#Shell Recruitment 2017

[southeastasianists]

Nearly seven years after the Myanmar military killed thousands of Muslim Rohingyas, in what the UN called "textbook ethnic cleansing", it wants their help.

From interviews with Rohingyas living in Rakhine State the BBC has learned of at least 100 of them being conscripted in recent weeks to fight for the embattled junta. All their names have been changed to protect them.

"I was frightened, but I had to go," says Mohammed, a 31-year-old Rohingya man with three young children. He lives near the capital of Rakhine, Sittwe, in the Baw Du Pha camp. At least 150,000 internally displaced Rohingyas have been forced to live in IDP camps for the past decade.

In the middle of February the camp leader came to him late at night, Mohammed said, and told him he would have to do military training. "These are army orders," he remembers him saying. "If you refuse they have threatened to harm your family."

The BBC has spoken to several Rohingyas who have confirmed that army officers have been going around the camps and ordering the younger men to report for military training.

The terrible irony for men like Mohammed is that Rohingyas in Myanmar are still denied citizenship, and subjected to a range of discriminatory restrictions - like a ban on travel outside their communities.

In 2012 tens of thousands of Rohingyas were driven out of mixed communities in Rakhine State, and forced to live in squalid camps. Five years later, in August 2017, 700,000 fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, after the army launched a brutal clearance operation against them, killing and raping thousands and burning their villages. Some 600,000 of them still remain there.

Myanmar is now facing a genocide trial at the International Court of Justice in the Hague over its treatment of the Rohingyas.

That the same army is now forcibly recruiting them is a telling sign of its desperation, after losing huge swathes of territory in Rakhine recently to an ethnic insurgent group called the Arakan Army. Dozens of Rohingyas in Rakhine have been killed by military artillery and aerial bombardments.

The military has also suffered significant losses to opposition forces in other parts of the country - on Saturday it lost control of Myawaddy, a town on the eastern border with Thailand. Most of the country's overland trade passes through this vital route.

The junta has lost large numbers of soldiers as well. They have been killed, wounded, surrendered or defected to the opposition, and finding replacements is difficult. Few want to risk their lives propping up an unpopular regime.

And the Rohingyas fear that is the reason they are being targeted again - to be cannon fodder in a war the junta seems to be losing.

Mohammed said he was driven to the base of the 270th Light Infantry Battalion in Sittwe. Rohingyas have been prohibited from living in the town since they were driven out during the 2012 communal violence.

"We were taught how to load bullets and shoot," he said. "They also showed us how to disassemble and reassemble a gun."

In a video seen by the BBC another group of Rohingya conscripts can be seen being taught how to use BA 63 rifles, an older standard weapon used by the Myanmar armed forces.

Mohammed was trained for two weeks, then sent home. But after just two days he was called back, and put on a boat with 250 other soldiers and transported five hours up-river to Rathedaung, where a fierce battle with the Arakan Army was under way for control of three hilltop military bases.

"I had no idea why I was fighting. When they told me to shoot at a Rakhine village, I would shoot."

He fought there for 11 days. They were desperately short of food, after a shell fell on their supply hut. He saw several Rohingya conscripts killed by artillery and he was injured by shrapnel in both legs, and taken back to Sittwe for treatment.

On 20 March the Arakan Army released photos from the battle, after it had taken control of the three bases, showing several corpses, at least three of them identified as Rohingyas.

"While I was in the middle of the battle I was terrified the whole time. I kept thinking about my family," Mohammed said. "I never thought I would have to go to war like that. I just wanted to go home. When I got home from the hospital I hugged my mother and cried. It felt like being born again from my mother's womb."

Another conscript was Hussain, from Ohn Taw Gyi camp, which is also near Sittwe. His brother Mahmoud says he was taken away in February and completed his military training, but he went into hiding before they could send him to the front line.

The military denies using Rohingyas to fight its battles with the Arakan Army. General Zaw Min Tun, the junta spokesman, told the BBC that there was no plan to send them to the front line. "We want to ensure their safety, so we have asked them to help with their own defence," he said.

But in interviews with the BBC, seven Rohingyas in five different IDP camps near Sittwe all said the same thing: that they know of at least 100 Rohingyas who have been recruited this year and sent off to fight.

They said teams of soldiers and local government officials came to the camps in February to announce that the younger men would be conscripted, at first telling people they would get food, wages and citizenship if they joined up. These were powerful lures.

Food in the IDP camps has become scarce and expensive as the escalating conflict with the Arakan Army has cut off the international aid supplies. And the denial of citizenship is at the heart of the Rohingyas' long struggle for acceptance in Myanmar, and one reason they suffer systematic discrimination, described by human rights groups as similar to apartheid.

However, when the soldiers returned to take the conscripted men away, they retracted the offer of citizenship. When asked by the camp residents why they, as non-citizens, should be subjected to conscription, they were told that they had a duty to defend the place where they lived. They would be militiamen, not soldiers, they were told. When they asked about the offer of citizenship, the answer was "you misunderstood".

Now, according to one camp committee member, the army is demanding new lists of potential recruits. After seeing and hearing from the first group to come back from the front line, he said, no-one else was willing to risk being conscripted.

So the camp leaders are now trying to persuade the poorest men, and those with no jobs, to go, by offering to support their families while they are away, with donations raised from other camp residents.

"This conscription campaign is unlawful and more akin to forced labour," said Matthew Smith, from the human rights group Fortify Rights.

"There's a brutal and perverse utility to what's happening. The military is conscripting the victims of the Rohingya genocide in an attempt to fend off a nationwide democratic revolution. This regime has no regard for human life. It's now layering these abuses on top of its long history of atrocities and impunity."

By using Rohingyas in its battles against the advancing Arakan Army, the Myanmar military threatens to reignite communal conflict with the ethnic Rakhine Buddhist population, much of which supports the insurgents.

It was friction between the two communities which in 2012 caused the expulsion of tens of thousands of Rohingyas from towns like Sittwe. In 2017, ethnic Rakhine men joined in the army's attacks on the Rohingyas.

Tension between the two communities has eased since then.

The Arakan Army is fighting for an autonomous state, part of a wider campaign with other ethnic armies and opposition groups to overthrow the military junta and create a new, federal system in Myanmar.

Now on the brink of victory in Rakhine State, the Arakan Army has talked about giving citizenship to all who have lived there recently, implying that it might accept the return of the Rohingya population from Bangladesh.

The mood has now changed. A spokesman for the Arakan Army, Khaing Thukha, told the BBC that they viewed Rohingyas being conscripted to fight for the junta as "the worst betrayal of those who had recently been victims of genocide, and of those fighting for liberation from dictatorship".

Pro-military media have also been giving publicity to what appear to have been Rohingya protests in Buthidaung against the Arakan Army, although local people told the BBC they suspected these were organised by the army in an attempt to divide the two groups.

The Rohingyas are now forced to fight for an army that does not recognise their right to live in Myanmar, thereby alienating the ethnic insurgents who may soon control most of Rakhine. Once targeted by both, they are now caught between the two sides.

Mohammed has been given a certificate by the army, stating that he has fought in battle on their side. He has no idea what value it has, nor whether it exempts him from further military service. It could well get him into trouble with the Arakan Army if it continues its advance towards Sittwe and his camp.

He is still recovering from his injuries, and says he is unable to sleep at night after his experience.

"I'm afraid they will call me again. This time I came back because I was lucky, but next time I am not sure what will happen."

[mariacallous]

MYKOLAIV, UKRAINE—Kateryna Nahorna is getting ready to find trouble.

Part of an all-female team of dog handlers, the 22-year-old is training Ukraine’s technical survey dogs—Belgian Malinois that have learned to sniff out explosives.

The job is huge. Ukraine is now estimated to be the most heavily mined country on Earth. Deminers must survey every area that saw sustained fighting for unexploded mines, missiles, artillery shells, bombs, and a host of other ordnance—almost 25 percent of the country, according to government estimates.

The dogs can cover 1,500 square meters a day. In contrast, human deminers cover 10 square meters a day on average—by quickly narrowing down the areas that manual deminers will need to tackle, the dogs save valuable time.

“This job allows me to be a warrior for my country … but without having to kill anyone,” said Nahorna. “Our men protect us at war, and we do this to protect them at home.”

A highly practical reason drove the women’s recruitment. The specialized dog training was done in Cambodia, by the nonprofit Apopo, and military-aged men are currently not allowed to leave Ukraine.

War has shaken up gender dynamics in the Ukrainian economy, with women taking up jobs traditionally held by men, such as driving trucks or welding. Now, as mobilization ramps up once more, women are becoming increasingly important in roles that are critical for national security.

In Mykolaiv, in the industrial east, Nahorna and her dogs will soon take on one of the biggest targets of Russia’s military strategy when they start to demine the country’s energy infrastructure. Here, women have been stepping in to work in large numbers in steel mills, factories, and railways serving the front line.

It’s a big shift for Ukraine. Before the war, only 48 percent of women over age 15 took part in the workforce — one of the lowest rates in Europe. War has made collecting data on the gender composition of the workforce impossible, but today, 50,000 women serve in the Ukrainian army, compared to 30,000 before the war.

The catalyst came in 2017, years before the current war began. As conflict escalated with Russia in Crimea, the Ukrainian government overturned a Soviet-era law that had previously banned women from 450 occupations.

But obstacles still remain; for example, women are not allowed jobs the government deems too physically demanding. These barriers continue to be chipped away—most recently, women have been cleared to work in underground mines, something they were prevented from doing before.

Viktoriia Avramchuk never thought she would follow her father and husband into the coal mines for DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company.

Her lifelong fear of elevators was a big factor—but there was also the fact that it was illegal for women to work underground.

Her previous job working as a nanny in a local kindergarten disappeared overnight when schools were forced to close at the beginning of the war. After a year of being unemployed, she found that she had few other options.

“I would never have taken the job if I could have afforded not to,” Avramchuk said from her home in Pokrovsk. “But I also wanted to do something to help secure victory, and this was needed.”

The demining work that Nahorna does is urgent in part because more than 55 percent of the country is farmed.

Often called “the breadbasket of Europe,” Ukraine is one of the world’s top exporters of grain. The U.K.-based Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, which has been advising the Ukrainian government on demining technology, estimates that landmines have resulted in annual GDP losses of $11 billion.

“Farmers feel the pressure to plow, which is dangerous,” said Jon Cunliffe, the Ukraine country director of Mines Advisory Group (MAG), a British nonprofit. “So we need to do as much surveying as possible to reduce the size of the possible contamination.”

The dogs can quickly clear an area of heavy vegetation, which greatly speeds up the process of releasing noncontaminated lands back to farmers. If the area is found to be unsafe, human deminers step in to clear the field manually.

“I’m not brave enough to be on the front line,” 29-year-old Iryna Manzevyta said as she slowly and diligently hovered a metal detector over a patch of farmland. “But I had to do something to help, and this seemed like a good alternative to make a difference.”

Groups like MAG are increasingly targeting women. With skilled male deminers regularly being picked up by military recruiters, recruiting women reduces the chances that expensive and time-consuming training will be invested in people who could be drafted to the front line at a moment’s notice. The demining work is expected to take decades, and women, unlike men, cannot be conscripted in Ukraine.

This urgency to recruit women is accelerating a gender shift already underway in the demining sector. Organizations like MAG have looked to recruit women as a way to empower them in local communities. Demining was once a heavily male-dominated sector, but women now make up 30 percent of workers in Vietnam and Colombia, around 40 percent in Cambodia, and more than 50 percent in Myanmar.

In Ukraine, the idea is to make demining an enterprise with “very little expat footprint,” and Cunliffe said that will only be possible by recruiting more women.

“We should not be here in 10 years. Not like in Iraq or South Sudan, where we have been for 30 years, or Vietnam, or Laos,” Cunliffe said. “It’s common sense that we bring in as many women as we can to do that. In five to 10 years, a lot of these women are going to end up being technical field managers, the jobs that are currently being done by old former British military guys, and it will change the face of demining worldwide because they can take those skills across the world.”

Manzevyta is one of the many women whose new job has turned her family dynamics on their head. She has handed over her previous life, running a small online beauty retail site, to her husband, who—though he gripes—stays at home while she is out demining.

“Life is completely different now,” she said, giggling. “I had to teach him how to use the washing machine, which settings to use, everything around the house because I’m mostly absent now.”

More seriously, Manzevyta said that the war has likely changed many women’s career trajectories.

“I can’t imagine people who have done work like this going back and working as florists once the war is over,” she laughed.

[humanrightsupdates]

Myanmar: New Atrocities against Rohingya

Escalating Fighting amid 7 Years of Desperation

(Bangkok) – Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar are facing the gravest threats since 2017, when the Myanmar military carried out a sweeping campaign of massacres, rape, and arson in northern Rakhine State, Human Rights Watch said today. August 25, 2024, marks the seventh anniversary since the start of the military’s crimes against humanity and acts of genocide that forced more than 750,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.

In recent months, the Myanmar military and the ethnic Arakan Army have committed mass killings, arson, and unlawful recruitment against Rohingya communities in Rakhine State. On August 5, nearly 200 people were reportedly killed following drone strikes and shelling on civilians fleeing fighting in Maungdaw town near the Bangladesh border, according to Rohingya witnesses. About 630,000 Rohingya remain in Myanmar under a system of apartheid that leaves them exceptionally vulnerable to renewed fighting.

“Rohingya in Rakhine State are enduring abuses tragically reminiscent of the military’s atrocities in 2017,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Once again, armed forces are driving thousands of Rohingya from their homes with killings and arson, leaving them nowhere safe to turn.”

Rohingya have been caught in the middle of the fighting since hostilities resumed in November 2023, ending a year-long unofficial ceasefire. As the Arakan Army has rapidly expanded its control across Rakhine State, the military has responded with indiscriminate attacks on civilians using helicopter gunships, artillery, and ground assaults. In late April, Arakan Army forces began attacking Rohingya villages in Buthidaung, culminating in their May 17 capture of the town, during which they shelled, looted, and burned Rohingya neighborhoods.

Armed clashes have since moved west to Maungdaw, spurring further abuses and displacement, including arson and looting. Four videos from the August 5 attacks shared on X, formerly Twitter, on August 6 show dozens of bodies of men, women, and children. Geoconfirmed identified the location, which Human Rights Watch corroborated, at the western edge of Maungdaw town. Rohingya witnesses told Human Rights Watch they believed the Arakan Army was responsible. The junta and Arakan Army have blamed each other for the attacks.

[mitigatedchaos]

2008 - 2020+

(~1,700 words, 8 minutes)

A summary of events and my ideological development from 2008-2020; most of this will be familiar to long-time readers; this post is mostly for later review in 5-10 years.

[ @lokifreign ]

did it seem sudden in 08?

[ mitigatedchaos ]

10 years ago was 2013. By 2013, the direction of the eventual [identitarian] shift was visible, but it wasn't established that "real" "serious" liberals were going to go along with and indulge it.

[ @lokifreign ]

I had a different view (I'm 51; Clinton cleared up any lingering misunderstandings I entertained about dem/lib); it's interesting - I'd love to read something clear about that time period from that perspective. 08 for me was more about the death of the free internet, but I'd be really interested at seeing that realization from the inside somewhat namean. thanks fr sharin'! 🫀👍 [...] never mind! ^_^ all set

So to clear this up for anyone else...

2000-2008

From the perspective of someone who grew up in the 00's, the Republican Party put a tremendous amount of political investment into the Iraq War, which turned out to be a disaster. The only WMDs were leftover chemical shells, not exactly a "clear and present danger;" I'm not aware of any of them being used in terrorist attacks.

2008-2012

So going into 2008, Republicans looked epistemically bankrupt. The War probably cost them an entire generation. It was such a colossal fuck-up that one of the early MitigatedChaos essays, back in 2017, was "A Price Paid in National Will," arguing that patriotism is an exhaustible resource. It is basically screaming at the 00's US establishment right for squandering a valuable and precious resource with their dumb war. [1] As it happens, military recruitment is way down.

By contrast, the first-term Obama-era Democratic coalition offered us people like Roland Fryer, a pragmatic-minded black academic who was willing to reach counterintuitive conclusions or try things like just paying students to see if that worked. Combined with things like the lead-crime hypothesis or support for early childhood education, the epistemic grounding was a lot better than what they offered after 2016.

The public position of the Democratic Party 2008-2012 was largely meritocratic colorblind liberal individualism, combined with moderate immigration restrictionism, with only a modest exception for Affirmative Action in universities. They were still pro free speech, valued professionalism, and valued things like consumer rights, and mostly weren't against patriotism.

This was an extremely well-hedged set of positions, adequately handling risks from multiple directions at once - and the follower libs (the "Stage 3s" as post-rationalists would call them) echoed all of it, causing the overall Democratic coalition to seem much, much smarter than they actually are.

Even electing a black President seemed a decent bet, and if there is one thing Obama is really good at, it's projecting a Presidential image.

If you combine this with Transhumanism and an expectation that significant new technologies will overcome long-standing issues in the case that social solutions don't work, kicking in around 2040-2050, as most Rationalists probably would have expected at that time, it covers most of the bases. Get some potential gains from social policy, stalling for time for a few decades, and then if any problems are leftover, mop them up with biotech.

I was also engaged in a phase of gender exploration from around 2009-2012 (in cyberspace). I encountered some of the current gender ideas early. At the time, because they weren't as popular, there was a stronger selection effect.

2013-2017

From around 2012-2013 onwards, we started getting the articles about "manspreading," and "mansplaining," combined with a frame that it was prohibited for men to question this because of "male privilege" including subconscious bias which, by definition, they could not be aware of.

I actually checked in on a Mens Rights forum around this time, and a GamerGate forum later, and contrasted what I actually saw with both media coverage and left/lib representations which were... basically almost all completely different from my direct observations.

I was very doubtful because the epistemic norms of the movement were just awful, and very obviously designed in a way that was prone to abuse.

From around 2014 onwards, those same norms were shifting to the much more dangerous field of race. Obama didn't campaign on it, and more "serious" Democrats instead of like, Gawker, were more focused on things like "Republican obstruction in Congress."

By late 2014 or early 2015, I had given up on defending the Obama Administration in arguments, which I'd been doing since around 2008.

From 2013-2015, I was feeling depressed and anxious. Without realizing what I was doing at first, I began an exercise to rework the basis of my politics by working on a fictional country, rewriting it again and again and again.

The development of some kinds of political writers may require something like this, either working from a distant time, like Moldbug, or trying to work out a simulation of a country repeatedly and gaming things out with others, as Scott Alexander and I both did. This allows something that I call Ideological Stereoscopic Vision - viewing the same issue from two ideological perspectives simultaneously. With this, it's possible to see the functional mechanics of your original ideology, which otherwise just appear to be truths.

I was going leave the Presidential box blank in the 2016 election, but voted for Clinton as a personal favor for a dear friend.

Overall my basic model from 2012 wasn't that bad. I hadn't called to deplatform all the Republicans, for instance, and once Trump won the primary, based on the uncertainty I concluded that it was possible he would win the general election.

However, I had to build a much more sophisticated model to explain the benefits of things like colorblind liberal individualism, and explain why it was being attacked, and how. Until 2014, I hadn't considered it something that even could come under serious attack, since influential people should know better than to let that happen.

2017-2020

Around 2017, I opened the blog MitigatedChaos.

In 2018, Roland Fryer was #metoo'd. An investigation mostly cleared him except to require workplace sensitivity training (proportional, IMO). However, the investigation was apparently overruled by a secret committee, and in 2019 he was suspended for 2 years without pay.

In 2018, Robin DiAngelo's "White Fragility" was published. This was followed in 2019 by Ibram Kendi's best-selling, pro-"corrective" discrimination, "How to Be an Anti-Racist." (At some point in 2020 or maybe 2021, the Microsoft Windows 10 login screen featured a link to "anti-racist books" with Kendi's book at the top.)

Unlike Fryer, both writers seemed uninterested in whether their proposals would actually work, as did their readers.

As someone who had voted for Obama in 2012, I was willing to elect politicians or spend money, even if that money might not necessarily work, but that was assuming those involved were actual academics making a serious attempt with some chance of success, not spiteful unqualified quacks.

Because people throughout society demanded that I take race seriously, in 2019, I conducted an investigation into school funding and whether charter schools would be capable of closing racial outcome gaps. (It's difficult to assess their effectiveness on grades due to selection effects on parents, but they're about as cost-effective as public schools, may produce a modest benefit, and allow parents to at least provide a safe environment for their children. The few online charter schools in my sample had dismal results.)

That was when I learned that the social interventions camp were 90% bluffing, hadn't checked the research, and the amount of good faith I had been giving them since 2014 was unjustified. Each of them assumed that someone else had been doing the actual work (not "doing the work" of reading about bad things that happened to racial groups, but the work of figuring out how to solve things).

That was mostly true in 2010. It certainly wasn't by 2018 - or at least the links between the people doing the work and the actual movement were well broken by that time. The implicit claims of what Social Justice can deliver, and the urgency with which they make their demands, have been wildly disproportionate the entire time.

Going into 2020, I still had hope that serious liberals might be in charge somewhere. But instead of actual reforms which might be useful, we got "Defund the Police," which as the CHAZ and subsequent national stats have demonstrated, is delusional.

After 2020

When it turned out that Biden is just lame, and the great racial awakening wasn't as promised, some of the air went out of it. Biden had the opportunity to end the thing in one swoop by just leaving Trump's executive order in place, but instead confirmed that the Democratic Party is committed to this program of crank race dogma, and in the institutions the supporters are digging trenches.

Mainstream Republicans are aware of the problem and acting now, so what was a rout has stabilized into a war front. The primary mission of the right-wing ideological vanguard from 2017-2022, waking the Republicans up to the scale of the problem, and punching through the window of social acceptability hard enough to get them moving, is now complete. As a vital or artistic movement, they no longer have the same margin of information advantage, and energy is leaving the scene.

Sometime after 2020, I developed the coalitional interest deadlock theory to explain some of what had happened - why did the Democrats double down on such a hateful strategy that's obviously bad for the country? Why not just stick with their epistemically-advantaged position from 2012? One possible answer: because each of their coalition members inhibits any other coalition member's attempts to fix anything, so the only thing to do is find an outgroup to blame and hope no one notices, as no one is willing to negotiate a settlement to free up resources for improvement.

They have little to offer but decline and hatred, for now. Maybe in 10 years, they'll be as different as the 2020 Republicans are from 2000's.

---

[1] A left-anarchist view here would be that such sentiments will always be exploited for wasteful wars of imperialism that enrich a small and well-connected group at the top; there is something to such a view, but the actual 21st-century US wars, and their duration, also seem to have been caused by ideological derangement.

[mightyflamethrower]

Consider these European and American binaries.

On December 20, 2024, a terrorist, Taleb Al-Abdul Mohsen, rammed his SUV into a Christmas crowd in Magdeburg, Germany. He killed 6 pedestrians and injured 299 others.

Eleven days later, on New Year’s Eve in New Orleans, Louisiana, Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar smashed his pickup into a festive crowd. He murdered fifteen and hurt over 35.

Germany’s fertility rate is scarcely above 1.4—about average for a shrinking European Union. About 20 percent of the country is now foreign-born, a record high.

American fertility has precipitously dived to 1.6. The foreign-born now represent 15 percent of the American resident population, the highest in both actual numbers (50 million) and percentages in history.

The German military is a shell of its former self, with fewer than 200,000 soldiers and a shortage of almost all types of weapons.

The U.S. military, after being humiliated in Afghanistan, is currently down some 40,000-plus recruits. It faces shortages of anti-tank weapons, artillery shells, ships, and logistical support.

Germany may finally manage to spend 2% of its GDP on defense; the United States is heading downward below 3%—the lowest in over 80 years since the Great Depression.

Last year, the German economy shrank; this year, it will scarcely grow, in part because of shortages of affordable fossil fuels.

Germans pay four times what Americans on average do for electricity. Yet the Trump administration has promised an oil and natural gas renaissance, hoping to expand both production and exports with envisioned new pipelines and liquefied natural gas terminals.

In sum, the U.S. is beginning to mimic the pathologies of Europe—and yet in the next four years, renewal could help slow the decline of both.

Both face shrinking and aging populations. Both either cannot or will not control their borders, despite popular protests. Both suffer from woke political correctness and are pushing back.

The proverbial people of both nations want smaller government—and more freedom of expression and less woke. They insist on less and legal-only immigration and secure borders.

They vote for cheaper energy and fewer regulations.

Europeans and Americans alike want more meritocracy and fewer fixations on race and gender.

In the chaos of the postmodern 21st century, Europe and the U.S. nevertheless are still likely to share the same enemies and friends.

Both resent the asymmetrical Chinese approach to global commerce, based on a mercantilism that would never allow Europe and the United States to treat China as it does both.

The Europeans and the Americans are both worried about a vastly expanding conventional and nuclear Chinese military.

Neither wants Iran to develop nuclear-tipped missiles with ranges to hit the capitals of both. They do not want Vladimir Putin to recreate the former Soviet Union’s borders.

Europe, as a rule, loves Democrats as kindred quasi-socialists. But privately many Europeans assume their own security and prosperity do better when America is governed by conservatives.

In the past, Europe has not been a fan of Donald Trump, both as president and as a pre- and post-presidency candidate.

They fear that he is an isolationist, insufficiently diplomatic, not fully supportive of NATO, or too tariff-happy for their tastes—and are scared of his art-of-the-deal trolling to prompt wake-up calls.

But 2025 is certainly not 2017 or even 2020. And a “reset” in thinking on both sides is urgently now needed more than ever.

The Biden administration was no model partner for Europe. It quite outrageously forced cancellations of a joint Cypriot, Greek, and Israeli EastMed pipeline to bring much-needed natural gas to Europe.

It talked a great game about strengthening NATO. But the alliance’s bulwark, the U.S. military, saw its real budget cut, its Pentagon politicized, and recruitment short more than 40,000 enlistees.

The humiliating 2021 skedaddle from Afghanistan not only eroded American credibility but undermined all Western deterrence as well.

Biden opposed building new liquefied natural gas export terminals in the U.S. designed to help energy-starved Europe find a reliable and honest supplier and decouple from Russia.

Trump, in contrast, promises to “drill, drill, drill,” in part to ensure needed income by exporting huge amounts of LNG to fuel-starved Europe.

Europe was angry that a bantering Trump once bullied them to meet their promises to increase their defense spending.

But after the invasion of Ukraine, they are happy that some countries did just that.

Europeans likely want—and need—Trump to restore a more deterrent U.S. military, not a woke one.

Europe and America are both in crisis and need radical new thinking.

So, who knows—Europe may soon quietly rejoice that Biden is gone, Trump is back, and they have a strong, loyal, and rowdy friend rather than a simpering enabler.

[ztremx]

Your War (I'm One Of You): 20 Years Of Joan Of Arc

Cap'n Jazz: 1989–1995; 2010; 2017

Main article: Cap'n Jazz

Following the release of Cap'n Jazz's first and only album, Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports, Cards In The Spokes, Automatic Biographies, Kites, Kung Fu, Trophies, Banana Peels We've Slipped On and Egg Shells We've Tippy Toed Over (also known as Shmap'n Shmazz), and their last show on July 14, 1995, they disbanded, and member Davey von Bohlen left Chicago to focus on his side project The Promise Ring. Three years after the breakup, in 1998, Jade Tree Records put out a double disc compilation, called Analphabetapolothology, which included all the songs from Shmap'n Shmazz, as well as songs from various 7", singles, demos and outtakes. Victor Villareal went home, and after a year of playing music independently, Tim, Mike, and Sam recruited Erik Bocek and Jeremy Boyle for what would eventually be called Joan of Arc. On January 22, 2010, Cap'n Jazz played their first reunion show since the split in 1995 at the Empty Bottle in their hometown of Chicago. They have performed various other shows since and played their final show on November 8, 2017, at the Electric Ballroom.[10]

Joan of Arc

Main article: Joan of Arc (band)

After the demise of Cap'n Jazz, Kinsella began writing new material with keyboardist Jeremy Boyle. At this point, he was learning a new instrument (the guitar), and his songwriting began to take an abstract/experimental turn. Simultaneously, Sam Zurick was learning the drums, and playing in a band with Erik Bocek (a high school friend and former Cap'n Jazz roadie). The two were joined, and after the addition of Mike Kinsella, Red Blue Yellow was born.

After difficulties, and a breakup after their first show, they threw away all of their old material, and started afresh, with a new name, and new songs. Three months later, Joan of Arc had their first show at Autonomous Zone in Chicago. After two promising 7" singles the band recorded their debut album A Portable Model of... for Jade Tree. The album introduced JOA's signature sound - a fondness for stark acoustic songs then altered with subtle electronics.

The 2017 Noisey documentary Your War (I'm One of You): 20 Years of Joan of Arc[11] focuses heavily on Kinsella's biography and personal experiences.[12]

this documentary totally seems to snub Davey Von Bohlen. Davey split off from Cap'n Jazz to create The Promise Ring , Maritime ,

[refinedbuffoonery]

Flawless (10)

Con Artist AU. masterlist.

This ending of this chapter has existed since the very beginning. To those of you who have stuck around to read it: thank you and I love you. 

The painting mentioned in this chapter— “Woman-Ochre” by Willem de Kooning—is a real painting that had an exhibition dedicated to it in the Getty this summer. The story I tell about it is true; it was stolen from the U of A Museum of Art in 1985 and was recovered in 2017. The rest, of course, is fictional. 

*****

“Let’s do a job,” Riley announced over lunch, causing Leanna to choke on an oyster.  

They were at a Santa Monica seafood restaurant that overlooked the ocean and, since they’re both rich and could easily afford it, had gone all out on today’s lunch. They ordered a trio of appetizers—oysters on the half-shell, miniature uni tacos, and an off-menu surprise selected by the chef (an ex of Cage’s that the Five Eyes remained on good terms with)—and split a plate of caviar nachos. The tiny patio was packed with customers dressed in L.A. finery: well-made clothes that were a mix of trendy and timeless, paired with Rainbow flip flops and dark sunglasses. 

Things between her and Leanna had officially returned to as normal and not-weird as they were going to get, so all that was left was to entice Leanna to come back to the fun side. Leaning forward, Riley conspiratorially whispered, “Tonight.” 

Dropping the empty oyster shell onto her plate, Leanna hissed, “Are you crazy?” Her eyes widened and her head cocked slightly to the left—an expression that, after a decade of being on the receiving end of it, no longer fazed Riley. However, that didn’t make her judgmental stare any less annoying. 

“Stop looking at me like that. And also stop worrying. I already have the whole thing planned out.” She tossed back an oyster. 

Leanna muttered something that sounded like, “Good for you.” 

The job came to Riley, quite literally, in a dream. After hearing on the news last night that a da Vinci sketch had been stolen from the Getty Museum, Riley reached out to a few of her old contacts—contacts she met through Nikki—to see if they knew which of LA’s lowlifes pulled off the job. 

They did. 

Unfortunately for her, Riley happened to be well acquainted with this particular group of lowlifes, on both a professional and personal level, although she hadn’t spoken to any of them in years. And for good reason. 

The Getty job was pulled off by none other than the Coltons, a notorious take-no-shit crime family and Riley’s ex- potential in-laws. 

The only positive was that thanks to Mama Colton’s desperate attempt to recruit Riley to the family business, she knew exactly how they operated. Which meant she also knew how to con them into screwing up their own con. Riley left that part out of her explanation, but Leanna likely knew her train of thought anyway. 

“Ri, this isn’t a good idea.” Leanna chewed her lower lip—a nervous habit she broke years ago but had apparently returned. Her eyes flicked to each of the nearby tables, checking for eavesdroppers, but no one paid them any mind. Riley had already checked. 

Despite Leanna’s doubt, Riley refused to be deterred. “Sure it is. Listen. It’ll be easy. All we have to do is—” Leanna cut her off before she could explain her plan. 

“I’m not participating in this.” 

“Sure you are.” 

A measured sip of water. “How many times do I have to tell you? I’m done with that life.” 

Disbelieving, Riley’s voice fell to a near whisper as she said, “But you came back.” 

“I came back for my friend. Not to be a criminal again.” 

“Sorry to inform you, your friend is a criminal,” Riley spat. She’d had enough of Leanna’s new holier-than-thou attitude. She was no less of a criminal than Riley. The only difference was that one of them had a rap sheet and the other a government paycheck. 

Leanna covered Riley’s hands with her own, and Riley stiffened. “You don’t have to be. You can leave, just like I did. Get a real job with a steady paycheck. Have health insurance and a retirement fund.” 

“I don’t need a retirement fund.” She didn’t bother to hide the bitterness in her voice. 

Rolling her eyes, Leanna pressed, “It’s about the principle of it all.” She squeezed Riley’s hands. “Let go, Ri.” 

Riley pulled away, folding her hands in her lap. “I can’t.” 

“Why.” It came out as more of a demand than a question. Leanna slurped down another oyster, her endlessly calm demeanor only pissing Riley off more. 

“I like what I do. I like living on this side of the law.” 

Leanna scoffed, “You’re an adrenaline junkie who likes attempting impossible things just to see if you can pull them off.” 

“And I can,” Riley said, gritting her teeth.  

“You got lucky.” 

“Last I checked, you’ve spent years benefitting from that luck.” When Leanna didn’t rise to the bait, Riley muttered, “Whatever.” 

Where did Leanna get off thinking she had any right to judge her? Her best friend of eleven years was no better than her, despite Leanna’s newfound superiority complex proclaiming otherwise. 

Just growing pains, Riley thought. We’ll get through this. 

But a petty argument wouldn’t sway Leanna. It never had, nor would it now. She would have to be strategic to convince Leanna to give up her 9 to 5. Riley resumed eating, pretending she didn’t feel like their friendship was fraying at the seams, and said, “Well, the offer stands if you change your mind.” 

“I won’t.” 

Riley let her have the last word, biting her tongue hard enough that it bled.

*****

Perched on top of a hill overlooking West L.A., the Getty Museum was a haven for tourists and locals alike—at least those willing to brave the 405 in order to get there. Since it was technically autumn—although it still felt like summer—the gardens were in a sad, but natural stage of half-brown, and smoke from a distant wildfire plumed on the horizon. It was far enough away that Riley wouldn’t have to worry about evacuating. 

Fires burning in the distance always led to fires burning at home. The stress of waiting for everything to go up in flames was a breeding ground for strife. 

Living in L.A. her whole life, the scent of wildfire smoke in the air set Riley on edge. It was a slow kind of anxiety—always waiting for the other shoe to drop, prepared for the worst-case scenario to become reality. She’d only been at risk of losing her home once, as a child, but after her fair share of evacuations, even the slightest risk brought her childhood fear back to the surface. 

She ducked into the museum quickly, not lingering in the gardens like she usually would, and the filtered air was a sweet relief. 

To avoid suspicion, Riley planned on doing a lap of at least two wings of the museum, one of which would include the scene of the crime. 

Ironically, one of the exhibits she passed featured a painting called “Woman-Ochre” that had been recently recovered after its theft in 1985. According to the plaque, it had been cut out of its frame; a man cut it out while a woman distracted museum security. Nikki probably knew more about it, including the identities of the thieves. 

The rest of the exhibit detailed the restoration process, which Riley didn’t care about. Instead, she studied the painting itself to figure out what made this one theft-worthy. Depicting a woman’s torso, it was mostly abstract except for the boobs, which were perfectly clear. Riley rolled her eyes and continued walking. 

She wound her way through the halls until she reached the area blocked-off with police tape, an empty space on the wall. 

She thought about sandpipers and the risks she was willing to take for a reward. After two years of being clean, it was no wonder Leanna’s threshold of acceptable risk was so much lower than before. It was no wonder she hesitated. But for Riley. . . those two years only made her risk tolerance higher, not lower. 

Automatically, Riley’s brain mapped the museum, cataloging potential ways in and out until she determined the most probable path the Coltons took to steal the sketch unseen. The LAPD had no leads on the thief, but Riley knew the Coltons’ style, and an immaculate job such as this was one only an elite few could pull off—a group that included both the Coltons and, until recently, the Five Eyes. 

Maybe Leanna had a point, but at the end of the day, this was Riley’s life. She couldn’t just give it up. She didn’t know anything else. 

She might’ve once, back when her teenage self discovered the power in hacking. She was good too, but all her attempts to get a job that would actually challenge her skills were ruined by doubting, sexist interviewers who saw a beautiful young woman and decided there was no way that face matched her resume. 

Her friends at the time—Kai and Peyton, also hackers—diverged; privileged Peyton landed a nice job with assistance from a little nepotism, and Kai broke the trio’s promise of being “the good guys” and became a black hat hacker. 

It was Riley who tried the longest, who kept applying to job after job, went to interview after interview, all with the same result: No. 

Not to say that was all for nothing, because it was walking home from yet another failed interview that Riley met Nikki. 

She stopped applying for jobs after that. 

Entering Nikki’s favorite wing, Riley continued to wander, fantasizing about how good it would feel when Billy Colton realized she ruined his perfect job.

*****

She texted Leanna. Offer: meet me at this address in an hour. We’ll intercept the Coltons before they can finish the job

Leanna replied immediately. Counteroffer: Meet me at your apartment in an hour, and I’ll help you get back on the right side of the law.

Riley didn’t respond. Leanna would come around eventually. She was sure of it.

*****

Nails drumming across glossy red paint, Riley sat on the sun-warmed hood of the truck, leaning back against the windshield, and waited. The truck was sleek. New. Well, it probably had thirty thousand miles on it by now, but the Coltons bought it to replace their previous gas guzzler right after she’d broken up with Billy, right before she’d gone to prison. 

The point was that Riley had never ridden in it, and thus it was new to her. 

It was parked in an average suburban parking lot, part of an average suburban strip mall which housed an average suburban bank. It was one of the national chains, with locations in cities big and small. Riley kept her money in a better one, but she could see the appeal for a family who never stayed too long in one place. 

When they weren’t thieving, however, the Coltons ran an art forging business out of their backwoods diner. While the diner certainly wasn’t as lucrative as their dealings in the art world, it had a most loyal customer base. 

There was a time when Riley was one of them. 

Now, however, she’d like nothing more than to take a chunk out of the Coltons’ profits, rather than contribute. 

Oversized purse slung over her shoulder, none other than Mama Colton herself exited the bank, her daughter Jesse in tow. Upon spotting Riley, her immaculate red manicure vanished as she momentarily clenched her fist around her purse strap. Good. That meant Riley caught her off-guard. 

Riley’s lips curved into a satisfied smirk. “Nice to see you again, Mama.” 

“Can’t say I share that sentiment,” Mama replied. Behind her, Jesse slowly reached for the gun Riley knew she had concealed beneath her leather jacket. She wouldn’t shoot—or even take aim—without an order from Mama. And while Mama likely still hated Riley, murder wasn’t her style. Riley was perfectly safe. 

Mama and Jesse walked all the way to the front of their truck, but Riley didn’t budge from her perch on the hood. Instead, her sneer only grew. 

“I’ve always wanted to do a job at the Getty,” Riley drawled, “but all that driving on the 405 never seems worth it.” 

“Funny,” Jesse replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Please.” Riley hopped down from the hood. The metal was starting to burn her skin through her black jeans. “I just came to see if you still stash stolen art beneath the backseat. A horrible idea, really. Anyone could break in and steal it. You wouldn’t want that, now would you?” 

But Mama didn’t balk at her thinly veiled threat. Worse, she laughed. 

“Bless your heart for looking out for us, but there’s nothing to worry about. The boys already fenced it.” Mama had a poker face that could fool God, but the victorious gleam in Jesse’s eyes made Riley inclined to believe Mama’s claim. 

Riley was too late. 

“Now,” Mama continued, “you best be running along. You’ve already screwed over one of my children, and there will be consequences if you come after my family again. Now kindly get away from my truck.” 

For the record, what happened between Riley and Billy was not her fault. 

Mama walked past Riley like she wasn’t even there, but Jesse shoulder-checked her—she learned that from her older brothers—and held up a middle finger behind her back. Mama couldn’t see the gesture, but Riley couldn’t miss it, and for a few horrible seconds she was right back in prison. Standing in the cafeteria, standing in the yard. Before she knew better. That move was the precursor to a beating, and she knew damn well that Jesse could brawl with the best and win. 

Once, there was a time when Riley was beloved by the Coltons, instead of hated. Once, she found herself as the lynchpin in some of the family’s most ambitious jobs. Once, Jesse even worshiped her as the older sister she’d always wanted. 

But breakups were between more than just the couple in question, and no matter the truth of the situation, family would always side with family, which means Billy would always have their full support and Riley would always be the villain of that story. 

Just another example of people who swore they cared, and then left. 

Riley watched them drive off, alone and empty-handed.

*****

She was thirty minutes late meeting Leanna back at her apartment. The key was barely out of the lock and she could already tell Leanna was pissed. She sat on one of the barstools, arms crossed and glaring hard enough to put a hole through Riley’s chest. 

“You’re late,” Leanna snapped. The old Leanna did appreciate punctuality. Riley supposed the scolding was warranted. Sort of. 

“Hello to you too.” Riley dropped her keys on the counter. Poured herself a drink of water. 

For a moment, the only sound was the clinking of the ice in her glass. 

“You went after the Coltons, didn’t you.” It wasn’t a question. 

Refusing to give her the instant satisfaction of being right, Riley opened the fridge in search of a snack. She did a double take. Leanna had reorganized the whole thing, throwing out old leftovers and labeling everything else. It was immaculate. Nothing was where Riley had put it. Bristling, Riley challenged, “So what if I did?” 

“It was a bust, wasn’t it?” 

Damn her, for knowing. For figuring it out. Damn her. Damn her. Damn her. 

“Who was there?” 

Rapidly losing her appetite, Riley closed the fridge without taking anything out. She answered, “Mama and Jesse.” 

“Describe their body language.” 

“Jesse looked entirely too pleased with herself, but that’s normal for her.” 

“And Mama?” 

“If Mama Colton lied, we’d never know. She’s too good. You said so yourself years ago.” 

Leanna persisted anyway. “That was before I became a trained interrogator for the CIA. Now tell me exactly what she did. No detail is too small.” 

The reminder of Leanna’s new job stung. Especially after Riley had done such a good job not thinking about it. But even she had to admit Leanna’s new skills could come in handy. 

Closing her eyes, Riley replayed her exchange with the Coltons. “She was holding her purse with one hand. Relaxed posture. She put her free hand in her pocket when she was done speaking.” 

“She lied.” 

“What?” Riley’s eyes snapped open. “How the hell do you know?” 

“The oddly-timed gesture,” Leanna explained. “If she were telling the truth, she would’ve put her hand in her pocket before or while speaking, not after. Liars tend to have delayed hand gestures.” 

“Damn, okay,” Riley said, impressed, but that feeling quickly melted into annoyance at being lied to. Thinking out loud, she said with increasing speed, “We can still salvage this. Even if they’ve already fenced it, I know what dealer they sold it to—they always use the same one—and we can convince him the Coltons sold him a fake. He’ll believe it too, since Frank and Billy run that forgery business on the side. It’s—” 

“Riley, I don’t think—”

“—not that hard. Nikki and I have done it before and—” 

“Riley!” Leanna yelled. 

“What?” Riley yelled back. 

They mirrored each other now, standing on opposite sides of the counter, arms crossed. Both used to the other listening when they spoke, not whatever the hell this was. 

“For the last time, I’m not doing a job with you. Stop fucking assuming I’ll change my mind.” 

It was her most blatant rejection yet, and it hit like a punch to the throat. Gasping for air, Riley scrambled to figure out why. This wasn’t like Leanna. This wasn’t who she was. 

“I’m CIA. I can’t do shit like this anymore.” 

“You’re a wanted criminal in seventeen countries,” Riley reminded her. “For grand theft.” 

“I’m a wanted criminal in twenty-four countries,” Leanna corrected. Riley raised her brows. “You didn’t think I had a desk job, did you?” 

Riley snorted. “You’re not the type.” 

Finally, Leanna uncrossed her arms. “I’m serious though. I don’t do that stuff anymore. And maybe you shouldn’t either.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“You’re a criminal, Riley! And since you clearly didn’t learn anything in prison, maybe you need to go back.” 

Riley couldn’t believe what she was hearing. And after what she’d done. . . “What the fuck is wrong with you? I went to prison to save your ass! And Nikki’s! You know damn well it could’ve just as easily been you in there instead of me.” 

“And I’m sorry that happened to you. What I’m trying to say is that I learned from that situation, and I had hoped you did too.” 

“What,” Riley snarled. “What was I supposed to learn?” 

“That what we did was wrong!” Leanna’s voice cracked. “God, Riley. Are you that blind? We’ve been awfully lucky for a lot of years. It was only a matter of time before that luck dried up and we were worse off than when we started. We can’t be criminals forever.” 

Riley laughed, but there was no humor in it. “We can’t be criminals, so you decided to become a professional liar instead? No wonder your boyfriend dumped you.” 

“I don’t blame him for not wanting to go through all the lies again.” Leanna clamped her hand over her mouth, but that only made Riley’s mind lock onto that last word even more. 

Again. 

“What do you mean, again?” Tears started to fray the edges of her accusatory tone, and Riley fought to hold them back. 

“Nothing.” 

“Bullshit.” 

“Forget I said it.” 

“Not likely. Start talking.” 

“Fine.” Leanna sighed. “I knew it was only a matter of time before Bozer got suspicious, but it’s not like I could confirm or deny anything. I could get in huge trouble for just the little I’ve told you. But it kept getting harder as my assignments got longer and more frequent, and then he figured it out about Mac, and—”

Mac. 

Mac. 

Nikki’s Mac. 

Nikki’s Mac who was a spy. A spy who lived right here in L.A. 

“You work with Nikki’s ex-boyfriend?” The pieces didn’t add up. 

“Different agencies. I met him through Nikki, but sometimes our work paths cross, yes.” 

“And how does your boyfriend know him?” Leanna winced at the word ‘boyfriend,’ but Riley didn’t give a shit how she felt anymore. 

“They grew up together. Been friends most of their lives. They still live together.” 

Riley took a step back. And another. And another until she backed right into the cabinets. 

“I cut ties with everyone when Mac was reintroduced to me as a spy. He’s a smart guy. I knew Nikki wouldn’t be able to fool him forever, and I wasn’t about to risk my new life by associating with all of you.” 

Reeling, Riley gripped the counter for support as the world rocked under her feet. Leanna didn’t just leave. She left because the Five Eyes were no longer advantageous to her. That selfish bitch. 

She knew Mac. She abandoned her best friends because of Mac. 

Mac. 

Mac, who was at the Louvre that night. Mac, who nearly ruined the heist of Riley’s dreams. 

The heist, which Leanna knew about. Because Riley told her. Standing on the porch of her boyfriend’s house, which was also Mac’s house. 

How was Paris? Leanna had asked. 

Leanna knew perfectly well how Paris went because she fucking set them up. 

“How could you?” Riley screamed. There was no stopping the tears now, and they ran down her face in steady streams, blurring her vision. “After everything we’ve been through together, how could you do that to me? To us?”

“I did it to save you.” 

“From what? Because clearly it wasn’t from going back to prison.” 

“From yourself! You could do anything with your life, be anyone, yet this is what you choose? Riley, as a thief you will never be able to stop running. Never be able to live an honest life.” 

“An honest life. That’s rich coming from you.” 

“At least I can be proud of what I do now. I don’t have to live with that sinking feeling after a job anymore. You know, when the adrenaline has finally worn off and you have to face the fact that what we did was wrong. I hate that feeling.” 

“It doesn’t bother me.” In truth, Riley didn’t experience the guilt at all anymore. She hadn’t in years. 

“I’d hoped prison would change that. Change you.” 

“Well it did fucking change me. Just not the way you wanted it to, apparently.” 

“It’s still not too late to help yourself.” 

“Go to hell.” 

Leanna stared. Riley stared back. 

A decade of friendship lay between them, dead. 

Hammering the final nail into the coffin, Riley growled, “Get the fuck out of my house.” Leanna flinched. “And stay out of my life while you’re at it.” 

Shaking with hurt and anger and betrayal, Riley could do nothing but watch as Leanna calmly packed up her stuff. Then she fished around in her bag for something small—Riley couldn’t tell what it was—and approached the kitchen counter once more. 

“This belongs to you,” Leanna said, dropping her copy of Riley’s apartment key onto the granite. 

When she let herself out, the door softly clicked closed behind her. 

Since the Louvre, Riley had been balancing on a knife’s edge. She could go forward or backward, but either way she’d end up sliced and bloody. So she kept to the straight and narrow, just like she promised her parole officer. She kept moving forward. Better to hurt herself in the future than do it while dwelling in the past. 

But if this was where the future led, it fucking sucked. 

Betrayal, on both ends of the line. 

Even standing still, the knife’s edge cut deeper into her feet. She felt the sting, felt the metaphorical blood slicking the metaphorical blade. 

To her side was the abyss. To her side was no knife at all. No moving forward or backward, but no pain either. 

Jump, the voice said. It’ll be easier. 

For once, Riley didn’t question it. She simply let herself 

fall.

.

~ Tag List ~ Want to be added? Send me an ask.

@improvidus​ / @holbytlanna / @hellishrose / @mylifequotesshowallofthem / @thecarrieonokay / @whumpflumpthump​ / @fandoms-and-sunshine / @bluedrew12 /

[ritchiepage2001newaccount]

#CorpMedia #Idiocracy #Oligarchs #MegaBanks vs #Union #Occupy #NoDAPL #BLM #SDF #DACA #MeToo #Humanity #DemExit #FeelTheBern

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[sayitwillbeokay]

Movies ft. Whump

A work in progress, will be updating as I go  [X] Means I uploaded a clip of the scene to my blog Links take you to Reelgood, a website which can tell you whether the movie is available to stream for you Listed alphabetically

30 days of night (2007)  The Abyss (1989)  The Aeronauts (2019)  The Aftermath (2019) Aladdin (2019)  Aliens (1986)  Allegiant (2016) Annihilation (2018) Apostle (2018) Avatar (2009)                                                                                 [X] Avengers Age of Ultron (2015) Avengers (2012) Bastille day (2016) Batman Begins (2005) Batman vs Superman (2016) Black Swan (2010) Blade Runner 2049 (2017) Blood Diamond (2006) The Bourne Identity (2002) The Bourne Legacy (2012) Captain America: Civil War (2016) Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) Casino Royale (2006) Children of Men (2006) Chocolat (2000) The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)  Clash of the Titans (2010) Constantine (2005) The Core (2003) Cowboys & Aliens (2011) Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) The Day After Tomorrow (2004) Die Another Day (2002) Divergent (2014) Doctor Strange (2019) Dredd (2012) Drive (2011) The Eagle (2011) Eddie the Eagle (2015) Eight Below (2006) Elysium (2013) The Fast and the Furious (2001) Fast & Furious (2009) Final Girl (2015) Firehouse Dog (2007) A fistful of dollars (1964) Five Feet Apart (2019) Furious 7 (2015) Ghost in the shell (2017) Gladiator (2000) Godzilla (2014) The Great Escape (1963)                                                                [X} Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) Hellboy (2019) The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017) The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) Hold the dark (2018) The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) The Hunger Games (2012) Inception (2010) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) Insurgent (2015) Jack Reacher (2012) Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014) Jamaica Inn (1939) Jane Eyre (2011) John Carter (2012) John Wick: Chapter 3 (2019) Jumper (2008) Jupiter Ascending (2015) Jurassic Park III (2001) King Arthur: Legend of the sword (2017) Kong: Skull Island (2017) Lawless (2012)                                                                               [X] Left Behind (2014) The Legend of Tarzan (2016) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Mad Max (1979) Mad Max 2 (1981) Mad Max Fury Road (2015) The Man from U.N.C.L.E (2015) Man of Steel (2013) Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) The Matrix (1999) Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018) Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) The Meg (2018) Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) Mortal Engines (2018) The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013) Mute (2018) The New World (2005) Now You See Me 2 (2016) The Old Guard (2020) Pacific Rim (2013) Passengers (2016) Phone Booth (2002) Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) Predators (2010) Premium Rush (2012) Prisoners (2013) Push (2009) Quest for Camelot (1998) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Red Sparrow (2018) Resident Evil (2002) Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) Return of the Jedi (1983) Robin Hood (2018) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) Sahara (2005) Se7en (1995) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) Source Code (2011) Speed (1994) Stargate (1994) Star Trek 2009) Star Trek Beyond (2016) Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) Star Wars: The rise of Skywalker (2019) Suicide Squad (2016) Sunshine (2007) Tenet (2020) Terminator Salvation (2009) Thor: The Dark World (2013) The Time Machine (2002) Titan A.E. (2000) Tombstone (1993)                                                                                 [X] Tomorrowland (2015) Total Recall (2012) Triple Frontier (2019) TRON: Legacy (2010) True Grit (2010) Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) Warrior (2011) Willow (1988)  Wind River (2017) The Wolverine (2013) Wonder Woman (2017) World War Z (2013) X-Men (2000) X-Men: First Class (2011) Zootopia (2016)

Look at my letterboxd for more: https://letterboxd.com/whump/

[haylanmakesstuff]

Day 16

Today is Ashton’s last full day, and we had to get one more park site and badge in. We packed up, headed down the mountain, and visited Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. This will be my 5th time here, as I’ve found the site particularly interesting. Previously called Custer’s Last Stand, a term I’m sure you’ve heard, one of the things I like most about this site is that it has been a shining example of how the National Park Service has made terrible choices, been accountable and self-examining, and set out to actively change and stay changed. After a long debate, the name was changed to what it is today, as well as a more equal and fairer storytelling and representations.

This is the site where Custer’s 7th cavalry, among others, decided to attack several tribes of Native’s camped out on the Little Bighorn River. The cavalry and the government at large wanted to wipe out the Indian’s nomadic way of life, erasing their cultures and religions, and had been hard at work and successful at it for some time. Custer and the US forces were embarrassingly and brutally defeated by the Natives, killing hundreds of men. This is called the only real win for the Native’s and was short lived; on to genocide, extermination, Wounded Knee, forced reservations, Indian Boarding Schools, and more, our Native people are still suffering the consequences of the white takeover of their land today.

I love the interpreters at this site for the very reason that they tell both sides of the story, rather than just the “tragic hero” side of the white cavalrymen that is so often told. 

The interpreter today focused on Black Elk, a 14-year-old boy who accompanied Crazy Horse to fight at Little Bighorn, survived, and lived an interesting life. He was recruited to Wild Buffalo Bill Cody’s traveling Wild West Show and travelled Europe, saw the Eifel Tower being built, came back to the US only to be a witness in Wounded Knee. Dying around 1950, I can only imagine how the world changed while he walked this dreary earth.

Junior Ranger Badge, received! This badge is dedicated to Lauren and Gene, whom I had the pleasure to bring to this site back in 2017. Thank you for supporting my fundraiser and sharing it more than I have myself. Thank you for your continued support of my writing, making me sweaters, moving me to Canada, feeding me my first Chinese food and poutine. I hope tour guiding for you the few times I’ve had has shown you some of the beauty in the world that you helped add to my life.

Ashton had never had an Indian taco, so we enjoyed some at the Indian market just across the street on the Crow Agency reservation. Driving back to Sheridan, we wrapped up her trip with huge scoops of ice cream at the park. We did go down the most long, spiraling double-slides we’ve ever seen, but it was shockingly disappointing, with sticking and scooching all the way down. At least that’s not a terrible ending to such a great week.

Ashton at the postcard depot at Shell Falls. I set up this station back in 2018 and I am so happy to see it’s still being vigorously used! 

Look at that fire we made all by our little ol’ selves. This was a near perfect week in the Big Horns; impeccable weather, great wildlife sightings (including 12 moose, 100,000 pika, 100 something elk), great company, in a place I love with a person I love. It’s hard to get better than this! 

Haylan

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Foxconn's potemkin "Innovation Centers"

Trump and Scott Walker promised billions to the giant Chinese electronics company Foxconn and let them start bulldozing Wisconsinites' family homes, but there's no sign of the promised megafactory Foxconn said they'd build in exchange.

Foxconn, after all, has a long, long, long history of securing massive credits and incentives to build factories and then never building those factories.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/08/foxconns-con-seeking-whopping-subsidies-for-wisconsin-michigan-manufacturing-jobs-if-they-happen.html

A year ago, Josh Dzieza described how Foxconn was buying up buildings, gutting them, and leaving them empty. Foxconn called them "innovation centers"

https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/13/18565408/foxconn-wisconsin-innovation-centers-factories-empty-tax-subsidy

Foxconn told Dzieza that he had it all wrong and promised a full and forthright correction, and also swore that a year later, the "Innovation Centers" would be humming with industry. The correction never appeared, and a year has gone by and...

They're still empty shells.

I mean, DUH.

Profs at the universities that Foxconn swore it would recruit from report "no visible activity whatsoever" on that front. Foxconn isn't even showing up for the university's grad recruiting fairs.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/12/21217060/foxconn-wisconsin-innovation-centers-empty-buildings

Foxconn hasn't taken out permits to renovate most of its "Innovation Centers." No construction has taken place.

As to the factory, it will now be a tiny little thing, and may or may not open in May.

Ladeez and gennulmen, I give you...The art of the deal!

[mariacallous]

As Yevgeny Prigozhin marched on Moscow, the Kremlin was also concerned about stopping the mutiny from spreading across the vast foreign empire that his private military organization, the Wagner Group, had built. These efforts were focused on Syria, Russia’s foothold in the Mediterranean region and the original launchpad for Wagner. The group started its operations in Syria in 2015 and remains there to this day, allegedly to protect Syrian oil fields and phosphate mines for the Syrian regime. 

The Kremlin’s goal has apparently been to consolidate Wagner’s economic activities under new and pliable leadership and to convey the message abroad that Russian President Vladimir Putin is still in power, still in control, and can be relied on as a security provider. As the mutiny unfolded, at least four high-ranking Wagner mercenaries were rounded up by Russian military police and Syrian intelligence services at the Russian-operated Hmeimim air base in western Syria. Security at key Russian bases remains heightened in anticipation of trouble or an extended mutiny. 

Waiel Olwan, a researcher at the Istanbul-based Jusoor for Studies Center, told Foreign Policy that on June 23 at 10 p.m. local time, hours after the mutiny had begun, four Russian Wagner operatives were detained and brought to Hmeimim. (He said he knew their names but did not want to reveal them.) “The next day, the militia’s members in Deir Ezzor, Damascus, and Suwayda were also detained,” Olwan added. 

Rayan Maarouf, the editor of the local news network Suwayda 24, said that he suspected anyone from Suwayda was still detained, but according to the testimony of a Wagner fighter, some of the members had indeed been summoned but they were soon let go. Maarouf said something else struck him as odd. In the last week of every month, Wagner announces the payday for its recruits on Telegram—but this month it didn’t. He wondered if that was an aftermath of the mutiny. 

A senior official with the Syrian Democratic Council, an Arab-majority militia of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, spoke to Foreign Policy on condition of anonymity and said Russian forces beefed up security at their bases in Deir Ezzor, the most oil-rich region of the country. “Wagner and Russian forces are indistinguishable here,” he said, “but we noticed that their base was put on high alert.”

On June 26, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin arrived in Damascus on an unscheduled visit. He reportedly asked the Syrian government not to let Wagner fighters leave the country. A statement from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s office indicated that Wagner’s presence in the country was discussed in “light of recent events.” (In 2017, Evro Polis, a Russian shell company believed to be owned by Wagner and which is sanctioned by the United States and European Union, cut a five-year deal to receive 25 percent of the profits from several oil fields, but locals say Wagner has mixed in with the Russian forces and continued to guard oil facilities.) 

Vershinin, however, seemed equally focused on assuring the Syrian government that Putin was still in charge and useful for Assad’s plans to capture Idlib—the last rebel-held enclave bordering Turkey. As if to prove the point, Russian jets pounded a city in Idlib province, killing at least nine people, on June 25, a day after Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko mediated a deal between the Russian president and Prigozhin, bringing an end to the Russian crisis in the nick of time—Wagner troops were in 120 miles of Moscow. 

According to multiple sources on the ground in Syria, however, there were no obvious signs of an uprising in or near Russian bases, reflecting that either Prigozhin hadn’t thought through how he would deal with the international ramifications of his audacious move or it was all planned to a T. Either way, Russian experts who follow Russia’s policy in the Middle East believe that Wagner’s operations will continue, perhaps under a different name and different leadership.

Denis Mirgorod, an expert with the Russian International Affairs Council, said that while it was too soon to draw clear conclusions about Wagner’s future, it was “obvious that such a structure, which has accumulated a wealth of experience in providing security services in various countries and regions of the world, cannot be abolished and removed from hot spots, including Syria, Libya, Sudan, [the Central African Republic], and Mali,” he told Foreign Policy. 

“The short-term military-political crisis in Russia should not affect the activities of the Wagner Group, which can continue to exist under a different guise.” 

Mirgorod said there was huge support among the Russian people for Wagner, who felt it was working for the security of the country, and suggested they wanted the government to find a solution that allowed Wagner to continue fighting in Ukraine, instead of dismantling it. 

“The Russian society hopes that the problem with the contracts of the Wagner Group employees will be resolved and that a mechanism for interaction between the regular Russian army and this PMC [private military company] will be developed,” he said. But it depends on Wagner’s fighters, he added. “Putin gave them security guarantees. They can easily make decisions.” 

The Russian president has sent Prigozhin into exile but given his fighters the option to either go back home to their families or sign up with the regular defense forces. “Today, you have the opportunity to continue serving Russia,” Putin said on June 26. “If you want, you can go to Belarus.”

Anas El Gomati, the founder and current director-general of the Tripoli-based Sadeq Institute, said Wagner can survive without Prigozhin. “Wagner is not structured like a pyramid with a reliance from the bottom on the leadership at the top. Wagner is a flat, autonomous network of state and nonstate actors who jointly operate in Libya. It can survive without Prigozhin,” Gomati said. 

Wagner was deployed in Libya to further Russia’s foreign-policy agenda but with an eye on conflict-ridden and democratically weak but resource-rich African countries. In 2020, the group supported warlord Khalifa Haftar in his military offensive to capture Tripoli from the internationally recognized Government of National Accord. Even though that campaign failed, Wagner continued to operate several air bases in the country not only to buttress Khalifa’s defenses but also as a springboard to operate elsewhere in Africa, such as in neighboring Sudan. 

Wagner suppressed pro-democracy protests and spread disinformation in Sudan, just as it had in the United States through its troll farm in the 2016 presidential election, and backed a military faction that allowed it to mine gold through a shell company. “They smuggle gold out of Sudan through Libya into the UAE to the tune of billions of dollars,” Gomati added. 

The UAE backed Haftar in the Libyan conflict and has emerged as one of Russia’s closest allies in the Middle East. According to the U.S. Defense Department, Wagner’s support for Haftar was paid for by the UAE. 

On June 27, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Industrial Resources General Trading, a Dubai-based company that provided financial support to Prigozhin in cash through its business dealings with Diamville—one of Prigozhin’s shell companies that purchased gold and diamonds from the Central African Republic. Treasury said Diamville “shipped diamonds mined in the CAR to buyers in the UAE.” 

“Putin could choke Prigozhin out of Wagner by requesting a freeze on his bank accounts and closing shell companies in the UAE and rerouting payments through alternative structures,” Gomati said. 

Wagner wove a web of contacts in the Middle East and North Africa and propped up shell companies to loot the resources not just for itself but also for the sanctions-hit Russian regime. It worked as a transnational criminal syndicate but also a state proxy. Experts believe the Kremlin is keen to consolidate its undertakings under a different leadership. 

“Theoretically, if Wagner’s current senior leadership does not show loyalty and is not ready for long-term work, then they will be replaced by others,” Mirgorod said.

[samexycool-blog]

Shell Nigeria graduate trainee recruitment - 2017/18

Shell Nigeria graduate trainee recruitment – 2017/18

Graduate Trainee Recruitment Opportunities at Shell in Nigeria.

We are looking for Graduates who;

Complete their undergraduate program between 2013 and 2016

Graduate with a minimum of 2:1 ( Second class upper) degree

Have completed their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program

Courses Eligible for Shell Nigeria graduate trainee recruitment

Law

Finance

Social studies

Petroleum Engineering

Che…

[cepdisphatchherz-blog]

2019 PGBA 16U Cardinal Classic ESPN+ Fox Sports MASN Sportrar Streaming VIPBOX

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shrturi.com

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2019 PG Sunday Series #9. 2018 PGBA 16U Cardinal Fall Classic - Perfect Game.

NTX Lumber Tournament - NTX Tournaments

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Mason Puente's Baseball Recruiting Profile - NCSA.

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2018 PGBA 16U Cardinal Fall Classic in Beaumont, TX from 9/22/2018 - 9/23/ 2018.

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[psktechnologiesnagpur-blog]

LINUX CLASSES IN NAGPUR

The name ‘Linux’ needs no introduction. It is arguably one of the most popular and widely used products of the open-source revolution. What was first introduced as a Usenet post back in 1991 by Linus Torvalds has redefined the IT landscape over the years. Linux is one of the best examples to demonstrate the power of open source in comparison to proprietary software. Not only is it free to download and use but the ever-rising Linux community of developers is constantly helping the OS grow and expand its user base across the world. Completing any of the Linux Certifications will open a world of opportunities for you. In fact, a 2017 Jobs report prepared by a social recruiting platform called Dice and The Linux Foundation has revealed that there is a huge demand for open source professionals especially the ones trained on Linux. At Koenig Solutions, we offer the best in Linux online training and classroom training to ensure you get good results from your Linux certification exam. We are a reputed Linux training academy with years of experience in delivering the best results to learners.

through Linux courses, students learn to operate and maintain computer and network systems using the Linux operating system. These courses are available in the certificate, undergraduate, and graduate degree programs.

Essential Information

Linux courses are available through certificate programs that focus specifically on teaching students how to use the Linux operating system. They can also be included in associates, bachelor’s, and master’s degree programs in network security and computer programming. Certification programs are administered through the Linux Professional Institute.

Linux topics such as those described below are often included in programs related to computer security and programming:

Operating system administration and maintenance

Package utilities and updates

Networking

User accounts and permissions

Alternative software to Microsoft Office, such as Apache OpenOffice

Shell software and commands

Text editors

List of Courses

Introductory Linux Course

This beginning Linux course covers the fundamentals of using Linux and Unix. The course trains students to use different file systems, tables, and graphs for data organization, command-line functions, and text editors. They practice basic user operations and learn the beginning steps of many of the more difficult parts of using Linux.

Basics of Network Security

Through this intermediate course, students study the tools hackers use to break into a computer network and begin learning methods that can prevent this. They learn how to create and maintain firewalls and set up notifications to find intruders. In addition to protecting the systems from hackers, they also learn ways to protect them from malicious software.

Linux Systems Administration

This intermediate course provides students with the ability to administer Linux systems through device configuration, hardware installation, and systems management. Students build on skills acquired in previous Linux and computer network courses to set up user administration protocols and manage their accounts and disk space. Students typically gain practical experience setting up and maintaining the computer system and troubleshooting techniques are introduced.

Linux Security

This advanced course applies the basics of network security specifically to Linux systems. Students gain practical experience in administering security protocol and setting up methods for user identification, firewalls, and access control. They practice methods for monitoring the system overall and study common encryption methods used to stop malicious viruses and codes. These techniques provide the ability to protect operating systems, computer hardware, and networks.

Linux Networking

Students taking this course gain hands-on experience installing, running, maintaining, and administering software programs that run on Linux. This course often includes additional training operating the Unix system for instances when the two overlap. The majority of this Linux class focuses on configuring and operating the networks and their various software programs. Students study specific troubleshooting methods as well.

[theundercovermarvelfan]

Face Everything And Rise

NEW CHAPTER ALERT!

Inspired by the 2017 Whumptober Challenge, all prompts will be used but I have reordered them to fit my timeline. New chapter posted weekly!

CHAPTER FIVE GUILT 

Before Clint Barton came along, the youngest agent SHIELD ever recruited had been twenty-one years old, a tech wiz who spent most of his time on a base. The youngest field agent had been recruited at twenty-four and hadn’t actually been placed in the field on a live mission until he was twenty-five. And even then, he had been part of a five-agent team. Even Captain America – though not technically a SHIELD agent, he was a key factor in the organization’s creation – had been twenty-one when recruited, though to be fair he had help from the Super Soldier Serum.  

Clint had been four months shy of eighteen when Phil found him, unable to even be legally recruited as a minor. He was officially inducted into the SHIELD training program on his eighteenth birthday and had still been a month short of nineteen when he had been given his first official field mission.  And if that hadn’t been enough, that first mission – along with every mission since then – had been a solo op.

All this was impressive, but when it came down to it… Clint Barton was still just a kid.

Clint was strong, stronger than most. But there were still days when Phil couldn’t get passed Clint’s age. Most nineteen-year-olds were gearing up for college, picking classes and trying to decide on a major and a career path. Instead, Clint was tracking down an arms dealer dubbed the deadliest man on the planet and giving him a bullet to the head.

There were days when Phil honestly wondered if he had done the right thing by recruiting Clint into SHIELD. But he also knew that the path Clint had been on before he met Phil had been a dark one that would have only ended in tragedy. He knew he had saved Clint when he had taken him off the streets and given him a purpose in life.

Phil had struggled with guilt over putting Clint on this path right from the very beginning but, ultimately, he felt he had done the right thing. That was what helped him sleep at night.

But just over three years after Clint joined SHIELD, Phil was forced to question everything all over again.

It was a mission gone sideways. Not the first and certainly wouldn’t be the last, but it was the mission that changed everything. The mission where Clint had sacrificed something huge in order to save Phil’s life. The mission where Clint lost his hearing.

Despite the situation going completely FUBAR in every sense of the sentiment, Clint had still completed the mission, dragged Phil back to the safehouse and even managed to perform emergency first aid that would save Phil’s life before the shock of losing his hearing completely shut him down.

When they were emergency evacuated the hell out of there several hours later, Phil vividly remembered gripping Clint’s hand like a lifeline, both for his own sake as well as for the shell-shocked kid kneeling at the side of his cot in the back of the Quinjet. Clint’s eyes had started off wide and terrified as they darted around, trying to take in all the activity at once. Then his gaze broke just before he squeezed his eyes shut and lowered his head, pressing his forehead – hot and damp with fever from the infection his body was already beginning to fight – against his and Phil’s clasped hands, blocking out the world.

“It’s okay, Clint,” Phil choked through the oxygen mask as he heaved air into his lungs with an effort. “It’s gonna—” The words burned as they caught painfully in his throat, the reality of the situation hitting him all over again like a sledgehammer to the chest.

Clint couldn’t hear him.

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