Tolerant (Ghiaccio x Reader [Fluff])

Ahaha remember when I said I’d post the Ghiaccio fic two days after my last post 😎 ? Biggest lie I’ve ever told. Anyways, here’s a fluffy fic of my favourite rat bastard

———————

“They got you good, didn’t they, Ghia?”

You sighed, carrying the stubborn man over to the living room from the front door, his messy blue curls bouncing with each step you assisted him on.

Ghiaccio snarled, “First of all, it’s ‘Ghiaccio’, second of all, they were no match in the end,” He stretched his limbs before dropping onto the couch ungracefully,

“White Album absolutely kicked their shit in.” A satisfied grin grew on his lips as he relaxed onto the soft, ‘Fuckin’ pricey’ (As Ghiaccio once stated) furniture.

You always wondered how Ghiaccio’s pride was so resilient. You wondered how it stood so tall, like a skyscraper.

He was covered in wounds and bruises, yet he wasn’t drooping his head in shame. Ghiaccio could break all his bones with multiple mistakes attacking the enemy, but he’d still win the fight with his overpowering confidence.

If you were to confess your feelings towards him, how would he act? Would he still be assertive?

These thoughts invaded your mind as you scurried to the bathroom to fetch the first aid kit, also making it to the kitchen to fetch some ice.

At your arrival, you noticed Ghiaccio looking at you as if you had seven eyes and a monkey on your head. “Are you a dumbass? You know my stand ability, don’t you?” You scoffed at his remark, plopping down beside him.

Careful hands opened the first-aid kit as you replied to his rude outburst, “Of course I know about your stand ability, but I also know that you shouldn’t be using White Album now,” he sucked a breath in as you held his hand in yours.

“You need a break.”

Your words slapped Ghiaccio across the face with a feeling even he didn’t know how to describe. It was as if time had frozen for only him, enveloping his senses in tender warmth.

For the first time, the big mouthed critic was lost for words.

Ghiaccio kept his gaze on you as you lifted his ragged sleeve up, too preoccupied to notice his watchful eyes.

You picked up a cotton ball with tweezers, soaking it in alcohol before carefully dabbing it on a particularly nasty scrape you found on his forearm.

The man flinched at the first contact with the alcohol. Ghiaccio cussed under his breath as you kept working, humming a tune he didn’t recognize.

This process repeated with each scar you noticed, to Ghiaccio’s dismay. His hisses were reminiscent of a threatened street cat.

As you were wrapping the stand users arm up with bandages, you noticed the males attention on your lips.

“You alright?” Those words seemed to break Ghiaccio out of his daze.

His blush rivalled the vibrancy of his glasses, “Yeah, I’m fucki—.” The bruise on the corner of his lip stung with his harsh pronunciations, causing him to wince. His adrenaline had died down, and he was beginning to feel every bruise he was given.

Ghiaccio could feel his heart thump loudly as you suddenly cradled his cheeks in your palms, bringing his face closer to yours.

He felt dizzy. Both your breaths mingled for a second or two until you finally spoke,

“Ah, sorry. I didn’t notice that on your lip.”

Pulling away, you grabbed another cotton ball with Ghiaccio attempting to fight his racing pulse beside you. He tried controlling his breathing once you pulled him close once more.

The stand user thought he was being slick, but in reality, his emotions were easier to read than a book with size 68pt font. He was inching his face closer to yours with the hopes that you wouldn’t notice— or, that you would notice and take initiative.

He melted into your touch as you carried his face, resting his right cheek onto your left palm before you moved your hands’ position.

“Are you fucking done yet?”

“I can’t treat your face properly if I rush, idiot. Hold still.” His chin on your hand, Ghiaccio found it hard not to stare at your face. He strained his eyes trying to look at anything else, but your face was blocking most of his peripheral vision.

The alcohol-soaked cotton ball stung at Ghiaccio’s busted lip. He tried his best to stay quiet as you worked, but he couldn’t help the growing blush on his cheeks.

Your fingers felt so delicate against his cool skin, and your thumb would often run against his bottom lip a few times.

With how close you were to him right now, he would only need a small push to have his bruised lips come crashing on to yours.

Ghiaccio’s eyes widened as he realized what he was thinking about.

He shook his head lightly, as if to dispose of the thoughts running through his mind—

“Ah shit—!” You flinched as the male rubbed at the back of his head.

“Damn...” Ghiaccio felt the bump on the back of his head. He looked up at you pleadingly, eyeing the bag of ice in your hands.

You ran your fingers through his disheveled blue curls to find the bump he was talking about, causing Ghiaccio to pleasantly shiver then wince. ‘Injury after injury.’ You thought dolefully, a bit angry he was constantly getting hurt, yet blew it off as if his injuries meant nothing.

It hurt a bit, because to you, his injuries meant everything.

You cared for the blue icy moron, even when he was being an uncontrollable madman.

You wanted to lecture him for hours about how you cared for him his health, and how he needed to be less audacious.

But if he was going to act like his nearly fatal actions were nothing, then you’d do your best to act unaffected.

“Jeez, Ghiaccio, how are you even awake right now?”

“It’s not that bad, don’t act like I’m a child.”

“The bump is huge.”

Although the male acted as if he hated your attentiveness, he secretly (and he’d rather DIE than let you find out) enjoyed your worries with him.

Ghiaccio adored the tender attention you gave him, he wanted nothing more than to lay with you while you comb your fingers through his hair.

He wanted to hear you beam his name everyday with a sweetness only you had.

He wanted you to look at him like there was no other person on earth.

The male looked up at you as you held the ice pack on the back of his head. You were checking the time on your watch, estimating what time Ghiaccio should be allowed to fall asleep.

‘His complexions the same, and he hasn’t puked yet,’ You thought carfully, watching the clock tick from 1:59 am to 2 am, ‘He should be able to sleep in 10 minutes.’

Though your mind was in one place, Ghiaccio’s was in another. The stand user coughed to get your attention, and catch your attention he did.

“Will you take me to bed already?”

You both drowned in the thick, honey-like silence after his sentence. The atmosphere went heavy with the suffocating awkwardness.

It wasn’t a weird thing to say, honestly. He wanted to go to bed. He was tired. But the way he said it, and the fact that it was coming from him, your crush of several months— it just caught you off guard.

You could see for a whole 5 seconds, Ghiaccio had stopped thinking.

The male shook his head as a way to clear his mind, his words coming out in well hidden panic.

“I wanna fucking rest, don’t be thinking provocatively.” Ghiaccio spat, nearly stuttering over his words as he struggled to maintain eye contact with you.

“It’s alright with me, as long as you don’t fall asleep for a few minutes.” You replied after a playful sigh, supporting the male over to his bedroom.

Ghiaccio groaned once he hit the bed. He sensed all of the tenseness melt off of his limbs, and he could feel himself getting drowsy with each second. The stand user was sure he would’ve fallen asleep if it weren’t for the hard flick your index finger delivered to his forehead.

Maybe that was a bit much, but your patience waved goodbye and exited the door at that moment.

He screeched as you threatened to deliver another flick, “What the hell was that for?!” you growled in response to his carelessness. “You can’t sleep yet, idiot.”

Ghiaccio clicked his tongue in response, grumbling as he sat up on his bed.

His mouth opened and closed like a trash can, as if he wanted to snap back, but was too frustrated to think of something.

“I’m staying here for a bit,” You plopped down on his bed, crossing your legs and grabbing a book on his bedside table, “I’ll tell you when you can fall asleep.” He leaned on his bed frame, scoffing,

“Fine.”

You sensed that Ghiaccio was beginning to get restless, he was shifting around more, and his grumbles were that of boredom. Coughing, you decided to strike up a conversation.

“How did you defeat the enemy earlier?”

The blue haired man stared at you apathetically before mumbling, “I found a weak spot with his attacks. He only jabbed with his left arm, so I ducked to his right side then froze both his arms off.” You nodded your head, already losing interest in the book and shutting it close. Who the hell reads a dictionary to bed anyways?

“That’s brutal. How did you get so beat up, though?” “His partner ended up sneaking behind me, and they were a much better fighter compared to him.”

Ghiaccio fiddled with his fingers for a split second, something very out of character coming from him, “Of course, no one could ever defeat my White Album, now they’re both probably in a ditch somewhere.”

You shuddered at the image of two unfortunate proxies, most likely dead in a secluded area.

You tried to be empathetic with them, but found it difficult concerning that they managed to mess Ghiaccio up this much.

Did they really deserve your empathy?

Your informal patient was eyeing you during your thinking, causing a brilliant idea to pop into your mind; tease him.

Why? Well, the whole squad had been teasing you about your attentiveness to the blue idiot, and it was time to let it out on said idiot. It was basically a cycle of bullying.

If you had to experience all that embarrassment because of him, then he should have a taste of his own medicine. Was it his fault that the Squad was full of assholes? Not necessarily, but you had to get your revenge somehow.

A grin adorned your lips as you leaned in closer to the Stand user, “I’ve noticed, you’re a lot more tolerant towards me than towards the others,” Your voice dropped a few notes, in a way you knew would fluster someone.

“Why is that, Ghia?” The aforementioned male scrunched his nose, cheeks and ears slowly reddening. “I don’t. I treat everyone the same.” He huffed out, obviously flustered.

A giggle rose in your throat, “Fine, then. Is it alright with you if I were to sleep here?” His eyebrows tilted downwards as his lips formed a deeper scowl. “I don’t care, do whatever.” The way his eyes jumped around the room rapidly contradicted his statement.

“Would you ever let any of the other members share a room with you?”

“No, they annoy me, and most don’t know what basic hygiene is.”

“How come you’re letting me sleep here?”

Ghiaccio grumbled something under his breath before laying down and facing the other way, chucking his glasses on his nightstand. You laughed lightheartedly, deciding to stop your teasing to slip into the covers as well.

“You can sleep now, anyways—“ eyes fluttering, you inhaled the strong scent of fabric softener in the mans blankets, “—rest well, Ghia.”

A harsh yawn escaped Ghiaccios mouth as he stretched, confusion clouding his mind as he felt his limbs intertwined with another.

He brushed his messy blue curls to the side before looking down, only to feel a warmth form from the inside of his chest travel all the way to his cheeks. Ghiaccio laid still as he admired the view of your arms wrapped around his torso.

The sunlight dodging his thin curtains hit your face with perfection, giving your skin a royal-like glow. Your eyelashes fluttered with each breath you took, leaving the blue haired male speechless.

His arm had become numb from your head laying on top, and he was tempted to slip it away to shake off the static, but you just looked so peaceful.

Ghiaccios breath halted as you buried your face farther into his chest. He apologized to his arm with the intent of keeping it there for the rest of your sleep.

Though he wanted to rise up from bed, the thought of being under the covers with you seemed more enticing the more he reasoned.

‘There are no cons to staying in bed just a little bit longer,’ Ghiaccio rationalized. You let out a sleepy grumble, causing the male to finalize his decision. Ghiaccio leaned his cheek down on the top of your head, shutting his eyes in pure, cozy bliss.

Maybe you were right about him being more tolerant towards you after all.

Nicole Kidman 59 - #5-1

5. The Paperboy (dir. Lee Daniels)

Hell yeah the movie where Nicole Kidman pees on Zac Efron made the top five. I saw this in theatres and I too went in knowing only about that notorious moment. Most of the movie was sweaty and campy and fun and ridiculous as I hoped it would be. But as it kept going I found myself thinking, “Wait. Is this movie actually good??” Layers revealed themselves moment to moment and by the time the film ended I was convinced that, yes, it was good. Quite good. And as time has passed and I’ve revisited it I’ve only become more and more certain that it’s a brilliant and complex masterpiece. It’s still ridiculous and entertaining, but it’s also incredibly deep in its examinations of gender dynamics, racism, homophobia, and the ways they intersect.

4. To Die For (dir. Gus van Sant)

This is the film that won the Twitter poll and I have a hard time arguing. Between Gus van Sant’s direction, Buck Henry’s last great screenplay, and Nicole Kidman’s greatest performance, this is truly a remarkable film. Kidman isn’t just good in this movie. She gives the kind of performance that declares: No other actor could do this role. I have talents that are completely mine. And I am amazing. Like all 20th century media satires the subject matter only feels more and more relevant as the years go on. This is a nasty movie that’s equal parts hilarious and disturbing.

3. Dogville (dir. Lars von Trier)

Lars von Trier is a brilliant filmmaker and a terrible director. If a director’s job is to create a safe, supportive environment for cast and crew to create their best work, then he’s an utter failure. While the Björk sexual harassment accusations and the many more accusations against his producer Aalbæk Jensen are new, we always knew that von Trier was a terror. But our culture celebrates these attitudes in white men as a necessary downside to genius. Well, I’m in full agreement with Steven Soderbergh who in addressing all artists who harass, abuse, assault, or are just in his words “extreme assholes” said: “You’re 50 percent of what you could have been, because of the way you behave.” So, hey, I’m not going to lie. I still think Dogville is one of the best films of all time. But it was intended as a trilogy and because of the way he treated Nicole Kidman she did not come back for the much less accomplished sequel (Manderlay) and the third film never happened. I also do sincerely believe with his creativity and with the brilliance of the concept and cast, even this movie could have been better if made in a more collaborative space. Obviously that’s just speculation but it’s something I fundamentally believe about art and filmmaking. As is, it still is great though. I thought about this film every time the New York Times or some other publication wrote about the plight of the Trump voter. This film angrily and aggressively dismisses the romanticization of the white working class. As James Caan’s gangster dad wonderfully mansplains, refusing to hold people accountable for their actions, to ignore people when they make it clear who they are is extremely arrogant. Von Trier’s misanthropy can be tiresome, but this film has a lot of important things to say about America even if its filmmaker has never been here.

2. Eyes Wide Shut (dir. Stanley Kubrick)

Speaking of brilliant filmmakers who are terrible directors… this is my favorite film by this famous auteur. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman (especially Kidman) add a humanity to this film that is missing from some of his others. And yet it still takes place in Kubrick’s usual cold, detached, semi-surreal film world. It creates an odd balance that works in some really interesting ways. I’ve been told that my reading of this film is too generous by people who think it’s a misogynistic mess, but it really feels like an indictment of a kind of pathetic upper-middle class man that is unfortunately quite common in our society. Cruise’s Dr. Bill Harford is so shaken by his wife’s stoned revelation that she once had a fantasy about another guy that he goes on a desperate journey to prove his masculinity and status. He’s constantly flashing his doctor card around and making idiotic gestures of power like tearing hundred dollar bills in half. He wants to be rich and powerful to prove he’s a man, but he’ll never be accepted by the top elite. He will however continue to hurt an array of women including his wife, sex workers, and abused children with few consequences in his quest to be like the ultra rich men who get to hurt an array of women with absolutely zero consequences. This movie is really complicated and there are moments that bother me or where I simply don’t know what to make of them. But as a whole I think it’s exploring some really interesting topics in a way that reveals new layers each time I see it. And the cinematography is so great that I’ve actually watched the movie on mute and still enjoyed it.

1. The Portrait of a Lady (dir. Jane Campion)

“They’re just people in different clothes.” Jane Campion’s period pieces always feel alive. So it didn’t surprise me when she gave that simple explanation at a recent Q&A. No film is that made clearer than in her Henry James adaptation. The movie opens with various contemporary female voices discussing their feelings about sex and love and then transitions into the credits played over images of contemporary women dancing, staring pensively, listening to a portable CD player (okay, contemporary to the 90s). And then she cuts to Nicole Kidman as Isabel Archer, as if to say, this famous literary character, this 19th century person, she’s just a woman. This is just a portrait of a lady. She manages to make the film feel both epic in importance and like an intimate reflection of common female experiences. Campion always places so much trust in her protagonists. Often when choosing among potential male lovers there are no good options, but Campion makes it clear that the bad option her character chooses is better because he is her choice. Even in this film where Isabel chooses the worst of them all, her choice is treated with respect. It’s her right to make a mistake and change her mind and live a life as a full person. Nicole Kidman is perfect in this role. Her Isabel is self-aware. We see in her expressions that she doesn’t always approve of her own actions, that she feels torn between what and who she’s drawn to and the expectations places upon her and that she places upon herself. The character changes over the years but in only the subtlest, truest ways. If you’ve read through this list and are disappointed the number one movie I’m recommending is a 2.5-hour period piece based on a Henry James novel, just trust me. Actually, don’t just trust me. Trust Jane Campion. Trust Nicole Kidman.

We made it! Thanks for going on this journey with me. I hope you learned something about Nicole Kidman and the film industry she’s worked within. The great news is she has all sorts of exciting projects coming up including John Cameron Mitchell’s already finished How to Talk to Girls at Parties and new films by Rebecca Miller and Karyn Kusama. But she also has the Weinstein-produced remake The Upside starring Bryan Cranston in a wheelchair. I guess that’s how it goes when you make more movies than years you’re alive.

Fanfic MST: Forbiden Fruit: The Tempation of Edward Cullen, a Twilight fanfic [part 6]

Meant to get this done a while ago, but I’ve got a new job and it’s been keeping me busy. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter; it’s probably the most action-packed one yet. 

Content warnings for this chapter include more (attempted) rape, a consensual sex scene (not described), and some violence. And a hell of a lot of nonsense that may hurt your brain if you think about it too hard.

Recap: Tiaa competed in, and won, a school talent contest. Edward was very impressed with her, but Tiaa was still angry about him rejecting her advances back in chapter 4, so she yelled at him and then went and had a cry.

Chapter 1

Previous chapter

AN - dnt all just attack me for the things writen in this chapter about Tiaas parents, i havent explaned everything yet an it will make more sense later. 

Which probably means it will make no sense now, but we’ll see.

Chapter 6 - the curse

-Oh ewdard with your skin so white Your eyes like amber out of sight Pale angel in my eyes Hair like gold rosy sunrise-

That’s a hell of a poem, but maybe you should stick to prose.

I read the words of my poem out quietly. I had written a poem about Edward, i just couldnt help myself. I hated myself for doing it but i couldnt get him out of my mind and it was the only way i could deal with my feelings. 

Soddenly my mind went black and i felt into a trance. 

In my original version of the MST I made a comment here about Tiaa needing therapy and antipsychotics. I would have reproduced it as-is, but I don’t wanna seem like I’m making light of mental illness; that being said, as someone who goes to therapy and takes antipsychotics, this girl could use some professional medical attention. Like, pronto.

A tall pale man stood in front of me all ghosty and misty like he was only half there. 

It was… VLODEMORT AND DA DETH DEALERS!!11!1

"my daugher? My daughter?" he moaned 

"who are you?" i wispa quietly

"i am your FATHER! 

That’s a real shocker after he just called her his daughter.

I AM CAIUS FROM THE VOLTURI! 

Not positive why he’s screaming this part, but I’ll go with it.

Your in terror and peril my daugher! 

God I fucking love this author’s use of the English language.

Beware the vampire boy called edward!" 

"why?" I said

"you mussent let him sex you or the curse your mother tried to protect you from will fall on you...you'll become a VAMPIRE! 

Uh… what? Lemme dissect this.

Tiaa’s dad is a vampire. Presumably her mom was not, though I get the feeling mom may not have been human either. Human/vampire hybrids are an established thing in the Twilight universe, and Tiaa clearly isn’t one (just for starters, she’s apparently been aging at a normal rate, as opposed to the highly accelerated pace at which human/vampire hybrids mature), so let’s assume her mom has some other supernatural shit going on. There’s a curse involved, so let’s say she’s a witch or similar. 

Why the hell would there be a curse on Tiaa that makes her turn (presumably irreversibly) into a vampire if she has sex with a vampire? Who caused this? What’s going on? Is it specifically Edward who’s dangerous to her, or would any other vampire pose the same threat? What is defined as “sex” here? Vaginal intercourse?

What a weird plot twist. Moving the hell on.

And you will never be safe! Only as a human can you be safe from them..." 

Wait, safe from who? Why would being human make her safer? Would she be targeted specifically for being nonhuman if she were to become a vampire? Why?

then he faded and I was awake and uncle larry was standing at my door.

"take ur clothes off now you moldy slut!" said uncle larry and he smiles horribly with his yellow teeth

Geez, Uncle Larry, at least do something about the mold first.

"no i wont" i screamed but uncle larry came over and hit me. I was strong for my size but he was a huge fat man like 300 pounds in weight and stronger than me. 

Oh, okay, so we finally get a sense of how big and strong Uncle Larry is compared to Tiaa. Presumably Atlantiana “strong and graceful like the running anti-lopes” Rebekah Loren is faster than this guy, though. I feel like she might still be able to outmaneuver him.

He took my clothes off and chained me to the bed. 

Where did the chains come from? Did Uncle Larry bring them with him or do Dave and Marie keep bondage equipment in the house?

I new he was going to rape me again. 

That’s an impressive deduction.

But at that moment someone came running into the room and hit uncle larry across the head with a stick and knocks him out cold. Uncle larry laid there bleeding and i looked up at...EDWARD!

I was gonna make a totally different comment here but it actually just struck me (pun not intended) that this is the most in-character Edward has been yet. If you read Twilight, there’s actually a scene where he saves Bella from a group of guys attempting to corner and assault her. His mind-reading ability and stalker tendencies both come in handy here; it’s not a stretch to imagine he might be hanging about in the vicinity of Tiaa’s house, and he would be able to read Uncle Larry’s mind and know what Larry planned on doing to Tiaa. As ridiculous as him conveniently busting in at the nick of time might seem, it’s exactly the sort of thing he’d do.

"omg my sweet lady" he cried! "what has this frightful asshole been doing to thee?"

Never mind, apparently he didn’t actually read Uncle Larry’s mind, or he would have known what the frightful asshole (great phrase) had been doing to Tiaa. So we’re back to the scene making no sense. 

"he's been raping me and hitting me" i weeped sadly as edward unchained me and i put my clothes on. Edward turned away whale I dressed so he wasnt perving on me, and he looked down at the poem I had wroten.

"for truth!these are the most beautiful words I have ever seen, it makes me feel so very moved" he cried "i wish i wasnt promised to someone else then i could write poems for thee" 

Edward, man, you’re coming up on 100 years old. You’ve been going through the educational system over and over again for decades. Surely you’ve read some good poetry (by which I mean “surely you’ve read the one or two good poems to have been written in the history of poetry, one of which is definitely ‘The Emperor of Ice Cream’ by Wallace Stevens”) in your time on this earth.

"why are u promised to bella anyways" i ask

"Be cause i made a promise and i cant' break it, it would be rude and ungentalmanly. 

Promised because he made a promise. Got it.

Bella never used to be like she is now,when i fist met her she was sweet and shy and was never nasty about everybody but she has changed and so have her freinds. I dont know watt made her change, maybe it is mine fault, she just seems angry all the time now."

That’s what happens when a Mary Sue shows up in your story! Canon characters start acting really weird to allow the Sue to fill a specific role that would otherwise not exist!

"Yah that makes sense I guess" i said.

We left the house and went to walk in the woods. We talked about loads of things and it turned out we had a lot in comnon. We liked all the same music and movies and books and stuff, it was like magic.

I actually think one of the perks of dating a vampire would be being able to pick his brain about pop culture through the ages. Like, it’d be really cool to talk about hip youth culture with someone who has been masquerading as a hip young person for over fifty years; that’s gotta be a unique perspective. But what the hell are the odds of a teenager in the 2000s matching interests perfectly with someone who’s lived through the entire 20th century?

"you know maybe bella is unhappy be cause you guys are not in love like u used to be, and u should brake up with her so she can move on and your can both be happy" i say

…see, now that’s actually completely solid relationship advice.

"she all ways used to say that shed kill herself if I left her. I could not be responsable for her death! 

Uh, her depression (and/or manipulative tendencies?) isn’t his responsibility. On the other hand, though, this is in-character for Edward.

I just don't get what has happened to her she used to be nice and sweet like thou my lady. 

I feel like Edward isn’t very good at judging when a girl is “nice and sweet.”

And now i am falling in love with thou and it is all such a darn mess!" He hit a tree in frustration and it broke. 

This author’s frequent use of purple prose only makes it funnier when she describes something as minimally as this. “It broke.” Brilliant.

He was so strong, i guess cause he was a vampire.

Yeah, could be why.

"your falling in love with me?" i ask, my cheeks going all red and my heart starting to sore

Girl, you okay?

"omg, forget I said that!" he looked relay embarassed and it was so cute. He had a big erection too. 

Did this boy just get a hard-on from punching a tree?

I retched out and grabbed his hard throbbing male object. 

I am literally imploring you to use the word “penis” instead.

We couldn't controll ourselves any more and we both fell down on the floor and got naked and made love. It was amazing and lasted hours and I had never been so happy in my life i felt like i coud die with happines. 

These two have some impressive stamina considering it’s the first time for both of them. I mean, I guess Edward is a vampire, and Tiaa is... Tiaa, but still.

But after a while edward started to freak out and cry.

Yeah, he’s like that.

"I HAVE BEEN SUCH A FOOL!" he screamed "i should not have let that hapen! 

I’ll cut the guy some slack for being eternally seventeen years old, which probably doesn’t come with the best impulse control, but… they had sex for hours, and he only just now started to realize his mistake? 

I hope thee can forgive me, i must return to Bella!" and he ran away.

I could not believe it. It was like my world was caving in all about me. i was so socked and angry i could not even cry or scream. 

It’s not really shocking, honestly. The entire story has been about Edward’s inability to make up his goddamn mind over whether or not to leave Bella. I’d be angry too, because the constant waffling back and forth is pretty annoying, but… oh, hang on, that actually says she was socked, not shocked. Never mind.

But as i lay there i started to fell diferent, like RELAY diferent. I suddenly remembed watt my father had said to me about not making sex with edward or he woud turn me into a vampire! 

Yeah, it’s pretty easy to forget randomly blacking out and having a vision of your vampire dad. That’s the sort of thing that happens so often it’s hard to keep track.

My skin was getting all hard and pale and my eyes could suddenly see a lot clearer than before! I could hear lots of little noises even form relay far away. I even wanted to drink blood!

She’s turning into Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way.

and i could smell a human comin closer, he was almost here

"There you are you horrid SLUG" it was uncle larry "where have u been? I'm goin to rape u now!”

Well, that’s some real authentic-sounding rapist dialogue.

Also, if you remember my comment from earlier about placing bets on which chapter Uncle Larry dies horribly in, and you bet on chapter 6, congrats! You don’t win anything. I’m out of confetti.

Something in me snaped. I jumped at him and broke his neck and drank his blood! 

I don’t normally condone vampirism, but in this case — you go, girl! Give ‘em what for!

i had always ben strong for my size but now i was SUPER strong!He looked so surprised and it was so GOOD! Soon i dropped him on the floor and he was...dead!

I woulda thought he’d have died once his neck was broken, but if she has enough technique to keep him alive to suffer even with a broken neck, more power to her.

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Necromunda - A week of Enforcers vs Delaques

"Don't do this, Mack." Hari's voice was low, as the Enforcers moved into position around the den. Mack Crator gave her a brief, helpless glance, and turned to address his men and the frightened gamblers. "By Order of the Chamber of Commerce, and by the Laws of Necromunda and Hive Primus, this establishment has been declared illegal. All patrons will be fined, all assets will be seized, and the proprietors are to be taken in for questioning." The gang looked to Hari for leadership, as the Bucket Shop customers were rounded up and shaken down, and the enforcers started smashing up the gambling tables. "Don't do anything. Just keep schtum. We'll get through it." "But what are we going to do, Hari? The Bucket Shop is our best earner!" "We'll get the emergency stash, and set-up a new operation under the Lip. No problem." +++ Hari stared. There were armoured figures clustered around the top of the fractionator tower. They'd already fished out half of the packages from the chimney, and Mack was reaching in for more. "Don't you frakking dare, you utter *bastards*" she hissed, and signaled the rest of the gang. "Into 'em!"

+++ "I can't say I'm pleased, Crator." Neither was Mack. "You had half of them right there in front of you, in an illegal gambling den, and you couldn't pin a thing on them." "They had really good alibis, sir." He didn't add 'and your brother didn't.' "And they attacked you out at the refinery ruins, and you still didn't get any of them." "It was dark, sir." They both looked down at Crator’s helmet, and all the low-right enhancers and infra-red picts built into the visor. They didn't say anything. "I'm giving you an explicit order, Crator - bring this Hari woman in or I'll see to it you get reassigned to Arse End." Crator didn't say anything - he knew at least two of the Guilders were already in Hari's pocket, and she could probably pay any fine the Chamber agreed on anyway. And how could he catch Hari, anyway? If he was honest with himself, most of the Legitimate Businessmen were better in a scrap than his boys. At least the enforcers had better armour and all the helmet gear. He paused, thinking. He'd had an idea. "... Do we still have those tanks of Ab-Dab?" +++ Hercules tightened the last connector on their new purchase - with any luck it would give those bloody Spyrers a nasty surprise, if they came back. Hari adjusted the sling around her arm - another damn injury to cope with, and on her left side again. It wasn't making the scrapping any easier, that's for sure. Herc grinned. "Hey, boss." "Yeah, Herc?" "Maybe you should change your name to Lena." "Oh, ha-de-haha. Now can it." Hari coughed, and wondered why the skin on the back of her neck was prickling. The smog in the dome was thicker than usual, and the chemical tang wasn't the usual mix of sulphur and paint stripper. "Heads up!" she barked, and hefted her flamer. Something was very wrong. Dmitri was just staring, slack-jawed, eyes wide. "Dmitri! Fucking move it!" Dmitri just shrieked, lurched upright, and fled screaming blue murder across the warehouse. Armoured figures appeared from behind crates raising grenade launchers and boltguns, and gunned Dmitri down as he just ran and screamed. Armoured figures with helmets, and helmets with respirators. "You frakker, Mack!" yelled the Delaque, as she dragged Hercules into cover, as Enforcers appeared from every side, and denser clouds of gas billowed into the warehouse from the Spireward end. The bastard had pumped hallucinogenic gas into the building, and half her lads were already out of action. Hari risked a look around the edge of the sludge tank. If they could make it to the tunnels, she and Hercules could slip the net. She tapped Hercules' shoulder, and signaled the plan. He nodded, and they ran for the escape route, firing wildly to keep the enforcers down. And her injuries damned her. She was already seeing double from the gas, and her left leg folded underneath her as the injured muscles went into spasm. All the enforcers opened fire. +++ "Hari, look on the bright side, we let the rest of your boys get away, and we didn't hurt you that badly!" "Oh, look how grateful I am" growled the woman, and waved her manacled hands are far as the chain allowed. "What now? You throw me off the Drop?" Mack flinched. "I'm not going to do that, Hari. You're a mate. The Guild will make you cough up some dosh, and you'll have to lie low for a bit. That's all." Hari was speechless. "A mate. A MATE? Just as well I'm a mate, Mack. I'd hate to see what you'd have done next if you weren't, after you stabbed me in the back!" The enforcer didn't want to look her in the eyes. "I didn't have a choice, Hari. Orders from higher up." He glanced significantly towards the ceiling of the guardhouse. Hari sat back with a rattle of chain. "Ah. Is that how it is. Frakking typical. You ever wonder if the rest of the Imperium is like Long Drop, Mack? The nobs do whatever they like, the authorities are corrupt, everything is ruined by religious nuts, and we're too busy fighting among ourselves to deal with the actual threat?" Mack walked over to the doorway and peered out into the yellow gloom."It's not that bad, Hari. It can't be. I'm sure the God-Emperor has a plan, and that everybody has their place." The was another rattle of chains, and snort from behind him. "You think anybody could live down here, if they knew there was a choice?" Silence from the cell behind him. "Hari?" No response. Mack drew his bolt pistol and ran back into the room. The Delaque was gone, and only the open manacles remained. "You have got to be freaking kidding." +++ A vein pulsed at Onille's temple. His cyber-familiar kept flexing the bare bones of it's paws. "At least tell me you caught that Wyrd they say she consorts with." Perry the Platypus had been the most valuable employee at the Bucket Shop, Mack knew. And not because his gift to read the minds of his fellow man meant that the illegal casino won all the card games - oh no. It just ensured that the right customers won. And that any useful info about rival gangs got passed on to Mack. "Perry, sir? Sorry sir. Nobody's seen hide or hair of him in days. If he was a psyker, he knew when the hell to get out of town. He could be anywhere now." +++ Perry dragged Margaretha behind the vertical pipes - around and above him the Delaques were firing back at the Enforcers that had ambushed them. Their first volley had shredded Marg's arm, and she was already going into shock. "Do it, Per. D.. the.. do the thing." she gasped. Perry nodded, and tried to concentrate. He'd reach out with his mind-power, make the enforcer blind to the gang, giving the Delaques the edge they might need. His pulse pounded is his ears. Louder and louder. Louder and louder. He clutched at his temples and screamed. Marg stared, reached to help him, and recoiled, as Perry's scream rose higher and higher, and purple light blazed beneath his skin, and out of his mouth and eyes, and the scream just got louder and higher yet, far beyond any sane limit. And Perry imploded, skull collapsing into a point of brilliant painful purple light, and his body unraveled, spooling off the bone and up into that terrible hole in reality. And he kept screaming. Marg was screaming too now, and so were the pipes around her, howling like insane flutes as the air was sucked through them, as rust and dust and debris were dragged towards the awful howling. And Marg was screaming, howling, and dragged into the hole and the hellscape beyond. +++ Onille glared. Mack wished he was invisible. "Crator. I'd hate to think you were letting any of them get away on purpose." "Nossir. We'd never do anything like that, sir." +++ The three Delaques were already automatically turning down a side street when they saw the uniforms coming the other way. They paused when one of them called out, instead of opening fire. "Mutt? That you? We need to talk. Pax." The five enforcers really had wanted to parley. It was probably just as well Hari and Mack weren't there. Their underlings had a lot to talk about. "We're not getting our cut anymore, Mutt! The truce with your lot has been the best money I've ever had!" "And the dancers at the Bucket Shop were the shit, man." added Goodman. "I get you, buddy. We've got to talk to Hari and Mack, try and sort out something so we can get back to business as normal. I need the gelt as much as you guys do. What do you think, lads. Lads? What are you you looking at, Wer? Werewolf was staring down the length of the street. "What. The FRAK. Is that." Five armed Ogryns were coming down the road. And they had Redemptionists backing them up. +++ Onille was practically biting through the rim of his hat. Furious George was screeching and awaiting the kill-order. "Two dead. TWO OF MY ENFORCERS DEAD?" "Yessir. I'm sorry sir. It was the Ogryns, sir, I dunno how they did it, but the cult talked them into being on their side." Actually, Mack had a pretty good suspicion - when the Ogryns had stomped all over the Iron Martyrs the week before they'd effectively taken over a known cultist hide-out. There must have been some demagogue-in-training there. Or the Iron Martyrs had realised that the abhumans would be great autocannon-fodder. "Maybe I should hire the OGRYNS AS FUCKING ENFORCERS, CRATOR. They're certainly MORE EFFECTIVE THAN YOU ARE!" Crator went pale. "You don't mean it, do you sir?" Onille stood up, frothing at the mouth. "Out! GET OUT! If I see you again before you have the lot of them in shackles I'll shoot you myself!" Crator fled. This was not looking like it would be a good week...

(For anybody wondering what this was about - It has not been the best of weeks in our local Necromunda Campaign for the Legitimate Businessmen, or the Long Drop Enforcers - mostly because the enforcers have apparently been getting orders to go after the Delaques, to the exclusion of all else. This has included an attempted assassination of Hari Mata with both Hallucinogenic Fog and Gas Clouds in play, and the Delaques losing their favorite psyker Perry the Platypus in an unfortunate Warp Implosion incident that took out the Delaques standing near him at the time as well. Rolling double six on the Gambling Den didn't help, either - any doubles rolled for that gang territory COST you credits. And then the fifth game was a two-gang-on two Shoot Out - Enforcers and Delaques vs Ogryns... and fricking Redemptionists. )

At last-minute I decided I was going to take part in Booktube-a-thon, and so I went into making my TBR list with no idea really of what I was going to read. I wasn’t prepared. And to top it all off, I kept switching around books as I felt it didn’t quite work. But now I am happy to announce my final book TBR for the readathon!

Before;

Before we go into this I do need to say that I’ve already started two of these books from the 24in48 Readathon. But I don’t like reading a million books all at once, and they do fit into these categories, so it doesn’t really hurt anyone.

Read a book with a person on the cover

For this I chose The Last of Us by Rob Ewing. There’s two people on the cover and I’ve been intrigued by this for a while now but haven’t got round to reading it yet.

When a pandemic wipes out the entire population of a remote Scottish island, only a small group of children survive. How will they fend for themselves?

Since the last adult died, sensible Elizabeth has been the group leader, testing for a radio signal, playing teacher and keeping an eye on Alex, the littlest, whose insulin can only last so long.

There is ‘shopping’ to do in the houses they haven’t yet searched and wrong smells to avoid. For eight-year-old Rona each day brings fresh hope that someone will come back for them, tempered by the reality of their dwindling supplies.

With no adults to rebel against, squabbles threaten the fragile family they have formed. And when brothers Calum Ian and Duncan attempt to thwart Elizabeth’s leadership, it prompts a chain of events that will endanger Alex’s life and test them all in unimaginable ways.

Read a hyped book

I chose The Hobbit as I had already started reading it for 24in48 Readathon and I would prefer to finish it before starting more books. That’s just not my style. So as it is one of the biggest hyped books to ever exist, I decided to include it as this challenge.

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

Written for J.R.R. Tolkien’s own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when it was first published in 1937. Now recognized as a timeless classic, this introduction to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the wizard Gandalf, Gollum, and the spectacular world of Middle-earth recounts of the adventures of a reluctant hero, a powerful and dangerous ring, and the cruel dragon Smaug the Magnificent.

Finish a book in one day

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them (The original screenplay). As I was able to read The Cursed Child in one day, I figured this would also be another quick and easy read due to it being a screenplay.

J.K. Rowling’s screenwriting debut is captured in this exciting hardcover edition of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them screenplay.

When Magizoologist Newt Scamander arrives in New York, he intends his stay to be just a brief stopover. However, when his magical case is misplaced and some of Newt’s fantastic beasts escape, it spells trouble for everyone…

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them marks the screenwriting debut of J.K. Rowling, author of the beloved and internationally bestselling Harry Potter books. Featuring a cast of remarkable characters, this is epic, adventure-packed storytelling at its very best.

Whether an existing fan or new to the wizarding world, this is a perfect addition to any reader’s bookshelf.

Read about a character that’s very different to you

I thought Memoirs of a Geisha fit perfectly into this slot. It’s set in Japan and follows the life of a Geisha, from when she was a little girl to when she’s much older. It’s fictional but at the beginning there’s a fake translators note which gives it more character. I also started this book for 24in48 Readathon. 

A literary sensation and runaway bestseller, this brilliant debut novel presents with seamless authenticity and exquisite lyricism the true confessions of one of Japan’s most celebrated geisha.

In Memoirs of a Geisha, we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl’s virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction – at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful – and completely unforgettable.

Read a whole book outdoors

Lets be honest – the outdoors isn’t always our best friend. And as I dwell in this place called England, the outside can be wet, cold and plain miserable. So, I decided to go with another short and sweet book, Alice Through The Looking Glass. The copy I have, has both Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through The Looking Glass in one, but I’ve already read the first.

In 1865, English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898), aka Lewis Carroll, wrote a fantastical adventure story for the young daughters of a friend. The adventures of Alice—named for one of the little girls to whom the book was dedicated—who journeys down a rabbit hole and into a whimsical underworld realm instantly struck a chord with the British public, and then with readers around the world. In 1872, in reaction to the universal acclaim *Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland* received, Dodgson published this sequel. Nothing is quite what it seems once Alice journeys through the looking-glass, and Dodgson’s wit is infectious as he explores concepts of mirror imagery, time running backward, and strategies of chess-all wrapped up in the exploits of a spirited young girl who parries with the Red Queen, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and other unlikely characters. In many ways, this sequel has had an even greater impact on today’s pop culture than the first book.

Read a book you bought because of the cover

The Diabolic. Yes. A million times yes. Technically though, I didn’t buy it as I actually won it. But I was thinking about buying it anyway, so it counts in my eyes.

Nemesis is a Diabolic. Created to protect a galactic Senator’s daughter, Sidonia. There’s no one Nemesis wouldn’t kill to keep her safe. But when the power-mad Emperor summons Sidonia to the galactic court as a hostage, there is only one way for Nemesis to protect Sidonia.

She must become her.

Now one of the galaxy’s most dangerous weapons is masquerading in a world of corruption and Nemesis has to hide her true abilities or risk everything. As the Empire begins to fracture and rebellion looms closer, Nemesis learns that there is something stronger than her deadly force: the one thing she’s been told she doesn’t have – humanity. And, amidst all the danger, action and intrigue, her humanity might be the only thing that can save her, Sidonia and the entire Empire…

Read seven books

What’s the one thing this list is missing? That’s right – zombies! World War Z would make another perfect book as I anticipate it will be fast paced and full of suspense. I originally watched the film for Film Studies in my first year of college (and I loved it, sue me), when I saw it on the bookshelves in a charity store I had to have it.

The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. “World War Z” is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.

Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.

Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”

Weekly post

I’m going to write a long post (like I did with 24in48 Readathon) where I will have each day’s update and progress. Hopefully it will be posted on the Sunday night if everything goes to plan and we’ll see at how many of these reading challenges I have completed.

Booktube-a-thon 2017 TBR At last-minute I decided I was going to take part in Booktube-a-thon, and so I went into making my TBR list with no idea really of what I was going to read.

Kopf: The Baseless (and nasty) Complaints Against Judge Ellis

I did not pay much attention to the trial of Mr. Manafort. When the jury came back for the government on eight of eighteen counts, I wasn’t particularly surprised.[i] After all, these were essentially tax and bank fraud cases (with one count of failure to register as a foreign agent). The government does not bring those document-heavy charges unless it thinks the basic case, while larded with weak counts, is a slam dunk.

From the reporting prior to the verdict, commentators hazed Judge Ellis for pushing the government hard to get the trial over and otherwise being a meanie to the prosecutors.[ii] But aside from this sniping, I yawned.

Then, the judge sentenced Manafort to “only” 47 months in prison for the 70-year-old defendant. The heavens rose up and hell vented noxious gas. Life plus cancer was the proper sentence, and don’t tell us otherwise, the Trump-haters yelled. I yawned once again.

The judge explained in detail why he sentenced Manafort below the Guidelines. It seems to me the judge was roughly on target. In any event, for an objective and quite good explanation of the judge’s thoughtful explanation and ruling, see here.[iii] Yawn.

But now, I am no longer yawning. Recently, Zoe Tillman published the dismissal of several complaints brought against Judge Ellis under the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act of 1980, 28 U.S.C. §§ 351-364, regarding his conduct during the Manafort matter. Zoe Tillman, Paul Manafort’s Judge Won’t Face Disciplinary Action For How He Treated Mueller’s Office, BuzzFeed News (April 1, 2019). Even though it is not yet public as of the date of this writing, she even published the opinion of the Chief Judge of the Fourth Circuit dismissing the complaint.[iv]

Now, I don’t know Judge Ellis from a hot rock. So, I did a little looking. There is something called the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary, CCH Incorporated (2019).[v] It costs the practicing bar a lot to subscribe to this service because the editors do a deep dive into what lawyers think of a particular federal judge. The publisher then summarizes and publishes the thoughts of the lawyers about that judge without revealing the names or other identifying information.

Here is what I learned. The judge is a senior judge who was born in 1940. He was appointed by President Reagan in 1987. The judge graduated Princeton with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering. He went into the Navy and served from 1961 through 1966. After that, he attended Harvard Law School, where he received his degree magna cum laude. He was awarded a Diploma in Law from Magdalen College, Oxford University.

Now, for the evaluations in a summary fashion.

“Ellis is a brilliant judge, lawyers said. ‘His legal ability is off the charts, he has great legal knowledge.’”

“’He’s absolutely no-nonsense and sometimes a bit abrupt.’” “’He will put the lawyers in his courtroom to the test.’”

“Ellis runs a tight courtroom. ‘He has complete control of the courtroom.’ ‘One should never come into his courtroom unprepared.’ ‘He runs his courtroom efficiently.’”

As for the thoughts of criminal defense lawyers, “’He’s a real legal stickler and will really hold the parties to the letter of the law.’” “’He’s very pro-government.’” At sentencing, “’He’s a little tougher on sentencing than some; he can downward vary but more often he follows the guidelines.’”

Now, let me walk you through the Judicial Conduct complaints and how Chief Judge Gregory resolved them. There were four complaints. Each complaining party “apparently read or heard media reports regarding a criminal matter tried before the district judge.” Memorandum and Order, In the Matter of Judicial Complaints Under 28 U.S.C. § 351, Nos.4-18-90063, -90111, -90112, & -90121, at p. 1 (Mar. 29, 2019). In other words, the complaining parties were not participants in the trial, but bystanders relying on second-hand media accounts.

There were three areas of attack.

Initially, and the one Chief Judge Gregory spent the most time discussing, was the claim that Ellis violated various Canons of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, particularly Canon 2 (avoiding impropriety and the appearance of impropriety) and Canon 3 (admonishing that a judge should perform his or her duties “impartially and diligently”). Greatly summarized and condensed, all the complaining parties thought Ellis was too tough on the prosecutors and “was more interested in hampering the prosecution with unreasonable demands for a quick and speedy trial than he was with carry[ing] out a fair trial.”

The secondary line of attack was still darker. It relied upon Canon 5, which requires judges to refrain from political activity. The judge “tilt[ed] the scales of justice against the prosecution,” made “partisan rulings,” and “deliberately put his thumb on the scales of justice for partisan reasons. A less likely, but entirely possible explanation is that he was subject to other improper, corrupt or illegal influence.”

The final line of attack was that the judge must have been nuts. That is, the judge “has early onset dementia.”

As for the first two lines of attack, Chief Judge Gregory denied them after careful examination. He explained why:

Reviewing the relevant transcripts in the case, and considering the district judge’s remarks in their overall context, the record does not support the conclusion that the district judge engaged in misconduct. One might say that the judge may have been injudicious in his tone or choice of words, but one cannot say that his comments were so discourteous, uncivil, or “bullying” as to “transcend . . . the expected rough-and-tumble of litigation.” Implementation of the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act of 1980, Report to the Chief Justice of the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act Study Committee (Breyer, J., chair), Appendix E (Committee Standards for Assessing Compliance with the Act), at 147. The judge was sometimes strident with counsel, to be sure, and especially with the prosecution. But judges have wide latitude to manage cases in the way that seems best to them. Moreover, pressing the prosecution to move a case along certainly does not necessarily signal that the trial judge believes the prosecution is wrong or has acted improperly, or that the judge is illicitly attempting to impede the prosecution in the eyes of the jury. These kinds of case-management considerations are directly related to the merits of the judge’s handling of the litigation. A judge’s approach to them, therefore, is not subject to review through a complaint of judicial misconduct. 28 U.S.C. § 352(b)(1)(A)(ii).

To be sure, especially in a high-profile, politically-charged trial, a judge should take care – with the precepts of Canon 5 of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges in mind – to avoid careless remarks that could foreseeably be interpreted as partisan. In this case, the district judge did not cross the line into partisan political commentary.

Memorandum and Order, In the Matter of Judicial Complaints Under 28 U.S.C. § 351, at pp. 3-4.

As for the claim of a corrupt motive or “dementia,” Judge Gregory devoted one line while first noting that the complaining parties had failed to provide him with any evidence. He wrote, “The record does not support the existence of an improper influence upon the judge, mental disability, or ‘early onset dementia.’” Id. at p. 4.

So, why do I write about the travails of Judge Ellis? I have three reasons.

First, the reader should know that Judicial Conduct complaints, mostly by disgruntled litigants, are commonplace. I can’t estimate the number of times I have been subjected to complaints. Every experienced judge (read “old”) has been put through the gauntlet numerous times. While it is not fun, the complaint process serves an important public purpose, even for those who completely misapprehend the governing law, 28 U.S.C. §§ 351–364, and the rules promulgated thereunder. There are judges who cross the ethical line. For those few judges, it is important that there be a process for dealing with them. In short, I am glad that the process, although abused, is in place.

Second, Chief Judge Gregory’s thoughtful analysis makes an important point. A federal trial judge is involved in the “rough and tumble [of] litigation.” The judge is under enormous pressure to control the trial participants and look after the jury. It is unsurprising, indeed commonplace, for a judge like Judge Ellis or me to make a remark during trial that upon reflection we wished we hadn’t. As the now-deceased former Chief Judge of the Eighth Circuit, and a truly great trial lawyer before he became a judge, emphasized, law is a human process and that is particularly true of trials. See Donald P. Lay, Law: A Human Process (1996).

Finally, I am angry that the Judicial Conduct process has now been weaponized for political purposes. Reading Chief Judge Gregory’s opinion leaves little doubt that the complaining parties, who were not participants and who relied on the accounts of others, lashed out at Judge Ellis to achieve a political end. He didn’t hate Trump (enough) and should therefore be punished. Such activity bodes ill for the independence of the federal judiciary and our country. As for me, I’m very glad that Judge Ellis was not a shrinking violet. I fear that young federal judges will be cowed—I urge them to have the courage displayed by Judge Ellis.

Richard G. Kopf Senior United States District Judge (NE)

[i] Manafort was found guilty of five tax fraud charges, one charge of hiding foreign bank accounts, and two counts of bank fraud. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on 10 other charges. The government elected to dismiss them.

[ii] Nancy Gertner, The extraordinary bias of the judge in the Manafort trial, Washington Post (Aug. 16, 2018). By the way, I have enormous respect for Ms. Gertner, formerly a distinguished federal trial judge and now a professor at Harvard. Oddly, however, she ends her opinion piece with this sentence: “Seeking to expedite matters, Ellis impaneled the Manafort jury in a single day.” I am surprised that Gertner is surprised. I have never spent more than one day picking a jury, and that includes complex cases like the Beatrice Six wrongful-conviction case or a particularly nasty murder case. With rare exceptions, I give each side 20 minutes apiece to ask questions, and my courtroom deputy times them.

[iii] “Manafort’s defense team gave Ellis 17 cases to consider where defendants broke tax or foreign banking laws and got probation or home detention — in other words, no prison time. In some of these cases, the guidelines recommended the defendants go to prison for years — and yet judges all over the country decided that wasn’t necessary.

Ellis cited one case he handled that was similar to Manafort’s case involving secret foreign bank accounts. In that case, Ellis gave the man who avoided paying exponentially more in taxes than Manafort only seven months in prison.”

[iv] I can’t find the order on the Fourth Circuit’s website. It may have been leaked to the reporter. Every Circuit is required to make such orders publicly available when they are final. That omission suggests to me that the Chief Judge’s dismissal has been appealed to the Judicial Council of the Fourth Circuit. So, there may be more to come. By the way, the name of the judge and the names of the complainant or complainants are almost never disclosed pursuant to the rules. See here for all the rules. Nevertheless, from the background set forth in the dismissal order, one can tell that the order pertains to Judge Ellis.

[v] I deny that I have ever read my entry.

Kopf: The Baseless (and nasty) Complaints Against Judge Ellis republished via Simple Justice