another instance of the Supreme Court undermining the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory authority, the justices ruled against the agency on Thursday. Sackett vs. EPA involves an Idaho couple who ran afoul of EPA regulations when they tried to start filling in wetlands on their property as a foundation to then build on it. Wetlands are federally protected under the Clean Water Act, so this Court decided to center their decision on the question of “What is a wetland?” The justices ruled unanimously in favor of the Sacketts, but were split 5-4 in their reasoning. Justice Samuel Alito, writing the majority opinion, argued that the Clean Water Act only applies to “wetlands with a continuous surface connection to bodies of water that are 'waters of the United States' in their own right.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the concurring opinion on behalf of himself and the three liberal justices, that the “continuous surface connection” requirements advocated by the majority “departs from the statutory text, from 45 years of consistent agency practice, and from this court’s precedents,” and that the new test will have “significant repercussions for water quality and flood control throughout the United States.” The SCOTUS ruling reverses the decision of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which sided with the EPA.

What Else?

On Thursday, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy appeared to be nearing a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling.
An unarmed 11-year-old Black boy in Mississippi called the police to report a domestic disturbance, trying to protect his mother. Police showed up and shot him. The boy suffered a collapsed lung, fractured ribs, and a lacerated liver.
Longtime treasurer of the American Conservative Union Bob Beauprez, a top leader in the CPAC organization, resigned on Tuesday night over money being paid out of the organization’s pocket for CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp’s legal defense as he stands accused of sexual assault.
When Britain left the European Union, one of the goals of the Leave campaign was for the country to “take back its borders.” Well, post-Brexit, net-migration still reached a record high.
Target is on the receiving end of a second backlash after kowtowing to violent right-wing extremists who complained about the company’s LGBTQ+ Pride merchandise.
During a summit of the Eurasian Economic Forum in Moscow, leader of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that Russia has begun moving nuclear warheads to Belarus for storage.
A 17-year-old boy fell to his death while climbing one of the arches of the 6th Street Viaduct bridge in Los Angeles, in an apparent stunt he had hoped to post on social media.
Because I guess they have some sort of humiliation fetish, CNN is hosting yet another GOP presidential town hall, this time with former Vice President Mike Pence. Mother!

Be Smarter

The Justice Department issued new guidelines on Thursday expanding anti-profiling rules and underscoring that investigations must not involve racial, gender, and ability bias. These are the first such updates in almost a decade, and have brought thousands of more people working for the justice system under the umbrella of anti-bias, anti-profiling rules. The rules already applied to Justice Department agencies like the FBI and the DEA, as well as local associated law enforcement task forces. For the first time, the new guidelines also require more extensive data collection measures to ensure adherence to the rules. So how will this practically change DOJ matters? Well, under the new guidelines, investigators cannot single out someone of a certain race, faith, or ethnic background based on a tip about a possible attack without any related specifics about date and time or a full description of the alleged suspect. Pretty common-sense stuff! Training for all newly-affected officers and employees will begin within a year, and law enforcement agencies will be required to track complaints alleging bias within six months and create data-tracking research projects, then report on that data within a year.

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Light At The End Of The Email

In a rare Good Decision™ from the Supreme Court, the justices unanimously ruled that Hennepin County, MN violated the constitutional rights of a 94-year-old Minneapolis woman when they seized her home for a small sum of unpaid property taxes without paying her “just compensation” for the sale.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) presided over the House on Wednesday and called for Democrats to abide by the “decorum” of the chamber. The Democratic caucus erupted in deafening laughter.
Founder of the far-right Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy for his role in orchestrating the January 6 insurrection.

Enjoy

Why you should have a cat on Twitter: "cat being poured a drink"

Company Name	Title	City
Delivery Drivers, Inc.	LTL Driver	Absecon
Penske Truck Leasing	Truck Driver	Bordentown
Penske Truck Leasing	Trucker	Bordentown
Fairfield Township Board of Education	Float Teacher	Bridgeton
CareLinx by Sharecare	Caregiver	Caldwell
BAYADA Home Health Care	LPN	Cape May Court House
Quad	Bindery Mechanic Specialist	Cherry Hill
Quad	Sales Representative	Cherry Hill
Quad	Sales Agent	Cherry Hill
Jobot	IP Counsel	Cranford
Unicity Homecare - Bergen County	HHA	Cresskill
Calvin Klein	Designer I Innovation and Launch, Close to Body	Elizabeth
Calvin Klein	Director of Strategic Innovation	Elizabeth
Calvin Klein	Innovation Director	Elizabeth
BAYADA Home Health Care	Home Nurse	Freehold
Jobot	Litigator	Hackensack
Konica Minolta	Field Service Installer	Iselin
Calvin Klein	Director of Strategic Innovation	Jersey City
GHR Travel Nursing	SDU Nurse	Lawnside
GHR Travel Nursing	Step Down Unit Nurse	Lawnside
GHR Travel Nursing	RN:PCU	Lawnside
Delaware North	Dish Washer	Livingston
Delaware North	Diner Manager	Livingston
Delaware North	Dishwasher	Livingston
UnitedHealth Group	Peer Advocate	Manahawkin

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings in nj. Feel free to comment here or send me a private message if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!

Company Name	Title	City
Delivery Drivers, Inc.	LTL Driver	Absecon
Penske Truck Leasing	Truck Driver	Bordentown
Penske Truck Leasing	Trucker	Bordentown
Fairfield Township Board of Education	Float Teacher	Bridgeton
CareLinx by Sharecare	Caregiver	Caldwell
BAYADA Home Health Care	LPN	Cape May Court House
Quad	Bindery Mechanic Specialist	Cherry Hill
Quad	Sales Representative	Cherry Hill
Quad	Sales Agent	Cherry Hill
Jobot	IP Counsel	Cranford
Unicity Homecare - Bergen County	HHA	Cresskill
Calvin Klein	Designer I Innovation and Launch, Close to Body	Elizabeth
Calvin Klein	Director of Strategic Innovation	Elizabeth
Calvin Klein	Innovation Director	Elizabeth
BAYADA Home Health Care	Home Nurse	Freehold
Jobot	Litigator	Hackensack
Konica Minolta	Field Service Installer	Iselin
Calvin Klein	Director of Strategic Innovation	Jersey City
GHR Travel Nursing	SDU Nurse	Lawnside
GHR Travel Nursing	Step Down Unit Nurse	Lawnside
GHR Travel Nursing	RN:PCU	Lawnside
Delaware North	Dish Washer	Livingston
Delaware North	Diner Manager	Livingston
Delaware North	Dishwasher	Livingston
UnitedHealth Group	Peer Advocate	Manahawkin

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings in nj. Feel free to comment here or send me a private message if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!

"Can a prince ever have enough?" Ugolino thought to himself. He had seen war ravage his neighbours and seen some of it himself.
"The most important part of any war is logistics and funding. The more money you have, you more troops you can deploy and the more you can train them." He thought to himself. He looked out from the recently built bastions over the counties of Piacenza. "Rural, backwards and focussed on local produce, whilst we are prosperous we won't get rich trying to delve more salt or produce more cheese. Landi and Piacenza are sizeable cities but nowhere near Milan, Florence or Genoa. If we are to become more wealthy we'll need to become more active in the trade routes."
Luckily, the Pallavicino family had a branch who had been renowned for their active service in trade and commerce down in Genoa. With one of their sons having been vouched for by Ugolino in entering the curia, it might be worth it to use these connections to faraway family members to strengthen the trade ties of Piacenza.
Genoa would not be enough though. The nearest large city this side of the Po would be Florence, still recovering from the war with Pisa and Piombino. Perhaps becoming the owner of some trading houses and establishing hubs in these places would facilitate trade along the Milan-Piacenza-Florence lines, hopefully making a nice profit for the state in the process. A delegation of some prominent family members is to be sent to Florence to entreat with the Medici family.
[M]
Piacenza invests 86.5k fl. In a trade hub in Florence.
Also a paper maker, for 15.5 k fl. In Florence.