#Oct 2006-May 2023

[megpricephotography]

Barney & little Dilly up on the Malvern Hills, on a glorious, breezy summer's day, back in early July of 2008.

[opencommunion]

recommended resources on Lebanese resistance and its context

this has been in my drafts for a long time bc I wanted to find more audio resources but in light of recent events I'm posting as is, and will add more later. pdfs for texts without links can be found on libgen ⭐ = start with these 📺 = video resource 🎧 = audio resource Hizballah ⭐ Lara Deeb, "Hizballah and Its Civilian Constituencies," in The War on Lebanon: A Reader, eds. Nubar Hovsepian and Rashid Khalidi (2007)

⭐🎧 Electronic Intifada Podcast with Rania Khalek, "Why Hizballah would deal Israel a deadly blow" (2024)

⭐🎧 Electronic Intifada Podcast with Amal Saad, "How Hizballah Aims to Deter Israel" (2024)

📺 Rania Khalek, Interview with Hezbollah's Second-in-Command Sheikh Naim Qassem (2023)

🎧 Rania Khalek and Julia Kassem, "The Hybrid War on Lebanon is All About Weakening Hezbollah" (2022)

Hassan Nasrallah, "Voice of Hezbollah: The Statements of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah," ed. Nicholas Noe (2007)

Judith Harik, "Hizballah's Public and Social Services and Iran," in Distant Relations: Iran and Lebanon in the last 500 years (2006) Sarah Marusek, Faith and Resistance: The Politics of Love and War in Lebanon (2018)

Abed T. Kanaaneh, Understanding Hezbollah: The Hegemony of Resistance (2021)

Karim Makdisi, "The Oct. 8 War: Lebanon's Southern Front" (2024) Political theory ⭐ Ussama Makdisi, "Understanding Sectarianism," in The War on Lebanon: A Reader, eds. Nubar Hovsepian and Rashid Khalidi (2007)

⭐ Rula Juri Abisaab and Malek Abisaab, The Shi'ites of Lebanon: Modernism, Communism, and Hizbullah's Islamists (2014)

Ilham Khuri-Makdisi, The Eastern Mediterranean and the Making of Global Radicalism, 1860-1914 (2010) Tareq Y. Ismael and Jacqueline S. Ismael, The Communist Movement in Syria and Lebanon (1998) 2006 war ⭐ Gilbert Achcar and Michel Warschawski, The 33-Day War: Israel's War on Hezbollah in Lebanon and Its Consequences (2007)

The Electronic Intifada with Dahr Jamail, "The world just sat by" (2006)

The Electronic Intifada with Bilal El-Amine, "Lebanon in Context" (2006) The War on Lebanon: A Reader, eds. Nubar Hovsepian and Rashid Khalidi (2007)

Civil war and 1982 invasion ⭐📺 Up to the South, dir. Jayce Salloum and Walid Ra'ad (1993)

⭐📺 Wild Flowers: Women of South Lebanon, dir. Mai Masri and Jean Khalil Chamoun (1987)

⭐ Souha Bechara, Resistance: My Life for Lebanon (2003)

Jean Said Makdisi, Beirut Fragments: A War Memoir (1990)

Bayan Nuwayhed al-Hout, Sabra and Shatila, September 1982 (2004) Ottoman era Charles Al-Hayek, "How, then, did you try to rebel?"

Lebanon Unsettled, "Lebanon's Popular Uprisings"

Axel Havemann, "The Impact of Peasant Resistance on Nineteenth Century Mount Lebanon," in Peasants and Politics in the Modern Middle East (1991) Ussama Makdisi, The Culture of Sectarianism: Community, History, and Violence in Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Lebanon (2000)

Peter Hill, "How Global was the Age of Revolutions? The Case of Mount Lebanon, 1821" (2020) Mark Farha, "From Anti-imperial Dissent to National Consent: the First World War and the Formation of a Trans-sectarian National Consciousness in Lebanon" (2015) French mandate era ⭐ Kais Firro, Inventing Lebanon: Nationalism and the State Under the Mandate (2002) Sana Tannoury-Karam, "Founding the Lebanese Left: From Colonial Rule to Independence" (2021) Idir Ouahes, Syria and Lebanon Under the French Mandate: Cultural Imperialism and the Workings of Empire (2018)

Malek Abisaab, Militant Women of a Fragile Nation (2009) Misc ⭐📺 Leila and the Wolves, dir. Heiny Srour and Sabah Jabbour (1984)

⭐ Fawwaz Traboulsi, A History of Modern Lebanon (2007)

Karim Makdisi, "Lebanon's October 2019 Uprising" (2021)

[indigosfindings]

ok here's my timeline of egyptian koopa/king tut Notable Events, mostly to sate my own desire for one

AUG 2000: paper mario is released for the n64, debuting the character tutankoopa

SEPT 2002: adrian barritt & richard horrocks found fuse games (later renamed silverball studios)--not long thereafter, they pitch mario pinball land (aka super mario ball) to nintendo and are greenlit (source)

AUG 2004: mario pinball land launches in japan, followed by an autumn release elsewhere. the boss of its desert world--a pharaoh-themed koopa (video)--goes unnamed in the game. a page (author uncredited) on the official japanese promo guide site for pinball land calls it ボスノコノコ ("boss nokonoko", i.e. "boss koopa"--this follows a similar convention to the jp names for big bully, sunshine's wiggler, petey piranha, & others)

SEPT 2004: a walkthrough on gamefaqs by user qqwref refers to that boss as "tutankoopa"--afaict this is the first time anyone has publicly referred to this character by any name in english!

OCT 2004: a japanese licensed guidebook published by shogakukan (akiharu tsuchida et al) uses the name ファラオノコノコ ("pharaoh nokonoko", thus "pharaoh koopa"). everyone say thank you mariowiki for cataloguing the image. (i verified the book's release date via the final photo on this sale listing)

NOV 2004: nintendo power issue 185 features a mario pinball land guide (author uncredited, probably one of the names on this page) which refers to the boss as "egyptian koopa". note also the "piranha pete" error on the same page & the "spikey" error on the preceding page. the same month, a gamefaqs guide calls the boss "pharoe (sic) koopa troopa"

DEC 2004: (possibly earlier?) the american & australian mario pinball land promo flash pages (author uncredited) feature a(n unpreserved) video titled "king tut", presumably in reference to this boss:

JUL 2006: tutankoopa's mariowiki.com page is updated to add the claim that he is the boss in pinball land

AUG 2006: the first version of mario pinball land's mariowiki page calls the boss "tutankoopa"

some time before MAR 2007: the mario characters guide on gamefaqs by user spacepope4u conflates tutankoopa with the pinball land boss. sadly the version history is not very robust so i can't verify when this was added. references to the "egyptian koopa" name from np are also included:

MAY 2007: the first version of the boss's mariowiki page is created under the name "king tut" (probably taking the name from the site above, albeit without citing it). a revision the following day adds the name "koop tut" as well. around the same time, conflation of "king tut" with tutankoopa is removed from both the tutankoopa page and the pinball land page. the "king tut" name begins to gain traction

FEB 2008: "koop tut" is removed from the mariowiki page

DEC 2009: on the wiki's talk page two users very briefly discuss whether this character should be considered the same as tutankoopa

2012: silverball studios is bought by barnstorm games (source). not really relevant but i thought it was interesting

APR 2015: a "citation needed" template is added to the "king tut" page

NOV 2015: a thread is created on super mario boards to discuss the "king tut" name situation. the name of the wiki page is changed to "egyptian koopa", following the nintendo power name above. that name proliferates on other platforms, such as this beautiful forum thread:

SEPT 2019: a singular japanese deviantart user uploads fanart & refers to this character in the caption as ボスカメック ("boss kamek", thus "boss magikoopa"--notably, this is the jp name for kamella) as far as i can tell, literally nobody else has ever used this name for this character

OCT 2023: i post a video on the subject. lol

NOV 2023: warioware: move it is released: a microgame in 9-volt's stage, "mario pinball land", features an appearance by "egyptian koopa" (video). it continues to go unnamed

JUN 2025: the flash site from 2004 is rediscovered by mariowiki users: the page is renamed back to king tut in accordance with this new information

to recap the names that have been used, in the order of first extant public usage:

boss koopa (ボスノコノコ): comes from the official japanese guide site in 2004. a cursory search suggests that it's the most common name used on the japanese web (ex: pixiv, nintendo wiki, niconico, wikipedia, twitter)

tutankoopa: unofficial conflation of this boss with the paper mario character. earliest known recorded use is in the 2004 gamefaqs guide above. what the boss was called on mariowiki from 2006 to 2007. a variety of other sources have (possibly independently) furthered this conflation (ex: youtube (1, 2, 3), khinsider, gamefaqs (1, 2, forum), lemmy's land)

pharaoh koopa (ファラオノコノコ): comes from the licensed japanese shogakukan guidebook in 2004. appears in some of the "boss koopa" sources above, but only as a parenthetical. used only once in english in a fan guide, probably without referent

egyptian koopa: officially printed in nintendo power in 2004, used as the primary name on mariowiki from 2015 to 2025. widely used on the english web (ex: youtube (1, 2, 3, 4), deviantart, fandom.com, spriters resource, tvtropes)

king tut: featured on the official flash promo site in 2004. the name on mariowiki from 2007 to 2015, and again as of june 2025. can be seen online in some sources from 2015 and earlier (ex. fantendo, giantbomb, blogspot, datacrystal, youtube)

koop tut: unofficial, appeared in the body of the mariowiki page from 2007 to 2008. may have been pulled from a super show episode. not used anywhere else afaict

boss magikoopa (ボスカメック): unofficial, used by a single deviantart user in 2019

[aronarchy]

A copy of the first reading list, if you dislike clicking on Google docs links:

The liberal news media is working overtime to silence Palestinian voices. As we sit thousands of miles away, witnessing the massacre through social media, the least we can do is educate ourselves and work to educate others. Apartheid threatens all of us, and just to reiterate, anti-Zionism ≠ antisemitism.

Academic Works, Poetry and Memoirs

The Revolution of 1936-1939 in Palestine: Background, Details, and Analysis, Ghassan Kanafani (1972)

Palestinians: From Peasants to Revolutionaries, Rosemary Sayegh (1979)

Popular Resistance in Palestine: A History of Hope and Empowerment, Mazin Qumsiyeh (2011)

My Life in the PLO: The Inside Story of the Palestinian Struggle, Shafiq al-Hout and Jean Said Makdisi (2019)

My People Shall Live, Leila Khaled (1971)

Poetry of Resistance in Occupied Palestine, translated by Sulafa Hijjawi (Baghdad, Ministry of Culture and Guidance, 1968)

On Palestine by Ilan Pappé and Noam Chomsky (2015)

Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on the US-Israeli War Against the Palestinians, Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappé (2013)

The Politics of Dispossession: The Struggle for Palestinian Self-Determination, 1969-1994, Edward W. Said (2012)

Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique, Sa’ed Atshan (2020)

Stone Men: The Palestinians Who Built Israel, Andrew Ross (2019)

Ten Myths About Israel, Ilan Pappé (2017)

Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question, Christopher Eric Hitchens and Edward W. Said (2001)

Palestinian Walks: Notes on a Vanishing Landscape, Raja Shehadeh (2010)

The Gun and the Olive Branch: The Roots of Violence in the Middle East, David Hirst (1977)

Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom, Norman Finkelstein (2018)

Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel and the Palestinians, Noam Chomsky (1983)

Israel and Palestine: Reappraisals, Revisions, Refutations, Avi Shlaim (2010)

Politicide: Ariel Sharon’s War Against the Palestinians, Baruch Kimmerling (2006)

The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering, Norman G. Finkelstein (2015)

Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, Jehad Abusalim (2022)

Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the Claims of Memory, Ahmad H. Sa’di and Lila Abu-Lughod (2007)

Peace and its discontents: Essays on Palestine in the Middle East peace process, Edward W. Said (2012)

Three Poems by Yahya Hassan

Articles, Papers & Essays

“Palestinian history doesn’t start with the Nakba” by PYM (May, 2023) 

“What the Uprising Means,” Salim Tamari (1988)

“The Palestinians’ inalienable right to resist,” Louis Allday (2021)

“Liberating a Palestinian Novel from Israeli Prison,” Danya Al-Saleh and Samar Al-Saleh (2023) 

Women, War, and Peace: Reflections from the Intifada, Nahla Abdo (2002)

“A Place Without a Door” and “Uncle Give me a Cigarette”—Two Essays by Palestinian Political Prisoner, Walid Daqqah (2023)

“Live Like a Porcupine, Fight Like a Flea,” A Translation of an Article by Basel Al-Araj

Films & Video Essays

Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight (2021)

Naila and the Uprising (2017)

Off Frame AKA Revolution Until Victory (2015)

Tell Your Tale Little Bird (1993)

The Time That Remains (2009)

“The Present” (short film) (2020)

“How Palestinians were expelled from their homes”

Louis Theroux: The Ultra Zionists (2011)

Born in Gaza (2014)

5 Broken Cameras (2011)

Little Palestine: Diary of a Siege (2021)

Al-Nakba: The Palestinian catastrophe - Episode 1 | Featured Documentary

Organisations to donate to

Palestine Red Crescent Society - https://www.palestinercs.org/en

Anera - https://support.anera.org/a/palestine-emergency

Palestinian American Medical Association - https://palestinian-ama.networkforgood.com/projects/206145-gaza-medical-supplies-oct-2023

You First Gaza - https://donate.gazayoufirst.org/

MAP - Medical Aid for Palestinians - https://www.map.org.uk/donate/donate

United Nations Relief and Works Agency - https://donate.unrwa.org/-landing-page/en_EN

Palestine Children’s Relief Fund - https://www.pcrf.net/   

Doctors Without Borders - https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do/where-we-work/palestine

AP Fact Check

https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-gaza-misinformation-fact-check-e58f9ab8696309305c3ea2bfb269258e

This list is not exhaustive in any way, and is a summary of various sources on the Internet. Please engage with more ethical, unbiased sources, including Decolonize Palestine and this list compiled by the Palestinian Youth Movement.

[fundieinfoplace]

The Wissmann Family

Loren Albert Wissmann was born May 15 1957

Gloria Ann Hager was born june 6 1958

Loren and Gloria married Aug 16 1980. They had 13 children.

1. Rachel Anna was born Jan 31 1982

2. Ruth Elissa was born Aug 16 1983

3. Josiah David was born Feb 23 1985

4. Bethany Lynne was born Jul 10 1986

5. Andrew Michael was born Feb 29 1988

6. Elizabeth Joy was born Sept 21 1989

7. Matthias Meinert was born Jun 18 1991

8. Stephan Gerald was born Jul 15 1993

9. Hannah Marlys was born Jun 23 1995

10. Susanna Evelyn was born Mar 7 1997

11. Alaythia Gloria was born Oct 22 1999

12. Nathaniel Loren was born Oct 28 2001

13. Charissa Marie was born Sept 26 2006

Rachel married Alan Busentiz June 30 2012

1. Kendrick Alan Jan 26 2016

2. Autumn Joy Oct 7 2017

00. Baby Miscarriage Sept 2018

3. Justice William Jul 12 2019

 00. John Matthew Jan 2021

00. Faith Elizabeth Aug 2021

4. Audrey Ann Sept 23 2023

5. Baby Busenitz due June 2025

.

Ruth married Ryan Bourlier Jul 30 2016

1. Lee James June 21 2017

2. Jerit Daniel Oct 3 2018

3. Judah Loren Nov 28 2019

4. Kaleb Terry Jul 3 2021

5. Chloe Ann Dec 12 2022

00. Baby Bourlier 2023

6. Baby Bourlier due jul 2025

.

Josiah married Abi Rehm Sept 20 2008

1. Joanna Praise Feb 24 2010

2. Asher David Nov 30 2011

3. Jenifer Lee May 17 2016

4. Andron Michael Oct 11 2019

.

Bethany married Daniel Beasley Dec 19 2009

1. Arianna Mae April 26 2012

2. Caden James Feb 3 2014

3. Everett William Dec 1 2016

4. Gemma Lynne Sept 28 2018

5. Felicity Anne Jan 28 2021

.

Andrew married Kori Knuth Mar 5 2011

00. 7 Baby Wissmanns

1. Wyatt Andrew June 25 2018

2. Jaxon Richard June 11 2020

.

Elizabeth is engaged to Zane Buhr

.

Matthias married Michelle Kingery Dec 30 2017

1. Adalynn Michelle Mar 22 2019

2. Titus Ezekiel June 7 2021

3. Owen Matthias June 27 2023

.

Stephan married Jana Duggar Aug 15 2024

.

Hannah married Jeremiah Duggar Mar 26 2022

1. Brynley Noelle Dec 25 2022

2. Brielle Grace Feb 19 2024

3. Emery Jane May 13 2025

.

Susanna married Drew Jerrod Jul 1 2023

1. Lila Ann Mar 29 2024

2. Baby Jerrod due June 2025

.

Nathaniel married Katrina Sahlstrom Oct 15 2022

1. Theodore James Aug 7 2023

2. Baby Girl Wissmann due Nov 2025

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

just keepin' track of my fave tumblr holidays, don't mind me

miscellaneous:

any thursday the 20th (this one too)/thursday the 4/20th

@is-it-out-of-touch-thursday

yesterday was tuesday, but today is tuesday too

will the wise wednesday

schedule this post for your birthday!

saturday the 14th

january

24th: dean winchester's birthday

february

3rd: VANILLA SWEEP (2023)

13th: galentine's day

14th: dean and cas' wedding anniversary (2021)

also 14th: nick valentine's day

24th: twin peaks day (11:30 am)

29th (if applicable): leap yeap

march

it's time (spoopy origin post)

7th: the opening of the krusty krab 2

10th: mario day

14th: pi day

also 14th: the day that krabs fries

15th: the ides of march

27th: that one post that says 'tomorrow's halloween!', 'tomorrow is march 28th', 'TOMORROW'S HALLOWEEN', then has that gif of ben wyatt getting hit with a skeleton

31st: i didn't think march 31st existed

april

1st: mishapocalypse (2013), boop day (2024)

2nd: dashcon announcement post (2013)

13th: neil banging out the tunes (2006)

also the 13th: homestuck day (2009)

25th: the perfect date

30th: it's gonna be may

may

one

also the 1st: devil's sacrament (2020)

two

4th: star wars day

5th: revenge of the fifth

june

11th: today i realized this is not a typewriter

16th: those are his hooves you bitch (2014)

19th: don't hug me i'm scared

july

2nd: tumblr code (2012)

4th: the only day americans are patriotic

12th-13th: dashcon heritage posting (2014)

17th: what a night

august

1st: spn end!verse/croatoan date (2014)

this is what being alive on Thursday, August 8th feels like (next in 2030)

21st: Goncharoversary (2020)

september

first monday of the month: todaybor day is labor day

18th: castieliversary (2008)

21st: do you remember?

27th: someone sewed a fried egg to a t-shirt

october

last friday of the month: Frankenstein Friday

3rd: "on october third, he asked me what day it was" (mean girls) and 'don't forget 3.oct.11' (fma:b)

9th: happy leif erikson day!

13th: TREAT YO' SELF (2011)

19th: none pizza, left beef-iversary (2007)

21st: the day marty mcfly goes to the future (2015)

24th: the day frodo wakes up in rivendell (10 am)

30th: tomorroween is halloween!

31st: todayoween is halloween!

31st: Garrett's birthday

november

1st: "there's only 365 days left 'till next halloween!", "364!"

1st: yesterween was halloween!

5th: destiel is canon (destielputinelection day, 2020)

5th: remember, remember

11th: barack obama signs 'thanks, i stole them from the president' into law (2012)

december:

21st: the day the would should have ended (2012)

24th: 'cause there's only one more sleep 'till christmas

[mariacallous]

Israel has always had a thorny relationship with the United Nations. In recent weeks, it has become even thornier, after the U.N. accused Israeli armed forces of having fired on U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon amid fighting in that area with Hezbollah.

The U.N. mission in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, has said at least five peacekeepers have been injured and some of its bases damaged. The peacekeeping force also said that on Oct. 13, two Israel Defense Force (IDF) tanks destroyed the main gate of UNIFIL’s post in Ramyah, close to the Israeli border, and “forcibly entered” to request the base to turn out its lights. The same day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged UNIFIL to leave the area and get “out of harm’s way” but denied that the targeting of the mission was deliberate.

These incidents drew the fierce condemnation of both the U.N. and the countries whose troops are stationed in southern Lebanon with UNIFIL, including France, Italy, and Spain. The United States urged Israel to take measures to ensure the safety of the peacekeepers. The U.N. said it is staying in southern Lebanon, with Western leaders openly and forcefully supporting such decision.

“We’ve been targeted several times, five times under deliberate attack,” UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told Reuters last week. “I think the role of UNIFIL at the moment is more important than ever. We need to be here.”

At the same time, many analysts and the Israeli government are raising doubts about the role UNIFIL has had over the past few years, in particular in the aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when the tit-for-tat clashes between Israel and Hezbollah began and then spiraled into airstrikes on the southern area of Lebanon and on its capital of Beirut and more recently into Israel’s invasion of the country. They say UNIFIL wasn’t effective and had provided insufficient reporting on Hezbollah’s activities and buildup in southern Lebanon. Israel has recently accused Hezbollah of using UNIFIL’s blue helmets as human shields.

“It had mostly symbolic roles,” said Olivier Roy, a political scientist at the European University Institute in Italy. “One was to show the interest of the international community in peace in the region. Another was to be part of this symbolic balance of power to maintain the tensions into some sort of acceptable level of violence and reciprocity without moving into a full confrontation.”

UNIFIL was first established in 1978 by U.N. Security Council Resolutions 425 and 426 to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon after an invasion that year; restore peace and security; and assist the Lebanese government in retaking effective control of the area. Its mandate was expanded in 2006 with Resolution 1701, adopted after a 34-day war between Hezbollah paramilitary forces and the IDF that year.

Resolution 1701 included a range of tasks for UNIFIL, such as monitoring the end of hostilities between the two sides and accompanying and supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) as they deployed in the south of the country, including along the so-called Blue Line, which is the U.N.-designated line separating Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The mission, which has around 10,500 peacekeepers coming from 50 countries, was also supposed to coordinate such activities with the governments of Lebanon and Israel while assisting in providing civilians access to humanitarian aid and in the return of the displaced.

More crucially, it was tasked with assisting the LAF in establishing an area between the Litani River and the Blue Line “free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons” other than the Lebanese government’s and UNIFIL’s. Resolution 1701 authorized the U.N. mission “to take all necessary action in areas of deployment of its forces and as it deems within its capabilities, to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind.”

But Hezbollah expanded its military presence in the area, placing rocket launchers and deposits of weapons and building underground tunnels close to the Blue Line, and routinely harassed and attacked UNIFIL’s patrols, stopping them from entering large portions of southern Lebanon.

In June 2023, a Lebanese military court formally accused five members of Hezbollah and its allied Amal Movement of killing an Irish peacekeeper. The peacekeeper, Sean Rooney, was killed in December 2022 after the UNIFIL vehicle he was riding in was fired on in southern Lebanon.

Jeffrey Feltman, the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, said Resolution 1701 succeeded in stopping the war, which had been stalemated. However, UNIFIL “obviously” didn’t succeed in creating the buffer area in southern Lebanon free of any Hezbollah military presence, he added.

“I don’t blame UNIFIL per se for the inability to enforce the mandate,” said Feltman, now a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution. Resolution 1701 was passed under Chapter 6 of the U.N. Security Council bylaws, so the mission cannot enforce it militarily, unlike it could have done if it were approved under Chapter 7, he said.

It was also envisioned that the LAF would deploy in large numbers alongside UNIFIL, but that never happened. This meant they failed to do their part in preventing Hezbollah from reinventing itself in that area, he added.

“Where I do fault UNIFIL is for its lackluster reporting to the Security Council of what was actually happening in southern Lebanon between 2006 and basically now,” he said. “UNIFIL regularly pulled its punches in its reporting to the Security Council. When it stated to the Security Council that they saw no evidence of signs of armed elements in southern Lebanon, that was either disingenuous or they simply weren’t looking or they didn’t see it because Hezbollah prevented them to go into certain areas in southern Lebanon at certain times���which it’s true, they did.”

According to UNIFIL’s recent quarterly reports, the mission reported many instances of “freedom of movement incidents,” in which its patrols were prohibited to enter specific areas, with plainclothes individuals threatening or attacking the peacekeepers and stealing or damaging their equipment. In some cases, the LAF or local authorities intervened to protect the peacekeepers.

In 2022, UNIFIL reported an increase in the number and severity of these instances, although they represented a small fraction of cases compared with the number of patrolling activities. And they went on increasing, depriving UNIFIL of the possibility of entering sensitive areas.

In the latest report for the four months ending June 20, there were 38 such instances that involved armed threats, firing of weapons, stealing of equipment, or blocking of communication signals.

UNIFIL said it continuously coordinated with the LAF to secure unrestricted access to the entire area of its operations but the LAF “continued to object to some patrol routes proposed by UNIFIL to expand the Force’s presence outside main routes and municipal centers, on the grounds that they were either private roads or areas of strategic importance,” according to the report.

In particular, despite repeated requests, UNIFIL didn’t get full access to several “locations of interest,” including sites used by Green Without Borders, which the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned last August, saying it had provided support and cover for Hezbollah’s operations along the Blue Line over the last decade while purporting to be an organization of environmental activists. As for the incidents, the mission said it regularly reported them to both the LAF and local authorities.

Looking forward, Feltman said he doesn’t advocate for the replacement of UNIFIL with a different mission and that UNIFIL could be part of the solution to the current conflict.

“I think the Israelis are going to be much more skeptical about the 1701 mandate given the experience of the last 18 years,” he said. “I don’t preclude UNIFIL. But there has to be some mechanism that would provide that kind of candid, honest assessment about what’s happening in southern Lebanon that goes beyond what UNIFIL has provided.”

UNIFIL could be part of the mechanism that would encourage Israel to withdraw from Lebanon, but “I don’t think it can just be UNIFIL,” he added.

David Schenker, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs during the Trump administration, said UNIFIL had the important role of convening tripartite meetings with representatives from the Israeli military and the LAF.

“This, at times, helped to de-escalate things,” said Schenker, now a fellow at the Washington Institute. However, these meetings have been suspended since last October, closing an important channel of communication during times of crisis.

“Washington may try to patch up UNIFIL’s many deficiencies, but it must do so with a clear understanding that the force has repeatedly failed its mission and squandered its credibility,” he said.

In order to do so, Schenker said, if UNIFIL were to remain in the south of Lebanon, it would have to recover the trust of Israel and the United States by monitoring the entire area and honestly calling “balls and strikes.”

Although its reporting has improved, he said, the force should include maps in its reports to clearly pinpoint the areas where access has been denied because the LAF describes them as “strategically sensitive” or “private property.”

At the same time, he added, Lebanon’s caretaker government, although weak and uneager to confront Hezbollah directly, should still be expected to prosecute the group’s members who harass UNIFIL peacekeepers. Beirut should also be held accountable for failing to secure its border with Syria, which has been a key transfer point of weapons to Hezbollah.

The United States, France, and other European countries that underwrite the Lebanese military’s equipment and salaries should condition further assistance on performance to encourage Lebanese forces to be more professional and cease denying access to UNIFIL in large swaths of southern Lebanon, Schenker said.

UNIFIL should then be provided with more technical surveillance capabilities while its headcount is reduced, he said, because the organization has shown only marginal efficacy and there is a growing risk the peacekeepers are being used as human shields.

Finally, UNIFIL’s mandate should be renewed more frequently than once a year, as it currently is, because it might require urgent modifications to the force or the mandate itself.

[film-classics]

Anna May Wong - The First Asian American Hollywood Star

Wong Liu Tsong (born January 3, 1905 in Los Angeles), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered "The First Asian American Hollywood Star" who helped humanize Chinese Americans to mainstream American audiences during a period of intense racism and discrimination.

Born to second-generation Taishanese American parents, Wong decided at an early age to become an actress. She was working at Hollywood's Ville de Paris department store when Metro Pictures needed 300 female extras in 1919.

Finding it difficult to keep up with her schoolwork, Wong dropped out of Los Angeles High School in 1921 to pursue a full-time acting career. The following year, she played her first leading role, in the two-color Technicolor movie The Toll of the Sea (1922), earning her critical acclaim. Nonetheless, Hollywood was reluctant to create starring roles for her; her ethnicity prevented filmmakers from seeing her as a leading lady. She spent the next few years in supporting roles providing "exotic atmosphere," such as a scheming Mongol slave in The Thief of Bagdad (1924).

Tired of being both typecast and passed over for lead Asian roles in favor of non-Asian actresses, Wong left Hollywood in 1928 for Europe, where she became a sensation. She returned to Hollywood with a Paramount contract in the 1930s and became more outspoken in her advocacy for better film roles for Chinese Americans and  support of the Chinese struggle against Japan. Embarking on a year-long tour of China in 1936 to explore her roots and learn about Chinese theater, she chronicled her experience in a series of newspaper articles, which was later broadcast on television in the 1950s and included her narration.

Later in life, Wong invested in real estate and owned a number of properties in Hollywood while also doing some guest spots on television series. At the age of 56, Wong died of a heart attack as she slept at home in Santa Monica, California, two days after her final appearance on television.

Legacy:

Won the Photoplay Awards - Best Performances of the Month in Feb 1923 and Oct 1929

Auctioned off her movie costumes and donated the money to the Chinese Benevolent Association of California to support Chinese refugees.

Wrote the preface to a cookbook entitled New Chinese Recipes, one of the first Chinese cookbooks, the proceeds of which she donated to United China Relief in 1942

Donated her salary from Bombs over Burma (1942) and Lady from Chungking (1942) to the then United China Relief

Was the first Asian American Actress to lead a TV series The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong, which was specifically written for her

Is the basis of the 1971 poem "The Death of Anna May Wong" by Jessica Hagedorn

Is the namesake for the Anna May Wong Award of Excellence, given yearly at the Asian-American Arts Awards, and the Anna May Wong Award, an annual award by the Asian Fashion Designers group since 1973

Commemorated by the country of Grenada with a stamp in 1992 in its USO 50th anniversary series

Featured in curated several retrospectives, such as A Touch of Class for BFI Southbank in 1995, Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend at the Museum of Modern Art in 2004, and Anna May Wong at the American Museum of the Moving Image in 2006

Is the subject of China Doll, The Imagined Life of an American Actress, an award-winning fictional play by Elizabeth Wong in 1995

Was given tribute by Lucy Liu who dedicated her Hollywood Walk of Fame speech to her in 2019

Is the basis of a series of persona poems in Sally Wen Mao's Oculus: Poems, published in 2019

Honored with a Google Doodle in 2020 on the 97th anniversary of the release of her first film that she plays the lead

Featured in several exhibits, including "Beyond the Icon: Anna May Wong" at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in 2021, "Anna May Wong Abroad" at Houghton Library in Harvard University in 2023, "Not Your China Doll: Art Inspired by Anna May Wong" at Chelsea Market in 2024, "Anna May Wong: Icon of the Silver Screen" at the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum in 2024 and “Unmasking Anna May Wong” at the Chinese American Museum in January 2025

Is the namesake of the Ballad of Anna May, a coffee shop in Singapore which opened in 2021 and the Anna May Bar & Lounge at Crustacean Beverly Hills, which opened in 2022

Depicted by the United States Mint on the reverse of the quarter coin as a part of the American Women quarters series, becoming the first Asian American on American coinage in 2022

Honored as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month for April 2022

Commemorated by Mattel with the release of a Barbie doll modeled on Wong in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in 2023

Honored by the Santa Monica City Council in 2023

Has a biopic from Working Title Films in development, with British actress Gemma Chan set as the lead

Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1708 Vine Street for motion picture

[kirstinmdarling]

in the nest of eclipses

What determination can be found between Pisces and Libra? If it seems dreamy, it's because it is—on the surface..

Libra floats upon the surface of Pisces. We may consider Libra the force that moves cotton-candy clouds along the skyline.

Eclipses exchange events for time to move forward. Change in life often requires a leap—or sometimes a push—like the Fool stepping off the ledge.

Astrologers can predict the event, the area of life it affects, how it unfolds for you, and the emotions it may evoke. Knowing of the fall doesn’t mean that we don’t have to

Libra in definition

Libra, a sign of daylight's positive charge, is both hot and moist. It ushers in the autumnal change in the Northern Hemisphere, while in the South, it marks the time of bursting spring. Fluidity and dynamic expression embody Venusian softness, artistry, and touches of beauty. Chatty and distinguished in eire. Libra exists in the realm of the tightrope walker—a delicate balancing act of fortune.

Pisces in definition

Pisces, a sign of the night's negative exchange, it’s both cold and moist. A chilling fog with technicolor specters, it molds the winter's melt of longer days into mossy beds and algea groves. The combination of sensitivity and variability creates a spectrum of expressive sentiments that are receptive and in the moment. Jupiter's gifts of boundlessness encourage the idealism needed to manipulate dreams themselves.

New Cycles Start With An End

Lunar eclipses traditionally mark the culmination of an ending, as they occur during the full moon. On September 17th, we experienced the first Pisces eclipse of the next ecliptic exchange, setting our path for North Node amplification in 2025. The North Node is traditionally ruled by our benefices—Venus and Jupiter. The energy of this mathematical point attracts and pulls in, symbolized as the head of the dragon that radically consumes. There is intellect here, but it’s a heartless intellect.

In the house of life that Pisces occupies, this marker revisits the same two-year theme that triggered changes in your life from 2006 to 2008. This eclipse brought you back to the chapter of 2008, but for who you are today. If you're too young to remember that dreamy peak, look to see which house Pisces governs in your chart.

Mercury Cazimi

Revealing secrets and spilling the tea is Mercury's specialty. On September 30th, we'll gain insight through revelations from our chatty celestial traveler as it descends into the heart of the Sun. This Mercury Cazimi brings bursts of insight and balance, occurring at 8 degrees in a tight conjunction with the South Node. Days later, the eclipse follows at 10 degrees. As the messenger of the heavens, Mercury will share the crux of the matter for this Solar eclipse, purifying our channels of communication for the new beginnings taking shape.

Solar Eclipse and Nodal Exchange

October 2nd will mark a total solar eclipse in Libra at 10 degrees, falling in the second decan ruled by Saturn in Pisces. I adore the layering of this eclipse—if one can, in fact, love an eclipse.

On eclipse days, it's always best to take it easy. Don't do anything if you don't have to. Amplify your self-care and take time to check in with yourself.

This eclipse ushers in elements of a spooky atmosphere. While we may enjoy this aesthetically, experiencing it as a lived reality is an entirely different matter. Generally speaking, this is not what we typically associate with Libra. However, let's examine why I'm making this assertion.

You already know what the North Node in Libra has been adjusting in your life to bring forth into life. And solar eclipses are here for the radical starts. Your time line of reference points is around Oct 24, 2023 & Mar 25, 2024.

The energy is swift and precise, aiming for longevity, though you may not fully grasp its effects until later. Venus, isolated, functions like a sticky-sweet goo adorned in Scorpio's black lace—spiky and damp. Mars, its ruler, is also actively in fall, creating a truly unsettling night of dysregulation. For some, this energy is easier to navigate because their natal chart contains placements and aspects that make them familiar with such intensity.

The eclipse occurs in the 2nd Decan of Libra, influenced by Saturn's presence in Pisces. This combination of energies evokes imagery reminiscent of atmospheric horror films like "Dark City," but viewed through a softer lens. The enjoyment we can derive from this stems from understanding the terrain we've been navigating. We're now receiving a kickstart, while the South Node channels away the excess energy.

Area of Life based on Rising Sign

Libra - self, mind, appearance, character

Virgo - resources, labor and self worth, material possessions

Leo - communication, daily life, siblings, dreams

Cancer - private life, home, parents

Gemini - pleasures, creativity, children

Taurus - work and employees, health, pets,

Aries - partnerships

Pisces - inheritance, occult

Aquarius - higher education and schools of thought, travel and cultural emersion

Capricorn - public life and legacy

Sagittarius - community

Scorpio - hidden parts of life

[dragoneyes613]

Ireland’s relationship with Israel is simply incomprehensible.

While both Dublin and Jerusalem are democracies and share common historical experiences with British colonialism—the British Mandate in Palestine and the Irish struggle for independence—Ireland today is the most viciously anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian member of the European Union. Ireland leads the European nations in anti-Israel, pro-BDS campaigns. 

Sinn Féin, the political arm of the former terrorist Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), is now Dublin’s leading political party. The IRA received training supported by the Soviet Union in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley together with the Palestinian terrorists in the 1960s and 1970s. There exists a counterbalance to Dublin’s intensely pro-Palestinian sympathies; the Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland, who are the most pro-Israel members of the British Parliament. Brian Kingston, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Northern Ireland and a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician, remarked in a recent interview: “The unionist community in Northern Ireland has a long-standing affinity and affiliation to the cause of Israel.”

The IRA played a role during World War II in supporting German Nazis. Although the government of Ireland was officially neutral, the IRA collaborated with the Nazi military intelligence. Adolf Hitler sent money, transmitters and spies to Ireland. Moreover, the IRA provided the Nazis with targeting information on British installations in Belfast. After Hitler committed suicide in April 1945, Ireland’s wartime leaders—President Douglas Hyde and Prime Minister Éamon de Valera—offered official condolences to the Nazi envoy in Dublin.

More recently, the Hezbollah terror group’s unprovoked attacks on Israeli communities in northern Israel, which began on Oct. 8, 2023—one day after the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel—did not stir Ireland’s peacekeepers in the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to try and stop the shelling attacks nor did they call to impose the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701. Passage of that resolution came in the wake of the summer 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, and called for the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon—in particular, Hezbollah’s disarmament. Resolution 1701 established that no armed forces, other than UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces, could be south of the Litani River in Lebanon. Yet Hezbollah remained.

The Israel Defense Forces, in response to Hezbollah’s attacks during the last year, have moved from an aerial campaign to ground operations in Southern Lebanon to clear out Hezbollah forces. Israel has requested that the Irish contingent and all of UNIFIL move out of harm’s way. Ireland’s deputy premier and minister for defense and foreign affairs, Micheál Martin, responded by saying that he “strongly condemns” the IDF targeting and firing on the UNIFIL positions. Israel has repeatedly stated that it has no quarrel with the Lebanese people and certainly not with any of the UNIFIL peacekeepers.

This new dispute regarding the Irish peacekeepers comes after Ireland, Norway and Spain unilaterally recognized Palestinian statehood in May, essentially rewarding the Palestinians for the massacre of 1,200 Israelis by Hamas and the kidnapping of 250 others as hostages on Oct. 7, 2023.

The tensions aren’t just in the political arena. Members of an Irish women’s basketball team refused to shake hands with their Israeli counterparts during a pregame meeting in February’s FIBA EuroLeague Women’s tournament. The Israeli team ended up defeating the Irish team, 87-57. The behavior of the Irish national team was the same as the Islamic Republic of Iran’s team and teams from Israel’s Arab enemies in other tournaments.

Ireland was the first member of the European Economic Community (EEC)—the precursor of the European Union—to declare in 1980 their support for Palestinian statehood. Additionally, Ireland didn’t establish diplomatic relations with Israel until 1975 and first opened its embassy in Tel Aviv in 1996, long after other Western European nations.

When Israel retaliated against missile attacks launched from Gaza by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in May 2021 during an 11-day conflict, the Irish government was the first E.U. state to condemn Israel, alleging the de facto “annexation of Palestinian land.” The issue propelling this condemnation was the decision by the Israeli Supreme Court affirming Jewish ownership of homes in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. It was an example of brazen Irish interference in an Israeli legal matter that had nothing to do with annexation.

Ireland has transformed from being an intensely Catholic state to an equally intense secular one. While the young Irish have moved away from their church, they are eagerly accommodating Islamists who seek to undermine and destroy the Judeo-Christian way of life. Ultimately, they will learn that Islamists seek to destroy their Irish culture as well.

The Catholic Church in Ireland had an antisemitic past but with Ireland becoming increasingly secular, the antisemitism of today is no longer of the religious variety. It has the marking of a leftist, ideologically driven hatred dressed as anti-colonialism. Dublin has adopted the Palestinian narrative without questioning or searching for the truth. Arab-Islamic colonialism is rarely if ever discussed, and Palestinian terrorism is largely excused. The fact that the Palestinians have rejected every opportunity for self-determination and statehood does not bother the Irish government. What the Palestinians want is the disappearance of Israel and the Jews. It seems that Dublin is OK with that.

Relations between Ireland and Israel have been strained for years and with Sinn Féin growing power in Dublin, the relationship isn’t likely to improve and may only get worse.

[beardedmrbean]

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Clark County grand jury voted last week to indict an accused hit man on three murder charges, records said. In all, Michael Coleman, 40, is accused of committing four murders since 2021 as part of a PPP fraud scheme.

Prosecutors filed three open murder charges against Coleman in September, the 8 News Now Investigators first reported. Officers arrested Coleman in May 2023 for what detectives believe was his fourth and final murder in the series. That murder, which involved the death of Kidada Stewart, 48, was part of a different criminal case.

Coleman has remained in custody at the Clark County Detention Center since that arrest. The indictment means Coleman will bypass a preliminary hearing scheduled for Monday.

The charges in the new criminal case are for the homicides of Benjamin McCarty, 49; Marcus Lary, 39; and William Hill Jr., 54. Each involved Coleman allegedly killing each victim in retaliation for failing to pay a known gang leader in a PPP loan scam.

Carl Chester, who defrauded the government of millions of dollars in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, would take a cut of the money for his work and help others defraud the system, police said. Chester, who himself was murdered last spring, hired Coleman to kill those who shorted Chester of his money. If Coleman could not get to the targeted person, he would go after family members, police said.

In addition to the three charges of murder with the use of a deadly weapon, Coleman was indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, burglary and ownership of a firearm by a prohibited person.’

Chester and Coleman served time in federal custody on gang-related charges connected to the Rolling 60s Crips in West Las Vegas, documents said. Coleman shot a man in 2003 in North Las Vegas after the man “disrespected him.”

In 2006, a federal judge sentenced Coleman to 12 years in prison. Before sentencing, Coleman wrote a letter asking for a second chance and saying he wanted to “apologize to the various communities of Las Vegas and the state of Nevada,” the 8 News Now Investigators first reported.

Coleman was due to be arraigned in Clark County District Court on Oct. 9. A trial in the Stewart murder case was scheduled for Oct. 14. It was unclear Monday if prosecutors would combine the two cases.

[dreamanduality]

in the nest of eclipses

What determination can be found between Pisces and Libra? If it seems dreamy, it's because it is—on the surface..

Libra floats upon the surface of Pisces. We may consider Libra the force that moves cotton-candy clouds along the skyline.

Eclipses exchange events for time to move forward. Change in life often requires a leap—or sometimes a push—like the Fool stepping off the ledge.

Astrologers can predict the event, the area of life it affects, how it unfolds for you, and the emotions it may evoke. Knowing of the fall doesn’t mean that we don’t have to

Libra in definition

Libra, a sign of daylight's positive charge, is both hot and moist. It ushers in the autumnal change in the Northern Hemisphere, while in the South, it marks the time of bursting spring. Fluidity and dynamic expression embody Venusian softness, artistry, and touches of beauty. Chatty and distinguished in eire. Libra exists in the realm of the tightrope walker—a delicate balancing act of fortune.

Pisces in definition

Pisces, a sign of the night's negative exchange, it’s both cold and moist. A chilling fog with technicolor specters, it molds the winter's melt of longer days into mossy beds and algea groves. The combination of sensitivity and variability creates a spectrum of expressive sentiments that are receptive and in the moment. Jupiter's gifts of boundlessness encourage the idealism needed to manipulate dreams themselves.

New Cycles Start With An End

Lunar eclipses traditionally mark the culmination of an ending, as they occur during the full moon. On September 17th, we experienced the first Pisces eclipse of the next ecliptic exchange, setting our path for North Node amplification in 2025. The North Node is traditionally ruled by our benefices—Venus and Jupiter. The energy of this mathematical point attracts and pulls in, symbolized as the head of the dragon that radically consumes. There is intellect here, but it’s a heartless intellect.

In the house of life that Pisces occupies, this marker revisits the same two-year theme that triggered changes in your life from 2006 to 2008. This eclipse brought you back to the chapter of 2008, but for who you are today. If you're too young to remember that dreamy peak, look to see which house Pisces governs in your chart.

Mercury Cazimi

Revealing secrets and spilling the tea is Mercury's specialty. On September 30th, we'll gain insight through revelations from our chatty celestial traveler as it descends into the heart of the Sun. This Mercury Cazimi brings bursts of insight and balance, occurring at 8 degrees in a tight conjunction with the South Node. Days later, the eclipse follows at 10 degrees. As the messenger of the heavens, Mercury will share the crux of the matter for this Solar eclipse, purifying our channels of communication for the new beginnings taking shape.

Solar Eclipse and Nodal Exchange

October 2nd will mark a total solar eclipse in Libra at 10 degrees, falling in the second decan ruled by Saturn in Pisces. I adore the layering of this eclipse—if one can, in fact, love an eclipse.

On eclipse days, it's always best to take it easy. Don't do anything if you don't have to. Amplify your self-care and take time to check in with yourself.

This eclipse ushers in elements of a spooky atmosphere. While we may enjoy this aesthetically, experiencing it as a lived reality is an entirely different matter. Generally speaking, this is not what we typically associate with Libra. However, let's examine why I'm making this assertion.

You already know what the North Node in Libra has been adjusting in your life to bring forth into life. And solar eclipses are here for the radical starts. Your time line of reference points is around Oct 24, 2023 & Mar 25, 2024.

The energy is swift and precise, aiming for longevity, though you may not fully grasp its effects until later. Venus, isolated, functions like a sticky-sweet goo adorned in Scorpio's black lace—spiky and damp. Mars, its ruler, is also actively in fall, creating a truly unsettling night of dysregulation. For some, this energy is easier to navigate because their natal chart contains placements and aspects that make them familiar with such intensity.

The eclipse occurs in the 2nd Decan of Libra, influenced by Saturn's presence in Pisces. This combination of energies evokes imagery reminiscent of atmospheric horror films like "Dark City," but viewed through a softer lens. The enjoyment we can derive from this stems from understanding the terrain we've been navigating. We're now receiving a kickstart, while the South Node channels away the excess energy.

Area of Life based on Rising Sign

Libra - self, mind, appearance, character

Virgo - resources, labor and self worth, material possessions

Leo - communication, daily life, siblings, dreams

Cancer - private life, home, parents

Gemini - pleasures, creativity, children

Taurus - work and employees, health, pets,

Aries - partnerships

Pisces - inheritance, occult

Aquarius - higher education and schools of thought, travel and cultural emersion

Capricorn - public life and legacy

Sagittarius - community

Scorpio - hidden parts of life

To know how this will impact you personally book a reading!

[firefighterkinard]

Made this Tommy Kinard timeline for a fic that I'm writing, but I figured that I'd provide a very stripped down version with the basics for anyone who wants to use it.

• Date of birth: February 11th 1984 (he has an early birthday because it's easier to work shit out) • Age 18 – May 2002 - enlists in army “streets to seats” program after graduating high school. • Age 18 – August 2002 - Completes Basic • Age 18 – September to mid-October 2002 – Warrant officer candidate school • Age 18/19 – Oct 2002- Jan 2004 – goes through the training at Fort Rucker, Alabama • Age 20 – Feb 2004 – deployed • Age 20 – June 2004 - Hardship or dependency discharge. • Age 20 – July 2004 – Tommy joins the LAFD. Does his 18 weeks of training. • Age 20 – end of 2004 – Tommy joins the 118. • Age 21 – end of 2005/Jan 2006 – Tommy finishes his probie year. Chimney joins the 118*. • Age 25 – 2009 – Hen joins the 118**. Gerrard is transferred. • Age 30/31 – late 2014/early 2015 – Bobby becomes captain*** • Age 33 – 2017 – Tommy leaves the 118 for Harbor/217. Buck replaces him near the end of the year. • Age 35 – 2019 – Howie calls him for the water drop. • Age 39 – March 2023 - Tommy meets Evan • Age 40 – June 2024****

Notes:

There are about five different versions of how you become a pilot through the streets to seats method, and some says there's an extra year in there, some count it combined with the other stuff, and I'm just sick of trying to work it out, so this is how it's gonna go.

*We know that the karaoke bar fire happened at the end of June 2005, so by the time Chimney did his training at the academy, it would have been either the end of the year or the beginning of 2006.

** Does the script apparently say 2010? Yes. Do I refuse to accept that because Hen can't have saved her life coach, done the training at the academy, been there while Gerrard was ousted, split with Eva, start a long-term relationship with Karen, and end up with Denny before the Senate okayed the repeal of DADT in December in less than 12 months? YES!

*** Bobby's timeline is also a mess, but there was time for an investigation into the fire, and him going through rehab before he hit Los Angeles.

**** Season seven's seven timeline is a train wreck but it's apparently been seven years since Buck joined the 118, and the cruise is referred to as being "last March" so I kind of gave up.

[favoriteanimatedtheatricalfilm]

2023 Disney Film Tournament

All films that count under my criteria are under the cut, as well as my poll posting schedule. If you feel like a film should or should not be included, feel free to send an ask!

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the automatic winner of the 1930s section because it’s the only one.

Positive propaganda is allowed, I just may not publish it all if there is heavy volume.

Winners of the year have a sun emoji and are italicized, winners of the decade have a moon emoji and are bolded, the final winner will be blue and have a star emoji.

1930s

☀️🌙1937 - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

1940s - Week 1, 11 July 2023

1940

Pinocchio

☀️🌙Fantasia

1941 - Dumbo

1942 - Bambi

1943 - Saludos Amigos

1945 - The Three Caballeros

1946 - Make Mine Music

1947 - Fun and Fancy Free

1948 - Melody Time

1949 - The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

1950s - Week 2, July 18 2023

1950 - Cinderella

☀️🌙1951 - Alice in Wonderland

1953 - Peter Pan

1955 - Lady and the Tramp

1959 - Sleeping Beauty

1960s - Week 3, July 25 2023

☀️🌙1961 - One Hundred and One Dalmatians

1963 - The Sword in the Stone

1967 - The Jungle Book

1970s - Week 4, Aug 1 2023

☀️🌙1970 - The Aristocats

1973 - Robin Hood

1977

☀️The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

The Rescuers

1980s - Week 5, Aug 8 2023

1981 - The Fox and the Hound

1985 - The Black Cauldron

☀️🌙1986 - The Great Mouse Detective

1988 - Oliver & Company

1989 - The Little Mermaid

1990s - Week 6-7, Aug 15 & Aug 22 2023

1990 - The Rescuers Down Under

1991 - Beauty and the Beast

1992 - Aladdin

1994 - The Lion King

1995

A Goofy Movie

Pocahontas

☀️Toy Story

1996 (because there is no 1993 movie, I will fit both of these in the decade poll)

James and the Giant Peach

☀️The Hunchback of Notre Dame

1997 - Hercules

1998

☀️🌙✨Mulan

The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride

A Bug’s Life

1999

Doug’s 1st Movie

☀️Tarzan

Toy Story 2

Fantasia 2000

2000s - Week 8-9, Aug 29 & Sept 5 2023

2000

The Tigger Movie

Dinosaur

☀️🌙The Emperor’s New Groove

2001

Recess: School’s Out

☀️Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Monsters, Inc.

2002

Return to Never Land

☀️Lilo & Stitch

Spirited Away

Treasure Planet

The Jungle Book 2

2003

Piglet’s Big Movie

☀️Finding Nemo

Brother Bear

2004

Teacher’s Pet

Home on the Range

☀️The Incredibles

2005

Pooh’s Heffalump Movie

☀️Howl’s Moving Castle

Valiant

Chicken Little

2006

Bambi II

The Wild

Cars

☀️The Nightmare Before Christmas

2007

Meet The Robinsons

☀️Ratatouille

2008

☀️WALL•E

Roadside Romeo

Tinker Bell

Bolt

2009

Up

Ponyo

Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure

Disney’s A Christmas Carol

☀️The Princess and the Frog

2010s - Week 10-11, Sept 12 & Sept 19 2023

2010

Toy Story 3

Tales from Earthsea

Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue

☀️🌙Tangled

2011

Mars Needs Moms

Cars 2

☀️Winnie the Pooh

2012

The Secret World of Arietty

Arjun: The Warrior Prince

☀️Brave

Secret of the Wings

Wreck-It Ralph

2013

Monsters University

Planes

☀️Frozen

2014

The Pirate Fairy

Planes: Fire & Rescue

☀️Big Hero 6

2015

Tinker Bell & the Legend of the Never Beast

☀️Inside Out

The Good Dinosaur

2016

Zootopia

Finding Dory

☀️Moana

2017

Cars 3

☀️Coco

2018

☀️Incredibles 2

Ralph Breaks the Internet

2019

Toy Story 4

☀️Frozen II

2020s - Week 12, Sept 26 2023 (They JUST all fit!)

2020

☀️Onward

Soul

2021

Raya and the Last Dragon

Luca

☀️🌙Encanto

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

2022

☀️Turning Red

Lightyear

Strange World

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

Favorite Over All the Decades - Week 13, Oct 3 2023

The list of contenders for this poll will update as the results roll in.

1930s - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

1940s - Fantasia (1940)

1950s - Alice in Wonderland (1951)

1960s - One Hundred and one Dalmatians (1961)

1970s - The Aristocats (1970)

1980s - The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

1990s - Mulan (1998)

2000s - The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)

2010s - Tangled (2010)

2020-2022 - Encanto (2021)

Overall Winner: Mulan (1998)

The NEW 2020s poll, with the winners from 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 as the contenders, will start January 1, 2024.

If the overall 2020s movie winner changes, I will then hold a new decades poll on January 8, 2024.

The 2020s poll from 2024 and onward (lol) will just have the top movie from each year go against the new ones. If we run out of slots available for all the new movies with the previous winners, I will hold a poll with just the new movies, get a winner, and then run it against the old year winners of the 2020s.

If I remember to run this tournament into the 2030s, I will do an Over the Centuries poll comparing the favorite of one century of Disney animation to another :).

My main blog is @deathsmallcaps and my art blog is @patheticbatman if curiosity strikes you.

I’m pretty sure there is another poll going on like this, I’m just running this one for my own amusement, and because I like to think about these in terms of decades.

[fundieinfoplace]

The Thomas Family

Rusty Lee Thomas was born 1956

Elizabeth Ann Merritt was born Nov 11 1966- Aug 3 2006

They married Dec 7 1985. They had 10 children.

Rusty married Kendra Marian Mahoney June 3 2006. Kendra had 2 children from her previous marriage and Rusty and Kendra had 1 child together.

1. Shekinah Marie was born Sept 16 1987

2. Cassia Nicole was born Nov 27 1988

3. Destiny Lee was born May 12 1990

4. Charity Ann was born Apr 8 1992- Dec 26 2019

5. Elijah Joshua was born Feb 4 1994

6. Micah Samuel was born Nov 14 1995

7. Josiah Justice was born Feb 13 1998

8. Valiant Christian was born Feb 16 2009

9. Jeremiah Flip was born Dec 13 2001- Aug 26 2018

10. Maranatha Maria was born Apr 6 2002

11. Sophia Elizabeth was born Apr 6 2002

12. Torah Grace was born Mar 21 2004

13. Jubilee was born May 1 2007

Shekinah married Levi Grey Sept 22 2012

1. Lily Ann July 2014

2. William Daniel Feb 9 2017

3. Primrose Marie Aug 11 2020

4. Daisy Mae June 18 2025

.

Cassia married Robbie Wachsmann Feb 3 2007

1. Elizabeth Ann Oct 18 2007

2. Levi Nathaniel 2009

3. Liberty Nicole June 2010

4. Samuel Easton Nov 14 2012

5. David Asher Aug 22 2016

.

Destiny married Caleb Hall Sept 23 2011

1. Liam Everett June 25 2014

2. Evelyn Joy Deborah Jul 18 2016

3. Judah Creed Nov 17 2019

4. Noa Grace Feb 8 2021

5. Florence Louise June 10 2025

.

Charity married Joshua Peterson Oct 22 2010

1. Chloe July 8 2011

2. Julian July 24 2015

.

Micah married Bella Thomason April 14 2018

00. Baby Thomas 2018

1. Solace John Jan 24 2021

2. Remnant Zane Feb 1 2023

.

Josiah married Mariah Campana Feb 29 2020

1. Josiah Justice Dec 9 2020

2. Jude Law Aug 19 2022

3. Baby Boy due 2025

.

Valiant married Jaryn Neufeld Nov 8 2021

1. Benaiah Flip Aug 14 2022

2. Kalian Trigg Aug 4 2023

3. Tobias Gabriel July 17 2024

.

Sophia married Sterling Marcantel Mar 29 2025

.

Torah is engaged to Maison Deschamps

.

Jubilee is dating Elliott Storms

[dialogue-queered]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/11/10/israel-dahiya-doctrine-disproportionate-strategy-military-gaza-idf/

Ishan Tharoor

10 November 2023

Comment:

While the statistics are dated, this is an influential discussion of the way Israeli national security precepts and assumptions appear to have been translated into military tactics among some top officials - an approach termed the 'Dahiya Doctrine'

Article:

A few days after Hamas’s horrific Oct. 7 rampage through southern Israel, a top Israeli military official was blunt about his nation’s military response. Israeli security officials repeatedly stress the steps they take to minimize civilian harm and claim they are only striking legitimate military targets. In recent days, Daniel Hagari, spokesman of the Israel Defense Forces, accused Hamas of “cynically” deploying its assets in civilian areas and near critical infrastructure, like hospitals. But when speaking in the offensive’s early stage, Hagari revealed that the “emphasis” of the IDF’s reprisal was “on damage and not on accuracy.”

At that time, Israeli warplanes had already dumped hundreds of tons of bombs on targets in the Gaza Strip. The ongoing campaign in the month since has claimed more than 10,000 lives in the besieged territory, including those of more than 4,000 children. It’s triggered a humanitarian crisis, displacing the bulk of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and driving tens of thousands into a desperate search for food, safety and water. Hunger and disease stalk Gaza’s blasted neighborhoods. Aid agencies place little hope in Israel’s latest decision to offer four-hour “pauses” in its operations so that residents in north Gaza can trek southward.

There are reams of commentary on what Israel’s strategy and endgame may be as it seeks to nullify the long-standing threat posed by Hamas and purge the Islamist militant faction from its Gaza redoubts. But looming behind it — and implicit in Hagari’s “emphasis” on damage over accuracy — is a long-standing Israeli military doctrine that appears to be in play now.

The so-called “Dahiya Doctrine” took shape in the wake of the bruising 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Dahiya refers to the southern Beirut suburbs where Hezbollah maintained its strongholds and which were pummeled by Israeli jets after hostilities began when Hezbollah fighters abducted two Israeli soldiers.The onslaught then took Hezbollah by surprise, whose senior leadership had not expected to see their headquarters turned into rubble nor had planned for such a relentless bombardment. “I said that we shouldn’t exaggerate, that Israel will just retaliate a bit, bomb a couple of targets and that would be the end of it,” a Hezbollah operative told former Washington Post reporter Anthony Shadid in 2006.

The doctrine that emerged out of the conflict was most famously articulated by IDF commander Gadi Eisenkot. “We will wield disproportionate power against every village from which shots are fired on Israel, and cause immense damage and destruction. From our perspective, these are military bases,” he told an Israeli newspaper in 2008. “This isn’t a suggestion. This is a plan that has already been authorized.”

Around the same time, former Israeli colonel Gabriel Siboni wrote a report under the aegis of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies that argued the necessary response to militant provocations from Lebanon, Syria or Gaza were “disproportionate” strikes that aim only secondarily to hit the enemy’s capacity to launch rockets or other attacks. Rather, the goal should be to inflict lasting damage, no matter the civilian consequences, as a future deterrent.

“With an outbreak of hostilities, the IDF will need to act immediately, decisively, and with force that is disproportionate to the enemy’s actions and the threat it poses,” he wrote. “Such a response aims at inflicting damage and meting out punishment to an extent that will demand long and expensive reconstruction processes.”

The doctrine appeared to be in operation during a round of hostilities between Hamas in Gaza and Israel at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009. A U.N.-commissioned report regarding that conflict, which saw the deaths of more than 1,400 Palestinians and Israelis, determined that Israel’s campaign was “a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically

diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability.”

The doctrine endured in the years since. “Israeli military correspondents and security analysts repeatedly reported that the Dahiya doctrine was Israel’s strategy throughout the war in Gaza this past summer,” observed Palestinian American scholar Rashid Khalidi in the fall of 2014, after another Israeli campaign left more than 1,460 civilians dead, including almost 500 children. “Let us be frank: this is actually less of a strategic doctrine than it is an explicit outline of collective punishment and probable war crimes.”

He added: “Not surprisingly, one found little mention of the Dahiya doctrine whether in statements by U.S. politicians, or in the reporting of the war by most of the mainstream American media, which dwelt on the description of Israel’s actions as ‘self-defense.’”

In the present environment, Israel’s right to self-defense has indeed been championed by lawmakers and commentators across the West. Given the unprecedented scale and horror of the Oct. 7 attack, there appears to be a hardened consensus in Israel that its military should do whatever it takes to neutralize Hamas. To that end, a host of Israeli politicians have called for the wholesale destruction of Gaza, the depopulation of the territory and even its resettlement by Israel.

Eisenkot is now a member of Israel’s unity “war cabinet.” No Israeli politician or security official has explicitly invoked the “Dahiya doctrine” as a template for the destruction unleashed in Gaza.

“I don’t think this doctrine applies today,” Siboni, now of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, told French newspaper Le Monde last month, arguing that everything Israel is targeting are explicitly military targets.

Siboni added that Israel’s efforts to coax Palestinians in northern Gaza to flee to the south was a sign of its humanitarian approach. “As for those who remain, too bad,” he told Le Monde. “They choose to put their lives on the line.”